“You’ve only brought another form of bias and slaughter.” Xia Qing halted his steps, turned around to look at him calmly, and said, “Song Guichen, your Path of Compassion has long been broken.”
Song Guichen paused, tilted his head, and chuckled twice, saying, “No sense of proportion. Is that how you talk to your senior brother?”
Xia Qing said, “You’ve long lost your sense of compassion, only harboring hatred. Your extermination of the god is just for revenge against the merfolk.”
Song Guichen said, “Maybe.”
A pomegranate flower shattered and fell from between his fingers.
At this moment, Xia Qing truly understood what it meant for paths to diverge. He smirked sarcastically and said nothing more.
Both Zhu Ji and Song Guichen believed that the moment the Divine Soul left the tower, Lou Guan Xue would die because the blood of the Chu royal family was cursed by the god.
A weak mortal would have no place to bury themselves in front of an angry Divine Soul.
Song Guichen said the Blood Array couldn’t possibly succeed.
But… could the Blood Array really not succeed? Is Lou Guan Xue truly a mortal now?
…But if not a mortal, then what is he?
Xia Qing closed his eyes, and suddenly the voice of that boy rang in his ears, trembling and choked, on a Jingzhe night when fireflies fluttered.
“Then what am I?”
“Humanity sees me as a a merfolk, as an aberration. The merfolk see me as human, as their enemy.”
“So what am I really?” He shivered in the wind, trembling as he spoke each word, “Am I… a monster?”
A monster not meant to live.
Born only to die, life was just a sacrifice, without even the right to grow up.
“How absurd. I’ve struggled so hard to live, but for what?”
“Turns out I lived to die.” The boy squatted in the corner of the wall where insects buzzed softly, looking at his heavily scarred hands in confusion and sadness, his words trailing off incomplete: “…for… to nurture a vessel for the god.”
The osmanthus flowers in the imperial city blossomed, their fragrance faint and elegant as Xia Qing walked forward.
Now, he finally understood what Lou Guan Xue had said in the Qian Ji Tower.
“After you asked me when the barrier was lifted, whether the god had revived within me, actually… I don’t know. Maybe now, I don’t belong to the Sixteen Provinces or the Sea of Heaven .”
“This way, I truly have no origin or destination.”
Xia Qing wandered to the Cold Palace.
Located at the end of the palace lanes, it was surrounded by tall white walls and overgrown with wild grass.
He had once sat on the wall and chatted with that boy.
Amidst the dense, emerald moss, white wildflowers bloomed in abundance. Lou Guan Xue was still a child then, of indeterminate gender and breathtaking beauty. Nibbling on a candied hawthorn skewer, he resembled a mischievous wolf cub, his eyes gleaming with the wild vitality and ferocity of untamed grass.
If one were to summarize Lou Guan Xue’s character with a single word, Xia Qing felt it should be “indifference,” penetrating deep into his soul.
Before the age of five, he pretended to be obedient and pitiful, jumping around just to stay alive. After five, he schemed and waited, anticipating the day the pagoda would break, simply seeking an answer.
—”Are you sure what you saw was really the grown-up me, not a god?”
Xia Qing’s voice was soft, murmuring to himself: “I’m sure. You’re just you.”
Even if you say your memories didn’t start with you, that love and hate weren’t originally yours, and even if your blood and bones are being reshaped.
Still, I believe you’ve always been you.
Xia Qing went to the Jingshi Hall to learn about the Blood Array.
Located outside Ling Guang City, it required crossing a river. With the token Lou Guan Xue had given him, he naturally encountered no obstacles.
On the way, he heard many stories about the merfolk among the common people.
As the hundred-year deadline approached, the purple light on the pagoda began to suppress the evil energy less and less effectively, and the likelihood of the merfolk turning violent and becoming monsters increased.
The boatman was talkative, using his bamboo pole to row through the water, happily saying, “This damn monster is finally going to die! It was the one that caused the deaths of our ancestors! Alas, our Emperor Jing, the wise ruler of all ages, actually died at the hands of this evil spirit.”
Xia Qing lowered his gaze at the translucent blue river and asked, “Why was Emperor Jing killed by the big monster?”
The boatman replied, “From what I’ve read in the tales, the big monster sealed inside the pagoda was actually the merfolk king. In those days, our ancestors were valiant and launched an expedition to the Sea of Heaven, defeating the merfolk easily and entering the Divine Palace as they wished. Our ancestor was a pride of heaven, naturally receiving the grace of the god. The god granted him immortality and blessed our Chu Kingdom with eternal prosperity. The merfolk king was jealous and resentful, so he followed our ancestor back to the palace and killed him when he was off guard.”
Xia Qing said, “Is that so?”
The boatman admired Emperor Jing greatly, his tone filled with indescribable pride. “Yes, it must be! Truly, heaven envied his talent! If Emperor Jing had lived a few more years, our Chu Kingdom would surely have been even more magnificent.”
“Emperor Jing was such a hero that even the immortal of Peng Lai willingly followed him. The merfolk were always the rulers of the Sea of Heaven, but Emperor Jing led the army and directly enslaved them, showing great style!”
Xia Qing was momentarily at a loss for words.
Is this the story passed down among the common people about a hundred years ago?
No deep-seated hatred, no twisted ambition.
Only a renowned emperor who expanded his territory, conquered the merfolk, and returned in triumph.
A sardonic smile tugged at the corner of Xia Qing’s lips.
The immortal of Peng Lai willingly followed?
—Wrong, he just wanted to use your power to avenge his blood feud.
The ancestors defeated the merfolk easily?
—Wrong, the Saintess and the ancestors collaborated both from within and outside, with half of the merfolk in the Sea of Heaven condoning the invasion of foreign enemies into the Divine Palace.
Because in the beginning, everyone had a common goal—killing the god.
The Chu ancestors wanted the god’s soul, seeking immortality.
Zhu Ji wanted divine power.
The merfolk wanted to break free from the god’s constraints and come ashore.
After the death of the god, alliances shattered, revealing everyone’s fierce ambitions.
The merfolk mocked humanity’s foolishness, unaware that after the death of the god, they would dominate on land. However, after the collapse of the Divine Palace, the merfolk realized that while they had indeed gained freedom on land, they had also permanently lost their power.
Finally, Song Guichen’s true face was torn apart.
Praying mantis hunts the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—what he wanted was to send the entire merfolk clan to hell.
In the battle of the Divine Palace, everyone was ambitious, everyone was confident, and everyone… did not meet a good end.
“What kind of existence is a god after all?” Xia Qing stepped down from the bamboo raft, and as he landed, the topic involuntarily crossed his mind.
The only god in this world lived at the end of the Sea of Heaven, served by generations of merfolk.
Did he have a physical form? What did he look like?
Did he feel pain? When he was abandoned by his followers, kneeling bloodied in the center of the God-Slaying Grand Formation, what was he thinking?
Xia Qing couldn’t help but think of the high wall in the Sea of Heaven. When he first arrived in this world, he read in “Dongzhou Miscellany” that the wall was erected by the High Priest to prevent the merfolk from escaping. But Xia Qing felt that something was off—Song Guichen didn’t have the ability to erect a wall in the Sea of Heaven.
“Dongzhou Miscellany” was a bit more truthful than the local chronicles. It didn’t paint the Emperor Jing as a completely righteous figure; it said that Emperor Jing thought the god was a real dragon and coveted the dragon’s flesh for eternal life, which led to his invasion of the Sea of Heaven.
And it wasn’t far from the truth.
It was all greed.
Xia Qing entered the library of the Jingshi Hall and saw someone unexpected.
Yan Lan Yu.
Her Jing Xin Hall was always immersed in sandalwood scent, and over time, even her green robes carried a hint of this fragrance. The young Queen Mother sat in a chair by the window, leisurely flipping through a book. The light and shadow fell on her serene face, and the bright rouge drew faint blood-red lines as it moved.
This was the first time Xia Qing had seen her in his own capacity.
He had once been terrified of this mad woman in the Zhai Xing Tower, but now he realized that in the twists and turns of the past hundred years, she was nothing more than an ant.
Yan Lan Yu represented the human desires, greed, and ambition.
“Good child, your name is Xia Qing, right?” When Yan Lan Yu saw him, she squinted, seeming somewhat surprised, but quickly replaced it with her usual gentle smile.
“Ah Xue has been hiding you in the palace. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, but never had the chance. Seeing you today, you really do live up to your reputation. No wonder you can move my Ah Xue, who has never shown any interest in people.”
Xia Qing said, “Queen Mother.”
Yan Lan Yu kindly gestured for him to sit and said with a gentle smile, “No need for formality, come sit. Xia Qing, do you know how to play chess?”
In front of her was a chessboard, with wisps of smoke drifting beside it, vanishing toward the window.
Xia Qing replied, “I don’t.”
Yan Lan Yu, in a conversational tone, said softly, “Then let’s play, you take the white pieces first.”
Xia Qing almost forgot what kind of person she was.
He casually picked up a piece and placed it in the center of the board.
Yan Lan Yu rolled up her sleeves, picked up a black piece, and placed it down, her voice soft, “Lately, I’ve been feeling uneasy, always having dreams. Yesterday, I dreamt of the late emperor again. I told him about the extermination of the demon, and he was moved to tears of joy, holding my hand, sighing that the century-old grudge of the Lou family was finally avenged. I also dreamt of Ah Xue’s birth mother. I said, ‘Yao Ke, Ah Xue can finally escape the torment inside the Zhai Xing Tower every March, and you can rest in peace in the netherworld.’ But Yao Ke didn’t say anything, just sighed and left.”
Yan Lan Yu’s eyes were filled with a gentle sorrow, like a misty rain, as she sighed, “Indeed, everything has changed with time.”
Xia Qing lowered his eyes, unperturbed as he played chess.
Yan Lan Yu said, “My only regret now is that Ah Xue still doesn’t have a child. The Lou family’s descendants are thin, and it cannot end with him. Xia Qing, marrying a male consort is already a risky move, and if he were to cut off his lineage for you…”
She paused and said slowly, “Then you would truly become a notorious figure for eternity.”
Xia Qing calmly asked, “Queen Mother, what do you want me to do?”
Yan Lan Yu smiled, “Good child, I know you’ve always been sensible.”
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.
“Help me persuade Ah Xue. I think that the Lady Sixteenth of the Wei family is clever, cute, and has a good personality. How about she enters the palace with you during the coronation ceremony?”
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— What kind of script is he holding now? A commoner empress being manipulated by the Queen Mother?
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Wlj Hlcu atbeuta atja Tjc Ojc Te rtbeiv yf nfgs tjqqs cbk. Ktf qjubvj kjr jybea ab mbiijqrf, jcv atf megrf bc atf atgff ojwlilfr bo Olcu Xejcu kbeiv jirb yf mbwqifafis iloafv.
If the demon suppression succeeded, she would directly kill Lou Guan Xue and torture him in a thousand ways to vent her hatred. From then on, she would have peace of mind and control the world.
If the demon suppression failed, she also had a way out. What she was telling him now was her backup plan.
Xia Qing said, “I think it’s not a good idea.”
He got up and walked towards the second floor of the Jingshi Hall, not wanting to waste any more time with her.
Yan Lan Yu’s smile stiffened for a moment. She lightly stroked the chessboard with her red nails and said with a smile, “You’re quite a spirited child after all.”
“Xia Qing, greedy people don’t live long in Ling Guang.”
Xia Qing smiled, “Queen Mother, I’ll give you this saying as well.”
His figure disappeared around the corner of the attic, and Yan Lan Yu’s gaze instantly turned cold. She bit her silver teeth and knocked all the pieces on the chessboard to the ground.
Each floor of the Jingshi Hall was filled with many red ribbons, densely packed like countless destinies. Perhaps Song Guichen knew he would come and had already taken out the forbidden books for him.
Blood Array.
Xia Qing flipped through the yellowed and wrinkled pages of the book, reading each word carefully.
[The closest beings to the gods in the world are the merfolk, so the Blood Array uses pure merfolk heartblood.
The formation is inscribed on the pregnant woman’s belly, and the child is born on the most powerful night of the divine breath, the Jingzhe night, to become a vessel for receiving the god. The umbilical cord needs to be kept because it represents the initial connection between the child and the mother, the deepest bond of the human world.
When the god completely awakens within the vessel, swallowing the umbilical cord, they can completely break away from mortal existence.]
This page had been flipped through by many, but it had been rarely implemented. After all, the merfolk were so powerful a hundred years ago, never venturing beyond the Sea of Heaven. Obtaining pure merfolk heartblood was as difficult as climbing to the sky.
When Song Guichen mentioned the Blood Array, he only briefly smiled.
“Perhaps Yao Ke really had no other choice but to believe in such a sorcery.”
Song Guichen seemed unconcerned, his voice light but firm: “How could a god possibly awaken within a human body?”
On the way back to the palace, Xia Qing was still pondering over this sentence. He felt that Song Guichen might be right.
He was the senior brother of Peng Lai. If he hadn’t betrayed the sect, he would have been the future leader of Peng Lai.
He tucked the book into his sleeve, intending to take it back to show Lou Guan Xue.
The river in front of the Jingshi Hall is called Lili.
It started drizzling at night, and the only boat nearby was a dark-topped boat.
Xia Qing stepped onto it, and the boatman asked, “Young master, why are you crossing the river so late?”
Xia Qing replied, “Got lost in the woods.”
The boatman chuckled, “Is that so?”
The night fell, and the river flowed silently.
The wind was chilling, and the boatman pulled out a dagger from his sleeve. In the blink of an eye, when he thrust it towards Xia Qing, Xia Qing didn’t even blink. He used the bamboo leaf he was playing with to directly break the boatman’s wrist.
“You!” The boatman suddenly looked up, his tone icy.
Xia Qing chuckled, “Is Yan Lan Yu in such a hurry to strike?”
The boatman’s expression turned strange, his skin bulging like a balloon, staring straight at him, revealing a sinister smile.
Bang!
The boatman’s body exploded, taking the dark-topped boat with it, blowing it into pieces. Xia Qing dodged slightly to prevent debris from entering his eyes. His robes fluttered as he stood on a wooden plank.
The river water rushed, and the moonlight cast eerie shadows in the woods.
Xia Qing glanced coldly at the people and jumped into the river in one fell swoop.
“Chase him!”
“The Queen Mother has ordered to capture him alive!”
As Xia Qing plunged into the water, he shivered from the cold.
White foam bubbled up, and the luminous algae shone brighter in the darkness.
They swayed with the water ripples, revealing tiny glowing insects inside.
The light was azure, divided into various colors in the gradually blurring vision. The sound of the surging currents was incredibly clear, brushing past his ears slowly.
He descended deeper.
In this silent and icy underwater world, filled with a sense of oppression.
In Xia Qing’s mind, there suddenly emerged a clear image: the dying gaze of Zhu Ji, gazing at him from afar. It was silver-blue, bewitching the mind. The pure mermaid’s illusionary pupils pried open his tightly guarded memories like prying open a clamshell.
Xia Qing’s face turned pale, devoid of color. His brain was flooded with excruciating pain, his lips trembling, and he closed his eyes in agony.
//—-
“Before I hand over the sword to you, there’s something you must promise me.”
“What is it?”
—”From now on, come what may, the sword shall never leave your side.”
He recalled the countless days and nights spent with the Ananda Sword.
In truth, never parting with the sword was quite troublesome. It took him a long time to get used to eating, bathing, changing clothes, holding an umbrella in the rain, and even doing chores while holding the sword.
After learning about this, Wei Liu Guang burst into laughter, volunteering to supervise him on behalf of their master.
In reality, it was just to see him embarrassed and to find some leverage over him.
When he was a child and hadn’t abstained from food, whenever he went to the toilet, Wei Liu Guang would pop his head out from behind the door, just to see if he had put down the sword, and then report it to their master.
Xia Qing wanted to press his head into the dung pit.
During meals, Wei Liu Guang would also chuckle and say, “Xia Qing, what will you do on your wedding night?”
Fu Chang Sheng rubbed his forehead, “Liu Guang, please stop it.”
Song Guichen, as the eldest senior brother, never taught them properly. He chuckled softly, his elegant demeanor filled with mischievousness. He jokingly said, “What else can you do, Xia Qing? Which is more important, the sword or your wife? Do you still need your senior brother to tell you? Of course it’s–”
At that moment, Xue Fuguang walked in with a bowl of soup from outside, her pomegranate-red skirt brushing past the threshold. She calmly asked, “Of course it’s what?”
Song Guichen almost choked on his saliva, coughing slightly. He pretended to forget and asked with a soft smile, “Why have you been in the kitchen for so long? Are you tired?”
Xue Fuguang rolled her eyes, ignoring him, and sat down beside Xia Qing.
Wei Liu Guang, smelling the aroma, gleefully spooned himself a bowl of rich fish soup.
Xue Fuguang tilted her head towards Xia Qing and reassured him, “The Ananda Sword is an ancient artifact. It takes a long time to merge your spirit with it. Keeping the sword by your side means you are both exchanging spiritual breaths with each other.”
Xia Qing smiled broadly at hearing this and shot Wei Liu Guang a glance, “I know.”
Wei Liu Guang snorted, finished his meal, and then began to tease, “Oh, Xia Qing! I just remembered, it must be inconvenient for you to hold a sword in bed on your wedding night.”
He obviously forgot that their senior sister was still at the table.
Xue Fuguang raised her hand with a smirk, “Do you know what to do, Wei Liu Guang? Come here.”
Wei Liu Guang scampered away in fear.
Despite the seemingly chaotic daily life on Peng Lai, everyone had their own cultivation. Most of the time, Xia Qing would quietly spend time with the Ananda Sword.
It often rained in the Sea of Heaven.
The damp rain dripped from the eaves, splashing the mountains with a hazy mist.
Xia Qing would sit by the window with the Ananda Sword, staring at the towering sky, then back at the sword, curiously murmuring, “They say you’re an ancient divine sword, are you really that powerful? Will I become the best in the world in the future?”
When he was finally allowed to venture out to sea alone, Xia Qing was excited and couldn’t sleep for a whole night.
He dressed himself up, full of spirit, and boasted to the flowers and grass of Peng Lai, “Off I go to conquer the world!”
However, he failed to conquer the world. He ended up in a miserable situation!!
After killing a demon cultivator, he was trapped in a cave, and had to slowly chip away at the rocks with the Ananda Sword to make an escape. When the daylight poured in, Xia Qing blinked, tears of relief falling onto the Ananda Sword, which he felt trembling. As he emerged from the cramped stone chamber, he realized — if initially he and the Ananda Sword were enemies or companions in play, then after three years, five years, ten years, it had become a part of his body, a habit engraved in his soul.
He really did it, not letting go of the sword even in his final moments.
When he returned from his travels, it was the fifth day of the third month. At the end of the Sea of Heaven, a faint blue light emanated. Master said it was the Lingwei flower shining to guide travelers.
The aurora illuminated the horizon, magnificent and romantic. Yet behind this magnificence lay the violent dangers of the raging sea.
His boat was overturned by the waves, and he encountered a group of sharks in the sea. He was still young at that time, barely escaping from the jaws of the sharks after several struggles, already on the brink of death.
Unexpectedly, he encountered a dying merman. Mermen were violent and bloodthirsty before their death. Unable to withstand their attack, he had a large piece of flesh torn from his arm. Xia Qing had only one thought in his mind: he is going to die.
He is going to die.
His consciousness was hazy, his mind blank, yet his fingers seemed firmly fixed, unwilling to let go.
Xia Qing thought to himself: Master, isn’t this considered “not letting go of the sword regardless of life or death”? You must praise me when you see my corpse.
He thought he would die and be buried beneath the sea.
But he didn’t.
He was saved by someone.
With the awakening of spring, everything came to life. The aurora spread across the entire Sea of Heaven, illuminating the seaweed, corals, shells, and pearls with brilliance. He met a pair of icy blue eyes. The person’s silver-white hair scattered in the seawater, their face blurred, exuding a distant divinity.
Xia Qing had lost too much blood and was about to pass out.
Gasping for breath, he lay on the rocks, vigilant, not knowing who this person was or what they intended to do.
But the person said nothing, their gaze only falling on the Ananda Sword tightly gripped in Xia Qing’s hand, cold and indifferent. Then, they turned and left.
Back in Peng Lai, he was scolded by his senior sister for a long time. Xia Qing sat on the bed, watching the leaves swaying in the golden light around his senior sister’s waist, but his mind was still occupied with thoughts of that person.
“The person who saved me had ice-blue eyes.”
Master said, “Are you sure they were ice-blue, not silver-blue?”
“Positive.”
Master snorted, “I think you’re hallucinating.”
Xia Qing was puzzled, “Huh?”
Maybe he really was hallucinating.
The incident with Wei Liu Guang when they sneaked into the neighboring house actually had a follow-up.
Wei Liu Guang, being the troublemaker he was, was furious at the harm caused by the merfolk. “No way! Since we’re here, we have to teach them a lesson.”
Xia Qing asked, “What are you going to do?”
Wei Liu Guang picked up the fan from the ground, looked outside, and saw Yao Ke had already led the merfolk soldiers away. He then tugged at Xia Qing’s sleeve and said, “Didn’t she say we shouldn’t make too much noise now and disturb anything resting? Come on, let’s go outside the Divine Palace and set off firecrackers.”
Xia Qing: “… You son of a…”
Xia Qing: “Get lost!”
Without looking back, he tried to shake off this troublemaker. But Wei Liu Guang was like a persistent adhesive, dragging him up the jade wall of the Divine Palace. Wei Liu Guang might not be good at anything else, but he was well-versed in eating, drinking, and having fun. He even had firecrackers hidden up his sleeve. It was his latest idea, specially made waterproof by senior sister Xue’s spiritual power, to throw them into the sea for fun. Xia Qing felt both disdainful and childish as he watched the waves being blasted into the sky. Yet, he often couldn’t resist the urge to grab one and set it off.
“After we’re done, let’s run!” Xia Qing said, snatching the firecracker tube from Wei Liu Guang’s hand.
“I’ll throw it, you count to three.”
Wei Liu Guang: “…”
Wei Liu Guang reluctantly: “Oh!”
The two young boys were sneaky,
“One, two, three—”
Bang!
The firecracker was thrown, emitting a deafening noise, startling countless bubbles. Xia Qing quickly grabbed Wei Liu Guang and ran, but they clearly underestimated the power of the mermaid saint. A faint pink mermaid veil directly bound the waists of the two, blocking their way.
“Who do we have here? Turns out it’s two little troublemakers.”
Fortunately, this time, it wasn’t the cold and stern Yao Ke or the charming and vicious Zhu Ji who caught them, but Xuan Jia, who was known for her gentleness among the three saintesses. Xuan Jia looked at them, her goose-yellow clothes trailing over the jade steps, leaned down, and smiled, “Little troublemakers, you have quite the courage. Unless your master comes, don’t even think about leaving this time.”
Wei Liu Guang was dumbfounded.
So was Xia Qing.
—Oh no, he’s going to have to copy books until his hands fall off again.
Footsteps sounded inside the Divine Palace.
Xuan Jia suddenly stiffened, stood up, and respectfully said, “Your Majesty.”
Xia Qing gritted his teeth, angrily punched Wei Liu Guang, and lifted his head upon hearing Xuan Jia’s voice, but he was suddenly stunned. A silver-haired youth walked out of the Divine Palace, his eyes ice-blue like the clear glow of a cold moon.
Xuan Jia frowned, looking nervous, “Your Majesty, why are you here?”
The silver-haired youth stopped at the entrance of the Divine Palace, with a hint of laziness in his brows and eyes. However, upon seeing Xia Qing, he smiled gently.
“Release them.”
The youth said.
Xuan Jia was stunned, but still whispered, “Yes.”
On the way back that day, Xia Qing was restless. According to reason, he cultivated the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions, connected with the heavens and the earth, and wouldn’t fall into any traps on the ground.
He should walk with the wind, invincible in all directions.
But that day, he was heavily burdened with worries, stumbling every step, tripping every two steps, and falling face first every three steps.
It dumbfounded Wei Liu Guang.
“…Shut up! Don’t speak!” Xia Qing, embarrassed and angry, snapped.
His lifesaver doesn’t need him to repay the favor at all.
His lifesaver has a noble status in the merfolk clan.
Forget it… if he doesn’t need him to repay, he doesn’t.
Although owing someone twice made him feel a bit uncomfortable, Xia Qing’s emotions always shifted quickly, and he wouldn’t dwell on it for long.
The day of the sudden change in the Divine Palace.
Xia Qing stood by his master’s side.
His master was dying.
The Sea of Heaven was raining, pitter-pattering, wetting the leaves, and the fine raindrops under the eaves were like pearls.
The old man always liked to speak in a tone that showed his otherworldly superiority, but now there was no need to do so. His speech was broken and hoarse.
Life and death, turning to dust and bones.
Xia Qing waited quietly by his side, for the first time, at a loss for words.
His master squinted at him and said displeasedly, “What’s with that expression? Your master is about to ascend to become an immortal soon, you brat, be happy.”
Xia Qing said, “Is dying the same as ascending?”
Master snorted, “I said it’s ascending, so it’s ascending.”
Xia Qing replied awkwardly, “Alright, ascending. Congratulations, Master, on your Taoist ascension.”
The master grinned and muttered, “That’s more like it.”
Afterwards, his gaze turned back outside, his eyes filled with a serene calmness as if all dust had settled.
It was raining outside, drip by drip, and in the distance, one could see blood-red lights rising into the sky over the Sea of Heaven. The Chu Emperor was advancing into the Sea of Heaven, and the battle was becoming more intense.
“Your senior brothers and sister have all gone to Sea of Heaven,” the master said softly. “Peng Lai always comes out when there is trouble – but now, who is it that is causing trouble at sea, the merfolk or the humans?”
Xia Qing tightened his grip on the Ananda Sword, his eyes filled with confusion, and he asked, “Master, why did my eldest senior brother leave Peng Lai to become the High Priest of Chu?”
Sadness flashed in the master’s eyes, and hoarsely he said, “This is your eldest senior brother’s tribulation. When I gave him the Sifan Sword, I foresaw it. His life is destined to be entangled in the mortal world, bound by fetters, never to be liberated for eternity.”
Xia Qing was taken aback, “Never to be liberated for eternity?”
“Yes.” The master suddenly began coughing violently, his frail body resembling a withered leaf. He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and glanced at Xia Qing, “Don’t cry, I’ve been alive for hundreds of years, I’m tired of it.”
His finger was still on his face when suddenly his body stiffened, his eyes sharpened, and slowly, he raised his head rigidly, staring straight towards the end of the Sea of Heaven.
Xia Qing was startled by the master’s expression.
“Master, what’s wrong with you?”
The master’s aged skin trembled violently, his lips quivered uncontrollably, and his murky eyes showed disbelief, shock, and overwhelming anger.
“How dare he, how dare he—” The master’s words were interrupted by another fit of violent coughing, and this time, large clots of black blood stained the bedding.
“Master.” Xia Qing grabbed his hand in panic.
But the master suddenly grasped Xia Qing’s hand tightly in return. The expression of extreme horror appeared on the master’s dying face, the most uncontrollable Xia Qing had ever seen him.
Grasping Xia Qing’s hand, the master spoke with unprecedented urgency, “Xia Qing, go to the Divine Palace! Go now! Stop Song Guichen!”
Xia Qing asked, “What?”
The master smiled bitterly, “I thought your eldest senior brother would at most use the power of humans to attack the merfolk, seeking revenge for the past. I didn’t expect, I didn’t expect, that he would dare to scheme to this extent!”
A gust of wind passed by, and the two soul lamps hanging on the table, flickering dimly, suddenly fell silent.
The master’s face turned deathly pale, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood, laughing bitterly twice. His eyes were full of regret. “Blame me, blame me. He took the Spirit of Peng Lai, and I should have noticed. Now your two senior brothers have died because of this entanglement! Song Guichen, does he even know what he’s doing?!”
Xia Qing’s soul shook violently. “What?”
The master’s fingers almost spasmed as he held Xia Qing’s wrist, his voice trembling as he said, “Go to the Divine Palace, stop him, you must stop him.”
Xia Qing’s eyes also reddened. “What am I supposed to stop him from, Master?”
“Stop him, eradicate the god.”
Without even burying the master’s body, Xia Qing hurriedly left with his sword in hand.
The smell of battle permeated the air over the Sea of Heaven, where flames and bloodshed filled the sky. Despite his emotional turmoil and reddened eyes, Xia Qing’s expression remained cold as ice, dressed in black with black hair, gripping his long sword as he moved through the inferno like a demon.
“Who goes there! The High Priest has decreed that no one may trespass into the Divine Palace today!”
“Get lost!”
The Ananda sword had no sheath.
All things were sheaths for the sword, all things were targets for the blade.
Before the human soldiers could indulge in their victory by humiliating the merfolk, they were already frightened by this unexpected intruder.
They rushed forward one after another to stop him.
That day, Xia Qing didn’t even remember how many people he had killed. His mind was filled with his master’s dying instructions, his ears ringing with various rebukes, screams, and curses, but he ignored them all, expressionless. Ten steps, one life taken; corpses littered the ground beneath his feet, blood staining his black robe deeply. By the time he finished, his eyes had grown numb from the sight of blood.
The grand Divine Palace loomed before him, and Xia Qing’s fingers trembled violently, his face pale.
“Is Peng Lai on fire?!”
In the last moment before entering the Divine Palace, he heard a roar.
Peng Lai…
With a stiff figure, Xia Qing closed his eyes but didn’t look back.
He ran in, only wanting to stop Song Guichen.
So, when he saw Song Guichen outside the Divine Palace, before all the resentment and shock could flood his mind, tears had already welled up in his eyes, and he shouted with hatred, word by word.
“Song Guichen.”
Song Guichen obviously paused too, frowning, “Xia Qing? What are you doing here? Go back quickly.”
With red eyes, Xia Qing said bitterly, “Do you know what you’re doing!”
Song Guichen stood in front of the splendid and chilly Divine Palace, his expression inscrutable. “I know. Go back, this shouldn’t be where you come.”
“Leave!” Xia Qing wanted to kill him, but he didn’t want to waste any more time. Gripping his sword, he walked deeper into the Divine Palace.
Song Guichen appearing outside the Divine Palace indicated that the extermination array had been activated.
He didn’t know how the God was doing now, but he had to save them.
Song Guichen’s face turned cold. “Are you going in to die? Come back for me!”
Xia Qing ignored him.
Song Guichen drew out the Sifan Sword from his sleeve. The purple sword intent shook the heavens and the earth, turning into countless sword blades surrounding Xia Qing. His expression was icy. “Go back.”
Xia Qing: “Get lost!” His eyes were red, and the sword stood before him.
The sword qi broke through the long night, enveloping the heavens and earth with the vast power belonging to the mountains, rivers, vegetation, the mortal world, and the five elements. The Divine Palace stirred up a long wind, blowing his robe and black hair.
This force originated from the chaos of the ancient times, and even Song Guichen was injured by it.
“You…” He took a step back, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with both sorrow and coldness, his voice resolute: “I won’t let you go in and die.”
The Sifan Sword suddenly unsheathed, showing no mercy this time. Its sharp tip aimed directly at the wrist of Xia Qing, intending to leave him no room for resistance.
“Song Guichen!” At the same time, another voice full of resentment rang out.
It was Xuan Jia. Having just stopped Zhu Ji, she now returned, only wanting to crush this person.
Xia Qing’s pupils contracted, directly using his left hand to block. His wrist was pierced straight through by the Sifan Sword, his meridians severed, and blood gushed out.
Xia Qing staggered, his face pale. He swallowed the blood in his throat but said nothing.
Breaking through the formation, he walked directly inside with his sword in hand.
“Xia Qing, come back!”
Song Guichen anxiously watched Xia Qing’s figure, still wanting to stop him, but Xuan Jia’s fierce attack left him no time to spare.
Xia Qing was already in so much pain that he had lost his senses. His entire body was covered in blood, his own and others’, and the act of killing tinted his vision red. His heart was filled with volatile emotions—rage, sorrow, anger, and resentment. He, who cultivated the Supreme Path if Forgetting Emotions, deeply experienced the sorrows, loves and hates of the mortal world for the first time. The disturbance to his Dao heart brought spiritual torment, far outweighing the pain of his severed meridians.
His master was dead, his senior brothers was dead, and Peng Lai was gone.
It seemed as if overnight, his world had turned upside down.
As Xia Qing stumbled into the Divine Palace, he felt a moment of daze. The cold wind brushed gently over the tears that had refused to fall from his eyelashes.
Boom!
Xia Qing felt the earth tremble.
Then, there were screams and chaos from outside.
“The Divine Palace is collapsing!”
“The Divine Palace is collapsing, run!”
Stones flew, footsteps scattered. The pillars collapsed first, followed by the walls.
Xia Qing had truly arrived here, but he calmed down. He smelled a cold floral fragrance, coming from the desolate tomb.
The sea reversed its flow, and the heavens and earth crumbled.
Everything was crumbling into ashes and smoke.
With faltering steps, Xia Qing persisted solely on the words of his master in his mind, enduring until the end, reaching the Jingshen Hall… where he saw the stairs stained with blood.
At the center of the blood, someone was half-kneeling on the ground. Silver-white hair lay scattered in the pool of blood.
Xia Qing met a pair of extremely cold and icy eyes.
Ice-blue, like unborn pearls shrouded in obscurity, so pure that only indifference remained.
The crashing of the waves echoed, the roar of the ancient sea surged from the depths, and stones fell one after another, crumbling into dust.
Xia Qing’s mind went blank, quietly watching him, unable to utter a single word.
Today, he had experienced various emotions of life and death, love and hate, killing until he felt numb. The tip of the Ananda Sword was still dripping blood, leaving a long trail of blood behind him.
He thought he wouldn’t have any more extra emotions, but unexpectedly, just one glance, once again made him feel defeated.
“So it’s you.”
Xia Qing’s face turned pale, and he whispered softly.
He wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. Exhausted, he fell to his knees after taking a few steps, propping himself up with the sword.
The black hair fell to the ground, blending with the white hair of the other person, creating an eerie yet harmonious scene amidst the pool of blood.
Boom—
The wall behind the Divine Palace also completely collapsed, causing the ground to sink simultaneously.
Revealing the abyss at the end of the sea. Behind the Divine Palace was the Abyss of Myriad Tombs, pitch-black and swallowing all light.
Xia Qing didn’t know what to say.
He had fought through the carnage, yet now, there was only confusion in his eyes.
The Divine Palace was about to collapse.
Everything here was about to crumble into ashes and smoke.
Peng Lai was also gone.
The gaze of the god was indifferent and desolate.
The ground cracked, and the seawater began to reverse, the world was being overturned. Aurora erupted from the deep sea, crackling as the cracks spread to the feet of the god.
The Abyss of Myriad Tombs seemed like a giant mouth about to swallow him.
At that moment, Xia Qing heard a very faint laughter in his ear. Distant, mocking, and scornful.
Xia Qing’s gaze was bewildered as he looked up at the god’s half-smirking lips and indifferent eyes.
A strange sadness surged in his heart, and he softly said, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you out.”
But as soon as he uttered these words, the last piece of ground suddenly plummeted, taking the god with it into the abyss.
The silver-haired youth slowly closed his eyes, his expression icy. Bound by the Spirit of Peng Lai, he could not resist, only able to watch helplessly as his soul was extracted, his bones shattered, and his power taken away, waiting to die alone in this lonely Divine Palace.
“No, wait—”
As the earth shattered, Xia Qing’s thoughts seemed to shatter as well.
He wanted to reach out and grab him, but his left hand’s meridians had been severed, completely useless, unable to move.
The only thing he could move was—
Boom!
The wall of the Divine Palace collapsed, corals, shells, and pearls scattered all over the ground.
Xia Qing stood still, at the last moment before the youth fell, his eyes bloodshot, gritting his teeth, he let go of the sword.
As the Ananda Sword fell to the ground, the sound was crisp and pleasant, as if from another world, dispersing all the chaos and noise of the mundane world.
He bent forward, in the ruins, grasping his bloodied hand. But the next moment, the ground beneath him also cracked open.
He didn’t save him, but instead fell into the abyss with him.
Fireflies floated around, and beneath the abyss were endless bone graveyards and fields of Lingwei flowers.
Xia Qing’s last memory was holding the cold hand tightly in the darkness and a quiet gaze.
It was doubtful, bewildered.
Without emotion, devoid of love or hate, perhaps only curiosity, perhaps only incomprehension.
The Lingwei flowers were gently sorrowful, blooming in the abyss.
His consciousness blurred, and he saw the surrounding azure light growing stronger.
One after another, Lingwei flowers floated up, accompanied by a tremendous roar echoing in his ears.
He saw the sea water diverge, and the accumulated bones of thousands of years rose up, surging out of the trench, out of the sea.
They formed a wall.
—Blocking the return path of the merfolk clan for a hundred years.
(⊙o⊙) wow!
Lovely heartfelt and emotional chapter but um, last time I checked, he was…DROWNING!!😭 Someone(Lou Guan Xue) save him. But its quite amazing how almost everyone has interacted before.
I am amazed by this chapter, wow, I love it
I dont even know what to say… SO much happened, but its starting to come full circle!!! Since this was a flashback from Xia Qings POV (I think), now i think he knows the truth aswell and i cant wait to see how that plays out…
Thank you for the chapters!!! ❤️❤️
Oh my….! Such a intense chapter. Now I want he saves that God and LGX… Thank so much for the update.
Woah… This chapter is intense. He let go of Ananda for the god.
This is so romantically heartbreaking. Thank u for the wonderful chapter.
wowowowow (⊙.☉)
when Xia Qing dropped the sword, I was like “oh shi—”
this chapter feels like a blockbuster scene, had me on the edge of my seat
Impactful. So many happenings in this chapter at the same time. Poor mc. 🤧
😭
ESTOY LLORANDI SAIJDASDSNANADSKASD