In the guest room arranged for Lu Ye by the Merfolk Race, he sat quietly, activating the power of the Talent Tree to derive the Concealment Spirit Runes.

While helping the Constellation Palace with weeding recently, he was multitasking, deriving spirit runes, which took a long time, so it was naturally better to start sooner.

The Spectral Runes observed from the specter greatly facilitated this derivation. Throughout the process, various ingenious ideas flashed in his mind, altering some Yin-Yang Primordial Elements' arrangements and structures in the Concealment Spirit Runes.

The progress was relatively smooth, and Lu Ye estimated that this derivation of concealment might not take as long as half a year.

This made him even more interested in the Breath-concealing Spectral Runes on the specter, but unfortunately, he hadn't had the chance to observe them last time, and there wouldn't be opportunities in the future.

A knocking sound was heard.

Lu Ye raised his eyes, activated his Mental Consciousness, sensed Bai Lu's presence outside, and said, "Come in!"

The door opened, and Bai Lu swayed her fish tail, carrying a tray as she walked in.

She held it slightly high, so Lu Ye couldn't immediately see what was on the tray and curiously asked, "Is something the matter?"

Bai Lu smiled slightly and explained, "The elders said that when someone of your human race has guests, they generally entertain them, so they asked me to make it up to you."

Saying so, she placed the tray on the table, and only then did Lu Ye clearly see that the tray held pieces of meat as white as jade, unsure which star beast they came from, along with a jug of wine and two cups.

Lu Ye was intrigued by how the Merfolk Race could brew wine, especially given the ease of obtaining star beast meat in this environment, where there seemed to be no wine-brewing conditions.

He stood up, walked to the table, picked up the wine jug, opened it, and gently sniffed. Sure enough, a rich aroma of wine wafted towards him. Influenced by his third senior brother Li Baxian and Piao Ke, he occasionally drank, and just by smelling it, he knew it was fine wine.

Bai Lu began introducing the origin of the meat, which indeed came from a star beast living under the All Phenomena Ocean, called the Jade Shark. Lu Ye hadn't seen it before, but according to Bai Lu, even in the All Phenomena Ocean, the Jade Shark was extremely rare, with extremely tender and sweet meat, a rare delicacy.

As for the jug of wine, it was brewed by the previous queen herself and had been preserved by the Merfolk Race for many years, rarely used.

After the introduction, Bai Lu gestured, "Try it?"

Lu Ye gazed deeply at her, sat down expressionlessly, picked up a piece of meat, and placed it in his mouth to chew. As Bai Lu said, the meat was indeed tender and sweet. Remarkably, it contained extremely pure and abundant energy, much like White Spirit, possessing great culinary value and usage in Alchemy. Outside, cultivators would definitely fight over it, and its value would undoubtedly surpass that of White Spirit.

His mind slightly immersed, he checked the Talent Tree, with no disturbances.

The meat was normal.

Bai Lu poured the wine, placed a cup in front of Lu Ye, and poured one for herself. Looking at the wine in the cup, her eyes flashed with a reminiscent look, seemingly a bit sorrowful.

Lu Ye recalled her mentioning that this wine was brewed by the previous queen, and since Bai Lu was a princess, the previous queen must be her mother.

He vaguely guessed that Bai Lu's sorrow was likely due to memories of her mother.

Bai Lu raised her cup, smiling at Lu Ye, "Li Taibai, thank you for coming, and for the help you provided my race before."

Lu Ye said flatly, "It was just an exchange."

Bai Lu insisted, "Even so, without your help, we couldn't have so easily repelled the invaders, and more of our people would have died or been injured." Saying this, she drained her cup.

Lu Ye slightly lowered his eyelids, looked at the cup before him, and also drank it in one gulp.

The Talent Tree still showed no anomalies.

Was he overthinking? But Bai Lu's visit this time indeed seemed off. Even though she hid her unease well, it couldn't escape Lu Ye's observation, and she didn't dare to meet his eyes, as if avoiding something.

Eating a piece of meat, drinking a mouthful of wine, Bai Lu, usually lively in character, now opened up, chatting with Lu Ye about various topics.

But what left Lu Ye somewhat speechless was that after a few cups of wine, Bai Lu's face turned rosy, and her eyes were clearly filled with a hint of dreamy intoxication.

A Constellation Late Stage individual actually got drunk!

This was indeed a rare occurrence.

However, considering the wine was brewed by her mother and she couldn't bear to use her power to dispel the drunkenness, it was understandable.

Suddenly, Bai Lu said, "I want to sing!"

Lu Ye nodded, "I'm all ears!"

The moment she started, melodious and lingering singing emerged from Bai Lu's lips. Not through thought resonance, and using the merfolk language, Lu Ye naturally couldn't understand.

Yet through the song, Lu Ye felt an intense nostalgic emotion. As she sang, Bai Lu's eyes reddened and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Lu Ye did not disturb her and just listened quietly.

But gradually, Lu Ye sensed something was amiss, because the song, which was originally filled with nostalgic emotions, had somehow turned into a lament, as if a woman living in solitude was expressing her longing for her lover. The song still carried no decadent tunes, remaining as melodious and softly sung as ever.

However, Lu Ye felt an inexplicable agitation stirring within him, and an unnamed fire rose in his abdomen. Each rise and fall of the song seemed to pour another bucket of oil onto this fire.

He kept monitoring the Talent Tree's reaction, but up till now, there was no response whatsoever!

Secretly astonished, Lu Ye thought the singing of the Merfolk Race was truly mystical, even the Talent Tree couldn't suppress it. However, to say the least, the Talent Tree had always been adept at suppressing harmful intrusions into the body, something with form and substance, while the song was formless and intangible, rendering the Talent Tree indeed unable to suppress it.

Bai Lu's eyes still carried a faint redness, but the previous sadness was no longer there, replaced by a hint of allure. As the song continued, she stared straight at Lu Ye, the allure almost seeming to materialize in her eyes.

Moreover, she began to emit a peculiar fragrance, which, when Lu Ye inhaled it, further intensified the reaction of the fire in his abdomen.

Lu Ye thought to himself that although he wasn't a saint among men, and he would look a bit longer at a beautiful woman, especially those well-endowed, he still prided himself on having considerable restraint.

But at this moment, he felt an overwhelming sense of being unable to withstand it.

A soft, boneless hand suddenly climbed up his neck. It was Bai Lu, who had somehow approached and nestled her head against his chest, one hand encircling his neck, while her fish tail entwined around him, agitatedly and restlessly rubbing against him, the scales on the tail seemingly alive, trembling lightly.

The faint fragrance filled his nose, and Bai Lu's hair tickled Lu Ye's face, nose, and heart...

He abruptly raised his hand, using his fingers as a blade, and struck hard on Bai Lu's slender neck.

Bai Lu, as if struck by lightning, ceased her melodious song, and looked bewilderedly at Lu Ye before collapsing onto him, falling asleep.

With a loud bang, the door was slammed open, and a tall figure rushed in; it was none other than the Great Elder Yan Miao of the Merfolk Race!

Raising her eyes, she was momentarily shocked, for the scene before her was completely different from what she had expected.

Lu Ye still sat at the table, slowly sipping from a cup of wine, his gaze coldly fixed on the intruding Yan Miao.

Obviously a Moon Jade, yet under Lu Ye's Constellation gaze, Yan Miao inexplicably felt somewhat nervous, realizing indeed, no unjust deed should be done, she hurriedly spoke, "Young friend, our clan bears no ill will towards you!"

"I know!" Lu Ye set down the wine cup.

Though he didn't know why the Merfolk Race acted this way, he could detect whether there was ill will. If he hadn't held firm earlier, the one to suffer wouldn't have been him.

Back during his time on Mount Fangcun of the Dwarf Race, he couldn't resist Su Yuqing; after all, she was a Sun Blaze, not something he could manipulate at will.

But here, as long as he maintained a sliver of clarity, he wouldn't succumb to their intentions.

The Merfolk Race's actions likely aimed to win him over, although the price was somewhat steep. As for why they intended to win him over, Lu Ye speculated it was related to some abilities he had previously displayed, and perhaps some other unknown reasons.

Yan Miao opened her mouth as if to explain something but ultimately sighed, "Sorry!"

After all, the Merfolk Race had erred, and mistakes had to be admitted. That being said, staying rational amidst Bai Lu's singing was indeed rare.

She initially felt guilty for suggesting Bai Lu use this method against Lu Ye, yet now it seemed like Bai Lu missed out on something.

She stepped forward, carried the unconscious Bai Lu from Lu Ye's side, and turned to leave the room.

Lu Ye's voice sounded from behind, "Arrange the transaction as soon as possible."

"I'll come right away!" Yan Miao paused slightly and then quickly departed.

Leaving the guest room, after walking a short distance, Yan Miao sighed, "Sorry to put you through this."

In her arms, Bai Lu, who was supposed to be unconscious, slowly opened her eyes, gently shook her head, her face flushed, feeling no great suffering, merely embarrassed.

After all, she was in the Constellation Late Stage and a part of the Merfolk Race, not so easily rendered unconscious by Lu Ye's hand blade. She merely responded quickly and pretended to be out cold.

Lu Ye actually sensed this as well, but since she pretended to be unconscious to avoid further awkwardness, it would have been ungracious to expose her.

Yan Miao set Bai Lu down and said, "Go back and rest."

"Alright." Bai Lu nodded and swiftly left.

Watching her retreating figure, Yan Miao let out a slight sigh.

This method didn't work, which could be both good and bad. Regardless, Yan Miao wasn't in a hurry. Since Li Taibai had come to the Divine Temple, leaving wouldn't be easy; there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, so there was no rush. Moreover, beneath the All Phenomena Ocean, the only intelligent race he could interact with was the Merfolk Race, hence, no matter what, the Merfolk Race was determined to bind him in marriage.