Chapter 399

Chapter 399: Something Felt Off

“Who says that Long Wang Teng must be physically present for the transfer to occur?”

Ao Yiner smiled as she spoke, showing no guard against Ming, even appearing somewhat naively sweet.

This kind of girl who has zero guard against others is the easiest to deceive.

“How should I put this?” Ao Yiner thoughtfully considered, even pondering how to explain things so Ming could better understand.

“To be honest, I’m not very clear myself. There’s going to be a ceremony, and during this ceremony, Long Wang Teng will sense something and then he can be summoned.” Ao Yiner blinked her eyes, “If I say it like this, do you understand?”

Ming nodded, “I get the gist.”

It was essentially some sort of summoning magic array.

The summoning arrays of the Four Seas are interconnected.

If the Eastern Sea and Northern Sea need to connect, they just activate the array.

Once the array is activated, Long Wang Teng will be pulled into the Northern Sea under its influence.

No wonder the Eastern Sea wanted to transfer with the Northern Sea but didn’t send anyone to escort Long Wang Teng over.

Otherwise, logically speaking, such an important item should be escorted by powerful individuals; perhaps even the Eastern Sea Dragon King himself should personally escort it.

But isn’t there risk in doing it this way?

Ming felt it was impossible.

In this world, nothing is without risk; everything has its two sides.

“Could it be…”

Suddenly, Ming had a bold conjecture.

Could it be that Ao Jin’s fishing incident was related to Long Wang Teng?

Does the Eastern Sea want to tamper with Long Wang Teng? After all, Long Wang Teng is a treasure needed by the Four Seas. Whoever possesses Long Wang Teng and cannot be controlled by others would have a certain degree of control over the Four Seas.

And since the Northern Sea and Eastern Sea are the parties involved in the transfer, it’s highly possible the Eastern Sea has designs on Long Wang Teng.

No, no.

Ming still felt something was off.

For a transfer of this magnitude, the array used wouldn’t be easily interfered with. Not to mention if just a fish could interfere, Long Wang Teng would’ve been lost countless times already.

Besides, Long Wang Teng has been transferred for years, so theoretically, most “what-ifs” should’ve been eliminated by now.

“Do you have any other questions?” Ao Yiner looked at Ming smugly.

She was proud of herself for being able to answer so many of Ming’s questions.

Seeing Ao Yiner’s innocent face, even though Ming had many doubts, he couldn’t bring himself to ask anymore.

Deceiving such a pure little fool really made him feel guilty.

“Nope, thank you, miss.” Ming shook his head with a smile.

Ming felt he already knew enough; other information probably wouldn’t be useful to him.

“Is there anything else you’d like to ask? If I know, I’ll definitely answer for you,” Ming said.

Ming felt he’d extracted quite a bit of information and should give something back.

However, the questions she asked were mostly common ones, making it hard for him to reveal anything more secretive.

Ao Yiner thought for a moment and started counting on her fingers: “There are so many things I want to know! I want to know how people on land farm. I heard farming on land is amazing—during summer, it’s all golden fields, like a sea of gold!”

“I also want to know what horses look like when people fight on land. I heard the horses on land are huge and eat grass! Is it true eating grass makes them grow so big?”

“I also want to play around on your mountains and rivers. I heard your mountains are super high, covered in various trees, and water falls from the sky—it’s called a waterfall!”

As she spoke, her eyes sparkled with longing.

It was clear the girl really wanted to visit the land.

She seemed to yearn deeply for the outside world.

Ming chuckled, looking at this pure-hearted girl, “If you want to visit the land, why doesn’t anyone let you go?”

Ao Yiner shook her head, “No, no, I really want to go, but my father forbids me. He says humans on land are cunning and deceitful. If I go, I might end up being tricked until I don’t even have bones left!”

“So not only can I not go to the land, but my father won’t even let me step ashore on regular paths.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing this, Ming felt this princess of the Dragon Clan was truly pitiful.

Though her identity was precious, she was like a bird trapped in a gilded cage, unable to fly out no matter what.

But her father wasn’t entirely wrong.

Indeed, such an innocent girl, not much different from Shixin, could be easily deceived. The only difference was that Shixin was overly saintly, but she understood people well.

But this girl was genuinely naive.

“If some family members or attendants accompanied you, wouldn’t that work?”

Ming asked again.

Even if she couldn’t go alone, logically, as long as some guards accompanied her, it should be fine, right?

“No, no.”

Ao Yiner shook her head again, her tone slightly sulky.

“Previously, I did ask my father about this. Even if my brother accompanied me, I thought it would be fine—I just wanted to play, whoever came along didn’t matter to me.

“But unexpectedly, neither my father nor my brothers agreed.

“In a fit of pique, I secretly ran away once, but before I even left the sea, my father caught me.

“My father was extremely angry.

“I’d never seen him so mad.

“After that, I could only give up.”

The more she spoke, the more melancholy Ao Yiner became.

Ming: “…”

At first, Ming thought it was just the Northern Sea trying to protect the young girl.

But the more Ao Yiner talked, the more Ming felt something was off.

Normally, is this level of protection necessary?