"Master, aren't you really sensing anything? There's definitely something off here!!"
Ling Zhou felt his scalp tingling. "There are really no living things in this Mermaid Palace! Could it be the work of ghosts? But there's no spiritual energy fluctuation!!"
Ling Zhou was even more on the verge of a breakdown than Shen Qing. As a cultivator, it was a bit embarrassing for him to be afraid of gods and ghosts. But in this situation, Ling Zhou didn't care about anything else.
"Where there's an anomaly, there must be something amiss. Someone must be pulling the strings. We're not sure if these mermaids will break through the bubbles. Master, be ready at any moment to lend me your power."
Shen Qing's face turned cold. There were dragon - horned fish eyeing them outside the Mermaid Palace, and inside, there were mermaids whose hostility was unknown.
It was truly a dilemma.
"Your hand!"
Shen Qing looked down and saw that the spiritual medicine on her hand had been completely soaked by the sea water. The cloth that had been binding it had come loose, and the blood from her palm seeped out and slowly spread into the water.
Before Shen Qing could treat her wound, the mermaids in those bubbles seemed to stir and made some noises.
Without even raising her head, Shen Qing immediately turned around and swam up a few levels.
"Little disciple, these mermaids aren't going to come back to life, are they..."
Ling Zhou's voice was tinged with anxiety. Being targeted by blood - thirsty mermaids was no joke.
Shen Qing swam with all four limbs. Her speed was not fast, but she was doing her best to accelerate.
"These mermaids were sealed on the ninth level. There's a formation nourishing them below, which means they're not completely dead."
"I'm afraid someone moved them down from the ninth level. Blood can awaken them. If they go crazy after smelling the blood on my hand, we're in trouble."
"I'm going to the eighth level now, to that warehouse filled with treasures. I'll try to close the door. That's the only safe place."
Shen Qing had a clear mind. In an instant, she swam to the third level.
She was constantly on edge, afraid of encountering those bubbles on the way.
Thankfully, she didn't see any bubbles floating down until she reached the fourth level.
"Little disciple, are you sure you want to go to the eighth level? The ninth level is full of sealed mermaids. If someone is up to something, they won't spare the mermaids on the ninth level!"
Shen Qing gritted her teeth and looked back from time to time to see if the mermaids were chasing her.
"The only truly safe place in this sealed Mermaid Palace is that warehouse. I don't think there's anywhere else I can hide!"
"Let's take a gamble!"
When she reached the seventh level, Shen Qing felt that the wound on her hand had split more severely, and fatigue was slowly creeping over her.
But there was only one more level to reach the warehouse on the eighth level, and she didn't want to relax in this situation.
But just as she continued to swim, she felt something grab her ankle. Looking back, Shen Qing's eyes widened.
Somehow, those three mermaids had swum behind her silently. She hadn't felt a thing.
"It's those mermaids. They broke through the bubbles!!"
"But... why didn't I sense them at all!"
Ling Zhou's voice was extremely anxious. He had only been focused on keeping an eye on the front for Shen Qing and hadn't noticed the little tails following behind.
Moreover, if they were truly living things, he should have detected them long ago, not just now.
Shen Qing had the same thought. If they were living things, with her cultivation, she couldn't have failed to sense them!
But now wasn't the time to think about these things. She kicked her feet, only to find that the mermaid was holding onto her ankle tightly, its face contorted, but it didn't move.
"Strange. Why aren't they moving?"
Shen Qing gritted her teeth and kicked the mermaid holding her foot away with her other free foot.
The mermaid's body was kicked backward, but in the next instant, all three mermaids blinked their eyes simultaneously, and their red pupils emitted a strange light.
They opened their mouths and let out angry roars. The remaining two mermaids swam towards Shen Qing at an extremely fast speed.
They stretched out their claws and attacked Shen Qing's throat. In the water, Shen Qing couldn't dodge in time and had to take out Wu Wang to block. However, her arm was still accidentally scratched by these two mermaids.
In the water, the speed of any movement would slow down a bit, let alone running away. In front of the mermaids, her swimming speed was nothing to write home about.
In a place with water pressure, it was impossible to exert pressure on these mermaids. It would be completely useless.
After the kicked - away mermaid recovered, it also swam over at an extremely fast speed. The three mermaids surrounded Shen Qing in the middle.
Their eyes were full of hunger for prey. After being sealed for thousands of years, their movements weren't very flexible. When they swam, Shen Qing could even hear the creaking sound of their bones rubbing against each other.
"Human... Kill... Kill you..."
The mermaid in front of Shen Qing suddenly spoke. Shen Qing was a bit surprised.
So these mermaids could talk.
"I came here with no ill intentions. I want to help you return to normal!"
Shen Qing tried to communicate with the mermaid in front of her but found that it just blinked its eyes, seemingly not understanding what she was saying.
After this mermaid spoke, the other two mermaids repeated what the first one had said.
"Human... Kill... Kill... Kill!"
As soon as the words were out, they all stretched out their sharp claws and launched an attack on Shen Qing. In the water, their attacks were extremely fierce and were not hindered by the water at all.
Shen Qing could only barely block two strikes under the guidance of Wu Wang. But their claws were long, thin, and sharp. After just a few strikes, there were more and more wounds on her body.
The blood seeping from these wounds also excited the three mermaids, and they made incomprehensible sounds with their mouths.
"Little disciple, the blood on your body is making them even more excited. The best thing to do now is to escape quickly. You can't beat them in the water."
Shen Qing gritted her teeth and quickly searched her mind for a way to get out.
When the mermaids launched their next attack, she took out several spiritual fruits from her storage bag that Xian Shiyu had stuffed in it for her.
She gently crushed the spiritual fruits, and the red juice instantly diluted in the water. The mermaids couldn't tell where Shen Qing was anymore and had to stop in place.
These spiritual fruits were called snake fruits. Their juice was sweet but as brightly colored as blood, which was just what she needed.
Shen Qing crushed more than twenty snake fruits in a row. The juice of those snake fruits spread in the water, looking like a blood mist had exploded.
The mermaids smelled the blood - like smell in the juice and swam towards the water without hesitation.
But before they could catch Shen Qing, Shen Qing detonated the blasting talismans she had placed in the water.
The blasting talismans exploded, and the three mermaids were instantly pushed away by the impact force along with the water flow and slammed hard into the wall.
Taking this opportunity, Shen Qing said to Wu Wang, "Wu Wang, take me to that warehouse."
Wu Wang understood Shen Qing's order and didn't dare to stop. He quickly took Shen Qing and flew away.
The sword encountered less resistance in the water, so its speed was much faster. The three mermaids chased after Shen Qing relentlessly but couldn't catch up for the time being.