“What do the shark demon you know look like?” Men Dong asked curiously.
Zanxing paused for a moment before saying, “The shark demon I know is a girl.”
She recounted the story she had heard countless times, word for word, and concluded, “The next morning, the sun rose from the sea, and the mermaid turned into foam, disappearing into the ocean.”
This Western story seemed too shocking and bizarre in the Eastern cultivation world. Men Dong, being young, immediately teared up after hearing it, murmuring, “How could it be like that?”
Zanxing was about to offer some comforting words to the child when she suddenly heard a voice behind her, “That story is quite refreshing, but the kind-hearted shark demon you speak of only exists in stories. Real shark demons are much more ferocious.”
Turning around, they saw a strange old woman standing behind them, her presence unnoticed until now. Her hair was neatly tied up in a bun, her crimson robe secured at the waist with a black belt, revealing black boots. Despite the hot weather in Li’er Country, where locals usually dressed lightly, the old woman was dressed heavily. Although aged, her brows and eyes still retained a hint of youthful elegance.
The locals of Li’er Country were typically laid-back, wearing relaxed smiles on their faces. However, this woman seemed like a tightly wound bow, radiating a sense of power, beauty, and charisma from head to toe. Despite her age, she still captured people’s attention effortlessly, her brilliance impossible to ignore.
“Who are you?” Zanxing asked.
“Just a passerby,” the woman in red replied without acknowledging Zanxing’s question. Instead, she walked up to the statue and spoke softly, “Forty years ago, a monster terrorized Li’er Country, preying on young women and drinking their blood. The ruler led the city guards to fight the creature, only to discover that it was a shark demon from the Western Sea. The creature was ferocious, nearly wiping out the entire city army. The ruler personally killed the shark demon but was gravely injured in the process, eventually perishing alongside the creature.”
Her tone was filled with sorrow, as if she had witnessed the ruler’s battle with the shark demon firsthand.
The woman in red looked at Zanxing and said, “Young lady, monsters are vicious. You can tell stories, but do not embellish them. Otherwise, the blood shed by the ruler and the city guards would have been in vain.” Her expression turned serious as she uttered the last sentence.
Zanxing felt a bit awkward and glanced at her fellow disciples for help.
Tian Fangfang chuckled to defuse the tension. “Ma’am, we’re just casually chatting. Naturally, we’re not claiming it to be true. The former ruler of Li’er Country led by example, fighting against the shark demon to protect the people of the nation. It’s remarkable, truly impressive! We all admire him!”
Though the praise sounded slightly insincere, Zanxing pondered whether to add a few more genuine-sounding words. Just then, Mimi, beside her, suddenly growled and tensed up, her fur bristling. Before Zanxing could react, she heard screams in the distance. Looking up, she saw chaos erupting on the beach, with people scattering in all directions, interspersed with terrified shouts.
“Help! Help! Someone’s dead!”
“Monster! There’s a monster!”
“The monster’s killing people!”
Tian Fangfang jumped in surprise. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“There’s a demonic aura ahead,” Gu Baiying frowned, looking in the direction of the fleeing crowd. “I’ll go check it out.”
On the sandy shore of the western coast, civilians quickly dispersed under the command of the city guards. When Zanxing and her group arrived at the inn, they found it already surrounded by the guards. Seeing them approach, a guard asked, “Who goes there?”
Meng Ying showed the pass distributed by the former ruler to the guard. After inspecting it, the guard sheathed his sword and respectfully said, “So it’s a few immortal elders from the Taiyan Sect. Please come in.”
“What’s happening here?” Mu Cengxiao asked. “Is there a demonic disturbance?”
“It’s hard to explain in just a few words,” the guard appeared somewhat uneasy. “It’s better for the immortal elders to go in and see for yourselves.”
There were several inns near the beach in Li’er Country. The Xian Xun Hai inn where Zanxing stayed was closer to the city, offering the best scenery and convenience for shopping, but also charging higher prices. Wealthy local families and officials from Li’er Country occasionally stayed at the other end, closer to the depths of the mangrove forest, where prices were much cheaper but the scenery was still pleasant.
The inn where the incident occurred was situated near the mangrove forest.
As soon as they entered the inn, Mimi leaped off Tian Fangfang’s shoulder with a whoosh and darted off in a certain direction. The others followed and found Rong Yu, the disciple from the Liuli Sect whom they had encountered earlier in the day, holding Mimi with a look of astonishment as they approached a room.
“Rong Yu?” Zanxing asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw a pharmacy nearby and came out to find some herbs for my senior brother. Along the way, I heard about the incident here, so I came to take a look,” he replied. Before he could finish speaking, another familiar figure appeared from behind him. It was none other than Tan Tianxin and his companions from the Chihua Sect.
Tan Tianxin probably didn’t expect to encounter Zanxing and the others here and was momentarily stunned.
Seeing the slight bruising on Rong Yu’s face, Zanxing understood. Could it be that he ran into trouble again after encountering Tan Tianxin and his group here?
Not wanting to engage in pleasantries with them, Gu Baiying pushed past and entered the room, asking, “What’s with the strong smell of blood?”
Zanxing hurriedly followed suit.
It was a small single-room guest room. As soon as they entered, they were hit by a strong stench of blood. Looking around, they saw splatters of blood all over the room — on the ceiling, walls, and floor. The white canopy above the bed was almost completely dyed red with blood. On the bed lay a ‘person,’ though it was hard to tell as they appeared more like a withered tree trunk, with dry skin clinging to bones and deeply sunken eye sockets.
Zanxing was completely unprepared for this scene and let out a gasp. Gu Baiying turned back, asking, “What’s the noise?”
Zanxing quickly grabbed his arm and held it in front of her, whispering, “Dead body.”
Having lived for so long, she had indeed seen her fair share of dead bodies, but this was the first time she had witnessed such a gruesome sight. The horror of the scene was enough to haunt her dreams tonight.
“Let go,” Gu Baiying said, annoyed.
After hesitating for a moment, Zanxing finally made up her mind. She closed her eyes and released his arm, turning away from the corpse on the bed before daring to open her eyes again. Just as she opened her eyes, a voice from outside the door, tinged with undisguised mockery, rang out, “I never expected that the new female disciple of the Taiyan Sect would be such a coward, even afraid of dead bodies.”