Chapter 287: Bluewave city 19.

Mo Yuxin carried everything.

As they walked toward the eastern gate, Su Yubing suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

"What?"

She held up the shell bracelet.

The bracelet had seven tiny shells.

Mo Yuxin stared at them.

Seven.

Her eyes narrowed.

Su Yubing looked at it too.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then the seventh shell cracked.

A tiny black symbol appeared inside it.

The same symbol as the mark that had appeared on Su Yubing’s wrist.

Mo Yuxin’s face became expressionless.

Su Yubing slowly looked up.

"Yuxin."

"I see it."

"Does this mean..."

"No."

Mo Yuxin took the bracelet.

She examined it carefully.

Her spiritual sense moved through the shell.

There was almost nothing there.

Almost.

A tiny thread of energy remained.

It was ancient.

It was unfamiliar.

And it was moving north.

Mo Yuxin looked toward the road ahead.

The Southern Continent stretched before them.

Mountains appeared beyond the horizon.

A long journey was waiting.

She handed the bracelet back to Su Yubing.

"We’re still leaving."

Su Yubing nodded.

"Good."

"You are not scared?"

"I have you."

Mo Yuxin smiled.

"That’s my line."

"Then share it."

They started walking.

Behind them, Bluewave City continued living.

The harbor was busy.

Ships came and went.

The city walls had been repaired.

The ancient formation slept again.

And beneath the deepest part of the sea, where no mortal could see, the ancient guardian watched the two women leave.

Its enormous eyes closed.

The final words of the old prophecy faded with the tide.

The Empress has chosen her home.

The Sword Keeper has chosen to follow.

The Abyssal Court remains shut.

For now.

Far beneath the ocean, however, one tiny lantern inside the ruins of the palace flickered back to life.

A hand reached out from the darkness.

It was holding a broken crown.

A woman’s voice whispered into the empty palace.

"They remember enough."

Another voice answered from somewhere deeper.

"And when they reach the center of the Southern Continent?"

The woman smiled.

"Then they will learn why the two of them were sent here in the first place."

The lantern went dark.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing continued down the road.

Neither of them knew that behind the mountains ahead stood a ruined ancient sect that had already begun preparing for their arrival.

Neither knew that the black thread inside the shell bracelet was quietly pointing toward it.

Neither knew that Bluewave City had not been the beginning of their journey through the Southern Continent.

It had only been the first locked door.

And now they had opened it.

The road out of Bluewave City followed the coast for several li before turning inland.

The morning was warm.

Sea birds flew overhead, and the sound of waves slowly faded behind them.

Su Yubing walked with her hands behind her back, humming a tune she had heard from a street musician.

Mo Yuxin carried the travel bag over one shoulder.

After a while, Su Yubing looked sideways at her.

"You are thinking too much."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"About what?"

"The bracelet."

Mo Yuxin sighed.

"It is strange."

"Everything about this journey is strange."

"That is not comforting."

Su Yubing smiled.

"It wasn’t meant to be."

They walked another mile.

Eventually they reached a small stone pavilion where travelers stopped to rest.

An elderly farmer was sitting there with his grandson.

The old man greeted them warmly.

"Travelers?"

"Yes," Su Yubing answered.

"Heading inland?"

"Toward the mountains."

The old man frowned.

"Don’t go too far east."

Mo Yuxin looked at him.

"Why?"

"There is an abandoned sect up there."

Su Yubing and Mo Yuxin exchanged a glance.

The old man continued.

"People say strange lights appear on the mountain at night. Some travelers hear bells. Some never come back. The local cultivators call it Ghost Lantern Mountain."

Su Yubing looked at Mo Yuxin.

Mo Yuxin looked at the shell bracelet.

The black thread inside it pointed east.

Exactly toward the mountains.

Su Yubing sighed.

"We are definitely going there, aren’t we?"

"Probably."

"I knew it."

The old farmer stared at them.

"You two are not scared?"

Su Yubing smiled politely.

"We are very cautious."

Mo Yuxin added,

"And moderately stupid."

The old farmer laughed.

"At least you know yourselves."

They thanked him and continued.

By afternoon, the mountain appeared on the horizon.

A single peak rose above the forest.

At its summit stood the broken remains of an old gate.

Even from far away, Mo Yuxin could feel the ancient spiritual energy hidden within the ruins.

Su Yubing felt it too.

"That is not a dead sect."

"No."

"Something is still there."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

They stopped at the edge of the forest.

The road split into three directions.

One led north.

One led east toward the mountain.

One led south toward a larger city.

Su Yubing pointed east.

"That one."

Mo Yuxin smiled.

"Of course."

They walked toward the mountain together.

Neither noticed the young man hiding behind a tree several hundred zhang away.

He had been following them since the edge of Bluewave City.

He wore the robes of the Sacred Tide Sect.

In his hand was a jade communication talisman.

He whispered into it,

"They are heading toward Ghost Lantern Mountain."

A voice answered from the talisman.

"Then the first stage has succeeded."

The young man frowned.

"But the gate in Bluewave City was closed."

The voice laughed.

"The gate was never the objective."

"Then what was?"

There was a pause.

"We needed them to carry the key inland."

The young man’s face changed.

"You mean the shell bracelet?"

"Yes."

"But how did you know they would buy it?"

The voice became colder.

"Because the market stall was placed there for one purpose."

The communication talisman went silent.

The young man stared toward the distant figures of Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing.

For the first time, he felt afraid.

Not of the women.

Of the people giving him orders.

He slowly turned toward the mountain.

At the summit, one ancient lantern lit by itself.

..

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TO BE CONTINUED.