Chapter 105 Memories of that person, named Jiang Yuhuo.

Before the slender, bony hand could even touch the bead, the originally tiny, ethereal snake body instantly awoke, its size increasing a hundredfold in a flash, roaring and hissing at the newcomer.

The bead was quickly curled high by its tail, preventing anyone from getting close, as if it were protecting its own treasure.

Jia Yue's gaze remained fixed on the bead. The moment his eyes moved, the binding thread that held the snake's body tightened abruptly. The silver snake's soul quickly shrank back to its original size, and as its coiled tail loosened, the bead rolled to his feet.

He crouched down, his trembling fingertips pausing for a moment just before touching the magic bead.

Then, after taking a deep breath and holding it, his trembling hands finally grasped the bead that emitted a soft glow.

In an instant, countless fragments of memories rushed towards him...

"...My name is Xiao Jiang, how about I call you Xiao Hai from now on? You blinked, so that means you agree."

"I'm sorry, did I hit you too hard and hurt you? This area is all red."

"Don't be angry, don't be angry... Xiaohai is the cutest and most beautiful fish in the world..."

“Xiao Hai, you will remember me, right? I am Xiao Jiang, Jiang as in river water…”

...

Memories flashed by, and the blank spaces in that memory were finally filled in.

Seven years ago, after being severely injured by Nanxing at the bottom of the sea, he escaped into an unnamed river. When he was on the verge of death, a mortal girl took him home.

The first thing he saw when he woke up from his coma was that girl.

White hair and golden eyes, sparkling and adorable.

Her eyes sparkle when she smiles, and she gazes at him with the warmest eyes, making him fall for her without even realizing it.

That person's name is Jiang Yuhuo.

"Hehe...hahaha..."

The merman suddenly burst into laughter, which gradually rose from a low chuckle to an uncontrollable roar, the chilling and sorrowful sound echoing in the pure white space.

River fishing lights, river fishing lights...

You've caused me so much suffering...

Losing again and again, how am I supposed to go on living...?

The intense pain in the center of his chest made him unable to stand any longer, and he knelt down. He hunched over, clutching the magic bead tightly to his heart, his whole body trembling uncontrollably from the extreme emotional shock.

Something crashed down, huge pearls hitting the ground, one after another, landing with a crisp sound.

It's always been her, only her, always only her!

She has white hair and golden eyes, she also has black hair and black eyes, she is the one who laughs and scolds, and she is the one who faces swords...

She had changed her appearance, but her aura, eyes, and demeanor remained the same, and the beast that possessed his memories recognized her immediately.

The silver snake kept telling him about the dreams that began to haunt him every night as soon as she came into his life, and about its almost obsessive behavior towards her.

All sorts of signals... He was so arrogant that he ignored them all, vehemently rejecting her attraction to him, resisting all the emotional turmoil she caused, and becoming infuriated by these unusual influences.

He even went so far as to verbally stab her without hesitation...

Looking at her furious eyes, what were his feelings at that moment?

My heart pounded with a mixture of excitement and relief, and I couldn't help but proudly declare to her, "Don't think you can sway me."

Little did he know that the person before him was the lover for whom he had willingly sacrificed himself.

How could he be so foolish and arrogant!

They should have recognized him at first glance...

He noticed something was wrong at first glance, which is why he broke with tradition and kept her in the Washing Flower Palace, and went to question her the moment she woke up...

Did he really want an answer back then?

Or should I use the pretext of questioning her to take another look at her?

He never trusted his intuition, only the evidence.

When all the memories in the water mirror were presented to him, the evidence was conclusive, and he believed that was the whole truth.

His secret hope was shattered.

He couldn't help but want her, yet he also hated her. He hated her for tempting him to betray his vow of unwavering loyalty to the merfolk, and he hated her even more for being completely unaware, leaving him to suffer alone in this torment.

But she is who she is. The one who caused his downfall seven years ago, and the one who caused his downfall again seven years later. What did she do wrong?

He's the one in the wrong!

Selfish, cold-hearted, arrogant... He pushed away the person who had brought his fate to him once again.

How ridiculous...

He was such a despicable person that fate withdrew its favor from him.

They took her away completely.

She's gone; she's dead.

Because he abandoned her once again.

The merman kneeling on the ground chuckled softly again, his short breaths tearing in his throat, sounding more like he was crying.

The silver snake, which was about to climb onto the mermaid's wrist to steal the pearl, was startled by the laughter and its swimming motion froze.

The illusory pearl, formed from the memories of the merman, was merging with Jia Yue's body and gradually disappearing from his hand.

The silver snake, impatient, rushed forward and bit down without hesitation.

The magic pearl vanished too quickly; it only had time to grab a fragment before running away.

This is its treasure, a memory it has guarded for many years. It belongs to it, and no one can take it away.

Even its master who has formed a bond with it!

It has kept it for so long that it has come to regard the memories and emotions within the beads as its own.

Isn't it the thing that spends every day and night with that person?

Hasn't the person it both protected and longed for finally appeared inside?

She didn't need to get close; it could sense her and recognize her instinctively.

But it hadn't seen her for a long time.

I miss her so much, I miss her so much, I miss her so much.

Therefore, the beads cannot be eliminated.

The silver creature moved swiftly, releasing a mist within its own consciousness to conceal itself.

But one hand still accurately found its location, and not only found it, it also grabbed its vital spot, forcefully pried open its mouth, and took away the last fragment of memory.

No! It struggled desperately, pleading bitterly. It even bit its owner's hand, despite the pain, begging him to give it back.

"She's mine! She's my love!"

"I should have been the one who recognized her at first glance!"

In the pure white sea of ​​consciousness, the merman roared, his calm and composed mask shattering completely, turning him into a madman with a twisted face, howling with heart-wrenching pain.

If he had recognized her sooner, he would never have stabbed her again and again, would never have put her in danger, and would never have let death take her away again.

He was so agitated that he nearly suffocated the silver snake's spirit. Its struggling tail swept across his hand, which was holding the broken piece, and the piece shattered on the ground with a "crack".

The merman stared in astonishment at the fragments on the ground. The pearly white light turned transparent, and wisps of light spilled out from the fragments, revealing the memory images contained within them in mid-air.

Under the lonely moon, in the flowing water.

The young merman held the human girl's hand tightly, their fingers intertwined, the soft light illuminating their coiled knuckles. Looking into the girl's eyes, the merman whispered to her, "This is a soul pact, a contract for a lifetime."

He made a lifelong promise to her, vowing never to leave her.

The girl was overjoyed and hugged him with her wet arms, her eyes shining so brightly they made one's heart flutter.

Jia Yue couldn't help but raise her hand, wanting to touch her face.

The scene vanished instantly, leaving only his hand raised in the pure white space, the faded marks on his fingers glaringly obvious, as if mercilessly mocking him.

The merman, now an adult, closed his eyes.

Finally, she broke down in tears.

When she looked up again, the merman's icy blue eyes were filled with a frenzied look.

No! We can't just leave him like this!

*

Inside the dark cave.

The person on her back was no longer moving. Jiang Yuhuo was now groping her way forward entirely by willpower. Having been in the dark for too long, her eyes were almost unable to see anything.

Li Mengbai's body slowly slid down, but she no longer had the strength to pull him up.

Something was pressing against her back, something hard like a piece of paper.

But at this point, this slight discomfort was no longer enough for her to adjust her posture; she knew that once she put the person down, she would never be able to carry them again.

That's what's truly terrifying.

Two people died here silently.

No one noticed, and those waiting outside for her return would never know.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yuhuo suddenly felt a surge of strength that supported her as she continued walking forward for a long time.

The ground seemed to be getting wet.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock—"

All she could hear was heavy breathing; she didn't hear the sound of water droplets falling on the cliff face.

It wasn't until he stepped into the water that Jiang Yuhuo realized the cave had changed.

By the faint light of the moon and stars, she finally saw clearly that there was an underground river in front of her.

"Li Mengbai, we need to go out..."

If you follow the direction of the water flow, you will surely find the exit.

Jiang Yuhuo was overjoyed. He loosened his grip slightly, and the person on his back fell to the ground, like an unknowing, lifeless corpse.

"Li Mengbai, wake up." She quickly scooped up a handful of water and fed it to Li Mengbai's mouth. The unconscious person only had a weak breath and no strength to open his mouth.

Jiang Yuhuo splashed a handful of water on Li Mengbai's face, repeating this several times until the person on the ground finally slowly opened his mouth a crack, waiting for the next drop of rain.

After doing this several times, Li Mengbai finally drank some of it.

After doing all that, Jiang Yuhuo gulped down several mouthfuls of water and washed her face.

The cool liquid flowed into her long-parched lungs, and she finally felt the reality that her body was still alive. After walking such a long way, her body no longer felt like her own.

She rested for a while, and then remembered the thing that had been poking her back on Li Mengbai's body.

I need to carry him out in a bit, so I should take him out first.

She reached into Li Mengbai's shirt and touched a square piece of jade. One side of the jade was smooth, while the other side was engraved with characters; it was a communication talisman.

She took the jade piece to the moonlit star and, by the light, saw her own name on it.

She touched her bosom and found that her communication talisman was indeed gone, along with the bead that Jia Yue had given her.

Li Mengbai took her communication talisman and the Condensation Pearl.

Jiang Yuhuo continued to grope his chest, but did not find the Condensing Pearl.

The person on the ground drank the water, and every organ in his body began to clamor for water. Forced by this craving, he slowly woke up, only to find a hand brazenly groping his chest.

He knew who it was, but he neither wanted to nor had the strength to stop it.

He opened his mouth, his throat hoarse, "What...are you going to...do to me?"

The sound it made was extremely unpleasant; Li Mengbai could hardly believe it was his own voice.

As he spoke, his other senses were less shut down and more searching for her location. He shifted slightly, meeting her breath, as if waiting for something to happen.

The next moment, a sharp slap landed on his left cheek, making his just-awakened mind buzz.

In the midst of his mental fog, the woman's angry voice clearly reached his ears.

"Li Mengbai, you can use me, but I hope you will not use me to hurt others again."

Jiang Yuhuo knew he was listening, so he continued.

“I know that you originally planned for me to take the hit in front of the Spirit-Sealing Array. But then Jia Yue came, and no one expected him to suddenly rush over and block the attack, which is how I narrowly escaped death.”

"You took my communication talisman to send a message to my senior brother, didn't you?"

Li Mengbai only saw her communication talisman once, when she was writing a letter to her senior brother. Communication talismans can only transmit messages between those who have connected through spiritual power; it's obvious what he intended to do with the talisman he took.

"If I die, you can blame it on Tianque, making my senior brother and Tianque fight each other, so Tianque won't have time to investigate your breaking into the formation and stealing the treasure. Am I right?"

"You shouldn't have included your senior brother in your scheme."

In the dark cave, her voice was crystal clear—clearly angry, clearly analytical.

Li Mengbai laughed, thinking that she wasn't that stupid and had guessed pretty accurately. However, he felt sorry for that merman; she still didn't believe that he had taken that blow for her because he liked her.

Seeing that he did not refute, Jiang Yuhuo took it as his tacit agreement.

"Where did you hide that bead? Give it back to me!"

Li Mengbai answered her vaguely, "Come here...I'll tell you..."

He was barely breathing and had no strength left. Jiang Yuhuo was not on guard and put her ear close to him.

But the next moment, Li Mengbai suddenly raised his head and kissed her wet cheek with his dry lips, his lips parting to drink away a drop of water hanging on her face.

He used all his strength in that one strike, and only managed to touch it briefly before crashing heavily back to the ground.

Li Mengbai fell to the ground without crying out in pain, only chuckling twice, a soft sigh escaping between her teeth, "So sweet."