Chapter 246: Lan Cangming and Anan 3

Chapter 246: Chapter 246: Lan Cangming and Anan 3

As Lan Cangming left, his silver-blue tail swept past the stone wall of the pool, causing a loose reef to make a soft CLICK.

Su An’an glimpsed a faint passage behind the reef. She shot upright, her pink tail instantly tensing.

Lan Cangming paused at the cell door. "By the way, the Sea Witch said you stole my Calming Pearl."

He turned his head to the side, and moonlight filtered through a crack in the ceiling of the Water Prison, landing on his long eyelashes.

"But my pearl has never left my side."

Stunned, Su An’an looked down. The blue Calming Pearl on her wrist was gone—Lan Cangming had taken it back without her noticing.

"Give it back!"

Su An’an swam forward, but Lan Cangming had already closed the door and left.

’That wretched mermaid! I can’t tell if he’s a good guy or a bad guy.’

Su An’an gulped down the steaming seaweed gruel in one go, then looked back at the loose reef.

’I have to get out of this blasted place first,’ she decided.

She gritted her teeth, and with a flick of her pink tail, she swam swiftly out of the cell.

At the end of the corridor, his adjutant, Lei Ya, was approaching on patrol.

He caught sight of the fleeing Su An’an, and whipping his eight tentacles, he moved to sound the alarm.

"Don’t move."

Lan Cangming’s voice, cold and deep, came from the shadows.

Lei Ya froze. "Marshal, the half-breed has escaped!"

"I know."

Lan Cangming’s silver-blue tail swished gently, his gaze fixed on the distant pink figure.

"We have to let her go to draw out the forces pulling the strings."

Lei Ya hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. "Yes, Marshal."

Su An’an swam for her life, her heart pounding like a drum.

She knew she was being followed, yet her pursuers always seemed to be just an inch away from catching her.

When she dove into a thicket of coral, her pursuers just so happened to get tangled up.

When she squeezed through a narrow crevice in the reef, her pursuers just so happened to be too large to fit.

And just as she was about to be cornered, her pursuers just so happened to receive an urgent military order and made a hasty retreat.

It was obvious: someone was deliberately letting her escape.

Unseen by Su An’an.

Lan Cangming followed far behind, his silver-blue tail tracing elegant arcs in the water, his gaze never leaving the pink figure.

"Marshal, at this rate, she’ll escape our waters," Lei Ya said with a frown.

"No need to rush."

Lan Cangming said calmly, "She won’t get away."

「A mysterious undersea canyon.」

Chi Ya knelt before a statue of Poseidon. He sliced open his wrist with a sharp fingernail, and black blood gushed out, seeping into the cracks at the statue’s base.

"Drink, my Lord!"

He laughed maniacally, the tentacles on the back of his head writhing in excitement. "I will use the blood of Su An’an and Lan Cangming to complete the final sacrifice!"

The dark-red veins on the statue’s abdomen suddenly lit up, glowing like blood vessels set ablaze.

The entire canyon was shrouded in an ominous, crimson glow.

Its turbid, black crystal eyes slowly turned, locking onto the distant pink and silver-blue figures.

Su An’an had reached the edge of the territory.

Just ahead lay the free seas, beyond the forbidden territory of the mermaids.

But her heart suddenly clenched, as if seized by an invisible hand.

"Argh!" She arched her back violently, her pink tail spasming.

An irresistible force tugged at her, compelling her to turn around.

"Damn it."

She bit her lip, trying to stay clear-headed, but her body moved against her will, cutting through the water and swimming toward a pitch-black, deep-sea canyon.

"Marshal! She’s heading for the Death Canyon!"

Lei Ya’s tentacles thrashed anxiously in the water.

Lan Cangming suddenly let out a muffled grunt. His tail began to thrash uncontrollably as he, too, started swimming in Su An’an’s direction.

Lei Ya noticed with horror that the Marshal’s eyes were gradually turning a dark red.

He tried to follow, but he had already lost sight of both the Marshal and the pink-tailed mermaid.

Su An’an felt like a fish caught in a vast, invisible net. She plummeted helplessly, crashing hard onto the ground before a statue.

She snapped her head up, coming face-to-face with a bizarre, fox-like creature with tentacles growing from the back of its head.

Even more terrifying was the enormous statue of Poseidon behind him.

The statue’s abdomen was swollen, and a viscous black liquid oozed from the crevices of its surface patterns, as if something were gestating within.

THUD!

Lan Cangming crashed down heavily behind Su An’an, his eyes a furious, blood-red.

Chi Ya watched as the two of them were dragged before him, one after the other. He scraped his sharp fingernails across his palm, drawing black blood.

He trembled with excitement. "Look at this perfect stage! I’ll have you two ’lovers’ finish each other off with your own hands!"

He slammed his hand onto the statue’s base. The dark-red veins instantly surged, coiling around Lan Cangming’s limbs like venomous snakes.

"Gah!"

A pained grunt escaped Lan Cangming’s throat, and his blood-red eyes lost all focus.

The Ice Crystal condensing in his palm suddenly elongated, morphing into a longsword that radiated a chill aura. He pointed it straight at Su An’an’s heart.

Su An’an instinctively gathered her pink Divine Light, forming a barrier in front of her.

But the moment the Ice Crystal blade struck the shield of light, the force of the impact sent her reeling.

The power carried the oppressive might of the Mermaid Royal Family; it was far beyond anything she could withstand.

The blade advanced inch by inch, and cracks spread across her pink shield of light.

Seeing the utter unfamiliarity and killing intent in Lan Cangming’s eyes, Su An’an felt her heart ache as if pierced by an Ice Cone.

Just as the crystal blade was about to pierce her chest.

A deep-sea blue pattern suddenly flared to life on Lan Cangming’s abdomen.

It was the Divine Contract he had once forged with Su An’an.

Then, a blue light shot out from his robes—it was the very Calming Pearl he claimed had never left his side!

VMMMM!

The blue light erupted, piercing both of their minds simultaneously.

A wave of agony, like a tsunami, crashed over them.

A torrent of images flashed before Su An’an’s eyes.

One week ago. The same canyon.

She and Lan Cangming hovered before the Poseidon statue, each holding a Gold sealing Talisman Stone.

"Ready?"

Lan Cangming’s gaze was filled with tenderness as he looked at her.

Su An’an nodded, the Divine Light at her fingertips weaving with his silvery glow to form a ring. "Let’s end this once and for all."

They pressed their Talisman Stones against the statue’s base in unison.

BOOM!!

A massive shockwave shattered the surrounding reefs, and a black mist spewed from the statue, instantly enveloping them.

The memory ended there.

Lan Cangming’s Ice Crystal sword fell to the ground with a CLANG.

He clutched his head, curling up in pain as a flicker of clarity returned to his blood-red eyes.

The intense pain threw Su An’an to the ground as well.

The Calming Pearl hovered between them, its blue light binding them together like a tether.

Chi Ya watched this sudden turn of events and shrieked:

"How could you possibly have broken the curse?"

"Chi Ya, you got away last time. You’re not getting out of this alive!"

Su An’an snapped her head up. Her pink tail whipped up a massive wave as the Divine Light in her palm flared like a blazing sun.

Clarity returned to Lan Cangming’s blood-red eyes in an instant.

The Ice Crystal longsword re-formed in his hand, resonating with Su An’an’s Divine Light.

Chi Ya watched their perfectly coordinated stances, his tentacles lashing the water in a frenzy.

"Impossible! How could the curse have failed?"

Before the words were out of his mouth, an ice shard from Lan Cangming pierced his shoulder.

Seizing the opening, Su An’an’s Divine Light coiled around his neck.

"You think you’ve won?"

Chi Ya suddenly burst into a wild laugh, black blood spraying from his wound. "I’m not even a person anymore!"

He ripped open his chest and flung all of his searing flesh and blood onto the Poseidon statue.

"My Lord! Use my body as your vessel and descend!"

The dark-red veins on the statue’s abdomen pulsed violently, and with a CRACK, a fissure split open.

A red, slime-covered claw shot out, reeking of rot as it lunged for the pair.

The black mist of the curse coiled around their limbs like a living creature, and both the Divine Light and the Ice Crystal began to dissipate, inch by inch.