Chapter 2126: Just Who Should I Trust?

Shark Diao had a joyful look on his face. Now that the Dragon King was going to receive information, he himself would definitely be rewarded. Moreover, the reward would definitely not be small.

Zu An wasn’t surprised to see this. Shang Hongyu was the only flaw in the fake Dragon King’s current disguise, so he naturally needed to eradicate her as quickly as possible.

Soon after, under the lead of Shark Diao, he reached the innermost area of the Snail Palace. There were layers after layers of guards everywhere. They arrived in front of a giant formation. Zu An only needed to look at it for a moment to recognize that it was a transport formation that could immediately bring them very far away. However, the formation borrowed the power of the water element and surrounding sea to achieve its result. The distance such a formation could reach on land would be extremely limited.

“Sir, please head on inside. This transport formation can send sir straight to the Dragon Palace. There will be someone on the other side to receive sir, so I will not be traveling with you.” Shark Diao said respectfully.

Zu An showed that he understood and walked up to the formation. One after another, the subordinates brought out large ki stones to fill in the grooves around the formation. As the final piece was put in, blue patterns lit up all across the ground. The ki stones were like batteries that charged the formation from the outside in. Rings of formation patterns shone; when the entire formation was illuminated, space twisted, and Zu An instantly disappeared.

...

Shortly after, Zu An reappeared on the formation platform on the other side. But Shark Diao’s group was no longer around him, and the environment also changed greatly.

“Spatial power, huh...” Zu An silently remembered the sensation. He had only experienced spatial power whenever he passed through a portal into a secret dungeon. The humans and fiends rarely had these kinds of transport formations. The Ocean races were full of secrets after all.

“Is this the sir who came with information regarding the queen? Please follow us; the Dragon King wishes to meet with you.” Two attendants greeted him outside the formation.

Zu An examined the two of them. Apart from the blue fins around their ears, they didn’t seem too different from humans. Their cultivation ranks weren’t low either. It seemed this fake Dragon King was treating him with some respect.

He nodded and gestured for them to lead the way. At the same time, he secretly examined his surroundings. Even though Shang Hongyu had already roughly introduced the Dragon Palace to him, he still couldn't help but feel shocked when he saw it himself.

He had gone to underwater theme parks before, but he had mostly only admired them from behind giant slabs of glass. Only occasionally, when he traveled through a glass tunnel, had he felt as if he was really walking along the ocean floor. But now, he really was doing so! He had thought that there would be a giant glass dome outside the Dragon Palace to stop the seawater from coming in and that there would be no water inside, making it no different from the outside world. However, there were no glass barriers at all. The entire Dragon Palace was immersed in water!

Likewise, he was also underwater. Normally, an ordinary person’s body would have been crushed into a bloody paste from the water pressure. Even if not for that, there would be no way to breathe. Of course, with his current strength, Zu An didn’t need to worry about that, but he didn’t feel any pressure either. Even if an ordinary person were here, they would similarly be able to move around as if they were on dry ground. They wouldn’t be hindered at all. He focused his attention further out, his powerful divine sense taking in his surroundings. He thus discovered that even though there was no glass barrier, there was a huge formation surrounding the Dragon Palace.

The Dragon Palace had all kinds of complicated formations that flickered with light; included among them were many mysterious and ingenious methods that even left Zu An amazed. Along the way, there were pretty coral reefs everywhere, with anemones continuously swaying atop them as if they were trying to make the rainbow-colored fish that were passing by stay. From time to time, some jellyfish slowly drifted about around them, every single one glowing faintly like shining lanterns.

Zu An was a bit surprised. Using the jellyfish as lanterns was quite clever. Of course, the entire Dragon Palace couldn't possibly rely purely on jellyfish for lighting, so a streak of bright light shone down from right above and made the entire Dragon Palace as bright as if it were in broad daylight. However, Zu An knew very well that the Dragon Palace was located deep, deep underwater. There was no way that light could be from the sun. Normally, it would be so dark that one wouldn’t be able to see one's own hand in front of one's face. It was probably some special formation that brought sunlight all the way down here.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A long flight of stairs made of a white marble-like material soon appeared in front of him. The engravings on it were extremely delicate. Along the way, there were pillars topped with soccer-ball-sized pearls that further spread the sunlight from above all around them. Zu An’s eye twitched when he saw that. The Ocean races’ natural resources really were abundant. This place was far more extravagant than the palaces of the humans and fiends.

At the end of the stairs was a splendid and magnificent palace. The details of its design were entirely different from those of the humans and fiends, with many different parts influenced by the multiple styles used by the Ocean races. There were dragon and mermaid sculptures, as well as many statues of other sea races. There were many that Zu An didn’t even recognize.

But what drew Zu An’s attention even more was that the entire palace was made from translucent crystal. Under the sunlight, the entire palace shone with crystalline radiance. It was truly a work of art, stunning beyond comparison. Zu An sighed in praise. No wonder the Dragon Palace was also called the Crystal Palace.

...

As he continued to move around, he unwittingly realized that he had been led to a large structure in the depths of the Dragon Palace. The soldiers at the entrance weren’t shrimp and crabs, but rather seahorses and strange fish. But they weren’t like the seahorses he remembered. These seahorses were extremely large, and there was a stern aura coming from their bodies. Meanwhile, the fish soldiers had human bodies and fish tails. They all held tridents in hand and watched him vigilantly. At first, Zu An was worried that they were part of the Mermaid race, but when he saw how ugly they were, he determined that they clearly weren’t. They were probably some kind of strange fish from the Ocean races that he didn’t know about.

Every single one of the soldiers had ninth rank cultivation. Zu An clicked his tongue in wonder. After all, in the human and fiend races, even though there were many with ninth rank cultivation, their elite soldiers weren’t this strong. Fifth or sixth rank were already pretty much the limit. Those soldiers then coordinated through all sorts of war formations to achieve great power.

But what if the same weredone with soldiers at the ninth rank? If not for the fact that the Ocean races couldn't leave the water, the humans and fiends could have long since been conquered.

Two strange fish soldiers stopped in front of Zu An, then took out a water crystal. They shone it all over Zu An’s body, then nodded to the soldiers beside them and opened up the way. Zu An gave the crystal a look. This thing was probably used to check if one had any dangerous weapons or other such things. After all, everyone who could enter the Dragon Palace was an important individual. Directly carrying out a body check wouldn’t be giving them much face.

Then, Zu An was brought into a large palace. A tall and well-built man was at the highest point. He sat on an open shell that looked like a giant throne and looked down on Zu An from high above. Judging from his familiar appearance and the horns on his forehead, as well as the king-like presence he gave off, he was clearly the fake Dragon King.

Even though Zu An was already informed about this person's true identity from the Mermaid Queen, when he saw the fake himself, he actually couldn't find a single flaw in his disguise.

Just how did this imposter do it?

In that instant, he even had thoughts of taking in the fake Dragon King for interrogation.

But in the end, he still gave up on that thought. The fake Dragon King’s powerful aura was no different from that of the real Dragon King. His true strength was probably on par with the Dragon King's own as well. Additionally, there were many important ministers and generals off to the sides, all of whom were at least at the master rank. There were quite a few grandmasters as well. The Ocean races really did have endless powerful cultivators, as expected. If he attacked right now, that would undoubtedly immediately spark a direct conflict with the entirety of the Ocean races. More importantly, there were many among the Ocean races who were completely in the dark. Fighting to the death would really become a meaningless battle.

Zu An was wondering what to do when the fake Dragon King on the throne said, “Hm, it was actually a human. You only have trifling master rank cultivation, and yet you dared to come to the Dragon Palace. You truly are quite bold.”

Normally, Zu An didn’t have any ki fluctuations emanating from him. He hadn’t needed to worry about that in front of Shark Diao, who was likely to expect it to be because Zu An had higher cultivation than his own, but if he continued to hide his ki in front of the Dragon King and other Ocean races, that could create a lot of unnecessary trouble.

After all, there was no way that anyone who could come here would be an ordinary person without any cultivation, but if no one in the Dragon Palace could see through his cultivation, wouldn’t they be worried that he was too strong? That would easily cause them to be on guard, so that was why Zu An had deliberately imitated the ki aura of the master rank. Sure enough, it simplified many things.

Zu An smiled. “I didn’t come to be an enemy of the Dragon Palace, so why does it matter whether my cultivation is higher or lower?”

“You do have a bit of courage.” The fake Dragon King harrumphed. He took out an item from the small box next to him, asking, “Where did you obtain this item from?”

This was Shang Hongyu’s hairpin, which Zu An had brought with him.

“From the Mermaid Queen, of course,” Zu An replied.

“How brazen! What did you do to the queen?!” a minister positioned beneath the 'Dragon King' shouted.

Zu An gave him a look. He had a horn on his head, and the Dragon race’s traits were quite clear on his body. He was a bit similar to the Dragon King. He was likely the Dragon King’s brother. After seeing his concerned and worried expression, as well as how he was going all out in his speech, Zu An’s expression became a bit strange.

Does he like his sister-in-law?

The aura this individual was giving off was at the peak of the grandmaster rank. If he changed into his original form, his strength could be even greater.

Zu An replied, “Your words confuse me. Wasn’t her arrest ordered? It also seems that she is already no longer the queen. Even if something had been done to her, we would still have to follow things according to the arrest order, right?”

Those words immediately drew angry looks from everyone in the palace.

You have successfully trolled Ao Yong for +444 +444 +444...

You have successfully trolled Gui Chengxiang for +444 +444 +444...

You have successfully trolled...

When he saw the huge amount of Rage points that came in, Zu An was completely unaffected. Instead, he quickly looked for a certain name. However, when he saw one particular message, his eyes suddenly narrowed:

You have successfully trolled Dragon King Ao Zhan for +444 +444 +444...

A chill ran down his back when he saw the message. He immediately had a really bad feeling.

Just what is going on? This is clearly the real Dragon King!

He had said those words just now on purpose to anger the Dragon King. He'd wanted to use this chance to see just who was pretending to be the Dragon King. The Keyboard System collected the power that came when one’s soul was shaken up. After so many years, it has never failed to identify someone. How could he have expected that the Rage system would actually display the name Dragon King Ao Zhan?!

But if he really was the true Dragon King, then wouldn’t Shang Hongyu's story be a lie?

When he recalled the time they spent together, and how intimate they were, on top of that dignified yet alluring face, Zu An suddenly felt horror. Since he had first met Shang Hongyu and he had his relationship with Shang Liuyu, he had subconsciously been inclined to trust her. That was why he'd concluded that there was an issue with the Dragon King, and that there was a mysterious being impersonating the Dragon King and trying to take over. He'd believed that that person was trying to get rid of Shang Hongyu, the only one who knew the truth.

But if it was the other way around, and the Dragon King was real and there was no one impersonating him, then the fact that the Mermaid Queen’s arrest was ordered could only mean that there was an issue with Shang Hongyu! When he thought about how Shang Hongyu seemed to have been teasing him, intentionally or otherwise, and that she had even approached him in a tavern first, he wondered whether that could be the truth.

But what was going on with the Yaksha Ocean Patrol whose bodies were covered in black miasma? Could all of this just be an act Shang Hongyu had put on to mislead him?

But how would she have known where I am?

And how could she have perfectly arranged all of this so that a pursuit took place right in front of me?

In that instant, too many possibilities appeared in his mind. Even though he was someone who had been through his fair share of frightening events, he still broke out in cold sweat.

Just then, the Dragon King said with an awe-inspiring smile, “She is our Ocean races' queen, after all. I wonder just what you did to her exactly?”

Zu An could feel the real killing intent behind his words.

Could he really be worried that I did something to his wife?

His thoughts were too messy right now and he couldn't really figure out which side was wrong. For now, he didn’t want to antagonize either side. He said, “I didn’t do anything. I just happened to encounter a seriously wounded queen, and then I trapped her with a formation. After that, I came here to make a report. Everything I’ve done is clearly in line with the arrest warrant. Could it be that the Ocean races are people who go back on their word?”

“Impudent!” Many Ocean race ministers were furious. They glowered at him angrily.

Zu An wasn’t even in the mood to pay attention to the Rage points he was receiving. Instead, he continued to think about what had happened as of late.

All of Shang Hongyu’s behavior had been normal. If it was all just acting, her acting skills were just too incredible. After all, with his current experience, fooling him really was difficult. Furthermore, they had interacted with each other day after day, and they had even held each other when they slept. He hadn’t sensed the slightest bit of black miasma from her body.

Wait... There were, but it was from her injuries.

What if she was just hiding it through the pretext of the injury?

The Dragon King raised his hand to stop the criticisms of his subjects. “What this human says is within reason. We do not see others as members of our Ocean races.” Then, he looked at Zu An and said, “You actually captured the Mermaid Queen. This truly is a bit unexpected. Where is she right now?”

“Where is the reward I was promised?” Zu An replied, showing a greedy and longing expression. In terms of acting, he wasn’t any worse off himself.

With a wave of the Dragon King’s hands, a group of guards carried over more than ten chests. With another wave, all of the chests were opened. They shone with brilliant light. They contained the highest-quality ki stones, jewelry, and magic treasures.

“Tell me where the queen is, and these will all be yours. Also, I will fulfill the promise and receive you as my disciple. In the future, no one in this Dragon Palace or the Ocean races will dare to mistreat you.” The Dragon King stared straight at Zu An with his large eyes.

When he saw the copious amounts of riches, Zu An thought to himself,

Shang Hongyu is indeed worth quite a bit.

He suddenly asked, “May I ask why the Dragon King wishes to arrest the queen?”

He needed more information to make the correct decision.

“Audacious!” the turtle with the small beard next to the Dragon King snapped.

The Dragon King looked at Zu An and asked, “Why do you concern yourself with this question?” There was a faint killing intent in his eyes, as if a single wrong word would cause him give the order for Zu An’s death.

“I just want to know if this reward comes without any dangers to my life. After all, the order is to arrest the Mermaid Queen. If I accidentally ended up getting involved in the secrets of your relationship as husband and wife, I could well be killed off to preserve them,” Zu An replied.

Laughter resounded through the palace. The atmosphere was no longer as grave as before.

“This human is surprisingly cowardly.”

“It’s not really his fault. It’s only natural that he's worried about such things.”

...

Sure enough, the Dragon King’s expression eased up a little. He said, “That’s not something you need to worry about. Could it be that I’d go back on my word in front of so many of our important subjects? What dignity would I have left in the Ocean races in the future? You can hand over the queen now, right?”