Sheng He slowly approached the palace, she stretched out her hand and tentatively tried to push open the door.

"Crack." With a slight sound, the two mermaid statues outside the door suddenly burst into blue light all over their bodies. They held spears in their hands and approached Sheng He rapidly.

Sheng He immediately stopped his movements, and the mermaid statue also stopped, staring at Sheng He with its pearl-encrusted eyes, and slowly raised the spear in its hand.

"stop!"

There was a sound of hurried footsteps from inside the door, the door was pushed open, and a short-haired boy ran out in a hurry.

When he saw Sheng He, his eyes lit up and he rushed over to him.

"Miss Sheng, it's really you! Why are you here? Are you... are you here to see me?"

The short-haired boy looked at Sheng He, his face suddenly turned red, he lowered his head and stammered.

The two mermaid statues had put away their spears at some point and returned to their original places. The light on their bodies gradually dissipated, as if everything that had just happened was just Sheng He's illusion.

Sheng He couldn't help scratching his head when he heard this familiar yet strange voice, and asked tentatively: "Are you...A Yuan?"

"Yeah, I...I...Do you like the way I am now?"

Sheng He held her forehead with her hand. It was no wonder that she didn’t recognize A Yuan.

The young man in front of him was very tall, with neat blond hair, a small mole on his high nose bridge, and thin lips slightly pursed because of nervousness. Except for his still clear blue eyes, he was completely different from the A Yuan that Sheng He had seen before.

But...isn’t A Yuan a girl?

Sheng He opened his lips, hesitated for a long time and didn't say anything.

As if understanding what Sheng He was thinking, A Yuan smiled and said, "I am an adult. Mermaids can differentiate into genders when they reach adulthood. I am a male now."

Sheng He looked at A Yuan's Adam's apple rolling up and down and scratched his head again.

I don't really understand you mermaids.

A Yuan, however, excitedly took Sheng He's hand and walked into the palace.

"Why did you suddenly come to the island? I thought you had returned to Qingyun Sect and was about to go look for you!"

Sheng He was just thinking about whether to tell A Yuan about Jiang Xuanli's affairs when A Yuan had already pulled Sheng He to the second floor.

"Look, this is our incubator. Every mermaid is born from its shell here and returns to the sea to live. When they grow up, they will come back here to choose their gender."

A Yuan pointed at the eggs of different colors in the room, and suddenly his face turned red. He quietly raised his eyes to look at Sheng He and whispered: "If we have eggs in the future, we will also put them here."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing... nothing."

A Yuan hesitated, and seemed to remember something, and pulled Sheng He to the third floor at a trot.

"You saved Ling'er and me last time, and I haven't thanked you properly yet."

There was only one room on the third floor, and the door was slightly ajar. When Yuan pushed the door open, countless jewels rushed out like water.

Half of A Yuan's body was submerged in all kinds of rare treasures. While rummaging through the pile of gems, he waved to Sheng He.

"Xiao He, I see your sword is broken. Here happens to be a magic weapon that suits you, but this magic weapon may be a little..." A Yuan struggled to pull out a huge alchemy furnace from his side and threw it aside. "It's hard to find. Take a look yourself first. If there is anything you like, feel free to take it."

Sheng He looked up at the alchemy furnace that was falling straight towards him, and quickly dodged to the side. The alchemy furnace bounced several feet high, passed over Sheng He, and rolled downstairs like a gust of wind.

Is this the treasure of Dragon Island?

Sheng He looked at the room full of glittering treasures and A Yuan who was sweating profusely because of looking for magic tools.

Why does it feel like it’s not what I thought?

“Found it!”

A Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiled and raised a piece of armor.

"This is what my father brought back from the secret realm when he was young. Xiaohe, try it now!"

This is a piece of armor made of copper coins. The coins collide with each other, making a crisp "ding-ding" sound.

A Yuan tied the armor on Sheng He's right shoulder and explained, "This is the Five Elements Copper Coin Armor. My father said that copper coins circulate in the world, are stained with yang energy, and have all five elements. They are most suitable for people with five spiritual roots."

After tying it, A Yuan looked at the two empty red strings around Sheng He's waist and frowned. He picked out two round pearls from the side, threaded the pearls into the red strings, and then nodded with satisfaction.

"By the way, you are still missing a sword. I heard that all of you sword cultivators can refine a natal sword of your own."

As A Yuan spoke, she turned her right hand upwards, and a piece of white bone appeared in the palm of her hand.

Sheng He looked at the bone and his pupils trembled violently: "This is..."

"This is a dragon bone. I heard that the magic weapon made with dragon bones is extremely strong. You don't have to worry about your sword breaking anymore."

"This... this you gave to me, your father..."

"It's okay, my dad agreed."

A Yuan smiled sweetly and said, "Dad once said that if you love someone, you should give her the best of everything. So even if it's just a piece of dragon bone, Dad will definitely agree."

She really needs a sword of her own now.

Thinking of this, Sheng He didn't hesitate any more. He took the dragon bone and carefully put it into the storage bag. He then bowed to A Yuan and said, "Thank you, sir."

A Yuan smiled foolishly and waved his hand. Just as he was about to say you're welcome, his expression suddenly became serious.

"Someone is trying to break in!"

As A Yuan spoke, he made a gesture to Sheng He to keep quiet. He waved his hand, and a water mirror immediately appeared in front of the two of them.

"Junior Sister Yanran, there really is a Dragon Palace!"

Shen Ci looked at the tall and majestic palace in front of him and felt a surge of excitement in his chest.

He said so! This is Dragon Island! All the treasures of the dragon are hidden here, how could there be only a spiritual spring?

Shen Ci didn't care about anything else and hurried towards the palace gate.

Zhao Yanran followed behind Shen Ci. When her eyes fell on the mermaid statues on both sides of the gate, she paused and took a few steps back.

Shen Ci didn't notice Zhao Yanran's abnormality at all. The huge sense of excitement stimulated his brain nerves, and he stretched out his hand without hesitation to push open the door.

“Crack.”

The two mermaid statues emitted a dazzling blue light. They held spears in their hands, turned their bodies, and stabbed straight at Shen Ci.

Shen Ci's expression showed panic for a moment, but he quickly calmed down. He immediately took out a few blasting talismans from his storage bag and stuck them on the body of the mermaid statue.

“Bang!”

“Bang bang!”

A series of explosions were heard, and the mermaid seemed to be holding a spear and stabbed towards Shen Ci fiercely.

"Ding!" With a sound, Zhao Yanran took out her sword and blocked the mermaid's spear that was stabbing towards Shen Ci.

"How...how is it possible?"

Shen Ci murmured, looking at the unharmed mermaid statues in front of him in disbelief. The sixth-grade blasting talisman he drew with his own hands could even injure a Nascent Soul cultivator, but it couldn't cause any damage to these two mermaid statues?