These tiny heads, strikingly similar to humans, bobbed up and down in the icy seawater.
A normal human would have died from hypothermia in such conditions.
However, they were mermaids, adapted to the extreme temperatures of the far north.
Although mermaids are very resistant to the cold, they don't possess ice attributes; they are rare pure spirit-attribute soul beasts.
"Wow! What a huge block of iron!"
"Why can this block of iron sail on the sea?"
"Are those humans on it?"
"I haven't seen humans on the icy sea in so long, can we get a closer look?"
One of the mermaids, noticeably smaller, with azure hair and a golden crown, braced herself against the ice, trying to lift herself up for a better view.
"Your Highness, I think it's best not to get too close, after all, they are other races."
A mermaid guard beside her advised against approaching the humans, his voice clearly hesitant.
The mermaid, known as the princess, puffed out her cheeks and said,
"Nothing will happen."
"I've saved many humans from drowning before, and they were all very grateful to me."
"Humans and us mermaids must be a very kind race!"
"Let's go!"
The golden-crowned mermaid lifted her hands off the ice, her petite body darting into the sea, moving at incredible speed beneath the thick ice, like a golden arrow released from a bow.
"Princess!"
Several mermaid guards exchanged glances and immediately followed. They were no match for the princess, and could only lazily trail behind her.
Even in terms of cultivation, they were far inferior to the princess, but it was a rule of their race; all mermaids had to protect the golden bloodline at all costs.
Because the mermaid race lived in the icy sea, a place practically uninhabitable for humans, the extreme cold made human activity impossible. Therefore, they rarely encountered humans.
The mermaid race held great goodwill towards these creatures who resembled them, often rescuing humans who had fallen into the waters near the Sun and Moon Empire.
As the Snow Empress once said, the mermaid race is the kind-hearted people of the ocean.
They seem to be born with a fairytale filter over the world. No sea spirit beast in the entire Ice Sea dislikes the mermaid race, just as no spirit beast in the Star Dou Great Forest dislikes the Emerald Swan.
In the Ice Sea, the prestige of the mermaid race's leader, the Sea Princess, far surpasses that of the Snow Empress.
Even during the recent battle at Tianxing Port, no sea spirit beasts from the Ice Sea were seen.
Compared to the Sea God's family, they preferred to obey the Sea Princess's orders; they would never participate in the battle without her permission.
The Sea Princess, known for her kindness and aversion to fighting, would never allow the Ice Sea's sea spirit beasts to participate in this meaningless conflict.
Of course, the Sea Princess's strength is also a significant source of her prestige; her 600,000 years of cultivation is unparalleled in the Ice Sea.
According to the Snow Empress, even if the Evil Emperor came to the Ice Sea and fought the Sea Princess, the outcome would be uncertain.
Both are spirit-attribute soul beasts, but thanks to the icy sea, the Sea Princess's strength will increase dramatically, as the ocean greatly enhances sea soul beasts.
The Sea Princess also harbors goodwill towards humans; after all, the icy sea is sparsely populated, and sea soul beasts are a distinct lineage, so humans rarely hunt for soul rings.
The reason the Sea Princess in the original story is so irritable and hates humans is mainly due to the antics of the evil soul masters.
Taking advantage of the mermaid race's kindness, they tricked thousands of mermaids onto land. The Sea Princess was truly honest, even sending the mermaid princess herself.
The mermaid princess possesses golden bloodline and is the most noble member of the mermaid race.
If anything happened to her, the mermaid royal bloodline might be extinct, and the evil soul masters didn't care.
They instantly refined the mermaid race, including the mermaid princess, turning them into vengeful spirits and storing them in the Myriad Soul Banner.
The culprit was the Myriad Soul Douluo, who was killed by Huo Yuhao long ago; in this timeline, this situation is impossible to repeat.
Without the arrival of evil spirit masters, the Ice Sea is practically a level 100,000 dungeon, generally maintaining a friendly attitude towards humans.
However, these mermaids seemed to have forgotten one thing: the rapid approach of a 100,000-year-old spirit beast along with several 10,000-year-old spirit beasts would make any fleet with even a modicum of detection capabilities extremely vigilant, even fearful.
"High-energy-level spirit power detected!"
"Alarm! Alarm! The Seer has detected a high-energy-level spirit power reaction!"
"Immediately measure the energy level and quantity!"
Roger waved his hand in the command room, instructing the monitoring personnel to quickly calculate the number and cultivation level of the approaching targets to facilitate subsequent planning.
The entire crew of the Seer were tense; encountering a high-energy-level reaction so soon after setting sail was hardly a good sign.
"Captain!"
"Detection complete. One 100,000-year-old Beast King and four 10,000-year-old Soul Beasts!"
"The Beast King is very fast and has strong energy; it should be the overlord race of the Ice Sea."
"Comparing with the known Soul Beasts' Soul Power reactions in the Ice Sea, it is confirmed to be the Merfolk!"
"The Level 8 Disintegration Main Cannon and the Self-Locking Enemy Soul Guidance Turret have locked onto the target!" "
Ready to fire at any time!"
Roger stared intently at the rapidly approaching red dot on the large screen.
"Main Cannon charging!"
"Fire..."
"Stop."
Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly entered Roger's ears. Roger immediately stopped the firing order and looked respectfully at Huo Yuhao beside him.
"The Merfolk are always friendly; they wouldn't attack human ships without reason."
"These Deep Sea Singers are probably just curious about us."
"I'll handle it."
As soon as Huo Yuhao finished speaking, all the crew members on deck witnessed a scene they would never forget.
A massive surge of seawater erupted into the sky, shattering thick ice layers and sending them plummeting into the air as seawater swept them into ice powder.
A gigantic hand, entirely composed of seawater, slammed down towards the direction from which the mermaids were attacking.
Before that colossal hand, even the Seer ship seemed insignificant.
"Boom!"
The sound of seawater crashing against the ice reverberated across the vast sea, huge waves surging and crashing against the Seer ship's outer soul-guiding barrier, yet causing no damage whatsoever.
"Huh?!?!"
A cry of surprise rang out from the giant seawater hand. Accompanied by the crashing of the sea, five figures appeared in the sky. Five mermaids were firmly gripped by the giant hand, their struggles futile.
A mere 100,000-year-old mermaid and four 10,000-year-old mermaids were no match for Huo Yuhao, especially since their attributes clashed with his.
Huo Yuhao's figure appeared on the deck at some unknown time, his hands in his pockets.
The sea breeze was strong, his black trench coat billowing in the wind, leaving a black trail in the air.
"If I'm not mistaken, you are the little princess of the mermaid clan, the inheritor of the golden bloodline."
"Why are you getting so close to my ship?"
"And at such a high speed? Are you bored with your life and want to take a shortcut?"
Huo Yuhao wasn't joking. If he hadn't stopped Roger from firing, these mermaids would already be spirit rings and spirit bones.
The mermaid princess, with her 100,000-year cultivation, was indeed powerful, but against an eighth-level decomposition cannon, she was practically a speed bump.
Aside from spirit beasts like the Golden Tortoise Shell, known for their defense, virtually no 100,000-year spirit beast could withstand an eighth-level decomposition cannon—the strongest single-target attack spirit tool.
Even the Sea God Douluo Chen Hanhai didn't dare to directly confront Kong Deming's ninth-level decomposition cannon.
The golden-crowned mermaid in the center of the palm struggled a few times.
After using her spiritual power to clearly see Huo Yuhao's appearance, she immediately shouted excitedly:
"You, you are the Lord of the Far North?! The only sun in the Far North?"
"I am Liya of the mermaid clan. I didn't expect this to be your mount!"
"Hehe, as expected of the Lord of the Far North, even your mount is so unique."
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow and looked at the grinning mermaid above him, saying:
"Oh?"
"You actually recognize me? Sea spirit beasts actually recognize the Lord of the Far North?"
Liya immediately nodded her little head and said seriously:
"Of course we recognize each other! When the Snow Empress announced the change of the Lord of the Far North, we in the Ice Sea also received the message!"
"It's just that the sea spirit beasts couldn't go ashore."
"The Ice Sea has always been part of the Far North, even my mother acknowledges this."
Huo Yuhao waved his hand and said:
"Isn't your faith the Sea God?"
"You actually acknowledge the Lord of the Far North? Doesn't this conflict with your faith?"
Liya thought for a moment and imitated her mother's tone:
"Faith is something that exists if you believe, and doesn't exist if you don't."
"In a sense, faith stems from self-interest, from satisfying desires that life cannot fulfill on its own."
"Land life cannot quell a blizzard, so it worships the Ice God."
"Life cannot escape torrential rain and thunder, so it worships the Thunder God."
"From this perspective, faith also originates from fear."
"We are the same. Long ago, Poseidon, the sea god, subdued us with the power of the ocean, so we worship the sea."
"But ultimately, faith comes from within. If you deeply believe that something can help you survive, then that is faith."
"We mermaids worship the Sea God for social cohesion and for prestige, and we worship the Ice God for survival and continuation, because the Ice Sea has always been a part of the far north."
"Our bloodline traces back to the Ice God in ancient times."
"The Golden Bloodline is essentially the Ice God's bloodline."
"Hmm, that should be it. I don't quite understand what this means, but the mermaid race always believes in whatever is useful."
"The Sea God hasn't appeared in a long time, and when he does, it's to send us into battle. I don't like him."
"A while ago, a Sea God family wanted us to go and support the distant ocean. Who would go?"
"They used to bully our mermaid clan all the time, causing us to stay in the icy sea for so long."
Because the mermaid's tears are a treasure of the ocean, possessing terrifying healing effects and the ability to permanently enhance mental strength, the Sea God family is extremely covetous of them, often secretly hunting lone mermaids in the outer seas.
The Sea Princess has no choice but to keep the mermaid clan holed up in the icy sea. Even if the Sea God Douluo himself came, he would have to consider whether he could withstand the wrath of the far north.
Hearing Liya's words, Huo Yuhao smiled and said,
"I see, you're still pragmatic."
"That's good, I quite like it. It reminds me of my hometown, where the same ideas as yours exist."
"I won't blame you this time, but next time you see human ships, try to stay far away. Humans aren't as kind as you think."
"By the way, is there any news from the sea lately?"
"You are sea spirit beasts after all, you should be quite well-informed about the sea."
The mermaid's tail drooped, gently stirring the water. She pondered for a moment, then her large blue eyes lit up as she said,
"Hmm!"
"A few days ago, the Sea God family started calling on the sea spirit beasts again! I heard they suffered a great loss on land, with many powerful warriors dying."
"Many sea spirit beasts that went to their aid also suffered heavy losses, with many tribes even losing their beast kings."
"This renewed call has caused resentment among all the races of the sea."
"But there's nothing they can do; they have the Sea God's token, so they can only continue to send sea spirit beasts to follow the divine will."
"Hehe, luckily Mother won't let everyone from Binghai go there; I don't want to lose my family."
(End of Chapter)
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