Yunxiao scolded in his heart, ‘Think too highly my ass! If you hadn’t kept me captive, I wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with fish-headed men like you! F*ck! After looking at you, I can’t eat a fish head in the future anymore. Damnit, this is so disgusting!’

　　 As the saying went, an angry fist would not hit a smiling face. Although the Firefish man was too disdainful to talk to Yunxiao, when he saw the latter keep smiling at him, he could not help but feel superior as a member of the sea clan. Suddenly, this human being did not seem so disgusting to him anymore, and he even began to explain patiently.

　　 “Previously, a human expert trespassed our territory and wounded three of our leaders. Now the whole clan is furious, and the clan chief has ordered that the human must be captured. We haven’t seen any trace of human beings here for hundreds of years. How could there be more than one at a time? If you’re not related to the previous one…hmph, I don’t believe it!”

　　 ‘Damnit, we took the blame for Heng Yuan!’

　　 Yunxiao said angrily, “Of course we are related. Brother Firefish, I had a blood feud with that man. How is he now? Is he hurt?”

　　 The Firefish man looked him up and down dubiously as he gave a cold snort and said, “Under the joint efforts of the three leaders, of course he ran away with his tail between his legs. He’s been badly injured as well and is probably hiding somewhere to heal his wounds.”

　　 To be able to injure Heng Yuan and suffer injury themselves, it seemed that the three leaders should be eighth or ninth-stars Martial Grandmasters. ‘I wonder what is the strength of their clan chief. As long as there are no Martial Emperors, the hope of escaping will still be great. Let’s see what they’re up to. If a fight can be avoided, that’ll be the best.’

　　 “Brother, what grade of a sea clan is Firefish clan?” Yunxiao asked.

　　 He knew that there were too many sea people, the exact number of which even the Kings of the Four Seas could not count. So, they were divided into seven grades for easy management according to the strength of the clans. The most powerful of the sea clan was the Bo family. As the highest existence and revered like a divine being, it was not classified by any grades, and its status was so holy that it was even higher than the human Divine City of the Holy Realm.

　　 The first grade was the imperial clan of the Four Seas, managed by the four major aristocratic sea clans—Guang, Qin, Shun, and Run families. It was also called S-grade and belonged to superpowers. In addition to the Kings of the Four Seas, many sea clans’ strength had reached the S-grade as well, but they were still nominally governed by the Kings of the Four Seas.

　　 The second grade was A-grade, and the clans must have ten Martial Sovereigns. They were overlord-like existences in the Four Seas. The third grade was B-grade, and a clan only needed a Martial Sovereign to be promoted to B-grade. The fourth grade was C-grade, and the clan needed a Martial Supreme. The fifth grade was D-grade, and the clan needed a Martial Emperor. The sixth grade was E-grade, and the clan only needed a Martial Grandmaster, an existence similar to an upper-state of the Firecrow Empire. The last grade was F-grade, and any clan with Martial Kings could be promoted to this grade.

　　 In addition to the seven grades, there were still a large and uncountable number of weaker sea people. They were not allowed to use the term ‘sea clans’ and were collectively called ‘sea schools’. For example, if the strongest expert of the Firefish clan was only a Martial Lord, it was not allowed to be called the Firefish clan, but could only be called the Firefish school. Among the sea people, the hierarchy was very strict.

　　 There were no real sea people in the sea ten thousand miles around Qinghai. The sea people generally lived in the deep sea, which was far away from the human continent. So, even though Duan Yue had been living in Qinghai for years, he was not very clear about the classification of the sea people. Upon hearing that, he immediately became interested and pricked up his ears.

　　 The Firefish man’s eyes flashed with a look of alarm, but when he saw Yunxiao’s pure and innocent face, he relaxed and said proudly, “We, the Firefish clan, are a D-grade clan, the overlord within a radius of ten thousand miles!”

　　 Yunxiao’s expression changed slightly. Since it was a D-grade clan, the Firefish clan must have at least a Martial Emperor. Otherwise, according to the strict iron law of the sea people, it would never be allowed to misuse the grade. However, after the man said that proudly, his eyes flashed with a strong look of worry.

　　 The sea people were relatively simple unlike human beings, who were scheming and liked to hide their emotions.

　　 Yunxiao asked curiously, “Is there something wrong, brother? Why do you look so worried?”

　　 The Firefish man was taken aback, and he rebuked angrily, “Why do you ask so many questions? Are you trying to nose information about the Firefish clan?”

　　 Duan Yue was speechless. ‘Does he have to nose information when you have told him everything? What else is there to nose about?’

　　 Yunxiao showed a shocked look and said, “Of course not! It’s just that I saw you look worried, and I wonder if there’s anything I can do to help. We have a common enemy, and as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We are friends already!”

　　 “Ah?” The Firefish man froze and blinked his big fish eyes. He could not understand how they suddenly became friends. But, that sounded somewhat reasonable. So, he sighed and said, “Our Clan Chief is a one-star Martial Emperor, but he unfortunately has come to the end of his life. Our next strongest leader, Tie Fan, has only become a nine-stars Martial Grandmaster not long ago. Originally, the Clan Chief intended to use a mystic technique to directly pull Leader Tie Fan to the peak of the nine-stars at the cost of his remaining longevity.”

　　 When he came to that, his eyes flickered with a trace of anger, and then he went on with a voice thick with killing intent, “But, the human expert who recently trespassed our territory severely wounded Leader Tie Fan. It is already extremely lucky for him to keep his realm from falling, and it is no longer possible for him to use the mystic technique to break through the peak of the nine-stars! Meanwhile, both Leader Tie Xin and Leader Tie Bi only have the strength of an eight-stars Martial Grandmaster, and it will take them at least fifty or even over a hundred years to advance to nine-stars Martial Grandmasters. But, Clan Chief can’t wait for so long!”

　　 The Firefish man had a strong worried look in his eyes as he said painfully, “If Leader Tie Fan cannot break through to become a Martial Emperor before Clan Chief passes away, the Firefish clan will fall to the E-grade! This is something that none of the Firefish people can accept! So, we must capture that human expert and cut him into a thousand pieces!”

　　 Duan Yue was completely speechless. ‘What a fool! He just told us everything about the Firefish clan! These sea people are really stupid!’

　　 On the other hand, Yunxiao’s eyes flickered. ‘That Tie Fan, a nine-stars Martial Grandmaster, and two other eight-stars Martial Grandmasters were severely wounded. It seems that the battle was a tough and bitter one. Although Heng Yuan is a peak nine-stars Martial Grandmaster, he was already badly injured by Duan Yue’s full-force attack, and it is impossible that he could recover in such a short time. He must have also been severely wounded after the battle.;

　　 ‘With the three leaders of the Firefish clan injured, their strongest experts should be just a seven-stars Martial Grandmaster, and their only supporting leader is that clan chief, who is a Martial Emperor.’

　　 Yunxiao kept planning in his heart. Very soon the two of them were escorted to the home of the Firefish clan. A stretch of buildings appeared at the bottom of the sea, with numerous Firefish people swimming through them. It was like they had come to a human city.

　　 It was the first time Duan Yue had seen such a scene, and he was dumbfounded. He had spent most of his life on the coast of the South Sea, but he had never known that the sea people lived like this. He thought they were like sea beasts, swimming aimlessly in the sea and looking for food every day.

　　 Many Firefish people, mostly the old, weak, women, and children walked up and down the city while carrying large baskets on their backs, which contained a kind of purple crystal. There were also some different looking sea people among them, who seemed to be very busy at work.

　　 When Yunxiao saw Duan Yue look around curiously like a bumpkin who had visited a city for the first time, he chuckled and explained, “Those purple crystals are called Primordial Crystals. Similar to the Primordial Stones of the human race, the sea people use them to cultivate. Because the seafloor is too rich in resources, the general sea people do not need to worry about food and clothing at all. Just like human sects, the most important thing for them every day is to cultivate. And the rest of them, those who are old, weak, women, and children, are responsible for transporting Primordial Crystals. The strange-looking sea people you saw are from the other weaker clans controlled by the Firefish clan.”

　　 Duan Yue listened with relish, but he showed a disdainful look and snorted, “I’ve spent most of my life in Qinghai. Do you think I don’t know this common knowledge? Do I need you to tell me?”

　　 The Firefish man, on the other hand, was shocked. “I can’t believe you have a certain understanding of sea people.”

　　 Soon, they landed in the city. The Firefish man clearly was the leader of the operation, for he pointed at the Tigerking chariot and said, “This is a good chariot. Send it to Tie You and ask him to use it to transport Primordial Crystals. A trip with it is equivalent to hundreds of trips of a normal worker.”

　　 Yunxiao smiled wryly; he had just lost his last Tigerking chariot.

　　 The Firefish man turned to the two of them and said, “You will follow me to the Clan Chief. If you really can explain that you are not that man’s accomplices, maybe Clan Chief can spare your lives.”

　　 After talking to Yunxiao along the way, the man had developed a good opinion of him, and he seemed less insistent on wanting to kill them.

　　 As the two of them were tied by sea beast tendons, the Firefish man was not afraid that they would run away, so he led them toward the largest palace alone. The guards on both sides saluted him as they passed, which showed that he had a high status in the clan.

　　 The Firefish palace was built almost in imitation of humans, but it contained numerous beautiful corals, precious treasures, and various sparkling things, so it looked much more beautiful. The ceiling of the great hall was carved with a totem of flame, which looked very extremely bizarre. Yunxiao was slightly surprised; the sea people were generally afraid of fire, so he did not understand why the Firefish clan had a totem of flame and used ‘fire’ in their name.

　　 “Tie Fei, who are you bringing with you?” An old voice slowly rang out in the great hall. The surrounding precious treasures seemed to turn brighter, and the light in the hall flickered and swayed, giving people a dim feeling, as if the hall itself had stepped into old age like the lofty chief of the Firefish clan.

　　 The Firefish man quickly dropped to one knee and said, “My lord Clan Chief, I’ve caught two human beings!”

　　 Two beams of light suddenly shot out of the old clan chief’s cloudy and dim eyes, as if a sleeping lion had suddenly woken up, and an extremely powerful pressure spread out across the hall.

　　 Tie Fei looked nervous. At that moment, the five-stars Martial Grandmaster was like a kid who had done something wrong, with his head bowed and not daring to even speak.