As the Mermaid King's voice faded, the entire crowd grew excited—including Evan Chu and Skylar Yule.
The Mermaid King's words made Evan uneasy. The idea that the princess would choose her own husband was unheard of—if Skylar failed to be chosen, or someone else won, there would be no way to get the Goldscale Coat.
"Worried, are you, Evan?" Luna's voice appeared in his mind.
"What do you think? If Skylar can't become the consort, we can't get the Goldscale Coat, and I won't be able to enter Weakwater. Then there's no chance of getting the Water Spirit Pearl. Luna, do you have any ideas?" Evan asked.
Since Luna spoke up now, Evan figured she must have a plan. After all, it was her idea for Skylar to become the consort, so Evan felt hopeful—Sword Spirits were no joke.
"If I’m right, that embroidered ball is definitely coming for you. Or maybe you’ll end up as the Mermaid Princess’s consort. Wouldn’t you like that?" Luna teased.
"Of course not! What if I really became her consort and had to spend the wedding night with her? The next day they’d find the Mermaid Princess dead from the wedding! Wouldn’t that be suicide?" Evan replied, speechless.
"Heh, can’t you control yourself? Do you really have to be that intense?" Luna kept laughing.
"Come on, Luna, just tell me your plan. You know my constitution is way too special—I can’t mess around!" Evan said urgently.
"When you get the embroidered ball, I’ll temporarily seal the energy stone inside. Once you have it, hand it over to Skylar right away. As long as he can hold out for one minute, it’ll work," Luna said.
Evan replied immediately, "No problem—I'm counting on you!"
Skylar said, "Second Brother, standing way back here, I don't think we've got much hope. That embroidered ball is so far away from us."
"I don't know if we have a chance, but, Big Brother, if you do get the ball, will you throw it away?" Evan asked. This was his biggest worry—if Luna controlled the energy stone and Skylar got the ball only to toss it aside, someone else would grab it for free.
"You really think I've got a shot?" Skylar laughed.
"Just answer how you'd handle the ball. I don't care about anything else," Evan said.
Seeing Evan's serious look, Skylar replied, "If I really manage to get the ball out of all these people, maybe it means I really am fated for the Mermaid Princess. I'm not unreasonable. If becoming the consort helps you, I won't throw it away."
"Good, since you said that, I'm relieved," Evan said with a smile.
Skylar glanced at Evan, a little puzzled. It was like Evan was sure he could get the ball. Could he really control the embroidered ball? That was just too weird.
Just then, several palace maids appeared atop the Royal Capital's city wall. Leading them was a young woman veiled in pink, holding a red embroidered ball—the Mermaid Princess, the number-one beauty of the Mermaid Kingdom.
The Mermaid Princess stepped to the edge of the city wall and looked down at the crowd. Seeing so many outstanding youths here for her husband-selection, she felt quite satisfied.
Her appearance instantly stirred up the crowd below. As the kingdom's top beauty, she was the goddess in every Mermaid man's heart, and just seeing her in person was worth it.
The only regret was not seeing her real face. Even if you didn’t win the ball and become the consort, it was still worth coming just for this.
Many people couldn't help shouting, and the atmosphere grew even more intense.
Evan and Skylar watched the Mermaid Princess from afar. She didn’t have fins at her ears, which was a relief. They wondered if she had scales on her face—if not, her looks definitely wouldn’t lose to Selena or Jenny Sima, and might even surpass them.
At that moment, the Mermaid Princess hurled the red embroidered ball high into the air. It shot up fast, instantly soaring over the heads of the crowd.
Several sharp-eyed experts immediately leapt into the sky, trying to grab the ball first. Anyone who could fly was strong—at least eighth layer of the Heaven Martial Realm or higher.
The first to grab the ball was a merfolk youth, easily identified by the fins at his ears. But within three seconds, a cry of pain rang out.
He instantly flung the ball away and fell, his hand now a bloody mess—clearly injured by the energy stone inside.
Of course, others tried to snatch it in midair. This time, a crabfolk youth caught it, his huge pincer clamped tight around the ball. Just as he was about to celebrate, the ball suddenly flashed red.
A shriek echoed overhead—the pincer holding the ball snapped clean in two. The crabfolk youth fell from the sky, clearly badly hurt by the pain.
After two people in a row got hurt grabbing the ball, fear spread. The ones who could fly stopped trying to snatch it, and the embroidered ball dropped into the crowd.
Whoever caught it screamed, then threw it away. Suddenly, people feared the ball instead of wanting it—dozens had already died from the energy stone’s attacks.
The ball bounced rapidly through the crowd. Some, terrified, tossed it away as soon as they touched it; others, hoping for luck, clung to it—only to end up badly injured or dead. If you weren’t the Mermaid Princess’s true destined one, this was the only possible outcome.
Evan and Skylar watched the chaos unfolding ahead, finding it strangely fascinating. Without realizing, the ball was driven toward the back. When it dropped, instead of anyone grabbing it, people just backed away.
Now the embroidered ball was practically a deadly weapon in everyone's eyes—nobody dared touch it.
At that moment, the ball landed five meters in front of Evan and Skylar. The crowd parted, leaving an empty space, and the ball lay quietly on the ground—no one dared approach.
Evan strode straight up and picked up the ball. Everyone braced themselves, expecting the energy stone to lash out and kill him, but what happened next stunned them all.
The ball stayed dim in Evan’s hand—he wasn’t hurt at all. The Mermaid Princess saw this from the city wall and, for a moment, believed Evan was her true destined one. But just then, a faint white light flashed at Evan’s brow. He casually tossed the ball to the astonished Skylar...