"Kill … kill me …" The girl's sorrowful voice echoed in the sky above the Temple of the Goddess of Water. It was a voice that only Mei Xue could hear. It was a sad and sorrowful voice that was teased by fate.
The Mercury Temple, which had been giving Mei Xue her power, emitted a gentle wave. It wrapped around the two of them and connected them. This was the Divine Temple's love and protection for the two of them.
Then, Mei Xue saw the girl's memory and her past.
…
She — no, according to human gender, she was not a "she", but she was not a "he" either. She was not a human, but a monster with the blood of the Siren.
When she opened her eyes for the first time, she was at the bottom of a blue sea. The rising sun shone on her skin, illuminating the transparent foam that wrapped around her. It was bright and dazzling in all directions.
She felt as if she was lying in a piece of sparkling and translucent emerald without any impurities, or as if she was embedded in an incomparably clear piece of amber.
Around her, the water plants swayed, and the fish and prawns swam back and forth. It was like a vivid, vivid, and moving picture.
Waves of water rippled around her, emitting the splendor of life.
Who was she?
Where did she come from? Where was she going?
This question had puzzled her for a long time. She used to think that she was a so-called "human", but she soon realized that she was completely different from those humans who looked similar to her.
Humans could not live in the ocean endlessly and breathe underwater freely.
Humans could not control the waves at will, and they could not control the waves.
Humans could not stay the same for decades. They could not maintain the appearance of a girl forever.
She was not a human.
Then, who was she?
Why was she alone? Did she have a human father and a human mother?
If she did, why was she always alone?
These questions had troubled her for a very, very long time, until she understood that in this world, in this world known as the Tian Luo Holy Empire, there was only her. She was alone, without any companions or relatives.
The humans who occasionally witnessed her manipulating the waves in the sea called her a "siren", an evil, man-eating monster.
Of course, that was not the truth. She had never eaten a human, and she had even saved many humans who were in trouble. However, humans had always discriminated against those who were not of the same race. Therefore, she had never been recognized by humans who lived in the sea. She had always been a monster used to scare children.
This lasted for a very, very long time. Then, the Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth arrived.
Only those who had personally faced the apocalypse would know how terrifying it was. There was nowhere to run, no one could escape.
The sky broke, and a torrential rain poured down. It was a rain filled with corrosive toxins, a rain that made the earth cry.
The earth cracked, and countless volcanoes erupted. Streams of scorching lava cut off all life on the earth, devouring the lives of countless living beings together with the poisonous rain.
Even the usually calm sea was turned into hell by the eruption of countless underwater volcanoes. Even though she had the ability to control water, she was still dragged into this Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth. She was exhausted from escaping again and again, and she did not know when she would die.
Then, that silver light appeared. That was the first time she felt the power of a "god".
It was a powerful life that did not belong to humans, just like her. It was even more powerful than her, who only had some scales on her body.
That was the Heavenly Mercury Spider, the god who saved the fate of the Celestial Kingdom.
She longed for that kind of power. For the first time, she left the sea and worshipped the eight crystalline legs, pledging her loyalty to the god who was so beautiful that it did not seem like a human.
Then, she and other believers of the God of Mercury worked hard to restore the devastated Celestial Kingdom, bit by bit.
She summoned countless waves of water, filling up the scars on the ground bit by bit.
Together with humans, she built a temple that belonged to the God of Mercury, so that people could pray every day and thank the God of Mercury for his grace.
She developed the desolate northern islands bit by bit, and finally became the Marquis of the North, who was elected by everyone.
She did not have a name, but because of her power, she was crowned with the name "Water God". She was seen as the messenger of the God of Mercury, and she also liked this name. She dedicated her power and loyalty to the God of Mercury.
She was finally no longer alone. She had a belief that she wanted to protect, and she had people who supported her.
She told herself that she had to work harder for this.
To her, the God of Mercury was like her mother, and the people of the Mercury Islands were like her family. Everyone who believed in the God of Mercury was her friend.
She liked herself like this, and liked the god she believed in. Every dusk, she liked to walk on the beach of the Mercury Islands, letting the sea breeze blow the fine sand on her body, and watching the sunset under the colorful clouds.
The sky changed from orange to pink, and then to light purple. Finally, the dark red sunset slowly set on the other side of the sea. When the last ray of sunlight disappeared, she would put her hands together and sincerely thank the world that had accepted her and made her no longer lonely.
When did people start to change?
Was it 30 years ago? Or 50 years ago?
To her, it seemed like it had happened yesterday.
The people of the Celestial Kingdom no longer prayed devoutly in the temples. Every time she went to patrol, she could feel that something was wrong. It seemed that people had lost their gratitude to the God of Mercury.
Why?
Hadn't the calamity of the world just passed? Why did people forget the terror of the coming destruction?
It had to be temporary, because this world had been preserved because of the God of Mercury. Why did people forget this so quickly?
What was wrong?
Things were getting worse and worse. The local temples of the Tian Luo Holy Nation had begun to show signs of division. The priests who still believed in the God of Mercury were being ostracized. Many people had no choice but to take the risk and leave the Tian Luo Holy Nation to go to the distant Mercury Islands.
Why did you do this?
Then, that day, she received the worst news.
"The Celestial Kingdom has started to destroy the temples on a large scale."
She looked in shock at the priests who were covered in wounds and had tried their best to escape from the Celestial Kingdom. She couldn't believe this was reality.
Why? It had only been a hundred years. Were humans creatures that broke their promises?
She had helped the people of the Celestial Kingdom fill in the scars left by the lava river to build these temples. She had poured her heart and soul into each one.
When she had built these temples with her, people had all been smiling and thanking the God of Mercury for his kindness. Everywhere she went, she had received welcome applause and tears of joy.
However, why did humans forget all of this in the span of a hundred years?
They had actually said that the God of Mercury was a man-eating monster, an evil god. How was this possible?
No, they must have been deceived. It had to be a misunderstanding. The God of Mercury definitely didn't eat anyone.
She wanted to tell them and let them understand that all of this was just a misunderstanding. As the High Priest of the God of Mercury, she wanted to tell everyone the truth.
Of course, her thoughts were strongly opposed by the other two chief priests.
"Lord Water God, you can't do this. The humans have already broken their promise. Please stay and take charge of the situation!"
"Lord Water God, it's too late now. The humans have already gathered a million troops. I'm afraid they will start a war with us soon. You can't go to the Celestial Kingdom now."
"There are some things that you won't know the outcome if you don't do it."
"Don't worry, I will be back."
"When the time comes, we will go see the flowers together."
Then, what happened?
Her body was so heavy, so heavy, so painful, so painful. The cold liquid spread throughout her body, numbing her nerves and her thoughts.
"Okay, she's been hit!"
"Transfer!"
In her blurry vision, she saw a sea of lava. This was her least favorite place, the depths of the ground filled with scorching lava.
In this sea of lava, the dome could not be seen. Even though there was a blazing light shining, she could only see dark golden clouds high up in the sky.
Just like a real ocean, the sea of lava was magnificent and boundless.
The white and dazzling waves of lava rose hundreds of feet high at the end of her vision. They swept up waves of tide-like lava flows and hit the red sulfide rock shore.
She was at the head of the lava beach. The lava was like stirred mud, constantly bubbling. Countless lava spewed out with the bubbles, drawing out their own trajectories. Some fell back into the sea of lava, some exploded on the shore, some exploded on the rock walls, and some smashed into the dome that was more than 100 feet high, causing colorful sparks.
It's so hot, so sad. Why? What happened?
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
"Water God, today is the day you die. You monster!"
Pain, so much pain.
The pain of her heart being pierced and destroyed.
The pain of her wrist being cut open.
The pain of her limbs being bound and torn apart.
The pain of her body being burned by the scorching lava and melting.
Ah, it's dark.
…
After receiving the girl's last memory from the Mercury Temple, Mei Xue was strangely angry, "You!"
In the memory of the Water God, there had never been such a dark color.
When she was alive, she always loved to laugh and fantasize. Even when she was seen as a man-eating monster, she only hid in the depths of the ocean, unwilling to make any excuses.
When she became the "Water God" and obtained her own name, she changed the world and turned the scorched earth back into a sunny land. Those were the happiest days of her life.
To her, the world was so pure and simple. She was willing to reach out her hand to help those who needed help. She could even run around the devastated land of the Celestial Kingdom for a month without eating or sleeping, just to fill up the ravines caused by the lava.
However, she, who was so kind to others and had never killed anyone, died in the sea of lava in the end.
She, who had gone to find an opportunity to negotiate for peace, drank the poisoned wine without hesitation. After being poisoned, she died tragically in the hands of the humans she trusted.
Even in the end, she did not forget her wish for peace. She tried to salvage something, but no one wanted to hear what she had to say. They gave her a fatal blow when she was weak.
Her wish was not fulfilled in the end. Her sincerity and courage were meaningless in the eyes of the vassals and the four great families who saw her as a thorn in their side.
Because she was the Water God, the most beloved priest of the Mercury God, she had to die.
What? She had once helped the Tian Luo Holy Empire recover its vitality and healed countless injured humans? How old was that? What did it have to do with them? Furthermore, it was very obvious that she was trying to buy the hearts of the people. Which one of them hadn't used similar methods before? Who were they trying to fool?
The Celestial Kingdom was not the Celestial Kingdom of the Mercury God, but their Celestial Kingdom!
The divine power had to disappear. They were the true masters of the Celestial Kingdom.
The Water God had to die!
Moreover, she could not be wasted after her death. This corpse was the corpse of the most powerful person in the Celestial Kingdom. Dongfang Houhou and Tian Luoming had been drooling over this corpse for a long time.
Therefore, the Water God was no longer the Water God. She was a corpse that had been planted with the Nether Seal. She was a puppet that had been ordered to attack the Mercury Temple that she had sworn to protect.
However, even Tian Luoming did not know that the Water God, whose heart had been pierced and her vitality severed, was already dead from a human's point of view. There was not even a need to examine her.
However, the Water God was not human. Before she died, she locked a trace of her divine soul into a grain-sized crystal bead in her body, preserving the last bit of her divine sense.
This divine sense could not be awakened at any time. It could only be awakened in a certain place, the most beautiful place in life, where all the thoughts of the Water God were placed. Only then would she wake up from her slumber and let out her last voice.
That voice was the voice that Mei Xue heard. It was the last wish of the Water God who had turned into a corpse ghost.
"Kill … Kill me …"
It was not revenge, nor was it hatred or a curse. It was the last wish that the Water God had entrusted to Mei Xue after realizing that her body was being used.
Apart from that, the kind siren girl did not make any other sounds. She could not make any other sounds as she was only left with the last bit of her divine sense.
Then, Mei Xue sensed a slight pause in the Water God's movements that would not have been noticed if one did not pay close attention.
To a powerful being like the Water God, this was a flaw that should not have appeared.
A dazzling bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and pierced through the Water God's nonexistent heart. It left a black burn mark on her body that was riddled with injuries.
This was Mei Xue's answer to the Water God's last wish. He flipped the silver crystal sword in his hand, and an earth-shattering aura was brewing.
The Water God secretly looked at the burn mark on her chest. A crystal-clear water droplet fell from her numb eyes. She could not cry anymore as she was already dead. She could only condense this drop of water essence to tell Mei Xue that she was ready.
Blue ripples spread around the Water God. Light blue water pillars rose from the ground around the Water God. Tianluo Ming, who was hiding in the Bone Wilderness, brightened his eyes.
That's right, this was the famous ultimate skill of the legendary Water God, the strongest feudal lord of the Celestial Kingdom. Once it was unleashed, it could topple mountains and overturn seas.
Every single one of those seemingly crystal-clear, light-blue water pillars contained a supreme power of water. It was said that with this divine ability, the Water God had once forcibly suppressed an erupting volcano, sealing the active volcano that was about to erupt in a lake.
It was also during that operation that this girl, who was known as the siren, received the title "Water God".
The name of this skill was — Water God Wheel Dance!
As the Water God walked gracefully, the water pillars around her began to spin at high speed. Amidst the waves, the Water God's figure seemed extremely poignant and beautiful.
Now's the time!
Amidst the constantly spinning water pillars that were about to sweep across the entire plaza of the Mercury Temple, Mei Xue saw an impossible flaw. It was a flaw that was specially revealed for her fatal strike.
It was a "line", a line of death that the Water God had prepared for herself.
Then, Mei Xue brandished her most powerful sword to date.
This sword did not care about karma or right or wrong. It was the purest and simplest sword.
The sword was a weapon used to kill. One sword to destroy all techniques was the most direct embodiment of the law of karma.
The silver crystal sword did not encounter any obstruction. It pierced through the Water God's body at the center of the line of death, shattering and destroying her already broken body.
This was the essence of the silver crystal sword in Mei Xue's hand. It was a demonic sword that naturally possessed the law of "destruction", a terrifying incarnation of the Netherworld Species Senluo.
Crystal clear blue ripples spread across the plaza of the Mercury Temple. Together with the countless falling water pillars, it bloomed a sorrowful flower for the deceased Water God. It returned to the origin of the world.
"Thank you."
The Water God's voice rang in Mei Xue's ears. Then, a crystal the size of a grain of rice landed on the plaza of the Mercury Temple and disappeared in a flash.
Mei Xue gently let go of her hand. Then, she raised the silver crystal sword in her hand again. Countless bolts of lightning exploded around her.
Without the protection of the Water God's bubbles, the remaining ghouls were directly exposed to Mei Xue. However, Mei Xue did not even look at these dead puppets. Instead, she looked at the sky above the Mercury Temple.
Impossible!
He could not have discovered it!
Dongfang Houluo Ming was sweating profusely as he looked at Mei Xue who was staring at him.
In theory, his Bone Wilderness was indeed in another world. However, there had to be a point of intersection in this world. Otherwise, how could he control his ghouls?
This point of intersection was his only weakness — a bone pearl with the ability to turn invisible.
Mei Xue raised the silver crystal sword in her hand. He did not know the weakness of the Sky Luo Ming technique. However, his intuition told him that something was spying on him from a certain angle in the sky.
Dozens of ghouls surrounded Mei Xue. After the initial stiffness, these ghouls, who had been peerless experts of the Celestial Kingdom before they died, were gradually recovering their original strength.
Among them, there was a strange corpse with extremely long arms that touched the ground. Its eyes revealed an ominous glint.