The next day, when the sun rose again, Lei Luo stood on the island above the Merman Race and gazed into the distance.
Below him, the merman priest and the newly appointed tribe leader of the Merman Race, Sharbao, were waiting obediently.
Last night, after Lei Luo erased the recent memories of the Merman Race members, the priest fabricated a lie about a sea beast ambushing the tribe leader and dying in battle. He also announced that due to the timely rescue by Sharbao, he had contributed to the race and took over the position of tribe leader.
The ordinary mermen weren't aware of the truth to begin with. Then, after being confused by the highest-leveled member of their race, they immediately accepted the truth.
Sharbao studied the records and communication process of the mermen and humans for the entire night.
He realized that unless human merchants came to trade, other humans that passed by would only rest on the island and would not bother communicating with the Merman Race.
Furthermore, when the human nobles arrived half a month later, there was no need for the Merman Race to receive them.
The reason why the Merman Race were notified was because the human merchants wanted to find out the reason for the arrival of the noble descendants. Thus, they explained it to the Merman Race as well.
However, this kind of matter was something that the human merchants had casually arranged. It wasn't a loss for the Merman Race to know about it, but it was fine if the Merman Race didn't know either. They could ignore this matter.
After Sharbao finished reporting this, the happiest person was none other than Lei Luo.
He immediately had the merman priest and Sharbao announce that they were leaving the race for a period of time. Furthermore, the mermen were not allowed to go to the island to receive the human nobles in case they were attacked.
The remaining merfolk had never seen Lei Luo before, and their memories had been erased, so they couldn't leak any information.
After taking away the Sharbao and the merman priest, the last loophole was completely blocked.
This was how the current situation came to be.
Lei Luo descended from the sky and grabbed the two of them before flying deeper into the sea. If they entered the sea directly, they might be seen by the members of the Merman Race.
After flying for an hour, Lei Luo placed Sharbao and the merman priest at the bottom of the sea. Then, he followed them.
…
Three days later.
After swimming for a long time, they finally returned to the sea area where they had set off from. Lei Luo's mood instantly improved after looking at the familiar surroundings.
He didn't have to worry about the danger of his identity being exposed, nor did he have to suppress himself here.
The ordinary fish and sea beasts in the sea lacked intelligence, so there was no danger.
Lei Luo flew around the island and headed towards the sea area where he hunted. The journey to and fro the Merman Race had taken almost seven days, and he was craving the taste of barbecue.
Not long after Lei Luo left, Shardin, who had been cruising nearby, saw the commotion and went ashore. Then, he happened to bump into Sharbao and the merman priest.
"Sharbao, Lord Priest, why have you come, and…"
Shardin's eyes widened in disbelief as he watched them both appear on the Poison Dragon's island.
After all, Sharbao had brought Lei Luo to the Merman Race to resolve this problem. However, what was the use of bringing the merman priest back to the island?
The merman priest was also surprised. He had thought Shardin had been killed, but he was still alive.
Just as the priest was about to speak, Sharbao grabbed Shardin in advance and pulled him into the sea while saying, "Swim around the island. Don't go too far. If you are discovered, don't say that I didn't warn you."
"The Great Poison Dragon has gone to hunt. He'll be back soon."
After that, Sharbao and Sharbao sank to the bottom of the sea to avoid the merman priest.
The merman priest glared unhappily at them and turned to observe the island. "I shouldn't have sent Shardin and the others here. They actually betrayed the race. However, I didn't expect the young Poison Dragon to really live on this deserted island. It's so powerful even without an elder to take care of it. If I sell it to humans, wouldn't it fetch a higher price?"
"However, the memories of my clansmen have been erased by the Conch of Forgetting. Only the two traitors and I have memories of the Poison Dragon. I have to find a suitable human merchant."
"This is difficult. Why don't I create some magic arrays and magical waves to attract human experts?"
Without a direct threat, the merman priest could not help but think of selling Lei Luo off.
As the overlord of the continent, any bit of resources that slipped through the gaps between their fingers was enough for the Merman Race to feed themselves for 100 years. However, if only one person was being fed, they could eat until they died a natural death.
However, there was a lack of an opportunity and a suitable buyer. The merman priest suppressed his thoughts and stayed in the sea.
On the other side, Sharbao dragged Shardin to the empty seabed to prevent others from eavesdropping.
"Sharbao, what's going on? Why did you bring the Lord Priest here?"
Once they stopped, Shardin couldn't help but ask.
Sharbao shook his head. "If I didn't bring him here, we won't be able to guarantee the safety of our race. It's because he made the wrong decision that led to this disaster. That Poison Dragon was almost about to exterminate our race, but I stopped it at the last moment and changed its plan to a gentler one."
"I was elected the tribe leader of the mermen. You did not return, but you were also appointed chief."
"However, the priest knows too much. There is a risk that the Conch of Forgetting will lose its effectiveness and cannot erase memories from a long time ago. In addition, he doesn't approve of us relying on Lord Poison Dragon. I have already suggested that Lord kill him. You have to support me."
"We only have two choices now. We can either capture the Poison Dragon and sell it, or seek refuge. If we don't make a choice, we can only wait for death."
After Shardin explained the reason behind their situation, Shardin fell silent.
After a while, he nodded with difficulty.
Both Shardin and Sharbao reached an agreement at the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile, the priest hid his thoughts and stayed quietly in the sea.
This was until a roar sounded in the sky. Then, Lei Luo flew back to the island with two Level-4 sea beasts.
Without any notice, Shardin and Sharbao went ashore out of their own initiative. The priest thought for a moment and followed them.
Lei Luo's eyes flicked to the side as he went back to his business. He used charcoal to roast the Alligator Snapping Turtles.
When the fragrance of the roasted meat wafted through the air, he removed the turtle shells and started eating while asking, "What's the matter?"
Sharbao directly pointed at the priest. "Lord Poison Dragon, after thinking about it, I still feel that he is an uncontrollable factor. Furthermore, he refuses to allow the Merman Race to rely on you. This means that he has other thoughts and might be thinking of how to sell you off."
"The best thing would be to limit his ability to perform and keep him in a state of constant poisoning. It would be better if he was a little more seriously poisoned than Shardin."
The merman priest's expression changed drastically as he hurriedly tried to explain himself.
However, Lei Luo waved his claw. "Don't argue. I'll deal with your problems later. We'll talk when I'm done eating."
Although Lei Luo said that he would deal with them later, Lei Luo diverted part of his attention to the merman priest. His reaction just now was too abnormal. Could it be that Sharbao was right?
As he recalled the various behaviors of the merman priest on the way back, Lei Luo had an idea.
After eating the Alligator Snapping Turtles, he threw the turtle shells into the extinct volcano as usual to burn it.
Lei Luo turned his head and first spat at Shardin to remove the poison from his body. Then, he spat out a mouthful of poisonous breath at the merman priest.
The poisonous breath in Shardin's body was not actually poisonous. It was just a casual remark. However, Lei Luo didn't want to reveal this, so he decided to act as if he was removing the poison. Meanwhile, he injected actual poisonous breath into the merman priest.
Although the amount of poison injected was extremely small, the merman priest still looked like he could not hold on any longer and his face was pale.
His Level-4 aura decreased rapidly and soon reached Level-2.
Sharbao felt a little regretful at the side. Lei Luo actually didn't kill him directly and even held back.