"Hm? What's going on?" Ye Feng was greatly surprised.
The old merman's eyes widened when he saw the trident pattern glowing on Ye Feng's forehead.
Ye Feng could even see his body tremble involuntarily.
However, the old merman quickly concealed his reaction. He then glanced at Ai Xi and the other mermen before saying to Ye Feng, "Sir, I am the patriarch of the Merman tribe. May I have a word with you in private!"
Ye Feng looked puzzled but nodded, "Alright!"
From the current situation, these mermen seemed to have some connection with the Sea God. Ye Feng also wanted to clarify what was happening.
"This way, please!" said the merman patriarch.
Ye Feng nodded and followed him into another room.
Upon entering, the merman patriarch immediately closed the door and then, to Ye Feng's shock, knelt down.
Ye Feng was startled by this.
The next moment, he quickly helped the merman patriarch up and asked, "Hey, Patriarch! What are you doing?"
The merman patriarch said, "The 721st patriarch of the Merman tribe pays his respects to the Sea God!"
"Sea God? Why do you call me that?" Ye Feng asked, completely bewildered.
Ariel had also addressed him this way before, which made him very confused.
The merman patriarch explained, "Because you have been recognized by the Sea God's Trident and have inherited the Sea God's legacy. You are the new Sea God!"
Ye Feng was astonished again and couldn't help but ask, "How... how do you know I have the Trident! How do you know I've inherited the Sea God's legacy!"
The merman patriarch replied, "Because we Mermen are servants of the Sea God!"
As he spoke, he pointed to his own forehead, and a gray trident pattern suddenly appeared there as well.
This Sea God's Trident pattern was identical to Ye Feng's, except Ye Feng's was a golden trident pattern, shining brightly and emitting a faint pressure.
The old man's, however, was just a black trident, looking as if it were drawn on, very ordinary.
"You... you have the trident pattern too?" Ye Feng asked, extremely surprised.
He thought only he possessed this mark, but it turned out the Merman tribe had it too.
The merman patriarch nodded, "Indeed! This is the honor bestowed upon our Merman tribe by the previous Sea God!"
Ye Feng was momentarily unable to process this and asked, "The previous Sea God? Can you tell me about your tribe and the previous Sea God?"
The merman patriarch nodded, "Of course! Hundreds of thousands of years ago..."
And so, the merman patriarch began to recount the history between his tribe and the Sea God to Ye Feng.
In simple terms, hundreds of thousands of years ago, the world was filled with abundant spiritual energy, and the oceans teemed with countless races, leading to utter chaos.
Suddenly, a human man appeared. Wielding a golden trident, he single-handedly unified the chaotic seas of that era and proclaimed himself the Sea God.
The Merman tribe was among the first races to follow him, and thus, they were granted the trident mark as a symbol.
The Mermen have since considered themselves servants of the Sea God, a tradition that has continued for hundreds of thousands of years.
However, one day, the Sea God who unified the seas departed.
Before leaving, he told the Mermen that if they ever saw someone recognized by the Sea God's Trident, that person would be the new Sea God...
This was why they had addressed Ye Feng as the Sea God.
"I see!" Ye Feng said, feeling a sense of melancholy after hearing the story.
At that moment, the merman patriarch knelt down again and pleaded, "Sea God, we have awaited you for countless ages! Currently, our Merman tribe is being oppressed and slaughtered by the Jiao people, nearing extinction! We beg you to save us!"
Ye Feng was taken aback and asked, "The Merman tribe is being slaughtered by the Jiao people? What exactly happened?"
"It's like this, this Misty Sea was originally our territory, bestowed upon us by the Sea God..." The merman patriarch explained the entire ordeal in detail.
It turned out that with the depletion of spiritual energy, most members of various sea races lost their ability to cultivate, with only a rare few gifted individuals able to continue.
Among all races, humans were the most intelligent. Relying on their wisdom, they created various weapons and gradually began to dominate the oceans.
Many sea races were wiped out as a result, and the Jiao people themselves were once nearly annihilated.
The Mermen, taking pity on them, took them in within the Misty Sea.
However, as time went on, the Jiao people's numbers grew, and conflicts began to arise between the two groups.
Initially, the Mermen were not afraid of them. But after the depletion of spiritual energy, the Mermen's strength significantly weakened.
The Jiao people, on the other hand, while also affected by the loss of spiritual energy, gained the upper hand due to their powerful physiques.
Subsequently, they sought to usurp their hosts and began slaughtering the Mermen.
Fortunately, the Mermen still had many powerful individuals and ancestral methods to defend themselves.
Thus, a stalemate ensued. In the last two years, the Jiao people had become increasingly audacious, senselessly hunting and killing Mermen from time to time.
This led to a drastic decline in the Merman population, with only a few hundred remaining.
"Damn it, not only are these Jiao people ungrateful, but they also repay kindness with enmity and try to usurp our home!" Ye Feng said, gritting his teeth in anger.
The patriarch pleaded again, "Therefore, we implore the Sea God to save our Merman tribe!"
"Alright! Rest assured! Leave this to me! My friends were captured by them anyway, and I need to settle the score!" Ye Feng declared.
The patriarch was surprised and asked, "What? Your friends were captured by them?"
"Yes! What's wrong?" Ye Feng inquired.
The patriarch replied, "Then you must rescue them quickly, or the Jiao people will sacrifice them!"
Ye Feng nodded urgently, "I want to rescue them as soon as possible, but I don't know where the Jiao people are!"
The merman patriarch immediately said, "We know, but rescuing them won't be easy. It would be best to act at night!"
"The Patriarch is absolutely right!"
Soon, their conversation concluded, and they walked out.
Following this, the Merman tribe immediately convened a high-level meeting, informing them that Ye Feng was the Sea God.
Upon hearing that Ye Feng was the Sea God, all the Merman elders became incredibly excited, as if they had found hope.
Through the meeting, Ye Feng also learned about the Merman tribe's strength: they had twelve experts at the Innate realm and one at the Grandmaster realm, who was the Merman patriarch, a late-stage Grandmaster.
The Jiao people, however, were much stronger, with over thirty Innate realm experts and three Grandmaster realm experts. The Jiao patriarch, like the Merman patriarch, was also a late-stage Grandmaster.
Later, they formulated a plan to rescue Chu Ling'er and the others.
As night fell, Ariel and several Innate realm experts led Ye Feng and his companion towards the direction of the Jiao people...