“Stop arguing, everyone!” This time, Leo wasn't actually trying to fan the flames. He pulled a palm-sized fellow from his breast pocket, trying to change the subject. “Look here! Ta-da!”
Demogor's majestic, molten-gold vertical pupils instantly contracted into thin slits. “Augustus, you have a son?”
Ning Busan: “...”
A very accurate guess, but not quite.
Demogor stared at the tiny figure, attempting to stretch out a claw to pull him closer.
“Hiss! So hot, so hot!” Lobao quickly shrank back, burying himself in Leo's embrace, and loudly complained to Ning Busan in a wronged tone, “Waaah... He burned me!”
Demogor's claw froze in midair, his talons curling awkwardly.
He hadn't even touched him yet!
Lucifer shot Demogor a glare. “What are you doing? Have you no sense of your own size? Don't touch him!”
In the next second, Demogor transformed into his human form.
His appearance was about seventy percent similar to Ning Busan's. He stood nearly two meters tall, with broad shoulders and long legs, exuding a powerful, oppressive aura, and his brow still held the distinct arrogance and wildness of the Dragon Clan.
Demogor snatched Lobao from Leo's arms. The more he looked at the little thing, the more unusual he found him, but he was also somewhat surprised. “Augustus, I thought your descendant would either be draconic or fish-like, but why is he overflowing with the aura of an elf?”
“Lobao is my guardian spirit. I treat him like a son.” Ning Busan paused, emphasizing his tone. “Lilian and I do not have that kind of relationship!”
What did he mean by fish-like? Stop talking nonsense!
Demogor looked at Leo. “But that brat told me that Lilian was your chosen partner.”
Ning Busan said, “He lied to you.”
Sensing Demogor's undisguised murderous intent, Leo quickly hid behind Ning Busan, using him as a shield.
Ning Busan felt no sympathy for the rumor-monger. He directly grabbed Leo from behind and tossed him in front of Demogor. “You two chat.”
Leo raised his hands in surrender. “How about we go check on Lilian first?”
Ning Busan hissed. “The temperature on Evercinder Island is so high. Can a mermaid really survive here?”
A smile appeared on the corner of Demogor's lips. “I'll take you to see, and then you'll know.”
Since they were going to see Lilian, Ning Busan also transformed back into his human form.
In fact, Evercinder Island had once been covered in white snow, but Demogor chose to settle here, turning it into an active volcano with bubbling magma.
On Evercinder Island, where the average temperature reached thousands of degrees Celsius, there was a region about five hundred meters in diameter where the temperature was just right, and there was even a cool water mist in the air.
This was the only pure pool on Evercinder Island; the surface temperature elsewhere was enough to completely evaporate any water in it.
Ning Busan asked, “How did you do it?”
Demogor said, “I cooled the flowing magma into mineral stones. This kind of stone is naturally heat-resistant and has extremely low thermal conductivity, which blocks external heat. I used it to build a pool for her.”
“As for the water in this pure pool, it's freshly melted water I gathered from the peaks of the snowy mountains. It has a special water-element affinity, which can meet the long-term living needs of a mermaid.”
“In addition, I've placed multiple layers of magic barriers over this area to stabilize the thermal energy and air pressure in the space.”
Ning Busan didn't expect him to be so meticulous. “You really went to great lengths!”
Demogor said, “It's only right.”
Having said that, Demogor glanced at Leo and let out a cold snort.
Leo lowered his head and picked at his fingers, quiet as a mouse.
A moment of trash-talking brings a moment of joy, but continuous trash-talking brings continuous joy!
When Ning Busan finally saw Lilian, he almost couldn't recognize her.
Ning Busan called out hesitantly, “Li... Lilian?”
Lilian turned her head and swam toward him. “Ning Busan, you're finally here!”
Her originally pale skin had been tanned to a light honey color, and her waist, abdomen, and arms were covered in a layer of firm muscle.
Even her soft scales had become cold and hard like armor, their edges glinting with a metallic sharpness.
Ning Busan was dumbfounded and couldn't help but look at Demogor.
What was going on?
“When she first arrived, she was constantly muttering to herself and loved to wallow in self-pity,” Demogor snorted. “Only the weak complain all day long. However, after my special training, she's barely presentable now.”
Although his tone was full of distaste, his eyes clearly showed satisfaction.
Ning Busan: “...”
Was this a support-type mermaid getting heavily modified into a combat-type deep-sea overlord?
Ning Busan said, “I want to chat with Lilian alone.”
They left to give Ning Busan and Lilian some privacy.
Ning Busan's gaze was somewhat complex. “You've changed a lot.”
A bright smile spread across Lilian's face. “This period has been the most exhausting and bitter time of my life, but at the same time, it has also been the most fulfilling and free.”
“I used to think I was the source of misfortune, but now I understand that weakness is the ultimate sin.”
“Demogor wasn't affected by me, not because he is special in some way, but because he is strong enough.”
“I want to become strong too. Strong enough to break free from the arrangements of fate, and strong enough to control any misfortune that occurs.”
Ning Busan said softly, “Congratulations, you've found your own path.”
If Lilian had been fragile glass before, she had now become quenched steel, forging herself into an indestructible form.
Ning Busan raised his hand, and a drop of deep blue liquid emerged in his palm. It was his divine blood as the Sea God.
With a flick of his finger, the divine blood turned into a beam of light, sinking into Lilian's chest.
Lilian's body trembled violently. Her scales stood on end, and deep blue veins surfaced beneath her skin, as if something were gradually awakening inside her.
Ning Busan said, “The talent of the merfolk is weak. Today, I bestow upon you a drop of divine blood. Your bloodline will no longer be your shackle.”
“Thank you, Ning Busan.” Lilian handed him the Lock of Causality. “I believe this is what you need right now.”
A smile appeared on the corner of Ning Busan's mouth.
He had been dreaming every night lately, staring at another version of himself in the lake, and watching helplessly as that other self drew closer and closer.
But once he figured out how to use the Lock of Causality, he would be able to use it to suppress the divinity of the Silver-Crowned God.
Lilian said, “Ning Busan, I'm very worried about you.”
“Me?” Ning Busan was startled. “What's wrong with me?”
“I've found my path, but what about you?” Lilian asked. “Ning Busan, what is your path?”
Ning Busan couldn't answer.
His path?
Ever since he came to this world, he seemed to have been constantly pushed forward under the arrangements of others.
“It's okay, don't be sad.” Sensing the change in Ning Busan's emotions, Lilian hugged him gently and comforted him, “If you don't know what your path is, then ask your heart. What is it that you truly want?”
Ning Busan's eyes flickered.
He knew very well what he wanted.
He wanted to restore the barrier of the Landia Continent.
He wanted to survive and become the ultimate winner.
He wanted to replace the Silver-Crowned God.
He wanted to save the world.
And...
He wanted to go home.
Ning Busan smiled.
His path was the path he came from.
Rate on N.U.
