Chapter 73 A guilty conscience leads to repeated mistakes.
As the illusion dissipated, the destroyed mermaid kingdom was revealed behind the smoke and dust.
Many bodies had already been buried in the outer areas, and this place was even more deathly still. Countless skeletons lay buried beneath the desolate white sand, and the once prosperous capital city had been reduced to flattened or destroyed ruins in an instant.
Among these places, the distant palaces, though dilapidated and decaying, are the only ones that can be considered relatively well-preserved. That is where Cangyu slept and awoke, where the broken sword resides, the core of the secret realm.
Those mermaids who would greet the princess with smiles and call her "Lord Luo Yang," and who would tuck a sea flower into her hair, are no more. The Lord of Luochuan is dead; can their souls find peace in Luochuan now?
The young girl walked on the white sand, following behind Luo Yang. They passed what had once been their dwelling, and then the place in the illusion where beautiful pearls and seashells were sold; all life had vanished. When they stopped, Shen Lixia finally understood: this was a tomb.
Not only this place, but Shen Yuan itself is a vast cemetery built by Luo Yang for Cangming and the entire Merfolk race. The secret realms mentioned by those cultivators are merely the areas affected by the spiritual energy emanating from Shen Yuan's core. Sea beasts and creatures, drawn by the burgeoning spiritual energy, settled here, and over time, it became a world unto itself.
The closer the divine fire got to the palace, the more restless it became. It carried the aura of evil, and all the merfolk had already turned to bones. If anyone could remain here and become an entity the divine fire could not tolerate, and was permitted by Luo Yang, then the only possibility was...
So, she was already dead. Her existence here was merely a result of her obsession holding her soul captive, trapped between life and death.
Shen Lixia wasn't surprised, but she was still somewhat taken aback when the truth was laid bare before her. She looked at Luo Yang again, and he was also looking at her, his eyes slightly lowered, a bitter smile on his lips.
At first, there was a soft rustling sound, which later became mixed with the sound of flowing water. Layers of sand and gravel were manipulated by her fingertips, solidified, and merged with the water, imbued with life-like lines, and began to perform before Shen Lixia.
War has begun. A vast army surrounds the merfolk's kingdom. Warriors fight fiercely, their blood staining the white sand in a horrifying sight. The viscous blood of the merfolk is also a treasure. Luo Yang doesn't reveal the fate of those wounded merfolk who have fallen into enemy hands, but Shen Lixia already understands their destiny. She sees that the besieging masses include not only demons but also humans.
There's no such thing as irreconcilable enmity; when faced with self-interest, they'll naturally collude. They were a group of greedy cultivators, their faces repulsive. When they arrived in this deep-sea kingdom, they shed all their elegance and transformed into bloodthirsty beasts.
The warriors dispersed, revealing Luo Yang and Cang Ming fighting side by side. On the same battlefield, their spiritual power poured out like a mighty waterfall, without reservation. Bai Sha merely sketched the scene in a rough and microscopic way, but Shen Lixia could imagine how magnificent the scene must have been, yet behind this magnificence lay the two's determination to fight to the death.
Afterwards, Cangming and Luoyang parted ways, each guarding their own territory. Having slain the last person, Luoyang staggered to her feet from the sea of blood, her spiritual energy spreading across the entire kingdom, devoid of any trace of life.
Even with the power to sweep away a thousand troops, it was still impossible to save a single person.
When Luo Yang arrived at Cangming's location, she initially thought the woman was suppressing her breathing due to severe injuries, but instead found the woman lying on the white sand, with a pool of blood beneath her. She helped her friend up, but her spiritual energy could not flow into her weakened meridians, nor could it hold back her dissipating soul.
Cangming gave no other instructions, only hoping that she would keep her promise and protect the boy who was sleeping beneath the palace.
The white sand dispersed, returning to silence. Luo Yang sighed softly, "At that time, all my belongings had been lost in the war. Only the sword in my hand was still a magical artifact that could bear spiritual power for a long time."
Shen Lixia's gaze followed the white sand down, settling on the pale ground. Now, the bloodstains melted away like snow, leaving no trace of the war's cruelty, only the deathly aura of the fallen.
"So, that's why you used the sword as the core of the formation?" she asked.
"Yes. I sealed part of the sword blade inside Cangming's body and infused it with spiritual power to keep her body intact and prevent it from decaying."
As if guessing what Shen Lixia was going to ask, Luo Yang bent down, scooped up a handful of white sand, and watched it being lifted up by the water, as if it were scattered by the wind.
"This wisp of remnant soul was also left behind by me, separated from the living soul, and thus able to move freely. I originally thought that 20% of my cultivation was enough, but I never thought that my consciousness would be free and that I would have normal emotions and desires, so I also inherited my timidity. The spiritual power keeps this place solid and unbreakable, but in these long years... I have never dared to see her."
Luo Yang's voice gradually lowered.
“I should have told Cangyu everything I remembered about her mother. You must be wondering why I went to all this trouble to keep her mother’s body intact, which only led to misunderstandings… But I wanted to leave her with a complete picture of her mother, so she could see her one last time and look for traces of her in it.”
A person cannot be born or die without a mother.
Luo Yang's words gently reached Shen Lixia's ears, causing the young man to fall silent. If that were truly the case, then who gave her birth, who brought her into this world? In her memory, the person she felt closest to as a child wasn't a specific person, but a river. Luochuan, that river perpetually shrouded in white mist, its waters icy yet gentle.
Two-tenths of her cultivation. This was not Foundation Establishment, but rather two-tenths of what Luo Yang, who was at least at the Nascent Soul stage—or even higher—had achieved. At the time, the war showed no signs of ending, yet she still poured two-tenths of her cultivation and all her spiritual power into this to fulfill her promise.
If that wasn't enough, she also guarded it with her divine soul. Unlike cultivation, which can be replenished after being lost, the divine soul is irretrievable once lost. By fixing this wisp of her divine soul to Shen Yuan, she ensured that a piece of his soul would be forever missing.
He never took it back, not even until his death.
The woman closed her eyes and remained silent for a long time before speaking: "I have sealed this place off; no one can enter from the outside, and no one can leave from the inside. Furthermore, I have lit a stick of incense to lock her soul, preventing any misfortune from befalling her..."
All my efforts have been exhausted, and I have nothing left.
Do you feel guilty?
"...I have it, and Luo Yang must have it too. If she really wanted to forget this place, she wouldn't have left her soul behind."
It wasn't that she harmed Cangming, but Cangming's death was ultimately a consequence of her insufficient foresight. Now, it's only natural that the only remaining youth hates her. She broke her promise, trapping her in a hatred that became a demon within her, halting her cultivation and exhausting her lifespan, yet she remained oblivious to her own death due to the allure of the incense. All her good intentions ultimately amounted to a mistake, a ridiculous and irreversible one.
Shen Lixia's gaze was intense, fixed on Luo Yang, and through her, she saw an even more familiar figure. What began as a desire to protect had become almost obsessive after loss, and this obsession led to a series of wrong steps. But all she wanted was for everything else to be perfect; was even protecting her wrong then?
Ignoring the protection of the other party's wishes may indeed have been a mistake.
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The sound of metal clashing echoed across the desolate open space.
The sword intent stirred the surrounding seawater, creating a magnificent spectacle. Qiao Yanshen drew her sword and stepped back, letting the sword tip of the young man's sword pierce her cheek, shaving off a strand of black hair. She focused her gaze, and in the blink of an eye, the seawater in her hand condensed along with the sword intent, no longer requiring spiritual power to drive it, and instantly transformed into fine rain as she swung her sword.
Cang Yu raised her sword to block, but the raindrops dissolved upon encountering her sword energy. When the sword energy dissipated, they gathered again, transforming into a thin trickle that coiled around her like a snake.
However, lacking the support of spiritual energy, the sword intent was nothing more than a bluff against Cang Yu given the vast difference in strength. She took a few steps forward, meeting the attack head-on, and neutralized it with a slash. The stream shattered, the seawater rippled, and under the influence of the remaining sword intent, it drifted like flying catkins.
Without hesitation, she swiftly ended the standoff with a single sword strike. A familiar pain shot through her right shoulder, and Qiao Yanshen collapsed, covered in wounds. Her long robes were now soaked with blood, no longer pristine white.
After treating her injuries, Cang Yu returned her to the water prison as usual. The cold was biting, and the woman, with her eyes closed, was breathing weakly, seemingly completely unconscious.
The girl stood in front of the railing for a while. The smell of rusty metal was acrid, and being immersed in the strong smell of blood was not pleasant for a marine creature with such a keen sense of smell as her.
But only this scent could remind her that she was avenging her mother and her other clansmen.
A moment later, she snorted coldly, took something out of her clothes, and threw it through the gap in the railing.
The sound of the jade pendants clashing faded into the distance, disappearing at the end of the stairs. Only then did Qiao Yanshen slightly open his eyes, let out two soft hums, and, after confirming that the person was no longer paying attention to the commotion, prop himself up and struggled to sit up from the ground.
A soft cracking sound echoed within his body during the sword exchange, as if chains had snapped. Spiritual energy flowed again through his parched meridians, and he had actually reached the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Just one step away from breaking through to the next realm, yet she felt no joy. Without making a sound, she concealed her aura to the extreme. With the support of spiritual energy, her body was no longer as prone to fainting as before. Qiao Yanshen pretended to lose consciousness, and Ren Cangyu took her back to the water prison and locked her up.
Her memories gradually became confused, and Luo Yang would appear when she was alone.
A faint fragrance drifted through the air, rippling like waves on the sea.
At that moment, the woman in white crossed the bars again and nestled with her in the narrow cage.
"Yan Shen." Her clothes were spotless, almost blindingly white. Her eyes still held a soft sorrow, which, if not looked at closely, could be mistaken for a look of pity.
Qiao Yanshen picked up what Cang Yu had dropped and examined it carefully in his hand.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak to Luo Yang, but clearly not to the phantom before her, formed from chill and pain. Attempts to banish it always failed; the more terrifyingly calm her reason became, the less her subconscious resisted, intensifying the merging of memories. It taught this ghostly, pure white shadow to speak, allowing her to share her memories, to mold Luo Yang's voice, tearing open her healed wounds, her forcibly hidden fear of loneliness, touching her most vulnerable spot with its fingers.
The omnipresent sound of flowing water is like the dripping of fresh blood.
The fantasies she couldn't have as a child now surface easily, but she doesn't want them anymore.
What she wanted was no longer fantasy, but the real person in this world, with golden eyes... who would follow her like a little tail.
Luo Yang raised her hand and stroked her cheek. "You've become greedy."
Qiao Yanshen silently gripped the cold, hard object in her hand—a conch shell. She recalled a legend that if one spoke to a conch shell with a sincere heart, their voice could travel across mountains and seas, reaching the ends of the earth and falling into the ears of the one they cared about.
The conch shell was somewhat damaged and its surface was dull, so it did not seem to be able to grant the lovers' wish for a miracle.
Luo Yang, who was standing next to her, was still speaking softly.
"You want her to stay by your side, to be closely protected within your sight. You want to be her perch, to bear the divine fire."
She moved closer, and her words were swallowed up between them.
I want to protect her. I never want her to suffer again, never want her to shed tears, but simply live freely, with no one threatening her life.
As long as one can achieve this, that person will surely be happy, even if there are setbacks along the way, even if she is destined to be a soaring roc...
She even broke her wings so that she could escape her destined fate.
A shadow crossed his eyes, and Qiao Yanshen suddenly awoke as if from a dream, pushing Luo Yang away. Fortunately, no one else was watching, otherwise, his entangled behavior would surely have been interpreted as madness.
In that instant, she understood why she was there.
Cang Yu showed no reaction to her unsealing of her spiritual power, meaning he was unaware of it and had from the beginning considered the sealing of her cultivation to be intentional. If this seal wasn't placed by her…
It was Luo Yang who did it. It was Luo Yang who sealed her spiritual power.
That was a mistake she made in her past life, and in this life, she must bear that guilt and repay everything that Luo Yang owes to this place.
Qiao Yanshen suddenly felt a bitter taste in her mouth. She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and pressed the conch shell to her ear. She pursed her lips, took a few deep breaths, and then opened her mouth. The long silence made her voice sound hoarse, but when she called out that name, it was still unimpeded, as if a light bird had spread its wings and flown out from between her teeth.
"Leaving Summer".
There was no response to his calls. After a while, Qiao Yanshen called out softly again.
"Leaving Xia..."
The sound of flowing water gradually subsided, and Luo Yang, who was before her, no longer mattered; her figure vanished. A faint echo could still be heard from within the conch shell, followed by a gentle, distant sound of waves. Then, a familiar voice was suddenly carried aloft by the waves, becoming a pearl on the white sand of the moonlit night, gleaming with the brightest light in the world, a light so bright it almost brought tears to one's eyes—a gift from the sea.
Tears streamed down his face. Qiao Yanshen bit his lower lip tightly, his voice trembling as if he had so much to say, but no sound came out. A panicked silence fell, but the silence on the other side did not linger.
Her voice suddenly became extremely soft, devoid of the youthful exuberance and brightness, all its sharpness gone, floating softly in Qiao Yanshen's ear: "Senior Sister... I'm here. I'm almost there. Don't be afraid, take care of yourself... I'll be there soon."
Something seemed to be stuck in his throat, leaving only a few syllables of her name. Qiao Yanshen let the tears fall, calling out to Shen Lixia again and again. The other responded to her call after call, without missing a word or showing the slightest impatience, as if she would continue to respond as long as Qiao Yanshen called.
Finally, Qiao Yanshen stopped. Now that her spiritual energy had recovered, breaking free of the cage wouldn't be difficult if she wanted to. Although the secret realm was vast, there was a certain connection between her and the other party; finding each other wasn't impossible…
"Li Xia," Qiao Yanshen suddenly called out softly again.
Shen Lixia's warm yet firm voice came through: "I'm here."
Thank you.
Qiao Yanshen's lips curled up slightly as he put down the conch shell in his hand, suppressed all spiritual energy fluctuations, adjusted his breathing, and lay down on the cold ground again, his black hair disheveled, looking as if he had already fainted.
Wait a little longer, and Cangyu will come again.
We can't go out now.
She needs to learn sword techniques.
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Author's note: Shen Yuan's side should be almost over.
In short, it was a rather traumatic experience for the senior sister, and she also doubted whether her protective instincts, stemming from her age and disregarding whether they were good or bad, were wrong.
In the end, although she seemed to have let go, she still thought it would be great if she could become stronger... Our senior sister is quite a quirky person when it comes to these things...
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