Chapter 2435: You Don’t Want the Easy Way Out?

Even the Peacock Princess’ eyes quivered.

It’s over. My reputation is ruined.

She knew the Mermaid Queen was doing this to save her, but the impact it had on her reputation was even greater. The only one benefiting from this was that fellow...

Many Ocean race experts couldn’t take the blow and fainted. They'd never expected the Mermaid Queen to admit to it.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

What do you mean by 'we were together last night'?

Considering how smug that mysterious individual was, it wasn't hard to deduce what she meant by those words.

You're a wild one! 1v2, huh? And one of them is our number one beauty, our Mermaid Queen!

The Peacock Princess was a famed beauty of the Fiend races, though it went without saying that the Mermaid Queen had more suitors among the Ocean races.

They usually didn’t even dare to take a second glance at the Mermaid Queen, fearing that they would sully their goddess. And yet, this fellow had stomped all over her!

Atrocious! This is atrocious!

The palace was filled with reddened eyes, ragged breathing, and shattered hearts. Zu An had a feeling that if not for his astounding battle with Mojard last night, these people would have already torn him apart by now.

“I heard the Mermaid Queen was on good terms with the Peacock Princess, trying to hide her from the Incestuous King last night when the latter was searching for the assassin. This sounds likely to be a lie you have woven to save her,” the East Sea Dragon King said through gritted teeth.

His heart was bleeding when he said those words.

Yes, that has to be the case.

The crowd widened their eyes in realization.

Indeed. How could our goddess agree to something as preposterous as that?

The Mermaid Queen’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Not wanting their efforts to be in vain after having gone this far, she said, “If not for my close ties with the Peacock Princess, I would never have agreed to...”

She hadn't finished her sentence, but the crowd could easily fill in the blanks. They spiraled into despair.

Heavens! How could our Mermaid Queen be conquered by him? How did that fellow do it?! I feel so angry, so hateful, so envious!

Everyone present tried to maintain a dignified front, but their twisted faces betrayed their feelings.

The East Sea Dragon King fell into a daze. The Mermaid Queen’s words echoed endlessly in his mind.

Goddamn! The three of them played together!

The only one who barely retained his rationality was the grieving North Sea Dragon King. “My elder brother’s point still holds. You could be saying that to rescue her. Your eyewitness lacks credibility.”

The South Sea Dragon King spoke up too. “Yes, we can’t trust the Mermaid Queen’s words either. Esteemed guest, earlier, you mentioned something about having evidence. May we have a look at it?”

Zu An nodded as he took out a resplendent feather from his robe.

Upon seeing the feather, the crowd instinctively looked at the caged Peacock Princess, as the feather clearly belonged to a peacock.

The Peacock Princess was stunned to see the feather. Something about it felt familiar to her.

The Mermaid Queen’s lower jaw slackened. She hadn’t expected Zu An to have something like that on him.

Are he and the Peacock Princess really an item? Did he come here for her? Is the little sister he’s trying to save the Peacock Princess?

Sister? More like mistress!

“This is the first feather, a keepsake that women of the Peacock race treasure dearly. They only entrust it to their husbands on their wedding night. She gave it to me last night.”

The feather in Zu An’s hand was the keepsake he'd received from the future’s Kong Nanwu. He hadn’t expected it to be of use here.

The thing about a ‘first feather’ was a complete lie though. He assumed those from the Ocean races wouldn’t know about the Peacock race’s customs.

To his surprise, the East Sea Dragon King nodded. “I have heard about the Peacock race’s custom of handing their treasured first feather to their lover. This is my first time seeing one, and I must say I’m awed by its resplendence...”

The Peacock Princess quickly feigned embarrassment. “You! How can you show that to others?!”

Damn it, you’re finally joining the show.

Zu An stowed away the feather, looking flustered, and said, “Ah, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to show it to others.”

“You’re going to be the death of me!” the Peacock Princess coyly exclaimed.

Their couple's banter was yet another blow to the crowd.

The Peacock Princess was young, but her beauty didn’t pale much in comparison to the Mermaid Queen. On top of that, she carried a youthful air that made her coy responses feel even more charming.

The knowledge that such a woman also belonged to that man spurred a single thought in everyone’s mind:

let the world fall to ruin!

The North Sea Dragon King hadn’t expected the other party to have such a piece of evidence. The agitated looks around him signaled that most people were starting to believe those words.

That’s true. Why would the Peacock Princess entrust her treasured first feather to him if there was nothing between them?

The North Sea Dragon King’s heart chilled, but he still coldly pushed his case. “That only proves you knew each other before this. She could have given it to you much earlier on, and that would better explain why you’re here to rescue her.”

The crowd turned to Zu An. The North Sea Dragon King’s words made sense.

They thought Zu An would offer yet another explanation, but the latter’s face darkened. “I’m only reasoning with you out of respect for the Mermaid Queen, and yet you take my courtesy for granted. Are you interrogating me like a criminal right now?”

The crowd was horrified.

The East Sea Dragon King quickly stepped forward to defuse the situation, but Zu An coldly harrumphed. “Since you're the ones being unreasonable, you shouldn’t blame me for doing the same.”

With a wave of his hand, he disintegrated the Peacock Princess’ formation cage before pulling her toward him.

The guards instinctively gave chase, but Zu An caught the Peacock Princess by the waist while casually thrusting his other palm forth. The guards fell to the ground as their weapons shattered.

Those qualified to be in this palace were all renowned experts of the Ocean races, and what they saw shocked them.

The guards were strong, but quite a few of them could pull off the same feat too. The formation cage, however, was used to imprison the worst criminals in the Dragon Palace. Even they wouldn’t be able to break free if they were caught in it. And yet, this mysterious individual had destroyed it with just a casual wave from afar!

The earlier exchange was so peaceful that they'd nearly forgotten that the person standing before them was an incredible expert who forced the renowned Incestuous King to retreat yesterday, before ultimately decimating the Fiend races’ emissary team.

The crowd finally panicked.

What if this fellow goes on a massacre here?

Had Zu An flipped on them earlier, they would still be motivated to fight to defend the Ocean races’ image. But now that he had given them a reasonable excuse, it now seemed unwise for them to continue holding onto the Peacock Princess. Their unity collapsed, and they turned to the Mermaid Queen for help.

Even the East Sea Dragon King also secretly sent a telepathic message to her, saying, “My queen, please talk to him on our behalf. That’s not what we mean.”

The two women were the only ones whose words held any weight to that mysterious individual, and they couldn’t count on the Peacock Princess. So, their only hope was the Mermaid Queen. Given the fact that she was also from the Ocean races, she likely wouldn't hope for a conflict to break out either, and they were on decent terms with her.

The Mermaid Queen was dazed. Her reputation had just fallen to rock bottom, but it suddenly rose again in the blink of an eye. She looked at Zu An with a conflicted gaze.

He must have intentionally said that to help me...