The arrival of the mermaid princess shocked everyone to the marrow of their bones and even the top-ranking soul evolvers who had been informed about the fact that Bai Zemin seemed to have formed some sort of alliance with an important existence of marine life expected that such existence to be a legendary mermaid! Therefore, everyone was dumbfounded.
Xian Mei'er not only had smooth and shiny skin but her seductive body accompanied by her face whose beauty did not lose to Wu Yijun level beauties made her a very gorgeous beauty. Even those small scales that were occasionally visible on her skin only added layers of mysterious and exotic but not at all unpleasant charm. Therefore, coupled with the mysticism of mermaids, it was no wonder that her appearance stunned everyone.
"Human leader, I see that your people are really big." Xian Mei'er still kept some distance from the edge of the bridge so when she reached 300 meters she stopped and carefully observed the large number of humans forming metal ranks reaching as far as the eye could not reach.
Although the 300-meter distance between her and Bai Zemin could be closed with a strong stomp from him and she knew it, Xian Mei'er was a creature of the seas and being too close to land would only weaken her power tremendously. Not to mention that she was still a little afraid of the power that Bai Zemin had exhibited during the war of the four races on the bridge back then.
Of course, Bai Zemin understood the reasons of the mermaid princess and in fact, if he was in her position he probably wouldn't even get as close as she was doing now. After all, in this world, one could not even trust one's own race so it was normal to think that trusting other races was even crazier.
However, sometimes those we didn't know the most were often more trustworthy than those we did; you just had to find out.
"Shit!" Nangong Yi shouted again with wide eyes and said in shock, "She can even speak Mandarin!"
Bang! Without warning, Nangong Yi received a heavy blow on the head that sent him staggering several steps forward and when he looked back he saw Zhong De staring at him.
"Surnamed Nangong, can you calm down? You are putting all of mankind to shame."
Nangong Lingxin sighed and covered her face as if she was embarrassed as she muttered, "Even Xiao Ming doesn't behave like this.... Big brother, you really..."
In the distance, Xian Mei'er observed the weird human interaction with a raised eyebrow and couldn't help but remark, "You humans sure are funny, aren't you?"
The corner of Bai Zemin's mouth contracted several times as the urge of wanting to turn around to give Nangong Yi a good beating was born and growing inside him, barely restraining himself against it reluctantly.
Shangguan Bing Xue was not much different in this regard as she was the one in charge of warning everyone what was going to happen. If she had known that the key factor lay in the word "mermaid" she would have added it to the information!
"Anyway, mermaid princess. I see your army has grown a lot over the course of a week." Bai Zemin wisely avoided the embarrassing matter from before and instead looked carefully at the several thousand sea beasts within the waters, stopping mainly at the three most conspicuous ones.
Apart from the giant jellyfish, there was also a turtle over 20 meters tall whose shell was as big as the dome that covered the largest space telescope in China and the tough scales covering its body looked tough enough to ignore any kind of piercing bullet with ease; this kind of defense type creature would be a big problem to deal with as even the power of war tanks would be ineffective against it.
Finally, there was also a swordfish at least 15 meters long and 4 or 5 meters tall that seemed to have some skill in controlling flames as even while inside the water it managed to keep the fire surrounding its main weapon from causing problems when it touched the sea. A type attack creature at its maximum.
All three were powerful Second Order creatures and if one added the shark from before to the three of them it could easily be deduced that Xian Mei'er currently had four Second Order existences under her command.... No, there was also Xiao Xiao so she had five of them!
This was a colossal contrast compared to the pitiful mermaid princess who had lost practically 90% of her army during the war against the zombie-beast alliance. But the most amazing thing of all was that she had managed to get such powerful subordinates in such a short time!
This fact was very eye-opening and it greatly alerted Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin as in a certain sense these beasts were proof and representation of how dangerous the seas were.
Xian Mei'er responded with a cheerful smile to the words Bai Zemin said as the excitement was noticeable in her voice: "Oh, you mean these? It was not difficult to recruit new troops. As I previously mentioned to you and Shangguan Bing Xue, the situation in the seas is too complicated right now which is why food rules to some extent. I am not the only one who does not wish to see my breed devouring each other, therefore, after a bit of searching I managed to recruit over 10.000 new troops among which are these three Second Order existences."
Xian Mei'er had invested practically 60% of all the zombie corpses and about 40% of Soul Stones she obtained as spoils of war back then all for the sake of recruiting these sea troops. The biggest investment was naturally made to gain the loyalty of the giant jellyfish, the defensive turtle, and the fire attack swordfish; but the Seventh Princess had realized one thing in the war over the bridge.
At that time, even though the humans were only two, they were so powerful that they alone could represent an entire race to form an alliance. Therefore, numbers did not always mean everything despite their clear importance. Precisely for this reason, the approach of the Seventh Princess of the East Sea whom everyone called stupid for dreaming about an "Impossible" changed slightly.
"I see..." Bai Zemin nodded as his gaze inspected with apparent laziness over the soldiers of the Seventh Princess of the East Sea. Then, he turned to look at her and said with a smile, "You really are trustworthy, unlike many humans. You said you would come and you here you are."
Xian Mei'er adjusted a strand of hair behind her ear as she said slowly, "Bai Zemin, remember that even though we can communicate and chat with each other, this is all thanks to the treasure embedded in my forehead. At the end of the day, you and I are living beings belonging to completely opposite races; while you live on earth, I live in the depths of the waters.... Therefore, it is only natural that our train of thought differs."
For humans, failing to keep their promises or reneging on their words was the most normal thing in the world. From minor matters to matters of life and death, there was no shortage of humans who could not be trusted at all as their words were as insignificant as anything else that existed in the world.
However, to the intelligent creatures of the sea, the word of a warrior represented everything. From the honor to the trust a warrior would have for the rest of their lives, everything depended not only on the strength but also on the courage a warrior gave themselves through the fulfillment of their promises. This applied especially for members of the royalty and while Xian Mei'er was aware that she did not need to keep her word to a human, she had her principles just in the same way that Bai Zemin had his.
"... I guess you're right." He said with a slight nod.
"Xiao Xiao, come with me." Xian Mei'er stretched both arms forward with a warm smile.
However, little Xiao Xiao Xiao did not fly out to her right away as she normally would.
The little pink dolphin looked at Bai Zemin with teary eyes and seemed quite reluctant, something that made the heart of the human many people called cruel and selfish feel a bit bitter.
"Puu..." Xiao Xiao made a low sound as if to express her pain, but finally obeyed the mermaid princess and with a mighty jump using the body of Bai Zemin as momentum she soared into the sky.
"You, child..." Xian Mei'er caught the little pink dolphin and didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she looked at Bai Zemin and said, "Looks like Xiao Xiao really likes you."
The little pink dolphin looked down at the bridge with teary eyes and from the way her little body was trembling it seemed like she was trying hard not to cry.
Bai Zemin held up both hands and decided not to comment on the matter. Instead, he decided to start with the matter that was really his business since this could also help the little Xiao Xiao dolphin's sadness and pain to be relieved.
"Xian Mei'er, you said before that you were not interested in the throne that would make you queen of the entire East Sea, didn't you?"
Subconsciously, the body of Shangguan Bing Xue tensed slightly when she heard Bai Zemin's question. They had been conversing throughout the travel here so she was clear about what he intended to do next, and a lot of things were dependent on it.
In fact, to say that the future of what would happen on land and in the depths of the seas was tied strongly to the conversation that was about to take place with a human and a mermaid as the main focus was not exaggerated at all.
"Uh?" Xian Mei'er was about to urge Bai Zemin to instruct his people to start crossing the bridge in order to get this all over with at once since she was currently very busy, but his sudden and unusual question left her confused so she couldn't answer right away.
After several seconds, the mermaid princess blinked and nodded still feeling confused: "Yeah.... Actually, I have no interest in fighting for the throne. As I told you the other day, my goal is another one."
"If I'm not mistaken, your goal is to prevent within the margin of possibility your people from devouring each other, isn't it?" Bai Zemin asked, to which Xian Mei'er nodded. Then, he continued, "Correct me if I'm wrong but, what would happen if someone from your realm starts devouring creatures from other realms wouldn't that be a war?"
"That is..." Xian Mei'er frowned tightly.
The question asked by Bai Zemin had hit a really hard spot in the heart of the Seventh Princess. This question might seem insignificant but it was actually very crucial and that same question had been asked far before by her father.
"If you want to prevent your people from devouring each other, then you will have to attack other races. There is no other option. This, however, will lead to a war between races, so it doesn't matter if it is a war between sea kingdoms or not since a war is a war and death is bound to happen." Bai Zemin remarked in a serious voice, his eyes focused on the expression of the mermaid princess to observe her changes at all times.
At the end of the day, the dream of Xian Mei'er was nothing more than that, a dream. While dreams could come true, usually dreams simply stayed as dreams. Not for nothing were there the phrases "daydreaming" or "stop dreaming in the real world."
"What do you want to achieve by asking all this?" Xian Mei'er looked at Bai Zemin a little grumpily.
Although she knew that the human in front of her was right, her heart and principles were not so weak as to give up her ideal just because of mere words. She would fight to the death to achieve her goal even if she failed in the attempt.
Hearing the Seventh Princess's question, a faint smile grew at the corner of Bai Zemin's lips.
Now, each piece had fallen where he wanted it to be. The execution would be what would decide everything now.
"Xian Mei'er, how about forming an alliance with me? I'm not talking about a temporal alliance like the one we are currently in, I mean a total alliance where you will support me completely and I will support you with all my power." Bai Zemin looked severely at the mermaid princess and proposed, "Not with the human race you can't trust, but with me, the one who will lead them."
While Bai Zemin was human, Xian Mei'er had already witnessed that at least for the most part she could trust him. While she still had certain reservations against him, this was because Bai Zemin was just too strong so it was natural to be somewhat fearful of someone like that.
However, the Seventh Princess of the East Sea and the King of Yanqing had worked together before.
During that brief but important collaboration, the King of Yanqing could have hidden the beast leader's corpse and the Seventh Princess of the East Sea would never have known about it due to the existence of a Legend-grade treasure such as the spatial storage ring. But he did not and instead not only kept his word to surrender thousands of beast corpses and over 20,000,000 zombies but also gave Xian Mei'er a head which contained a priceless Third Order Soul Stone inside.
Xian Mei'er was silent for a long time before raising her head to look at Bai Zemin.
"I'm hearing you."
Xian Mei'er did not say yes nor did she say no. However, the smile on Bai Zemin's face finally settled completely as he realized that the deal was sealed in stone now.
"That's good."
* * * * * * * End of volume 3! Volume name: Sea and Land Alliance. This volume was over 250 chapters long and I hope you enjoyed it. See you later in the first chapter of volume 4 :)
Remember to visit my other story, Samsara Online, if you like my writing style <3
Many more interesting and exciting things to come!

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