Chapter 139 – What Is This? Trying to Scare a Little Girl?

At the entrance of the mountain cabin.

The Scaled Horn Demon Mutant, resembling a crocodile, still lay there as if dozing, its body rhythmically rising and falling, displaying immense tension.

Around the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant, Su Ming’s Phantom Demon Legion patrolled diligently, appearing far more dutiful than the mutant.

The Wulun Demon perched on a tree branch, scanning its surroundings.

The Swamp Demon submerged underground, occasionally surfacing.

The Giant Demon paced back and forth with thunderous footsteps.

The Scaled Horn Demons, belonging to the same clan as the mutant guarding the door, stood watch at the closest distance, subtly regarding it as their leader.

In this deep mountain forest, this group of Phantom Demons carried out such tasks, completely unlike the bloodthirsty maniacs perceived by outsiders.

Yet, it was this very group of Phantom Demons that suddenly erupted into turmoil at a certain moment.

“Gugaa!”

The first to react was naturally the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant.

It abruptly opened its eyes, stood up fiercely, and let out a hostile yet fearful roar, as if sensing something.

“Roar!”

“Gugaa!”

“Gagaga!”

In the next instant, the other Phantom Demons also reacted violently, each emitting roars that seemed fierce but betrayed inner weakness.

In this situation, three figures appeared one after another in the direction where the Phantom Demons were roaring and intimidating.

The arrivals were none other than Su Ming, Xu Qianqian, and the abducted Mermaid Girl.

“Miling!”

The Mermaid Girl was thoroughly frightened by the grand welcome from her own kind and immediately hid behind Xu Qianqian, vanishing from the sight of the many ferocious “villains.”

“Don’t be afraid.”

Xu Qianqian quickly comforted her.

“What are you doing? Trying to scare this little girl?”

Su Ming also scolded them, completely forgetting how he had previously frightened the little girl himself.

“Gugaa!”

The Scaled Horn Demon Mutant howled as if defending itself, its gaze toward the Mermaid Girl filled with indescribable fear.

The other Phantom Demons were the same, even more exaggerated than the mutant. If not for Su Ming’s presence, they seemed ready to flee.

“What’s wrong with you all?”

Seeing this, Su Ming was somewhat stunned.

Xu Qianqian, however, seemed to realize something and suddenly understood.

“It seems this child’s presence is causing a Bloodline suppression on these Phantom Demons.”

Xu Qianqian’s remark made Su Ming grasp the situation as well.

Humans have distinctions in status and class.

Similarly, Phantom Demons have Ranks.

At the very least, the suppression of higher-ranked Phantom Demons over lower-ranked ones is absolute.

Because higher-ranked Phantom Demons are evolved members of the same species, for Phantom Demons that feed on blood and regard it as their source of power, instinctive reverence and obedience toward the evolved Advanced Bloodline are ingrained in their very beings.

The so-called Bloodline suppression refers to the higher-ranked Phantom Demons’ dominance over lower-ranked ones, causing the latter to instinctively fear and obey.

If these lower-ranked Phantom Demons belong to the same clan as the higher-ranked one, this suppression could even force them all to submit.For instance, here, the Scaled Horn Demons would instinctively gather around the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant. Although the mutant had failed in its evolution, it still possessed a more noble Bloodline than ordinary lower-ranking Phantom Demons.

By the same token, even though the Mermaid Girl did not evolve from any of the Phantom Demon clans present—meaning she wasn’t a direct evolutionary relative of any Phantom Demon here—and her current power was only at the level of a lower-ranking Phantom Demon, perhaps even inferior to the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant, her status as a descendant of a higher-ranking Phantom Demon mutant still exerted pressure on these lower-ranking Phantom Demons due to her prestigious Bloodline.

Thus, including the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant, all the Phantom Demons present reacted intensely the moment they sensed the arrival of a higher Bloodline.

This was an instinctive fear and vigilance. Even the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant, whose power surpassed that of the Mermaid Girl, could not escape this reaction.

If there had been any Rotwater Demons among the Phantom Demons present, the scene might have been even more chaotic.

After all, according to Xu Qianqian’s earlier analysis of the scales Su Ming brought back, the Mermaid Girl had evolved from Rotwater Demons—or rather, the ancestor who bestowed her Legacy had evolved from them.

As an evolved form of Rotwater Demons, if any were present, they would likely have betrayed their current allegiances in an instant and pledged themselves to the Mermaid Girl.

This was the suppression of Bloodline.

This is precisely why higher-ranking Phantom Demons can become leaders of lower-ranking clans within the same lineage.

Of course, after seeing the Mermaid Girl, Su Ming couldn’t help but wonder how such a beautiful young girl could have evolved from those unsightly Rotwater Demons.

Perhaps this was just one of the possibilities brought about by Phantom Demon evolution?

Understanding this, Su Ming shook his head.

“Stand down, all of you. This child is not an enemy.”

Su Ming waved his hand, shooing all the Phantom Demons away.

“Meeling!”

The Mermaid Girl nodded repeatedly, as if agreeing with Su Ming.

Seeing this, although the Phantom Demons did not lower their guard, they obediently retreated under Su Ming’s urging and resumed their patrols.

Only the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant remained, its eyes fixed on the Mermaid Girl with fierce hostility.

“Meeling!”

The Mermaid Girl immediately hid deeper behind Xu Qianqian’s back.

Xu Qianqian continued to comfort her while glancing at Su Ming.

Su Ming, in turn, stared at the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant and suddenly activated the Demon Binding Spell Formula.

“Gurgah!”

The Scaled Horn Demon Mutant let out a pained howl, its voice filled with a mix of agony and strange satisfaction.

“Go guard the entrance.”

Su Ming pointed to the side.

“Gurgah!”

Not daring to cause any more trouble, the Scaled Horn Demon Mutant scurried away as if fleeing for its life.

“All settled!”

Su Ming flashed a victory sign at Xu Qianqian.

Xu Qianqian shot him a sidelong glance, then wordlessly led the Mermaid Girl into the cabin.

Su Ming shrugged and followed behind Xu Qianqian into the cabin.

…

Once inside the cabin, the Mermaid Girl succumbed to drowsiness and quickly fell asleep.

Su Ming and Xu Qianqian exchanged glances, both realizing that her actions weren’t due to lowered vigilance toward them but rather because of her weakened state.

“Her injuries have healed, but it seems her vitality has been depleted,” Xu Qianqian concluded.Phantom Demons indeed possess an incredibly unfair regenerative ability, but every time they are injured and bleed, the power derived from their blood is inevitably weakened.

This follows the same principle as when the Spirit Power sharp spear of 【Demon Binding】 takes effect—it feeds on the Phantom Demon’s blood at the heart, causing the demon to lose strength and fall into a weakened state.

Therefore, although the Mermaid Girl’s injuries have healed, her depleted blood and Qi have not yet been replenished, making it natural for her to appear somewhat weak.

“Who on earth injured her?” Xu Qianqian frowned. “Clearly, if her blood and Qi are depleted, her Bloodline cannot be extracted through the ritual. Could it be that the person who harmed this child truly doesn’t care about the Bloodline she carries?”

Injuring the Mermaid Girl is something those who covet her Bloodline would not do lightly.

It was precisely for this reason that the underground mercenaries before were unwilling to harm the Mermaid Girl, allowing her to repeatedly escape, forcing them to chase after her time and again.

But this time, the Mermaid Girl was severely injured. Until her depleted blood and Qi are fully restored, there is no way she can be used for Bloodline extraction.

From Xu Qianqian’s perspective, such a loss-outweighing-gain scenario should have absolutely no reason to occur.

“Who knows?” Su Ming appeared somewhat detached, saying, “Perhaps this girl was just unlucky and got injured by a passing Professional. Who can say for sure?”

There is only one way to find out who injured the Mermaid Girl.

“After she wakes up, why don’t you just ask her yourself?”

Su Ming offered a solution that wasn’t much of a solution at all.

“You’re right.” Xu Qianqian pondered for a moment. “I will ask her personally.”

To determine whether there was involvement from the higher-ups of the Base City behind this incident, Xu Qianqian truly intended to question her thoroughly.

Provided, of course, that the girl would cooperate.

“Alright.” Su Ming tapped the table, drawing Xu Qianqian’s attention as he said, “Rather than that, I think you should focus on figuring out how to handle this Phantom Demon Cub from now on.”

This was an urgent and important issue that needed to be resolved immediately.

They couldn’t just discard her, nor could they kill her—it was truly a headache.

Xu Qianqian seemed to have already considered this problem.

Yet, she could only say with some helplessness:

“For now, we can only try to hide her and make sure no one discovers her.”

Clearly, Xu Qianqian didn’t have a better plan.

The problem was…

“Before you hide her, you need to find a way for her to survive the Huaming District battle.”

Su Ming reminded her.

To be honest, given the current situation, Xu Qianqian’s hope of hiding the Mermaid Girl was very slim.

Huaming District had already been sealed off, and Longyao City had fully launched an operation to eradicate the Phantom Demons on the battlefield.

Under such circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for a Phantom Demon like the Mermaid Girl to escape the encirclement set up by Longyao City.

Once discovered, chaos would immediately form a vortex, engulfing the entire Longyao City.

To make matters worse, Xu Qianqian’s own situation was not favorable.

The Xu Family might still be hunting her, setting traps to take her life.The situation was already unfavorable for Xu Qianqian, and attempting to smuggle the Mermaid Girl out of Huaming District undetected would be anything but easy.

Frankly, Su Ming wasn’t very optimistic about her chances.

Who would have thought…

“Getting this child out of Huaming District isn’t as difficult as you might imagine.”

Xu Qianqian actually said something like that.

“After all, in Huaming District, there are quite a few people trying to transport the Phantom Demons they’ve captured out of the area.”

Her words struck Su Ming like a sudden revelation.

Indeed, if that were the case, sending the Mermaid Girl out of Huaming District might not be impossible after all.

(End of Chapter)