Chapter 162 – The Weakened Mermaid Girl

Longyao City, Mirror Lake District.

After about a month’s time, Su Ming had returned here once again, arriving at Xu Qianqian’s Villa.

The difference was that this time, he hadn’t come alone. Instead, he had ridden in the Xu Family’s courtesy car with Xu Qianqian and entered the villa together.

The villa remained just as before – with servants, a butler, and maids – looking like some noble family’s residence.

But now, Su Ming knew that this was merely Xu Qianqian’s temporary lodging, not even worthy of being called a home.

Of course, the property deed for this villa was indeed signed under Xu Qianqian’s name.

From Xu Qianqian, Su Ming learned that this was a gift from her grandfather, the current Xu Family Head, when she enrolled in the Demon Hunter Academy.

Including those servants and maids, they were all transferred from the Xu Family specifically to serve Xu Qianqian.

Regarding this, aside from sighing “I don’t understand the joys of the rich,” Su Ming could only silently curse the damned capitalism.

But practically speaking, fortunately this villa was Xu Qianqian’s personal property, otherwise she wouldn’t have dared to leave Little Hai’er here.

Led by Xu Qianqian, Su Ming entered the villa but didn’t head toward the residential area, instead proceeding to the backyard.

Here there was a swimming pool.

The swimming pool covered quite a large area, almost the size of a basketball court, with very clean water that clearly showed regular maintenance, maintaining high standards of cleanliness.

However, when Su Ming arrived here, there was actually an Ice Platform floating in the center of the swimming pool.

On the Ice Platform lay the beautiful mermaid maiden.

“Miling…”

A weak voice occasionally emerged from the mermaid maiden’s mouth.

Little Hai’er lay on the Ice Platform as if seriously ill, half-dead, her fish tail resting in the water, swaying slightly but also appearing weak, giving off an extremely fragile and feeble impression.

Su Ming frowned at the sight.

“How long has she been like this?”

Su Ming turned to Xu Qianqian, asking with a furrowed brow.

“For quite a while,” Xu Qianqian answered truthfully. “Her condition wasn’t good before we entered the villa, and as time passed, it’s been getting worse.”

The reason for this was actually quite simple.

“Is it still the aftereffects from being injured last time?”

Su Ming stated the cause.

“That should be exactly it,” Xu Qianqian nodded. “Although we gave that child some blood, triggering her regenerative ability to heal the wounds, the depleted blood Qi indeed can’t recover so simply.”

Because Phantom Demons all possess super-standard regenerative abilities, ordinary attacks fundamentally cannot cause effective damage to them.

Conversely, if effective damage is inflicted on a Phantom Demon, it must be serious injuries that even such super-standard regenerative abilities cannot recover from.

Such as Spirit Arts that counter Phantom Demons.

Or such as alchemical weapons with special effects.

The damage caused by these two things to Phantom Demons cannot be recovered through regenerative abilities.Even though Su Ming and Xu Qianqian had triggered Little Hai’er’s regenerative ability through blood, healing all her external injuries, the damage caused by either Spirit Arts or alchemical weapons would directly affect the Phantom Demon’s source of power—blood.

Once blood Qi is depleted, for Phantom Demons who feed on blood, live by blood, crave blood as their life force, and regard fresh blood as the source of their power, it becomes a far more severe issue than any physical injury.

This is also why people must be extremely cautious when attempting to capture Phantom Demons alive for their Bloodline extraction, taking care not to accidentally harm them.

Otherwise, if blood Qi is damaged and the Bloodline is impaired, the Extraction Ritual cannot proceed, and an intact Bloodline cannot be extracted for use as the main Material in Phantom Demon Potions.

The reason Little Hai’er was so weak and her condition kept deteriorating was precisely due to damaged blood Qi.

In other words…

“To restore that child completely, we must replenish her blood Qi and repair the damaged Bloodline.”

Xu Qianqian said this.

However, this wasn’t easy to accomplish.

No, it should be said it shouldn’t be done lightly.

“You know what the simplest method is for a Phantom Demon to restore blood Qi.”

Xu Qianqian looked directly at Su Ming.

Su Ming replied expressionlessly: “It’s sucking blood, right?”

Phantom Demons inherently possess the trait of converting blood into power.

Whether to become stronger or to evolve, they can achieve these goals by sucking blood.

It could be said that blood is everything to Phantom Demons—their best miracle drug, their highest-grade nutrient.

With enough blood to consume, not only could they restore depleted blood Qi, but they could even accumulate power to evolve to higher levels.

But this time, the amount of blood needed wasn’t like last time, where just cutting a small wound on Su Ming or Xu Qianqian and offering a few drops would suffice.

“In her current condition, to fully recover, she’d need to suck the blood of at least several dozen people.”

Xu Qianqian explained to Su Ming why this couldn’t be done lightly.

Because it was inhumane.

Helping Phantom Demons harm humans wouldn’t just be betraying one’s family or country—it would be betraying the entire human race.

“Does it necessarily have to cost human lives?” Su Ming seemed somewhat puzzled and couldn’t help asking: “If we just need large quantities of blood, there should be plenty of methods that don’t harm anyone, right?”

For example, using animal blood instead of human blood.

Phantom Demons don’t exclusively drink human blood—they’ll consume animal blood too.

Even if animal blood wouldn’t work and human blood was absolutely necessary, with the Xu Family’s influence to intervene, obtaining large quantities of blood bags from places like hospitals shouldn’t be difficult.

Wouldn’t that solve the problem?

Unfortunately, things weren’t that simple.

“Just like how the Bloodline Extraction Ritual can’t be performed on damaged Phantom Demons, when Phantom Demons consume others’ blood, there’s a complete difference between drinking just a portion versus draining all the blood.”

Xu Qianqian educated Su Ming about this knowledge.

“If you just want to satisfy hunger, or like last time, slightly stimulate the Phantom Demon’s regenerative ability to awaken their inherent traits, then cutting corners might work. But when it comes to deep-seated Bloodline issues like strengthening or even evolution, such half-hearted shortcuts simply won’t work.”In other words, for Phantom Demons to grow stronger or even evolve, they must completely drain the blood of others to convert it into their own power.

Partial blood consumption follows the same principle as Phantom Demons with damaged Bloodlines being unusable in Extraction Rituals—such blood is incomplete and deficient, making it impossible to transform into strength for self-enhancement or evolution to higher levels.

For Little Hai’er to restore her depleted blood Qi, she must consume complete blood from dozens of humans.

As for animal blood…

“Research indicates that ordinary animal blood is far less efficient for Phantom Demons compared to human blood,” Xu Qianqian explained.

“It’s similar to how humans obtain different nutrients from different foods. Human blood is the highest-grade tonic for Phantom Demons, while ordinary animal blood is roughly equivalent to vegetables and radishes in nutritional value.”

This explains why Phantom Demons become nearly frenzied upon encountering humans.

If a person saw an Immortal Pill floating past them, they would undoubtedly react the same way.

“So this method isn’t feasible then?” Su Ming had to concede the point.

“Dozens of living human sacrifices could easily be found in the underworld, but here in the Base City, unfortunately, even the Xu Family couldn’t procure them,” Xu Qianqian stated calmly.

Su Ming knew there was an unspoken implication in her words.

This was something that couldn’t be done openly.

But in secret, where no one would know, it wasn’t impossible for major Families and powerful organizations to commit such cruel acts.

Hadn’t Xu Yanyan, in her attempt to eliminate Xu Qianqian, not only caused several students including Li Wei to disappear, but also planned to wipe out Xu Qianqian’s entire Private Army?

Those people combined would number several dozen.

Therefore, if one disregarded principles and had no bottom line, with Xu Qianqian’s capabilities, it wouldn’t be impossible to gather several dozen human lives for sacrifice.

But as anyone could guess, this Young Miss would never do such a thing.

At the very least, she wouldn’t slaughter dozens of people just to restore a Phantom Demon’s condition.

Such an idea had never crossed Xu Qianqian’s mind, nor had it occurred to Su Ming.

“If only several dozen reckless people would attack us now, trying to take our lives, things would be much simpler,” Su Ming mused involuntarily.

He would never harm ordinary people without reason.

But if they were enemies or those who deserved death, he wouldn’t hesitate to act.

“There won’t be such people here,” Xu Qianqian bluntly shattered Su Ming’s fantasy. “Rather than dwelling on such unrealistic thoughts, we should consider other methods.”

“Other methods?” Su Ming spread his hands. “Then we’ll have to make a substantial investment and use special Extraordinary Items to help that girl recover.”

This world isn’t lacking in Extraordinary Items that can affect Phantom Demons.

Not to mention the natural treasures nurtured by the unique environment of the Spirit Demon Abyss, even in the present world, some unconventional alchemy masters have developed alchemical potions or artifacts with peculiar effects.Among them, items capable of replenishing blood Qi and restoring damaged Bloodlines for Phantom Demons, while not abundant, certainly aren’t too scarce either.

Although, from a human perspective, research on restoring blood Qi and Bloodlines for Phantom Demons seems largely unnecessary, the saying “where there’s demand, there’s a market” holds true. For the sake of Extraction Rituals and to bring precious Bloodlines into the world, many Alchemists have still developed such items.

If someone accidentally injures a Phantom Demon intended for Bloodline extraction, causing its blood Qi to deplete and rendering it unusable for rituals, these items would come in handy.

The problem lies in…

“Although this child is still young, she is ultimately a descendant of an Advanced Phantom Demon with the potential to evolve into a Nightmare Species. Can ordinary Extraordinary Items truly restore a Bloodline of this Rank?”

Xu Qianqian raised her doubts.

This is an issue that cannot be overlooked.

It goes without saying that the more Advanced a Bloodline is, the fewer items exist that can produce clear effects on it.

Restoring an Advanced Phantom Demon Bloodline with the potential to evolve into a Nightmare Species—such a high-level Bloodline recovery would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.

If it weren’t the case, Xu Qianqian wouldn’t be standing by idly here and would have long sought ways to treat Little Hai’er.

Even for someone of her status as the Young Miss of the Xu Family, finding effective recovery items for a Bloodline of this caliber is no easy task.

Left with no other choice, Xu Qianqian could only wait until today when she brought Su Ming along.

If she couldn’t manage it, perhaps Su Ming would have a solution.

For instance…

“If it were Yun Langyue, given her family’s influence, it shouldn’t be difficult to procure what we need.”

Xu Qianqian hinted meaningfully as she spoke.

Su Ming could only chuckle wryly.

Indeed, with the Cloudflow Commerce’s business dominating the Four Base Cities and flourishing across all of them, they undoubtedly handle such Extraordinary Items.

Once Yun Langyue made a request, it wouldn’t be long before these items were delivered to her, ready for her selection.

Su Ming only needed to inform Yun Langyue, and the problem would be resolved.

Xu Qianqian’s implication was clear—she was asking whether Su Ming intended to approach Yun Langyue.

And as one might expect, Su Ming inwardly refused.

“I just owed her a huge favor and have her keeping tabs on me. Who knows when she might drag me out and manipulate me at will? How could I dare owe her again now?”

Recalling the favor he owed from last time when concocting the Nightmare Species Bloodline, along with the promise he made to Yun Langyue, Su Ming felt utterly reluctant.

Who knows what that enchantress would want him to accompany her to do this time?

Su Ming was genuinely a bit afraid.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

Xu Qianqian didn’t know the specifics but didn’t seem to mind, asking expressionlessly.

Su Ming immediately scratched his head.

Admittedly, his own assets were considerable, with his backpack stocked with numerous Extraordinary Items obtained from unpacking parcels.

However, when it came to items that work on Phantom Demons and restore their blood Qi, Su Ming truly couldn’t recall ever unpacking any.

Perhaps he had unpacked some in the past, but since they were of no use, he figured he must have sold them off or exchanged them for crystal chips in the mall.

Now, trying to find such an item, it was quite possible he wouldn’t succeed.

“There’s no other way. I’ll just have to take a real significant loss this time.”As he spoke, Su Ming flipped his hand and retrieved a stone covered in red veins from his backpack.

“What is this…?”

Seeing this, Xu Qianqian couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback.

Without explaining, Su Ming leaped onto the Ice Platform in the center of the swimming pool.

“Miling…”

Little Hai’er seemed to sense the movement, raising her head to look at Su Ming. Her eyes appeared somewhat dim, as if she truly wasn’t in good condition and looked quite weak.

But when Su Ming raised the red stone in his hand, a faint glimmer appeared in Little Hai’er’s eyes, brightening them.

Within, threads of pleasant surprise and longing emerged.

(End of Chapter)