2420 What Gives You the Right to Help Me?
Lin Yuan fixed his penetrating gaze on Brilliant Gold.

The subordinates did many things that would not cause him any harm.

For example, when Vine Source whipped Ink Ocean, Ancient Ocean, Frozen Ocean, and the other patrolling sea envoys. Extreme Ocean had been anxious to show off his achievement and had not properly assessed the situation.

When it came to such mistakes, Lin Yuan would not blame them too much. All he did was leave one of them to guard the water world and the other the marsh world.

As a person with high status, Lin Yuan understood that the magnitude of the reward had to match the magnitude of the punishment. They were two sides of the same coin.

Lin Yuan would be doomed to fail if he managed a faction using only rewards and no punishments.

So far, Lin Yuan had doled out only rewards. This time, he was not going to show any mercy.

This was not because he wanted to make an example out of Brilliant Gold in order to make himself seem formidable.

Mermaids were ruled by their bloodlines, and there was no point in establishing formidability.

If Lin Yuan was only a king-class mermaid, these emperor-class mermaids would never submit to him regardless of how fearsome of a front he put on.

Since he obtained the thearch-class bloodline, the emperor-class mermaids would acknowledge him as their master even if he did not exhibit his power.

Lin Yuan intended to be stricter than usual because Brilliant Gold had threatened his and Begin Lady’s safety.

At first, Lin Yuan did not know that Begin Lady had also been sealed. But once he found out, he could not help but shiver in fear.

He could have lost control of the situation at any moment. Any mistake would have resulted in unmitigable consequences.

This was why he was so invested in finding out who had tried to head to the Deep Chasm Sea Eye during his transformation.

As things were, her actions had been fully revealed to Lin Yuan with nothing held back. For the first time in a few thousand years, Brilliant Gold fell to her knees and performed the ritual bow that mermaids offered to mermaids of more elite bloodlines.

“Lord Thearch, I didn’t have any ill intentions for trying to head to the Deep Chasm Sea Eye. All I wanted to do was see if I could be of any help! If you needed me, I could have helped immediately!”

Lin Yuan chuckled coldly. “In your attempt to help me, you went against my wishes and fought with the others. Is that what happened?”

Brilliant Gold thought that Lin Yuan believed and was in agreement with what she said.

In actuality, what Brilliant Gold wanted was not Lin Yuan’s trust. All she wanted was for him not to pursue this matter.

Previously, Brilliant Gold had the courage to scheme against Lin Yuan. But now, she would never dare to do so. Loyalty was the only option when it came to this merman thearch.

The moment Brilliant Gold spoke, she felt an overwhelming bloodline power crash down on her.

“How stupid do you think I am to believe what you just said? You don’t even have the right to enter the Deep Chasm Sea Eye. How could you have helped me? There is an emperor scale inside each emperor-class mermaid. If you dig yours out, we will consider this matter settled.”

Previously, Lin Yuan was unaware of the existence of the emperor scale because he was not technically a mermaid. Thus, his body did not contain the emperor scale.

The mermaids had acknowledged Lin Yuan’s bloodline, but his body was actually vastly different from that of regular mermaids.

The emperor scale had a similar function to the New Thearch’s Scale: both were ways for emperor-class mermaids to pass on their bloodlines.

When the emperor scale was planted in the body of a king-class mermaid, there was a high chance that the king-class mermaid’s bloodline would achieve a breakthrough.

However, Lin Yuan was unaware that mentioning the emperor scale was taboo in the water world.

The emperor scales were not mentioned openly in the water world, and many king-class mermaids were not even aware of their existence.
This was the rule that the first batch of emperor-class mermaids had come up with.

It was difficult to alter the loyalty that came from within their bloodline but not impossible. Once they were presented with the chance to evolve their bloodlines, their desire could override their loyalty. Brilliant Gold’s actions had just proven that.

Thus, the emperor scale had only ever been known to emperor-class mermaids. The king-class mermaids had no idea that their bloodlines could be evolved through this method.

Normally, emperor-class mermaids only revealed the secret of the emperor scale to their offspring when they were on the brink of death so they could pass on their emperor scale.

This was what had happened to Brilliant Gold.

If an emperor-class mermaid who still had much of their lifespan left lost their emperor scale, their bloodline would revert back to king-class.

Although it would be much easier for them to produce the emperor scale again and evolve their bloodlines than it would be for other king-class mermaids, it would still take at least 4,000-5,000 years.

Mermaids had long lifespans, but there was still a limit. There was no way that a king-class mermaid would have the opportunity to reach emperor-class twice. Even if they were exceptionally talented and were lucky enough to be given opportunities, their power would never be able to reach the same level it had been before their emperor scale was removed.

Once she removed her emperor scales, she would no longer be able to exert bloodline pressure, and the king-class mermaids would lose their respect for her.

Now that Lin Yuan had reprimanded her, the other king-class mermaids would definitely ostracize her in an attempt to gain Lin Yuan’s favor.

She had been the one who had selected River Creek. If she lost her emperor scale, River Creek’s status would be above her own. There was no way that Brilliant Gold would allow this to happen if she could help it.

However, did she really have the will to oppose this merman thearch?

Lin Yuan decided not to kill Brilliant Gold.

It would seem too cruel for a new merman thearch to kill a mermaid emperor. This would not only create a negative impression of him in the minds of the other emperor-class mermaids but would also cause him to be feared by mermaids of inferior bloodlines. Lin Yuan would not enjoy such a result.

The mermaid society worked in a similar way to an ant colony. When there were numerous mermaid emperors, it was the equivalent of a colony having multiple queens. But now, there was only one queen, which would result in the other ants surrounding and shielding her. If one of the ants got on the wrong side of the queen, it would be difficult for this ant to continue living amongst the other ants.

Given that Lin Yuan had not killed Brilliant Gold, he did not come off as cruel. But this was also enough for him to establish his might.

As Brilliant Gold quivered and remained silent instead of replying, Lin Yuan said, “I’ll give you five minutes to think. Are you going to remove your emperor scale on your own, or will you need me to do it for you? If you remove it on your own, I’ll allow you to remain in Mermaid Forbidden Sea, which you will be in charge of guarding from now on.”

Brilliant Gold did not understand the meaning behind Lin Yuan instructing her to stay behind to guard Mermaid Forbidden Sea.