Support for the Nether God Sacrifice

Qin Ning stepped onto the wooden bucket, where it was difficult for anyone to keep their balance, but Qin Ning stood as steadily as if she were on the floor of her home. With one hand she drew her long blade, while her other hand held Shao Lan's jacket high, her black, disheveled bangs obscuring her eyes so that only her tightly pressed lips were visible.

"Let's go together," she said softly.

A blind fish leaped into the air, opening its large mouth to snap at Qin Ning.

Qin Ning swung her blade expressionlessly, and the blind fish broke into two halves in midair.

Blue blood fell through the air like a rain shower.

Qin Ning flicked her blade, and the cold glare illuminated her eyes.

Shao Lan also drew his blade and stepped to the bow of the boat.

Like Qin Ning, with every wave of his hand a blade fell, and the corpses of the blind fish gradually gathered around the boat.

A blind fish swam into the distance, lifting its head above the water's surface, opening its half-human, half-fish mouth to emit an ancient chanting sound:

"Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. Thank you for granting us the blooming flowers. Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. Only with you do we have our home."

Amidst the ethereal song, the bodies of all the blind fish that had been slashed gradually converged, their wounds slowly healing.

This was why for thousands of years, the people of Xu Family Village could only stay far away from the sea and never thought of killing the blind fish.

In legend, the blind fish were the mounts of Mother Ming and the guards of Mother Ming. From the moment they were offered to the god as sacrifices, they became tainted with divinity, living forever without dying, just like Mother Ming.

Shao Lan slowly closed his eyes.

The water grew deeper and deeper, and the shore was already very far away.

The number of blind fish noticeably increased again; their habitat was originally the deep sea, and as the seawater deepened, the limit of sight was entirely silver-white flashes.

No one knew just how many blind fish there had been for thousands of years-several thousand or tens of thousands.

A blind fish leaped onto the boat, bypassing Shao Lan to snap at Xu Xiaocai-

Yet just as Xu Xiaocai thought she would be torn to pieces by the blind fish, suddenly, a brief blankness appeared on the face of that blind fish.

The same blankness appeared on the faces of all the blind fish, and afterwards, they all turned their heads in unison.

Behind them, a speedboat rushed forward, cutting through the waves. A man stood upon it, roaring loudly, his entire body soaked in blood.

The newcomer was Xu Gao.

Xu Gao slashed open his own artery, and the smell of blood powerfully attracted all the blind fish as he shouted, "Do you want your eyes?! Your eyes are with me!"

The speedboat sped swiftly through the sea, and the blind fish that had originally swum toward Xu Xiaocai all turned around, swimming toward Xu Gao.

"Father..." Xu Xiaocai wide-eyed.

The next second, she let out a scream: "Father!!!"

A blind fish leaped out from the water, clamped its jaws onto Xu Gao, and dragged him into the water.

The school of fish swam over, Xu Gao's figure was surrounded by countless blind fish, and blood slowly diffused.

The speedboat, having lost its master, still rushed forward on momentum.

"Qin Ning!" Shao Lan shouted.

Qin Ning pulled Xu Xiaocai over, and the instant the speedboat and the wooden boat brushed past each other, she hugged Xu Xiaocai and jumped up.

Shao Lan plunged into the water, grabbed the speedboat, and Qin Ning pulled him up.

"Father!!"

Xu Xiaocai struggled in Qin Ning's embrace.

Her face was covered in tears, and the sea breeze brought a bone-deep pain.

She had originally prepared herself to pay any price, including her own life.

She just never thought the price would be Father.

The last thing Father had said to her was, "You've grown up. Do whatever you want to do."

So that was it.

That hadn't been a harsh retort, but rather support for his daughter.

"Xiao Cai." The final moment before being swallowed by the myriad blind fish, Xu Gao took one last look at his daughter. "Go fulfill Mother's wish."

"Because that's also... Father's wish."

These were Xu Gao's last words.

He was dragged to the bottom of the water by countless blind fish.

The blood color surfaced and then dissipated, and the sea surface gradually grew calm.

At that moment, Xu Xiaocai suspected it was her own illusion-

She saw two identical young maidens appear where Father had disappeared.

The maidens wore white gauze dresses and flower crowns. Hand in hand, they lowered their heads, making the expressions on their faces unclear.

"Mother Ming, it's Mother Ming!!" Xu Xiaocai blurted out.

Mother had told her that Mother Ming was actually two people, that the bodies of the dead maidens were torn apart and eaten by the blind fish, and their souls transformed into a pair of sisters.

That was Mother Ming!!

Yet it was only for the briefest moment that the flower-crowned maidens vanished.

Xu Xiaocai stared dazedly, and Shao Lan heard her softly murmur:

"So this is the way to see Mother Ming."

Mortals used their own flesh and blood as the price to empathize with the suffering of the gods.

Only thus would the gods grant mortals the qualification for an audience.

Yet after Father did this, Mother Ming only appeared briefly for an instant.

"I understand. Mother Ming is a god of the deep sea; the water here is not deep enough..."

Xu Xiaocai looked ahead.

At a place less than two hundred meters away from them, a distinct dividing line appeared between the seawater, and the far side was noticeably deeper in color, presenting an ink-black blue.

That was the Nether Sea.

Legend had it that as long as one reached there, one could see Mother Ming.

Yet there were still two hundred meters left.

The two-hundred-meter sea area was densely packed entirely with blind fish. At this moment, they had all stopped swimming, floating up one by one with expressionless, blurred human faces.

They simply could not pass through.

Qin Ning turned her head. In the wake behind their speedboat, a large swath of blind fish was likewise hurrying over.

Xu Xiaocai wiped the tears from her face and stood up.

"It can only go this far, then." Xu Xiaocai stood up. "Mr. Shao, Miss Qin, thank you."

She faced the sea surface and softly began to sing.

Yet what she sang was not the sacrificial song praising Mother Ming, but a song of yearning for a lover. The maiden's voice was melodious and ethereal, yet tinged with a trace of sorrow:

"A-lang, oh

You have gone out to sea to fish

I will wait for you right here at home

The moon waxes and wanes anew

It is me thinking of you

A-lang, oh

You still haven't returned

I am still waiting for you right here at home

The tide rises and falls again

Your boat is nowhere to be seen

A-lang, oh

I wait and wait for your boat

You said when the boat was full of fish you would marry me

Boats come and go at the dock

My dark hair has already turned into white locks"

The deep sea was empty and vast, with only the sound of the waves and the maiden's song.

The next second, Xu Xiaocai jumped off the boat.

Thousands of blind fish swam over to tear apart and devour her flesh and blood.

I don't know how long passed before the blind fish scattered.

At the same time, a huge whirlpool appeared before their boat. Clearly without any sunlight, gold surged within the whirlpool, as if there were a sun at the bottom of the sea.

"This is the entrance to the elevator," Qin Ning said softly. "We've cleared the level."

She turned her head and glanced at the deep sea; Xu Xiaocai was already gone.

They had failed to fulfill her wish, but as a sacrifice, being able to reach the deep sea counted as completing the escape.

"Goodbye, Shao Lan," Qin Ning murmured low.

She jumped into the whirlpool, the golden halo rippling out in circles before swallowing her figure.

Shao Lan did not rush to act. He sat in the powered-down speedboat, gazing at the bones at the stern and pondering.

Only a skeleton remained of Xu Xiaocai now, but one of her hands grasped the edge of the speedboat, refusing to let go even in death.

There seemed to be a few bloody characters on the edge of the speedboat, and the moment Shao Lan wanted to edge closer, the sound of water came from not far away.

Shao Lan narrowed his eyes.

Upon seeing who had come, he could not help but raise an eyebrow.

It was Xu Jiawei.