A vast underwater utopia filled with families of fish, clear water, and colorful coral reefs started rumbling. In the distance, a grand emerald and golden palace of never before seen brilliance was lighting up the place. It radiated a bright emerald-like light that forced the darkness out of this deep sea location. Without it there the murky depths would have surely taken over.

Small fish that could be considered delicacies and materials for illustrious elixirs were everywhere. However fish wasn’t the predominant species here, people with the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of fish were seen everywhere. Half-women half-fish of bottomless beauty could be seen everywhere.

They seemed to be at peace, most of them were either resting and looking at the nice scenery or having fun. Their singing voices would make the greatest human songstress blush in shame and their dancing performance underwater was second to none. However their peaceful faces filled with joy quickly turned sour as they noticed the rumbling.

“T-the Empress is angry! What could have happened?”

One of the beauties called out while quickly swimming away along with the other mermaids. They were all clearly spooked by the trembling palace which caused them to hide in the nearby homes. Yet even when they were filled with fear their curiosity was even higher. With all their might they peeked out of their hiding places and listened. With a bit of effort, they could hear their leader shouting in displeasure and her target was one of the lesser ones.

“How could this be possible? How could one of our brood hatcheries have been captured? Who is responsible for this? Is it you?”

“T-the one responsible has been captured by the land-dwellers.”

“Captured?”

A man quite similar to the one that had been defeated by Zhang Dong’s sect was kneeling before a beautiful woman. Her long emerald-sapphire hair swayed along in the faint watery currents while she rested in a huge seashell. Her size was closer to a killer whale than that to a regular human, her gaze was cold and piercing. The shivering man on the ground dared not to look up as his life was on the line.

“Yes t-they…”

“Useless!”

Before he could give a proper answer his body began to shrivel up. His mouth was not used to speak words as the merpeople communicated by telepathy. His pleading thoughts didn’t get through to the empress that could not be appeased. When looking to the people that were in this room they all turned away, everyone knew that if they spoke up they could be next.

“M-my Empr…”

The powerful warrior that could topple mountains was no more. His body shriveled up and turned into a tiny little fish that could fit onto a regular-sized pan. For a moment the little fish wiggled around but soon it regressed even further and turned into a pile of green goop. This stuck to the palace’s floor and quickly dissipated as if the person that was there had never existed, to begin with.

“That one was faulty, it came from the same batch as the failure that lost the hatchery.”

The beautiful Empress seemed bored but somehow knew exactly how this merman was connected to the rest. Her bored eyes sprung to life a bit after looking at the empty spot where her subject had been. A strange feeling gathered up in her chest that she didn’t remember ever feeling.

“How long has it been since someone defied me? … This might become more interesting but defiance will not be tolerated!”

For a moment a strange smile crept onto the woman’s face and quickly another merman appeared before her. Replacing her forces was easy as breathing underwater for her, even if one hatchery was captured she could endlessly produce more of them. Even if her enemies were strong they would succumb to her forces, they always did and that’s how she became the Empress.

“Bring one of the Generals over, I have work for them!”

“It will be done, Empress!”

The merman quickly removed himself from the chamber and headed for a section outside of the palace. While it was the focal point of the scenery and dwarfed anything else besides it there were four smaller ones behind it.

Even though each and every one of them was like a separate city on its own there weren’t that many beings living here. A very small number of the mermen were allowed to be granted access into the main palace where the Empress resided and even the Generals were not allowed to enter without being called over first.

The man was instructed to call one of the generals but the Empress didn’t specify which one. This was quite bothersome as all four of them were as menacing as her. Thus the easiest way to go about this was to make them decide among each other. He was just the messenger and could deliver the news to each one. The quartet was powerful but there also was a hierarchy, probably the weakest one would be forced to tend to this matter first…

…

“That’s enough, stop!”

‘When looking at it now, it really is a poor creature, who would do such a thing to a living being…’

The battle was over and the large turtle island was pulled closer to the shore. The beast that had its innards removed was making Zhang Dong feel bad. Without some of the strange contraptions inside this beast would be in constant pain. Normally he would put it out of its misery but they needed to go through what was on the inside to learn more about their enemies.

Besides them having no regard for life not much was known yet but before the next clash, they needed to discover their weakness. For this he had a tip already, in theory, there would be a way to tip the scales in his favor and do it almost instantly.

“Patriarch, here is the research data you requested on the subjects.”

He was temporarily at the base where Zhang Zhi resided. While he didn't want to involve himself in the main battle too much there was no problem in deciding on the next strategy. Knowing how the enemy operated was paramount to winning this battle. One interesting piece of information that could turn the tide was already discovered he just needed to use it.

“So brainwashing is out and so is soul contracts, then the only one that remains is… bloodline techniques.”

“That is correct Patriarch, all of these merpeople stem from the same bloodline and the control is probably still in place.”

“Then does this mean that their ancestor is alive?”

“That’s possible Patriarch, if not then someone with an extremely pure bloodline to their ancestor must be controlling them.”

“I see, good work.”

The information was passed to him through a jade and flowed into his head. It was surprising how much information his noggin could hold now. All the books he absorbed through the system were compartmentalized inside of him. It was as if he was a bottomless pit of knowledge at this point able to pull from his ever-growing library to analyze everything. Then there was also Bob who had access to the same library and more, through both of their effort they could quickly go through this data to see what needed to be done.

‘So I could be up against some kind of ancestral being that these fish people are all related to, as long as that ancestor is alive they can’t go against their bloodline. It can be a blessing and a curse depending on the situation…’

Bloodline techniques were something that beasts were known for. The beast needed to have a certain amount of power to use something like bloodlines. After spreading its seed it could share its knowledge and strength with its descendants. Its family line would be a lot stronger as it would tap into the ancestor's power but it was a double-edged sword. They could not go against the ancestral being and sometimes it could even affect their minds.

‘This explains why their brains melted when they were being interrogated, breaking a bloodline link isn’t easy and most of the time will just kill the host. Instead, the only way of breaking apart from such an ancestor is to achieve a similar level of power. I can’t be enhancing the enemy troops in hopes of getting more information though…’

This was troublesome, the demi-humans were already bad but these people could be even worse. They would probably do their utmost to defend their ancestor that was probably the Emperor of the sea creatures. The Demi-humans at least weren’t controlled and fled from battle on some occasions. Here on the other hand he needed to expect them to fight until death, taking prisoners was quite difficult if they didn’t care about their own well being.

There was however a light at the end of the tunnel. Even though it would be impossible to remove the brainwashing if he took care of the enemy Emperor then the battle would be over. The forces here were bred for battle and forcefully conscripted. They would probably revolt instantly and maybe go after each other when they were set free. He wouldn’t be surprised if they just abandoned everything and just ran.

‘There should also be some ways to at least momentarily disperse the bloodline curse, I might be even able to temporarily remove it without even killing their leader but for that, we will need better bloodline specimens.’

The warriors that were bred for battle weren’t worth that much, he needed some people from their group that were closer to their leader’s bloodline. These would either be their strongest masters or someone from the closest family. Considering that he was expecting a counter-attack soon the chance to capture one of these targets could present itself.

‘Time to play the waiting game instead, luckily the Azure Empress hasn’t noticed anything, or at least I hope.’

While the enemies scrambled in the background he would return to his workshop. Zhang Zhi received a new sword but Huo Qiang’s new weapon remained unfinished. Soon he would have a battle maniac on his side that gave him free experience points and the underwater creatures would be the target.

At first, he intended to make a new set of gauntlets but soon the idea was dropped. Qiang used his entire body for battle and not just his fists. Instead of a single piece of weaponry, he would fashion him a new suit of armor that would offer the brute newfound strength.

‘Of course, the color should be crimson and black.’

He chuckled to himself while teleporting to his workshop where the new piece of equipment was already partially made. With some finishing touches needed he hoped to be able to finish it before the next round with the fish people.