Chapter 78 Anxiety!

Beneath the snow lies a strange plant, capable of thriving in the mix of ice and snow—a place so solid and unyielding—and, most astonishingly, it grows at an extraordinary rate. After so many days, when we hurried back, we didn’t have time to see how those plants had changed.

By the way, I noticed that the volcanic ash falling onto the snow has now formed a hardened shell atop it,” said Ruhua, sharing her discovery with Ma Yi.

“I noticed that too,” Liu Xue chimed in excitedly. “When I was digging, I came across that layer—it looks like soil, but it's so tough I couldn't break through it with my strength. So I left it alone.”

Everyone in the room was buzzing with excitement over their discoveries. Ma Yi’s tale of being struck by lightning had Liu Xue laughing so hard she couldn’t contain herself. She teased him, saying he always liked to wander outside and deserved the lightning—claiming it was fate punishing him for causing trouble everywhere. Her playful expression was so animated that, if Ma Yi hadn’t experienced it himself and known it was the stones that attracted the lightning, he might have believed it was truly a divine retribution.

“After absorbing that surge of lightning, Iron Pillar, Erha, and I all made significant progress. Our bodies grew stronger. I’ve advanced another step, Iron Pillar broke through a new level, and Erha is just one step away from becoming a fearsome powerhouse.”

Everyone was delighted by Ma Yi’s improvement, but the greatest joy came from his promise to stay at the villa and train his subordinates instead of venturing out again. Liu Wen and Ruhua were especially happy—after all, Ma Yi was their man, and his frequent absences always left them longing for him.

Liu Xue was next in happiness—when Ma Yi was home, he could invent all sorts of fun ideas, finally giving her someone to play with. Of course, Ma Yi would also give her special training to ensure she perfectly absorbed the Soul Fragment, helping her evolve rapidly into a powerful evolver. Next time Ma Yi went on an expedition, she could accompany him, experiencing adventures firsthand instead of just hearing his stories.

“Sea Tribe?” The women in the room stared at Ma Yi in surprise. In their country’s mythology, many tales spoke of ocean creatures—the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, the Eastern Sea Palace, the Turtle Prime Minister, and the shrimp and crab soldiers. Western mythology, too, told of mermaids and sea monsters, though scientists had long proved that mermaids were merely dugongs. Even their own legends had tales of aquatic people. Such coincidences between Eastern and Western myths were more than once noted. Now, with the appearance of the Sea Tribe and mermaids, perhaps, in some forgotten era, mermaids had indeed crossed into human civilization.

“Yes, it felt as though I’d stepped into a mythic world. Those Sea Tribes wielded water magic as if it were sorcery—I was truly astonished,” Ma Yi replied with feigned surprise.

“Were there any beautiful mermaid girls?” Liu Xue asked in a sly, disgruntled tone.

Ma Yi rolled his eyes at Liu Xue—his cheeky sister-in-law was always a handful. Fortunately, there were no female mermaids encountered on this trip, though Ma Yi was admittedly curious whether the legends of breathtaking mermaid beauty were true.

He drew in a sharp breath as Liu Wen, sitting nearby, twisted his side with a sharp pinch. Though Ma Yi could withstand a knife without a mark, Liu Wen’s face clearly changed at her sister’s words, and Ma Yi’s survival instincts kicked in, prompting a perfect performance.

“You’re such an actor. I didn’t even use much force, hmm,” Liu Wen said, her tone playful and charming. It seemed that after rekindling their love over the past month, she had become even more adorable—her beauty was her greatest strength, making even her tears captivating.

“There really weren’t any female mermaids—just a little Shell, and she’s still a child,” Ma Yi insisted. He certainly wouldn’t tell Liu Wen that, despite Shell’s youth, she was already well-developed and even taller than Ma Yi. Such details would never escape his lips in front of his now-jealous lover.

“Husband, are those Sea Tribe women as beautiful as me?” Liu Wen suddenly turned Ma Yi’s head toward her, her alluring smile and soulful eyes captivating him.

Ma Yi inhaled sharply. Liu Wen had changed so much lately—was it some sort of stimulus? The once gentle, dignified beauty had suddenly adopted a seductive, teasing air, and the contrast had Ma Yi instantly entranced.

A woman who can transform herself so completely is the most captivating of all, especially when the change is visual. In Ma Yi’s mind, Liu Wen was the paragon of a proper, capable wife, but her sudden shift filled him with both surprise and delight.

Once he had calmed the women’s competitive spirits, Ma Yi slipped outside the villa. At the gate, Liu Xue had dug several holes, each marked with a cardboard sign indicating its destination—one leading down the mountain, another up.

Ma Yi examined the openings and crawled into the one leading up the mountain. The tunnel was spacious, likely because Liu Xue’s height now surpassed his own. To Ma Yi, it felt wide and comfortable. Walking through the snow tunnel, he felt no trace of the biting cold outside; instead, there was a gentle warmth. The light inside was dim but sufficient to see the way. Outside, sunlight was bright, but within the tunnel, there was a muted glow reminiscent of early evening, likely due to the volcanic ash shell atop the snow.

At the summit, there was a prominent large hole with steps leading up. Ma Yi ascended, running his hand over the volcanic ash shell—it was unexpectedly hard, rivaling metal in toughness. Too many mysteries lay unsolved, but Ma Yi was too lazy to ponder further. With his weight, standing on this shell would press it down only if he wasn’t careful, but with caution, it could easily support human activity. Only the truly massive or heavy could break through it.

Standing atop the summit’s hardened shell, Ma Yi saw a desolate landscape unfold. From his vantage, everything was wrapped beneath the shell, save for the villa stripped of snow by Liu Wen. Trees, vegetation, even traces of human life—except the villa—were all buried below.

“What’s wrong? You look troubled,” Ruhua appeared at Ma Yi’s side, standing with him and gazing out.

“I feel an inexplicable tension. Maybe it’s from seeing so many strange creatures, or perhaps it’s anxiety about the future. I always feel my strength is too feeble,” Ma Yi replied, glancing at the beautiful corpse king, recalling their first meeting—she was beautiful, but ruthless.

“You’ve already far outpaced us; you needn’t be so hard on yourself,” Ruhua reassured him. She was no longer the instinct-driven corpse king of old—now she possessed wisdom and her own perspectives.

“The stronger I become, the more I sense the world’s truth drawing near, and the more I realize my own insignificance—like a child just learning to walk,” Ma Yi said, settling on a clean patch of ground. Each expedition brought new discoveries, as if by coincidence or predetermined fate, urging him ever onward.

A Power of Dread-level strength was an extraordinary force among both humans and zombies. Ma Yi once believed he stood atop the world, but with the arrival of new races, he found that even a mid-tier Sea Tribe matched his level—his strength was merely above average among these fresh powers.

That so-called Sea Tribe general, according to the princess of the Shell Spirit Tribe, was merely the leader of a minor clan—a small tribe. Yet that general possessed power comparable to Ma Yi’s Dread level. If the confrontation had taken place in the ocean rather than on land, Ma Yi doubted he could have escaped unscathed.

Of course, Ma Yi was underestimating himself, but the Sea Tribe general was indeed a minor clan leader. Among the eight great Sea Tribes, such minor clans were countless. Ma Yi’s level equated to a tribal chief, a leader—certainly not the chieftain of a major tribe, but he could match the leaders of mid-low level clans. On land, Ma Yi could easily defeat those chiefs, rivaling the generals of major clans. But even major clans were numerous among the Sea Tribes, and Ma Yi’s strength was merely middle-rank.