Chapter 2123: Playing With Fire

“Kraken?” Zu An’s expression became a bit strange. He had previously seen this kind of monster in the secret dungeon he encountered in the past. Now that he thought about it, this monster had a special purpose...

Suddenly, the window to the side was smashed open. A tentacle swept toward the two of them. The Kraken had clearly sensed the smell of delicious flesh.

The tentacle was about to reach the table when Zu An waved his hand and said, “Get lost!”

The chopsticks in his hands flew out practically at lightspeed. The tentacle that all the guests couldn't damage in the slightest was pierced straight through by the chopsticks; the mucus on its surface didn’t seem to be of any use either.

A bitter wail erupted, shattering all of the glass around the dining hall. The tentacle immediately retracted out of pain. Then, the endless tentacles that had been flailing around powerfully seemed to have been really alarmed and shrank back into the sea. The massive figure down below was fleeing in even greater alarm.

The seamen on deck and countless cultivators were all counting their blessings for having survived this disaster.

“Why did that monster suddenly leave?”

“It might be because our attacks worked, right? It knew that we weren’t so easily provoked.”

“Hah, compared to that, I would rather believe that it already ate its fill. Who knows how many guests and seamen had their flesh and blood sucked away by those tentacles?”

...

They all surmised that the greatest possibility was that the large-scale weapons of the ship had nearly been activated. Thus, the monster felt a bit alarmed, and because it had already eaten enough, it had decided to leave.

Only Shang Hongyu knew the real reason. She looked at the man across from her with shock. Even though the window had exploded and pieces were flying everywhere, there seemed to be an invisible force field around the table where the two were, blocking everything outside. The food, and even the wine glasses, were perfectly fine.

Zu An chuckled when he saw her expression, remarking, “I was pretty cool just now, wasn’t I?”

Shang Hongyu’s face turned red. She quickly shifted her eyes away and said, “Hmph, it’s about the same as the Dragon King. I’ve already seen enough of this kind of thing.”

But deep inside, she knew that even though the Dragon King didn’t fear the Kraken, that was because of the natural pressure he could exert with the Dragon race bloodline. If they really fought against each other, he likely wouldn't have been able to win so effortlessly.

Zu An didn’t mind. He took out a porcelain bottle, and with a wave of his hand, the pool of pink fluid that the Kraken had left behind from its wound entered it.

When she saw that, Shang Hongyu's eyes widened and she said, “You really aren’t a good person.”

Zu An was stunned. “Why are you suddenly saying that?”

Shang Hongyu pointed at his bottle. “The mucus of the Kraken has powerful aphrodisiac properties, especially toward women. If you're collecting it, who are you planning to use that powerful effect on?” As she said that, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and she moved backward. “You aren’t planning to use it on me, are you?”

Zu An was speechless. He said in annoyance, “If I really wanted to do something to you, why would I need something like this? The reason I'm collecting it is because this mucus is an extremely valuable medicine refinement material and hard to gather. I naturally wouldn’t just leave it now that it’s here.”

“So you know a bit about medicine refinement... Wait, what's the meaning of that? What do you mean, you wouldn’t need to use this to do something to me?” Shang Hongyu looked at him angrily.

Zu An smiled and shook his finger, replying, “Did you forget the effects of treatment with my ki?”

Shang Hongyu now remembered her treatment. Even though it was just an instant, that was a feeling she would never forget for the rest of her life. With that ability, there was indeed no need to use the Kraken’s mucus.

“Hmph, despicable!” Her face heated up and she scoffed.

Zu An was speechless.

I was clearly just explaining things to this woman. What else am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, there were noisy footsteps outside. The two quickly glanced over.

“We should leave for now,” Shang Hongyu suggested. If the others saw that the two of them were completely fine, it would be hard to avoid suspicion.

“Alright.” Zu An got up. With a wave of his hand, the seat they were on was blasted to pieces, as if it had been destroyed by the tentacle.

Shang Hongyu nodded, feeling that he was quite meticulous.

Soon after, a group of seamen rushed in. When they saw the two, they were a bit surprised. “You two are quite lucky. You actually weren’t eaten by that monster.”

Shang Hongyu patted her chest and said as if she was filled with lingering fear, “Thank goodness I was hiding in the corner, and then that monster suddenly left. That was how I survived!”

Zu An looked at how the seamen were fooled.

It seems that women are all natural-born actresses.

The two of them quickly arrived at the deck. They enjoyed the ocean breeze while watching the seamen rush around busily to repair the damage. Many of the rooms were a mess from the giant tentacle, and even some of the giant catapults on the ship had been destroyed. However, he ship doctor was rather idle, only needing to pacify the guests. After all, the previous attack only had deceased casualties and none injured.

Shang Hongyu looked at their own room in the distance. She couldn't help but feel happy, saying, “Our luck is pretty good. The room is still safe and sound.”

Could this be because of some mysterious form of destiny?

“If that guy had dared to destroy our room, it could forget about leaving,” Zu An said nonchalantly.

Several guests heard what he said and rolled their eyes.

Look at this guy bragging,

That woman seems to be a fool too. She actually believes such a terrible lie. But she doesn’t look all that pretty, so it’s no wonder that she doesn’t know much.

Zu An was speechless.

Meanwhile, Shang Hongyu was laughing so hard that she was shaking a bit.

...

After that brief interruption, the two began to talkt about more important matters.

“That Kraken seems to be a bit weak. It isn’t as strong as the one I met before,” Zu An said seriously.

“Hm? I didn’t expect you to have actually met a Kraken before? As expected of the legendary regent.” Shang Hongyu was a bit surprised. “After all, the Kraken usually lives deep in the sea. Even the Ocean races see it very rarely.

“That one earlier wasn’t a mature Kraken. It should still be a child.” She put away her smile and said, “But even if that's the case, it shouldn’t have appeared in this place.”

“Oh?” Zu An gave the large-scale weapons on the deck a look and said. “And here I thought that these weapons ewre for defeating these kinds of monsters.”

Shang Hongyu explained, “These weapons are indeed meant for the ocean monsters, but against terrifying monsters like the Kraken, it’s no different from a child trying to fight off adult criminals with a knife. I previously told you that the deeper into the sea we went, the stronger those ocean monsters would become. Normally, it would be impossible for monsters of this level to appear.” Her expression became extremely grave as she continued, “However, the Kraken just happened to appear in this place, which means that either there's something that attracted it here, to the extent that it didn’t mind traveling thousands of miles, or...”

“Or something strange is happening in the ocean depths, so it could only leave its own native home against its will?” Zu An finished with a frown. His original plan had just been to come to the Ocean races' territory to look for the Divine Dragon Immortal Medicine. How could he have known that it wouldn't be peaceful at all here? It felt as if a massive black web was surrounding the entire Ocean races' territory, to the extent that if he made a single mistake, he could end up being caught up as well.

Shang Hongyu also realized that point. She stared into the ocean depths. Even though she was wearing a mask, it couldn't hide the worry between her brows.

“We don’t have enough information at all, so worrying about these things too much is meaningless. Let’s return to the Dragon Palace first. We’ll just deal with any further issues as they arise,” Zu An said while gently patting her shoulder.

Shang Hongyu voiced her agreement. Then, a smile appeared on her face as she said, “For some reason, I just feel really at ease with you here.” She couldn't feel any of the alarm and panic she had felt while being constantly pursued now. Instead, there was only a sense of peace and safety.

“Being of service to the queen is this humble one’s greatest glory.” Zu An bowed, using the same court etiquette Shang Hongyu had taught him not too long ago, making her rock back and forth with laughter.

...

The two enjoyed the sea breeze on the deck while admiring the stars in the sky, chatting with each other from time to time. Time passed really quickly.

The seamen in charge of repairs gradually left to get some rest. After recovering from their shock, the guests also returned to their rooms. Even though many of the rooms were destroyed, there were also many lives that had been taken by the Kraken, so there were enough rooms left.

Continuing on the deck at this point would end up drawing unwanted attention, so the two also returned to their room. When they entered, both of them immediately removed their disguises. They just couldn't really get used to each other’s unfamiliar faces.

When they looked at the single bed in the room, both of them were a bit embarrassed. The reason why the two of them had stalled for so long outside was because they subconsciously wanted to avoid this scenario.

But Zu An had experienced his fair share of daunting experiences. He quickly said, “You should use the bed to rest, and I’ll just sit here in meditation. With my current cultivation, I don’t need to stick to a bed so inflexibly.”

Shang Hongyu said with a smile, “You should be the one to use the bed. Either way, I still need to sit in meditation to heal my wounds. Besides, you’ve helped me so much already, so how can I let you sleep on the floor?”

“Letting a woman sleep on the floor, especially a beautiful one at that, isn't what a gentleman would do.” Zu An moved over a stool and sat by the entrance. Judging from his behavior, it seemed as if there was no way he would make Shang Hongyu sleep on the floor.

After some hesitation, Shang Hongyu suddenly opened her mouth and said, “Actually... This bed is pretty large. We can both sleep in it.”

Zu An was speechless.

When she saw his shocked expression, Shang Hongyu waved her hand and said, “Don’t misunderstand. It's just that we need to pretend to be husband and wife anyway. Once we return to the Dragon Palace, we might have to sleep in the same room. There’ll be many servants attending to us. If we separate then, that might make us suspicious, so we might as well get used to it now, so we’re not caught off guard later.”

Zu An was still hesitant, saying, “Even so, men and women should keep their distance. Wouldn’t this kind of behavior be inappropriate?”

If this had been few years prior, such a thing would be exactly what he would be looking for. But he had already experienced all kinds of things. His way of thinking was already different from before. There were too many things waiting for him to deal with, and romance was now just one part. There were times when it actually became a kind of emotional burden.

“What's inappropriate about it? It's not as if I'll take advantage of you.” Shang Hongyu rolled her eyes. “In my eyes, you’re just a little brother.”

Zu An was speechless, replying, “Then what if I take advantage of you?”

Shang Hongyu said with an amused look, “Then I’ll tell Liuyu!”

Zu An was speechless. What kind of threat was this? Did it even have any power? Why did it almost sound as if she was encouraging him?

However, they were both individuals with extraordinary statuses. After they made up their minds, it wasn’t so awkward anymore. After all, they were going to take the risk of impersonating the Dragon King, so they completely set aside their emotional burdens.

Zu An stopped refusing and got onto the bed.

Shang Hongyu said, “You should sleep soon. I’ll perform some meditation for my injuries first.”

Zu An handed her a medicine bottle. He didn’t say anything else and lay down.

Shang Hongyu didn’t refuse. She opened the bottle, took one pill, and then went to the edge of the bed to meditate and absorb the moonlight essence from above. The speed of her recovery clearly grew a bit faster.

Zu An opened his eyes and gave her a look. The faint moonlight that scattered over her body covered her in a layer of hazy light. She looked splendid and magnificent. Together with the vast and tranquil sea, it formed an extremely beautiful scene. He sighed in praise. No wonder her status in the Ocean races’ hearts was so high. She was indeed extremely beautiful. He closed his eyes again, his mind at peace. There were many sorts of beauty where just admiring it was enough.

After meditating for around two hours, Shang Hongyu slowly opened her eyes. Under the support of both the medicine and moonlight, she could feel that the condition of her injuries had clearly improved a lot. Her eyes shifted to the man sleeping on the bed. He had one hand casually supporting the back of his head, looking really relaxed. His breathing was tranquil and drawn out. He had clearly already fallen asleep. She couldn't help but lean against the windowsill and look at him while resting her chin on her hand.

Handsome sharp brows, tall nose bridge, those lips that seem as if they're always carrying a faint smile...

She sighed inwardly.

No wonder that proud and confident little sister of mine has such a good impression of him, always bringing him up from time to time. He really is quite handsome.

Now that his cultivation has already reached such extraordinary heights, even if he's just lying there, the natural dao flows evenly around him, and his existence implicitly aligns with the natural state of the world. No, he is nature itself!

As she looked at him, her cheeks suddenly turned red. She couldn't help but touch her forehead with her hand.

Ah... Did I end up playing with fire here?

She moved over to the bed. She bit her lip, and then she turned toward the window. Some time later, she suddenly felt as if she had a clear conscience.

What do I have to fear?

As such, she returned to the side of the bed. But when she saw that handsome face and the refined qualities of his body, she suddenly felt guilty and turned around, going back to the window.

After that continued a few times, Zu An suddenly said, “If you keep this up, the floorboards might break from all the wear.”

Shang Hongyu’s almond eyes were wide open as she exclaimed, “You were already awake? You were watching me make a fool of myself!”

And that guy’s eyes were still closed, so he was pretending to be asleep! How annoying!

Right, with his cultivation, how could he not know what's happening right next to him?

You have successfully trolled Shang Hongyu for +66 +66 +66...

Zu An opened his eyes and said, “I was asleep at first, but with how many times you went back and forth, I’d have woken up even if I was a pig.”

Shang Hongyu’s face fluctuated between red and white. Her chest rose and fell repeatedly. It was obvious that she couldn't calm down at all right now.

“Who was it who said that you wouldn’t take advantage of me so confidently?” Zu An remarked with interest. He was the one who had been acting timid, while this woman had been acting like an older sister teasing a little brother. Why was she now the one who was scared?

“Hmph, who's scared of whom here? Just make sure you keep your clothes on, or else I won’t take responsibility if you accidentally end up being taken advantage of by me,” Shang Hongyu retorted. After her initial shock, she lay down straight on the bed.

A refreshing scent wafted over. Zu An was really a bit curious. He hadn’t seen her put on any makeup these past few days, so why did she still smell so good?

At first, Shang Hongyu was still a bit nervous, but when she saw Zu An shuffle toward the corner out of the corner of her eyes, leaving open a large space between the two of them, she burst out laughing. “Why are you staying so far away? Come a bit closer, I won’t eat you or anything.”

Zu An was stunned. He replied, “Woman, you’re playing with fire.”