"Ash, you've been to the Merfolk Land with your master, did he enter the Merfolk Sanctuary from here?"

"Yes, the master enters the Merfolk Sanctuary from here every time."

"But there's nothing here."

"I don't know, I can't answer you. The master never brought me into the Merfolk Temple, and I could only watch him from the bottom of the steps."

"Since the owner of the stupid cat entered the Mermaid Temple from here, it means that there must be an entrance to the Mermaid Temple, and you wait for me to help you find it."

The recovered phoenix has always wanted to find an opportunity to turn into an entity and come out to let it out, but because he was afraid that Shen Ling would not be able to bear it, he did not ask for it, and now it is the most suitable for him to find an exit above this cloud, of course he doesn't want to let go of this opportunity.

"No need." The ridiculous scam was in front of him, but Shen Ling felt as if he had suddenly understood something.

He looked down from the steps, his gaze wandering back and forth in the calm sea of merfolk in the darkness.

Countless images flashed through his mind, all of which were images of him once swimming beneath the ocean.

The image of Ash taking him into the mermaid sea for the first time on the sea blue star; the scene where he and Ludwig once hugged under a small lake on planet D11; A few hours earlier, he had been dragged under the sea by an octopus monster to the light of the blue lighthouse......

Perhaps he already knew where the real entrance to the mermaid temple was, and since it was a mermaid, why did he build the temple in the sky. Isn't that a joke?

Merfolk are born to belong to the sea.

……

Cong Yi personally piloted the fighter plane to inspect this mezzanine cloud, and it turned out that it was just an ordinary cloud.

After all the hardships, they got such an ending, and even the mermaid singing that had been an obstacle did not appear, which undoubtedly disappointed these people, especially Cong Yi.

Cong Yi has always believed that the mermaid land is in a hidden world in this sky, and he has always thought that he can see his teacher here. Unexpectedly, the mermaid star made such a big joke on him.

Decades of surveillance instantly became meaningless.

The winding staircase, still glittering with a faint silver light, seemed to mock all his efforts over the years.

"Could it be that the Merfolk Sanctuary has been transferred?" Natsu, who was sitting in the pilot's seat of the fighter, cautiously put forward his opinion, "Headmaster, as you said, this planet is disappearing. ”

Cong Yi's lips stretched into a desperate straight line, and his hands kept shaking.

After the inspection, the eight men returned to the clearing on the ground.

Ludwig took another spaceship out of his space storage and parked it in the clearing, presumably as a small camp.

"Rest first, and we'll talk about it tomorrow." His words were spoken to the other three people in his team, the people on Cong Yi's side, he had no authority to order.

Sue and Neil got on the ship, and for them, it was just a special mission, and it was the best success, but the current situation was not bad.

Shen Ling stood outside the spaceship and silently looked at Cong Yi, who looked up at the night sky where he saw no stars in the middle of the clearing. It was like a pathetic and helpless lost lamb praying for a miracle.

For a moment, Shen Ling impulsively wanted to tell Cong Yi what he had thought.

Ludwig shook his hand.

It was a big rough hand, warm and powerful, which gave Shen Ling strength and strengthened his determination at the same time.

"Let's go inside." Ludwig said.

Shen Ling nodded, took his eyes off Cong Yi, and followed Ludwig onto the spaceship.

He couldn't tell Cong Yi that that place shouldn't be Cong Yi's place, nor should anyone else go. That was his mission, that place, that only he could enter.

Listening to the breathing of the people around him stabilize their breathing, Shen Ling carefully removed Ludwig's hand on his waist.

He got out of bed, barefoot, carefully opened the hatch of the ship, and walked out.

From the porthole of the spaceship, Shen Ling saw that Cong Yi was still standing in the middle of the clearing, looking sadly at the night sky.

He took on merfolk form, then disappeared into his form.

A strong arm was placed around his neck from behind, and his back was attached to a silk pajamas, the silky texture of which made him guess who the man who had trapped him from behind was.

He had chosen the pajamas for him.

"Where do you want to go?" Ludwig asked in a suppressed voice, and although he tried to control it as much as he could, his slightly trembling hoarse voice betrayed him.

He was in fear, a fear that could drive him crazy.

This fear had trapped him in a form of despair ten years earlier, when he was afraid of the sun, of the air, of the darkness...... All the forces of nature in this world would make him afraid.

The pain of being tormented by enemies, the helplessness of being locked in a claustrophobic space, the grief and screams of seeing the death of a loved one, and the terrible news of hearing that the most beloved grandfather died for himself......

This qiē combined to completely knock him out at that time.

He thought of countless ways to end his life, but was ultimately stopped by his loved ones. The best psychiatrists in the empire took turns to give him psychological guidance, but after treatment, each doctor could shake his head and add a sentence of "I can't do anything." ”

At that time, every day of his life was like the end of the world.

It wasn't until the second grandfather brought him into the army and gave him the belief in revenge that he was given a chance to be reborn.

He would never allow himself to lose Shen Ling again, and in the days after Shen Ling appeared, he had locked Shen Ling firmly in his sight every day. Even if he was sleeping, his sleep was very shallow, and he hugged Shen Ling just to confirm that he was still by his side.

So the moment Shen Ling removed his hand, he felt that he was leaving.

He quietly followed behind Shen Ling, and when Shen Ling disappeared, he knew he had to stop him.

Ludwig's arm pressing on his neck was so strong and powerful that Shen Ling was a little out of breath.

"Let me go first." Shen Ling gasped and said.

Ludwig let go of Shen Ling's neck and grabbed his arm at the same time, making sure he wouldn't slip out of his control.

"I have my own mission to accomplish." Shen Ling faced Ludwig and said calmly.

"I'll go with you."

"But it's a place that only I can enter." Shen Ling didn't want to drag Ludwig into the Mermaid Temple, he knew from the words of his nominee master that it was a dangerous place, and if he could, he wanted to face it alone, because it was his duty.

What's more, the current location of the entrance to that place is indeed only accessible to him.

"Do you want to leave me again?" Ludwig grabbed Shen Ling's shoulders with both hands and made him look him in the eye.

There was only a faint glow in the dark night of the mermaid sea, which was so faint that it was almost impossible to ignore, but Shen Ling, who was in mermaid form, only needed this glow to be able to see Ludwig standing in front of him clearly.

A terrifying red mist floated on the face of the pair of green eyes that had once fascinated him, a precursor to madness.

"Do you know how I spent the ten years you left?" Ludwig's hands tightened, and the red mist in his eyes intensified. "Every day I dream that my grandfather was attacked by countless warplanes and spaceships and died on an uninhabited planet. Dream about the explosion of that spaceship you are in, dream of you and your child crying in the explosion...... Every day, I am worse than dead. ”

"Why are you so cruel, why are you leaving me alone, so that I can see you die in another place? Do you know how painful it is for me? ”

Ludwig's words were like countless poisoned daggers, piercing into his soft heart one by one.

"I'm sorry......" Shen Ling didn't know what he should say at this time, and what kind of apology was pale at this time.

He should have known that in that case, the dead were happy, and the living was the most painful.

But he chose to let Ludwig live anyway, because he had no choice.

The red mole he left on Ludwig's neck represents a choice he will make, that he is loyal to his partner, and that he will always guard him.

The two silently embraced each other.

Ludwig pressed Shen Ling into his arms with all his might, as if he wanted to crush Shen Ling into his body.

There were tears dripping on Shen Ling's neck, and he knew that Ludwig was crying silently. These are the tears he would have left ten years ago, but he has left them to this day.

"Take him with you." Ash persuaded, "On planet D14, Cong Yi has a sentence that reminds me, 'The mermaid and the dragon will give birth to the son of the gods.'" The merfolk do have this legend, which is probably one of the reasons why the merfolk keep chasing their other companion is the dragon, and since the merfolk have always chosen to be a dragon, the dragon definitely has the right to enter the mermaid temple."

"The stupid cat is right, not to mention Ludwig's current mental state, he can't bear to be separated from you."

"Let's go together." Shen Ling whispered in Ludwig's ear. "I need you."

……

Shen Ling and Ludwig bypassed Cong Yi and went to the beach.

Standing on the beach, feeling the coolness of the sea breeze, Shen Ling remembered the scene a long time ago, when he and Celia came to play on the beach together, and also remembered the beach where he was abandoned by Celia in Hailanxing.

He felt so painful just being abandoned, but Ludwig was forced to accept the death of his lover because of his choice.

Shen Ling shook his head and drove away the messy thoughts in his mind, and said to Ludwig, "Let's go down." ”

Ludwig changed into a frogman suit and diving goggles in front of Shen Ling.

This is the diving equipment that he specially asked someone to tailor for him before this departure, and he originally thought that he would not be able to use it, but now it seems that this decision is still very wise.

He took out an underwater hand/gun and handed it to Shen Ling, but Shen Ling didn't ask for it.

"Let the phoenix get out of the way, as long as he's there, those octopus monsters won't come near us."

There was no better way to do it, and Ludwig could only reluctantly agree.

The phoenix's underwater movement will be hindered, and it will not be able to turn into entities and take them to the depths of the seabed, but can only release its own coercion in Shen Ling's body, which will bring the least burden to Shen Ling.

Shen Ling and Ludwig in the form of mermaids entered the mermaid sea, and he led Ludwig to the bottom of the sea, and those monsters on the bottom of the sea surrounded them curiously, but they did not dare to approach because of the pressure of the phoenix.

Soon Shen Ling saw the flickering blue point of light, like a lighthouse at the bottom of the sea, guiding the direction.

Shen Ling didn't know what was flickering under the bottom of the sea, but he was sure that it must be a signpost to the land of the merfolk.

Shen Ling took Ludwig to swim firmly to the place where the blue light spot was, and when he got closer, he saw clearly that it was a stone pillar the size of two people hugging each other, and the stone pillar was carved with the image of a long-tailed fish connected from head to tail, and above the two stone pillars, there was a circular stone ring with a diameter of about ten meters, and the blue ghost light was emitted from the stone ring.

Shen Ling was dumbfounded as he looked at the stone pillar and the stone ring, was the blue glow luring him here just to see this strange building?

No, it doesn't look like architecture, but ...... Instead, it looks like some kind of weird religious object.

"What is this?" Shen Ling asked Ash and Phoenix.

His question also stumped the two soul beasts, the phoenix had always prided itself on being well-informed, but at this time, it couldn't explain the origin of the thing in front of him at all.

"Take a closer look." Ash built yì.

Shen Ling swam to the stone pillar and stretched out his hand to cover it. The stone pillars are warm, and the feeling is especially noticeable when you touch something warm in the seawater.

"It's soul power." The phoenix said, "This strange stone pillar and stone ring are infused with soul power, the stone pillar is the carrier, and the stone ring is the release body, what is the purpose of just setting up such a thing?"

Ash suddenly said sharply, "Shen Ling, stand under the stone ring."

Shen Ling was stunned for a moment, and then swam under the stone ring according to Ash's instructions.

Ludwig saw Shen Ling's attempt and caught Shen Ling in time. He shook his head silently in the sea. He couldn't speak, so he could only communicate with Shen Ling in this way.

Shen Ling smiled at him and told him with his mouth, it's okay.

After repeated assurances, Ludwig was willing to let Shen Ling go. Shen Ling swam under the stone ring, only to feel that a warm force surrounded him.

What happened next happened in an instant, and a blue mist of light burst out from the middle of the stone ring downwards in a cylindrical shape, enveloping Shen Ling in it.

Shen Ling felt that his body was grabbed by a strange force, he looked at Ludwig in horror and stretched out a hand to him, but in the next second, his whole person disappeared from under the stone ring.