Into The Sea

Lan Wu walked back to Jianzhi Courtyard, pushing the door open and wandering around the courtyard in a daze before plopping down at the stone table under the tree.

After a long while, she suddenly exclaimed, “Argh!” and began punching and kicking the air. “What does she mean? What on earth does she mean?!”

Lan Yuan watched her with interest, lazily blowing a few bubbles.

Turning to meet Lan Yuan’s gaze, Lan Wu hurried over, grabbed the basin, and shook it vigorously. “This is all your fault!”

Lan Yuan blinked. “What?”

Lan Yuan gracefully swished her tail, splashing water all over Lan Wu’s face. “Don’t go crazy on me.”

The cold water snapped Lan Wu out of her daze. She set the basin down and walked into the kitchen like a woman possessed, grabbing an axe and heading outside.

“Where are you going?” Lan Yuan couldn’t help but ask.

“To chop firewood,” Lan Wu replied.

She closed the door and followed the winding path toward the back mountain. As she passed Elder Yao’s courtyard, she noticed a puppet standing under a tree, watering the plants. At its feet, a white cat and a bird were playfully fighting.

Something about the bird seemed familiar. Lan Wu muttered a spell under her breath, her fingers forming a series of hand seals. Moments later, a flash of blue light materialized a white bird in front of her, its feathers still ruffled from the scuffle.

“So it really is you.” Lan Wu offered her forearm for the bird to perch on. The puppet turned its head to her and said expressionlessly. “Your bird.”

“Yes… what’s wrong?” she asked.

The puppet pointed to a large empty bowl on the ground. “It stole Little Snow’s food.”

Lan Wu was taken aback, then awkwardly said, “Sorry…”

“You need to take responsibility,” the puppet said sternly. “After forming a contract, your souls are linked. You can’t just let it run wild.”

Lan Wu nodded repeatedly under the scolding and promised. “I’ll take better care of it, I promise. I’ll head to the back mountain and catch some rabbits to make it up to Little Snow. I’m really sorry.”

With that, she hurriedly left with the gyrfalcon. The encounter had a surprisingly calming effect, dissipating her earlier anxieties. When she was alone again, Lan Wu sighed, slowing her pace.

“You went and stole someone else’s food. Can’t you hunt on your own?” she grumbled at the bird, using the axe to clear a path through the bushes. “Go on, catch us some rabbits.”

The gyrfalcon chirped twice in response and soared into the dense forest.

While it was busy, Lan Wu turned around and started chopping wood absentmindedly. “Just walks away after saying that, without any explanation whatsoever.”

She had panicked and disguised her true feelings, claiming it was the kind of liking between friends. Ji Lingyue had gone along with it: Did she mean it that way too? But recalling Ji Lingyue’s earnest gaze, she felt it was more than that.

But what if I’m just imagining things?

Lan Wu stopped, put her hands on her hips, and sighed several times. After a while, she muttered to herself. “Why am I even stressing over this?”

Deep down, she knew why she had been increasingly anxious these days. The uncertainty of the future, with Lan Yuan constantly watching her every move. And then there was the fact that she was a mermaid. Unless Lan Wu could keep it a secret forever, if Ji Lingyue ever found out… it would probably not end well.

This one fear overshadowed everything else, holding her back and keeping her from moving forward.

Lan Wu sighed, her voice laced with regret. “If only I hadn’t lied back then…”

“Lied about what?”

A woman’s voice startled Lan Wu. She jumped and spun around to find Elder Yao behind her, carrying a bamboo basket on her back. Her hair was a tangled mess, making her look like a ghost.

“How… How long have you been there?” Lan Wu sputtered.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” Elder Yao replied. “I was just over there digging herbs; you’re the one who came over.”

Lan Wu sighed, feeling a headache coming on, said. “It’s nothing. Just forget I said anything.”

“Are you troubled by matters of the heart?” Elder Yao interrupted.

“What?” Lan Wu was startled.

“That’s what it looks like,” Elder Yao said seriously. “When my senior sister was troubled by love back then, she looked just like you.”

“Senior sister?” Lan Wu couldn’t help but widen her eyes. “Which senior sister? Don’t tell me you’re talking about my master?”

“Exactly.”

Lan Wu instantly forgot her own worries and asked in surprise. “My master? Who did she like?”

Elder Yao clammed up, “I’m not one to gossip. Since she hasn’t told you herself, I won’t tell you.”

“How can you tease me like this?” Lan Wu sighed, wishing she could shake the answer out of her. “You hint that she has someone she likes and then say you don’t gossip. You’re doing this on purpose!”

Elder Yao tried to pry Lan Wu’s hands off her arm, but the girl was surprisingly strong. “Well then, tell me, are you troubled by love?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lan Wu was speechless.

So that’s what she was getting at.

Since the Elder Yao didn’t know who it was, after hesitating, she admitted, “Yes.”

Elder Yao nodded. “Do you want to become dao companions with Ji Lingyue?”

Lan Wu was shocked. “How did you know?”

She immediately panicked and tried to deny it. “No, no, I’m not saying I want to become dao companions with her. I mean… how did you know it was Ah Yue?”

“Besides her, Who else could it be?”

“Shanye?”

Elder Yao let out a dry chuckle. “But over the years, every time I see the three of you together, Ji Lingyue’s eyes are always on you.”

She added pointedly, “I thought you knew, Lan Wu. You don’t seem like a fool.”

Lan Wu stood there, staring in a daze.

Seeing her expression, Elder Yao slowly said, “Looks like I was mistaken.”

After a while, Lan Wu suddenly closed her eyes, covered her face, and squatted down. “So it’s true after all.”

Confirming her suspicions only made her feel worse.

Why would Ah Yue fall for a liar like her?

“If only I wasn’t…” she murmured, the rest of the sentence catching in her throat.

After all, she was raised as the pampered mermaid princess of the merfolk. To now reject her identity for the sake of love would be a disservice to her people and the ancestors who had fought and died for their survival.

In the end, she was the one who had messed everything up with her indecisiveness and lies.

“Ah, that reminds me.” Elder Yao’s voice broke through Lan Wu’s thoughts. She held out a small white porcelain bottle. “This is what Ji Lingyue asked for earlier. I just finished making it; please give it to her.”

Lan Wu accepted the bottle automatically. “What is it?”

“Solidifying Essence Pills. Made with merfolk blood.”

Lan Wu froze. “What did you say?”

“Merfolk blood,” Elder Yao repeated, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. “From the mermaid you encountered in Changheng City. Ji Lingyue collected the blood from her senior sister’s sword and asked me to make it into medicine…”

Lan Wu’s blood ran cold. “Why does she want this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she wants to boost her cultivation.”

Lan Wu stood motionless. When she came back to her senses, Elder Yao had disappeared, and the gyrfalcon had returned to her shoulder, having dropped three or four rabbits on the ground.

Her head swam with confusion and a growing sense of dread. She rose unsteadily, unsure of where to go or what to do.

Just then, a clear voice called out from a distance, “Hey, there she is! Lan Wu is over there!”

Hurried footsteps followed, and soon someone was by her side. Lan Wu looked up instinctively to see Ji Lingyue’s worried face. “What are you doing here all alone?”

“…Chopping firewood,” Lan Wu replied softly. “Is something the matter?”

Ji Lingyue hesitated. “You promised to go to Jixue City with me tonight.” She added, somewhat nervously, “There’s a lantern festival in the city tonight.”

Lan Wu remembered and nodded slowly. Ji Lingyue seemed relieved, a faint smile appearing on her face. “I thought… I thought you didn’t want to go with me because of what I said…”

What you said?

Lan Wu blinked, her mind replaying Ji Lingyue’s heartfelt confession from earlier that day. Then she remembered Elder Yao’s words, the revelation about her master’s past love. A wave of emotions crashed over her, leaving her head pounding and desperate for release.

She took a deep breath and held out the porcelain bottle, her hand trembling slightly. “Elder Yao asked me to give this to you.”

Ji Lingyue’s eyes widened as she recognized the bottle. “You… you know?”

“Know what?” Lan Wu forced a humorless smile. “It’s just merfolk blood to boost cultivation, right? What’s the big deal? It’s a great supplement. It’s normal for you to want it.”

Ji Lingyue flinched, her eyes searching Lan Wu’s face. “Are you angry?”

“Why would I be angry?” Lan Wu’s smile widened, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “As far as you’re concerned, all demons deserve to die. If their deaths can be put to good use, even better, right? Consuming mermaid blood will make you stronger, allowing you to kill even more demons. I should be happy for you.”

“Lan Wu,” Yu Shanye interjected, unable to stay silent any longer. “What are you doing? You two just made up; why are you talking like this again?

“What’s wrong with what I said?” Lan Wu shook her head, taking a step back. “I don’t want to spoil your mood. If you find my words unpleasant, I won’t go to the lantern festival tonight. Have fun.”

With that, she turned to leave, but Ji Lingyue suddenly grabbed her hand, anxiously asking, “What’s wrong with you? Did I do something to make you angry?”

“No,” Lan Wu replied coldly, trying to pull her hand away. But Ji Lingyue’s grip was firm. She was forced to look back at Ji Lingyue, whose eyes were now red and trembling. “Is it because of the merfolk blood? Because you care about merfolk, so… so you resent me for using their blood to make medicine?”

Now that Ji Lingyue had said it out loud, Lan Wu couldn’t hold back any longer. “So what if I do? Ji Lingyue? Do you really need to use it for medicine? Are you that desperate to advance your cultivation? You clearly hate demons, yet you’re willing to use them for your own benefit. What are you thinking?!”

It was her sister’s blood, after all!

“No,” Ji Lingyue shook her head. “I didn’t plan to use it to advance my cultivation…” She held back her tears, her voice choked. “I wanted to give it to you.”

Lan Wu looked at her, finding it somewhat ironic. “For me? What good would it do me?”

Ji Lingyue’s hand tightened around hers. “Because… because I’m selfish,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “I know Sea Pearls are hard to find, and maybe we won’t find another living merfolk for decades. But I wanted you to stay with me.”

Lan Wu replied, confused. “I am staying with you…”

“But for how long?” Ji Lingyue choked back a sob. “Foundation Establishment cultivators live a hundred years, Qi Refining cultivator two hundred, and Golden Core cultivator up to five hundred years. I can live for five hundred years, but you can’t, Lan Wu. If I can’t find a Sea Pearl in time, you’ll… you’ll be gone after a hundred years. I don’t want you to leave me. I don’t want you to die.”

“Even knowing you like merfolk, I secretly made medicine from the mermaid blood because if you take it, you can live a bit longer. I know you can’t accept it, but it’s all I can do. Lan Wu…”

She paused, then said deliberately, “I love you.”

A tear fell onto Lan Wu’s hand, its warmth startling her.

As their eyes met, a look of dawning realization spread across Lan Wu’s face. Her heart felt like it was breaking, a cold wind whistling through the gaping hole in her chest.

So that’s how it is. That’s why Ji Lingyue was so desperate, searching everywhere for remedies to heal her.

But she had lied from the very beginning. There was nothing to cure. She was a mermaid who had lived for a very long time. Only now did she realize that her lies had led her to a point of no return. One wrong move, and there would be no redemption.