Chapter 77 The mirror reflects only tears in her eyes; who knows whom she hates in her heart? ...
Haizhou Great Gorge.
Under the gloomy sky, several seabirds circled for a long time on the calm sea, occasionally snatching a small fish from the water. They would swallow it and then quickly snatch a new one to eat. The fish attracted by the smell of blood were enough to give them a full meal.
A pool of blood seeped into the gray-blue seawater; the viscous liquid was so thick that it didn't dissolve even in the seawater, attracting schools of fish to gather in droves.
"Boom—" A deep rumble suddenly came from the once calm seabed. Even though it was blocked by the seawater, the sound could still penetrate the sea surface.
If the sea surface was already so turbulent, then the earth beneath must have collapsed and mountains crumbled. The booming sound grew louder and louder, like a roar from the depths of the ocean; the water began to tremble, as if something terrifying was about to burst forth.
Many seabirds that were foraging for food were startled by the noise and flew away, landing on the rocks not far away to watch. However, many greedy seabirds were unwilling to let go of the fish in the bloody water and continued to hover over that area of the sea.
Suddenly, it seemed as if a hole had appeared in the seabed, and a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared on the surface of the sea. The seabirds and the schools of fish that were watching the sea were all sucked into the whirlpool. A black figure suddenly rushed out from the seabed, like a sword drawn from its sheath, and fiercely cut through the surface of the sea.
The birds, startled by the collision, screeched and scattered, creating a series of hoarse, mocking sounds on the sea.
The flock of birds scattered, but the black figure fell. The surge of energy from the seabed seemed to have exhausted him; he sank back into the water, floating on the surface, letting the waves toss and turn him.
Finally, the current pushed him to a small reef. With a will to survive, he raised his incredibly heavy arm and clung to the rock, then flipped himself onto it, lying motionless on the rock, completely exhausted. The icy seawater mingled with the blood from the black-clad swordsman's body, dripping everywhere, but one of his hands remained tightly clenched, as if clutching something more precious than life itself.
How can it not be precious? What he's holding in his hands is his junior sister's life.
After several moments of calming my breathing, I finally loosened my clenched hands. My hands, with their distinct knuckles, were wrinkled from being soaked in seawater for so long, and a shimmering scale lay in my bloodless palm.
He fought the giant beast in the abyss for countless days and nights, tearing at each other in the dark and uncertain seabed. Finally, he stabbed the beast in the eye with his sword, making the eyeball, which was larger than a lantern, bleed profusely. Taking advantage of its frenzy, he delivered the final blow and finally dug out the heart-protecting scale belonging to the merman's son from its belly.
The black-clad swordsman sighed, releasing the pent-up frustration from his chest. Something suddenly lit up on his chest. He reached into his robes and found the communication talisman he always carried with him. The jade slip contained many letters his junior sister had written to him over the past few days. He squinted and carefully read each word with difficulty.
The junior sister woke up and asked where he had been. She said the water-based elixir was very effective and she was almost recovered. She added that she had secretly learned some extraordinary techniques from Tianque. She then asked why he hadn't returned yet…
He ran his fingers over the words on the message symbol, then laughed with satisfaction, feeling that it was all worthwhile.
The black-robed monk's sudden laughter startled the seabirds that were resting on a reef, causing them to take flight. The seabirds flew into the air and looked back at the strange man who had emerged from the seabed. They saw him with a bright smile, one eye open, and blood streaming from the other.
*
In the dimly lit underground palace beneath the tower, a huge water mirror leans against the center of the palace. The white-robed, blue-haired merman, Zongzi, stands before the water mirror, silently gazing at everything reflected on its surface. Only his slightly clenched hands betray his anxious and restless state of mind.
He placed the man's hair above the water mirror, using the object belonging to the person to trace the past of the person. This is one way to use the water mirror.
Spiritual energy flowed into the chaotic water, and images gradually appeared on the surface.
The merman stared intently at the images, his brows furrowing and his fingers unconsciously clenching his fists. The tracing process began from the moment the owner's possession fell and continued forward, with the more distant the past passing by more rapidly.
He saw her nearly lose her life in the sword formation her fellow disciples had deliberately set up before the competition. No wonder she was late that day, and when she did appear, she brought with her a heavy stench of blood. Further ahead was her time learning swordsmanship in Kunlun. What should have been a peaceful life was instead filled with danger for her. Trials, sword practice, more trials, more sword practice... this cycle repeated endlessly. She practically treated herself as a weapon to be tempered.
Throughout her long training journey, the man who had carried her to the sinking water was always by her side. He taught her swordsmanship, taught her to read and write, held her hand while teaching her to write, and deliberately teased her to make her happy... In the water mirror, that person was like a fly, always hovering around her. What made him even more uneasy was that in the snow, he saw her place her hand in the hand of that person who was still a boy at the time.
A surge of unprecedented jealousy welled up in the mermaid's tranquil heart, tearing him apart with unfamiliar emotions. He wanted nothing more than to erase that person from Jiang Yuhuo's memory. No, no, no clinging to his partner! The place beside her should have been his; they were meant to be together for life!
The scene in the water mirror quickly shifted, arriving at the memory before the "fly" appeared.
The merman's heart tightened instantly.
In the dilapidated temple, she stood amidst the scattered limbs, gazing for a long time at the mottled mural of the mermaid goddess on the wall by the dim firelight.
Is she thinking of him? Does she still remember him?
In the image reflected in the water mirror, she reached out her hand to the statue of the Mermaid Goddess. Her hand, stained with blood, appeared even paler against the stark red.
The merman suddenly felt so sad that he could hardly breathe. He should have been by her side, instead of leaving her alone in the human world, longing for a portrait.
In her memory, he could not see her face, but that pale, slender hand spoke volumes; he could feel her bitter emotions.
But why did that hand go down?
The merman continued to trace back, eager to see his own reflection, to find the lost part of himself in her memories, to see every little detail of their time together, to see how she loved him, and how he was moved by her, making him willingly divide himself for her.
The scene in the water mirror flowed forward bit by bit. The merman used his spiritual power to control the speed of the flow. His heart began to beat faster in his chest. He couldn't help but lean closer to the water mirror, afraid of missing any details.
She saved some people and killed others that cold winter. Something was attached to her; Shui Jing was silent, he couldn't hear what she was saying, he only felt her pain. The pain had been there from the moment she awoke in the dark cave.
He longed to see her face, to hold her in his arms, but all he could see was her shadow cast on the long street in the desolate night. He reached out to touch the lonely figure on the ground, but the moment he touched her, a ripple spread across the once calm mirror, instantly blurring the entire scene.
Once the water returned to calm, the figure had disappeared.
Like a figure that can never be reached in a dream, once the dream ends, the person is gone.
But now, she lay in his palace, fast asleep on his soft bed. Not long ago, he had held her breath, inhaled her scent, and kissed her hair…
Thinking of this, a bittersweet sense of satisfaction welled up inside me. Thank goodness, thank goodness he found it, and everything is still in time.
But why is there no trace of him in her memory? Did they actually know each other so long ago?
The scene in the water mirror continued to flow slowly. In the vermilion and gold-painted palace, she lay on her sickbed all day. She seemed very weak, only occasionally getting out of bed to walk around. The palace servants around her supported her, their eyes always filled with pity and sorrow. Not many people came to visit her. Only a chubby little girl would run over from time to time, chattering away and bringing her some strange little trinkets.
These peaceful days passed year after year. The merman watched her grow from a child surrounded by crowds into a sickly young woman. Throughout all the years of her growth, he was nowhere to be seen.
He felt that the water mirror must have flowed too quickly, causing them to be missed. So he used an even slower flow to review her memories again and again, constantly searching for traces of him within them, going back and forth, searching repeatedly. He stared intently at the water's surface until he had examined every corner of her memories before she joined Kunlun, watching her grow little by little in the water mirror from a sickly girl in the palace into the aloof female cultivator of the immortal sect she was today.
The sun and moon have gone through countless cycles outside the underground palace, but the mermaid stubbornly stands in front of the water mirror, never closing her eyes.
She seemed to have forgotten many things; she never recalled her noble birth again. But what she forgot were her past memories, not her memories with him.
He was not in her memory at all.
A dull ache gripped her heart, and the merman could no longer stand. She braced herself against the edge of the water mirror with one hand and clutched her chest with the other.
It felt as if a hand had reached into his chest; he knew whose hand it was. That hand mercilessly squeezed his heart, tightening and then loosening, only to tighten again, repeating this cycle as if toying with him. Blood seeped from between the fingers, staining that pale, slender hand red.
The mermaid's usually dignified posture became hunched, her white robe trailing on the ground, and she collapsed weakly to the ground.
The image on the water mirror remained frozen at the moment she reached out her hand to the mottled mural of the Mermaid Goddess. The girl's pale, bloodstained hand rested before the stunningly beautiful statue of the Mermaid Goddess, and in the dim light and shadow, it resembled an ancient, unparalleled painting.
But that wasn't him after all; he never appeared in her past.
She is not that person either.
It turns out that from beginning to end, he was just deluding himself, unilaterally identifying her as that person, mistakenly believing that she had lost that memory just like him, and fantasizing that it was divine mercy that sent her back to his side.
But Shui Jing would not deceive anyone. Her past was clear and presented to him without interruption, without any blanks or memories that had been erased.
How can something that never happened be forgotten?
A series of snickers echoed through the empty underground palace, reverberating eerily against the stone walls. The merman, slumped beside the water mirror, tilted her head back, wiping the tears welling in her eyes. Her icy blue eyes, no longer cold and indifferent, now held a deeper mockery and hatred, a mixture of tenderness and affection.
But her eyes were wet with tears; I wonder who she hates.
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