novelraw Chapter 274 - 142: Golden Palace
Chapter 274 - 142: Golden Palace
At this moment, on the large ship of the Jiang Family, the Family Head and Jiang Zhuo, along with others, were troubled.They also discovered that the location where the treasure emerged was right next to the Jiang Family’s hunting region, which was not a good thing for them.
Originally, the Jiang Family had garnered significant attention in Tianhai City. Although Tianhai City was small, it had many factions within.
These factions had been eyeing the Jiang Family, wanting to bring them down from their position as the top family in Tianhai City. At the root of it all was the Jiang Family occupying a large chunk of the hunting area.
Tianhai City is near the Heavenly Illusion Sea, and the people here rely on hunting in the sea for a living.
The sea area is vast, with many places full of dangers. However, the region occupied by the Jiang Family was explored through relentless efforts for over three hundred years by the Jiang Family people. The distribution of demon beasts and spirit flowers and herbs within was well understood by the Jiang Family.
For the Jiang Family, this was their greatest wealth.
However, for outsiders, it was a tempting piece of fat meat!
Previously, due to the appearance of the Merfolk, the Jiang Family was already overwhelmed, and now the treasure issue added more trouble to the Jiang Family.
The treasure emerging next to the Jiang Family’s hunting region would surely attract many to take advantage of the chaos and sneak into their hunting area, but the Jiang Family had no way to stop them.
Therefore, both the Family Head and Jiang Zhuo had unpleasant looks on their faces.
The allure of the treasure to the people was too great. In just less than two quarters of an hour, the entire dock outside Tianhai City was empty, with everyone rushing towards the place where the pillar of light appeared.
From the sky, one could see the spectacular scene of thousands of ships heading towards the same place simultaneously.
Jiang Xin’s ship was a medium-sized one, not too conspicuous among so many ships.
However, because the Jiang Family’s flag was hanging on his mast, others dared not provoke them too much, so they smoothly arrived beside the pillar of light.
At about ten meters from the light pillar, everyone was blocked, as if by an invisible wall, and no one could pass through. From the surface of the sea, nothing could be seen except the towering light pillar. As for what the treasure was? No one knew at the moment.
"See that over there is our Jiang Family’s hunting region. It seems these two places are really close," Jiang Xin casually introduced to Nan Hua and the others, pointing to a nearby piece of land.
"I heard the Jiang Family has recently encountered some strange events. I wonder if the Seventh Young Master can share with us?" Nan Hua asked, testing the waters, "Of course, if it’s inconvenient, the Seventh Young Master doesn’t have to tell us."
"It’s not really inconvenient." Jiang Xin appeared indifferent, "Even if I don’t tell you, you’ve surely heard some rumors, so I might as well tell you directly."
"The Seventh Young Master indeed speaks straightforwardly." Nan Hua sincerely complimented.
"Not long ago, one of our Jiang Family’s ships went out to sea at night, and the next morning it returned with everyone onboard asleep. They hadn’t hunted anything all night and were even missing one person on the ship.
This incident garnered great attention at home. The Family Head was furious and questioned those people, and they reported that after hearing a mysterious song, they lost consciousness and didn’t know how they got back to the dock.
The Family Head naturally didn’t believe him and punished him severely, but the next day’s ship experienced exactly the same situation, with even the sailors saying the same thing.
This forced the Family Head to take it seriously, but the family business still had to go on, so ships continued to go out to sea daily, resulting in seven or eight consecutive days of the same situation with us losing a dozen disciples.
Just a few days ago, even my wise and brave cousin Jiang Zhuo went out, but returned with nothing. Everyone says it’s the Merfolk stirring up trouble. We haven’t figured out this matter, and now the treasure issue has emerged, truly one wave after another." Jiang Xin exclaimed in exasperation.
Gu Qingqing and the others exchanged a look, sharing a tacit understanding that what Jiang Xin narrated matched what they’d heard, and they all hoped this involved the Merfolk.
As they were speaking, the light pillar suddenly changed.
When they first saw the light pillar, it was colorful and impenetrable, but now it had turned transparent, allowing them to see inside.
To everyone’s amazement, inside appeared a miniature palace.
The entire palace was golden, shimmering so brightly it could blind one’s eyes. Its design was splendid, luxurious, and exquisite!
Most surprising of all, was the sight of a woman standing at the palace entrance.
The woman had sea-blue hair, looked incredibly beautiful, and the corners of her eyes were covered with pale blue scales. Her lower body was a pale blue tail, which she was swaying as she entered the palace.
"Merfolk! This must be the legendary Merfolk!" someone suddenly shouted.
Gu Qingqing and the others exchanged glances, all seeing joy in each other’s eyes. They guessed right, this matter was indeed related to the Merfolk Clan!
"There really are Merfolk in this world! And they truly are as beautiful as the legends say." Jiang Xin stared blankly at the pillar of light, murmuring to himself.
"I wonder when this pillar of light will disappear? How can we enter the palace inside?" Gu Qingqing said with some worry.
"I suppose it won’t take too long." Jun Wu reached out, holding Gu Qingqing’s hand. When Gu Qingqing looked over, he gave her a comforting and determined look.
"Jun Wu is right, since it has appeared in the world, naturally it won’t keep people out forever." Nan Hua nodded, pretended not to see Gu Qingqing and Jun Wu’s little gesture.
Everyone on the surrounding ships was discussing the suddenly appearing Golden Palace and the Merfolk Clan, and the same was true on the Jiang Family’s large ship.
Upon seeing the Merfolk within the pillar of light, the reaction of the Jiang Family people was perhaps the greatest.
Because the problem that had troubled them recently was finally resolved; it was because their family’s hunting area was the closest to here, causing them to be attacked by the Merfolk.
The Merfolk Clan lives at the bottom of the sea, specializes in weaving, able to weave Dragon Silk that stays dry when submerged, also known as the rumored Mermaid Silk. Plus, their singing is very beautiful, having a mind-bewitching effect.
There’s a rumor that Merfolk eat humans, and looking at the missing people from the Jiang Family’s ship, this rumor might very well be true.
The transparent pillar of light wouldn’t disappear for a while, yet no ship left; everyone was waiting, to be the first to enter the Golden Palace that appeared when the pillar of light vanished.
Some tried diving into the water, but found that underwater was just like outside, with the presence of the light pillar, completely impenetrable.
Thus, it continued until night, moonlight shone on the sea, the surface shimmering, with a gentle breeze. Gu Qingqing and Jun Wu stood on the deck, watching the Golden Palace within the pillar of light, neither speaking, instead enjoying this rare tranquility.
By midnight, most people had already fallen into slumber, only a small number continued to linger on the deck.
Suddenly, an ethereal melody sounded in everyone’s ears. The voice was enchanting, though it had no lyrics, this quiet chanting was irresistible, drawing people in.
Some people fainted directly upon hearing the song, smiles at their lips, as if lost in a beautiful dream.
On Jiang Xin’s ship, Jiang Xin, who felt no fate with treasures, went to sleep early. Upon hearing the singing, he slightly curled his lips, immediately losing consciousness.
Gu Qingqing and the other three were in a room, surprised upon hearing the melody.
Feeling the onset of sleepiness, Gu Qingqing wasted no time, quickly spoke, "Everyone in this room, stay awake, not affected by the song."
A mysterious and ethereal voice floated from her mouth, a faint white glow fell upon the four of them, immediately awakening the previously dazed Jun Wu and the other two.
Gu Qingqing was alright, the other three looked slightly unwell.
"The Merfolk’s song is indeed powerful, being able to lull people into sleep without their knowledge. If they were to do something at this time, we would be totally defenseless!" Nan Hua said with a grim expression.
"Fortunately, we have Geng Geng’s Word Spirit Technique, just the right thing to help us." Rong Ye looked at Gu Qingqing with a grateful expression, once again marveling at the power of the Word Spirit Technique.
"I suppose the Merfolk should be out by now, what should we do?" Gu Qingqing asked, looking at Nan Hua and the others.
"Let’s not act rashly, the Merfolk can put so many people to sleep with their song, indicating their cultivation is not low. Better to be cautious." Nan Hua thought for a moment and said.
"Indeed, I too was briefly dazed just now, if not for Geng Geng’s quick reaction, I might have been caught too. These Merfolk are certainly of high cultivation, caution is necessary." Rong Ye nodded and said.
Gu Qingqing naturally had no objections, so the four of them simply stayed in the room, did not go out, but carefully listened to the movements outside.
On the sea, the previously transparent pillar of light had disappeared, and dozens of figures appeared on the water.
If someone was outside, they would find these people looked exactly like those they saw in the light pillar during the day, standing at the Golden Palace gate.
They all had sea blue hair, with light-colored scales around their eyes, and each was remarkably attractive. Occasionally, one or two would flick their tails out of the water, making it clear they were all Merfolk.
"The king was right, these humans are completely bewitched by our song." A young Merfolk blinked, speaking with a hint of pride.