It wasn't until Qi An pointed and shouted, "Stop!" that the dagger fell from the corpse's hand.
Zhao Cheng collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, like a dead fish with its eyes rolled back.
His face was covered in tears and snot, and he had long lost all the dignity and majesty of a prince.
Seeing Lingyue's incredibly tragic death, he no longer dared to harbor any illusions or hope that the group of merfolk would let him go.
He used to look down on Lingyue, thinking that if it were him, he wouldn't be so pathetic as to fawn over her.
But when it really came to this, he realized he had overestimated himself, and he was also very afraid of dying.
He was so close to the throne, how could he be willing to die like this?
He tried to bribe me: "I...I am a prince. If you spare my life, I will give you anything you want..."
Qi An looked at him with interest: "Oh? Then tell me what you can offer?"
Zhao Cheng opened his mouth a few times, only to realize with despair that he had nothing to offer.
Mermaids' tears turn into pearls, and their entire bodies are treasures; they themselves are walking, renewable resources.
They are naturally beautiful and live carefree in an underwater paradise, with an average lifespan of over a thousand years.
You could say that even the emperor didn't live as comfortably as these people.
Zhao Cheng racked his brains but couldn't figure out what he had that made him so special.
So all he could do was weakly beg for mercy: "I'm sorry, I'm willing to make it up to you, please forgive me..."
The merfolk could still maintain a rational and indifferent attitude towards Lingyue, but they hated the number one culprit to the core.
"Who wants your apology? We want you to pay for your crimes in blood."
"Chief, let us kill him."
Qi An nodded, "Of course, we'll leave our number one enemy to the merfolk to deal with themselves."
Qi An raised his hand, and Zhao Cheng was lifted up from the ground, floating upright in mid-air, his limbs limp and unable to move.
Amid Zhao Cheng's heart-wrenching pleas for mercy, Qi An locked his soul firmly within his body.
That's good, otherwise he would have been killed in no time, which would have been too easy for him.
After doing all this, Qi An stepped aside, leaving the space to the merfolk who were already itching to get started.
"The rest is up to you. Don't worry about killing him and leaving no one else to do it. Everyone gets a share."
Zhao Cheng stared wide-eyed at the merfolk surrounding him, overwhelmed by fear.
Soon, he began to envy Lingyue and regretted not committing suicide sooner.
He died again and again at the hands of the merfolk, only to be resurrected time and time again.
Each time he was tortured to the point of losing his breath, he would wake up again within a few breaths because his soul could not leave his body.
Even if he were to bite off his tongue and commit suicide because he couldn't bear the torture, he would come back to life.
And so, he died and came back to life, came back to life and died again.
From cursing to begging for mercy to begging for death.
Qi An stood aside and watched the merfolk's various forms of revenge, occasionally offering a few suggestions.
"Don't fight or scramble, line up properly, everyone has a chance to get a turn."
"Don't scrape there, let's go somewhere else, that place isn't spicy enough."
"Don't be afraid of killing him, he won't die. If he dies, I'll bring him back to life. Go for it."
"This thing's heart is actually quite red, huh?"
"Tongtong, be careful when throwing stones, don't hit your feet. What? You can't move the big ones? Grandpa will help you."
Zhao Cheng's agonizing screams echoed through the sky, and his blood soaked into a large patch of sand.
He has lost count of how many times he has died and how many times he has come back to life.
Finally, he could no longer make a sound, only silently pleading in Qi An's direction, longing for a quick death.
Only when the merfolk finally grew tired did Qi An release his locked soul.
Zhao Cheng fell to the ground, lying in his own blood, until he bled out the last drop before finally getting what he wanted.
Qi An waved his hand, turning the unrecognizable corpses of Zhao Cheng and Ling Yue into ashes.
The sea breeze blew, and everything was gone.
He said to the merfolk, "It's all over. Let's go home."
The merfolk breathed a sigh of relief, smiled at each other, walked to the shore, and jumped into the water together.
The beautiful fish tail flashed on the surface of the sea and then disappeared.
News of the Fifth Prince and 30,000 Imperial Guards' tragic deaths at the hands of the Merfolk reached the capital.
The emperor, his face flushed red, blurted out:
"They didn't capture a single merman? What about the female merman he took away, the one named Lingyue?"
After receiving the reply that Lingyue was also gone, the emperor, whose wish for immortality had been dashed, angrily vomited blood.
He regretted being too greedy; he should have just dug out her merman's core and swallowed it.
Now look what's happened! Not only did we not catch any fish, but we also ran out of bait. It's all been a wasted effort.
He showed no sorrow whatsoever for the tragic death of Zhao Cheng, and even blamed him for his incompetence, saying he deserved to die.
Still not giving up, he sent a large number of men to the seaside to wait and wait, hoping to capture another mermaid.
However, no matter how many he sent, they all died, and he never saw a merman again.
The emperor gave up and had no choice but to settle for the second best, drinking the mermaid blood that Zhao Cheng had previously offered.
Unexpectedly, after swallowing a bottle of blood, the emperor's eyes widened, and he felt as if he had swallowed countless knives and red-hot charcoal.
The knife churned inside his body, and the embers threatened to burn his internal organs to ashes.
The emperor fell to the ground, convulsing and struggling violently, his mouth agape, clutching his throat.
He died in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
The flesh sizzled from the inside out, and the corpse emitted a pungent and unpleasant odor.
Gradually, his body was completely corroded, leaving only a pool of blood.
Ata gave a thumbs-up and said, "He's a werewolf; he even dared to drink the corpse-dissolving water."
In a corner of the chaotic palace, Qi An concealed himself, keeping his achievements and fame hidden.
The death of such an absurd and cruel emperor is definitely a blessing for the people.
Inside the Crystal Palace, the merfolk sat in a row once again, looking at Qi An at the head of the table.
"Clan leader, why hasn't that damned emperor sent anyone lately?"
Qi An raised an eyebrow: "The emperor has changed. The new emperor doesn't have the guts to court death."
The merfolk pouted, "Oh, they're not coming after all."
Ata: "..." What's with that disappointed tone from you guys?
The merfolk are currently training their cubs, and the people sent by the emperor are ready-made, free sparring partners.
The free coaching sessions suddenly disappeared, wouldn't that be disappointing?
The merfolk remain gentle and peaceful, enjoying singing and dressing up, but they are no longer the naive and clueless girls they once were.
They understood the wickedness of human nature and the importance of strength.
Blind kindness without absolute strength will only bring about utter destruction.
That day, Qi An reinforced the merfolk's barrier and began the final lesson:
"Have you learned anything from your experiences in these two lifetimes?"
The merfolk gave their answers one after another, such as "Don't trust humans," "Cultivate diligently," and "Don't betray your people."
After they finished speaking, Qi An called out, "Tongtong, you tell everyone what I told you a couple of days ago, do you remember?"
The merfolk all cast inquiring glances at the little creature.
Suddenly being singled out and surrounded by onlookers, Tongtong wiggled her chubby fish tail, her face flushed with shyness.
He said in a childish voice, "Grandpa Chief said, don't pick the wildflowers by the roadside, and don't save the wild people by the roadside."
Qi An praised him, "Good boy, you remember very well."
Mermaids: "..."
That makes perfect sense.
It all started because Lingyue saved someone on the shore.
Ata laughed so hard he hiccuped, completely agreeing: "Haha, brilliant. You absolutely mustn't save people carelessly, or you'll either wipe out your entire clan or your whole family."
He thought of a TV series he had recently watched, in which a little princess in the desert saved a man, only to have her family destroyed and herself commit suicide.
Ata was so angry that he pounded the ground.
Later, the merfolk became the undisputed rulers of the ocean, and they still remembered this saying.
Because when Qi An left, he had it engraved on a crystal tablet and placed it in the hall, constantly reminding them of its significance.
After growing up, the chubby little fish Tongtong grew into a handsome young man. One day, he encountered the same thing as Lingyue.
The injured young woman lay on the beach, her face pure and beautiful, weeping bitterly before him.
"Young master, I'm injured, please save me..."
Tongtong smiled and squatted down beside her. A glint flashed in the woman's eyes, but her face became even more innocent and pure.
The next second, she felt a sharp pain in her head, screamed, and fainted.
Tongtong threw down the stone she was using to crack her skull and said disdainfully, "Tch, it's been a hundred years and they're still using the same trick. It's boring."
He walked away humming a song, thinking to himself, "Grandpa also told me that the prettier a woman is, the more likely she is to lie."
He won't fall for it.
The clan is currently holding an election for clan leader, so he needs to focus on his cultivation.
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