Half submerged in seawater and half dry land, the Jiao person’s cave did not feel dark and damp at all.
Inside the cave was a volcanic vent spewing earth fire, where scalding magma flowed through smaller fissures, sending up billows of white steam.
The sea urchins the merman used to treat guests were likely a demon beast species.
In any case, Nan Zhi had never seen basketball-sized, plump, roe-packed orange-red sea urchins in the real world.
Eaten raw, there wasn't the slightest fishy smell—only a subtle fresh sweetness and a rich, delicate graininess.
Nan Zhi scooped up a piece and fed it to Hongluo, which the little hedgehog munched on happily.
On the other side of the cave, the large-tailed Jiao person feeding the little merfolk cast a disapproving look her way.
It was as if he were looking at a misbehaving child, but he didn't say anything.
Nan Zhi turned back around to observe the little Jiao children.
The cave was not very large and had only a single exit. Crawling on the ground and floating in the water were roughly thirteen or fourteen little Jiao children.
The older ones resembled human children around ten years old, while the younger ones looked to be merely one or two, not yet even able to grasp things. They were tied with seaweed, anchored to the reef on the other end.
The tail scales of these little Jiao children were all flawed or missing, and their colors varied.
Colorful fish scales fallen into the water radiated a jewel-like luster, but bloody pits were left behind on their fish tails.
Nan Zhi observed them for a moment, and seeing that most of the little Jiao children were physically impaired, a guess formed in her mind.
She had once heard Hai Ying mention that the black mist of the Wuwang Sea not only affected demon race reproduction, but also caused mutations in unborn demon cubs.
Although the Jiao people had half-human bodies, they were oviparous.
Every spring, the Jiao people would mate under the moonlight. Then, on the second full moon of the following spring, they would make nests of Jiao Silk and lay their eggs amidst the undersea reef forests.
The Nine Bends and Eighteen Gorges had originally been the territory of the Jiao people, so it was hardly surprising that some remained.
The demon race worshipped strength; these impaired little Jiao children were likely eighty to ninety percent certain to have been abandoned here by their parents and clans.
However, she didn't know why this male Jiao person with a pale red tail would appear near a Sky Demon stronghold.
With Nan Zhi present, Hongluo grew a bit bolder. Transforming into human form, she hugged Nan Zhi's arm and peeked at the little Jiao children with curious eyes.
—The little hedgehog had only ever read about merfolk in storybooks. Even when she occasionally saw cultivators from the Jiao People Kingdom these days, most had already transformed their tails into legs.
[Ga-ah, ga-ah...]
[The sea urchin spirit! The sea urchin spirit grew legs!]
[Ahhh... Ahhhhh...]
The group of little Jiao children were startled, plunging into the water one after another like dumplings into a pot, leaving only their eyes poking out to stare at Nan Zhi and Hongluo.
Their tiny, multicolored tails slapped the water's surface, making crisp splashing sounds.
“Don’t be afraid. This big sister is called Hongluo. She only wants to be friends with you.”
Nan Zhi casually picked up a hard sea urchin from the ground whose spines were still wiggling, cracked it open gently, and revealed the orange-yellow roe inside:
“Come here. I won't hurt you.”
The little Jiao children nudged one another. Not far away, the red-tailed male Jiao person sitting beside the volcanic vent showed no reaction.
It seemed he had no intention of stopping Nan Zhi from talking to the children.
Enticed by the food, a Jiao girl with sickly pale skin, hair, and eyelashes swam over timidly, attempting to take the segment of sea urchin:
[Thank you.]
The Jiao voice was slender and ethereal, like singing when they spoke. Nan Zhi couldn't resist reaching out to pat her head.
Perhaps due to being an aquatic creature, her skin felt quite cool to the touch. Beneath her damp hair was a pair of pointed elven ears.
—A Jiao person's ears typically looked like half-opened small fans, but this white little Jiao child's ears were clearly somewhat... unusual.
She looked remarkably like an elf from Western mythology.
[Ugly.]
Sensing Nan Zhi's gaze, the little Jiao shrank back into the water, slowly blowing a bubble:
[Sorry.]
“Why are you apologizing?”
Nan Zhi scooped the little Jiao child out of the water, pulled her into her embrace, and deftly brought out a bottle of spirit beast pills to coax the child:
“You don't need to hide. Your ears are very pretty—pointed, like a pair of uniquely shaped earrings.”
[Sweet!]
Caught off guard, the white Jiao gasped softly. In the next second, she found herself nestled in a warm embrace with a sweet, fragrant big black pellet popped into her mouth.
She blinked uncertainly, her white eyelashes fluttering like a doll's:
[Sweet.]
Hearing this, the little Jiao children in the water swarmed forward, reaching out with their scaled hands to touch Nan Zhi, chattering excitedly:
[Me too! I want sweet too!]
[You can touch my tail, here!]
[Human, good! Good human!]
[Sea urchin spirit, not scary!]
[This sea urchin spirit is nice!]
“Don’t fight over them, Hongluo has some here too!”
This was the first time Hongluo had ever seen so many demon race cubs younger than herself. She immediately took out spirit beast pills generously and distributed them to the other little Jiao children:
“Every demon gets one, no need to fight!”
The male Jiao person's gaze upon Hongluo shifted repeatedly. In the end, looking thoroughly conflicted, he turned back to ask Nan Zhi:
[Is it your emergency ration? Human, why are you giving food to your emergency ration?]
—He still thought Hongluo was a sea urchin and considered the act of feeding an “emergency ration” utterly extravagant.
Nan Zhi: “...”
Don't listen, Hongluo. It's just hate comments.
...
It was hard to say whether this male Jiao person was simply thick-skinned and carefree or far too trusting of humans.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, he actually left Nan Zhi alone in the cave with the swarm of little Jiao children without a worry. With a flick of his tail, he shot into the water like an arrow and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Coming and going in haste with an eccentric personality, Nan Zhi hadn't even managed to ask his name.
But it wasn't good for her to linger either, so she planned to leave behind two bottles of spirit beast pills and depart.
“Miss, let’s stay for half a day!”
Seeing the little Jiao children covered in wounds, Hongluo couldn't help pleading:
“That Jiao person looks like a simpleton who doesn't know how to care for cubs at all. Look, I just applied medicine to them, but the wounds on these little ones are still bleeding... I've been learning to read from Auntie Wanniang lately and learned some medical methods. Let me treat them, alright?”
In folklore, hedgehogs were known as “White Immortals,” possessing an innate talent for the medical path.
Although Nan Zhi had never forced Hongluo to study, the little girl was ambitious and had studied medical classics on her own, already capable of treating simple external injuries.
—Nan Zhi had even bought her a small medicine chest at the Sea Market, packed with the medicine pestle and medicine hoe obtained from lottery draws, as well as some ordinary pills.
“Staying for half a day is fine too...”
Nan Zhi was just about to speak when her nose twitched. Her expression shifting slightly, she readily amended:
“It just so happens that slaughtering Sky Demons these past few days has been rather tiring. Since our host has warmly invited us, resting our feet here for a while sounds good.”
Hongluo let out a soft cheer, immediately retrieved the medicine chest from her storage bag, and sat on the ground applying ointment to the scales of the little Jiao children.
Having never seen a medicine chest before, the little Jiao children assumed it was some novel toy and all gathered around, waiting obediently.
Nan Zhi settled Hongluo in, then dove into the water and followed the direction in which the merman had left to investigate.
Passing through a colossal fish skeleton, sunlight filtered through the seawater in delicate strands, revealing a small patch of multicolored coral reef at the end of the cave.
This coral reef looked as though it had been there for a considerable amount of time.
Within an irregular curved circle, corals of powder-blue, greenish-yellow, dark green, peach-pink, vermilion, and rouge intertwined in diverse shapes—some resembled deer antlers or branching boughs, while others were as vast as cottages or mushroom-shaped.
Black spherical sea urchins lay scattered across the coral reef, stretching out their long spines to their hearts' content.
The silhouette of the male Jiao person darted back and forth among the coral reefs, as busy as a hardworking farmer.
This fellow was actually farming right under the noses of the Sky Demons.
Nan Zhi's eyelid twitched.
Once in the water, the Jiao people had a natural advantage. His red tail was exceptionally agile; with a single flick, it cut through the waves, shooting forward several zhang like a sword.
Whenever a Sky Demon occasionally descended upon this “sea urchin field,” the Jiao person would open his mouth and emit a shrill whistle to drive the enemy away, his exquisite, beautiful face brimming with fury.
—He was practically like an old farmer watching his crop fields being trampled.
What kind of undersea farming novel was this even?
Rate on N.U.
