A story
"This was the first country to surrender. Their king offered up the palace in exchange for the safety of the entire city," the prince said. "After Father renovated the palace, he put it under my sister's name."
It turns out it wasn't a renovation, but a reconstruction.
In the center of the hall was a pool of water, the shallow water just reaching knee height.
"It is said that the water in this pool is the holy water of this country, which can prolong life. This is also the method I found to cure my sister."
The prince ordered all the water in the pool to be removed, and then drew a formation on the bottom of the pool.
The pool faces the palace's dome, and the openwork dome allows a view of the sky.
You can bask in the sunlight at noon and the moonlight at midnight.
"What kind of formation is this?" The princess frowned.
The prince said, "I don't know either. This book says it can gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. With the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, it will definitely cure my sister's illness."
As Han Jiang had predicted, the formation was no different from the Spirit Gathering Altar.
One of the spirit-gathering altars is built in the palace, but where is the other one built?
The prince did not mention that two spirit altars needed to be built.
After moving to the palace, Hanjiang was able to move around freely.
The king arranged a new batch of maids and guards, while Han Jiang and Cang Jingqi were promoted to supervisors to coordinate.
The two searched the entire palace but could not find the entrance to the underground palace.
The pool is only for the princess's bathing use; no one else is allowed to approach it.
When Han Jiang was serving the princess, he specifically went close to check the pool, and it didn't seem to have any mechanism to lower her down.
"Could it be a tomb built after the princess's death?" Han Jiang wondered.
Cang Jingqi retorted, "It should already exist. I found spaces behind the walls in several places, but I don't know where they are. There must be some mechanism we haven't found yet."
"We can't find the other altar either." Han Jiang was somewhat discouraged.
“I don’t think the other spirit-gathering altar is here. If the prince wants the princess to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, then the other one cannot be hidden somewhere in the palace.”
Han Jiang said, "I'll just ask the princess directly. Since this is a memory, it can't be changed. The more we ask, the more clues we can get."
She told Cang Jingqi about the voice in her mind.
Cang Jingqi initially thought this was an illusion, but he couldn't find the owner of the illusion.
Hanqi took the place of the original princess and became a participant in the memories.
Han Jiang and Cang Jingqi, on the other hand, act as bystanders to the memories.
Bystanders cannot participate in the memory.
Han Jiang tried to ask the princess questions, but the princess continued to act according to her memory, as if she couldn't hear Han Jiang. Only when Han Jiang recited the original lines would the princess respond.
So they had no choice but to give up looking for clues from the princess.
The prince has not yet been granted a fiefdom, and spends most of his time leading his army into battle, so he has little time to visit the princess.
The Queen, on the other hand, came frequently and even stayed there permanently.
The princess's health did indeed improve, and she no longer needed to take medicine all day.
The new year was not as smooth as the previous year. The king marched south to conquer, but suffered defeat after defeat. Not only did he not win, he also lost a large amount of territory.
"The soldiers have suffered severe loss of spiritual energy. Your father suspects it's some kind of curse. Let's go back to the seabed and take a look." The Queen packed her bags.
The princess agreed and took Han Jiang and Cang Jingqi with her.
"As the princess of the kingdom, she should bring blessings to the people."
The princess was pushed onto the altar by the king and forced to sing a morale-boosting war song.
"Father, this is not a blessing! We can no longer fight!"
Throughout the past year, the people have suffered greatly, but the king has always firmly believed that victory will be achieved as long as the fighting continues.
The king couldn't understand why his once powerful army had declined so much, so he hid in his library for several days.
That night was one the princess would never forget.
Han Jiang followed the princess to the study.
Also present were the Queen, the King, and the Prince, whom they had not seen for a long time.
Cang Jingqi stood guard outside the door as a protector.
"You may leave," the king said, dismissing Han Jiang.
The princess gripped Han Jiang's arm tightly: "She's right here, with me."
The king was furious, but he still agreed.
He threw a book at the prince's face, then roared in fury: "So that's why the soldiers lacked spirit! It was you who was behind this!"
The prince built another spirit-gathering altar beneath the seabed, absorbing the ocean's spiritual energy.
The kingdom's soldiers draw spiritual energy from the ocean, but under this dual pressure, the ocean's supply of spiritual energy is limited.
"How much can the Spirit Gathering Altar absorb? You've been fighting non-stop, how can you blame your son and daughter?" the Queen said angrily.
"Then punish me, Father! But you absolutely cannot dismantle the Spirit Gathering Altar. My sister's health has only just recovered."
The three men argued and smashed everything in the study.
The princess clung tightly to Han Jiang's arm, barely managing to sit up; otherwise, she would probably have fainted at any moment.
The king did not dismantle the altar of spirits; instead, he decided to search for a new place far away where spiritual energy was abundant.
Since victory is impossible on the southward journey, let us head north.
To the north lies an even deeper ocean.
"No!" the Queen exclaimed anxiously. "The north is a forbidden land, a place of unknown death. Legend has it that this continent was created only after the light of day had faded..."
"Those are all legends!"
The princess and queen were sent back to the city and were not allowed to leave.
The prince then followed the king on his journey to a distant land.
They did not reunite for the next three years.
Following the gaps in their memories, Han Jiang and Cang Jingqi arrived at the next point in time.
The prince rode swiftly to the city, saying he would take the princess and queen and flee to the south.
Where is your father?
“He’s dead.” The prince was heartbroken.
The army sailed north, but encountered black seawater that formed a barrier, preventing the ships from proceeding any further.
The king firmly believed that there was hope in the distance.
He discovered that the black seawater contained a different kind of power, unlike spiritual power.
So the king built a stone platform and carved a spirit altar on it, which he then threw into the Black Sea.
Another one was built on the ship, seeking to obtain the power of the Black Sea.
As a result, the Spirit Gathering Altar emitted black gas, which engulfed everyone on the ship.
That power was too great for anyone to control.
I thought that suspending the operation of the Spirit Gathering Altar would end the problem, but unexpectedly, the Black Sea began to invade and gradually spread into the original ocean.
Wherever they went, only desolation remained.
Even the sky turned black.
The prince risked his life to escape back.
“That is chaos beyond the world,” the Queen said. “Only when the sky bursts open with light can it regain its brightness.”
"Hurry up! At the speed of the Black Sea, we'll reach the underwater palace soon. We have no home..." The prince's voice choked with sobs.
The princess looked up and saw the sun through the dome.
Han Jiang helped her into the pool. As if making up her mind, she said, "Please come with me."
The answer in her heart was almost obvious. Han Jiang unconsciously glanced at Cang Jingqi.
For the princess, the most important people are all here.
She bent down and brushed her fingers across the engravings on the edge of the pool.
The pool slowly descended, but the water in the pool miraculously remained in place.
A layer of water gradually seeped through Hanjiang's legs and waist, and over his head.
After descending to the surface, the water on my body didn't stay on me, but instead returned to the water column.
The king of the city was killed after surrendering, but he left a trusted confidant in the palace.
The man was seriously injured and wouldn't live much longer. He had observed the princess for a year and believed she was a trustworthy person. Before he died, he told her the story hidden beneath the city.
This island is the only way to the southern continent, and it is also the "gateway" to the southern continent.
The secret of "opening" and "closing" is hidden here.
"Is the engraving really the activation mechanism?" Cang Jing asked.
The princess, unusually, answered their questions: "No. The water in the pool absorbs the spiritual energy of the sun and moon, and the engravings, immersed in the water, naturally also possess spiritual energy. The dead told me that their king had never reached the underground, but the engravings would resonate with those destined to receive them, thus activating the formation."
At first, I thought it was nonsense. I touched the engravings countless times without any reaction, but just now, the formation was activated.
The Queen said, "All things have a spirit."
They landed in a small compartment, the same place they had landed before the cold snap.
The three of them came to this place once again.
"That Black Sea was the chaos at the beginning of heaven and earth, until a ray of light appeared, dispelling the chaos and bringing forth all things and living beings. That ray of light was pure spiritual power," the princess said. "Here are four corridors leading to four rooms, symbolizing the protection of the four directions."
"So how can we dispel the chaos again?" the prince asked.
The Queen asked, "You just mentioned the Black Sea invasion. So, where was the first place the Black Sea reached?"
"Our underwater palace! What happened?"
"Therefore, we can see that the gateway to the world is actually us," the Queen said. "This city has been our territory for a long time. When I was a child, I heard my mother say this, and my mother heard it from her mother. It was passed down from generation to generation, and over such a long time, it became a legend. Some people believe it, and some people don't."
Everything we take from the ocean, we must eventually return; every mistake we make, we must eventually atone for.
Princess: "Do you know how to reverse the Spirit Gathering Altar?"
Prince: "I know."
"Then let's begin." The princess sat in the center of the Spirit Gathering Altar.
The remaining four people went in four different directions.
The reverse spirit-gathering altar returns the spiritual energy they extracted from the ocean back to the ocean.
Meanwhile, the massive spiritual energy surge from the other side could force the Black Sea back.
Han Jiang entered the east room. At this time, there were no inscriptions on the walls, nor were there any altars or portraits in front of them.
There is only one drawn formation here.
It wasn't a formation from the Spirit Gathering Altar, but a formation that Han Jiang had never seen before.
She sat cross-legged in the center, pouring spiritual energy into the formation as instructed by the princess.
White power overflowed from the formation, rising and converging above Han Jiang's head, slowly transitioning to gold.
The feeling of detachment from one's soul comes faster than the end of the story.
Han Jiang watched as she left her body and floated in the air.
"This is the end of the story..." the voice rang out again.
Hanjiang is about to leave this place.
"Is this something you experienced in the past? Why are you telling me?"
"Because...you are destined to be together..."
Perhaps the princess, like the carvings on the pool, has remained here, waiting.
"And then what happened after the story ended? You repelled the Black Sea? And then what?"
Her body floated upwards, leaving the room and the underground palace. She reached the hall, but she continued to float upwards.
The princess seemed to be answering her, but Han Jiang couldn't hear anything. She tried to grasp the answer in her mind, but the harder she tried, the more blurred it became.
She floated out of the castle, as if standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun.
The sun's white light made it impossible for her to open her eyes.
"Cold weather descends..."
Han Jiang heard someone calling her, but she still couldn't open her eyes.
"Cold weather is coming! Wake up!"
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