Chapter Seventy-Three Shrimp and Crab

After the golden-scaled carp demon landed its strike, it did not immediately withdraw. Instead, it pulled out the golden-scaled spear and aimed to stab once more toward Su Bufan’s heart as he fell helplessly toward the seabed.

“Are you truly going to kill Prince Su?” the silver-scaled shad demon cried, ramming the golden-scaled carp aside and questioning it.

“This is the Second Prince’s order—do you dare defy it? Kill him, dismember him, grind his bones to dust! If you dare block my way today, I will surely report you to the Second Prince!” The golden-scaled carp’s eyes burned with pain. It was a fish demon new to cultivation, unable to suppress its savage nature, and it snarled viciously at the silver-scaled shad.

The mention of the Second Prince immediately dampened the shad’s resolve. Even as it clutched the gauzy shark silk handkerchief the little princess had entrusted to it, it could not muster enough courage to argue further with the carp demon.

“Damn it, he’s gotten away!” The delay caused by their dispute meant Su Bufan had already vanished into the ocean depths, his blood dispersed by the currents, leaving nothing for the carp demon to track.

“You take the humans in the cave back to the Dragon Palace and report in. I’ll pursue him alone!” The golden-scaled carp, its injured eye brimming with blood, glared furiously at the shad and shouted.

It then hefted its golden spear, flicked its fish tail, and shot off in pursuit of Su Bufan, sinking deeper into the sea, without even calling the green-shelled crab soldiers to follow.

“Little Princess, this is all I can do for you,” the silver-scaled shad sighed softly.

It paid no heed to the now-blind blue shrimp soldiers, and, holding its silver hammer, swam into the coral cavern, gazing at the group of humans in the bubble at its center.

“It’s your fault for misleading Prince Su. Why else would he have stolen the Stabilizing Pearl?” The shad’s bulbous eyes bulged with rage, nearly popping from its head.

“That fish demon can speak our tongue?” Su Yuanbai asked in surprise. On land, the spirits and monsters of the twelve provinces could speak like humans and observe demon etiquette, thanks to the existence of the Institute of Taming. But surely there was no such institute in the depths of the sea?

“Ever since the Divine Emperor ascended the Heavenly Tree, all demons have taken pride in learning human speech and attaining human form. Besides, this vast sea was enfeoffed by the Divine Emperor himself. In the Dragon Palace beneath the waves, nearly every demon can speak our language. Even the tiniest shrimp, yet untransformed, can likely utter a few words,” Xie Miu’an explained calmly from the side.

“So that’s how it is,” Su Yuanbai nodded slightly.

Seeing the humans in the bubble ignore it and converse amongst themselves, the shad demon’s fury soared even higher. Yet it retained a shred of reason and did not smash the bubble with its silver hammer, which would have drowned them all in the sea.

“Push the bubble out and escort it to the Dragon Palace!” the shad ordered the green-shelled crab soldiers outside the cave.

These crabs, not truly under the shad’s command but lacking the wit for much thought, obeyed when they saw their leader, the golden carp, had left. They scuttled inside, using their pincers to push the bubble out, heedless of the coral at the entrance.

Fortunately, the bubble Su Bufan had spat was sturdy; though battered by sharp pincers and squeezed by coral, it showed no sign of breaking.

The shad, accustomed to the crabs’ single-mindedness, swung its silver hammer, smashing away all the coral at the entrance. Then it performed a strange gesture.

It pursed its fishy lips and emitted an eerie string of syllables. Qu Hanchen winced, finding the sound harsh and unpleasant. Yet, the blind blue shrimp soldiers began to gather around the shad.

What happened next was horrifying. The crab soldiers, having pushed the bubble from the cave, sidled over to the blue shrimp. Without hesitation, they snapped off the shrimp’s heads with their pincers and began sucking out the blood and flesh.

The shad emitted another strange syllable, and the crabs immediately froze, as if petrified. Some had already stuffed translucent lobster meat into their mouths but did not chew or bite, letting it drift away with the current.

Qu Hanchen, startled by the scene, suddenly felt a chill down his back. His legs trembled uncontrollably—an instinctive terror seized him. He looked up through the dark waters. Illuminated by the ghostly glow of jellyfish, he could just make out a colossal, terrifying shadow gliding overhead, vast enough to blot out the sky.

The shad uttered another strange sound, and the crab soldiers resumed devouring the blue shrimp. A few shrimp tails still twitched.

“There are dragons patrolling these waters. The question is, how often do they pass, and how many layers of guards are there?” Xie Miu’an said, gazing upward at the passing shadow, arms wrapped around his soul-summoning banner.

“The more pressing issue is how we’re to solve the matter of breathing underwater. Should I teach you the Water Repelling Spell? It isn’t a core secret of Langhuan Palace—most cultivators know it anyway,” Xi Chunxue said, looking up at the fearsome shadow before quickly lowering her gaze to the people in the bubble.

“Though most Daoists know the Water Repelling Spell, each sect’s method varies. Would you really teach it to us? If Langhuan Palace holds you accountable, you may lose all your cultivation,” Xie Miu’an reminded her, his clouded eyes flicking to Xi Chunxue.

“They’ve already expelled me from the sect. There’s no reason they’d pursue it further,” Xi Chunxue replied calmly.

“If they were truly so ruthless, you’d have lost your powers long ago. Would they have let you keep your master’s treasure? The Book Pavilion of the Grains and Mountains isn’t yours alone—it belongs to Langhuan Palace. The fact that you still possess it means someone in the Palace is still protecting you. Don’t make things harder for them,” Xie Miu’an shook his head.

“It can be done,” Su Yuanbai said quietly to Xi Chunxue.

Xie Miu’an’s aged face twitched. He looked at Su Yuanbai’s calm expression, opened his mouth as if to speak, but finally closed it again and hugged his soul-summoning banner tighter.

Hearing Xie Miu’an’s counsel, Xi Chunxue felt her resolve to teach the spell fading. But at Su Yuanbai’s words, she hesitated once more.

Su Yuanbai seemed not to notice her uncertainty, his dark eyes steady as they waited for her answer.

Xi Chunxue took a deep breath, then slowly shook her head.