Chapter 769: The Mermaid King's Treasure (Part 1)

‘This mission is indeed fraught with difficulties.’

‘But it isn’t entirely hopeless.’

‘The most crucial thing right now… is to find a more complete promotion Sequence.’

At that moment, footsteps approached.

The current of water swirling around her body instantly dissipated.

She turned to look.

The visitor was a maid.

“Miss, the master asks for you!”

The maid said respectfully.

“Mm. I know,”

Su Ta replied coolly.

For the past several days, she had been trying to make contact with the local Professional circles.

Her current identity was that of a noble in this world.

Although she was only a minor noble, she was a noble nonetheless, a cut above ordinary people.

This body’s father was a Sequence Eight Professional himself.

Previously, because the original owner had no interest in the Path to Transcendence, and because the path of a Professional was fraught with danger, she had always remained an ordinary person.

As for her recent change…

Su Ta explained it by claiming the intense trauma of being kidnapped by the Evil God’s Followers had sparked a craving for power.

Her ‘father’ didn’t question this explanation.

With his introduction, she easily entered the local Professional circles and obtained the information she wanted.

However…

Based on the information she had gathered, the Sequences of these Professionals mostly stopped at Sequence Eight or Sequence Seven.

As for information on Sequence Six, or the even higher Sequence Five, it seemed to be intentionally monopolized by the upper echelons and was not circulating on the market.

As for contacting such powerful individuals, she currently lacked the status and position to do so.

Besides, the risk was immense.

Fortunately, her efforts were not fruitless.

During this time, she had obtained an important clue.

It was information regarding a Sequence she could advance to from her chosen Sea Demon path.

If the information was true, it was very likely a complete path leading to at least Sequence Five.

“‘The Mermaid King’s treasure…'”

Su Ta murmured to herself.

‘If I can get what’s inside, my power could increase rapidly in a short time. Then, I can try to find those three Managers and kill them preemptively.’

However, there was no need to act rashly just yet.p>

There was still some time before that thing could be accessed.

‘The priority right now is to complete my promotion to Sequence Eight as soon as possible.’

With her Ability, she could fight like an average Sequence Eight even though she was only a Sequence Nine.

But that was still too weak.

It wasn’t enough to guarantee she could seize that treasure.

It would be best to increase her strength a bit more to have a better chance.

…

Time passed.

Within Night Crow Harbor, everything remained the same.

However, beneath the calm surface, various Professionals were still active.

The Silver-faced Demon, who specialized in hunting Low Tier Professionals, seemed to have vanished and had not reappeared.

Some Professionals speculated that he had been caught by Federation Agents. Others thought he might have been killed by a powerful Professional during one of his hunts.

But no matter the reason, this was good news for Low Tier Sequencers like them.

At least they didn’t have to be so on edge all the time.

During this period, the activities of the Tide Cultists grew more rampant, with two vicious incidents of civilians being kidnapped for sacrificial rituals.

These fanatical Cultists were like rats in a sewer, breeding wantonly in the city’s dark corners. Even when wiped out, they always managed to rise from the ashes.

What was perplexing was that, in the past, whenever Cultists were discovered, the Seven Gods Church and the city’s High Tier Professionals would have moved to eliminate them with full force.

This time, however, both the High Tier Professionals and the Seven Gods Church remained strangely silent. While they were conducting raids, the efforts lacked intensity.

…

「Seven days later.」

As the temperature dropped, heavy snow arrived in Night Crow Harbor.

The iron-gray seawater licked at the snow-covered docks, the spray freezing on the reefs into vast, endless sheets of ice crystals.p>

A great many ships lay quietly moored in the harbor, icicles on their masts hanging like crystal pendants.

As far as the eye could see, Night Crow Harbor was blanketed in silver.

At least half a foot of snow had accumulated on every roof.

Smoke from the chimneys rose straight up into the biting wind, as if trying to pierce the lead-colored clouds.

On the streets, pedestrians wrapped in thick woolen cloaks hurried along with their heads down, their white breaths freezing into fine ice crystals on their scarves.

At this moment, in a manor in the wealthy district near the mouth of the harbor.

A marble fountain had frozen into an ice sculpture. A long Ice Cone hung from the ceramic jar held by an angel statue.

On the snowy ground beside the fountain, a figure stood motionless in the snow.

Strangely, however, the skin all over his body was reddish.

And his right arm had all but vanished.

Within a three-meter radius around him, there was no accumulated snow.

From time to time, arcs of light could be seen flashing through the air before vanishing.

If one could slow down the scene, they would discover that his arm hadn’t disappeared at all.

Rather, he was drawing and swinging his sword at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, repeating the motion over and over.

Each arc of light precisely sliced through several snowflakes.

Before the sundered flakes could fall, a new flash of the blade would split them again, shattering them into an even finer ice mist.

——SHIIING!

The continuous metallic hums overlapped into a long cry as a silver ring of ice exploded around the blade’s edge.

The falling snow froze into ice crystals the instant it touched the net of sword light, suspended in the air like a brilliant ring of stars, as if time itself had stopped.

As he drew back from the final strike, the vast number of shattered snowflakes all fell at once, tapping against the ground with a rapid rustling sound, like a sudden flurry of sleet.

CLACK!

The Longsword returned to its sheath. The figure, Hu Qi, paused, and the reddish hue on his skin quickly faded back to normal.