Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Bai Ju spent quite a long time at the bottom of the sea. Fortunately, he had informed Xiao Yao and Qu Lang before going down into the sea, so the two of them were not in a hurry to come down and look for him.
The little Xuanwu called itself Ling Zhuo, a very delicate name. The Old Dog Bai stared at it for a long time, unable to tell whether this little guy, who was of a different species than itself, was male or female.
Perhaps, like the little mermaid A Song, it had a differentiation period. The Old Dog Bai guessed aimlessly, not paying much attention to this small problem. He let the little guy find a safe corner to nestle in and then entered the ruins of the palace through a small opening in the dome.
Xuanwu was amphibious. Ling Zhuo’s eggshell covered a considerable space, which was not entirely water, but contained a lot of seawater. The algae clustered together like large lanterns, separated by a thin, transparent membrane, revealing a wealth of fresh, oxygen-rich air inside.
Bai Ju pried open an air sac, crawled inside, and saw many pearls hidden within, sparkling delicately in the eerie blue light, like stars on the seabed.
He chuckled and touched a handful of pearls, his fingers moving them around. Unsurprisingly, he found several more transparent and translucent objects among the pearls, some gemstones and diamonds, others glass— presumably the “treasures” Ling Zhuo occasionally scavenged from the sand near the eggshells.
That little Ling Zhuo, he dared to let him down here, with his little treasure trove right there, wasn’t he afraid he’d run off with all this stuff?
Although he had no interest in embezzling these…treasures.
Emerging from the air sac… Without wasting any more time, Bai Ju observed the layout of the palace and got a general idea of its size. After calculating the directions, he headed straight for the rear hall without hesitation. The Xuanwu divine beast guarded the north, and its central point was naturally located at the northern fulcrum of the entire building.
The palace wasn’t particularly large, but it wasn’t small either. Bai Ju circled around many broken pillars, beams, and rubble, observing the surroundings with a slight concern.
Logically, the Xuanwu itself was a gigantic divine beast, and its hatchlings would be larger than the palace itself; this explained why Ling Zhuo’s eggshell could cover the entire palace.
Given that the little creature hatched in the Southeast Sea, Bai Ju guessed that Ling Zhuo’s parents knew their child’s attributes had changed from the beginning, so this palace… The palace was most likely placed inside the egg before Ling Zhuo hatched, presumably to ensure his survival. Given Xuanwu’s survival abilities, even if the cub didn’t eat for hundreds of years after hatching, it wouldn’t starve. And after several hundred years, once the cub had survived its infancy, it would have developed some self-defense capabilities and wouldn’t perish immediately upon venturing out.
This palace must have been a golden palace back then, certainly not in its current dilapidated state.
Unfortunately… looking at Ling Zhuo’s innocent and naive appearance, Bai Ju didn’t expect the little one to offer any insight and could only silently pray that Xuanwu’s power center hadn’t been affected.
Pushing aside a tangled clump of seaweed, Bai Ju rubbed the cool plaque with his thumb, knowing he had found something.
The two golden characters “Xuan Ming” were etched into the dark, unidentified plaque, the deep indentations not entirely smooth. What must have once been gold paint had faded and peeled away, leaving only scattered traces hinting at the palace’s former glory.
The plaque served as the facade of the mansion and the heart of this secluded courtyard.
Bai Ju tapped the center of the plaque, feeling the abundant, continuous power within, and breathed a sigh of relief.
The source of Turtle Valley Island’s power… was this plaque.
Located at the end of the Xuanwu egg, the plaque divided the eggshell into two parts: the sea in front, and another world behind.
However, immediately removing the plaque was unwise; this thing was so special. The palace was in such a state of disrepair, yet the gate where the plaque was placed remained intact. It was likely the plaque held some kind of protective power, and it wouldn’t be good to destroy it rashly.
Bai Ju carefully straightened the plaque, then released it, descended to the seabed, and stepped into the Xuanming Palace through the doorway beneath the plaque.
Passing through a faint barrier, Bai Ju unsurprisingly found that the courtyard behind the plaque was dry, similar to that on land; plenty of fresh air circulated within the palace, and there was even a fruit tree of unknown origin growing in the courtyard, its branches laden with red, jade-like fruits, bending the slender branches.
It looked like a study.
Bai Ju took a few steps inside, thinking, if it weren’t for… There’s nothing that can’t be kept damp, so Xuanwu doesn’t need to specially prepare a dry room… Just as he was thinking this, Bai Ju brushed the dust off the doorway and creaked open the old wooden door. Unsurprisingly, he saw a room full of bookshelves, piled high with bamboo scrolls and silk scrolls, with a few scattered pieces on the floor.
What a treasure trove!
Bai Ju raised an eyebrow. There wasn’t time to examine all the bamboo scrolls and silk scrolls right now, so with a flick of his finger, he gathered them all into his little storage room, which he would naturally return to the little guy Ling Zhuo later. After emptying the room, he also dug up the strange fruit tree, roots and all, and put it into his little storage room. In total, Bai Ju… It only took three or four minutes to fold it back up and neatly remove the plaque.
The moment the plaque was removed, the still relatively well-preserved courtyard decayed into mud.
Bai Ju, wading through the water, paused slightly and sighed.
It was such a rare find, so well-preserved; what a pity.
The Xuanming Plaque had replaced Ling Zhuo as the vessel for the power within the eggshell, protecting everything inside. If he had taken the plaque and Ling Zhuo away, the outer eggshell and the remaining palace ruins inside would have decayed and crumbled like that courtyard.
Turning back to where he came from, Bai Ju quickly found Ling Zhuo guarding the spot. He reached out and rubbed the scales on Ling Zhuo’s head, saying, “Found it, it’s the Xuanming Plaque. I took everything out, but unfortunately, the courtyard is gone after the plaque was removed.”
The white tortoise-snake, its neck slightly arched, nudged Bai Ju’s palm with a slightly awkward but still natural motion, hissing, “It’s alright. I’ve seen everything in that little hall; it’s all aquatic cultivation codes, useless to others. The fruit tree is nice, but the fruit isn’t edible for me, so it’s a waste to leave it there.”
Bai Ju was taken aback, not having time to think about the fruit tree, his mind filled with the words “aquatic codes”: “…Are there any codes specifically for merfolk in there?”
Ling Zhu blinked: “Mermaids are also a major sea race, of course they have codes.”
Bai Ju: “…”
The Old Dog Bai, somewhat bewildered, rubbed his fingers together, laying out the whole plan he had in mind to help the merman A Song differentiate into a male. He felt that if he had a suitable codex, he could save ninety percent of his effort; moreover, the codex here at Xuanwu’s place was definitely more reliable than the one in the River Dragon King’s possession.
Composing himself, Bai Ju didn’t hide his intentions and asked, “Ling Zhuo, there’s a group of mermen living in this sea area, but their numbers are dwindling. The latest generation of young mermen are facing differentiation, but it’s uncertain whether any will successfully differentiate into males.”
“If possible, could you lend me some merman codes for reference?”
Ling Zhuo tilted his head, not quite understanding why a dog on land would bother helping a fish in the sea. He simply swam slowly around Bai Ju and said, “It’s alright, after all, these manuals aren’t of much use to me; but the merman has to pay something.”
“I want merman fat.”
The aquatic race was generally miserly.
They might not treasure cultivation manuals, but they definitely loved shiny things. Pearls, shells, gems, and gold were the hard currency of the aquatic race.
Ling Zhuo didn’t know if the dog liked gold and silver, but as soon as it heard the name merman, a whole bunch of treasures flashed through its mind.
Pearls and luminous pearls were minor matters, and mermaid silk wasn’t particularly rare either. What truly moved Ling Zhuo was the merman fat inside the merman’s flesh and bones, or, to put it simply, the oil for an ever-burning lamp.
Mermaid fat, which could burn on both land and water, could burn for a thousand years in a single clump the size of a pigeon egg. If one could obtain some and make it into candles, illuminating a palace for a hundred years would be no problem. Moreover, mermaid fat had a mild hallucinogenic effect, and a magnificent treasure room would be most beautifully displayed under the light of its burning flame.
However, mermaid fat was rare. The fat from a dead mermaid must be extracted as soon as possible and refined through magic before it could be used; otherwise, it would lose its effectiveness once it began to decay. The fat from a living mermaid was even rarer. One must cut open the tail fin and slice along the side of the tail all the way to the waist to scrape out a little mermaid fat from the gaps in the flesh and bones.
Even if you dissected a young mermaid like A Song, you could only scrape out two clumps of mermaid fat the size of pigeon eggs.
With Ling Zhuo’s words, it was practically a death sentence for the mermaid.
Bai Ju licked his teeth, thinking to himself that as expected of an ancient divine beast, even if it wasn’t a born martial god, it certainly wouldn’t care about the little mermaid’s life.
The white little Xuanwu was innocent yet cruel, a born superior.
After all, this matter was brought up by Bai Ju, and unlike protecting Ling Zhuo, he couldn’t ask the River Dragon King to take over. Since it concerned the little mermaid’s safety, Bai Ju couldn’t guarantee anything himself, so he took a step back and said, “I have some confidence in the little mermaid’s differentiation; the mermaid’s cultivation manual can serve as a guarantee, but it’s not essential.”
“But this is ultimately not my business. The specific choices will probably have to be decided by the mermaids themselves.”
Ling Zhuo nodded, not caring about the back and forth, and said indifferently, “Then let’s wait until I’ve met the mermaids before we talk about it.”
Mermaids were inherently ferocious and had deep-seated obsessions. Once they had a goal, they were usually willing to pay a great price. Adult merfolk were incredibly strong, and those with enough willpower could easily dissect themselves to extract their fat. At worst, it could help the merfolk first and then have them pay it after the differentiation process was complete.
Ling Zhuo’s little scheme was going smoothly, completely unaware that its own weak strength was no match for a fully differentiated adult male merfolk. If the merfolk turned on it, Ling Zhuo would be dead on the spot.
Bai Ju glanced at the little Xuanwu, feeling he could read its mind from its snake-like face.
He sighed inwardly; Ling Zhuo’s naiveté was a good thing for him, meaning the old dog could easily plunder a pile of treasures from Ling Zhuo without paying a price.
But Old Dog Bai was a conscientious old dog and didn’t want to insult a proper auspicious beast like that. After thinking it over, he decided that he should find the River Dragon King as soon as possible to be Ling Zhuo’s backer, otherwise this little turtle-snake would be stewed into a pot of turtle soup in no time.
The Xuanming Plaque was already in hand, and the power of Turtle Valley Island was also available. Xiao Xuanwu needed to be settled first before he could deal with the rest of the matters.
Bai Ju reached out and patted Ling Zhuo’s head: “Do you have any storage magic items on you? You can have the things in my courtyard first. I’ll keep the Xuanming Plaque with me and seal it back to the seabed after I’m done.”
Ling Zhuo turned around and pointed to her carapace, the patterns on it shining slightly: “Put your palm on my shell and you can put things in.”
Bai Ju: “…”
Well, for a divine beast like Xuanwu that comes with its own campervan, it’s not surprising that its tortoise shell can be used as a storage magic item.
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