What Li Xian referred to were the clan members sealed in the bubbles.
Since Li Xian had Li Yuan's memories, he could empathize more deeply with their pain and sorrow.
Although he had grown up on land since childhood, never having contact with mermaids and lacking any family affection with his relatives, the bond of blood still made Li Xian desperately hope that he could find a way to solve the divine punishment and rescue his clan.
"That's true..."
If someone had already found a way to solve the divine punishment, they would have come back to rescue their clan long ago. In that case, the current Mermaid Palace would not be so desolate.
After passing through this area full of bubbles that sealed the mermaids, the two came to a long corridor. They had to pass through this corridor to reach the tenth floor.
The tenth floor was the inheritance land of the mermaids. Li Xian also needed to awaken the sword spirit in his hand there and form a contract with the sword.
As they walked in this silent corridor, the only sound they could hear was the gurgling of water. Apart from that, it was deathly silent.
But Shen Qing inexplicably felt that there were eyes staring at them in the dark. However, when she spread out her spiritual sense, she found nothing. So she could only comfort herself that she was overthinking.
Noticing Shen Qing's uneasiness, Li Xian comforted her, "There is water pressure underwater, and the situation is much more complicated than on land. It's normal for you to feel uncomfortable."
"In the Mermaid Palace, only those mermaids in the bubbles still have a glimmer of breath. Other than that, only the two of us are moving freely."
"There are restrictions and magic formations on the corals outside the Mermaid Palace. Ordinary sea beasts are not allowed to enter."
Li Xian kept talking, trying to distract Shen Qing.
He didn't know if Shen Qing had been frightened by the sealed mermaids just now. He regretted not explaining the situation here to her in advance, so as to avoid scaring her when she saw them suddenly.
Shen Qing shook her head. After hearing Ling Zhou say in her mind that there was nothing abnormal nearby, she smiled bitterly and thought that she might be too sensitive.
Perhaps the successive events in recent days had made her a bit exhausted.
Seeing that Shen Qing's complexion looked better, Li Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This dark corridor was very long, but with Shen Qing consciously quickening her pace, the two soon passed through it. At the end of the corridor was a short flight of stairs.
There was an ancient-looking door on the stairs. The door was carved with the unique characters of the mermaid clan, written densely. Coupled with the carvings and patterns on the door, it looked extremely majestic.
Behind this door was the inheritance land of the mermaids.
Before Shen Qing could step onto the stairs, she was blocked by an invisible barrier.
Li Xian turned around in surprise and saw Shen Qing shrugging helplessly. "This is the inheritance land of your clan. I'm not a member of your clan, so naturally I can't go in."
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of myself outside. You can focus on going in to awaken the sword spirit."
Li Xian quickly walked down the stairs and said firmly, "That won't do! I know you'll be scared if you're alone here. If you feel uneasy, we'll come back another time."
"No! That's not possible!"
Shen Qing immediately refused sternly. "We came here through the whirlpool. That whirlpool should only appear during the breeding season of the dragon-horned fish. We just happened to come here by chance."
"If we rely on luck next time, we don't know if we can come back here. Since you've already come here, don't let other things distract you."
Li Xian frowned, his eyes filled with deep worry.
"You'll be alone..."
Shen Qing raised her eyebrows and interrupted Li Xian directly. "Fellow Daoist Li, when did you become so indecisive? My cultivation is not much lower than yours. Moreover, I have Wu Wang and some other skills you don't know about. Why do you have to worry so much?"
Seeing Shen Qing smiling confidently in front of him, that bright and flamboyant smile made his heart tremble deeply.
Yes, Shen Qing was not a delicate flower. She was a tough vine, a sturdy tree, but never a dodder flower that relied on others.
He always imposed the emotions from his parents' affairs onto himself and Shen Qing.
His excessive worry along the way had also made him moody and indecisive.
Thinking of this, Li Xian smiled with relief.
"Yes, yes, yes. Our Fairy Shen is brave, careful, and highly cultivated. Naturally, all evils will retreat, and no evil spirits will dare to approach."
Shen Qing put her hands on her hips and pretended to be dissatisfied. "Well, you little brat from the Li family, how dare you make fun of me!"
After joking around for a while, the uneasiness in their hearts gradually dissipated.
"Shen Qing, I'm going in. If you're really scared, go to the lower floors where there is light. Wait for me to come out, and then I'll look for you."
Shen Qing nodded. Not wanting Li Xian to be distracted at this critical moment, she generously pushed him up the stairs. "Stop being so wordy. Go in earlier and come out earlier."
Li Xian nodded helplessly, walked up the stairs, looked back and smiled at Shen Qing, then used a secret method to open the door leading to the inheritance land.
The heavy stone door slowly opened, and there was a bright light inside. Li Xian lifted his foot and walked into the light, while the heavy stone door slowly closed in front of Shen Qing.
With Li Xian gone, the uneasiness in Shen Qing's heart came back, even stronger than before.
She took out several sound-transmitting jade pendants from her storage bag and placed them in prominent positions in the corridor. She also pasted two or thirty sound-transmitting talismans in prominent places.
After finishing the arrangement, Shen Qing didn't say a word. She summoned Wu Wang, held the sword in her hand, and then quickly passed through the dark corridor at her fastest speed.
The feeling of being watched came back again. Shen Qing adjusted her attention to the highest level and didn't dare to stop.
It wasn't until she returned to the hall where the mermaids were sealed that Shen Qing still didn't stop. She quickly shuttled through the bubbles.
Whether it was a psychological effect or not, Shen Qing felt that the faces of the sealed mermaids looked more ferocious.
In the bubbles, their figures floated up and down, as if they were going to break out of the bubbles the next second.
"Little disciple, why are you running so fast? It's as if someone is chasing you behind. Didn't I just say that there are no other living beings in the Mermaid Palace except these mermaids?"
Ling Zhou's voice appeared in Shen Qing's mind, full of confusion.
Shen Qing didn't have time to answer Ling Zhou. She quickly shuttled through the bubbles, then returned to the corridor where they started. After passing through a few turns, she returned to the eighth floor.
Only when she was in the light did Shen Qing feel that she could finally relax. The chill on her body was not so heavy.
"Master, maybe you'll laugh at me, but my intuition tells me that there's something strange about that floor just now. If I stay there alone and encounter danger, I won't be able to escape in time."
A cultivator's intuition was usually very accurate, especially for cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage. Their senses were more sensitive, and they were also very sensitive to the surrounding environment.
So when Shen Qing said that she felt uneasy, Ling Zhou didn't doubt her.
Instead, he thought that there might really be something wrong with the ninth floor, and he just couldn't detect it.