After Shardin swam for a while, a warrior wielding a large sword jumped down from the ship. Upon seeing Shardin's appearance, he frowned slightly before putting away his sword and shouted, "You are a member of the Merman Race. Don't you know that swimming is prohibited in the surroundings?"
"Since this is your first offense, I'll let it go this time. Next time, you're not allowed to go out to sea."
The warrior's aura was extremely powerful, far beyond that of the previous Level-4 merman tribe leader. Shardin's face was slightly pale and he lowered his head, not daring to make a sound.
After berating him, the warrior turned and returned to the ship.
The commotion attracted the attention of the members of the Merman Race. When they saw that it was Shardin, they hurriedly welcomed him back to the race.
However, the members of the Merman Race all had their heads lowered when they came out. Obviously, they didn't dare to attract the attention of the humans on the ship.
Lei Luo saw the commotion from afar and frowned slightly. He originally wanted to enter the Merman Race to understand some information, but now it seemed that the Merman Race was suppressed by the various large factions of the human race and had to report even when they went out to sea.
For the Merman Race to be able to live until now, it was likely that someone among the humans had come out to speak.
In such a situation, Lei Luo could not enter the race. He was currently disguised as a merman, but he was not a merman from Shardin's race. Thus, he would definitely be recognized.
If a human expert came down to investigate, they would expose him.
"They're heading towards the abyssal rift, which is the same direction as the island I lived on. Why don't I swim there first?"
"From the looks of it, I don't think there's much progress. Otherwise, so many ships wouldn't have gathered. However, there should be something."
"Even ordinary human powers are here. Could there really be treasures in the abyss rift?"
Lei Luo wandered in the distance and quickly determined the general situation through the external circumstances.
The actual situation was not far from what he had guessed.
In the past half a month, the human merchants first arrived ahead of time and wanted to ask for information about the Mage Union. Not many people came.
This was until the 20 Legendary powerhouses of the Mage Union entered the depths of the northernmost ocean and disappeared.
No news was sent back. There was no way to contact them, and even their life force disappeared one after another. Thus, some merchants and members of the Mage Union risked their lives to venture deep into the sea. Halfway there, they found that the surface of the sea had already been dyed red, and the high-leveled sea beasts had completely gone mad. Meanwhile, there were medals of the Mage Union floating on the surface of the sea.
One of the medals contained a miniature magic array, and inside it was a small scale from the Poison Dragon.
After returning to the island of the Merman Race, the member of the Mage Union who held the medal died, and his internal organs were completely corroded by the poison.
This news caused an even greater reaction.
There were rumors that two years ago, the injured Poison Dragon had already stepped into the Legendary Realm and become a Demigod. That was why the 20 Legendary powerhouses had died. The Poison Dragon would come back for revenge.
Furthermore, a Demigod-level Poison Dragon had not appeared for more than a thousand years. Once the rumors were spread, the Dragon Race was also interested.
Thus, the fact that three of the six great human powers had come was already quite important.
Another piece of news was that after becoming a Demigod, with the Poison Dragon's special physique and abilities, its body could be used to forge divine artifacts!
That scale was judged by a blacksmith to be the main material of a legendary weapon, or a supplementary material for a semi-divine artifact.
The scale was then bought by the blacksmith for three million gold coins.
Every piece of news triggered the nerves of the adventurers, causing more and more people to gather on the island above the Merman Race.
This was because the source of the commotion started with the Mage Union. After they arrived, they restrained the adventurers and prevented them from entering the depths of the sea. They planned to cooperate with the Assassin Union and the Mercenary Guild to obtain the greatest benefits.
They had been negotiating the distribution of benefits for the past few days and had reached a deadlock.
At this moment, Lei Luo circled around the island of the Merman Race from afar and headed towards the island where he used to live.
As Lei Luo continued to move forward, he discovered that there was not a single ordinary school of fish that he could normally see. They were all Level-3 sea beasts, and they had savage temperaments.
Three days later, he was close to the sea area where he originally lived.
Lei Luo maintained his merman form and carefully observed his surroundings with a serious expression.
As he ventured deeper into the northernmost ocean domain, not only did the sea beasts become more violent, but their levels also increased at an abnormal rate.
Moreover, there was a hint of blood in the sea. It was everywhere.
"What is going on?"
Lei Luo casually killed a small fish that pounced on him and bit him. Then, he frowned.
He could only sense the smell of blood in the seawater, but not the aura of his own race.
While he was feeling frustrated, a magic ship suddenly flew from the sky and landed heavily in the sea, pushing the seawater away and forming waves.
There were more than ten youths in luxurious clothes standing on the ship, guarded by warriors.
Obviously, they were a group of nobles.
The youth in the lead pointed into the depths of the sea and said, "I heard the news from my grandfather. That Poison Dragon scale was discovered in the sea ahead. There must be even more scales in that area. It's even possible that a living Poison Dragon is there."
“If we discover it and sell the information, the whole continent will know about us."
"If we kill that Poison Dragon, we can even make use of our reputation as Dragon Slayers."
A youth beside him said hesitantly, "It's said that the Poison Dragon is already at the Demigod level. It won't kill us instantly, right?"
"How is that possible? Our ship is a semi-divine artifact after all. How can it break through our defenses so easily?"
"That's right. Even if our defenses are broken instantly, I don't believe that you don't have any life-saving items on you."
"The selling price of one dragon scale is enough to squander for years."
The youth in the lead waved his hand and suppressed the discussion. Then, he took out a stopwatch from his chest pocket and showed it to everyone. "Everyone, don't worry. Since I dare to lead the team, I will naturally consider all accidents. This is my family's stopwatch."
"Once we encounter a life-and-death crisis, it will stop the time and space around us and teleport us back. I will set the location at the island of the Merman Race. There are enough experts there to protect us. We will definitely be safe."
"I swear on the honor of the Wumon Family!"
"If we really can't encounter the Poison Dragon, let's use that piece of Poisonous Dragon meat to lure that Poisonous Dragon out. Let's see if she can endure it."
After hearing the young man's words, the expressions of the rest immediately turned from worry to excitement. They began to imagine how much reputation they would receive if they completed this mission.
Lei Luo was just below the ship when he heard these words and sensed something was wrong.
The half-divine artifact ship, the news about the Poison Dragon, the life-preserving secret treasure, the flesh of the Poison Dragon, and a group of youths. No matter how one looked at it, all these factors added up made it seem like bait to attract the Poison Dragon in the depths of the sea.
Since they were able to produce half-divine artifacts, this meant that they had to be from a Legendary family. It was also possible that a Demigod family was involved.
Just as Lei Luo was about to dive into the deep sea to avoid this group of human noble youths, he suddenly heard an angry shout. "Who's down there!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The surface of the water broke open, and four warriors wielding large swords jumped down from the ship. Their battle energy connected with each other, forming a circle around Lei Luo.
After seeing the creature that they surrounded, the four warriors were stunned. "Why is the Merman Race here?"
As Lei Luo thought about it, he raised his hands and pretended to be afraid as he explained, "Don't kill me. I want to try my luck in the depths of the sea and pick up a few scales to sell. I used to come to the nearby sea area when I was young. I still remember the route now."
One of the warriors thought about it and waved his hand. "Capture him and see how the Young Master deals with him."