Into The Sea

Lan Wu twisted her wrist, the icy blade slowly turning within his flesh. Chu Chen trembled in agony, screaming. “Yes, yes!”

“Then where is he?”

“I don’t know!”

“How could you not know?” Lan Wu abruptly pulled her sword out and pressed it against his neck. “You and he have been colluding, committing so many atrocities. How could you not know where he is?!”

“He forced me!” Chu Chen hissed. “I had faked my death for years, afraid of Lan Yueyao’s revenge. But he came to me, forcing me to cooperate with him, to lure Lan Yueyao into attacking Penglai!”

“The old man’s voice grew more desperate “My Penglai, after so much effort, finally achieved its current status, only to be destroyed by his schemes! The underground palace that our Chu family has guarded for generations was completely ruined by Lan Yueyao! This is a matter between him and his sister! What does it have to do with me?! Do you think I wasn’t happy when I heard Lan Zhichuan had died?”

“No, I was overjoyed! But his ghost wouldn’t leave me alone. He appeared again, forcing me to leave the underground palace and do his bidding. If I refused, he would reveal to Lan Yueyao that I was still alive. If I agreed, he promised to give me more merfolk, just like before…”

“So, you’re just afraid of death!” Lan Wu interrupted him, unable to bear it any longer. “You claim you were forced, that this has nothing to do with you. But if you hadn’t harvested blood back then, you wouldn’t be in this situation today!”

“What’s wrong with being afraid of death?” Chu Chen’s face twisted with madness. “You merfolk are born with long lifespans. Compared to you, the life of a human is as fleeting as a mayfly. What right do you have to judge my fear of death? And them! All of them! They claim cultivation is about subduing demons and protecting the world. They are just putting on a righteous act! But you don’t really believe that, do you?”

His venomous gaze swept over the crowd. “They just want to achieve immortality. It’s just a matter of luck!”

Ji Lingyue suddenly tightened her grip on his throat. “Nonsense.”

She said, “The sixty years of my life are not something you can slander so casually. Speak! Where is Lan Zhichuan?”

“I already said, I don’t… know…” Chu Chen’s eyes bulged, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “The one who met me later… was that cat demon, Ji, Ji…”

Ji Lingyue froze. “Ji Xing?”

Demonic energy began to swirl around her feet, showing her unrest. Lan Yuan, hearing the name, was shocked. “Ji Xing? The cat demon Ji Xing? She’s working with Lan Zhichuan?”

“Hah…” Ji Lingyue let out a soft laugh, glancing toward the shadows deep in the desert. “Well, isn’t this convenient? Old and new grudges, all coming together.”

Soon, a gaunt figure was thrown out of the barrier. Chu Chen scrambled to his feet, desperately trying to run back, but a long sword blocked his way. “Run. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll die a little later.”

“No, no…” He shook his head in panic. “Let me go back! Let me go back! You can punish me however you want, just don’t hand me over to Lan Yueyao!”

“Punish?” Lan Wu sneered. “Only the living need punishment. You… you don’t.”

“No…”

Before he could finish, a sound echoed from behind him, a voice from his distant memories, cold and haunting.

“Chu Chen.”

Chu Chen froze, his eyes filled with horror.

Lan Yueyao stared at him intently. “Long time no see.”

As soon as she finished, the withered figure in front of her abruptly turned. A cold light shot out from his sleeve, heading straight for her face. Lan Yueyao snorted, raising a finger. An invisible force blocked the incoming sword, preventing it from moving even an inch further.

Crack. The spiritual light on the blade began to fracture. Chu Chen’s eyes trembled, and he immediately abandoned the sword, retreating and turning to flee into the night sky.

A low laugh echoed, like a viper baring its fangs, following him like a shadow. “Chu Chen, where do you think you’re going?”

Long, arrow-like streams of water shot out from her side, wrapping around the old man’s limbs and quickly freezing into ice, with countless sharp barbs piercing his flesh.

A piercing scream echoed in the night sky. Crimson blood flowed down the ice, dripping onto Lan Yueyao’s fingertips. “After all these years, the scent of merfolk blood in your body is still so strong. Of course,” she said, looking down at the crimson blood. “You kept me imprisoned for so long.”

Chu Chen trembled uncontrollably, pleading in terror. “Lan Yueyao, spare me! As long as you let me go, I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” Lan Yueyao narrowed her eyes. “Can you do something that will make me happy?”

Chu Chen nodded frantically. “I can! As long as you let me go, I’ll serve you like a slave…”

“There’s no need to be a slave,” she chuckled. “The only thing you can do to make me happy is to die.”

With that, she suddenly clenched her fist. The limbs trapped by the icicles twisted at unnatural angles with a sickening crack, flesh tearing to reveal bone.

Chu Chen screamed in agony, tears and snot streaming down his face. “No, no, no! Don’t kill me! I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have treated you like that. I was wrong! I was blinded by greed! I was a fool! For Chunhan’s sake, don’t kill me! Please, I’m her father!”

Lan Yueyao froze, her usually calm face now showing a different emotion. “You still dare call yourself her father?!”

A powerful force yanked Chu Chen toward her. Lan Yueyao, furious, grabbed him by the collar and hissed. “If she hadn’t sought merfolk blood to save you, if she hadn’t come to the South Sea, she wouldn’t have met me or Lan Zhichuan, and she wouldn’t have ended up like that! She did all of this because you were her beloved father! But what about you? You treated her as a tool to be discarded, you pushed her into the jaws of death, you destroyed her with your own hands! How dare you still call yourself her father?!”

She trembled, her voice laced with disgust. “Disgusting.”

“You didn’t just wrong me. You wronged her, and you wronged the merfolk who were imprisoned with me. Those merfolk were my friends, my subjects who swore loyalty to me. But they all died, in that dark, sunless prison.”

Lan Yueyao’s eyes reddened. “You cut them a thousand times, you took every drop of their blood. Every merfolk who died suffered as if they were being torn apart. Can you imagine what that feels like?”

Chu Chen gasped for breath, refusing to look at her.

Lan Yueyao let out a tearful laugh. “Originally, I wanted to kill you myself. But now, I’ve changed my mind.”

She lifted Chu Chen and, riding the night wind, flew high into the sky, stopping beneath the bright moon.

Inside and outside the barrier, countless eyes turned to her, waiting for her next move.

“You’re right. There are many in this world who crave immortality. In fact, demons are no different,” Lan Yueyao said, holding him in the air. “I once heard a human saying, ‘A common man is innocent, but his treasure makes him guilty.’ I didn’t understand what it meant, but now I’ve experienced it firsthand. Now, it’s your turn to experience that feeling.”

Chu Chen froze, finally realizing what was happening. He looked up, his eyes wide with terror. “No…”

But at that moment, Lan Yueyao’s pale hand released him. The wind howled as Chu Chen plummeted from the sky. Through his disheveled hair, he stared in horror at the woman growing smaller and smaller above him. Lan Yueyao, her eyes red, shouted, “Demons, hear my command! He has merfolk blood in him. Devour him, and it will greatly enhance your cultivation!”