Chapter 1664: Saintess Test Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios During the Sea God Ceremony, Sacred City was flooded with people. The surrounding spectators were clamoring loudly. Fang Yuan was in this crowd, he observed the prospective saintesses with an eerie gaze. His plan was to choose one of them and assist her in becoming the saintess. ... “They are assisting her to become the saintess?” “That’s right, Frost Tide tribe leader invested a lot into this to help Lady Qiu Shuang.” Xie Han Mo’s two blue scaled and red scaled guards looked at each other after hearing this, feeling each others’ worry. In the hall, Fang Yuan sat at one side, he gritted his teeth as his expression turned unsightly. Earlier, Xie Han Mo rejected the investigator and protected Fang Yuan, this escalated the rumors, eventually, the Merman Sacred Court decided to hold the Sea God Ceremony again to decide on the saintess once more. “This is a scheme, they made use of your kindness and knew you would not abandon me, thus, this situation arose.” Fang Yuan sighed deeply, feeling like he had implicated Xie Han Mo. Xie Han Mo glanced at him, smiling: “Fang Yuan, no need to feel responsible. If we abandoned you earlier, they would spread rumors that I am old and callous, it would still affect my reputation.” “Saintess, no need to console me at this point.” Fang Yuan smiled bitterly: “The effect and severity of both cases are vastly different, we have already worked together for so long, how would I not know?” Xie Han Mo smiled: “Alright, forget about this, it does not help the situation.” Fang Yuan and both guards quickly adjusted their mindsets as their expressions changed. Xie Han Mo added: “The saintess position is not easy to hold onto, the moment I started to investigate the corruption, someone tried to drag me down. This means that the issue of corruption among the Sacred Court’s elders has gotten very severe! Don’t be too pessimistic, even though a new Sea God Ceremony is held, I have not lost my qualifications, right? It is not so easy to nurture a new saintess.” Places with people will have competition for benefits. This saying was appropriate for the mermen as well. Mermen also had schemes and conflict of interests. The saintess had high status, if the forces in the merman tribe can nurture their own saintess, for the following period of time, they would have some political advantage and would be able to gain more benefits. Normally speaking, mermaid girls who could compete for the saintess position had deep backgrounds or were backed by one or two large forces. ... In the underwater Sacred City, the singing gradually stopped, as intense sounds of drumming could be heard. In the square, only a few mermaid girls were left, they danced without showing fatigue, they were extremely determined to become the saintess. Fang Yuan stood outside the square, looking in, these seven mermaid girls were all beautiful, some were enchanting, some were youthful, some were cute, and some were elegant. There was a huge spirit spring at the center of the square, it was called the Sea God’s Spring, water sprayed upwards and carried an elderly mermaid granny, she was the grand elder of this merman tribe. The grand elder looked at the seven mermaid girls as she nodded, saying: “The first round of the saintess test, golden needle in black oil.” Saying so, more than ten strength path Gu Masters carried huge vats into the square. Thud thud thud... After placing down the vats with loud sounds, each of the mermaid girls had one in front of them. The vats were larger than their bodies by several times, they could only see the inside after floating upwards. The vats were filled with thick black oil, the first test was to find a tiny golden needle in the designated time. “I request for my follower to take my stage.” The white-scaled mermaid Su Yi looked at the huge water vat as she said calmly. “Approved.” The grand elder looked at Su Yi deeply. “Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous.” Xia Lin encouraged herself continuously as she walked into the square while feeling uneasy. “What’s going on? The great Lady Su Yi has a rank two Gu Master as her follower?” “Calm down, Su Yi’s decision means that this mermaid is more than she seems.” Everyone talked among themselves. “It’s her?” Fang Yuan saw Xia Lin and his brows rose, he did not expect this girl to become the follower of the most favored saintess candidate. Gather oil Gu! Xia Lin floated to the water vat and used this rank five Gu worm. Instantly, the black oil in the vat started to move, it was drawn out by Xia Lin and gathered in her hands. The crowd went into a commotion. “The aura of a rank five Gu!” “She is clearly a rank two Gu Master, but she can use rank five Gu? Did I see wrongly?” “I understand, this must be the rank five gather oil Gu that has been the hot topic recently.” “So this mermaid has such a quality Gu worm, no wonder Su Yi allowed her to become her follower!” Gather oil Gu’s effect was no joke, after a while, the vat became empty, only a golden needle was left sparkling at the bottom of the vat. The crowd was roused. Countless heated gazes landed on Xia Lin. Xia Lin was even more nervous now, she flushed red and showed a cute expression of not knowing what to do. Su Yi looked at her and smiled, thinking: “I was right to recruit her into my group.” In the first test, Su Yi relied on Xia Lin’s stellar performance to gain a huge boost in reputation. Fang Yuan’s eyes were dark like the abyss, looking at the crowd leaving, he thought: “Six out of seven passed the first test, they came prepared for this. Evidently, the test content was leaked prior to this.” ... Pale green flames burned in front of Xie Han Mo, forming a path of flames. Qiu Shuang, who was also a white-scaled mermaid walked in calmly, standing at the other end of the flame road as she looked at Xie Han Mo mockingly: “Former saintess, your turn.” “Damn it! This eerie fire burns the soul, special Gu worms are needed to resist it. We were already amply prepared, but to think that this first test would be so specific!” “And the worst thing is, Qiu Shuang came prepared with the proper Gu worms, she can resist the eerie fire. Is this luck? Hmph! She clearly knows the test content, this is Frost Tide tribe’s scheme, they are colluding and cheating openly!” Both guards were very angry. “Let me.” Fang Yuan walked towards the frowning Xie Han Mo. “You?” Xie Han Mo looked at Fang Yuan with crystal clear eyes. “Trust me, I am confident in this.” Fang Yuan’s eyes flashed with bright light, looking at Xie Han Mo directly. The two looked at each other for a moment, before Xie Han Mo turned away. “Be careful, this eerie fire is not simple... if you cannot endure it, you can just step down.” Xie Han Mo said. Fang Yuan laughed heartily, turning around and taking huge strides into the eerie fire. Pain! An intense pain originating from his soul assaulted Fang Yuan’s entire body in an instant. Fang Yuan shuddered as he walked with great difficulty. He gritted his teeth until they bled. His eyes were wide opened, they were also tearing apart. His soul was burned by the flame as it melted, thankfully, he had two lifetime’s accumulation, and was an otherworldly demon, the eerie fire was less effective on him than on others. He would not give up midway, because he knew that by taking Xie Han Mo’s place, if he failed, Xie Han Mo would fail too. When he finally walked through the eerie fire road, everyone went wild, countless shocked gazes gathered on him. Many mermen were moved. Fang Yuan tried to smile but at the next moment, he fainted. But right when he was about to land on the ground, Xie Han Mo arrived and held him in her arms. “Don’t worry, I will not waste your effort.” Xie Han Mo looked at Fang Yuan deeply before turning to look at Qiu Shuang. For the first time, her gentle eyes revealed a cold and sharp light. Thanks to Fang Yuan’s desperate attempt, Xie Han Mo passed the difficult trap set specially for her. The second, third, and fourth test... She performed perfectly, the other competitors soon fell short, eventually, only mermaid Qiu Shuang was left. “It seems that Lady Xie Han Mo will very likely retain her position as saintess.” Outside the square, Fang Yuan was still pale as he sat down weakly, expressing joy on his face. “It was all thanks to you Fang Yuan, without your performance in the first round, we would not have gotten this far.” “Hahaha, you got past the flame road, it was shocking to everyone. A few days later, you woke up, do you know that news of your survival shocked countless mermen in the Sacred City!” Both guards laughed loudly. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 Fang Yuan stopped his joyful expression as she said: “Be careful, the situation is in our favor, the other party will not stand by.” Fang Yuan had expected Frost Tide tribe leader to act, but he did not expect that it would be so vicious. In the house, the red scaled guard knelt on the ground, his face was red: “Saintess, please let me battle, I need to clear up the accusation and humiliation that they have dealt to me. How could I possibly bully a widow?!” Xie Han Mo sighed: “Get up, I know you well, but this is clearly the enemy’s plot. If you charge out like this, their schemes will succeed.” The blue scaled guard was worried: “This is not an ordinary widow, she is Bu Su Lian, the wife of the former third elder of the Sacred Court. They are simply too vicious, the investigator will come soon to arrest him for trial. In that case, he would not be able to join the test, our strength will fall greatly!” Fang Yuan added: “This wife of the former third elder of the Sacred Court was willing to sacrifice her reputation to accuse him. She must have a close relationship with Frost Tide tribe leader, this corruption is extremely severe, otherwise, she would not have to act personally. Since they set this trap, they must be amply prepared, if we try to clear up the situation, we would fall into their scheme. We can only play along with this and find a way out.” “How do we do that?” “Very simple, I will take the blame.” Fang Yuan said plainly. Both guards stared with wide opened eyes as they started at Fang Yuan. “No way.” Xie Han Mo rejected this instantly.