Chapter 136: Discovery

Once underwater, Xius felt the layer of scales on his body insulate him from the immense pressure. He could breathe without difficulty and speak normally.

Two figures drifted past Xius; a closer look revealed them to be Minnie and her mother. Both women radiated a faint blue glow, and subtle, shimmering blue scales were visible on their faces. They moved through the depths with the effortless grace of fish, swimming wherever they pleased.

"This must be mermaid bloodline," Xius mused, observing their features, which were now quite apparent.

"Hurry up, Xius!" Gutter called out from ahead, noticing that Xius had fallen behind.

"Coming!" Hearing the summons, Xius swam rapidly toward Gutter’s position.

As they descended deeper, the scenery of the seabed unfolded before Xius’s eyes. A dazzling array of corals and bizarre creatures appeared in endless succession. Curiously, Xius reached out to touch a few, only for them to scurry away in fright.

"This is the spot!" Gutter and Ryan stood beside a reef. The rock formation was over three meters high, standing in a spiraling, inverted position within this shallow sea area.

Seeing Gutter and the others gathered, Xius hurried over, though the potions strapped to his back made movement somewhat cumbersome. Once everyone had arrived, Gutter produced a golden conch. After channeling his mental energy into it, the shell gradually expanded, turning into a spectral form that merged with the reef.

"You lot, go ahead!" Gutter turned to tell Ryan and the others. They immediately stepped into the reef.

Passing through a shimmering curtain of light, Xius and his companions officially entered the secret realm. After waiting for a few dozen meters, Gutter appeared before them, the golden conch still in his hand.

"How on earth did you find a place like this?" Minnie asked, clearly intrigued. The location of this hidden realm was incredibly well-concealed.

"That’s a long story. I traded for this from the Sea Folk. I’ve always enjoyed researching these things since I was young; the patterns and style on this conch were clearly a key of some sort. It wasn't until Ryan and I happened to pass through this area that the conch reacted. We spent time systematically searching these waters until we finally confirmed this was the location," Gutter explained without reservation.

"Let’s move. We’ve been in here once before for a quick look. Aside from a large manor, there isn't much else to see," Ryan added. When they had first discovered the site, they had scouted it briefly, but they hadn't dared to touch anything, fearing hidden defensive wizard arrays.

Although it was only a small secret realm, it was quite vast—Xius estimated it covered at least a thousand acres, though the entire space was submerged in water.

The manor Ryan mentioned sat on a small island surrounded by the sea. There was only one path, leading from where Xius stood all the way to the island.

"Let’s go! This realm has existed for who knows how many years; even if there were living creatures, they shouldn't have survived this long," Ryan said, taking the lead.

The group began their trek to the island, keeping their defensive force fields active as a precaution. The path was long, and it took them nearly an hour to reach the island. It sat at a high elevation, offering a panoramic view of the entire realm. Only from this vantage point did Xius fully grasp the layout: the realm was a perfect circle, filled entirely with seawater save for this island, which occupied a mere one percent of the total area.

"Let's enter!" Gutter gazed at the manor, which bore many scars left by the passage of time, and prepared to officially explore the remnants within.

"Should we split up, or..." Xius asked, looking at the sprawling estate.

"Let's split up. Find the laboratory first; we can deal with the rest later," Gutter decided. For a wizard, the laboratory was the most precious space, and it was where the most valuable items were likely kept.

The group dispersed, heading toward different parts of the manor. Meanwhile, in the sea outside the island, the waters that had been calm for thousands of years suddenly began to churn. Shadows darted beneath the surface, converging toward the island.

Walking alone through a corridor, Xius noticed that the rooms and decorations all revolved around themes of the sea. "Could the master of this place have been a Sea Wizard?" Xius wondered, observing the carvings on the pillars, which depicted merfolk and the development of the Sea Folk civilization.

"Is this a bedroom?" Xius entered a lavishly decorated room, eyeing the furnishings and a bottle of unfinished wine. He pulled the stopper, only to find the wine had largely evaporated, leaving behind a viscous residue that smelled quite unpleasant.

"Hm? This wall..." Xius noticed that a wall in the bedroom was completely obscured by a massive portrait of a mermaid. "Chip! Can you scan for anything?" Instinctively, Xius felt the painting was hiding something.

"Beep! Weak energy signature detected!"

"Is there something there?" Xius reached out and began to feel along the surface of the portrait. A single scale on the mermaid in the painting caught his eye. "This scale is a real mermaid scale stuck to the canvas!" He realized that while the rest of the mermaid was painted, this one scale was authentic. "But what does this signify?"

As he pondered the scale's meaning, he continued to circle the room, searching for further clues.

"Beep! Soul energy detected!"

"Oh? Soul energy? Interesting." A smile tugged at the corner of Xius's mouth as he turned back to the portrait.

"Are you going to come out on your own, or..." Arcs of electricity danced across Xius’s hand, his intent clear.

"No, no, no! I’m coming out! I’m coming out now!" A woman’s startled cry erupted from the painting. She seemed terrified that Xius had discovered her, and perhaps even more terrified of the wizard’s power he wielded.

"Indeed!" Hearing the voice, Xius knew his intuition had been correct. He was glad the chip had alerted him in time, or he never would have found it.

"M-Master!" The mermaid soul inside the portrait rolled her eyes, watching Xius intently.

"Done hiding?" Xius asked with a smile.

"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare hide from you, Master!" The soul was well aware of her predicament and seemed afraid to defy him.

"Tell me, what’s your story?" Xius sat down, waiting for an explanation.

"Well... I am just a soul imprisoned in this painting!" She sounded aggrieved, though the mermaid soul couldn't fully manifest, leaving only her eyes capable of movement.

*Zzzzt!*

"AAAHHH!!!"

A single arc of electricity earned a piercing scream from the soul.

"Want to try that again?" Xius kept a spark jumping between his fingertips, ready to strike.

"No, no, no! I won't! I'll talk, I'll talk!" The soul was terrified; her strength was already waning, and a few more hits might cause her to dissipate entirely.

"See? That wasn't so hard," Xius retracted the electricity, thinking the soul was only bringing this suffering upon herself.

"I... I am the guardian of the laboratory door!" she confessed reluctantly.

"You're the guardian of the laboratory?" Xius stared at the painting, skeptical; she hardly seemed powerful enough for the role.

"It's true! My power has just faded after being trapped here for so long. The master said if I served him for five hundred years, he would find me a new body, but then he went and died, leaving me stuck here! Waaaah!" She began to sob.

*Zzzzt!*

"Ah! You promised you wouldn't shock me!" The mermaid soul’s wailing stopped instantly.

"The 'he' you just mentioned—that would be the master of this place, wouldn't it?"