Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Deep within the Ruins of Return was a vast and shadowy lake. At its center stood a jagged and rugged island, scattered with faint traces of ancient buildings.

This was Merfolk Island.

Few sea demons were worthy of entering the Ruins of Return, and even fewer could survive the dry conditions at its center. Only the merfolk had the power to create a livable space in such harsh conditions.

As envoys of the Hallowed Mother, the merfolk held a revered place among sea demons.

Finding this secluded place wasn’t difficult. Wang Xuanling and his two disciples intercepted a straggling sea demon, "politely" asked, and got their answer.

The golden loach had returned to Xu Ziyang earlier. He released it again, and the creature slipped into the water, circled once, and swiftly shot off in one direction.

Chu Liang had asked about it earlier. The creature was called "Xunlong," a mystical spirit beast that could track items through spiritual sensing. Anything it had seen up close could be found again. Despite its ordinary appearance as a large golden loach, fewer than three existed in the world.

Xu Ziyang had found the loach frozen in a hidden realm, rescued it, and earned its loyalty. Since then, the creature recognized Xu Ziyang as its master.

As for the age of this creature, it was at least three thousand years old.

As they crossed the waters to Merfolk Island, the three concealed themselves carefully. The loach, slower on land, lagged behind. Fortunately, most of the merfolk had left the island and they could easily avoid the remaining small number of merfolks.

After weaving through the island, they arrived at a reef on the far side.

A mermaid stood at the edge, gazing over the lake. Her black hair flowed behind her slender frame, and she radiated an ethereal presence.

Xu Ziyang stepped forward. At the sound of his footsteps, the girl turned.

She was indeed the merfolk princess.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of Xu Ziyang. "Young hero?"

However, she quickly noticed the two figures behind him—an old man who hardly looked trustworthy and a baby-faced youth who was smiling at her.

The merfolk princess grew cautious, tensing up once more. Likely due to her recent encounters with danger, she straightened and took a step back, ready to dive into the water at any moment.

"Princess, don't worry. This is my teacher and junior brother. We mean no harm," Xu Ziyang said clearly.

Hearing his deep, steady voice filled with sincerity, the merfolk princess hesitated but slowly lowered her guard.

"Why have you come to my Merfolk Island?" she asked.

"Princess, we specifically came to see you," Xu Ziyang said honestly.

"Ah…" The merfolk princess murmured, lowering her head in surprise. "W-Why would you come all this way for me? We only met by chance. I don’t even know your name… and you brought your family too… How does that make sense? And…"

"Princess, what do you mean?" Xu Ziyang asked in a puzzled tone. "There are now traitors who are using the Hallowed Mother's name to stir up chaos in the South Sea. We came to warn you. Who else would we tell if not you?"

"Oh." The merfolk princess quickly lifted her head, the flush on her cheeks fading instantly. She casually brushed her hair aside. "So it’s about that."

"Princess, are you alright?" Xu Ziyang asked.

"I’m fine," the merfolk princess replied with a smile.

She paused, then her eyes widened suddenly. "What?! Someone is faking the Hallowed Mother's decree and causing chaos in the South Sea?"

Xu Ziyang looked puzzled, thinking to himself, She seems smart, so why does she suddenly seem not so bright?

Chu Liang shot a teasing glance at Wang Xuanling and whispered, "Senior Brother Xu is usually sharp. Why is he so clueless about things like this?"

"There's no helping it," Wang Xuanling said. Then, as if recalling something, he sighed and added, "Disciples always take after their teachers."

Chu Liang’s eyes widened. "We were just talking. Why insult me?"

…

After settling down for a long discussion, the three men explained everything to the merfolk princess.

The merfolk royal family all bore the surname Baozhu, and the princess’ full name was Baozhu Liange. And so, the three addressed her as Princess Liange.[1]

After hearing Chu Liang’s deduction, Princess Liange frowned deeply. "I sensed something was wrong last time. The Hallowed Mother's decree, usually delivered by the golden toad, would always feel warm and gentle. But this time, it was icy cold. Still, the Sea Master insisted on carrying it out, and my mother felt we couldn’t disobey it."

"They likely targeted you because they feared you would uncover the deception and expose their scheme," Chu Liang said.

"Yes!" Princess Liange stood up. "I must inform my mother immediately. She must lead the sea demons against the Sea Master! We can't let him start a war and bring chaos into our homeland."

The queen of the merfolks held great prestige among the sea demons. If anyone could openly oppose the Sea Master, it would be her.

In truth, tensions between the merfolk queen and the Sea Master had existed for years.

The Ruins of Return Cult, led by the Sea Master, was originally founded to protect the Ruins of Return and uphold the sanctity of the Hallowed Mother from outsiders.

However, under the Sea Master's leadership over the past few centuries, the cult grew increasingly aggressive, expanding beyond the Ruins of Return.

They began hunting humans, killing countless fishermen, which led to many cultivators launching a campaign to encircle and eliminate them.

Obviously, the sea demons supported such acts of vengeance, but the queen of the merfolks believed that this would instead spark greater conflict. She wished for the Sea Master to focus solely on guarding the Ruins of Return.

Scattered across the vast ocean, the sea demons were already disorganized. With two leaders who often disagreed, unity was impossible.

The only reason they had managed to unite and launch an assault on the nine provinces was the supposed will of the Hallowed Mother.

If the decree was proven false, the merfolk queen’s call to action would surely rally the majority of sea demons who sought peace.

Princess Liange led the three along the waterways to the heart of Merfolk Island, where they arrived at a grand palace.

By the standards of the Ruins of Return, the palace was luxurious, though it really was just a simple white structure with no decorations at all. Based on the color, this palace seemed to be built by the bones of a colossal creature.

With the princess leading the way, the merfolk guards did not stop them and the group managed to arrive at the great hall smoothly.

Atop the platform sat a pool, with a throne resting within it. The merfolk queen lounged on the throne, her well-proportioned figure draped in golden silk robes. Her long hair cascaded down as she lifted her sharp gaze, eyeing the group with clear hostility.

"Liange, how dare you bring human cultivators here?" the queen asked sternly. "Did they threaten you?"

"No, Mother!" Princess Liange quickly explained. "Young Hero Xu is the one who saved me. They mean no harm. I came to tell you about the Sea Master’s schemes!"

Without delay, she told her mother everything Chu Liang had told her, which was basically about how the golden toad was a fake and that it was all a scheme by the Celestial Charm Sect.

A long silence followed.

After a moment of deep thought, the merfolk queen suddenly flew up.

"Follow me," she said.

Princess Liange obeyed her mother without question. Xu Ziyang and the others, unsure of what was happening, followed closely behind.

She circled around the throne and pressed something behind it, activating a hidden mechanism. The wall shifted open, revealing a vast golden pool. Its surface was so still it looked like solid gold.

"If you wish to find proof that the golden toad is fake, you must dive downward," the merfolk queen declared before leaping into the pool.

Princess Liange hesitated for a moment before following her mother.

Wang Xuanling exchanged glances with his two disciples before diving in as well. Because the pool was entirely golden, they could not see clearly. They could only rely on their divine sense to detect what was ahead and follow Princess Liange's shadow downward.

Though the pool appeared small, it was astonishingly deep. After a long descent, they reached the bottom and found a cavern.

As they entered the cavern, they realized that it was completely dry inside. Not a drop of the golden water outside had seeped through the opening of the cavern.

Yet, upon entering the cavern, they found only Princess Liange while the merfolk queen was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is my mother?" Princess Liange asked, staring at the three in confusion.

"Shit." Chu Liang immediately sensed something was wrong, but just as he tried to turn back, something unexpected happened right before his eyes.

The golden pool outside the cavern solidified almost instantly, transforming into a massive, solid gold pillar that sealed the entrance completely.

"A trap?"

Wang Xuanling furrowed his brows, raising the Demon-Slaying Sword and slashing down with force.

Slash!

The blade cut through, carving a crack several chi long. But it was clear that digging their way out this way would take an indeterminate amount of time.

"Chu Liang, it seems we’ll need your spirit beast, Tuntun," Wang Xuanling said.

Hah. When you don’t need it, you call it the Heaven-Devouring Bug. When you do need it, it’s Tuntun, Chu Liang grumbled inwardly. As he stared at the massive golden pillar brimming with spiritual energy, he mumbled to himself, "Wouldn’t this fill Tuntun to about eighty percent?"

As the three pondered how to break out of the cavern, the voice of the merfolk queen echoed from outside.

"This is the Merfolk Cavern. Go forward. Everything you wish to know can be found within."

…

"Merfolk Cavern?" Princess Liange looked utterly surprised upon hearing her mother’s voice. She muttered, "This is a forbidden ground for the merfolk, accessible only to the queens of each generation. So this is where it is?"

"The queen of each generation?"

Wang Xuanling, Xu Ziyang, and Chu Liang exchanged glances.

After a moment of thought, Chu Liang said, "I think we should go in and take a look. If the merfolk queen's goal was to trap us, she wouldn't use her only daughter as bait. I believe she must have something important she wants us to know."

"Then why not just tell us directly? Why would she use such a method?" Wang Xuanling asked.

"Maybe we’ll understand once we see it," Chu Liang said as he drew the Ghost-Slaying Sword of Divine Light, using its red glow to light up the cavern ahead. Then, he took a stride forward and led the way.

It was yet another narrow passage. The four of them proceeded cautiously, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, they noticed a change in the walls around them. The tough golden hue gave way to a raised black surface, with various carvings beginning to appear.

"This seems to be a mural, telling an ancient story..." Chu Liang said, gently brushing his hand over it.

Above the mural, intricate symbols were etched.

Chu Liang commented, "These seem like… words?"

"This is the ancient script of the merfolk," Princess Liange replied.

"You can read it?" Chu Liang asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Not a single word," Princess Liange answered.

Great. Our Princess is a pretty but illiterate person.

Noticing the look in their eyes, Princess Liange blushed and said, "The ancient script is extremely complex. We now use human writing, so we don’t use this anymore… But I brought a jade slip with the words written down. I can cross-reference them."

She quickly took out a jade slip and began translating.

While Princess Liange frowned cutely as she read each word, Chu Liang and the others spent their time examining the murals on the entire wall.

The murals appeared to show the changes the world went through from ancient times.

The sky shattered, the earth cracked, and endless floods and fires rained down from above. The creatures on land had nowhere to flee, and the torrential rains quickly merged with the sea, submerging the land.

Amidst this chaos, the Hallowed Mother in the sea attained the ninth realm, becoming a cultivator of the Profound Realm.

In the mural, she was depicted as a merfolk surrounded by a radiant halo.

The Hallowed Mother, full of compassion, protected the creatures who fell from the land into the sea, building the Ruins of Return to shelter them. She sustained their lives at the bottom of the sea for many years.

Things remained peaceful until this very day...

As lightning flashed, the Hallowed Mother fell in a storm of divine lightning. The mural depicting the scene in the sky was blurry, likely because the painter had not been able to see it clearly. Only splashes of color captured the chaotic event.

However, it was clear that a few small human figures watched the entire scene unfold from far across the sea.

Eh? Chu Liang thought to himself. This scene looks exactly like the depiction of the Dragon God’s fall in the Blue Dragon's hidden realm.

Who are these people who appear whenever a ninth-realm existence falls? Who are they? Could they be the ones responsible for all of this?

Chu Liang had so many questions and no answers at all.

The final scene in the mural showed the sea gradually receding after the Hallowed Mother’s fall, and the earth resurfacing. The creatures of the Ruins of Return returned to the land.

Many sea creatures gathered around the Ruins of Return, surrounding the Hallowed Mother’s body.

In the previous mural, she had vanished. Yet, in this one, she lay peacefully as though simply asleep, ready to awaken at any moment.

"What does this mean..." Chu Liang murmured.

At that moment, Princess Liange read her translation aloud. "Reform the Great Dao of the Bottomless Sea again, and the Hallowed Mother shall be...

"Resurrected?!"

1. Her surname means “precious pearl” and her given name means “lotus song”. ☜

GLTD Alternate Universe's Thoughts

Translator: GT