V2C143

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In the coldest side street of Yecheng, someone remained awake through the entire night.

Little bodies were rolling around in their beds, their azure eyes always open, squinting at the ceiling in the darkness – the fellows around him were all asleep, both Yan Shi and Ning Liang, fell into a sound sleep after a hard day of training. The children’s nostrils were breathing evenly, rising and falling in long waves, and the gills behind their ears opened and closed in tandem with their breathing, occasionally emitting a vague mumble in their sleep.

Sumo had been listening alone in the darkness for a long time, with a hint of complex emotion sweeping across his eyes.

Yes, after so many years of living in the Yunhuang, it was for the first time that he could hear the breathing of his people so calm and uniform. In this world, from the time a shark was born to the time he died, there was not a single day or night when he was not struggling in pain. Perhaps Auntie Ru was right, these children of the same age as him were willingly staying here, accepting their fate to fight for the Sea Kingdom, and their hearts were filled with a noble and bright will for sacrifice.

Compared to him, they seem to be children of another world altogether…

As he was thinking about this, a shadow suddenly moved across the window pane after midnight, pulling the door open a notch and peering in. Sumo was instantly startled and jumped off the floor barefoot, grabbed the little puppet at the foot of the bed, and carefully walked around the sleeping youngsters and towards the door without making a sound.

Outside the door the moon was shining like silver and a beautiful woman stood there, waving at him with a stern look – it was Ruyi, coming to meet him at the appointed time.

Without a word, the child followed her towards the rear and reached the well.

Under the cold moon, the well looked covered in moss, and the intricate patterns carved into its platform could barely be seen.

The well’s opening was pitch-black, but at the bottom there seemed to be a gurgling spring, and under the cold moon, a light glinted from the very depths, like a mysterious eye staring out from within the earth.

For some reason, Sumo suddenly shivered as he approached the well.

This well, was the underwater pathway to Mirror Lake.

“Well, the elders have all gone back to the Mirror Lake camp this afternoon, so take advantage of this opportunity to leave.” Ruyi lowered her voice and pointed to the dark bottom of the well, “Swim along the spring stream from here, for about a hundred miles, and you’ll enter the waters of the Mirror Lake. After you surface then look in the direction of the Jialan Capital and swim underwater again… It may take you three or four days to get there, do you think you can survive?”

Sumo nodded, without saying a word.

“Take this with you,” Ruyi hung a small pouch around his neck and admonished, “This contains some dry food and medicine I have prepared for you – you have not yet recovered, and this journey is so long, I am really afraid that by the time you are halfway there, you won’t be able to continue the journey… Alas, remember, if you can’t find your sister and want to come back, the door here is always open for you.”

“No,” the child lifted his head and replied in a single sentence, “I will find my sister!”

Ruyi looked at his determined eyes, with a hint of gloom passing through her eyes, and stroked the child’s head, “Alright then, go ahead… it’s never easy to be able to find a way to hold on to someone’s heart.”

The child did not replied again, just walked barefoot towards the well.

He stood still at the edge of the well, looking back one last time at the beautiful woman under the cold moon. The flower girl of Yecheng looked at him with a hint of sadness in her eyes for some reason, and her lips wavered as she tried to say something, but in the end, she just sighed, “Be careful on your journey.”

“Mhm.” The child paused for a moment and whispered, “Thank you, Auntie Ru.”

In that instant, however, Ruyi’s body trembled slightly.

Sumo scrambled laboriously up the stone platform, then without hesitation jumped into the bottomless well, like a pale, solitary butterfly swooping into the flames.

“Ah!” In that moment, Ruyi could no longer hold back and released a soft cry of dismay, then gritted her teeth and turned pale.

Sumo plunged into the ancient well, and strangely enough, the fall was surprisingly long. The child almost experienced a kind of trance, as if he was floating on a bottomless river of darkness, and had no idea how long passed before he felt himself touching the surface of the water.

The moment he touched the waters, a slight surprise struck the child’s thoughts: the water beneath the well was warm!

Warm and soft, it sprawled around from all sides and gently wrapped the thin body that jumped into it. Sumo felt an inexpressible sense of comfort for a moment and unconsciously relaxed his senses, allowing himself to keep sinking and sinking… as if he were back in the fetal position in his mother’s womb.

When the child’s tiny figure vanished from the opening of the well, Ruyi remained standing under the cold moon, staring blankly at the pit, and her eyes darkened as tears suddenly sprang to her eyes.

“What, you can’t let go?” A callous old voice asked coldly.

Beneath the cold moon, the three elders who were supposed to have gone back to the Mirror Lake camp, suddenly reappeared on the courtyard!

“Elders.” Ruyi hurriedly wiped away her tears and bowed.

Elder Quan asked, “Did you place that charm on him?”

“Yes.” Ruyi replied in a whisper, turning pale, “He… wasn’t wary at all, thinking it was just dry food I was giving him to eat on the way.”

“Very well. That way, the boy will fall into the ‘Great Dream’ unsuspecting,” Elder Quan walked over the well platform and looked down into the dark opening, “The boy has the blood of the Sea Emperor, if he doesn’t let his guard down, our spells will be very difficult to be effective. It’s all thanks to you, Ruyi.”

Ruyi didn’t speak, and her face turned ashen.

“Tonight’s matter shall remain top secret to the four of us,” Elder Quan looked at the other three, as he spoke one word at a time, “and no fifth person shall be allowed to know. Does everyone understand?”

“Understood!” There was no hesitation as the other Elders replied resolutely.

Elder Quan turned back to the other two and said, “Alright, time is running out, let’s get it started – the ‘Great Dream Spell’ is the most profound of the Yun Fu illusions and requires the three of us to work together and take advantage of the moonlight rays streaming into the well the moment it is performed. Hurry up, everyone.”

“Alright.” The three elders joined hands and surrounded the well – in that instant, all the moss that covered the well’s platform disappeared in a split second, and a shining radiance started to emanate from the ancient stones!

It was a circle of runes, engraved on the shaft, densely surrounding the entrance, like a glowing circle, leading to another world beyond the darkness.

The three elders began to chant under the cold moon, their voices echoing loudly, as if they were using all their spiritual energy to manipulate something. As the incantation flowed out, the water within the deep well suddenly rippled slightly, rising in waves like a lotus flower, blooming in the moonlight! As the waves surged, the child floating senselessly in the water also stirred slightly, like a fetus sleeping in its mother’s amniotic fluid, looking innocent and pure.

Around his neck was hanging the small pouch that Ruyi had given to him, and the same golden light was faintly coming through it, spreading in a circle and surrounding the child in the water.

She could not bear to look any further and turned around to walk back into the front room, closing the door behind her.

In fact, Sumo would have been very happy at this moment, wouldn’t he? That little boy, who jumped down from the well without hesitation, believed that he could leave his country behind and go back to find his sister and pursue the sort of life he desired, free as the sky and the sea would be.

But the foolish child had no idea that this was not allowed!

How could the reborn Sea King of the Sharks, the one who was carrying the weight of their destiny on his tiny shoulders, to just leave everything behind and go back to live out the rest of his life with a Kongsang girl? None of the clansmen, not even her, would allow such a choice to be made! The power of the human heart is strong – but how can one person’s heart be more important than the determination of countless others?

“It’s okay, he’s just fallen asleep… within a deep dream.” Her voice was as soft as a dream, as if she was reassuring herself, murmuring, “When the boy wakes up, everything will be fine… he will wake up from his dream and forget those things he shouldn’t remember.”

“Our Ocean Emperor will have returned, and our Sea Kingdom will be restored.”

“Everything is going to be fine.”

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