[Vol. 8] Chapter 290: Tear of the Mingjiao
The explosion was like a giant bomb suddenly going off in the middle of the city. The shockwave spread out in all directions in the blink of an eye. Even though she had already run far away, the girl still staggered and almost lost her balance, barely managing to steady herself.
The black-haired girl seemed stunned for a moment by the scene, almost like the young clerk earlier, before awkwardly rubbing her nose and giving a small cough.
“Cough… I just don’t like wasting time arguing. You didn’t seem very willing to talk, and I figured it might take forever to convince you, so I used this method to get the person behind you to notice. Anyway, the most important thing inside that place is already with you, so it should be fine~”
“……”
Realizing it would be almost impossible to escape from the person in front of her, the girl stopped moving. She tightened her hold on whatever she was carrying and placed her other hand on the short sword at her waist, carefully sizing up the other woman with full alertness.
“Who are you people? Experts with strength like yours are definitely not nobodies. But there’s no record of either of you in Frederick City’s intelligence. I’m sure I haven’t forgotten.”
The black-haired girl smiled faintly.
“We did just arrive in this city not long ago. But judging by your look, you must be close to Nitila. Since you’re both from the Mingjiao, don’t tell me you never once saw me back when we were on the Eastern Sea Pearl?”
“What! How do you even know about…?!”
Hearing such a sensitive name, the girl’s pupils shrank. She instinctively touched her face to check that the disguise makeup was still intact. But instead of feeling relieved, her expression grew heavier than ever, with a deep mix of doubt and caution.
After a long moment of hesitation, she finally spoke softly, as if testing the waters.
“I… left the royal palace years ago, traveling alone across the coast and the mainland. That war and the migration, I only learned about them later from others of my race. Are you truly a friend of Her Highness the Princess?”
“Of course. I’m Violet. Even if you haven’t heard my name before, you should at least recognize this, right?”
As she spoke, the priestess lightly waved her hand. A black shadow shot out and landed neatly in the mermaid girl’s palm before she could even think about it.
Looking closely, she saw it was a white crystal shaped like a water droplet, about half the size of a palm. It was smooth and luminous to the touch, and even in this dim alley in broad daylight, it gave off a faint visible glow. Even someone completely untrained could tell it was no ordinary item.
“!!!”
But to the mermaid girl, the shock was far greater than anything she had seen before. Her eyes widened, her body trembled, and she quickly switched from holding it in one hand to supporting it with both palms, yet it still felt as heavy as if it weighed a thousand pounds. Her voice even shook when she spoke.
“This… this… this can’t be the Tear of the Mingjiao?! The one and only shark pearl passed down from our ancestors, born from Lord Surst?! By the Sea God, am I dreaming???”
“Uh… it’s just a token, no need to overreact…”
Violet wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead. When she had helped the merfolk solve the Ghost Ship problem, Queen Aniaes had given her this pearl as a gift, briefly explaining its origin and use. But the priestess had never expected it would scare the young girl in front of her this much.
She had seemed so calm just a moment ago…
In truth, the Tear of the Mingjiao was the only shark pearl created by the first ancestor of the merfolk, the divine child Surst Mingjiao. Even though most of its power had long since faded, its bloodline connection and rank still remained. As long as someone had the blood of the Mingjiao, they could sense the aura of the ancestor through close contact with it. That meant it was impossible to fake.
Hearing the priestess speak in such a casual tone, the girl, who seemed to be from the merfolk, looked up at her, her expression now deeply complicated and full of disbelief.
“Exaggerating? Do you even know what the Tear of the Mingjiao means? Lord Surst Mingjiao was not only the ancestor of our people. In ancient times, they were also responsible for spreading knowledge, guiding all life in the sea, and were even honored with the title ‘Mother of the Ocean.’”
“As the only token left behind by that great one, anyone who shows this pearl… well, maybe they can’t command the whole ocean, but at least most sea races, and even some land races, would treat them as an honored guest and grant any request.”
The girl took a deep breath and slowly let go of the wary look on her face.
“My name is Kaniel Mingjiao. I am one of Her Highness the Princess’s guardian maids. The Tear of the Mingjiao has its own spirit, it will not stay with someone who has an evil heart. Since you have it, why didn’t you just show it to me earlier?”
Hearing that, the priestess rolled her eyes, feeling a little speechless inside.
Of course she wanted to show it, but she had to test the other person first, right? Who knew this silly girl would react so strongly, attacking after only a couple of sentences, and then running off?
If she had known the pearl was this influential, would she have even let Xiao Guang bother tearing down that building?
“Never mind. As long as the misunderstanding is cleared up, that’s what matters. Now you believe I’m not an enemy, right?”
Taking back the pearl that Kaniel carefully handed over, the priestess was about to speak again when her eyebrows lifted slightly, she had sensed something. She looked off into the distance, her face showing mild surprise.
“That was fast. Sending so many strong people into the imperial capital… it seems your side has quite the plan.”
“Well… naturally.”
Not sure what else to say, Kaniel fell silent.
Barely ten seconds later, several figures leapt down from the rooftops on both sides of the narrow alley, their powerful presence clear, landing right next to the girl dressed like a shop assistant.
The priestess narrowed her eyes and scanned them. In an instant, she saw through their disguises. Compared to the hidden guards who had been protecting the grocery store earlier, these newcomers were several levels stronger, the weakest was nearly at legendary level. Their races were also very mixed.
Although they had all disguised themselves in some way, such tricks were useless before Violet’s [Yin-Yang Eyes], which could see through all illusions.
She could see clearly, out of the seven or eight people, only two, including Kaniel, were merfolk, both Mingjiaos. The rest were a wide variety, some were sharp-headed fishmen covered in scales, some were ocean spirits made entirely of flowing water, and others were walrus people, shellfolk, and even a few rare races whose names she didn’t immediately know.
One thing was clear, all of them came from the sea. While they could move on land to some extent, they were creatures far more suited to living in the ocean.