Chapter 248 - 248 - Unexpected Arrival

The Mer scoffed. "stu—pid!" he said and went back to pushing the boat.

Hearing his soft whisper, Raijin gasped. "M—mater, he spoke. He can really speak!!" he said cheerfully.

"That is not what is important thought," Long Ki tiredly said. He held firmly onto the rails as their ship tilted to the right speedily. He took a deep breath and shouted, "yaa, you down there. I want to talk!! I want to talk and get it!! Get your leader or someone, someone with authority!!"

The green Mer below glanced at him with a glare. "ne—ver," he said in a slight child like voice.

"Why not? I'm just asking you to listen to me? What is wrong with that, huh?" he shouted all of a sudden.

The Mer paused. "You...invade, territory. No good." He said in broken words.

Long ki growled loudly. "I jumped because my SON is down there. And you..... You have kidnapped him!!!!" he shouted in anguish.

The Mer glanced at him sceptically. "You, no father. The prince not dragon like you," he said and went back to pushing the boat with vigour.

"Prince? I don't know any prince. I'm talking about my child!! Little red egg, he is my one and only child," Long ki shouted in frustration. He really wanted to blast them away, but he did not really have the heart to hurt Yukiya's species. "Listen, please return my child, we will go our way, we will never sail your waters," he said.

Long Aotian heard this from the other side of the boat. He loudly howled and pushed the ship brutally to the other side, balancing the ship. 'What the hell? If we don't sail these waters how can we find Xia, what is he promising so recklessly,' he gritted his teeth loudly.

Long ki heard his growl, but he decided to ignore them for now. He leaned down and glanced at the creature. "Please, return my child to me. We will leave... or, or if you want to punish me, I can accept ay kind of punishment. Just give me back my child," he pleaded softly.

The Mers did not look up but they slowed down exponentially. The one who was leading them, the green tailed Mer, started panting softly. He jumped into the waters and disappeared.

"Wait, listen," Long ki shouted, but the other Mer's followed after him and disappeared into the deep ocean.

"Shit, what do we do now?" he whispered, raking a hand through his wet hair.

Aotian jumped on board and swiftly put on his pants. "What happened? Why did they go away?" he whispered confusedly.

"I think..... I think master was right. They seemed to unable to breathe properly in salty water. I saw the green tailed Mer panting before he dove in." Raijin said softly.

Aotian walked up to his brother and held his trembling shouldered. "we.... we will find a way brother,"

"We have to, I'm worried for my child's safety," Long ki whispered tiredly. The wounds on his back were slowly healing, but they hurt like hell. He had already lost a lot of blood with his previous battle with that mysterious Mer. "Xiao Tian, do you have any other ideas? Anything," he said, sobbing softly.

Aotian swiftly pulled him close and hugged him tight. "Don't cry.... don't cry, brother. We—we can dive in and try to talk to them again. We can do that,." he said firmly.

"Let's do that then," Long ki agreed, wiping his tear-stained face. He got close to the rail and was about to jump down when all of a sudden he felt something coil around his waist and pull him back. A long golden scarf entangled his body into a small cocoon.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" a soft feminine voice whispered from above.

Aotian glanced up in shock. This was a voice he was well familiar with. On top of the mast a woman, dressed lavishly in a golden frock, glanced down at him. Her beautiful yellow red eyes peered down at him with a small smile in them.

"Mother!!!" he shouted aloud.

Long ki who was trying to untangle himself from the scarf glanced up as well. "m—mother, what....what are you doing here?" he mumbled.

"Majesty!" Raijin bowed deep.

"Mommy, what are doing here?" Aotian repeated his brother's question again.

The woman softly hummed a song and peered at him. "Why shouldn't I be here? My two cute sons are here; my daughter-in-law is here. My little charge is here, and who is that?" she pointed to the ghoul who was manning the wheel.

"That is Pan Mu," Aotian added. "But mom, where is dad?" he whispered and glanced around.

"I came alone," the beautiful woman shrugged.

"That's not possible," Aotian refuted immediately. As far as five thousand years of observation, his father had always been like a puppy following after his mother anywhere she went. How was it possible for him not to follow her here? 'Maybe something happened between them,'

"Did something happen? Did—did you both fight?" he whispered hesitantly.

The beautiful woman scoffed. She skilfully jumped down from the mast and landed in front of him. Her jade like hands reached for him. Aotian happily ran close, but her hand reached directly to his ears and pinched.

"Ouch, mom, that hurts," he whined.

"How can you even assume daddy and I fought, huh? You have developed a vivid imagination skill after coming down to the human realm," she whispered with a wide smirk. "Don't you think so, Ki~,"

Long ki nodded silently.

"Why are you so silent? Won't you usually scream and run away from just my sight?" She hesitantly glanced down at him. She pulled Aotian close by his neck and tussled his hair. "What happened to him? He looks dispirited?"

Aotian sighed loudly. "Mom, his child he had adopted has been kidnapped by the Mers,"

"What? That's it, he is glum for such a simple thing," she whispered and let go of him. Aotian massaged his aching neck and peered at his mother. "Mom, don't say it like that. He loved the child as his own,"

"ohh, I see, I see," she nodded thoughtfully and walked over to him. Long ki refused to look up at her. "ki~ why won't you look at mommy?" she whispered and nudged him softly with her scarf.

Long ki snapped his face away from her. "For you..." he mumbled something inaudibly.

"What? What was that? I didn't quite catch that? She said and pulled his face facing her directly. "Can you repeat?"

"I said, it might be insignificant to you, but that is MY CHILD. MY ONE AND ONLY CHILD WAS KIDNAPPED RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. And...and I don't know how to get him back peacefully," he whispered, putting his head down.

"Well then, I'll help you," she cheerfully whispered.

Long ki's head shot up. "You can?"

"I can and I said it was a simple thing because it is very simple for me. Get up now, crying and sobbing does not suit you,"

She pulled him up by his shoulders and adjusted him so that he stood straight. "hold your chest high, you are a mighty crown prince of the heavens realm, of you let such a little thing bring you down how will you handle an entire realm." Long ki dejectedly put his head down.

She softly held his chin and glanced up at him. "You are young, but you have a lot to learn, so don't give up either. Mother and father are on your side, hmm,"

She patted his shoulders and walked over to the side of the ship. "Hmm their leader is well hidden," she whispered with her hands on her chin.

"Aha, why don't I use that," she swiftly pulled out a jade carving from inside her jacket. A small golden dragon was carved on it.

"MOM!! You.... you seriously brought the royal seal here!!" Aotian shouted and dashed to her. "Does dad know?" he whispered softly. "Don't worry I won't tell him, but keep it safe, don't lose it,"

"ahhh, don't worry so much, your dad was the one who gave it to me. He said it was our 'valentines present'. I'm not even sure what that is," she shrugged nonchalantly. "Little black, do you have something to tie this?"

"Why?" Aotian doubtfully inquired.

"Because I'm going to lower it down, that's why! Stop asking so many questions and bring to it me," she said and shooed him away.

But before he could, Long ki ran over and gave her a long golden scarf. "Yours," he said with a blush.

"aww, how could I forget? I already have my scarf," she whispered and pinched his cheeks lovingly. "Kids, this is today's lesson, I'm gonna teach you how to fish," she said with a gleeful laughter.

The royal seal that was safely tied to her scarf was lowered down.

Aotian's mother cleared her throat and shouted, "PRISILLA, COME UP, IT'S YIN LONG HERE!!"

The water vibrated violently, along with it the boat also rocked softly.