Chapter 283: Bluewave city 15.

Su Yubing closed her eyes.

"That works for me."

They stayed like that for a moment.

Then the city above them erupted into cheers.

The pressure had disappeared.

The black crack in the sky had vanished.

The sea was moving normally again.

The people of Bluewave City did not know what had happened beneath their feet.

They only knew that they had survived.

For the moment.

The city lord slowly sank onto a stone chair.

"My family spent eight hundred years protecting a lie."

Mo Yuxin looked at him.

"Not completely."

"What do you mean?"

"You still protected the city."

The old man’s eyes became wet.

He looked toward the ceiling.

"Perhaps that is enough."

Su Yubing walked over.

"What will you do now?"

The city lord smiled tiredly.

"Tell the truth."

"Good."

"And if the Sacred Tide Sect comes again?"

Mo Yuxin answered casually.

"Call us."

The old man stared.

"You will return?"

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"We are still staying in the city tonight."

The city lord blinked.

"Tonight?"

Su Yubing smiled.

"We haven’t finished sightseeing."

The city lord looked as though he had forgotten how to speak.

By the next morning, Bluewave City had already become chaotic.

Rumors spread faster than the tide.

Some people said a sea dragon had appeared beneath the city.

Others claimed an immortal had descended.

A group of fishermen insisted they had seen the ocean stop moving.

A drunk man claimed he had fought a dragon with a broom.

He became famous by noon.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing ate breakfast at a small noodle shop near the market.

The owner was an old woman with a loud voice and no fear of cultivators.

She placed two bowls on the table.

"Eat while it’s hot."

Su Yubing picked up her chopsticks.

"Thank you, auntie."

The old woman looked at the two of them.

"You two are married?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

Su Yubing looked at Mo Yuxin.

Mo Yuxin answered,

"Long enough that she steals my blanket at night."

Su Yubing kicked her under the table.

"Don’t listen to her."

The old woman laughed.

"Good. Young couples should argue. If you don’t argue, the marriage is boring."

Mo Yuxin looked at Su Yubing.

"We don’t argue often."

"Why?"

"She wins."

Su Yubing smiled proudly.

The old woman nodded in approval.

"Smart husband."

Mo Yuxin nearly choked on her noodles.

Su Yubing covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

"Auntie, we are both women."

The old woman blinked.

Then she waved her hand.

"Same thing. Whoever pays for dinner is the husband."

Su Yubing laughed.

"Then she is definitely the husband."

Mo Yuxin stared at her.

"Traitor."

"You married me."

"Best mistake I ever made."

Su Yubing smiled.

"You mean best decision."

"That too."

It was the kind of conversation they would remember later when everything became complicated again.

After breakfast, they walked through the market.

The city had returned to normal.

Merchants shouted about seafood.

Children chased each other around spirit fruit stalls.

Cultivators bargained over talismans.

A traveling storyteller was loudly explaining how he had personally defeated the monster beneath the city.

Mo Yuxin stopped to listen.

The storyteller raised his voice.

"And then, at the most critical moment, I drew my ancestral sword and challenged the sea demon!"

A child asked,

"Then why did you run away?"

The storyteller coughed.

"That was a strategic retreat."

Mo Yuxin laughed.

Su Yubing leaned against her shoulder.

"You should try storytelling."

"What would I say?"

"The truth."

"No one would believe it."

"Exactly."

They continued walking.

Their final day in Bluewave City was peaceful.

Too peaceful.

By sunset, Mo Yuxin had started to suspect it.

"Something is wrong."

Su Yubing looked toward the harbor.

The sea was perfectly calm.

"I feel it too."

They stood on a bridge overlooking the water.

The black mark on Su Yubing’s wrist had faded almost completely.

But a new sensation had appeared.

A faint vibration in the spiritual energy.

Someone was watching them.

Mo Yuxin glanced across the street.

Nobody.

She looked at the rooftops.

Nothing.

She extended her spiritual sense.

The city appeared normal.

Then, at the edge of her perception, she felt something.

A thread.

Extremely thin.

Connected to Su Yubing.

Mo Yuxin’s eyes narrowed.

"Yubing."

"Hmm?"

"Hold my hand."

Su Yubing immediately did.

Mo Yuxin followed the thread.

It led toward the harbor.

Specifically, toward the abandoned pier where they had first met the black ship.

They went there after dark.

The pier was empty.

The water below reflected the moon.

Mo Yuxin looked down.

"There is something beneath us."

Su Yubing crouched and touched the water.

The surface rippled.

A voice rose from below.

Not the voice of the ancient beast.

Not the voice from the black palace.

Something else.

A woman’s voice.

Soft.

Almost amused.

"You found me."

Su Yubing’s face changed.

Mo Yuxin immediately stepped between her and the water.

"Come out."

The sea remained still.

Then a hand emerged.

Pale fingers wrapped around the edge of the pier.

A woman slowly climbed onto the wooden boards.

She wore black robes.

Her hair was wet.

Her face was beautiful.

And around her neck was a broken silver chain bearing the exact same symbol as the mark on Su Yubing’s wrist.

Mo Yuxin’s eyes became cold.

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled.

"Someone who has been waiting for her for eight hundred years."

She looked at Su Yubing.

"Empress."

Su Yubing’s hand tightened around Mo Yuxin’s.

"I am not your empress."

The woman smiled more deeply.

"Perhaps not yet."

Mo Yuxin took one step forward.

"You have three breaths to explain yourself."

The woman laughed softly.

"You are still exactly the same."

"One."

"You never liked hearing about the past."

"Two."

"And you always become frightening when someone gets near her."

"Three."

Mo Yuxin raised her hand.

The woman disappeared.

Not moved.

Disappeared.

Mo Yuxin’s attack shattered the pier where she had been standing.

The boards exploded into splinters.

Su Yubing looked at the water.

Nothing.

Then the ocean darkened.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.