I woke up to find myself as the villain's older sister.

Yun Qingyi and her group stopped.

The palace is dreamlike, constructed from seashells and coral, with shimmering lights faintly flashing across its walls.

All around, flowers and grasses I'd never seen before bloomed, swaying gently with the flow of water.

There is definitely a problem.

Yun Qingyi frowned as she looked at the scene before her.

The place was indeed beautiful, but they hadn't seen a single sea creature since they entered the area.

Previously, when passing through the cave, we could see a few fish swimming around. Now, although the place is beautiful, there is no trace of any marine life that once existed there.

“There are no living beings, nor any signs of danger.” Ji Zhaoze stepped forward and looked at the magnificent palaces before him with Yun Qingyi.

"Liangming, have you noticed anything else that seems off?" Yun Qingyi turned her head to look at Liangming beside her.

This is Liangming's home; compared to them, we should be able to discover something different here.

Liang Ming's body stiffened slightly. He turned to look at Yun Qingyi, his azure eyes revealing a hint of fear and confusion.

"I sensed the presence of my people."

"Huh? Really? Where are they?" Yun Qingyi was pleasantly surprised. It seemed that the Merfolk were still in the palace and had not left the area.

This area is lifeless; finding people is the most important thing.

Upon hearing Yun Qingyi's words, Liang Ming fell silent.

"What's wrong?" Yun Qingyi asked, noticing that Liangming's expression was a little off.

"They...are right here among us."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned. They looked around and found that there was still nothing there, just as when they arrived, let alone anyone.

Just when everyone was wondering if they and the merfolk lived in two different dimensions,

Ji Zhaoze slowly said, "There are no spatial restrictions here."

These words sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Uncle-Master Liangming, don't scare me. There's no spatial restriction and it has the aura of a merman. Could it be a ghost?" Leng Zhan said in a trembling voice.

Although Ji Zhaoling was also a little scared, she still rolled her eyes at Leng Zhan and said, "What a wimp. Aren't ghosts just spirits? Haven't you seen enough spirits? What's so scary about them?"

Leng Zhan: "...Junior sister, please don't say that. You're making me even more scared. It's not a ghost, we can't see it, and it's all around us. I already have goosebumps."

"...Liangming, can you sense how many of your people are around?" Although Yun Qingyi also felt something was strange, she calmed herself down and asked carefully.

Liangming didn't hesitate and said directly, "There are many, almost all around us."

Yun Qingyi: "..."

After thinking for a while without finding any relevant information, he sighed and said to everyone, "We don't have any clues here either. Let's go to the palace and take a look."

Ji Zhaoze nodded. "Yes, that's the only way."

Then, the group headed towards the magnificent palaces.

The interior of the hall was quite spacious, and compared to its magnificent appearance from the outside, it appeared much simpler inside.

I tried opening a room, and inside there was nothing but a bed made of seashells. It was clean and empty, as if no one had ever lived there.

"Hmm?" Since arriving at the palace, Liangming's furrowed brows had not relaxed.

"What's wrong?" Yun Qingyi asked, hearing the questioning voice.

“Everything here is completely different from what I remember,” Liangming said. “I’ve only been gone for less than three months. No matter how much it has changed, it can’t possibly be completely unrelated to my memories.”

"Are there many things here that were originally gone?" Ji Zhaoling asked.

"Could it be that Yun Yu'er emptied it out? Logically speaking, such a magnificent palace shouldn't be so simple inside," Ruan Qi said.

Liangming shook his head. "Not only that, the room has changed too."

"The room has changed... what does that mean?" Leng Zhan asked, puzzled.

Liangming looked at the room in front of him, walked in, and came to the bed made of seashells.

The group exchanged glances and then went inside.

The bed has a pinkish-purple sheen, characteristic of seashells, and its mattress is made of soft seaweed.

Yun Qingyi spotted a pattern resembling the character "溟" and suddenly realized that this might be the room Liang Ming used to live in.

Just as Yun Qingyi had thought, Liang Ming pointed to the pattern Yun Qingyi had seen and said to everyone, "Each of our merfolk's beds has their own name engraved on it."

This is my bed, which means this room is mine.

After speaking, he pondered for a moment, then looked at everyone again and slowly said, "But my room is not on this floor."

"Maybe someone moved your bed down," Gu Qiqing said, then walked to the seashell and tried to move the bed.

No matter how hard he tried, even using his spiritual power, the shell remained completely still.

Seeing Gu Qiqing's actions, Liang Ming chuckled and said, "It's too heavy to move. This seashell is engraved with my name and uses a secret technique of our Merfolk. Only I can place it at will."

"I see." Yun Qingyi seemed thoughtful, but still puzzled: "But why would you set up a secret technique on a bed?"

"This is because our merfolk race doesn't have much ability to protect ourselves," Liang Ming said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"So the only solution is to use external objects. This kind of shell has a very good texture and a very hard shell. With it, at least there will be more security when hibernating."

Yun Qingyi casually touched the seashell. Hmm, judging from the feel, it was indeed very hard.

As they were talking, blood suddenly seeped out from the ground.

Yun Qingyi's expression changed slightly. "This is bad, we need to get out of here quickly."

Upon hearing the sound, everyone immediately lifted their legs, wanting to run out, but their legs felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and it took a lot of effort to take a single step.

In a moment of crisis, Liangming controlled the seashell to come in front of everyone, and the group understood and immediately climbed onto the seashell.

Fortunately, the shell was large enough to hold a few people.

The moment they climbed onto the shell, everyone immediately felt the pressure on their legs disappear almost instantly.

"call……"

Just as I was about to exhale, countless sharp blades flashed overhead.

Yun Qingyi: "!!!"

Almost instinctively, a flash of lightning streaked past, but the deadly thing was that these sharp blades were completely unaffected, instead multiplying and then stabbing down at the shell they were on.

Yun Qingyi “…!!”

Almost instantly, with a "bang," the shell closed up and plunged into complete darkness.

Hearing the crisp sound of a sword falling outside, everyone fell silent for a moment.

“I’m pretty sure there’s no danger here,” Ji Zhaozhe said, breaking the silence.

“It is indeed very strange, sister. I scanned it up and down with my divine sense several times, but there was nothing wrong with it,” Yun Qingrou said.

Hearing the sound of sharp swords striking seashells outside, Yun Qingyi's expression turned serious. "Could it be that some kind of energy is shielding the sense of danger?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Zhaoze immediately rejected the idea: "No, even if we are interfered with by energy and lose our ability to perceive danger, we will still be able to detect the existence of another force."

"But we didn't sense any power. These things seem to have always been here, we just can't see them." Yun Qingrou picked up where Ji Zhaoze left off, her tone clearly showing some confusion.

“I can’t see…I can’t see…” Yun Qingyi murmured.

Suddenly, he spoke up and asked Liangming, "Liangming, can you sense the presence of your clansmen right now?"

“They’ve always been around us.”