The Merfolk girl looked at me, her gaze softening like dusk over calm water; she closed her eyes like a shell folding, paused in a silence that sank like a stone, then opened them to gold again like molten sun in a wave. She said softly, “You want to know why I slaughtered these people?”
“Mm-hm.” I was just here to run my mouth, a spark flickering under my tongue like a firefly in the dark.
“Tell me: if someone turned the home you’d lived in for over a decade to ash like burned paper, and cut down your family like wheat, what would you do?”
“Uh… huh?! Are you sure anyone could even beat you? Wait, aren’t you Merfolk? The continent and the ocean have been estranged for over a hundred years, like cliffs split by a storm.”
Her voice was calm, cool as a night tide. “Answer my question first. You—what would you do?”
“I don’t want to bluff, because I haven’t lived through that,” Ling Yehan said, his tone heavy as iron in the hand. “But if it happened, I’d make them regret ever coming into this world, like a shadow that won’t leave their skin.”
“So do you think what I did was too much?” Her words hung like mist over a marsh.
“Hold up, hold up! Can we start over? I’m lost in fog here. You’re Merfolk, right? The continent doesn’t meddle with the deep like mountains that don’t wade into tides. Shouldn’t the Blue Domain Empire handle this?”
“Heh. You want a kingdom of the underworld meddling in the business of the living, like grave-cold wind sweeping a warm hearth?”
“???”
“The Blue Domain Empire disappeared from this world over a century ago, like foam dissolving into salt. And I am the last Merfolk princess, a lone pearl in an empty reef. Do you understand now?”
Chaos—everything flipped like a skiff in a squall. I grabbed the wrong script, papers whipping in a wind. This isn’t right!
“How is that possible! History says the Blue Domain was the sea’s only empire, the largest on this plane. With eighty percent ocean, it was the overlord, a leviathan under blue skies.”
“Heh… overlord, so what? Today, have you seen any Merfolk besides me?” Her tone carried a bleak chill, like an abandoned coral hall under cold tide.
“No way. An empire that big… gone like a lighthouse snuffed? Then why no record on the continent, dust never stirred? And—you mean the Merfolk are almost all wiped out, lanterns blown dark?”
Her face stayed unreadable, moon behind a cloud. “I don’t know how the continent sees me. If you think I’m lying, come with me to the former capital of the Blue Domain Empire, a drowned city sleeping under gray waves.”
“Uh, yeah, maybe not.” I wasn’t walking into the tiger’s jaws, iron gates ready to slam.
“Honestly, being here in the ocean isn’t any different from the old capital, like two currents of the same sea. You can’t beat me anyway. Why not take a look?” Her casual tone rippled like a finger trailing water.
Ling Yehan smiled, thin as a blade’s edge catching moonlight.
“I believe you, okay? Why do I feel like a hook tugging—like you really want me to go there…”
“Mm. Why not?” Her answer was a cat’s purr, soft as velvet night.
“I don’t really want to. I came here with things to do, a compass needle pointing true.”
“You said you’re a Merfolk princess, right? Then allow me—Your Highness. Your Majesty… I came to ask you to stop, a white flag raised in a rising wind.” I knew I had no ground like sand underfoot, but some things must be said, like a bell struck.
“Impossible.” Her tone was iron quenched in water, then softened like steel blueing. “Unless… you come with me.”
“Huh?!” Why would I go with you—did you set your eye on me like a hawk on a rabbit? I didn’t dare say it; I flirt with death, but not that hard, not off a cliff.
Wait! From her tone, the Merfolk might be down to a tenth, a forest thinned to bare trunks. So… does she want to take me back as a…
At that thought, Ling Yehan’s face reddened like dawn flooding a pale horizon.
“No! I absolutely, absolutely won’t yield!” My spine rose like a spear against the sky.
“…What are you talking about?” Her words fell cool, like spring rain on slate.
“I said, don’t even think about dragging me away!” My heels dug in like stakes in hard ground.
“…” Her composure slipped; her pale-gold eyes flickered aside like a startled deer breaking for brush.
“How about this—you came to persuade me, right? Let’s wager.” She set the words down like stones in a river. “Three moves each. If you beat me within three, I’ll obey everything you say, including ending revenge on landfolk.”
“Eh?” My surprise popped like a bubble on a wave.
“But if you lose, you come with me, obediently. How about it?” She let the leash dangle like silk over the wrist.
‘Say yes, say yes! She’s too naive, giving you three moves. No one on the continent has ever taken my three, not anyone. She’s handing us victory like a silver platter. Win, and we finish this daring stunt without a scratch, a blade clean of blood!’
‘No! Confidence like that hides a trump, a net under calm water. If we agree rashly, we’ll step right into her trap. Do you want to end up her stud, Ling Yehan, a stallion in a gilded pen?’
Inside Ling Yehan’s head, two little selves started brawling, puppets boxing on a tabletop.
‘Hmph! Coward. She’s already in your face and you’re still flinching—like a wolf at your throat. No faith in yourself—did the last ten years mean nothing?’
‘Cut it out! If you didn’t egg me on to court death daily, we wouldn’t be here, sparks falling into dry grass!’
‘You—!’ The two little Ling Yehans glared, lightning crackling between them like a storm in a jar.
“Enough! Quit it. Let me think in peace,” I said, chasing quiet like a deep breath held underwater.
“Hey… you’re not scared, are you?” The girl’s mouth lifted into a teasing crescent, a moon rising on still water.
“…”
So-cute.jpg.
‘I say we teach her a lesson she’ll remember, a scar carved clean.’
‘Mm. She’s not just in your face—she flipped you the international sign like a dagger, and even threw in a meme like confetti.’
You think we can let that slide?! My temper boiled like a kettle on a red flame.
“Three moves?! I don’t need that many—one is enough!” My confidence drew taut like a bowstring.
“Ho~ really? I think three is better~.” Her lips curled like a hook. She knew he’d taken the bait; no escape now, a fish caught in a bright net.
No, don’t grin. Keep teasing him, fox-tail swaying in grass.
“Fine! Three it is! No cheating!” Fool, you took the bait—ha! One move, I might not be sure. But three? Even a god, I’ll cut down like thunder felling a tree!
“…” Sigh~. Her breath moved like wind through reeds.
“Then, after you?” She gestured, palm opening like a door to the sky.
“No. We change venues first. This is the sea—you’ve got ways to boost yourself like currents lifting you. We fight on the surface, where the sky is a mirror.”
“As you wish… Oh, right, we haven’t exchanged names yet!” Her tone rang like a bell at dusk.
“…I told you from the start. I’m Ling Yehan,” he said, his name cold as a blade of frost.
“Is that so? Maybe I was in Godform Mimicry then and missed it~ I’m Aikelant—Qingyu Mengyin. Please take care of me~.” Her words chimed like beads on silk.
She uses Godform Mimicry like it’s nothing—power flaring like wildfire. That’s twisted…
Godform Mimicry is an active use of divine blood, a spark lit in the veins like starlight. Usually only true descendants of gods, or beings blessed by gods, hold such blood.
It marks the line between mortals and godspawn, a river between shores. In that state, your body and magic surge, like tides under a full moon.
Blessings amplify; elements cleave to you; potential blooms. Your power multiplies, and your reflexes snap to the limit, like a falcon stooping.
But it lasts only a short while, sand slipping fast through a glass. Most with divine blood can’t exceed ten seconds, ten heartbeats like lightning.
Those ten seconds decide battles in an overwhelming flash, a storm that breaks a wall.
Legends say only gods maintain it endlessly, like sun that never sets. No—Godform Mimicry is just imitation, a shadow chasing the light.
I recall little Xuewei could hold it for over thirty seconds, a candle burning bright. As for me…
