When Tantai Jingyue and Zhu Changli returned to the Cangming Divine Palace, the sky had yet to fully brighten.
The sound of the tide was deep and muffled, rolling in wave after wave from beneath the Divine Palace.
The moment they stepped into the Sea Administration Hall, they sensed that something was wrong.
All ten presiding priests had already gathered.
Cang Xuanzi, the Grand Priest, sat at the head of the hall, his expression grave.
Li Fuyuan, Wu Tingchao, Shui Guanlan, Ling Chaosheng, and the others stood in two lines on either side. Every water lamp in the hall was lit, yet not a single person spoke.
Every gaze was fixed on Zhu Changli and Tantai Jingyue.
That ancient whale song had spread across the entire Eastern Sea.
At that moment, the tide veins beneath the Divine Palace had also experienced a violent tremor.
No one would believe that this was merely an ordinary celestial phenomenon.
Cang Xuanzi did not question Tantai Jingyue first.
He looked directly at Zhu Changli.
“Zhu Changli.”
“Where did you take Her Highness the Divine Maiden?”
Zhu Changli stood in the center of the hall but did not answer at once.
Cang Xuanzi’s voice grew even heavier.
“The whale song resounded throughout the Eastern Sea.”
“The Divine Palace also sensed a divine aura that did not belong to Her Highness the Divine Maiden.”
“Zhu Changli.”
“What exactly have you done?”
Zhu Changli’s fingers tightened slightly inside his sleeve.
He had known from the beginning that he would have to face this scene upon his return.
But when all ten priests looked at him, he still felt his throat tighten.
He had secretly investigated the old records.
He had gone to Luoxia Village without authorization.
And without Hairuo’s divine order, he had brought Tantai Jingyue before Shui Hua.
In the end, Shui Hua’s memories had awakened, and seventy percent of her divine essence had been released.
He could not escape responsibility for any of it.
Zhu Changli was about to speak when Tantai Jingyue spoke first.
“Tell them.”
“Tell them everything you know.”
Zhu Changli looked up at her.
After a moment of silence, he finally bowed.
“This matter was concealed by me.”
“There is another bearer of Hairuo’s divine essence in Luoxia Village.”
The atmosphere in the hall froze.
Ling Chaosheng’s brows drew tightly together.
“Another?”
Shui Guanlan immediately pressed him for an explanation.
“What does that mean?”
Zhu Changli slowly raised his head.
He knew that from this moment onward, the secret buried for so many years would be exposed completely within the Divine Palace.
There would be no way to seal it back into the old records.
“Her Highness the Divine Maiden did not have her divine essence stolen.”
“Her divine essence was incomplete from the very beginning.”
“This generation’s Hairuo is not one person.”
Zhu Changli paused briefly.
His voice was as deep as though it had risen from beneath the depths of the sea.
“There are twins.”
The words “twins” fell into the hall.
The entire chamber fell utterly silent.
For a moment, the priests even wondered whether they had heard him correctly.
Throughout the history of Cangzhou, Hairuo had always been a single person bearing the complete divine essence.
There might be more than one candidate for the Divine Maiden.
But the one chosen by the Sea Mother would ultimately always be the sole bearer.
There had never been twins.
Nor had any records of the Divine Palace ever mentioned that Hairuo’s divine essence could reside in two people at once.
Qi Zhaoye’s gaze shifted slightly.
He finally understood why Zhu Changli had investigated the old records concerning Luoxia Village.
Luo Chenbi also slowly knitted her brows.
She thought of the obscured records in the Taixu Mirror Sea. Then she remembered how Tantai Jingyue had never truly been able to surpass Jiang Qingwan before the final ranking.
Those seemingly unrelated anomalies suddenly had an absurd yet reasonable answer.
Cang Xuanzi stared at Zhu Changli.
“Go on.”
Zhu Changli had no way out.
He could only reveal what he knew, piece by piece.
“Tantai Jingyue and Shui Hua are twin sisters.”
“Both are the biological granddaughters of Jiang Huaichao, the former Deputy Envoy of the Sea Administration Hall.”
“Until they were six, they lived in Luoxia Village.”
Tantai Jingyue stood to one side, her fingertips trembling faintly.
Zhu Changli continued.
“Shui Hua bears seventy percent of Hairuo’s divine essence.”
“Her Highness the Divine Maiden bears thirty percent of the divine essence, along with part of Hairuo’s inherited memories.”
“That year, Lord Hai Ruo personally went to Luoxia Village and took Her Highness the Divine Maiden away.”
“At the same time, Lord Hai Ruo sealed Shui Hua’s memories and the aura of her divine essence.”
By the time Zhu Changli finished speaking, the expressions of everyone in the hall had completely changed.
Some abruptly turned toward Tantai Jingyue.
Some wore looks of utter disbelief.
Others immediately looked toward the direction of the Tidehearing Hall.
Wu Tingchao’s face was frighteningly grim.
“Her Highness the Divine Maiden has only thirty percent?”
Zhu Changli nodded with difficulty.
“Yes.”
“Shui Hua in Luoxia Village possesses seventy percent.”
The hall once again sank into dead silence.
Thirty percent.
Seventy percent.
For all these years, the Divine Palace had worshiped, nurtured, and recognized as the next Hairuo a Divine Maiden who bore only thirty percent of Hairuo’s divine essence.
Meanwhile, another person who possessed seventy percent had been hidden in an inconspicuous fishing village on the borders of Cangzhou.
If this matter were revealed, it would be enough to shatter the faith of the entire Water-Worshipping Cult.
Tantai Jingyue kept her eyes on Zhu Changli.
Her voice was soft.
“So my divine essence was not stolen.”
Zhu Changli lowered his head.
“No.”
Tantai Jingyue asked again, “And Shui Hua did not take something that originally belonged to me?”
“No.”
With each word Zhu Changli answered, Tantai Jingyue’s face grew paler.
She remembered how, inside the Divine Maiden’s Hall, Zhu Changli had held the Destiny Water Talisman and told her that someone had taken what should have belonged to her.
Because of those words, she had gone to Luoxia Village.
She had drawn her sword against Shui Hua.
She had nearly killed her own sister with her own hands.
Tantai Jingyue’s fingers slowly clenched.
“Then why did you—?”
Zhu Changli closed his eyes.
“Because the Sea Eye had begun to stir.”
“The Sea-Calming Rite is about to begin.”
“I thought that if Her Highness reclaimed that seventy percent of the divine essence, she could become a complete Hairuo.”
Tantai Jingyue stared at him.
“Reclaimed?”
It was only one word.
Yet Zhu Changli found himself unable to answer.
The other priests in the hall also fell silent.
Everyone understood that what he called “reclaiming” could never mean merely taking a magical artifact back from someone else.
Divine essence was connected to one’s destiny, flesh, blood, and soul.
For Tantai Jingyue to obtain the seventy percent within Shui Hua’s body, everyone present knew exactly what that meant.
Perhaps it would require extraction.
Perhaps a sacrifice.
Perhaps one person would live, and the other would die.
Tantai Jingyue did not question him further.
She only looked at Zhu Changli.
Shui Guanlan quickly recovered from his shock.
“Why is there no record in the Hall of Destiny?”
“If there truly was another bearer of Hairuo’s divine essence, her destiny could not have remained completely unmanifested.”
Zhu Changli replied, “Shui Hua was never entered into the divine registry.”
“All records of destiny concerning her were deliberately erased.”
Li Fuyuan asked, “Who erased them?”
Zhu Changli did not answer.
He merely looked toward the depths of the hall.
Everyone immediately understood.
Other than the current Hairuo, no one had the ability to erase the destiny of a bearer of Hairuo’s divine essence without leaving a trace.
Nor could anyone else have caused the old records of the Halls of Destiny, Mirrors, and Archives to disappear simultaneously.
Ling Chaosheng asked another question.
“What about Jiang Huaichao?”
“Did he know from the beginning?”
Zhu Changli nodded.
“He knew that the two of them were sisters.”
“But it was only when Lord Hai Ruo personally arrived in Luoxia Village that he learned of the twin divine essences.”
Cang Xuanzi remained silent for a long time.
Slowly, he raised his eyes toward the direction of the Tidehearing Hall.
“So this was concealed personally by Lord Hai Ruo.”
No one answered.
But the truth was already clear.
Tantai Jingyue suddenly turned around.
Cang Xuanzi looked at her.
“Where are you going, Her Highness the Divine Maiden?”
“The Tidehearing Hall.”
Tantai Jingyue did not stop walking.
“I want to see my master.”
She no longer wished to hear any more of the truth as processed and retold by Zhu Changli.
The one person who could truly explain everything had never been Zhu Changli, but Hairuo.
She wanted to ask her face-to-face.
Tantai Jingyue left the main hall.
The priests exchanged glances before following her out.
Outside the Listening Tide Hall, the sea mist hung thick in the air.
Divine lamps lit up one after another.
The hall doors remained tightly shut.
Tantai Jingyue stood at the foot of the steps. After a moment of silence, she bowed slowly.
“Master.”
There was no response from within.
She spoke again.
“Your disciple requests an audience.”
The Listening Tide Hall remained utterly silent.
Only the tide patterns carved into the doors continued to turn slowly.
Tantai Jingyue stood there for a long time.
The person inside never answered.
Her face grew paler and paler, and at last, an emotion she could no longer suppress surfaced in her eyes.
“Master!”
Her voice was heavier than before.
Still, no sound came from within the Listening Tide Hall.
Just as everyone waited for Hairuo’s reply, the entire divine palace suddenly shook.
Boom—
A dull roar rose from beneath the divine palace.
The halls suspended above the sea swayed all at once.
Far away, the surface of the sea abruptly surged upward, and the waves crashed against the reefs surrounding the divine palace.
Ling Chaosheng, Priest of the Sea, turned deathly pale.
The water talisman at his waist began flashing wildly at almost the exact same moment.
He raised his hand and caught it.
The moment the talisman unfolded, an urgent voice came from within:
“The pressure in the Sea Eye is rising again!”
“Cracks have already appeared in the outer formation of the Sea-Calming Ritual!”
“At this rate, the Sea Eye may break through the seal before the appointed ritual date!”
The atmosphere outside the Listening Tide Hall instantly grew taut.
Hairuo still gave no response.
But the Sea Eye would not wait for them to uncover every secret.
Cang Xuanzi turned around.
“Back to the Council Hall.”
……
The Ten Departments returned to the main hall.
This time, everyone knew that even less time remained to them.
The question was no longer whether Shui Hua was the bearer of Hairuo’s divine essence.
The question now was how they could use the divine essences of the two sisters to survive the impending eruption of the Sea Eye.
Ling Chaosheng spoke first.
“Shui Hua bears seventy percent of the divine essence.”
“If we bring her back to the divine palace and guide her with the palace’s ritual arts, it may not be impossible for her to suppress the sea alongside Her Highness the Divine Maiden.”
Shui Guanlan shook his head.
“She has never practiced the divine palace’s ritual arts.”
“She only just awakened her divine essence, yet she already caused disturbances throughout the waters around Luoxia Village.”
“Having her enter the Sea-Calming Ritual directly will only make the ritual formation even more chaotic.”
Luo Chenbi, Priest of Mirrors, said, “Since the twin divine essences share the same origin, perhaps we can use the Jingyue Formation to temporarily link their fates.”
“But there is no precedent.”
“No one can guarantee that it will work.”
The people in the hall continued to argue without pause.
At last, one of the priests spoke hesitantly.
“If thirty and seventy percent were originally one whole…”
He did not finish.
But everyone in the hall understood what he meant.
“Fuse the divine essences.”
Tantai Jingyue turned a cold gaze on him.
“Go on.”
The priest’s expression shifted.
Under the Divine Maiden’s icy stare, he ultimately could not bring himself to say those four words aloud.
The hall fell silent once more.
Cang Xuanzi had not expressed his position immediately.
Only after the arguments gradually subsided did he speak at last.
“Lord Hai Ruo has given no response.”
“No matter what, Shui Hua in Luoxia Village must come to the divine palace.”
Tantai Jingyue raised her eyes.
Cang Xuanzi looked toward her.
“Not to take her divine essence immediately.”
“At the very least, before the Sea-Calming Ritual, we must determine whether the twin divine essences can suppress the sea together.”
“She possesses seventy percent of the divine essence, yet does not know how to use it.”
“If she remains in Luoxia Village, the moment her power runs out of control again, she will not only be unable to save herself—she may destroy Luoxia Village first.”
Tantai Jingyue could not refute those words.
Shui Hua’s divine essence had awakened.
She truly could no longer continue living as an ordinary fishing village girl.
Nor could Luoxia Village withstand a second loss of control from seventy percent of Hairuo’s divine essence.
Cang Xuanzi finally issued his order.
“The Ten Departments will immediately prepare the Sea-Calming Ritual.”
“Her Highness the Divine Maiden, the Priest of Destiny, and the Priests of the Sea, Rites, and Mirrors will accompany me to Luoxia Village.”
“Bring the other bearer of the divine essence back to the divine palace.”
Everyone bowed their heads and accepted the order.
One of the priests turned and said, “I will immediately mobilize the divine guards and go capture—”
“Not capture.”
Tantai Jingyue interrupted him abruptly.
Everyone in the hall turned to look at her.
Tantai Jingyue stood beneath the water lamps, her expression as cold as ever.
But this time, her voice held an unwavering resolve.
“Her name is Shui Hua.”
“You are going to Luoxia Village to invite her to the divine palace.”
The priest frowned.
“What if she refuses?”
Tantai Jingyue fell silent for a moment.
Then she said quietly, “Then I will persuade her myself.”
Cang Xuanzi gave her a look but did not object.
