Warning: This chapter contains scenes of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
The Shangqing Sect created the last place of peace for the merfolk clan, but no one expected it would one day be visited by the imperial troops.
The village chief’s expression changed: “Who are you?”
The leader, clad in black armor, with a grim expression, sneered, “Who are we? Can’t you recognize this attire? The merfolk clan has caused unrest among the people, and the county magistrate has ordered the capture of the merfolk scum. How dare you hide here and eke out a living? Ignorant fools, seize these wretches!”
Behind him, hundreds of soldiers followed, holding torches and swords, all echoing “Yes.”
The leader’s words were full of insults. The young and hot-blooded youths flushed red and wanted to step forward, but were stopped by the village chief.
The village chief took a deep breath, calmly asking, “Sir, where are you taking us?”
The leader’s tone was icy, “Of course, to the prison. If you ask me, the county magistrate is too kind. Your kind, which only attracts trouble, should be exterminated without mercy, not a single one spared!”
Leaning on his cane, the village chief remained silent, his hunched shadow stretching long on the ground.
The young man beside him, seeing his hesitation, suddenly became teary-eyed, “No! Village chief! We can’t go with him!”
“Yes! Village chief, I don’t want to go to prison! Who knows what torture we’ll face in there!”
Rescued by the Shengqing Sect to this village, everyone had tasted the bitterness of the mortal world and understood how cruel the outside world could be for the merfolk.
The young men, still holding onto their pride and anger, showed strong resistance with red eyes. The older middle-aged men remained silent, their faces expressionless.
Veins bulging on his forehead, the village chief turned back, glaring angrily at the group, “Shut up, all of you!”
The young men were startled into silence.
The village chief took a deep breath, turning back again, tightly gripping his cane, and softly said, “Alright, sir, we’ll go with you. Please wait a moment, I’ll go and call the rest of the villagers out.”
The leader sneered, “Indeed, older dogs are more obedient!”
“What did you say?!”
The village chief swung around, hitting the young man who was about to retort with his cane, his eyes filled with a warning. “Feng Ming, go call the others out.”
Feng Ming looked incredulously at the village chief, his teeth grinding audibly, but he clenched his fists, swallowed his words, and nodded, “Yes.”
“Village…” Xia Qing frowned, wanting to say something but was silenced by a deep look from the village chief.
In the old man’s eyes, there was weariness, numbness, and a kind of plea. A plea for him not to make things worse.
Xia Qing hesitated, swallowing his words.
Continuing to touch the leaf, he wondered if he had held it for too long. The chill of the Ananda sword seemed to seep out from the severed veins, pressing against his soul.
The village chief didn’t want them to argue with the leader.
Half of the villagers were women and children, and behind the leader stood the entire Chu Kingdom.
The leader sneered again but remained calm.
Turning around, his gaze fell on Lingxi and the old man covered in blood. His expression changed unpredictably as he continued angrily, “This beast bit dozens of my brothers and escaped the city. I didn’t kill him because I wanted to see where he came from. Can you run away? Afraid now that death is near? Too late!”
The leader lied.
In reality, when the merfolk went berserk, they were ferocious and invincible. They had inflicted heavy casualties on many of his brothers, causing them to tremble in fear and hide, no one daring to provoke the monsters again. They had planned to wait for the merfolk to die in their frenzy and then go collect the bodies. But who would have expected this old man, before his death, to wail and howl in place for a long time, leaving bloodstains with every step as he walked outside the city.
They had secretly followed him.
Every merfolk who went berserk had a strange period before dying, crying and roaring like mad, aimlessly thrashing about, but this was a sign of impending death.
The leader saw that the merfolk who had terrified himself into a panic finally had no strength to resist. The humiliation and anger in his heart reached their peak in an instant!
He drew his sword and was about to stab the crawling old man on the ground with a cold expression: “You vile beast! You injured so many of my brothers! Today, if I don’t crush you to ashes, I won’t be able to ease the hatred in my heart!”
“No—!”
Lingxi heard the sound the moment he drew his sword, his face instantly turning pale. He turned around, raising his tender hand and fiercely grasped the blade.
The blade pierced the boy’s palm fiercely, blood gushing out like water from between his fingers.
“Lingxi!!” The villagers shouted.
Seeing him still resisting, the leader became even more furious, “You little beast, insist on protecting him, huh? Then I’ll kill you first today!”
Lingxi was only five years old after all. His pupils contracted, his face pale, at a loss, but he still chose to tightly shut his eyes and protect his grandfather with his body.
“Stop—cough, cough, cough.”
The village chief was infuriated, slamming his cane heavily on the ground, roaring. But with his poor health, the anger overwhelmed him, and he soon began to cough violently.
The leader wouldn’t listen to him, the sword in his hand aimed straight at Lingxi’s delicate, slender neck.
“Grandpa…”
Lingxi trembled all over with fear, holding onto the old man tightly, tears soaking into his grandfather’s hair.
Hot tears pierced through the rough, dry hair, also wetting, flowing over the old man’s face, washing a layer of blood-red over the pale blue scales.
Immersed in restless mourning, the old man’s body suddenly stiffened for a moment. The murky fog in his crimson eyes slowly dissipated, revealing a faint glimmer. Before his death, he sought something, like a fallen leaf longing to return to its roots, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find it.
Now, scorched by the tears and blood of the boy, his already blind eyes seemed to briefly regain sight.
The leader did not think he was cruel. Just as his companion was bitten by a poisonous snake, he was simply seeking revenge. No one would show mercy to a cold-blooded beast.
“Die, you little beast!”
“Ahhh—!” Unexpectedly, it was a scream from the leader.
“Ahhh, my hand! My hand!”
In the blink of an eye, the elderly man protected by Lingxi suddenly roared, pushing Lingxi aside. With a mouth full of sharp teeth, he bit off the leader’s hand.
The action was bloody and decisive, as if it were a kind of instinctual ferocity ingrained in his nature.
“My hand, my hand…” The leader’s face turned deathly pale, sweat pouring down. He kicked the old man away, falling into a state of extreme pain and madness.
“You vile beasts! You brought this upon yourselves! You brought this upon yourselves!”
His eyes turned bloodshot as he shouted.
“Kill them all for me!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Kill them all! The county magistrate said any merfolk who turns into a monster can be killed on sight! This entire village is filled with merfolk! This entire village is cursed! Kill them all for me!”
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The leader frantically ordered someone to stop his bleeding. He was already in such pain that his nerves were twitching, but fueled by hatred, he insisted on witnessing the people of this village descend into hell!
“Set fire! Burn down this village too! Damn it! It’s all cursed!”
“Grandpa.”
Lingxi rushed over and tightly held the old man’s hand. The old man, kicked down to the ground and coughing up blood, still harbored a fierce gaze, but with his end drawing near, he had no strength left.
Xia Qing closed his eyes, then opened them again, walking over to help the village chief up.
The firelight illuminated the calm yet pitch-black eyes of the young man. Xia Qing spoke slowly, word by word: “Village chief, I can drive them out.”
The village chief’s hands trembled, and upon hearing his words, he opened his mouth wide, and darkened blood flowed from between his teeth.
His expression was one of profound, indissoluble sorrow, a mixture of crying and smiling as he softly said, “Drive them out. And then? On the continent of these sixteen provinces, anywhere the merfolk go is a dead end.”
The village chief’s aged eyes were filled with numbness, devoid of tears.
“With so many old people and children in this village, the young ones might escape, but what about the children…”
“They are men of the court. Killing them would be opposing the entire Chu Kingdom.”
The old man said, “There are too many of them. We could not escape.”
Xia Qing felt the edges of the leaves were too sharp, slowly cutting through his palm. He asked, “Are you just going to wait here and die if you can’t escape?”
When the soldiers surrounded them, the villagers were already scattered by the threat of blades and spears, screams and frantic escape echoing through the night.
The village chief bent over and coughed violently a few times. His eyes stared at a burning spot, his cracked lips murmuring, “The merfolk clan, aren’t they just waiting to die now… They betrayed the gods back then, hoping to reach the shore, and now it’s all karma.”
It was this same old story again.
He felt like his ears were growing calloused from hearing it so many times.
Xia Qing ignored him.
Standing up, he watched the fires springing up around them, watched the people in panic fleeing.
He said calmly, “You all have no reincarnation. So where is the karma?”
“And who are you?” The leader’s eyes, clouded by hatred, suddenly narrowed when they fell on Xia Qing.
One of the soldiers nearby said, “He seems to be a human?!”
The leader exclaimed, “Human?! If you’re human, why are you associating with the merfolk tribe scum! Forget it! Associating with beasts isn’t any good either! Kill them all! Kill them all for me!”
Xia Qing paid no attention to them.
A pregnant woman was caught by a soldier, clutching her belly as she knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly.
In the distance, a child jumped into an irrigation ditch, only to be dragged out by the scalp, crying loudly.
Amidst the flickering flames, it was hell on earth.
Xia Qing suppressed his inner resistance.
He took a deep breath, his hands trembling, and finally crushed the leaf in his palm.
At the moment the leaf shattered, Xia Qing heard a crisp sound, ringing in his ears, like the cry of a crane and the shattering of jade, echoing like a commandment.
A cold light overflowed from his palm, azure in color, floating into the air along with the countless particles formed by the shattered leaf, transforming into a sea of flowing starlight.
The faint blue light illuminated the entire night sky.
As the Ananda Sword emerged, Xia Qing smelled a familiar fragrance, causing him to pause for a moment.
The sword was retrieved from the Divine Palace by Song Guichen, and perhaps it was tainted with the scent of the tomb at the end of the Sea of Heaven .
A cold, desolate scent, carrying the deep chill and dampness of the ocean, gentle yet sorrowful.
The raging merfolk suddenly stopped their movements, and the old man couldn’t even hear Lingxi’s voice in his ears. They slowly raised their heads, their blood-red eyes fixed on Xia Qing’s direction.
Ananda.
Xia Qing finally saw the appearance of the Ananda Sword.
This sword, the number one in the world… had no sheath. The radiance of the sun, moon, and stars could all be transformed into its sheath. The blade was bright as snow, and the handle was made of ancient black wood, with no other decorations.
The soldiers were all stunned, a sense of fear creeping into their hearts.
“What is this?!”
After the initial shock, the leader’s eyes widened in fury, “Are you siding with these beasts against us?!”
The moment Xia Qing gripped the sword, his robes and black hair fluttered in the firelight. He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.
The leader, infuriated, sneered, “Stop pretending! Kill him for me!”
Xia Qing finally understood Xue Fuguang’s meaning. The Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions was unaffected by the cycle of life and death.
The moment he gripped the sword, all the suffering of a hundred years of cultivation and meditation flooded into his mind, accompanied by a tearing pain as if his soul was being torn apart.
Xia Qing lowered his gaze, saying nothing, as he thrust the sword directly at the leader, the movement as swift as a gust of wind.
His black hair brushed over the young man’s brow, cold as frost.
The sword energy was vast as an abyss, carrying the chill of the heavens, earth, mountains, rivers, and forests, sweeping the leader and those around him ten meters away.
Before the leader and the people around him could react, they were already lying on the ground, coughing up blood. But before they could even express their anger, a gust of wind passed by, their faces instantly drained of color, unable to speak, leaving only desperate and terrified screams.
“Ahhh—!”
It was a strange sensation.
Wherever the sword light passed, even the gentle moonlight and breeze became as thin as steel wires, tightly constricting around their throats.
The air became blades, the wind and moon became knives, and the grass and trees became needles.
In every corner of the world, there was danger of death.
The ground they knelt on seemed to bristle with hostility, ready to strike at any moment.
“You, you, you…” The leader had never experienced such a sensation before. His eyes shrank to pinpoints, trembling in fear, and he even wet himself directly.
With just this one sword stroke, Xia Qing felt as if his internal organs were burning, his seven apertures in intense pain, unable to muster any more strength. The Ananda sword affectionately pressed against his palm, as if finally returning home after a hundred years.
“Get out.”
Xia Qing’s face was pale, but his lips were crimson as he stared at the group of people.
It was too painful; he felt his consciousness wavering.
Xue Fuguang didn’t mention that inheriting the Ananda Sword for the first time would entail such suffering.
“Okay, okay, okay, we’ll leave, we’ll leave, immortal, don’t kill us. We’ll leave right now!” The leader’s tears and mucus flowed incessantly. With one arm severed, he crawled backwards in a panic, wetting himself.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to shout loudly, “Did you hear me?! Stop!”
“Go! Hurry!”
The soldiers, who were excitedly slaughtering the villagers just a moment ago, all obeyed in terror, releasing their grips and running away.
“We can’t let them go!!”
Feng Ming ran over from the other end of the village road, his eyes filled with anger at the sight of the villagers being killed, bloodshot with rage.
Suddenly, Feng Ming went berserk, biting the throat of a soldier who was planning to escape!
The shame, hatred, and displacement of the merfolk clan for a hundred years seemed to be encapsulated in that one bite—
The human soldier hadn’t even reacted yet, his eyes widened, blood splattering three feet away, instantly ending his life.
When Xia Qing heard the blood splatter, a sense of confusion washed over him. He turned his head in the air, but couldn’t quite make out the scene ahead.
Fire and blood mingled together.
The coldness emanating from the Ananda Sword, like an ominous signal, revealed the buried nature of the merfolk clan in the village after enduring the humiliation and massacre of this night, steeped in blood.
“We can’t let them go!”
“It’s them! They’re the ones who killed my parents! I want them to pay with their blood!”
Feng Ming’s eyes were filled with tears, his mouth dripping with blood.
The red on the whites of his eyes gradually spread to the center of his pupils, strange patterns appearing on his face like fish scales, washed by tears.
It wasn’t just him; many people in the village felt the same.
Men, women, and children, after the initial shock and grief, sat on the ground, weeping in despair.
Memories flashed before their eyes. They recalled the experiences that brought them to this place, the cruel deaths of their loved ones, and the daily humiliation and torture they endured.
Leaving the Sea of Heaven, the merfolk clan had no home in the Sixteen Provinces. They could only live in this secluded paradise, hiding and pretending that “time stood still”…
But now, even this sanctuary had been discovered.
Whether they let these people go or not, their last refuge was gone. They were about to face days of wandering and uncertainty.
Men enslaved, women forced into prostitution, their lives like grass in turbulent times.
“I had nothing to begin with. My child was taken away by a group of people, and they sold me to the lowest brothel. They gave me nothing, and I almost starved to death. I had nothing to begin with.”
A woman sobbed, covering her face with her hands, murmuring to herself.
Xia Qing heard the voices of many people—
Perhaps it was the murmurs of confusion, the cries of despair, or the shouts of those at their wits’ end.
This village, seemingly peaceful and happy, was actually all a facade, everything was false. It was just a group of lonely and destitute people, coming together, suppressing their deep-seated hatred and pain, putting on smiles to get through life.
Now, this night of blood tore apart everything.
“We can’t let them go!”
“Even in death, I’ll drag humans down with me!”
After crying bitterly, a middle-aged man suddenly stood up, his face twisted in madness: “Let’s die together! Let’s die together!”
Xia Qing’s soul was scorched by the flames. The Ananda Sword, now only a sword spirit after a hundred years, sensed its master’s sorrow and obediently dispersed into a gentle breeze, flowing into every crevice of his palm.
His light brown eyes looked ahead: “They…”
The irrational merfolk regarded Xia Qing as an enemy too, but because of the familiar aura emanating from him, they hesitated to attack him first. However, in their bloodshot eyes, the hatred was evident.
Xia Qing took a step back, staggering, and was embraced by someone, falling into a cold embrace.
The familiar voice of Lou Guan Xue sounded above him: “Still enjoy watching the excitement?”
Xia Qing didn’t move. The moment he accessed the memories through the Ananda Sword, he trembled all over from the pain.
He had no strength left to act or speak.
He just watched as the soldiers, bitten back by the merfolk, also broke down and started fighting each other.
Torches were casually thrown on the ground, setting the thatched houses ablaze.
A fire started.
But no one cared.
Many merfolk died, and many soldiers died too.
For a moment, Xia Qing didn’t know what to say.
His mind was muddled, wondering if he should intervene. But intervene with whom? Who was purely good, and who was purely bad?
Who could have foreseen such an ending to this night?
Lou Guan Xue said, “Everyone in this village is going to die.”
Xia Qing’s face went pale as he looked at him, his voice filled with confusion: “Why?”
Lou Guan Xue raised his hand and gently brushed Xia Qing’s trembling eyelashes.
The coldness between the young man’s eyebrows remained, yet his eyelashes fluttered like delicate butterflies, pale and fragile.
Lou Guan Xue hesitated, initially intending to watch coldly and teach him a lesson, but ultimately couldn’t bear it, lowering his gaze and saying, “It’s not your fault; it’s their own choice.”
“The merfolk were once the rulers of the sea, inherently cruel and reckless. They were ambitious, aiming to plunder everything from humans and conquer the mainland. However, constrained by the presence of the god, they couldn’t leave the Sea of Heaven or set foot on land.”
For a moment, Xia Qing was somewhat confused, not understanding why Lou Guan Xue was telling him all this.
Lou Guan Xue gently wiped away the blood splattered on his face, speaking calmly, “So, a hundred years ago, the merfolk chose to allow the humans to attack the Divine Palace.”
Xia Qing’s fingers tightened.
“They guessed right; the merfolk couldn’t leave the Sea of Heaven because of the god’s restrictions. But they forgot that all the merfolk’s power also came from the god’s blessings upon their servants.”
Xia Qing was too exhausted, closing his eyes, feeling anxious, and leaning against Lou Guan Xue’s chest.
Lou Guan Xue continued, “The souls within the pagoda are becoming more and more restless by the day. The merfolk, born in the Sea of Heaven, are already susceptible to influence, and the more their emotions collapse, the more prone they are to madness.”
Xia Qing didn’t want to lapse into unconsciousness again, struggling to open his eyes. “Will they definitely die?”
Lou Guan Xue replied calmly, “Once they leave the Sea of Heaven, the merfolk’s awakened powers will fade away. However, no one is forcing them; it’s all voluntary.”
Voluntary awakening, voluntary death, voluntary end to this absurd, humiliating, and chaotic life, despite the lack of reincarnation, despite the inability to find a way back.
“Grandpa…”
Lingxi knelt half on the ground, crying as he watched the old man take his last breath.
His grief had not yet dissipated when he turned around, only to be frightened by the scene before him.
The entire village was burning in a blaze, familiar elders turning into monsters, just as rumored, with red eyes, sharp teeth, and blue fish scales on their faces, devoid of reason or thought, crazily attacking the human soldiers they caught.
Flesh and blood flew everywhere, creating a hell on earth.
Lingxi felt someone sitting beside him and turned his head to see it was the village chief.
Now, in the whole village, they were the only ones who hadn’t transformed.
Lingxi asked anxiously, “Village chief, what’s happened to them?”
The village chief’s eyes were lifeless, his expression numb as he said, “They’re almost dead.”
Lingxi asked, “What?”
Sitting amidst the carnage at the village entrance, the village chief watched the blazing light in the village, his voice dreamlike as he murmured, “Yes, it’s been a hundred years, just a hundred years. How could I forget? Merfolk are like this before they die. It’s just that back then… no one would get lost.”
Lingxi asked again, “What?”
The village chief remained silent for a long time, then suddenly turned his head, his aged hand casually tearing off a leaf and handing it to Lingxi, his voice unusually soft, “Lingxi, do you remember the tune you used to play on the ridge?” The village chief continued, “Let’s play it together now.”
Lingxi, taken aback by the leaf, stuttered, “But, village chief. Feng Ming and the others, they’re…”
The village chief interrupted, “Lingxi, please.”
Lingxi held the leaf in his scarred hand, stiff for a moment, then wiped away his tears with his arm and nodded, “Okay.”
The melancholic melody of the broken leaf song, intermittent and sorrowful, drifted from the ruins and the twinkling stars, like a gentle rain dispelling the heat.
Xia Qing felt pain all over his body, but subconsciously looked up when he heard the melody.
He was lifted by Lou Guan Xue. The flames slowly cleared his confused eyes, and his light brown eyes gazed ahead, bewildered, reflecting the sky and earth.
The entire village was burning in the raging fire, bodies littered the ground, and the awakened merfolk sensed their impending death.
All the joys and sorrows of their lives turned to smoke, leaving only one thought in their hearts: to go back…
But where to go, no one had an answer.
They looked around but couldn’t find a direction. The once violent and bloodthirsty eyes were now only filled with confusion. The merfolk began to roar and howl like trapped beasts.
Lingxi felt scared watching this scene, but the village chief calmly accompanied him on the side, so he could only sniffle, suppress the bitterness, and continue to play.
He never imagined that one day, playing this tune would make him so sad.
The melody of the leaf flowed over the scorched ruins, over the yellow earth stained with blood. Along with the lingering cold fragrance in the air, it gradually calmed the violent hearts of the merfolk.
Merfolk experience a period of blindness before they die, their vision dimming.
The flames should have been orange, but in their dazed state, they appeared ice blue.
Eerily and surreal, burning on the vast sea.
The tense expressions of the merfolk gradually relaxed, showing a sense of relief. They no longer behaved aggressively, even sighed in relief, and began to move forward.
One by one, they walked into the blaze.
The last one to enter was a young man named Feng Ming. At the moment he stepped in, he seemed to glance back.
Lingxi was so frightened that the leaf trembled in his hand.
And as soon as Lou Guan Xue’s voice stopped, Xia Qing realized that there was no sound around him.
The village chief still held the leaf in his hand, but leaned against a tree, peacefully closing his eyes… never to breathe again.
Finally, Feng Ming also walked into the fire.
Whoosh—!!!
The flames in the village suddenly intensified, roaring fiercely, illuminating the long night.
Lingxi couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears.
Near Xia Qing, only the crackling of the flames and the cries of the boy remained. Accompanied by the clear wind and bright moon, distant yet blurry.
So blurry that he even heard sharp sirens and clamor, like a ringing in his ears. Outside the yellow boundary line, a crowd gathered around covered bodies, gesturing and talking among themselves.
Memory rewound to that afternoon with the bloody sunset, that wall covered in ivy, that man jumping from the unfinished building.
The drums and bells rang together, auspicious signs in the east. It seemed the man did look at him before jumping, stiff and unresponsive.
The concrete and steel buildings stood in stark contrast to the raging fire of this night. Memories were distorted, as if on the day of the opening ceremony, a song called “Lingwei” had played softly on the streets, blown by leaves, amidst the lively and joyful atmosphere.
Between the mountains and the sea, the old man’s words still echoed like morning bells and evening drums, deafening.
“In the vast sea of suffering, one reaps what one sows.”
Xia Qing closed his eyes, on the verge of unconsciousness, finally understanding all his troubles.
No wonder he always forgot to put things down.
No wonder he would instinctively stare quietly at people.
The first move of “Heaven and Earth in Chaos”, the harmony of heaven and earth; the second move, the Sorrow and Joy of All Beings. The eccentric old man hummed and mumbled, teaching him the ways of cultivation: to observe, to comprehend.
To observe every blade of grass, every tree, the sun, the moon; to observe the myriad faces of living beings, birth, aging, illness, death.
It turned out, it was all cultivation.
omg