A grown man actually being chased by baby salamanders—Shui Miao felt extremely conflicted inside!
But soon, Shui Miao began to think strategically. After all, a fish is still a fish—how intelligent could they really be?
Even though these were magical baby salamanders with supernatural powers, they had never ventured outside or experienced the world. They had always stayed in these underground spring streams, so their minds must be as innocent and naive as Zhang Hanya’s, knowing absolutely nothing. The reason they were chasing him now was probably just a simple belief that might makes right. They could sense that his supernatural powers were gone, so they were taking this chance to retaliate. In this situation, if he could exploit their innocence and stage a little act, there might still be a chance to turn things around.
Shui Miao hadn’t run far when several baby salamanders caught up to him.
Leaping from the water, they transformed into five tiny fish-like dwarves—two larger ones and three smaller ones. They looked more like dolls. The two larger ones were at most sixty to seventy centimeters tall, while the three smaller ones were about thirty centimeters tall. They had faces with eyes and noses, although their features looked distinctly fish-like. Their bodies were covered in tight-fitting scales resembling clothing, yet their genders remained indistinguishable.
They surrounded Shui Miao, who took the opportunity to pretend he had no strength left and weakly slumped to the ground.
“Hmph!”
One of the larger baby salamanders spoke in a childish voice, pointing at Shui Miao and shouting, “You scared us, you know! We thought you were so strong, but it turns out we’re even stronger!”
“Yeah, yeah! You’re such a bad guy—you interrupted my beautiful dream!” Another large salamander chimed in. Listening to its tone, it was clearly the same type as Zhang Hanya.
“Brother, are you okay?”
Thinking of Zhang Hanya, she nervously approached.
The small baby salamanders made way for her to reach Shui Miao.
Seeing the tiny fish-people, Zhang Hanya wasn’t scared at all—she was actually excited: “Wow! Are they baby fish? So cute! You all are so adorable!”
“…”
As soon as Zhang Hanya spoke, the baby salamanders became delighted. One of the small ones shouted excitedly, “Sister says we’re cute! I like sister!”
“Me too! Me too!”
The three little ones joyfully swarmed around Zhang Hanya.
An opportunity had arrived!
Shui Miao’s mind stirred. At such a close distance, he could reach out and grab them at any moment!
But seeing how innocent they all looked, he hesitated and didn’t act immediately.
The two larger salamanders exchanged a glance and smiled. Then, one of them pointed angrily at Shui Miao and shouted, “You’re a bad guy! Tell us why you chased us just now! If you don’t explain, we won’t be nice to you!”
“Hmph! Don’t look down on us just because we’re small—we’re actually super strong!” Another salamander added fiercely.
Shui Miao thought to himself that these baby salamanders were truly too naive. When a human chased them, what else could they possibly want other than to eat them? Poor things didn’t even realize that! After a pause, he lowered his head and pretended to be obedient: “I’m sorry… I saw how cute you were and wanted to catch you to keep as pets. I didn’t expect you to swim so fast, so I panicked and threw stones at you.”
“Liar! Do you think we’re stupid?”
As soon as Shui Miao finished speaking, one of the larger salamanders shouted, “We know what humans are like—you eat us! You chased us because you wanted to eat us, didn’t you!”
“Exactly! Exactly!” Another salamander shouted in agreement. “We’re immortal fish cultivators ourselves—we don’t even need to go to the surface to know what humans are capable of!”
“No, no…”
Shui Miao hurriedly waved his hands: “Actually, I’m a cultivator too—you should already know that. I chased you because you’re so cute, really wanting to take you home to raise. I wanted to give you good food and a nice place to live. So please believe me—it was truly out of affection! You’re so powerful—you must already know there are many people in the world who enjoy keeping fish. You’ve simply misunderstood me!”
“Yes, yes! My brother is a Taoist priest with a kind heart—you should believe him!”
Suddenly catching on, Zhang Hanya quickly joined in to help Shui Miao deceive the five baby salamanders.
After hearing Zhang Hanya’s words, the baby salamanders looked at each other in silence.
Suddenly, one of the small ones shouted excitedly, “Dad, Mom! I want to look like sister—she’s so pretty!”
“Me too! Me too…”
“…”
The little ones all chimed in.
The two larger salamanders immediately blew out a puff of immortal energy, transforming the smaller ones into copies of Zhang Hanya’s appearance. Although they remained tiny, they were already overjoyed and delighted.
Witnessing this move, Shui Miao was stunned. These baby salamanders’ abilities were not to be underestimated!
Turning back, the salamanders nodded at Shui Miao and said, “Alright then—we’ll believe you, since we’re all cultivators.”
“Yeah, we believe you. You actually seem pretty kind—you’re not like those bad people.” The other salamander also nodded. “By the way, how did you two get down here? Was it those two little spirits who brought you?”
Meanwhile, Xiao Huo and Xiao Tu were hiding far away inside a cave, secretly peeking from a distance.
“Yes…” Shui Miao’s mind stirred. He immediately thought of them. Those two had been hiding all along and hadn’t even come to help him in his moment of crisis. It seemed that the five little spirit apprentices brought by Zhang Yuan weren’t reliable at all—and even Zhang Yuan himself wasn’t entirely dependable!
“Hmph! Those two little brats—I knew they were no good from the start! Let me go chase them away!” Saying that, the baby salamander leapt into the water and swam toward the hiding place of the spirit apprentices. Startled, Xiao Huo and Xiao Tu immediately turned to flee, while the baby salamander’s soul projected out, chasing after them relentlessly!
Shui Miao looked at the other large salamander and decided not to capture it. Instead, he wanted to ask about the secret of their supernatural powers. So he asked, “It’s strange—the spiritual energy here beneath the rocks seems quite ordinary. How did you manage to cultivate supernatural powers? Is there perhaps a hidden treasure of immortals somewhere beneath these rocks?”
He asked curiously.
Any cultivator would naturally be intrigued by such matters.
The baby salamander didn’t think much and directly replied, “I knew you’d ask that. Actually, it’s our secret. But if you’re willing to become our friends, I’ll tell you the secret—how about that?”
“Of course! We’d love to be your friends!” Zhang Hanya, still playing with the little salamanders, eagerly responded first.
Shui Miao also nodded, “We’re all cultivators—we should support each other. If you’re not against it, I’d be happy to be friends with you.”
“But then, you also have to promise to help us with one favor!”
The baby salamander smiled at Shui Miao with twinkling eyes.
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