Shen Tanqi listened blankly, subconsciously retorting, “Impossible, Yu Ce said…”
“If you don’t believe it, go see for yourself.”
Xie Chi signaled Jing Wei, who immediately used demonic energy to activate the deep-sea mermaid pearl. In the blink of an eye, a burst of light surrounded them, filling the air with a thick, chilling mist.
Shen Tanqi choked a few times in the mist, his vision blurring until he couldn’t see anything clearly.
In the long chaos, Shen Tanqi’s limbs were soaked and chilled by the dense mist. He even wondered if Xie Chi wanted to freeze him to death.
Earlier, Yu Ce had mentioned that the deep-sea mermaid pearl could send people back in time, but at that time, Shen Tanqi had never thought that he’d acquire the pearl in such a manner.
Feeling uneasy and increasingly impatient, he didn’t know what mysterious place he was sent to.
Before long, the thick fog in front of him dispersed, revealing a grand palace with carved beams and painted rafters.
Snow was falling heavily all around, blanketing the landscape in white. Only the plum blossoms bloomed on the branches, adding a touch of color.
Shen Tanqi hesitated for a moment. Before he could figure out where he was, he heard a cry of surprise from inside the palace. Pausing for a moment, he cautiously walked inside.
The palace was filled with ancient scrolls, almost as if submerged in a sea of books. Shen Tanqi had nowhere to step, but following the sound, he saw a man lying unconscious next to a bookshelf, seemingly having fainted.
Curious and puzzled, Shen Tanqi slowly walked further in. The man was facedown, with books piled on his head. Looking up, he noticed the shelf above was completely empty.
Looking at this scene, could it be that this person was trying to get a book and accidentally knocked himself out by the falling books?
Could there really be someone so clumsy?
Shen Tanqi’s mouth twitched slightly as he dug the man out from the pile of books.
The man showed no reaction, looking as lifeless as dead. Shen Tanqi hesitated and reached out, poking his head.
A soft gasp escaped the man as he slowly crawled out from the books, seemingly oblivious to Shen Tanqi’s presence, muttering to himself in self-criticism, “Why am I so clumsy again.”
Seeing his face, Shen Tanqi was momentarily stunned. Those brows resembling distant mountains and the ink-colored eyes filled with mist were remarkably similar to Yu Ce!
Stammering, Shen Tanqi uttered, “You, you’re Yu Ce’s…”
Father?
Looking at that face, there was no doubt.
Could it be that the deep-sea mermaid pearl had sent him into Yu Ce’s father’s memories?
The man seemed completely unaware, as if he couldn’t hear Shen Tanqi at all. He sighed in frustration while carefully gathering up the scattered scrolls from the floor.
The man holding the scrolls wore a snow-colored robe strikingly similar to Yu Ce’s, but lacked Yu Ce’s cold and aloof demeanor, instead resembling a gentle and refined scholar.
As he concentrated on organizing the scrolls, struggling to lift them back onto the shelves with weak arms, Shen Tanqi couldn’t help but reach out and lend a hand.
“Thank you,” the man said softly.
Shen Tanqi blinked in disbelief. “You can see me?”
The man’s lips curved into a gentle smile as he pushed the scrolls into place on the shelves, murmuring softly, “You used my mermaid pearl to come here, so of course, I can see you.”
He truly was Yu Ce’s father, the only merman in the world.
Upon hearing this, Shen Tanqi was momentarily stunned. “Then why were you pretending not to see me earlier?”
As the man finished arranging the scrolls on the shelf, he withdrew his hand, looking somewhat awkward. He squeezed the fingers concealed in his sleeve and whispered softly, “I was afraid you might be a bad person.”
Shen Tanqi paused for a moment, feeling an urge to laugh inexplicably. “So now you’re not afraid that I’m a bad person anymore?”
At his words, the man chuckled slyly and gestured towards the shelves. “You helped me out, so I guess you’re not a bad person.”
Shen Tanqi didn’t know what to say. Why did Yu Ce’s father seem so easy to deceive? Well, he wasn’t entirely naive; at least he knew how to put on a show.
Thinking back to Xie Chi’s earlier tone, it seemed he had come here before and learned some things about the past, which was why he had confidently told Shen Tanqi that Yu Ce’s father had killed the Shen family’s matriarch.
“Before you, someone else came here.”
Sure enough…
Leaning on his arm, the man sat on the floor, casually picking up an unfinished ancient manuscript and placing it on his knee. “Besides someone destined, only those who can obtain my mermaid pearl should be able to come here, which means I should already be dead by now.”
His voice was calm, showing no signs of agitation about his own death—no fear, no hatred, and no resentment.
Instead, he looked at Shen Tanqi with a gentle smile and asked softly, “So how did you manage to come here?”
Facing the face so similar to Yu Ce’s, Shen Tanqi couldn’t help but soften. He sat down beside the man and whispered, “I was captured by bad people. They said they wanted me to come in and see something.”
As he listened, the man turned the pages of the book in his hand, his voice serious. “Hmm, is it something related to me?”
Shen Tanqi looked at him and nodded.
“Have you ever killed someone?”
Shen Tanqi’s question echoed abruptly in the spacious palace. The man’s fingers paused briefly on the pages of the book, then he continued flipping calmly as if nothing had happened.
Looking at Yu Ce’s father in this manner, Shen Tanqi couldn’t imagine how this person could have laid hands on Madam Shen.
Even if Yu Ce didn’t believe it, Shen Tanqi himself couldn’t accept such a thing.
In the long silence, the man spoke softly, “If by killing you mean taking a life, then yes, I have.”
Shen Tanqi’s eyes widened, and without hesitation, he asked, “Who did you kill?”
Closing the book gently, the man stood up slowly, dragging his steps towards the entrance of the hall. He looked out at the gently falling white snowflakes, then glanced back at Shen Tanqi. “Please follow me.”
Shen Tanqi curled his fingers slightly at his sides, pursing his lips tightly, and silently followed behind him.
The man turned his head, noticing Shen Tanqi’s serious expression, sensing the suppressed anger. Unsure of what to do, he spoke softly, “The journey is long, don’t rush.”
“I know,” Shen Tanqi forced himself to suppress the fiery emotions within. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions about the man in front of him before all the facts were clear.
Yu Ce trusted his father deeply. Even when everyone claimed his father was a murderer, the ten-year-old Yu Ce firmly refused to believe it. He had fled from Hidden Dragon Valley to Shuoxia City, a thousand miles away, determined to clear his father’s name and prove his innocence.
Although Shen Tanqi didn’t know much about Madam Shen or what kind of person she was, the woman in the portrait smiled so gently. And when she died, she had a ten-year-old child.
No matter the reason, Shen Tanqi couldn’t accept the idea that Yu Ce’s father had killed the Shen family matriarch.
If Yu Ce’s father had really done such a thing, Shen Tanqi didn’t know what he should do.
Shen Tanqi’s mind was a tangle of conflicting emotions. Should he hate?
Madam Shen wasn’t his mother in the first place; she was the mother of the original owner. What reason did he have to harbor resentment for someone else’s mother?
Shouldn’t he hate, though, considering how much Yu Ce trusted his father!
Shen Tanqi felt overwhelmed, his thoughts in disarray, unable to cut through the confusion. As he looked up, the man seemed to sense his gaze, lowering his eyelashes timidly, and asked hesitantly, “What… what’s your name?”
At a time like this, he was still asking for his name!
Shen Tanqi replied somewhat irritably, “Shen Tanqi.”
As the words left his mouth, the man’s body stiffened slightly. He looked at Shen Tanqi sharply and repeated slowly, “Shen Tanqi?”
Shen Tanqi took a deep breath and said, “Yes, do you know me?”
Ridiculous, how could Yu Ce’s father possibly know him? He was only ten years old at the time.
“I know you.”
The man’s words almost made Shen Tanqi stumble. His voice lowered even more, sounding muffled as he said, “I know you.”
Shen Tanqi glanced at him, and the thought crossed his mind that if Yu Ce’s father had really killed Madam Shen, perhaps he had indeed met the ten-year-old original self.
This further solidified the man’s guilt in Shen Tanqi’s mind, and he didn’t want to speak to him any longer.
But the man seemed lost in deep memories, his gaze fixed on Shen Tanqi, drifting far away. “That year, you were still very young.”
Even though Shen Tanqi remained silent, refusing to respond, the man continued softly, almost to himself, “We met in Yudong City. You and your mother were guests at Feiluan Sect. You suddenly fell seriously ill, beyond cure, and your mother sought out renowned doctors all over the city.”
Shen Tanqi listened in a daze. He knew Yudong City was indeed closer to the Feiluan Sect. In the man’s soft recounting, he could almost see the gentle and elegant figure of Madam Shen, anxiously supporting his ten-year-old self through snowy nights, desperately seeking medical help.
If only he could have had such a mother. But at ten, when he suffered a concussion from a flowerpot, his mother just glanced at him and tossed him a bottle of iodine, saying, “We have no money, bear with it. It’s your fault for not watching where you walk. Why were you the one hit when everyone else wasn’t?”
Thinking of those heartless and indifferent words, and his mother’s cold and irritable gaze, Shen Tanqi felt a pang in his chest. He looked away and asked, “So, what are you trying to say?”
The man gazed quietly at him for a long moment, then a pale smile crept onto his lips. “You haven’t changed a bit from when you were ten, just grown taller and older. If my son were here… he’d probably be just like you.”
Shen Tanqi felt even more irritated hearing him mention Yu Ce. He gritted his teeth. “Does your son know you’ve killed someone?”
At his words, the man trembled slightly. He lowered his head again and whispered softly, “He will never know. Never.”
Shen Tanqi was left speechless, unsure what to say. After a moment, he looked at the man coldly and said, “You’re afraid he’ll know, but not afraid I’ll know?”
Suddenly, the man stopped in his tracks and looked at Shen Tanqi as if pleading. “If you know my son, please don’t tell him anything.”
Shen Tanqi looked at him incredulously. “You’re afraid Yu Ce knows, but not me? Or do you think I don’t know that you killed my mother?”
The last word slipped out of Shen Tanqi’s mouth unintentionally, and Shen Tanqi felt a pang of regret. How could he have started thinking of Madam Shen as his own again?
Taking over the original body was one thing, but taking someone else’s mother?
The man fell silent for a moment, then abruptly turned his head away, continuing to walk ahead of Shen Tanqi, his voice carried away by the biting cold wind and snowflakes.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he whispered softly. “You need to know how much your mother sacrificed for you, not just her deep love, but her life.”
Shen Tanqi stood frozen in place, but then he noticed the man had stopped walking. It was then that he abruptly realized they were standing before the tombstone of a lonely grave.
The man knelt slowly in front of the grave, gently brushing off the snow piled on the stone. He spoke softly, “This is where your mother rests. I can use my mermaid pearl to let you enter and speak to her. Then you’ll understand everything.”
Turning back to face Shen Tanqi, who stood stiffly in the snow, he spoke gently, “When you were ten and seriously ill, your mother found me and exchanged her life for yours. She did everything she could to save your soul.”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
