Huffing and puffing, Hao Xuan and Ceni ran into the night hand in hand with Haeti alongside them, jumping from treetop to treetop.

Well, it was more along the lines of Hao Xuan running and Ceni being dragged behind him like a child, but she wasn't one to complain.

Instead, a somewhat goofy smile decorated the beauty's face.

Behind them, the enraged growls of the water dwellers could be heard getting closer by the second. Without any extra information, Hao Xuan had decided to call them the mermen. Whether or not that was true, that remained to be seen.

But for creatures that lived in the water, they were rather quick on their feet.

They passed by a small clearing and took cover in a nearby thicket laden with some kind of yellow flower. Less than 10 seconds later the mermen arrived.

They stopped just on the other side of the clearing, looking around with their black eyes.

Hao Xuan inspected them from afar. In total, there were about two dozen of them at first glance.

Most of them were covered in skin-deep lacerations, leaking a bright red liquid. Other than two, all the others were holding various melee weapons that looked like they were fashioned from large bones, 'grown' rather than made.

The remaining two had blue halos above their heads, at a height of approximately 20 centimeters hovering in the air. It looked like they were made from a blue flame. Rows of small bones jetted out of the top of their scalps, forming a natural crown right below the halos.

Four sharp digits on each hand that looked like claws along with fins covered various parts of their bodies. These two had the most human-like bodies and they were half a size bigger than the rest as well.

Under the moonlight, their complete forms were visible.

Ceni who hadn't paid any attention to her pursuers and was living in a blissful world of her own finally awoke from her stupor.

She saw their slimy fish-like scaly skin and a face with nothing but a large gaping mouth and two pitch-black eyes and was left speechless.

The only difference between these creatures and the one Hao Xuan saw in the water was that these creatures had two human legs instead of a fishtail. They were walking upright like humans.

She looked towards Hao Xuan intending to ask about their origin but stopped.

Hao Xuan had closed his eyes and was listening to the surroundings. He could hear their heartbeats that were 3-4 times faster than that of an average human.

The two larger unarmed mermen had much stronger heartbeats as well. It wasn't hard to tell that they were obviously in charge.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like they had strong senses or if they did, they did not work as well out of the water since they still hadn't discovered Hao Xuan and Ceni's exact location even though they were less than 30 meters away from each other.

As he closed of all the other senses one by one, Hao Xuan's hearing slowly got stronger and stronger until he could everything within three thousand meters. A moment later he opened his eyes and all his senses returned to normal.

"The town is behind us to the left. We have to lead these guys to the other side," he whispered.

With him having dismembered most of the mercenaries that were the town's main source of protection, it would be a bloodbath if the mermen were to accidentally come upon it right now.

"Why? There should be people there that could help us. That's our best option right now," Ceni countered, a little confused.

Hao Xuan didn't want to tell her what he did so he flicked her forehead instead, "Listen to your elders," he said in a solemn voice which made Ceni almost break out laughing.

"Alright then "Elder". Lead the way," she made an exaggerated gesture, almost bowing to Hao Xuan.

Now that they had gathered some strength and gotten an idea of their surroundings, the pursuit started once again.

Hao Xuan who was still holding onto Ceni's hand for some reason jumped the other way, making as much noise as possible to attract the mermen.

When the two larger ones saw Hao Xuan, their halos suddenly started burning with a much brighter light. They let out rather high pitched screams and ran after than, resuming the chase.

But this time it wasn't as easy as before.

The larger mermen pointed their claws towards Hao Xuan yelling in a foreign language that even Hao Xuan couldn't understand.

A moment later the area Hao Xuan was standing on exploded from inside out.

They had started the assault and their only target was Hao Xuan.

What Hao Xuan wasn't aware of was that the town was more like a bustling city. Tens of thousands of natives lived here and almost the entire force from the Academy as well as the Temple had gathered here, using it as their temporary base.

There were hundreds of cultivators there, all itching for a fight.

If Hao Xuan had decided to head towards them, the mermen would not have been much trouble. But now both he and Ceni were on their own, moving further away by the second.

Back at the bottom of the lake, a bloody mess surrounded a large rock formation. The cliff that seemed to lead straight down without an end in sight was now nowhere to be seen.

The surviving mermen that numbered less than a hundred now surrounded this rock formation, wailing without making a sound, as if they had lost a loved one.

****

Authors Notes:

Reference image for the mermen:

Long: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ae/a4/61/aea461676cf89d3931adc3f60ca49187.jpg

Shortened: https://urlzs.com/RNzfq

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