Mermaids Weep (26)
"Yaoyao!" Ye Yingying stretched out her hands and touched the cool railings. She slowly squatted down, getting closer to the source of Yaoyao's voice, and asked, "Are you alright?"
"Sister Ying'er..." Yao Yao's hoarse voice was much better than before. She hadn't expected Ye Yingying to come to see her, and she was both surprised and delighted. For a moment, she was a little incoherent, "Why are you here? Where is Senior Yun? Are your eyes better?"
"It was Elder Gui who sent me. Senior Yun is here too, but only one person can come in to see you. He's outside."
Upon hearing that it was Old Turtle who had asked for her help, Yao Yao suddenly froze, her mood dropping again: "Grandpa, he..."
"He gave us the Heart-Protecting Scale," Ye Yingying comforted her. "Is this it?"
Ye Yingying slipped the round box through the gap in the railing and handed it to Yao Yao to see.
Yao Yao took the box, opened it, and found the scales lying inside. She picked them up and felt their texture and thickness, her tense nerves finally relaxing: "Great, this is it..."
Yao Yao closed her eyes wearily, the huge weight that had been hanging over her heart finally lifted, and tears welled up in her eyes without her noticing. She closed the box and stuffed it back into Ye Yingying's hands: "Sister Yingying, you two should take this and go save Han Chengjin!"
"Of course I will help, but Yao Yao, there's one more thing I need your help with."
Yao Yao opened her eyes and asked, "What is it?"
"Old Turtle said that the dew I ingested would only be effective if it contained the spiritual power of a mermaid."
Upon hearing this, Yao Yao blinked and suddenly understood. She leaned closer to Ye Yingying and said, "Sister Ying'er, come closer to me."
Ye Yingying leaned forward slightly, feeling a cool breeze brush against her eyes. Something unseen and intangible entered her eyes, making her unconsciously want to rub them open. When she opened her eyes again, everything was still pitch black, but a faint light could be seen, outlining the silhouette of a mermaid.
She tried to see the person's face clearly by following the outline cast by the light and shadow, but the light inside was too dim, and she could only barely make out Yao Yao's lips opening and closing.
"You should be able to see it now, but this is a dark prison, so it's not very bright. It will be clearer once we leave and go outside."
Where exactly is this place?
“It’s a place for those who make mistakes,” Yao Yao said calmly. “The endless darkness evokes a fear of the unknown in the hearts of merfolk, so our ancestors used this to build this prison to punish those who violated the clan’s rules.”
"Sister Ying'er, you should leave now. Staying here too long might affect your mental state."
Ye Yingying was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "It's okay, I've encountered this before, I'm not afraid."
Yao Yao's eyes widened suddenly as she looked at Ye Yingying in astonishment, filled with awe and respect: "Sister Ying'er, you..."
"Shh—" Ye Yingying raised her index finger mysteriously, pressed it to her lips, and whispered, "It's just the two of us here. I'll tell you a secret."
Yao Yao was drawn in by her tone and curiously listened as she slowly said, "I once went into a formation. Once you stepped inside, it was pitch black, and every now and then, dark swords would jump out from who-knows-where to attack me."
"That's outrageous?" Yao Yao blinked, stunned. "Then how did you survive?"
"That is naturally—breaking the formation."
Ye Yingying's experience was thanks to Yun Yanqiu. The first time she met Yun Yanqiu, he threw her into a sword formation. Later, she escaped with the magic artifact given to her by the Ghost Calculator, went back and painstakingly studied the formation, and then went to find him again.
Yun Yanqiu didn't want to waste any more time on her, so he would throw her into all sorts of sword formations each time. These sword formations were varied, and one of them was so dim that you could only rely on your spiritual power and the ability to locate the source of the swords by sound to dodge the swords coming from all directions in a very short time. She suffered a lot because of this, but she also figured out how to break this series of sword formations.
She discovered that although these sword formations were incredibly diverse and varied, the number of swords within each formation was fixed, ranging from three to six. Furthermore, each formation contained a main sword and several secondary swords. The secondary swords possessed weak spiritual energy and were of low power, primarily serving to create confusion, while the main sword possessed strong spiritual energy and was the primary threat.
However, the main sword's spiritual power didn't come from nowhere; the enormous consumption required it to frequently replenish itself using a container. This container was the core of the sword formation. Each time, Ye Yingying's task was to find the main sword, and then, taking advantage of its replenishment, locate and destroy the core of the formation.
Ye Yingying used this method to destroy more than ten sword formations within Yunyanqiu, finally forcing Yunyanqiu to abandon this move and confront her.
She omitted the beginning and end, concealing the key figures, and explained her method for breaking the formation to Yao Yao. Yao Yao had never experienced anything like this before, and listened with great interest. Her previously dim eyes lit up again: "Sister Ying'er, you're so amazing!"
But when she thought about her current situation, she laughed self-deprecatingly: "But this isn't a formation, and I did do something wrong, so I should be punished."
“I used to think that everything in this world should go according to my wishes, that everyone would tolerate me, and that nothing in the sea could hurt me. But the older I get, the more I feel powerless,” Yao Yao confided. “Later I realized that everyone’s tolerance of me was only because they had already decided that as the next clan leader, I would have to bear more responsibility than them and make more sacrifices and concessions in the future.”
"It's not that I dislike this responsibility. After all, it's a recognition from everyone, and I'm quite happy to be able to contribute to everyone."
"But because of it, I lost an important friend..."
Han Chengyu's sudden departure was a thorn in Yao Yao's side. She felt guilty countless times and tried many times to win him back. But when she learned the truth and she and Han Chengyu were honest with each other, the resentment that had lingered in her heart for so many years vanished. Then, she made many new friends: Sister Ying'er, Senior Yun, and Han Chengjin…
Thinking of Han Chengjin, Yao Yao felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of pain in her heart. She couldn't forget the defeated look on his face when she found him in the sea. After being imprisoned, her greatest fear wasn't the dread of being swallowed by the unknown in the darkness, but the guilt of not being able to save Han Chengjin in time. This guilt was like a pale, bony claw, pricking at her heart and pounding on her taut nerves.
"Sister Ying'er, I'm so happy to have met you all. Coming ashore with you, eating delicious food, seeing interesting things, and even making up with Han Chengyu, it all feels like a dream..."
As Yao Yao spoke, she choked up again: "But, I actually caused Han Chengjin's death... He was the last person who should have been in this situation, but I..."
"Yao Yao," Ye Yingying suddenly called out, "Han Chengjin is an innocent young master. He has no bad intentions. Even when he found out that the dew he had treasured for so many years was not the gift you were going to give him, he did not avoid contact with you. Do you know what he did when Lin Shiyou first pointed the finger at the merfolk?"
Yao Yao was stunned, her eyes filled with sadness and confusion. Ye Yingying looked into her eyes and said, "He went outside to find some old friends to help him, but no one was willing to help him. He could only return empty-handed. Finally, he met me and Senior Yun on the carriage on the way back."
Yao Yao couldn't imagine Han Chengjin being alone. In front of her, Han Chengjin was always surrounded by many people—his brother, the stewards and servants of the manor, Senior Yun, and Ye Yingying. Looking at him, Yao Yao felt he was a child who had grown up surrounded by people, and that this was how he should always be.
Even so, he was still willing to travel far and wide for a mermaid he had only met once, or who might only exist in legends.
"And the merman who made him work tirelessly and busy himself was you." Ye Yingying's gaze was firm and unwavering, instantly giving Yao Yao a sense of strength.
"So don't be sad anymore, he will definitely wake up."
Han Chengjin never asked for anything in return for his devotion to Pei Yao; he was simply that kind of incredibly pure-hearted guy. He had long considered Yao Yao an extremely important friend, perhaps even more precious than a friend…
Thinking of this, Ye Yingying added, "And I'm certain that Lin Shiyou will never regret protecting you from him."
Then Ye Yingying remembered Old Turtle's instructions: "Old Turtle had something he wanted me to tell you, 'It hurts him a lot every time he changes his nails.'"
Yao Yao was taken aback, then realized what was going on. She chuckled, and her hearty laughter echoed through the prison.
Growing up is something that is bound to be accompanied by pain and choices, and now it is time for her to make a choice.
Pei Yao closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gradually calmed her restless heart. Then she opened her eyes, her gaze filled with a determination that Ye Yingying had never seen before. She said to Ye Yingying, "Sister Ying'er, thank you."
Seeing that Yao Yao's emotions had stabilized, Ye Yingying smiled and shrugged.
Yao Yao paused for a moment, then continued, "Oh right, there's something else I forgot to tell you. When Lin Shiyou was about to strangle me, a black sword pierced his heart, which is how I survived."
The Black Sword? Ye Yingying recalled some past events, and an ominous premonition surged into her heart once again.
"That sword is like a living thing, and it even sucks Lin Shiyou's blood."
Ye Yingying had a guess in her mind: "I understand, I will tell them later."
Yao Yao nodded, then slowly said, "Sister Ying'er, if he really wakes up... please tell him 'thank you' for me."
After saying that, Yao Yao urged Ye Yingying to leave quickly so as not to delay the time. Ye Yingying agreed repeatedly, then picked up the round box, slowly stood up, and asked her one last question: "You really don't have anything else you want to say to him?"
Yao Yao shook her head and lowered her eyes, saying, "The Heart-Protecting Scale is the merman's second heart. If it can truly bring him back to life, then we will be of one mind."
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