Tang Jing obviously ignored the man's request, and even quickened the pace at which she extracted the heart of the merfolk.

Amidst the man's agonized screams and wails, the merfolk heart finally left his body and was drawn into Tang Jing's hands. The moment she grasped the heart of the merfolk, Tang Jing's body couldn't help shaking; to her, holding that merfolk heart was like holding a piece of ice.

And because the merfolk heart was gone, the man fainted due to his body suddenly being unable to adapt.

"Mermaid, I should give this merfolk heart to you!" Tang Jing turned and said to Huang Yue, then strode briskly towards her.

Ye Yuqiao and Chen Hao also turned around to look at Tang Jing, and Ye Yuqiao then wrapped her arm around Chen Hao's, resting her head on his shoulder. The ordeal had once again proved her place in Chen Hao's heart, which filled her with both touch and joy.

Upon receiving the merfolk heart from Tang Jing's hands, Huang Yue seemed at a loss and confusedly said, "What should I do with this merfolk heart?"

"Give it to your father and mother, or integrate it into your own body," Xie Xiaofeng suggested, and then added, "Or better, put it inside yourself. That way, the merfolk power in you can be greatly enhanced."

"No, no, no!" Huang Yue hastily shook her head, "It's pointless to keep it in me, I'd better give it to my dad and mom."

"How could it be pointless?" Xie Xiaofeng countered, then persisted in persuading, "This merfolk heart gathers the power of twenty-two of your kin; having it within you, you could live on for them, and then use their strength to protect your family and more of your people. It's like, just like what we're doing now. We roam around to subdue demons and dispel evil to protect our humankind."

Inspired by Xie Xiaofeng's words, Huang Yue was suddenly encouraged. After pondering for a while, she tentatively asked, "Can I really do that?"

"You can, of course you can!"

Tang Jing's gaze became somewhat strange, and she inwardly sighed, "Xie Xiaofeng is impressive, in such a short time he has gained the complete trust of this little mermaid girl!"

"Mermaid, let me help you integrate this merfolk heart into your own. I'm quite adept at this kind of thing!" Tang Jing said. At that moment, she felt an unspeakable joy in her heart because she recognized her irreplaceable role within the team—that she knew many traditional, unique spells that Chen Hao, Xie Xiaofeng, and Ye Yuqiao didn't have, and these spells were often needed.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the bamboo forest.

"The villagers are coming!" Ye Yuqiao exclaimed.

It was impossible that the villagers were not disturbed by the commotion that had just taken place.

Startled, Huang Yue immediately grabbed the merfolk heart and leaped into the well.

Soon after, the villagers, holding flashlights, walked in and asked, "Young sirs, what happened here just now? Everyone saw the dazzling light, and we all heard a man's scream of agony."

"This." Chen Hao's mind clicked, and pointing at the man who had fainted on the ground, he said, "Is this man from the village? Just now, we were casting spells here to exorcise a ghost when he suddenly became possessed and tried to stop us. Then, we bound the ghost that was wrapped around him. The screams everyone heard just now were from that ghost."

Upon hearing Chen Hao's explanation, the villagers were too scared to speak until after a long while, a middle-aged man looked at Chen Hao and hesitantly asked in a low voice, "Have all the ghosts been driven away yet?"

"Not yet! They're all still nearby!" Xie Xiaofeng suddenly exclaimed, startling the villagers beside him into trembling. Pausing, he then exaggeratedly whispered to the villagers, "Everyone, quickly go back, and remember to walk softly when you do, and whatever you do, don't look back. I'm warning you!"

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" The villagers nodded repeatedly, agreeing and then hurriedly left, also remembering to control their footsteps as Xie Xiaofeng had instructed.

"Xie Xiaofeng, you're such a jerk, why did you scare the villagers like that?" Tang Jing said.

Xie Xiaofeng smiled smugly, then went over to the well and spoke to Huang Yue, who was hiding in the water, "Huang Yue, the villagers are gone, come up."

After Huang Yue climbed up, Tang Jing pushed the Mermaid's Heart into her chest, and then used a spell to fuse this Mermaid's Heart with her own. Once completed, everyone could clearly see that the blue glow on Huang Yue's body had faded substantially from a few minutes before.

Opening her eyes, Huang Yue's face first showed an awkward expression, then she turned around. In a flicker, her mermaid tail transformed into two slender human legs, and her height rose to 1.6 meters tall, turning her into a gracefully standing young girl. Around her waist, she wore a short skirt made of woven seaweed, covering what needed to be covered below.

"Wow!" Xie Xiaofeng stared at Huang Yue, transfixed with amazement.

After lowering her head and smiling shyly, Huang Yue looked up at Chen Hao and asked, "Could you tell me the address of your friend who has the pinkish-blue Mermaid's Heart? I want to find him and inquire about the whereabouts of our mermaid leader or princess."

Chen Hao immediately looked towards Xie Xiaofeng, nodded, and said, "Sure, he lives in City H, a seaside city on the northwest side of the East Sea. I'll call him tomorrow and tell him about you."

Xie Xiaofeng pointed at himself and asked Chen Hao blankly, "Jerk, are you cross-eyed? Why do you always look at me when you're talking to Huang Yue?"

Chen Hao gave a wry smile, his face showing embarrassment and at a loss for words. Luckily, at that moment, the man who had fainted on the ground suddenly coughed. Seizing the opportunity to change the subject, Chen Hao still looked at Xie Xiaofeng and said, "Mermaid, I'm sure you have a lot of questions for this man, so he's all yours. Just don't be too nice to him and beat him up a bit extra for me."

"Definitely!" Huang Yue agreed. Then suddenly, her eyes filled with tears, and with a hoarse voice, she said, "I'm leaving now. Thank you all for today. Without your help, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

Finishing her words, a row of blue, transparent tears fell from her face. She caught them with her hand, and using the power of a mermaid, she solidified the tears into four diamond-like blue beads, sealing her likeness inside the bead.

"I don't have anything else to give you all, just my mermaid tears. I hope you don't mind!" Huang Yue said. After saying this, she handed out the four beads to Chen Hao and the other three people in the group.

Upon receiving the bead, Chen Hao didn't dare wipe it and thought to himself that he'd better hand it over to Ye Yuqiao after Huang Yue left.

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