The sacrificial vessel passed through layer upon layer of sea mist, slowly entering the Cangming Divine Palace.
Shui Hua stood at the edge of the vessel, one hand resting on the cold railing as she gazed ahead.
Above the sea, suspended palaces rose in tiers.
Countless divine halls were linked by bridges of white jade, while innumerable tide patterns slowly rippled along the stone pillars and palace walls.
A bell rang in the distance.
Low and far-reaching.
Tantai Jingyue stood before her.
Her white robes stirred in the sea breeze, her back still cold and serene.
Shui Hua glanced at her several times.
But she did not know where to begin asking.
One by one, the group disembarked.
The disciples of the divine palace had received word long ago and now stood aside on both sides of the jade bridges.
The looks they cast at Shui Hua were complicated.
Shock.
Scrutiny.
Awe.
Some could not help letting their gazes linger on her features before turning toward Tantai Jingyue.
Shui Hua noticed.
Her shoulders and back tensed slightly, and she instinctively moved half a step closer to Jiang Qingwan.
Jiang Qingwan said nothing.
She merely took a step forward without drawing attention to herself and stood beside Shui Hua.
Only then did those overly direct gazes begin to subside.
Old Jiang witnessed the scene, and his expression grew even darker.
But before he could say anything, Shui Hua had already stepped onto the first bridge leading into the depths of the divine palace.
In the next instant, an astonishing phenomenon erupted.
Boom—
The sea beneath the bridge, calm only moments before, suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue divine radiance.
The light spread outward from beneath Shui Hua’s feet, rapidly flowing along the bridge and in every direction.
One divine hall.
Then a second.
Throughout the entire Cangming Divine Palace, the eternal lamps consecrated to Hairuo ignited one after another of their own accord.
Deep-blue flames joined together in an endless expanse.
They resembled a river of stars that had slumbered for countless years, only to be relit in this moment.
Everyone within the divine palace was shaken.
Shui Hua stopped as well.
She lowered her head and looked at the sea beneath the bridge.
The ripples were gathering toward her.
Then, from the deepest reaches of the divine palace, a long, distant tidal roar suddenly sounded.
Rumble—
The doors of the Listening Tide Hall, which had remained tightly shut for days, slowly opened beneath the eyes of all who watched.
Deep-blue light spilled from within the hall.
Along both sides of the bridge, the palace priests and divine officials fell to their knees.
Even Cang Xuanzi’s expression shifted slightly.
Before this, Tantai Jingyue had sought an audience several times.
Zhu Changli had also knelt outside the hall to plead for forgiveness.
Yet the Listening Tide Hall had never responded.
But now, the moment Shui Hua entered the divine palace, its doors had opened of their own accord.
A moment later, a weak yet still imposing voice came from within the hall.
“Jingyue.”
“Shui Hua.”
“Come in.”
Tantai Jingyue glanced at her.
Shui Hua pressed her lips together, but in the end, she followed.
The two walked side by side toward the Listening Tide Hall.
Old Jiang instinctively tried to follow.
Cang Xuanzi raised a hand and stopped him outside.
Cang Xuanzi said calmly:
“Hairuo has summoned only the two of them.”
“Jiang Huaichao.”
“There are matters that Lord Hai Ruo must tell them personally.”
Old Jiang tightened his grip on his old staff.
…
The Listening Tide Hall was extraordinarily quiet.
It was nothing like the grandeur Shui Hua had imagined.
Nor was it filled with statues of gods or ornate altars.
There was only a shallow expanse of water within the hall.
At the far end of the water burned a sea lamp that was nearly extinguished.
Its flame was exceedingly faint.
It looked as though it might be blown out by the slightest breath.
The current Hairuo sat behind the sea lamp.
She remained cold and dignified, and her appearance had not changed much.
Yet her body had become nearly transparent.
At the edges, her white robes occasionally scattered into glimmers of water.
The ends of her long hair were slowly fading away as well, dissolving into fine ripples that merged with the surrounding waters.
Tantai Jingyue came to a halt.
A flicker passed through her eyes.
Originally, she had countless questions she wanted to ask.
But when she saw the state her master was in now, all those accusations caught in her throat.
Shui Hua, however, remained where she was, looking steadily at Hairuo.
In the end, Shui Hua was the first to speak.
“Why?”
Hairuo looked at her.
Those eyes were still profound, yet far more weary than Shui Hua remembered.
Shui Hua’s eyes reddened.
“Why did you take my sister away?”
“Why did you seal my memories?”
“Since both of us are Hairuo, why didn’t you make everything clear back then?”
Tantai Jingyue lifted her head as well.
Hairuo fell silent for a moment.
Then her voice came slowly.
“Because, at the time, I did not know how to resolve the matter of the twin Hairuos, either.”
Shui Hua froze.
Hairuo said softly,
“Although Hairuo’s divine spark was divided into thirty percent and seventy percent, what the Sea Eye recognizes has never been the simple sum of two portions of power.”
“What it requires is a complete fate.”
“A complete will.”
“If I had brought both of you back to the Divine Palace, then when the Sea Eye began to stir, the Ten Offices would inevitably have made a choice.”
Tantai Jingyue asked, “What choice?”
Hairuo looked at her.
“To have one of you devour the other.”
Within the Hall of Listening Tides, it seemed as though every sound of the tide fell still for an instant.
Shui Hua’s face paled.
Hairuo continued.
“Shui Hua bore seventy percent of the divine spark.”
“According to the order of the Divine Palace, she was more likely to be chosen as the next Hairuo.”
“And you…”
She looked at Tantai Jingyue.
“You would become the remaining thirty percent needed to make her whole.”
Shui Hua abruptly turned to look at her sister.
There was no color left in Tantai Jingyue’s face.
Shui Hua asked in a low voice, “So you chose my sister?”
Hairuo shook her head.
“It was not I who chose her.”
“She chose for herself.”
Tantai Jingyue’s pupils contracted.
Hairuo raised a nearly transparent hand.
The shallow water in the hall rippled.
A memory that had been sealed away for many years slowly rose from the surface.
Luoxia Village.
Sea mist.
Damp flagstones.
Six-year-old Tantai Jingyue walked up to Hairuo and bowed solemnly.
The little girl was clearly frightened too—her fingers trembled slightly where they were hidden in her sleeves—yet she still raised her head.
“I’ll go with you.”
“My little sister is too foolish.”
“She cannot bear such a responsibility.”
Shui Hua’s lips trembled at the sight.
Hairuo’s voice echoed from within the memory.
“Fate will not truly change simply because you choose to leave.”
The young Jingyue knelt on the damp ground.
“Even if it only delays it for a little while.”
“I beg you.”
Tears slipped silently down Shui Hua’s face.
Tantai Jingyue’s complexion turned deathly pale as well.
She looked at her younger self in the water.
That child had been so young.
She should have been the one protected, yet she had already learned to make choices for her sister.
Hairuo stirred the water again.
The memory continued.
The young Shui Hua rushed out of the house and stood before her sister.
With her hands on her hips, she angrily shouted at Hairuo,
“Who are you calling an old hag?!”
“You dare bully my sister? Believe it or not, I’ll beat you up!”
Tantai Jingyue’s lashes quivered.
She saw Old Jiang drop to his knees in terror.
She also saw the young Shui Hua finally realize what was happening as Jingyue was about to be taken away.
Crying, she threw herself forward and clutched Jingyue’s sleeve tightly.
“Big Sister, don’t go.”
“You said you’d go catch fish with me.”
“You can’t lie to me.”
The young Jingyue bent down and wrapped her in an embrace.
She was crying too.
Only, she cried in silence.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“Big Sister will come back.”
The moment those words fell—
Tantai Jingyue’s body swayed sharply.
Within her sea of consciousness, the old door already veined with cracks finally swung open.
Countless scenes from the past surged into her mind like a tide.
That name at last rose again from the depths of memories sealed away for so many years.
Tantai Jingyue turned to look at Shui Hua.
Her lips trembled faintly.
“Huahua…”
Shui Hua could no longer hold herself back.
She rushed forward and threw her arms around Tantai Jingyue.
“Big Sister!”
Her sobs echoed through the vast, empty divine hall.
It was as though the little girl who had been left behind all those years ago had finally caught up to the sister who had gone away.
Tantai Jingyue stood frozen where she was.
After a moment, she slowly lifted her arms and embraced Shui Hua.
Her eyes, too, had reddened.
“I’m sorry.”
Shui Hua buried her face against her shoulder, crying so hard she could no longer form a complete sentence.
“You really… you really forgot me…”
“And you even stabbed me with your sword…”
Tantai Jingyue’s fingers slowly tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
The sisters held each other for a long time.
Shui Hua cried until she could barely stop.
Tantai Jingyue’s eyes were equally red, yet she never pushed her away.
Only after Shui Hua’s emotions had eased somewhat did Tantai Jingyue lift her head and look toward Hairuo.
“Since I was the one who chose to leave…”
“Why did I later forget her as well?”
Hairuo looked at them, profound exhaustion rising in her eyes.
“Within the thirty percent of the divine spark you inherited lies a portion of Hairuo’s inherited memories.”
“But your childhood memories constantly clashed with those inherited memories.”
“The more you longed for Shui Hua, the more easily that thirty percent of divine spark would be drawn toward the remaining seventy percent.”
“If those memories had not been sealed, your divine sparks would have reunited too soon.”
Hairuo paused briefly.
“So I sealed all of Shui Hua’s memories.”
“And I sealed part of your memories of Luoxia Village as well.”
Tantai Jingyue’s voice was hoarse.
“Just so we could live a few more years?”
“Yes,” Hairuo said softly.
“Back then, you told me…”
“That when the time came, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for Shui Hua.”
Shui Hua suddenly looked up.
“I won’t accept that!”
Instinctively, she clung tighter to Tantai Jingyue.
As though she feared the other woman would once again decide everything for her, just as she had when they were children.
Tantai Jingyue stiffened as well.
Hairuo watched them quietly.
“Now, the time has come.”
Inside the Hall of Listening Tides, the faint sea-lamp flickered softly.
More watery light dispersed from the edges of Hairuo’s body.
Her voice grew weaker still.
“The situation at the Sea Eye is more dire than even the Ten Ministers realize.”
“These past few days, it was not that I was unwilling to respond.”
“Most of my power has been deep within the Sea Eye, suppressing the Black Tide.”
“What remains in the divine palace is only a divine body barely able to sustain itself.”
Shui Hua looked at Hairuo’s nearly transparent form and finally understood why she had become so frail.
Hairuo spoke in a low voice.
“I am old.”
“I cannot hold it down much longer.”
“Now that Shui Hua’s divine spark has awakened, it has stirred the Sea Eye as well.”
“The Sea-Quelling Rite, originally set for three days from now, must be brought forward.”
“At the latest, tomorrow.”
“If you cannot suppress the Sea Eye, the first seal will collapse.”
“Cloud Dream City—and every city along the eastern coast—will be the first to be swallowed by the Black Tide.”
The joy of their reunion was instantly crushed beneath the weight of reality.
Shui Hua instinctively pulled Tantai Jingyue into a tight embrace.
Tantai Jingyue, however, lifted her head.
“If we join forces, can we seal the Sea Eye?”
Hairuo fell silent for a moment.
“Perhaps.”
Just two words.
Even Hairuo had no certainty.
Before Shui Hua could speak, Tantai Jingyue said,
“I’ll go.”
Her tone was almost exactly the same as it had been when she was six years old.
Shui Hua immediately let go of her, her eyes widening.
“What do you mean, you’ll go?”
Tantai Jingyue froze.
Shui Hua looked at her with reddened eyes.
“Are you trying to leave me behind again?”
“Back then, I didn’t understand. I couldn’t stop you.”
“Now that I remember everything, do you still want to deceive me?”
Tantai Jingyue parted her lips.
The moment she had heard the word “sacrifice,” she had indeed instinctively considered bearing it herself.
But Shui Hua was no longer the little girl who could do nothing but cry and clutch at her sleeve.
She stepped up beside her sister.
“Seventy percent of the divinity is with me.”
“Going alone won’t do you any good.”
“If we go, we go together.”
Tantai Jingyue looked at her.
Shui Hua’s eyes were still red, but there was no retreat in her face.
After a moment, Tantai Jingyue finally nodded.
“All right.”
“This time, together.”
The doors of the Hall of Listening Tides opened once more.
Outside, the High Priest, the priests of the ten offices, Jiang Qingwan, and the others were all waiting.
Shui Hua and Tantai Jingyue emerged side by side.
Shui Hua’s eyes were still red.
The coldness in Tantai Jingyue’s brows had eased considerably as well.
Old Jiang was the first to look toward them.
Seeing that Shui Hua was unharmed, the tense line of his shoulders finally loosened a fraction.
Cang Xuanzi stepped forward and asked in a grave voice,
“What decree does Lord Hai Ruo have?”
Tantai Jingyue looked at everyone.
“The Sea-Subduing Rite will be moved forward.”
“It begins tomorrow.”
The expressions of those outside the hall changed sharply.
Tantai Jingyue continued,
“Shui Hua and I will enter the rite together.”
On the long bridge of the Divine Palace, the sea wind suddenly fell still for an instant.
