Pura said, "Master, it says that if you hold this in your mouth, you can breathe underwater."
"Bro, you can breathe in the sea just by holding this in your mouth? This isnât a trick, is it? Why donât you let me try it?" Qin Ziwu looked skeptical.
"Your intentions are a little too obvious," Qin Ziwen said, giving him a sideways glance.
Hearing this, Qin Ziwu chuckled sheepishly.
"Here, you try it." Qin Ziwen tossed the Spiritual Coral to Qin Ziwu.
"Youâre really giving it to me?" Qin Ziwu was pleasantly surprised.
Qin Ziwen said lightly, "You should probably wipe it before you use it. Who knows how many mouths have been on that coral."
Hearing his brother say that, Qin Ziwuâs expression stiffened. He suddenly felt that the coral in his hand was a bit stinky.
In the end, Qin Ziwu found a cloth and wiped the coral repeatedly before putting one end in his mouth and sinking into the sea.
After a good while, a head popped out of the water, and Qin Ziwu climbed out.
He ran over to Qin Ziwen and said hurriedly, "Bro, if you hold this coral in your mouth and breathe through your mouth, itâs really just like being on land.
Maybe even better. I feel like the air is even sweeter than on land, and my throat feels cool and refreshed."
"But there is one problem. Once itâs in your mouth, you canât talk underwater. The moment I try to speak, my mouth fills with water. Plus, itâs pretty uncomfortable having something in your mouth, and it makes your jaw a little sore after a while..." Qin Ziwu felt it was a bit strange.
"Any other downsides?" Qin Ziwen asked.
Qin Ziwu grew thoughtful. "Downsides? Let me think."
After thinking for a moment, he clapped his hands. "I remember now! You can only breathe through your mouth underwater, not your nose. If you try to breathe through your nose, youâll choke on water."
Qin Ziwen said to Pura, "Did you hear all that? Repeat these drawbacks to them. I need to see more sincerity. Do they expect me to go into the sea alone? I need 99 more of these corals."
Hearing his brotherâs words, Qin Ziwuâs mouth twitched slightly. He leaned close to his brotherâs ear and whispered, "Bro, arenât we being a little unreasonable? I feel like theyâre being pretty sincere."
Qin Ziwen nodded in deep agreement. "I also think my demands are a bit much."
Qin Ziwu was confused. âIf my brother knows that, why is he still making these demands?â
Qin Ziwenâs tone then shifted. "So, if they can meet even my outrageous demands, then they must be real saints, huh?"
Qin Ziwu suddenly realized. âThatâs right! If they can keep meeting such harsh conditions, it can only mean they have a much greater needâor it could even be a trap!â
From his contact with the Fishmen, he knew they were not simple creatures; they were pure carnivores.
Qin Ziwu became vigilant. "Is this a scam?"
"Letâs wait and see," Qin Ziwen said, unhurried. The other party had already invested too much.
They should be the ones in a hurry.
After a good while, ripples appeared on the surface of the sea, and a Fishman emerged.
It wasnât the same one as before. This one looked at Qin Ziwen with some fear, raised both its hands, and presented a seashell.
Qin Ziwen gave Pura a look, and Pura stepped forward to receive the seashell, which was the size of a pot lid.
Opening it revealed nine pieces of Spiritual Coral inside.
Counting the previous one, that made a total of ten Level 1 Marvels.
Qin Ziwen sighed in appreciation. âA big thanks to my top supporter. With this, Iâve already gathered one-tenth of what I need.â
This new Fishman chattered away, gesturing constantly with its hands.
Pura said, "Master, it says the previous Fishman relayed the message incorrectly, causing a misunderstanding. That one has been killed. Their tribeâs chief sincerely invites you into the sea."
"Looks like our Fishman Tribe chief is getting a little anxious. If we want to keep squeezing them for loot, weâll have to get up close and personal." Qin Ziwen waved a hand. "Letâs go. Since theyâre inviting us so earnestly, we might as well go take a look."
He didnât take too many people in his party; otherwise, it would be difficult to escape if things went south.
The seven-person team was assembled. Each person held a piece of Spiritual Coral in their mouth, while also carrying five units of Deep Sea Oxygen in their pockets just in case.
Treading water, the group submerged themselves into the sea one by one.
Beneath the surface, countless Fishmen drifted through the water.
Compared to how they were on shore, the Fishmen in the water were clearly much more agile.
From a distance, they looked like nimble dolphins.
They were densely packed all around, at least a hundred of them, surrounding the group in the middle.
Du Yu quietly moved closer to his lord, his right hand resting on the scimitar at his waist.
Qin Ziwen took a scale from his clothes. When they saw the scale, the crowd of Fishmen bowed their heads in submission.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out among the Fishmen up ahead.
Immediately after, the ranks parted, and a female Fishman nearly two meters long swam forward from the rear.
She was a good head taller than the surrounding Artisan Race Fishmen.
Compared to her, the nearby Artisan Race Fishmen looked like dwarves surrounding a princess.
Like the males, the female Fishman also had a protruding snout, small eyes, and large lipsâfeatures that did not align with human standards of beauty.
However, their figures were extremely hot. Unlike the bare-chested male Fishmen, the females wore crude clothing, with a string of seashells hanging over their chests. From constantly swimming in the sea, their bodies had almost no excess fat.
This female Fishman came before Qin Ziwen.
She turned around and bent over in front of him.
Her arms stretched forward, and she floated prone in the water.
Starting from the nape of her neck, a deep groove ran down her spine, flanked by slightly raised back muscles that resembled folded butterfly wings.
The cinched waist and rounded curve of her hips outlined a graceful silhouette.
Qin Ziwuâs eyes went wide. The seaweed skirt tied around the female Fishmanâs waist was lifted by the current... He cursed internally, âHoly shit! These barbarians have no sense of propriety or shame!â
âWhere is their morality? Their decency! This is an absolute affront to civilized conduct!â
"Master, she is asking you to ride her."
Pura gestured beside him.
Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes.
First, he held up one finger, then waved his hand.
Then he pointed to the other six people around him.
Then, he made a gesture for the number seven.
Pura understood immediately. âUnderstood!â
Pura went over to communicate with the Fishmen.
After a good while, six more female Fishmen came over and floated prone in front of each of the others.
Cao Bianshengâs eyes widened. He looked at the Guild Leader in disbelief.
âSo this is the Guild Leaderâs way of sharing.â
Qin Ziwen felt no embarrassment about riding the female Fishman.
Because he didnât see them as people.
In his eyes, these Fishmen were no different from Red Hare or the Beaked Eagle.
The Fishmen were very fast, much faster than they could walk.
In less than ten minutes, their surroundings had plunged into the true darkness of the deep sea.
A Fishman at the front held up a Glowing Pearl, its faint light only able to illuminate the water for about forty to fifty meters around them.
A few moments later, countless faint green, fluorescent dots suddenly appeared on the seabed ahead, like a cluster of stars hanging upside down in an abyss.
By this eerie, faint light, a boundless, pitch-black giant shadow slowly unfolded on the seafloor.
It was an abandoned city, sunken beneath the sea.
Tilted, colossal towers resembled the ribs of a Giant Beast.
Wide streets and plazas were buried under thick sediment. Some luminous sea creatures swam through the abandoned city, and in its depths, terrifyingly large, dark silhouettes flitted past.
Qin Ziwen had thought this was their destination, but to his surprise, the Fishmen circled around it, swimming past the cityâs outskirts.
They swam forward for another stretch, finally stopping in a forest of pink coral.
This gentle slope was covered in dense pink coral. Amidst it all were numerous raised mounds of earth that looked like burial mounds.
At that moment, some Fishmen were poking their heads out of the mounds, secretly sizing up the group of foreign guests.
Seeing this scene, Qin Ziwen found it somewhat familiar. He rememberedââIsnât this one of the three images the Island map showed me at the very beginning?â
...
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