The Possessive Villain Is Too Clingy [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 63

“I’m not!” The Third Princess was both anxious and helpless. “Their princess is over three hundred years old, and I’m only eighteen!”

“I’m a fisherwoman from a coastal village! I haven’t been home in six years, my mother must think I’m dead!” As she spoke, tears began to fall from her eyes, pattering down like raindrops.

Ye Zhixia crossed her arms and began to think.

The Third Princess carried Ruan Ning’s inner core within her, which meant she was the little girl Ruan Ning had saved by the seaside many years ago.

“Do you remember someone saving you by the shore ten years ago?” Ye Zhixia probed cautiously.

After all, the girl had only been eight at the time, it was normal if she didn’t recall.

The Third Princess nodded eagerly. “I remember! When I was ten, I was swept away by the waves for the first time, and a beautiful woman saved me. From then on, my senses became much sharper than ordinary people’s, and my memory improved too.”

Ye Zhixia’s eyes lit up instantly. “Do you still remember what the woman who saved you looked like?”

“Of course I do! She was just, ” The Third Princess was about to describe her when she caught sight of Ruan Ning transforming beside her, shifting into the very image of the beautiful woman from her memory.

“That’s her!” the Third Princess exclaimed excitedly. “How did you know?!”

Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning exchanged delighted glances. To retrieve Ruan Ning’s inner core, they needed to take the Third Princess to Qiyan Sect, and coincidentally, the princess also wanted to escape.

Now that they had revealed their identities, the princess would surely trust them.

“Would you mind if I examined the condition inside your body?” Ruan Ning asked her.

The Third Princess nodded. “Of course! I’m not lying to you, I really am not some Third Princess!”

The two sat cross-legged on the meditation bed, closing their eyes to focus.

After a few moments, Ruan Ning withdrew her demonic energy and said, “Your body only contains the inner core I once gave you there’s no dragon clan’s core. Though you carry traces of dragon aura, it’s far from that of a pure-blooded dragon. You truly couldn’t be the dragon king’s daughter.”

The “Third Princess” slapped her thigh. “I told them I wasn’t the dragon king’s daughter, but they refused to believe me!”

“Might I ask for your name?” Ye Zhixia inquired politely.

The “Third Princess” replied, “I’m Xu Sui, Xu as in ‘many,’ Sui as in ‘everything going smoothly.'”

Ye Zhixia explained how she and Ruan Ning had been searching everywhere for the inner core, how they had found it within Xu Sui, and their hope that she would return it.

Xu Sui nodded repeatedly, eager to leave with them immediately.

Ruan Ning, however, was puzzled. Logically, if she could confirm that Xu Sui wasn’t of dragon bloodline, the Dragon King should have easily discovered the same.

Why, then…?

Ye Zhixia wasted no time in preparing to leave with Ruan Ning and Xu Sui. But the moment the three stepped out of the palace gates, they were met with the furious glare of the Dragon King.

“Audacious fools! How dare you abduct my Third Princess of the East Sea!” the Dragon King roared in rage. “Seize them!”

An army of shrimp soldiers and crab generals surged forward, including the very shrimp officer who had earlier leaked information to them.

This was the Dragon King’s domain, and they were indeed intruders. Not daring to fight at full strength, Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning defended themselves while retreating.

“Dragon King of the East Sea! Why did you kidnap me in the first place?” Xu Sui shouted, pointing at him.

A flicker of sorrow passed through the Dragon King’s eyes before his expression hardened back into anger. “Qing’er! They must have poisoned your mind!”

“Father will capture them for you!”

With that, he ordered his soldiers to attack Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning.

“Run, now!” Xu Sui grabbed their clothes and flung them out the window.

Though Xu Sui had no magical abilities, with Ruan Ning’s inner core enhancing him, his strength was astonishingly great.

With Xu Sui holding off the guards at the cost of his own safety, the two managed to escape the Dragon Palace.

In the pitch-black depths of the sea, they crouched among coral clusters to evade pursuit, with oddly shaped fish occasionally swimming past.

“Luckily, the Dragon King didn’t really chase us with full force,” Ruan Ning said in relief.

Ye Zhixia, unfamiliar with the ways of the sea, asked in confusion, “Is the Dragon King that powerful?”

Ruan Ning couldn’t help but chuckle at the question before countering, “The ocean is far vaster than the land. The Dragon King of the East Sea rules over the entire East Sea creatures like me are nothing more than tiny shrimp to him.”

Ye Zhixia idly fiddled with the coral beside her and pressed further, “Then what are tiny shrimp to the Dragon King?”

A hoarse voice suddenly interjected, “Aiyo! You shameless little brat! How dare you tickle an old woman’s feet!”

Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning jumped in fright and quickly stood up.

The surrounding coral writhed rapidly, transforming into an elderly woman.

“My apologies… I’m not a creature of the sea and don’t know the customs,” Ye Zhixia said respectfully, bowing her head.

But the old woman abruptly changed her tone, her eyes darting shrewdly. “You two sneaked into the Dragon Palace and got kicked out, didn’t you?”

Ruan Ning, recognizing the glint in the coral granny’s eyes, realized she must know some inside information.

“That’s right! We were thrown out by the Dragon King!” Ruan Ning said indignantly.

The coral granny pursed her lips and shook her head. “You must’ve gone poking around about the Third Princess and got caught.”

Only then did Ye Zhixia understand why the Dragon King had been waiting outside with his soldiers so quickly, he had been prepared all along.

Ruan Ning sweetly sidled up to the coral granny and asked, “Sister, what’s really going on with the Third Princess? She keeps insisting she isn’t the Third Princess.”

Hearing Ruan Ning call her “sister,” the old woman’s face lit up with delight. “You little sea sprite, you’ve got a silver tongue.”

Ruan Ning smiled but stayed silent, waiting for the gossip.

Life in the deep sea was lonely and dull, so the coral granny eagerly seized the chance to chat with the two youngsters and launched into her story.

“My great-aunt’s second uncle’s third cousin is a decorative piece inside the Dragon Palace,” the coral granny began, proudly introducing her palace connections as she wobbled down to sit on the seabed.

“There are too many rumors about the Third Princess, but only I know the truth.”

Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning knelt beside her, listening intently.

The palace was rife with talk that the Third Princess had suffered brain damage during her time wandering the mortal world, leaving her cultivation weak and deluded into believing she was human constantly defying the Dragon King and Queen.

“But my great-aunt’s second uncle’s third cousin says it’s all lies!” the coral granny whispered conspiratorially.

“She saw with her own eyes, the Dragon King secretly cast a spell on the Third Princess, forcing dragon horns to grow and turning her into a dragon maiden!”

Ruan Ning had been puzzled earlier, Xu Sui’s faint draconic aura could never have fooled the Dragon King. Now it all made sense: the one who had fabricated Xu Sui’s identity was none other than the Dragon King himself!

Eager for more details, Ruan Ning pressed, “But why would the Dragon King need a fake princess?”

“Tsk!” The elderly coral woman’s face was filled with indignation. “Hundreds of years ago, a white-bearded old man who called himself the Immortal Chen Ji came to the Dragon Palace to persuade the Dragon King to abandon his third princess, saying the child could only be brought back after three hundred years.”

“Recently, the three-hundred-year deadline arrived, and the Dragon Queen urged the Dragon King to fetch their daughter. But guess what happened?”

Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning widened their eyes. A small glowing dot suddenly appeared around them, faintly illuminating many strange fish nearby they too were listening to the old woman’s gossip.

“The Dragon King searched the entire East Sea but couldn’t find the third princess he had abandoned three hundred years ago! Frantic, he rushed to the immortal realm to question the Immortal Chen Ji, only to find out, there was no such person in the immortal realm! The Dragon King had been deceived!”

Ruan Ning murmured in response, “So the Dragon King kidnapped a woman to impersonate the third princess…”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Ye Zhixia but was startled by a blobfish hovering near her face.

Ye Zhixia suddenly realized something. She turned to Ruan Ning and said, “The East Sea Dragon King wouldn’t dare to just grab any sea demon to impersonate his daughter. But Xu Sui was a human, and with your demon core inside her, she could survive underwater!”

At that moment, not only did Ruan Ning understand the twists and turns of the situation, but even the coral granny and the surrounding fish listening in grasped the truth.

“Let’s go!” Ye Zhixia said angrily. “We’re confronting the Dragon King!”

With that, she grabbed Ruan Ning’s hand.

“Go!”

“Let’s go!”

The surrounding fish also followed Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning to witness the commotion.

Under the glow of lanternfish, a grand procession of fish swam toward the Dragon Palace.

Seeing this, the coral granny was overjoyed and joined the crowd heading to the palace.

Along the way, Ye Zhixia fed Ruan Ning another Water-Resistance Pill.

Ruan Ning asked, puzzled, “Why aren’t you taking one?”

Ye Zhixia replied calmly, “The pill’s effect is about to wear off, but I feel its potency hasn’t diminished in my body yet. I’d rather save it for emergencies.”

When they arrived at the Dragon Palace gates again, the radiance of the luminous pearls overshadowed the faint yellow glow of the lanternfish.

“Didn’t we just chase you away? Are you back to die?” a shrimp soldier exclaimed in surprise.

Ye Zhixia raised her voice and shouted, “The Dragon King kidnapped a human today, he must answer for this! His lawless actions on land are unforgivable!”

The Dragon King, having sensed the gathering of fish earlier, had been lurking behind the palace gates. Hearing Ye Zhixia’s loud accusations and fearing she would expose his fake daughter, he rushed out, intent on killing her.

He lunged forward, his hands transforming into dragon claws as he aimed for Ye Zhixia’s neck.

Ye Zhixia reacted swiftly, stepping back and swinging her sword.

But underwater was not like land the resistance of the sea slowed her movements considerably.

Fortunately, Ruan Ning, as a sea demon, was agile in the water. She kicked at the dragon claws, allowing Ye Zhixia to dodge the attack.

“Hah! The Dragon King dares to silence witnesses in front of so many sea creatures truly lawless!” Ye Zhixia scolded fearlessly. “I am a disciple of the Qiyuan Sect! If I disappear in these waters, my master will demand answers!”

The Qiyuan Sect had produced seven immortals who ascended to the heavenly realm, making it a renowned and formidable sect across the three realms. Hearing this, the Dragon King hesitated, not daring to act recklessly.

In an instant, he changed his demeanor. Standing about five or six meters away, he clasped his hands with a smile. “Ah, so you’re a cultivator from the Qiyuan Sect. Please, accompany me into the palace for a discussion.”

Ruan Ning hesitated, unsure whether to trust the Dragon King, and tightened her grip on Ye Zhixia’s hand.

Ye Zhixia turned to look at Ruan Ning and gently patted her hand in reassurance. “It’s alright. He’ll have to show some respect for the Qiyuan Sect’s reputation.”

Under the watchful eyes of the gathered merfolk, Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning followed the Dragon King into the palace.

Instead of leading them to the main reception hall, the Dragon King took them to a small study in the inner palace.

The two stepped cautiously into the room, only for the Dragon King to hurriedly shut the door behind them in a fluster, even casting a silencing barrier to ensure their conversation wouldn’t be overheard.

“Honorable ladies, I beg you not to expose me, my wife would kill me!” The Dragon King bowed deeply with clasped hands, practically on the verge of kneeling before them.

The same Dragon King who had wanted to silence them moments ago was now behaving so meekly, leaving Ye Zhixia and Ruan Ning utterly bewildered.

However, Ye Zhixia remained composed. Calmly, she addressed the Dragon King, “Miss Xu Sui still has family on land. Your Majesty truly shouldn’t have abducted her. If you’re facing some unspeakable difficulty, perhaps you could share it with us so we can think of a solution together.”

Hearing that Ye Zhixia was a reasonable cultivator, the Dragon King quickly invited them to sit and proceeded to explain the situation in detail.

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