Chapter 278: Bluewave city 10.

"Please do."

Han Qing looked between them.

"Are you always like this?"

"Yes."

"Even when a city might collapse?"

Su Yubing answered, "Especially then."

Mo Yuxin took her hand.

"If everything around us becomes chaotic, at least I know where I belong."

Su Yubing’s eyes softened.

"With me."

"With you."

They walked on.

Behind them, another formation node broke.

This time the city itself seemed to exhale.

The pressure weakened.

People began finding paths out of the central streets.

But beneath the city, something answered.

A low rumble rolled through the ground.

The sea moved again.

One wave struck the outer wall.

Then another.

Mo Yuxin looked back.

Far away, beyond the harbor, the black ship had disappeared.

But she could still feel it.

Not the ship itself.

The presence inside it.

Something was waiting.

Something that had been waiting for a very long time.

Su Yubing squeezed her hand.

"Ready?"

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Yes."

Then they reached the final gate of the city lord’s mansion.

At the city lord’s mansion, the gates were closed.

Dozens of guards stood outside.

Several cultivators floated above the walls.

A formation covered the entire compound.

Han Qing looked at it.

"We cannot enter normally."

Mo Yuxin said, "Then we will enter abnormally."

Su Yubing looked amused.

"That sounds like you."

Mo Yuxin took her hand.

"Stay close."

They stepped forward.

The mansion formation activated.

A wall of spiritual pressure came down.

Mo Yuxin did not even slow down.

The formation split around them as if the energy itself had become afraid.

The guards stared.

One man whispered, "Impossible."

The three women crossed the wall without touching it.

Inside the mansion, everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

The gardens were empty.

The halls were dark.

No servants.

No guards.

No city lord.

Han Qing frowned.

"Where is everyone?"

Mo Yuxin looked toward the main hall.

"They are below us."

The three entered.

The floor of the hall was covered in strange patterns.

Seven circles.

Seven bells.

Seven names.

In the center was a hole leading down.

The sixth bell had not merely delayed the ritual.

It had completed the first six stages.

Only the final stage remained.

Su Yubing looked at Mo Yuxin.

"The seventh bell is the opening."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

Then a voice sounded behind them.

"Exactly."

They turned.

An old man stood in the doorway.

He wore a dark blue robe.

His beard was white.

His expression was calm.

He looked like an ordinary elder.

But the pressure around him was enormous.

Han Qing immediately drew her sword.

"City Lord Zhao!"

The old man smiled.

"Qing’er. You have grown up."

Han Qing’s voice shook.

"You killed my brother."

"No."

The city lord looked at her sadly.

"Your brother gave himself willingly."

Han Qing lunged.

The sword stopped one inch from the old man’s throat.

A transparent barrier blocked it.

The city lord sighed.

"Youth. Always so emotional."

Mo Yuxin stepped between them.

"Enough."

The city lord looked at her.

His expression changed.

For the first time, there was genuine surprise in his eyes.

"You..."

Mo Yuxin did nothing.

The city lord slowly narrowed his eyes.

"Your cultivation is not Nascent Soul."

Su Yubing’s expression became cold.

The city lord smiled.

"Interesting."

Mo Yuxin said, "You should not have noticed."

"No."

He looked at Su Yubing.

Then his face became pale.

"But now I understand."

Mo Yuxin’s gaze sharpened.

"Understand what?"

The city lord did not answer immediately.

Instead, he looked at Su Yubing as if seeing someone he had been waiting for across centuries.

"The woman from the prophecy."

Su Yubing froze.

Mo Yuxin’s expression became completely cold.

"What prophecy?"

The city lord smiled.

"The one that says the sea will open only when she returns."

Silence filled the hall.

Su Yubing slowly stepped forward.

"I have never been here."

"Perhaps not in this life."

Mo Yuxin moved slightly in front of her.

The city lord chuckled.

"You really are devoted to her."

"More than you can imagine."

"Then you will understand why I cannot let you leave."

The city lord raised his hand.

The seven circles on the floor began glowing.

The missing nameplates in the hidden chamber lit up beneath the mansion.

A deep sound came from below.

Not a bell.

Something breathing.

The city lord’s smile widened.

"The seal has waited eight hundred years."

He looked at Su Yubing.

"And tonight, it finally has the key it needs."

Mo Yuxin’s eyes became sharp.

She reached for Su Yubing’s hand.

Su Yubing held hers immediately.

No matter what the city had hidden, they would face it together.

Above them, the formation covering Bluewave City cracked.

A line of black water appeared in the sky.

The people in the streets began screaming.

Then the seventh bell rang.

Dong.

Every ocean wave around Bluewave City stopped at once.

The sea became completely still.

The city lord laughed.

The floor beneath the mansion opened.

A vast eye appeared in the darkness below.

It was not the eye of a human.

It was not the eye of a beast.

It was something far older.

Something that had been sleeping beneath the Southern Continent long before Bluewave City existed.

Its gaze rose through the broken floor and settled on Su Yubing.

And a voice, so deep that the entire city shook when it spoke, called her name.

"Yubing."

Mo Yuxin’s grip tightened around her wife’s hand.

Su Yubing’s face went pale.

Because she recognized that voice.

She did not know from where.

She did not know why.

But somewhere deep in her soul, something answered.

And beneath their feet, a second voice whispered the words neither of them had expected to hear.

"Welcome home, Empress of the Deep."

The city went completely silent.

Mo Yuxin looked at Su Yubing.

Su Yubing looked back.

Neither woman spoke.

Then, from somewhere far beneath the city, something enormous opened its second eye.

And this time, it was looking directly at Mo Yuxin.

’’’

The second eye opened.

For one strange moment, Mo Yuxin thought the entire world had stopped breathing.

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TO BE CONTINUED.