Anbaixiu would swear on every lie he had ever told in his life that this kid was lying through his teeth. Someone had to have ordered him to marry Ariel.
Otherwise, how could a person shout about marrying Ariel when he didn't even know who she was? The logic simply fell apart.
And even now, Aeolus was still slinging mud at Talos. If Talos wanted Ariel wed, did he really need to be so roundabout? The god behind this was far too crude and heavy-handed, and smearing someone like this was downright despicable.
Still, Anbaixiu did not expose Aeolus's lie right away, lest the young man turn hostile out of shame.
"Fine. Everyone has their secrets, so I won't pry."
Hearing Anbaixiu say this, Aeolus was filled with gratitude. "Thank you! There really are some things I just can't say!"
Anbaixiu dearly wanted to roll his eyes, but he lacked eyeballs. Wasn't this an outright confession? He had practically just admitted he had been lying a moment ago.
Just which deity was so unreliable that they had picked an even more unreliable follower?
This bore a striking resemblance to the antics of the kuo-toa goddess, Blibdoolpoolp. Rumor had it that this goddess hadn't existed originally at all, having been imagined into being by legions of kuo-toa. As a result, Blibdoolpoolp was tainted by the kuo-toa's ridiculous habit of believing whatever popped into their heads, acting wildly and without a shred of logic.
This wasn't Anbaixiu slandering the kuo-toa goddess, either; one of her actual divine portfolios was "Insanity."
Calling her a lunatic goddess was hardly an exaggeration.
Blibdoolpoolp had once proclaimed to the world that she was an ancient deity, the god of all races buried beneath the ocean depths, possessing ancient magical knowledge unknown even to the Goddess of Magic.
Yet it remained nothing more than an empty boast. No one had ever heard her mention a single detail, and she had never shared any of this ancient magical knowledge with anyone. The general consensus was that she was simply having an episode, spouting nonsense off the top of her head.
That matched Aeolus's current state to a tee—foolish and manic, spouting lies on a whim, every one of them riddled with holes.
Even if she was out of her mind, however, Blibdoolpoolp was still an intermediate deity, far stronger than Anbaixiu's mentor had been in his prime. Creating a chosen gifted with formidable water-controlling abilities wouldn't be difficult for her.
Viewed from this angle, it was very likely that Aeolus was the chosen of the kuo-toa goddess Blibdoolpoolp.
Was this mad goddess trying to pick a fight with Talos?
Where did Blibdoolpoolp get the nerve? The gulf between an intermediate deity and a greater deity was vast; a single bolt of lightning from Talos could char her to a crisp, inside and out.
Oh, right—she had a screw loose. That made total sense.
A madman's actions were always perfectly reasonable by their own logic. Feeling that he had found an airtight explanation for everything, Anbaixiu said to Aeolus, "Well, since you're looking for Ariel, we might as well ask around as we go."
Aeolus was pleasantly surprised. "Really? That's wonderful! I never imagined I'd receive your help time and again. I truly don't know how to repay you."
Anbaixiu chuckled. "There will always be an opportunity. It won't be too late to discuss it later."
Anbaixiu fired off a soul link to Phil, who took the hint and withdrew.
From this moment forth, the Silent Night Pirates were unified in their stance: *Ariel? Who's that? Never heard of her.*
Best to keep this fool contained aboard the ship first.
Aeolus didn't suspect Anbaixiu of ulterior motives in the slightest. Instead, he darted about the ghost ship with great fascination, looking as though he had never seen such a novelty before.
Anbaixiu seized the opportunity to thoroughly probe Aeolus's abilities. His earlier claim—that as long as the waves surged, he would never die—turned out not to be an idle boast. So long as waves continued to roll across the ocean, he could resurrect infinitely.
This ability felt even more like a blatant cheat than Catherine's invulnerability under the moonlight.
Yet divine blessings had always been this insoluble, for the limits of mortals barely brushed against the bottom line of the gods.
A deity's blessing on the Prime Material Plane often produced effects resembling absolute "rules": if a god granted you immunity to something, you truly were immune.
As long as the moonlight shone upon Catherine, not even a Silvermoon Knight striking with full strength could harm her, failing to leave behind so much as a faint white mark.
Anbaixiu enjoyed the benefits of such rules himself; the gold coin that could transmute properties was essentially a tool for rewriting reality.
Such was the power of the divine—true, terrifying might.
And to counter such power, only the might of an equal deity would suffice.
Only if another god intervened could Aeolus's infinite resurrection be stripped away, or a limitation imposed that introduced a flaw into his revival.
In short, until a deity chose to target him, this kid was truly unkillable. Even if Anbaixiu crushed his soul, he would still regenerate somewhere in the ocean. Aeolus was a nuisance, but if wielded properly, he could become a divine weapon.
Treating it like babysitting, Anbaixiu chatted and swapped tall tales with Aeolus along the way, growing noticeably closer to him. By this time, the Silent Night Pirates had crossed through sahuagin territory and were not far from the domain of the merfolk goddess.
Aige sought out Anbaixiu to discuss their next move.
"We're going to negotiate with Eadro to borrow faith, so my personal advice is not to march in with an army. Eadro is a true neutral deity who won't attack us unprovoked. The ixitxachitl we killed along the way can serve as gifts, which should secure us an audience with the merfolk."
This was Anbaixiu's proposal. The true neutral Eadro had only one sworn enemy: Demogorgon. Consequently, the ixitxachitl and the merfolk were mortal foes.
While the merfolk excelled at water magic, who in the ocean couldn't cast a few water spells? The ixitxachitl, on the other hand, were venomous, and these monsters were far from stupid. They often slashed their own flesh deliberately, using the ocean currents to wash their toxic blood straight into the merfolk's coral reefs.
Such poisoning tactics were nearly impossible to defend against, earning the ixitxachitl the merfolk's utter hatred. Anbaixiu had collected a pile of ixitxachitl carcasses along the way, which served as a very sincere gesture of goodwill.
Aige agreed with his reasoning. They had come to seek cooperation, not to pillage; peaceful negotiations were naturally best.
Besides, Aige was enough on her own. Her ability to phase and drift through barriers ensured she could advance or retreat at will, whereas bringing more people would only turn them into dead weight.
With the plan settled, Anbaixiu had Aeolus stay aboard Phil's ship. The Silent Night Pirates halted on the perimeter of merfolk territory, forbidden to cross the boundary without explicit orders.
Then, Aige escorted Anbaixiu toward the nearest fishfolk settlement.
Those who worshipped the goddess Eadro included both merfolk and locathah. The merfolk possessed greater intellect, so the various tribes were primarily led by them, with the locathah serving in roles somewhat akin to laborers or retainers.
The moment Aige's colossal ghost ship revealed itself, it drew the attention of several locathah.
These round-headed fishfolk looked somewhat dopey, lacking the terrifying mouthfuls of razor teeth typical of sahuagin. They appeared relatively gentle, yet the weapons in their hands were just as sharp. Pointing their arms toward Anbaixiu at the ship's prow, they shouted harshly,
"This is the domain blessed by the Deep Dreamer! Undead, begone! Undead, begone!"
To the vast majority of living beings, the undead were never good news. Although Eadro was true neutral and held no inherent prejudice against the undead, the locathah were not quite so open-minded. At best, they wouldn't instigate a fight, but their wariness was inevitable.
Fortunately, Anbaixiu had come prepared. He produced several ixitxachitl carcasses, tossed them over, and called out to the locathah, "On behalf of the Silent Night Pirates, I request an audience with your tribe's High Priest."
The oceanic tribes had no unified kingdom, organizing themselves primarily into tribal communities. Because only tribes blessed by a deity could thrive in the depths, their administrative structure was exceedingly simple, boiling down to one principle: *The deity has the final say.*
Consequently, the priests who could commune with the gods were equivalent to tribal chieftains, and no one dared contest their authority.
Anbaixiu's plan was to first locate a merfolk High Priest capable of speaking with Eadro, and through them, establish contact with the goddess herself.
As it happened, the matter concerning Aeolus could serve as their foot in the door. He was confident Eadro would be very concerned about the kuo-toa goddess's schemes. For a lunatic goddess to target Talos was pure suicide, and for the true neutral Eadro, it threatened to plunge the entire ocean into chaos.
The plan was flawless. The ixitxachitl carcasses proved a delightful gift for the locathah. Carrying the bodies, they darted into a boundless expanse of giant coral thickets. Before long, they returned accompanied by a tall, powerful merfolk warrior.
Merfolk were vastly better-looking than fishfolk. With an upper body resembling a human's, he was sculpted with firm, athletic muscles. Swimming through water every day, it would have been strange if he lacked muscle.
This was a male merfolk holding a trident wrapped in fresh seaweed. He was remarkably handsome, boasting the cool, aloof looks tailor-made for charming young maidens in fairy tales.
"Honored guest, I am Nepris, priest of the Blue Algae Tribe. May I ask the purpose of your visit?"
Nepris spoke courteously, yet his hand never left the shaft of his trident. Moreover, his arrival brought a dozen more locathah along with him. Though they didn't encircle Anbaixiu, they clearly hadn't lowered their guard.
Even so, it was no big deal. Anbaixiu replied politely, "Lady Aige, leader of the Silent Night Pirates, requests an audience with your High Priest. We bring vital intelligence concerning the Gill-Swimmer Goddess."
Hearing this, Nepris smoothly seized the opportunity. "Oh? What kind of intelligence? I am quite close with the High Priest; you may pass the message through me."
Anbaixiu let out a dry chuckle. "Master Nepris, you make it sound far too simple. We are undead. We traveled thousands of leagues to deliver this warning; we can hardly blurt it out and turn on our heels without a word of compensation. We are undead, after all, not paladins dedicated to charity work."
Hearing Anbaixiu say this, Nepris actually breathed a small sigh of relief. The reputation of the Silent Night Pirates was far too renowned; Nepris knew full well he was no match for them, and this tribe could never hold off the pirate armada.
Had the lich claimed to have come purely out of goodwill, Nepris would have been suspicious. But since he was delivering news while openly demanding compensation, the story carried vastly more credibility. For pirates, demanding a reward was the most natural thing in the world.
"In that case, honored guest, please follow me."
Nepris swept his trident forward. A seam parted in the coral thicket behind him, and he led Anbaixiu into the world of the merfolk.
Chapter 414