Zanxing

Chapter 110 - End of Fate (2)

The violent waves came to an abrupt halt when they encountered the silver ripples.

"What is this..." Meng Ying was taken aback.

Countless surging tides calmed under this gentle touch, and the earth returned to silence. The seabirds ceased their chaotic flight, and from Zanxing's body, a silver shadow gradually emerged. He took a couple of steps forward and walked out from within Zanxing.

It was a slender and handsome young man, exceptionally beautiful, with skin as pale as translucent jade. He wore the uniform of the royal palace guards of Li'er Country, and his long hair cascaded down to his waist, looking like an ordinary boy of sixteen or seventeen.

But he had a pair of striking eyes the color of the West Sea.

He looked exactly like Yin Li; perhaps because he lacked scales, he appeared much gentler and retained a hint of youthful innocence.

"Yin Li?" Yin Ying was stunned. "You're still alive?"

Yin Li walked in front of him, half-kneeled, and gently touched his head, his eyes filled with a sense of regret.

"He's just a fragment of my primordial spirit," Zanxing said. "When I came out of the demon-slaying formation, I allowed his primordial spirit to attach to me, bringing him along. Perhaps, you have something to say to him."

Yin Li stared at him, and after a long time, hesitantly spoke, "Yin Ying, how have you been?"

Yin Ying let out a low laugh, a white light seemingly flickering beneath the merman's eyes, his voice calm yet indifferent: "I told you long ago that you would regret it. Whether you regret it now, I don't know, but I regret it." He looked up. "If I had known it would come to this, I should have killed you back then; it would have been better than ending up like this now."

All these years, had he been well? Yin Ying thought; of course, he had not. Even though he had told himself countless times that Yin Li was reaping what he sowed and could blame no one else, when he saw the fishermen spitting on the golden statue by the sea, when he saw the numerous stone tablets filled with virtues by the white jade steps of the royal tomb, when he saw Princess Li Zhu in the palace, reminiscing about her deceased husband with a sorrowful gaze...

Who still remembered Yin Li?

Only he did.

The waters of the West Sea were warm year-round. They grew up here, watching the fishermen cast their massive nets at dawn, seeing seabirds fly over the mangroves, leaving light traces in the azure sky. The sun rose and set the same way every day, yet they never grew tired of watching. A hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and only the West Sea remained unchanged. Yin Ying thought, the joy of the merfolks would also remain unchanged.

Until one day, a merman came ashore.

And then fate became strange.

The other merfolks had gradually left the West Sea, swimming further south. Only he remained, swimming stubbornly in familiar waters, frustrated and unwilling, imagining that one day he would see Yin Li again, and he would certainly berate this idiot until he bled.

Day after day, year after year, the former joy and laughter had long gone, and he swam alone under the sunlight, dragging his shadow in solitude.

He became the only merman in the West Sea.

Yin Li's voice trembled slightly as he looked at Yin Ying, his fingers nervously curling up. He whispered, "I'm sorry, Yin Ying."

Yin Ying remained silent. All the unwillingness and resentment vanished at that moment. He became somewhat confused; all these years, why had he stubbornly stayed here?

People often say that merfolks are passionate and sentimental creatures, or perhaps they are traditionalists who refuse to change. He scolded Yin Li for being naive and unable to see the world's malice, yet he himself had been indulging in the past for a hundred years, unwilling to awaken. He despised the arrangements of fate, yet he didn't even know how to change it.

"You don't need to apologize," Yin Ying turned his eyes away. "I've said many times that my actions are not for revenge against you."

"I believe it's not entirely for your revenge," Gu Baiying walked over to him. "Or rather, it's not solely for you."

Yin Li: "I don't understand."

"He is here to enter the secret realm. As for the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent girls in Li'er Country before entering the secret realm, that was probably just a side effect," Gu Baiying looked at Yin Ying. "However, the power of the merman is not strong enough; your brother is excessively powerful and abnormal."

Yin Ying scoffed coldly, "Incapable mortals always blame others for their power. When will you prove yourselves? You cultivators aren't anything special."

Zanxing thought that Yin Ying was truly a person who wouldn't let himself lose an argument.

Gu Baiying was also a fierce character, and upon hearing this, he dismissively said, "Well said. So I plan to take you back and dissect your demon core to find out the truth. Maybe there will be something worth learning for the cultivators. In the future, the disciples of the sect could travel a thousand miles without much effort."

Yin Ying's eyes flared with anger.

"Yin Ying, what is going on?" Yin Li asked with some concern. "I sensed an unfamiliar aura in your body."

The surrounding cultivators watched Yin Ying, wary of the merman's astonishing power, afraid to approach, and could only observe his every move.

"Speak. After all, it will be known in the end," Zanxing said. "The black scales in your left atrium should be the root of the problem."

Yin Ying's expression changed slightly.

After a long time, he finally spoke: "What secret realm? I don't care about it at all. I don't even know what it is; I came here simply on someone else's behalf."

"I entered the secret realm to help him find something, as payment for the demon power he gave me; it's that simple."

"What are you looking for?" Gu Baiying asked.

"How would I know?" Yin Ying scoffed, "I'm not concerned with that."

When Yin Li was slaughtered by the demon-slaying formation and turned to ashes, Yin Ying wandered along the West Sea coast day after day. Over the years, all the merfolks had left except for him; only Yin Ying stubbornly remained here.

He didn't even know what he wanted; his demon power was insufficient for revenge. He felt that if he left too, then probably no one in this world would remember who the merman Yin Li was. That foolish boy sacrificed everything but received only infamy; anyone would feel unfair about that.

Time passed without him noticing until Yin Ying met a man.

He was a mysterious man, shrouded in thick black mist. Yin Ying could not see his face, and even his voice was vague and indistinct. The man said to him, "The merman's power is not enough for revenge."

"I don't want revenge," Yin Ying retorted.

"I can give you powerful demon power, enough to annihilate the entire Li'er Country. As payment, when the secret realm of Li'er Country opens, you must go in and find something for me."

In the end, Yin Ying made a deal with this man.

He indeed gained immense demon power; he could even gradually conceal his powers. He slaughtered innocent girls in Li'er Country, creating tragedies identical to the past.