He had a feeling that even if the demonic seed in Han Tao's body was removed today, an even greater conspiracy was still waiting for him.
Bound by the laws of Heaven, he could not reveal his rebirth. The best way was to follow the moves of the person behind the scenes and then slowly break the deadlock while pretending to be unintentional.
Han Tao's expression softened further as he chuckled, "Alright, I know, you did all this for me."
Something sounds off. Fu Mingxu yawned, not thinking too much about it. He glanced at the sky outside, pulled the blanket up, and said in a tired voice, "I'm so tired, I'm going to sleep for a while."
He pulled the bed close to his neck, his dark hair scattered around him, and his eyes showed obvious signs of weariness.
Remembering that he hadn't had a proper rest since they met, Han Tao's eyes flashed with heartache, and he said softly, "Go to sleep."
After saying that, he lifted a corner of the blanket and crawled inside.
Fu Mingxu was startled and quickly moved to the inside of the bed, his voice trembling: "What do you want to do?"
Han Tao smiled helplessly, stretched out his arm and pulled him into his arms, resting his chin on the top of his head, his voice muffled: "Don't worry, I won't touch you, go to sleep."
Fu Mingxu froze, flicked his tail, and tried to slip away.
"If you move again, I'll really hurt you." Han Tao grabbed his tail with his other hand, his voice indifferent. "Really not going to sleep?"
This damn mermaid tail is really not to be touched. Fu Mingxu's whole body went limp, and he stammered, "Don't touch it, I'll go to sleep now."
Han Tao didn't answer, but instead bent his arm and gently stroked his back.
Once he was sure the man wouldn't do anything to him, Fu Mingxu felt relieved. The familiar scent lowered his guard, and drowsiness gradually crept in. He soon calmed his breathing and drifted into a sweet dream.
Once his breathing had calmed down, Han Tao slowly lowered his arm and instead put his arm around him. He tentatively tightened his grip, tilting his head to observe Fu Mingxu's expression, and finally found the perfect amount of strength for his embrace.
The person in my arms felt soft and warm. In their sleep, the coolness of the mountains and rivers had dissipated from their eyes. Only a trace of color was hidden away as their eyes closed, making one want to peek and let that color seep into their skin again, turning the porcelain white into a rosy hue.
The scene that had appeared countless times in his dreams came true, and Han Tao felt that there was nothing more joyful in the world.
No one and nothing can take him away from him.
"Mingxu." Han Tao called his name slowly and softly, as if sighing, yet also as if harboring more expectations.
Fu Mingxu was oblivious in his sleep, and even gently rubbed his face against his shoulder.
Han Tao seemed unable to get enough of looking at him; her eyes were filled with tenderness, and not a trace of coldness remained.
He just looked at him, held him, and refused to fall asleep for the rest of the night until dawn.
...
Fu Mingxu felt like he was trapped in a safe haven and didn't want to wake up. When the slight stinging pain in his mind disappeared, he woke up the next day at noon.
The sunlight that could penetrate the deep sea was not strong enough, and the palace lanterns that had been extinguished had not been relit. The heavy bed curtains blocked out the light, leaving only the luminous pearl at the foot of the bed emitting a faint glow.
"Did I sleep for a long time?" Fu Mingxu slowly woke up, and for a moment thought it was night again.
Han Tao noticed his movement immediately, tightened her grip on his arm, and said in a muffled voice, "Sleep a little longer."
As memories began to flood back, Fu Mingxu realized that he had actually slept in his arms all night. He felt a slight warmth in his ears and then propped himself up to get up.
Perhaps he was sleeping too soundly, because his fishtail was a little numb. He held back and flicked his fishtail, instantly pulling the blanket away.
"Get up." He straightened his clothes and turned around to see Han Tao still lying motionless. He urged, "Don't stay in bed."
Having not slept all night, Han Tao slowly sat up, glanced at his skillfully used fishtail, and asked, "What do you want to do today?"
The two of them explored the secret room last night and took the dark, humanoid skin bag; it's best not to take any further action for now.
Fu Mingxu kept in mind that today was the tenth day since he took the Mermaid Pill. He flicked his fishtail and said seriously, "I already know how to counteract the effects of this Mermaid Pill. Of course, I should go find some spiritual herbs first."
He has auxiliary spiritual herbs in his storage bag, and now he only needs to find some main ingredients.
The main ingredient was called blood coral, which is not uncommon in the deep sea; he had seen it on his way to the floating city.
It's possible that the person who refined the Mermaid Pill didn't expect anyone to come up with a solution in such a short time, or perhaps the other party simply hadn't come up with a solution at all. After all, the purpose of the Mermaid Pill is to transform humans or demons into mermaids, and generally, they wouldn't devise a formula that could reverse or obstruct this transformation.
Having a solution carries the risk of leakage; not having one reduces worries.
Fu Mingxu described the appearance of the blood coral to him and said, "It's very easy to refine. Let's hurry up and go."
After he finished speaking, he took two steps impatiently, but when he realized that Han Tao hadn't followed, he turned around and asked in surprise, "Why aren't you coming?"
Han Tao's lips moved slightly, his gaze shifting back and forth over the fish tail, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Fu Mingxu rarely saw him like this, and immediately became curious: "What do you want to say?"
Under the soft light of the palace lanterns, his rather hard jawline showed no sign of coldness; instead, his face appeared somewhat uneasy.
“Actually, the mermaid body will not cause any harm to the human body.” Han Tao observed his expression, his golden eyes unfathomable, and slowly said, “Dragon energy will help your mermaid body have a certain chance of reverting to its ancestral form. The ancient mermaids were beautiful and powerful, and were the overlords of the abyss.”
As he described it, Fu Mingxu quickly imagined the scene of merfolk roaming the deep sea.
It was quite exciting.
"The help of dragon energy?" He couldn't help but be tempted, and subconsciously asked, "How will it help?"
When he met those golden eyes, he suddenly understood, and his cheeks instantly glowed more brightly than the evening glow.
A note from the author:
Han Tao: I love helping my wife the most.
My next book is "My Fiancée is Weak and Incapable of Taking Care of Herself," a story about a strong, beautiful, and cool sword cultivator who dreams of becoming a beautiful half-demon in drag. You can add it to your favorites in advance!
One day, Xie Huaixue, the chief disciple of the Sword Sect, discovers that his nominal fiancée, whom he has never met, is actually the female protagonist in a book who suffers both emotional and physical torment.
Of course, he's not the male lead; he's just a handsome, strong, and tragic supporting male character.
According to the book, the female protagonist will lose all her spiritual roots and physical attributes for the male protagonist, and finally, after the male protagonist's sudden repentance, they will live a perfect happy ending together.
He voluntarily offered his immortal bones to the female lead, contributing to the fulfillment of their love before his death.
It's beyond words to describe how tragic it was.
After learning that the plot involving self-sacrifice in the book could not be reversed, Xie Huaixue found his fiancée who had just arrived at the sect, intending to directly help her and the male protagonist's love, skipping the process of self-sacrifice and reaching a happy ending.
His fiancée arrived as expected, but the person standing opposite him was not only beautiful with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, but also had a flat chest and was a full head taller than him.
Just as Xie Huaixue was about to propose annulment of the engagement, the other party suddenly slumped to the side, becoming utterly frail and unable to take care of herself.
From then on, rumors spread that he "bullied" his fiancée whenever they met, and even his master forced him to take care of this frail fiancée himself.
This includes, but is not limited to, venting their anger or buying them pretty dresses.
Chapter 73
Han Tao's words did not receive a clear answer, but instead earned him an eye roll from Fu Mingxu after giving him a "I knew it" look.
No news came from the Merfolk King's Palace; only the palace where the two lived was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers.
After Fu Mingxu acted coquettishly in front of several merfolk, saying he wanted to go play in the deep sea and received a few envious glances, the two of them openly left the barrier and swam into the deep sea together.
The seemingly prosperous and peaceful floating city was left behind by the two. Han Tao shook off the extremely subtle divine sense that was following behind him and continued to swim downwards with him.
The current could not stop the dragon and the merman; they swam very smoothly and quickly.
Fu Mingxu enjoyed the feeling of breathing freely in the deep sea, his fish tail swaying rhythmically, presenting a very rhythmic beauty.
"There you'll find the finest blood coral." Han Tao led him to the top of a trench and pointed, "I'll take you there to collect it."
He spoke calmly, showing no sign of Fu Mingxu's displeasure at wanting to refine the Mermaid Elixir.
Fu Mingxu looked in the direction he pointed, and there was a dark trench in front of the two of them, like the gaping maw of a sea monster waiting for its prey to walk into its trap.
“I rejected you, aren’t you angry?” He didn’t swim any further; the buoyancy of the seawater allowed him to look Han Tao in the eye. “And you even took me to collect the best blood coral.”
Han Tao waved his hand, and a golden light disappeared into the trench. The sea beasts inside roared, but did not attack; instead, they quickly fled.
"No." Han Tao gripped his hand tightly and swam downwards with him. "I won't interfere with your decision."
Fu Mingxu's heart skipped a beat, and he gently pursed his lips.
The two descended very quickly, and before they knew it, he was in the Blood Coral Clan.
Because of the presence of sea creatures guarding this place, no other aquatic creatures should have entered. Not only are there many blood corals growing here, but the largest ones are even taller than Hantao.
Under the glow of the dragon's flame, the translucent blood coral shone through, demonstrating its exceptional quality.
Fu Mingxu listened to his words without saying anything, but his heart was filled with a bittersweet feeling. He didn't know how to respond, so he simply swam into the blood coral reef.
Han Tao let go of his hand so he could get it, but stayed close by his side to protect him.
Even though Fu Mingxu was dazzled by the blood corals, he didn't take as many as usual. He skipped over the largest blood coral, hovered in place to look at it, and then bent down to select a few that were neither too big nor too small, of only average quality here.
"Let's go." He turned around after getting what he wanted, showing no interest in the large clump of blood coral behind him.
Han Tao glanced at the blood coral bushes behind him, then turned his gaze to the blood coral that he could barely hold in his hand, and frowned, saying, "Why didn't you take more?"
“This is enough.” Fu Mingxu took his hand and his fishtail twitched. “Let’s go.”
The soft texture touched his palm, and Han Tao didn't ask any further questions upon hearing this. Instead, he turned to him and asked, "Shall we go back to refine pills now?"
Fu Mingxu nodded and said, "I secretly exchanged messages with Zhang Anran before, and asked her to deliver the pills to the newborn merfolk after they were made."
She could do this without anyone noticing. With Meng Shui around, she already knew who the newborn merfolk were, but some had been transformed into merfolk for a long time and she didn't know if they were willing to return.
He didn't insist, planning to have Zhang Anran deliver the pills secretly without revealing her identity, which would be safer that way.
After hearing his plan, Han Tao didn't ask any more questions. He watched as Han Tao put the blood coral into his storage bag, then took Han Tao's hand and swam towards the floating city.
Neither of them intended to linger. Fu Mingxu skillfully swung his fishtail, and to avoid being swept away by the undercurrent, he tightly gripped his hand.
The slight disappointment he felt instantly dissipated because of his unintentional little gesture. A fluorescent jellyfish swam leisurely past the two of them, its unique light illuminating the corners of Han Tao's mouth that were turned up.
This was the first time Fu Mingxu had ever seen such a beautiful creature in the deep sea. Its tail moved as usual, but its eyes followed the direction the jellyfish was moving.
Just as he was regretting that the jellyfish was heading in the opposite direction from them and turned back for another look, a huge dark shadow was approaching them.
"What is that?" He recalled the rumors about deep-sea monsters.
Han Tao also noticed the change in the water flow behind him. The dragon flames grew rapidly in the water, and the golden-red flames were not extinguished by the seawater, floating steadily in front of the two of them.
“It’s a sea beast guarding the blood coral.” To Han Tao, the sea beast posed no threat. “It has no ill intentions.”
Fu Mingxu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He still remembered how quickly the sea monster had fled earlier, and he had just thought that the other party was preparing to retaliate.
If there was no malice, could it just be that the two of them happened to have taken the same waterway as the sea monster?
The sea monster's enormous body caused the water to flow rapidly. The two floated side by side, the powerful current pushing their dark hair back, their blue and gold hair ribbons intertwining in the water.