Tantai Jingyue fell into the Sea Eye.
The black tide swallowed her in an instant.
The moon-white divine light on the altar shone for only a moment before being covered by that boundless darkness.
Tantai Jingyue continued to sink.
There was none of the buoyancy one would expect from seawater around her.
The black tide was like countless icy hands, tugging at her robes, her long hair, and her flesh, trying to tear her entire body apart.
Behind her, the thirty percent of the Hairuo godhead transformed into a waning moon.
Its moonlight shone into the black tide, only to shatter again and again.
Countless fragments of moon-white light broke free from her body and drifted upward along the Hairuo destiny path.
In the end, they would return to Shui Hua.
The seven-tenths and three-tenths would become one.
Shui Hua would become the only complete Hairuo of this generation.
She would live.
And the countless people along the coast of Cangzhou would live as well.
That was enough.
Tantai Jingyue closed her eyes.
She could clearly feel that as the godhead continued to separate from her, her memories were gradually fading as well.
The towering sacrificial pagoda of the Divine Palace.
The countless ancient texts in the Sea-Retaining Library.
The water mist that never dispersed outside the Hall of Listening to the Tides.
Her master’s quiet gaze as he watched her cultivate.
Those scenes receded one after another.
Then came Falling Sunset Village.
The short, damp wooden houses.
The fishing nets spread out in the courtyard.
Old Jiang standing at the door with a fish basket, cursing at everyone in sight.
And a little girl who was always following behind her, chattering and calling her “Sister.”
The voice gradually blurred.
In the end, only two words remained.
Huahua.
The corners of Tantai Jingyue’s lips moved faintly.
She did not struggle.
Many years ago, she had already walked this path once for her younger sister.
Now, she was merely walking it a second time.
There was nothing to fear.
As long as Shui Hua lived, her life would not have been thrown away in vain.
…
Upon the altar.
Shui Hua suddenly clutched her brow.
A strand of moon-white divine light passed through the Jingyue sacrificial seal and entered her sea of consciousness.
The seven-tenths of the godhead seemed finally to have received the part it had been missing for so many years, and began to circulate on its own.
Deep-blue tidal light rose from Shui Hua’s body.
The fragments of moon-white light continued to drift up from the depths of the Sea Eye, merging into her brow, her chest, and her blood.
Above the altar, the two separated sea moons slowly began to overlap.
Cang Xuanzi watched the scene with an expression of incomparable complexity.
From the perspective of the Sea-Calming Rite, Tantai Jingyue’s choice had indeed worked.
As long as the entire thirty percent of the godhead returned to Shui Hua, she would become a complete Hairuo.
There might still be a chance to restart the ritual array.
But the price was Tantai Jingyue’s life.
Zhu Changli stared at the strands of moon-white divine light returning to Shui Hua. There was not the slightest hint of joy on her face.
Shui Hua, however, looked as though the moonlight had burned her.
She cried out and stumbled backward.
“I don’t want it!”
She raised her hand and clawed desperately at her brow.
Her fingernails broke the skin, leaving several bloody scratches.
But that strand of moon-white divine light had already fused into her sea of consciousness.
It was not something she could simply reach in and pull out.
“I don’t want her godhead!”
“Bring her back!”
“Give her back to me!”
No one could answer her.
Once the godhead began to reunite, it would complete the process on its own along the shared destiny path.
Even the priests of the Ten Departments had no easy way to stop it.
Another strand of moon-white divine light flew out of the Sea Eye.
A fragment of Tantai Jingyue’s memory appeared in Shui Hua’s eyes.
She spun around and charged toward the Sea Eye.
Jiang Qingwan seized her wrist at once.
“Shui Hua!”
Shui Hua turned to look at her.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
“Big Sister Jiang.”
“She lied to me again.”
Jiang Qingwan’s heart sank.
Shui Hua struggled with all her strength.
“She said she wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“She said she wouldn’t lie to me this time.”
“But she left again.”
The seven-tenths of the godhead trembled violently with her emotions.
The seawater surged upward with a roar, slamming into the already shattered ritual markings around them.
Old Jiang staggered over.
“Huahua!”
“Come back!”
“Your sister has already…”
Shui Hua suddenly looked at him.
“She isn’t dead yet!”
Old Jiang froze.
Shui Hua pointed toward the Sea Eye.
“I can feel her.”
“She’s down there.”
“Her aura hasn’t completely faded.”
Zhu Changli also stepped in front of the Sea Eye.
“You can’t go down there.”
“Her Highness the Divine Maiden did this so that you could live.”
“If you enter the Sea Eye now, everything she has done will lose its meaning.”
Shui Hua struck out with one palm.
Boom!
The deep-blue tidal light erupted in an instant.
Zhu Changli had not been prepared. The blow sent her stumbling several yards backward, shattering several of the ritual markings beneath her feet.
With red-rimmed eyes, Shui Hua roared:
“Shut up!”
“I never asked her to die for me!”
“Not before.”
“And not now!”
Tantai Jingyue was always making choices for her.
But no one had ever asked whether she was willing.
She was not.
Jiang Qingwan still held on to her.
The Sea Eye was no ordinary deep sea.
Even Tantai Jingyue’s body and soul were rapidly disintegrating within it.
If Shui Hua jumped in, she might never return.
If that happened, Tantai Jingyue’s sacrifice would truly lose all meaning.
But Jiang Qingwan also understood.
If she forcibly kept Shui Hua on the altar and made her watch helplessly as she accepted the thirty percent of the godhead sent by her sister at the cost of her life, then from that moment onward, every day Shui Hua remained alive would be burdened by that death.
Shui Hua looked at Jiang Qingwan.
The strength in her struggle gradually faded.
Her voice softened as well.
“Big Sister Jiang.”
“You said my life should be decided by me.”
Jiang Qingwan’s fingers trembled faintly.
Those were the words she had spoken when confronting the Divine Palace.
But now, if she forcibly stopped Shui Hua, how would she be any different from the Divine Palace?
She condemned the Divine Palace for making choices on Shui Hua’s behalf.
Yet she was now making the choice for Shui Hua—that she must live on while bearing the weight of Tantai Jingyue’s death.
Shui Hua sniffed and wiped at her tears.
“I’m not going there to die.”
“I’m going to bring my sister back.”
Jiang Qingwan looked at her.
There were still tears on the girl’s face, and her body trembled incessantly as the godhead ran out of control.
But her eyes were resolute.
After a moment, Jiang Qingwan slowly released her hand.
The priests around them changed color.
Cang Xuanzi, more solemn than ever, said:
“Jiang Daoyin, do you know what you’re doing?”
Jiang Qingwan only looked at Shui Hua.
“You two come back together.”
Shui Hua nodded firmly.
“Okay.”
She turned and rushed toward the Sea Eye.
Old Jiang’s face went deathly pale as he shouted hoarsely:
“Huahua!”
Cang Xuanzi, for the first time, truly lost his composure as well.
“Are you insane?”
“Come back!”
He raised his hand and tried to seal the Sea Eye with the remaining ritual markings.
But Shui Hua carried seven-tenths of the Hairuo godhead within her, and the ritual array itself already recognized her as one of its principal sacrificers. Ordinary ritual markings could not truly stop her.
A flash of deep-blue tidal light passed by.
Shui Hua had already crossed every barrier and reached the edge of the altar.
Below her lay the boundless black tide.
She could clearly feel it.
Tantai Jingyue’s aura was rapidly weakening.
And the godhead belonging to her sister was still entering her body, strand by strand.
Shui Hua clenched her teeth.
She leapt into the Sea Eye.
The deep-blue divine light pursued that single point of waning moon-white radiance in the depths of the black tide, plunging downward together with it.
…
There was no direction within the Sea Eye.
No light.
No time.
Only an endless black tide that continued to press in from every direction.
The moment Shui Hua entered, the ritual robes she wore were torn in several places by the black tide.
Its icy power burrowed into her body.
If she had been an ordinary cultivator, she would have been corroded into an empty shell in an instant.
But the Hairuo godhead automatically protected her.
Deep-blue tidal light formed a thin barrier around her body.
Shui Hua paid no attention to the pain wracking her body.
She closed her eyes and followed the pull between their divine essences, chasing it deeper and deeper.
Sister.
Sister.
Wait for me.
The ghostly blue divine light pierced through layer after layer of black tide.
At last, Shui Hua saw that figure in white.
Tantai Jingyue’s body had already begun to turn transparent.
Even the ends of her long hair were gradually vanishing into the black tide.
Her face was calm, as though she had already accepted her fate.
A sharp pain seized Shui Hua’s heart.
Summoning every last bit of strength, she rushed forward and threw her arms around Tantai Jingyue.
“Sister!”
That familiar voice suddenly rang in her ears.
Tantai Jingyue’s eyes flew open.
When she saw Shui Hua in her arms, genuine panic appeared on that face which had always been so composed.
“Why did you come down here?”
Shui Hua wept as she scolded her.
“Because you’re a liar!”
Tantai Jingyue raised a hand, trying to push her away.
“Get out.”
“My divine essence will soon merge completely into yours.”
“When that happens, you’ll become the complete Hairuo.”
Shui Hua clung to her with all her strength.
“I don’t want to become Hairuo!”
“And I don’t want your divine essence!”
Tantai Jingyue’s voice grew stern.
“Shui Hua, don’t be childish.”
Shui Hua abruptly lifted her head.
“Childish?”
“You jumped down here without saying a word.”
“You lied to me and made the choice for me.”
“And now you’re calling me childish?”
Tantai Jingyue opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Tears continued to stream down Shui Hua’s face.
Yet the moment they left her eyes, they dissolved into the black tide around them.
“I don’t want your divine essence.”
“And I don’t want to live on alone.”
“I want you!”
Those final words struck Tantai Jingyue’s heart like a hammer.
Her consciousness, which had already begun to blur, suddenly grew a little clearer.
Shui Hua was holding her far too tightly.
As though the slightest loosening of her arms would allow her sister to disappear once more.
With the two of them drawing close again, the divine essence that had been merging into one suddenly came to a halt.
The seventy percent ghostly blue divine essence and the thirty percent moon-white divine essence resonated with each other once more.
Two incomplete sea moons appeared simultaneously within the black tide.
Bzzz—
The Sea Eye shook violently.
It could not understand.
The thirty percent and seventy percent were clearly about to merge into a single person.
The one true Hairuo was about to be born.
Why had another destiny followed them down?
Why had the divine essence, which had already begun to fuse, split into two once more?
The black tide erupted in fury.
Countless pitch-black chains surged in from every direction.
Tantai Jingyue’s expression changed.
She instinctively turned and shielded Shui Hua behind her.
But Shui Hua stepped in front of her first.
Ghostly blue divine light burst forth, shattering the first chains that drew near.
“This time, I’ll protect you!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Tantai Jingyue reached out, trying to pull her back.
But Shui Hua stood firmly in front of her.
Both of them wanted to protect the other.
Neither was willing to let the other bear everything alone.
And so, neither could become the one true Hairuo.
Deep within the Sea Eye, the black tide began to collapse.
Pitch-black cracks spread in every direction.
…
Outside.
A series of cracking sounds rang out from the Sea-Suppressing Ritual Platform.
The remaining ritual markings split apart inch by inch.
Hundreds of sea-suppressing pillars tilted at the same time.
Cang Xuanzi’s face was deathly pale. He staggered back several steps before finally collapsing to his knees on the ritual platform.
“We are all sinners…”
He stared at the ritual array that was about to crumble completely, his voice trembling.
“My Divine Palace’s foundation of ten thousand years…”
The power rampaging through the Sea Eye quickly spread across Cangzhou.
Outside Cloud-Dream City, the tide that had only just receded surged up once more, crashing violently against the city walls.
The defending cultivators shouted as they activated every flood-prevention array.
The waves washed over the shallows and rushed toward the low-roofed houses in the villages.
Countless sea beasts in the Eastern Sea sensed the terrifying aura deep within the Sea Eye and let out frightened cries.
High above the Cangming Divine Palace, the suspended halls shook violently.
Several white-jade bridges connecting the palaces even began to crack.
The ten ritual masters struck at once.
But when their power entered the black tide, it vanished like a stone sinking into the sea. They could not suppress the aura of destruction surging up from the depths of the Sea Eye.
Jiang Qingwan swung down her sword.
Purple lightning transformed into a thunder dragon, forcibly tearing apart the waves that had surged toward the outer ritual platform.
Xie Bugui and Yun Zhuo struck at the same time, protecting the edge of the ritual platform, which was on the verge of collapse.
Old Jiang knelt beside the Sea Eye.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice had long since grown hoarse from shouting.
“Yueyue!”
“Huahua!”
“Come back!”
Zhu Changli stood amid the shattered ritual markings, not a trace of color remaining in his face.
Just as everyone believed the Sea Eye was about to rupture completely—
deep within the Divine Palace,
inside the Listening Tide Hall,
the sea lantern that had burned for countless years suddenly went out.
There was no wind.
The flame simply faded into darkness.
In the next instant, a figure in white appeared above the Sea Eye’s ritual platform.
Her body was already almost transparent.
Her hair and robes continuously transformed into streams of water-light, blending into the raging tide around her.
Yet the moment she appeared, the raging waters sweeping across Cangzhou fell almost completely still.
Cang Xuanzi abruptly raised his head.
The ten ritual masters also dropped to their knees at the same time.
“Lord Hai Ruo!”
Hairuo lowered her gaze toward the depths of the Sea Eye.
There, the two incomplete sea moons still clung tightly to each other.
She slowly raised both hands.
Then she began forming one ancient hand seal after another.
With each seal she completed, her body became a little more transparent.
Boom—
Across the vast waters of Cangzhou, countless ancient ritual markings lit up at once.
Falling Sunset Village.
Cloud-Dream City.
The islands of the Eastern Sea.
Countless rivers, lakes, and waterways.
At this moment, every water vein connected through divine power, as though all of Cangzhou had become one boundless sea-suppressing array.
Hairuo raised her hand and pressed it downward.
An immense divine power beyond description descended from her palm into the Sea Eye.
The black tide released a deafening roar.
The cracks that had been spreading apart were forcibly sealed.
The black tide surging into the sky was pressed back into the depths inch by inch.
And Hairuo’s body grew more and more transparent.
Until, in the end, almost nothing remained but a human-shaped shadow of water.
She withdrew her hand.
Then she took a step forward.
The figure in white descended from above the ritual platform and entered the Sea Eye.
The black tide parted on its own before her.
Hairuo continued downward.
At last, she arrived before Tantai Jingyue and Shui Hua.
Tantai Jingyue’s expression changed abruptly when she saw her.
“Master.”
Shui Hua instinctively tightened her arms around her sister.
Hairuo did not scold them.
She simply gazed quietly at the two children clinging tightly to each other.
Her eyes were gentle and weary.
