Chapter 425: Chapter 321: Underwater Customs
An underwater-style dinner allowed Long Yi to witness what is called creativity.
There are no flames under the sea, so there is no roasted food, but there are boiled and fried dishes. These foods, due to lesser contact with air, don’t oxidize due to the air. After cooking, they have a subtle difference from the food on the land. Furthermore, the ingredients and seasonings from the sea floor completely differ from those above ground – to put it simply, all of them carry a hint of fishiness. However, this fishiness doesn’t deter one, instead, it stimulated the appetite.
However, that’s not the point.
The real issue is how to eat in seawater.
The mermaids are all able to use a natural magic to extract freshwater to prevent the food from tasting like seawater. Long Yi, on the other hand, could only use the blessings of the water spirits to barely achieve this.
Long Yi had to practice for a very long time. His lips had to be coordinated with his tongue to avoid allowing the excess water to enter his mouth. He also had to be careful not to swallow the seawater in his lungs.
In general, it was a skill-based activity. The native mermaids mastered it with ease, but Long Yi struggled for half an hour before he managed to successfully eat once.
There were only three people dining: Sea Emperor Boris, Long Yi, and Princess Mina. They enjoyed a reasonably abundant dinner in Boris’ study. Most of the furniture here was made of gold and other corrosion-resistant metals. Long Yi was curious about what the books here were made of. He saw gigantic bookshelves underwater, which seemed to contain book-like objects. After dinner, Long Yi walked to a bookshelf, took out a book, only to discover that the pages were all made of large scales, with the writing as if dyed inside the scales.
"These are scales from the color-changing fish. They are large, with one scale making four pages. Color-changing fish shed hundreds of scales every year. We collect them, cut them into pages, and use a special magic tip to make the ink inside the scales appear. Not only can it be erased thousands of times, but it can also switch between six different colors."
Mina explained proudly to Long Yi.
Long Yi admired this greatly, indeed, different environments have different solutions.
While the servants were preparing to clean up, Boris took Long Yi and Mina to the back window of the palace.
"Come, Long Yi, an old friend is waiting for you."
"Old friend?"
Boris opened the huge window, revealing a familiar colossal figure floating in front of Long Yi.
"Ruoshan?"
Long Yi immediately recognized the strong Tiger Whale Warrior; still the same appearance, with chilling teeth visible from his mouth. The only difference was that he no longer had those awkward legs, it was instead replaced by a gigantic tail– this was how Ruoshan was supposed to look.
The friendship formed by a duel, Long Yi deeply respected this big guy.
"Long Yi!"
Ruoshan seemed very happy to see Long Yi. He abruptly lifted his hand, the giant anchor flew out, and a huge suction force directly pulled Long Yi out of the window.
You can’t be serious? We’re diving right in? Can’t we catch up for a bit first?
Poor Long Yi now suspended in seawater, there was nothing around to borrow force from. In a rush, he slapped his hands hard on his chest, the terrifying brute force collided, and the seawater in his palm instantly boiled. The bubbles burst out, and at the same time, a strong impact rushed forward, hard stopping his forward momentum!
However!
The suction on the opponent’s anchor never stopped, and Long Yi’s only struggle could not last for long.
Bang!
Long Yi got stuck firmly to the massive anchor. Ruoshan gave it a hard pull, the giant iron chain brought the anchor and Long Yi on it flying towards Ruoshan.
The anchor flew back, the suction disappeared, and the expected attack did not occur. Long Yi was instead given a ’whale hug’ by Ruoshan!
"Brother, calm down! Your pectorals are too developed. You’re squeezing all the water out of my lungs!"
Long Yi lifted his head with all his strength in the thick whale grease and yelled desperately.
Ruoshan immediately let go of his giant arms. Long Yi gasped for a few mouthfuls of seawater, finally calming down. The oxygen content in seawater is naturally low, not ideal for a land creature like Long Yi.
"I heard you’re making waves recently." Ruoshan said. His voice sounded a bit sharper than on land, but by human standards, it was still deep-sounding.
"Haha, I’m making do. Humans are best at fighting and killing, and I’m even better at it among humans!" Long Yi was proud when it came to combat.
"I admit that, although you’re still not as good as me." Ruoshan said.
"Me, worse than you? Stop joking, Will you? This is the bottom of the sea here, that was just an accident." Long Yi did not concede.
"Actions speak louder than words. When I went on land, I went all out to draw with you. Now you’re under the sea and you haven’t even taken one of my blows." Ruoshan said.
"Come on! If you put it like that, I definitely won’t accept it! I came with manners from civilization. I never intended to fight with you. That just happened because you were lucky. You wouldn’t stand a chance if we really fought." Long Yi’s eyes widened, even though they were friends, he Long Yi never lost a fight!
Ruoshan showed his tusks and laughed heartily, then threw the anchor aside. The heavy anchor slowly sank into the seawater.
"Come, Long Yi, I won’t use weapons." Ruoshan roared.
"Don’t worry, neither will I!" Long Yi roared back.
Fighting Aura emerged. A faint blue light emitted from Long Yi’s body due to the influence of the water elements, and the ocean current pushed him straight towards Ruoshan.
But.
He was too slow.
Water has astonishing stickiness, if you shoot a full bucket of water, the bullet can’t even penetrate the bottom. If a small bullet is like this, let alone Long Yi’s huge body.
A tearful Long Yi could only watch as Ruoshan violently swung his tail, sending him flying with a blast. Clearly, the home-field advantage had a major impact on Long Yi.
Although Ruoshan boasted a massive body, in the icy sea water, it exhibited an agility disproportionate to its size. Any part of its huge body could be used as a weapon. Whether it was its fists or its massive tail, even the dorsal fin made from solid metal, or its chilly, sharp teeth.
Despite his Fighting Aura advantage, Long Yi was woefully untrained for undersea combat. In fact, he had never trained underwater before.
Any good pilot should always stay away from bodies of water, only for one reason, should the pilot land in water.
These words were particularly apt in this situation.
In the end, Long Yi could only struggle in a meagre manner. It was a complete domination in an unequal battle. Here, there was no way Long Yi was going to get any advantage. In the ocean teeming with water elements, Ruoshan’s tricks were endless. Despite Long Yi’s numerous attempts, he still couldn’t land any effective blows.
A large group of spectators, comprising of the Sea Emperor’s guards and various sea clan warriors, surrounded them. Almost all of them hadn’t witnessed the previous battle between Long Yi and Ruoshan on land. But the tale of Long Yi and Ruoshan’s draw result had spread. At first, everyone was in awe of Long Yi’s strength, but they didn’t expect Ruoshan to overwhelm him so completely.
This left Long Yi stumped. But he could do nothing as in these waters, he stood no chance against this North Atlantic right whale warrior.
"I surrender!" Choking for breath, Long Yi promptly conceded. His heavy consumption of oxygen and the meager underwater supply left him struggling; his vision blacked out several times, and he nearly collapsed. Underwater combat was truly dangerous for land dwellers.
Ruoshan burst into laughter and swam over to Long Yi. He gave Long Yi an encouraging pat. "It’s impressive you managed not to team up with anyone in our fight and didn’t hit the deck."
Long Yi was bitter. He never thought he’d have to endure consolation from Ruoshan. Long Yi could only communicate his dissatisfaction with an angry stare, as he focused on gulping in mouthfuls of water, too drained to reply verbally.
"In fact, in the two battles we’ve had, the advantage has always been mine. The first war was fought on land, where I had almost three years of prior training, and this is your first time fighting underwater. If you ever want a rematch, I’m always up for it."
With Ruoshan’s words, he swam away, accepting the congratulations of the sea clan’s warriors.
"Brother Long, are you okay?" Mina swam over in a hurry.
Long Yi shook his head slowly, now that his heart rate was back to normal. "I’m fine. I didn’t even get hurt. It’s my first loss in a fight, but it’s not a big deal."
"Brother Long, you would have sounded more convincing had you unfurled your fist and dropped that twisted smile," Mina chuckled as she poked Long Yi’s face.
Long Yi chuckled, shaking his head. Who cared if his smile seemed forced? He still lost. Heading back, he wondered how to fight underwater, but for now, chalked up the loss to battlefield fates. The victor’s laurel waits on no one, at least he could start over.
"Brother Long! Sister Ruoshan likes you!" Mina suddenly blurted out.
"Of course! Who doesn’t love me? I am adorable, graceful, and..."
Having caught his breath, Long Yi unconsciously continued the sentence.
Wait a minute!
Something was off!
At that instant, Long Yi broke out in cold sweat.
Ruoshan!!
Sis!?!?!?!?!
A shudder passed over Long Yi’s body.
I didn’t just get hit on by a right whale girl, did I?
Oh my god.
Oh my lord.
Turning suddenly, Long Yi saw that Ruoshan was looking at him too. Her grin shone through her massive, sharp teeth, gleaming with an icy glare.
"Hey hey, you’re joking, right..." Long Yi muttered an awkward chuckle, blaming his cold sweat on the seawater.
"No, none of the warriors who’ve challenged Sister Ruoshan have ever had such treatment. They either end up half dead, or fully dead under her hands. She never accepts rematches, but she’s just offered you that opportunity. She’s clearly expressing her affection in our Sea Clan’s subtle way!"
Long Yi suddenly remembered that the Sea Clan had no sophisticated culture like the land dwellers. Their customs were still as primitive as ancient times.
See.
Conquer.
Have.
As a result, these unique traditions gave Long Yi a nightmare that night.
In the dream, Long Yi was forced to marry Ruoshan, in front of his warrior friends, on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The massive right whale warrior Ruoshan ascended the deck in a wedding dress made of seaweed. Drowsy and exhausted after the wedding, Long Yi was dragged into the bedroom by his comrades. He squirmed and screamed in desperation. At that moment, the squadron leader approached him and patting his shoulder said,
"Long Yi, it’s okay. Considering you’re a Giant, you can still grow bigger."
Just as he said that, Long Yi was dragged into the room by a massive anchor. The first thing he saw was Ruoshan’s glinting, icy fangs.
At which point, Long Yi woke up with a start.
It was impossible for him to go back to sleep. He realized, the more likely explanation for his nightmare was probably the low oxygen content underwater.
It must be so.
Deep in his heart, Long Yi had never been so desperate to see Elsa. (To be continued. If you like this work, vote for it on ’qidian.com.’ Every single ticket can motivate me. Mobile users, kindly visit ’m.qidian.com’ to read.)
