Into The Sea

“Chu Chunhan.” Lan Wu looked up at the woman before her, asking again, “Why are you here? Did Father hide you here?”

“Hide?” Chu Chunhan chuckled, shaking her head. “Do you think this is hiding? Isn’t it more like imprisonment?”

Lan Wu’s face paled instantly. She stammered, “Father wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Has he been good to you?”

Lan Wu nodded helplessly. “Yes, Father is very good to me. He loves me dearly.”

Chu Chunhan suddenly let out a mocking laugh. “Lan Wu, you shouldn’t keep sneaking here to see me.”

“Why?”

“Because,” she said in a low voice, “I despise you.”

Lan Wu flinched, her round eyes quickly filling with tears. “But, this past year, you’ve told me so many human stories…”

“That’s only because you kept pestering me. I was just humoring you.” Chu Chunhan said coldly. “But actually, every time I saw you, I felt disgusted.”

“Why?!” Lan Wu frantically grabbed her hem, choking back sobs. “Is it because of the questions I asked earlier? I won’t ask them anymore!”

Chu Chunhan suddenly stood up, grabbed Lan Wu by the collar, and tossed her out the door. Lan Wu tumbled on the ground, and by the time she got up, the door had slammed shut. She stared blankly at the closed door, sitting there for a long while before finally getting up, wiping her tears, and transforming into a small fish to swim away.

Leaving the merfolk city, Lan Wu climbed onto a coral reef and hid in the dense seaweed, sobbing. Exhausted from crying, she clutched a handful of seaweed and drifted off to sleep.

“Lan Wu…”

“Lan Wu!”

The increasingly loud calls woke her from her slumber. Lan Wu groggily surfaced, instinctively poking her head out. “Mother?”

The calls abruptly stopped, then a furious bellow resounded. “Lan Wu, didn’t I tell you to stay in your room and reflect on your actions?!”

Lan Wu flinched. Through her blurred vision, she saw a woman with a furious expression, wearing a magnificent crown and a silver brocade robe, rushing toward her from a distance. The woman jabbed Lan Wu’s forehead without mercy, her voice sharp as a firecracker. “Where did you run off to this time? Did you go to the shallows again? I told you not to go, but you just had to disobey me, didn’t you? Do you even realize how dangerous humans are? Is your brain as small as those worthless fish?”

Lan Wu let out a muffled groan. After being jabbed several times, the accumulated grievances in her heart suddenly burst forth. “There’s no mother like you in this world!”

Jiang Xi froze, her finger hovering in mid-air, stunned. “What did you say?”

Lan Wu, her voice cracking, said, “You don’t even like me. You always think I’m a nuisance, that I’m troublesome, that I’m not learning well, and you’re always scolding me. If that’s the case, why did you insist on being my mother?”

Jiang Xi stared at her, biting her lip after a long pause. “Do you think… do you think I wanted to be your mother?”

As soon as she said those words, she trembled, blinking her red-rimmed eyes as if waking from a dream. Lan Wu, however, found a kind of answer in her reaction. Her body stiffened, tears streaming down her face.

“So it’s true,” she sobbed. “It’s true.”

“Third Princess,” a gentle voice sounded nearby. Lan Wu turned her head listlessly, seeing the High Priestess’s beautiful gray eyes. “Are you feeling unwell?”

Lan Wu glanced around and, seeing that the Fuyou wasn’t accompanied by the ever-present floating jellyfish, felt reassured enough to bury her face in her arms. In a small voice, she said, “When I was little, Mother used to read me stories about little dragons searching for their mothers.”

The High Priestess chuckled, stroking her head. “You’re hardly old enough to be talking about ‘when you were little’.”

Lan Wu pouted, turning her head away. “But even little dragons who were separated from their mothers at birth were born out of love.”

The High Priestess paused, her warm palm resting on Lan Wu’s head, no longer moving. Lan Wu’s voice grew softer, barely audible. “But my birth… doesn’t seem to have been welcomed.”

After a long silence, the High Priestess asked softly, “You know?”

Lan Wu was startled. “You know too?”

“I am the High Priestess. Nothing in this sea can be hidden from me.” The woman sighed. “Have you confronted her?”

Lan Wu shook her head, her eyes instantly welling up with tears. “She hates me.” She sniffled, confused. “High Priestess, why… why doesn’t my mother love me?”

“In this world, not every mother loves her child.”

Lan Wu looked at her with wide eyes. “Why?”

The High Priestess couldn’t bear to tell her the truth. Instead, she asked, “Why do you insist on seeking her love? The Emperor and Empress have both treated you well, haven’t they?”

Hearing this, Lan Wu only became more despondent. “But I said terrible things to Mother.” She counted her chubby fingers, dejectedly saying, “Mother hasn’t spoken to me for half a month.”

The High Priestess smiled, pulling out a few bone divination sticks. “How about I do a divination for you, Third Princess, to see when the Empress will forgive you?”

Lan Wu’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”

She curled up and sat obediently beside the High Priestess, watching intently as she arranged the sticks. Just then, a muffled sound came from the distance, followed by a powerful surge of water. The High Priestess frowned, swiftly pulling Lan Wu into her arms, but still stumbled from the impact.

Lan Wu, still shaken, looked toward the city and saw a swirling vortex of sand and debris.

Wait, that location was…

She gasped and jumped out of the High Priestess’s arms, quickly swimming towards it. The closer she got, the clearer the devastation became. Large, well-structured buildings had collapsed into ruins, and the palace at the highest point was the most damaged. Countless merfolk guards were rushing in from all directions, weapons in hand. Lan Wu, taking advantage of her small size, deftly weaved through the crowd. Soon, she heard someone calling out in alarm, “Third Princess! Third Princess! Come back!”

She ignored the calls and swam straight to the forbidden area, surprised to find that the entire barrier had vanished, and the pear blossom tree had been completely destroyed by the sudden influx of seawater. Lan Wu picked up a floating petal, turning around in confusion before heading towards the familiar house. “Chu Chunhan!”

No one answered. She blinked, and a frustrated hum escaped her lips. Just as she was about to dive into the crumbling ruins, a hand grabbed her.

Lan Wu instinctively turned around, seeing the man’s handsome face.

Her eyes widened with surprise. “Father!”

Lan Zhichuan glanced at the collapsed ruins before turning to Lan Wu, his voice cold. “What are you doing here?”

Lan Wu was stunned, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to find words. Luckily, a merfolk guard swam up to them, saying, “Your Majesty, they’ve headed toward the Western Sea.”

Lan Wu recognized the guard as General Jianqing. Before she could react, Lan Zhichuan’s gaze fell upon her again. An inexplicable chill ran down her spine as she met the man’s cold, dark eyes.

“Fa… Father…”

Lan Zhichuan stared at her for a moment, his grip on her arm tightening until she let out a pained whimper. Then, without warning, he turned and swam off at breakneck speed. “After them!”

He swam incredibly fast, and Lan Wu, held tightly in his arms, could barely keep up. The man showed no mercy, charging through the water like an arrow. After chasing for half an hour, they finally saw two figures in the shallow waters, illuminated by the faint sunlight.

They were about to reach the shore.

Lan Zhichuan’s eyes darkened as he watched their retreating figures. He suddenly stopped, holding up the dazed little mermaid in his arms and shouting. “Chu Chunhan! If you dare leave, I will kill your own flesh and blood!”

His voice carried far across the water. Lan Wu’s eyes widened in horror, and she barely managed to cry out, “Father—” before his hand tightened around her throat.

Lan Zhichuan’s voice was sharp, “You have fifteen minutes. If you don’t come back willingly, you’ll be left with a corpse!” As if to prove his words, he loosened his grip slightly, allowing Lan Wu a gasp of air. “Chu Chunhan, fifteen minutes.”

The little mermaid in his grasp hung her head limply. After a moment, she lifted her face, red and tear-streaked, and stared at him in disbelief. “Father…”

“Silence.”

Lan Wu trembled, tears streaming down her face and merging with the vast sea. “She won’t come back.”

Lan Zhichuan frowned. “What?”

“She won’t come back,” Lan Wu sobbed, “She doesn’t love me. She won’t come back for me…”

“Lan Zhichuan.” A clear, cold voice suddenly rang out. Lan Wu stiffened, slowly turning her head. The familiar white figure moved through the clear seawater, calmly entering the cage he had set for her. “Have you truly become so heartless?”

Lan Zhichuan smirked, a look of triumph on his face. “Regardless, you’ve come back, haven’t you?”

Chu Chunhan sighed. Though they were underwater, her movements were as steady as if she were walking on land.

Dozens of merfolk guards raised their swords, surrounding her, watching her every move. Lan Zhichuan remained where he was, watching the woman approaching him. “This time, I won’t be angry with you,” he said. “But if there’s a next time…”

“Lan Wu.”

Lan Wu’s long lashes fluttered as she choked out, “Chu…”

“Close your eyes.”

What?

Lan Wu stared at her in confusion. In the next instant, a blinding golden light erupted, accompanied by a deafening explosion. Lan Wu’s vision went dark, and she lost consciousness completely.

“Huff… huff…”

A thick, sticky liquid dripped onto her face, only to be washed away by the gentle sea water. Lan Wu’s eyelids felt incredibly heavy, and she struggled for a while before finally managing to open them. The scene before her was blurred by a haze of blood.

She was still being held in someone’s grasp. The man’s breathing was labored, and his body was covered in wounds, blood pouring from every part of him. His usually immaculate hair was disheveled.

“Ugh! Cough, cough!” He coughed suddenly, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, mixing with the seawater.

Lan Wu’s body was stiff. After a long while, she slowly looked around. But apart from the two of them, the sea was completely empty.

“You actually…” Lan Zhichuan slowly lifted her up, his bloodshot eyes staring at her in disbelief. “You actually… survived…”

He frowned, as if genuinely puzzled, and muttered, “A spiritual core self-destruction, at such close range… Why… why didn’t you die?”

Lan Wu’s eyes widened slowly. “Self-destruction… of the spiritual core?”

Lan Zhichuan and Lan Wu stared at each other for a moment, then he suddenly chuckled, throwing Lan Wu aside, shaking his head and laughing maniacally. “Chu Chunhan, ah, Chu Chunhan… You truly are the most ruthless of all!”

Lan Wu’s breathing quickened. She turned over, staring at the wisps of blood swirling in the water. “No, no…”

“Lan Wu!”

A voice called out from the distance. A small silver mermaid shot through the water and grabbed Lan Wu, her voice filled with panic. “Are you alright? What happened? Father… Father?”

She turned around, staring in shock at the crazed man, instinctively calling out, “Father?”

Lan Zhichuan turned, and his gaze fell upon the High Priestess, who stood silently nearby. His laughter faded. “High Priestess?”

He narrowed his eyes, staring coldly at her, and asked in a hoarse voice, “High Priestess, what did you foresee?”

The High Priestess was silent for a long moment, then finally said, “Emperor…”

Lan Zhichuan frowned. “Hm?”

“You will die because of your third daughter.”

The surroundings fell into complete silence. Lan Yuan’s hair stood on end, and she instinctively tightened her grip on the bloodied girl in her arms. But then, Lan Wu suddenly trembled and lifted her face, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes. “I will… kill you…”

Her innocent face was now filled with a hatred and despair that didn’t belong to her age. “I will kill you!”

Lan Yuan froze, her eyes darting nervously to the man’s increasingly dark expression. She cried out in panic. “Lan Wu, why are you saying such things?! Take it back! Apologize to Father!”

Lan Zhichuan didn’t say a word, but a longsword began to form in his bloodied hand.

Lan Yuan quickly stepped in front of Lan Wu, looking at him in terror. “Father, Father! Lan Wu is just confused! She doesn’t mean it!”

Lan Zhichuan said, “Move aside.”

“Father! She’s your daughter!”

“If you don’t move, I’ll kill you too…”

“Enough!” A loud roar pierced through the water as a silver dragon emerged from the depths. With a sweep of its long tail, it shielded the two girls beneath it.

“Jiang Xi,” Lan Zhichuan stopped, frowning at her, “What are you doing?”

The dragon stared at him coldly. “I won’t let you kill Lan Wu because of a prophecy.”

“Ha…” He scoffed. “Now you’re acting like a good mother? When I wanted you to raise them, you hated them, didn’t you? You were so unwilling!”

“I was unwilling then. You forced me to be their mother.” Jiang Xi gritted her teeth. “Now, I have raised them for decades as you asked, and I have come to think of them as my own daughters.”

“So, you’re determined to protect her?”

“Yes. Lan Wu is my daughter. I won’t let you kill her without reason!”

Lan Zhichuan stared at her silently for a while, then finally scoffed, withdrawing his sword.

“Then be a good mother,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “For the rest of your life, you must… raise her to be weak, useless, and harmless. If I sense even the slightest threat from her, I won’t hesitate to kill her!”