Within the Divine Maiden's Palace, the lamps burned through the night.
Roll upon roll of ancient tomes lay spread out across the long table.
Sacrificial essays, formation diagrams, tide edicts, and the rituals of Hairuo's Sea-Suppression were arranged in sequence, nearly covering the entire jade table.
Tantai Jingyue sat before the table, her white robes sweeping the ground, her expression cool and serene.
When the High Priest's messenger arrived with a decree, she was already flipping through the old records of the Sea-Suppression Sacrifice.
In three days' time, the Sea-Suppression Sacrifice would be held.
She was to stand in for Hairuo to preside over the rite, and suppress the unrest surging in the Sea Eye.
The messenger priest knelt in the hall, his voice tinged with unmasked tension.
Yet Tantai Jingyue did not show the slightest trace of alarm from start to finish.
She only gave a faint, calm reply.
"I know."
After the messenger priest withdrew, the Divine Maiden's Palace fell back into quiet stillness.
Tantai Jingyue continued to flip through the ancient tomes laid out on the table.
She read quickly, and in perfect silence.
The Sea-Suppression Sacrifice was one of the most important ceremonial rites of the Cangming Divine Palace.
Hairuo's suppression of the seas was the very foundation that allowed the Divine Palace to rule over all the water veins of Cangzhou.
As the Divine Maiden, the designated successor to Hairuo, it was only a matter of time before she would have to engage with the Sea Eye, the altar, and the Sea-Suppression rituals.
Tantai Jingyue did not see this as some unforeseen disaster that had fallen unexpectedly upon her.
She had never been the kind of person who would disavow herself just because of a single failure.
Her defeat at the Grand Void All-Encompassing Ceremony was simply that: a loss.
It only meant that within the bounds of that trial, she had been bested by Jiang Qingwan.
It did not mean that Tantai Jingyue lacked the power to suppress the seas.
She was the Divine Maiden of the Cangming Divine Palace.
Raised and nurtured by the Divine Palace from childhood, trained in the Hairuo sacrificial arts, and bearing the title of Divine Maiden, the Sea-Suppression Sacrifice was a trial she was always meant to face.
This only brought that moment a little earlier than expected.
The tide edict on the table exuded a faint, glistening water aura.
Tantai Jingyue lifted her hand and curled an ancient jade slip into her palm.
The moment her spiritual sense reached into the slip, a personal attendant's voice called from outside the hall.
"Your Highness."
"The Life-Destiny Priest requests an audience."
Tantai Jingyue's movements paused for a brief moment.
The Life-Destiny Priest.
Zhu Changli.
She set the jade slip back down on the table, and said in a low, clear voice.
"Enter."
The great hall doors slowly swung open.
Zhu Changli stepped across the threshold of the Divine Maiden's Palace.
He still wore his usual deep blue sacrificial robes, the tide patterns stitched along the hem hanging low and quiet.
But compared to ordinary days, his aura felt distinctly heavy and weighed down this night.
Tantai Jingyue lifted her gaze to meet his.
She quickly noticed that something was amiss in Zhu Changli's bearing.
This Life-Destiny Priest was always solemn, steady, and rarely wore his emotions on his face.
Yet tonight, there was a tiredness and inner struggle he could not fully suppress, lingering deep in his eyes.
Tantai Jingyue skipped all empty pleasantries.
"What business brings the Life-Destiny Priest here?"
Zhu Changli stood in the center of the hall, his gaze sweeping over the Sea-Suppression Sacrifice tomes spread across the table.
After a long moment, he spoke without preamble.
"Divine Maiden, you cannot attend the Sea-Suppression Sacrifice three days from now."
Tantai Jingyue's expression did not shift.
She only asked two words.
"Your reason."
Zhu Changli looked at her.
The fingers tucked in his sleeves slowly tightened.
He had run through countless possible explanations in his mind before coming, but now that he was standing right before Tantai Jingyue, he still felt as if a mass of cold, damp tidewater was clogging his throat.
After a long silence, he spoke in a low, hushed tone.
"Jingyue."
"I have uncovered certain truths."
"Your divine core... is incomplete."
The Divine Maiden's Palace fell utterly still for a heartbeat.
The water lamps on the table flickered softly.
Tantai Jingyue did not break into shock, nor did she lose her composure.
She only watched Zhu Changli quietly.
Her eyes were as cool and clear as the moon, betraying no flicker of joy or anger.
"Life-Destiny Priest."
"Do you understand the weight of what you are saying?"
If Zhu Changli had only come to shake her resolve with empty words, she would have ignored him.
But if he bore real proof, she would listen.
That was the very nature of Tantai Jingyue.
Zhu Changli had known long ago that she would react this way.
So he did not waste time on further empty explanations. Instead, he pulled out a Life-Destiny Water Talisman.
The water talisman was pale blue all over, sealed with several fine destiny runes within.
They were the fragmented pieces of evidence he had sorted out from the old archives, destiny ledgers, tide record supplementary volumes, and the old annals of the Life-Destiny Palace.
He held the water talisman up.
The water talisman slowly unfurled in mid-air, turning into a small water mirror.
Within the water mirror, the old palace entry records of Tantai Jingyue appeared first.
[Divine nature clear and bright, aligned with the lunar phase.]
After that, those lines from the supplementary records of the old Eastern Sea tides surfaced.
[Outside Luoxia Village, the tide flows backward at midnight.]
[Sea fog drifts into the village, lingering for three days without dispersing.]
[Ancient whale cry echoes.]
[Two moons hang side by side above the sea.]
Finally, there was a faint residual trace of divinity from the destiny ledger of the Life-Destiny Palace.
Zhu Changli spoke in a low voice.
"After the Grand Ceremony of the Vast Void Myriad Phenomena, the Life-Destiny Palace conducted a recheck of the Divine Maiden's destiny ledger."
"The ledger shows that Your Highness's Hairuo divinity is not fading, but missing."
"The part that is missing has not dissipated."
"It is still in Cangzhou."
Tantai Jingyue's gaze finally shifted slightly.
Zhu Changli continued speaking.
"I found Luoxia Village."
"There is someone there who carries what rightfully belongs to you."
Tantai Jingyue looked at him.
"Carries it?"
Zhu Changli fell silent for a moment.
Then he said slowly,
"To the Divine Palace, that is theft."
The moment these words fell, the water lanterns in the Divine Maiden Palace all fell abruptly still.
The look Tantai Jingyue gave him finally changed a little.
"Divinity is not a spirit artifact."
"Who could steal it?"
Zhu Changli said,
"That is precisely why Your Highness must see it for yourself."
Tantai Jingyue did not speak immediately.
She lowered her eyes to look at that Life-Destiny water talisman.
Within the water mirror, the old archives and destiny ledgers overlapped layer by layer, until only four characters remained.
Two moons hanging side by side.
She asked,
"Who is that person?"
Zhu Changli did not answer right away.
Tantai Jingyue asked again,
"Why was this not investigated before?"
"Why are you telling me this only right before the Sea-Suppressing Ritual?"
"And why did you not state this openly at the Ten Divisions Conference?"
Every question was sharp.
She had not been thrown into disarray by the words "your divinity is incomplete".
Instead, she had seized the loopholes in Zhu Changli's words in the shortest possible time.
Zhu Changli's heart sank.
He knew he could not answer all of them.
At least not all of them right now.
He could only skirt the major issues and focus on the minor ones.
"This matter involves far too many deep-seated secrets."
"I could not speak of it in front of the Ten Divisions."
"As for why I am telling you now..."
Zhu Changli paused for a moment.
"Because the Sea Eye anomalies have already begun, and the Sea-Suppressing Ritual is imminent."
"If Your Highness steps onto the ritual altar carrying incomplete divinity, the consequences will be uncontrollable."
Tantai Jingyue said,
"Does my master know about this?"
Zhu Changli's eyelashes flickered.
"I have already reported this to Lord Hairuo."
"But Lord Hairuo... has not given any response."
Tantai Jingyue looked at him.
"So you bypassed Hairuo and came to find me."
Zhu Changli did not deny it.
"Yes."
Tantai Jingyue finally understood.
Zhu Changli had concealed a great many things. He might even be using her.
He had deliberately phrased things as "someone has taken what rightfully belongs to you" to push her into the position of "reclaiming what is yours".
He did not want her to preside over the Sea-Suppressing Ritual.
Yet he dared not lay the full truth bare in front of the Ten Divisions.
Thus, he chose to place the choice in her hands.
But there was one point Tantai Jingyue could not ignore.
Zhu Changli was a Life-Destiny Priest.
Without sufficient certainty, he would never have said something like "your divinity is incomplete" at such a critical juncture.
She watched him quietly for a very long time.
Finally, she said, "I do not trust you."
Zhu Changli lifted his eyes.
Tantai Jingyue continued.
"But I trust myself."
"If someone has truly taken what belongs to me, I will see it for myself."
The tension that had coiled in Zhu Changli's mind for a long time did not loosen at these words.
If anything, it settled even heavier.
Tantai Jingyue asked,
"Location."
Zhu Changli replied,
"Luoxia Village."
"Name."
Zhu Changli paused for a moment.
"Shui Hua."
Tantai Jingyue did not dwell on the name.
She only continued her questioning,
"Cultivation level?"
Zhu Changli spoke in a low voice,
"None."
A sliver of cold finally crept into Tantai Jingyue's gaze.
"A mortal woman with no cultivation is bearing my Divine Maiden divinity?"
Zhu Changli said,
"That is exactly what makes this so abnormal."
Those words made Tantai Jingyue resolve to make the trip.
She refused to believe a mere mortal could steal her divinity.
Nor could she accept that her own divinity would end up on a total stranger for no reason at all.
But if this matter was true, there must be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.
She would get to the bottom of it.
And if that object truly belonged to her, she would take it back.
Tantai Jingyue rose to her feet.
The old tome of the Town-Sea Rites spread open on the table was closed with a flick of her hand.
She walked to the side of the hall and took the long sword hanging on the water-moon patterned rack.
The scabbard was pale moon-white through and through, and a tiny aquamarine jade bead hung from the hilt.
Zhu Changli watched her back, the weight of guilt in his chest growing heavier by the second.
He knew he had not told the most critical truth.
He had not mentioned that Shui Hua bore a striking resemblance to her.
He had not said that Shui Hua might not be the one who stole the divinity in the first place.
Much less had he revealed that this might never have been a "theft" at all.
Tantai Jingyue suddenly stopped just before the palace gates.
She did not turn back.
She only asked,
"Life-Destiny Priest."
"Do you want me to kill her?"
Zhu Changli fell silent.
This question was far harder to answer than all the ones that had come before.
He wanted to say no.
But if the situation spiraled completely out of control, could he truly stop it then?
He wanted to say he only wanted her to take one look.
But he knew full well that once she saw Shui Hua, nothing would ever go back to the way it was.
After a long moment, Zhu Changli whispered,
"I only want Your Highness to be whole."
"Hairuo has not sent a reply. If something goes wrong with the Town-Sea Rites..."
He did not finish the rest of the sentence.
But Tantai Jingyue had already understood.
She did not press him further.
The palace gates swung open.
Seawift from the deep night poured into the Divine Maiden's palace.
Tantai Jingyue stepped outside.
Zhu Changli followed close behind her.
He had not alerted anyone else, nor could he afford to.
This matter must not be made public.
At the very least, they could not let anyone else know until they had fully confirmed that the divinity resided on Shui Hua.
Otherwise, that little girl in Luoxia Village would be thrust under the full glare of every eye overnight.
Tantai Jingyue walked down the long steps leading away from the Divine Maiden's palace.
Moonlight fell on her shoulders, her white robes as pale as frost.
The rumbling, suppressed tide sounds from the distant restless sea eye drifted faintly over.
She did not look back, only spoke in a calm, even tone,
"Lead the way."
Zhu Changli lowered his eyes.
"As you command."
The water path leading to Luoxia Village slowly materialized out of the night mist.
Tantai Jingyue stepped barefoot onto the surface of the water.
