This is truly an amazing place, he thought.
A note from the author:
Han Tao: Look, we're a couple too.
Chapter 76
The Mermaid Realm was not what he had imagined. The cold and dark place he had envisioned did not appear; instead, he was greeted by a spring scene.
Several enormous mermaid statues stood silently, their fish tails resting on the green grass of the earth, their eyes gazing at the sky, their gazes seemingly able to penetrate the deep sea and land elsewhere.
“There doesn’t seem to be any danger here.” Fu Mingxu’s gaze followed the trail of the fluttering butterflies, finally landing on the giant mermaid statue. “But I can’t see where I can find any secrets about the Witch Clan.”
The spring scenery was beautiful, but unfortunately, it wasn't what they wanted most.
Han Tao glanced at the merman statue with a human body and a fish tail, and said with a frown, "There is a formation here that combines reality and illusion. We need to find the core of the formation."
Otherwise, it's impossible that the entire Merfolk Domain would only have one spring scene.
Fu Mingxu maintained his upward gaze, and after a moment of contemplation, he spoke: "Since the spring scenery here is caused by the Three Lives Stone, could the core of the formation be the Three Lives Stone?"
This seems simple, but he believes that nothing in this world is absolute.
Hearing him say that, Han Tao didn't say that was wrong. He looked up at him, but his gaze became somewhat unfocused. Finally, he stared at the blue hair ribbon that was fluttering slightly in the wind for a long time.
After not hearing a reply for a long time, Fu Mingxu thought something had happened and hurriedly turned around, only to see him standing there in a daze, with an indescribably strange expression.
"What's wrong?" He glanced around warily. "Or has the demonic seed within your dragon soul sensed something?"
A gentle spring breeze blows, butterflies flutter, and the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers. The person who turns around has beautiful features, and the spirit between their brows outshines the entire spring scene.
Han Tao heard the sound of his heart pounding and his blood boiling in his chest.
As if he had made a decision, his longing that had kept him tossing and turning day and night, along with the courage he had gradually built up from the beginning, surged forth.
“We can go take a look.” Han Tao lowered his eyes to hide his expression, stepped forward and took Fu Mingxu’s hand. When he looked up, his gaze was intense. “Do you want to go take a look?”
Springtime is in full bloom, and pairs of butterflies flutter among the flowers, some hiding among the blossoms and whispering secrets.
Soft light lingered on his brow, making his once stern face appear even more gentle.
Meeting those golden eyes, Fu Mingxu felt inexplicably nervous.
"Since it might be the key to the formation, let's go take a look." He shook off the other person's hand, took two quick steps, then turned back. "Where is the key to the formation?"
When his hand went empty, Han Tao didn't continue to hold his hand. Instead, he transformed into a golden light in the blink of an eye and wrapped around Fu Mingxu's waist.
The two's movements broke the tranquility of the spring scenery, and to Fu Mingxu's surprise, they disappeared from the spot.
Half an hour later, Fu Mingxu stared into deep thought at the Three Lives Stone in front of him, which was longer than a person.
This is a cave covered with vines, but there is no spiritual energy in it at all, and it doesn't look like the eye of a formation at all.
What's even stranger is that when Han Tao brought him here, a strange force separated the two of them, and after a moment of dizziness, he found himself standing alone next to the Three Lives Stone.
The Three Lives Stone is a product of the Heavenly Dao power of the Cangling Continent, used to determine predestined marriages and past and present lives.
The Three Lives Stone contains the laws of Heaven, which cannot be changed by personal will.
This Three Lives Stone was as smooth as a mirror, many times larger than the one Meng Shui had once held. Fu Mingxu stood before it, looking at his blurry reflection, his soul seemingly returning to the feeling before his rebirth through the stone's surface.
The Heaven and Earth Mystic Mirror vibrated within his dantian, while dragon flames leaped restlessly beside him.
Fu Mingxu's brow twitched slightly, and the Heaven and Earth Mystic Mirror appeared in his hand.
At that moment, the stone and the mirror were inexplicably attracted by a magnetic field. The Heaven and Earth Mirror emitted a dazzling white light in an instant, and the dense profound energy suddenly entered the Three Lives Stone. The rules of heaven and earth were in operation, and the surrounding space was briefly distorted.
Fu Mingxu stared blankly at all of this, and subconsciously shoved the Heaven and Earth Mystic Mirror behind his back, just like a child who had done something wrong.
"Mingxu!" Before being sucked into the Three Lives Stone, he saw Hantao running towards him.
...
"You're awake?" A gentle female voice whispered in my ear, filled with concern.
Fu Mingxu slowly opened his eyes, his pupils surrounded by a bluish-green ring. He blinked at the woman in front of him, as if he couldn't believe who he was seeing.
"It's been so long, has Xu'er forgotten his mother?" Zhaoling looked at him with loving eyes.
mother?
Memories from the depths of his mind rushed back with that word, and those beautiful images flooded back. Fu Mingxu stared blankly at the person in front of him, speechless for a moment.
Zhaoling frowned slightly as she looked at her son, who resembled her former husband. She patted Fu Mingxu's head and said softly, "Xu'er?"
Fu Mingxu then realized what was happening, his throat extremely dry. After hesitating for a moment, he finally followed the familiar feeling in his memory and called out, "Mother."
He propped himself up and glanced around. Seeing the boundless expanse around him, he became even more disoriented about where he was.
"This is where the rules of Heaven converge. Only those who have touched the rules of Heaven can enter." Seeing his doubts, Zhaoling explained to him, "Xu'er, if I hadn't sensed your presence, my son and I would probably still be separated by heaven and earth."
Zhaoling's eyes were dark and long, and when viewed from the side, they carried a hint of the stern authority of a superior.
Fu Mingxu didn't notice any of this. He compared the face in front of him to the face in his memory, sat up, and hurriedly asked, "Mother, is Father with you now?"
Where he couldn't see, Zhaoling's gaze darkened slightly, but when she met his eyes, she smiled and said, "Because of some unforeseen circumstances, your father and I have been separated for a long time, and I don't know where he is."
Fu Mingxu frowned slightly, clearly not expecting this answer. He was about to ask something when he smelled a fragrance, then lost consciousness and collapsed.
Beneath the Bodhi tree, on the jade bed, lay a young man of unparalleled beauty, his features as graceful as a lotus leaf after a storm.
Zhaoling could not answer his question and could only put him into a deep sleep.
"Your Highness." The voice of the Emperor awakened her memories.
Zhaoling turned around, the tenderness in her eyes vanishing, and spoke condescendingly, "Have you found out the reason why my son's 'Red Phoenix Star' is about to appear?"
If it weren't for the fact that she could truly use the Three Lives Stone to sense the rules of heaven and earth and wait for her and Xu'er to connect, Zhaoling would never have believed that her son's fate as a solitary ruler had been broken.
The Fate Lord, who had rushed over, understood the unspoken meaning in her words. He bowed slightly and said respectfully, "Your Highness, please calm down. I have consulted with the Fate Clan to deduce the answer, but we have come to two different conclusions."
He tried to steal a glance at the boy on the jade bed, but was overwhelmed by Zhaoling's imposing presence and only caught a glimpse of the blue hair ribbon hanging down.
Zhaoling's expression darkened. "Two kinds?"
The Lord of Destiny lowered his head even further. He knew the prince's temper well and forced himself to say, "There are two kinds. One is the lonely life that Your Highness desires, and the other is a situation where the Red Phoenix Star is in motion and the heavenly secrets are in chaos."
The former is a predetermined fate, while the latter is an ambiguous situation.
Even the Destiny Lords of the Destiny Clan were confused by these two destinies. The position of Heavenly Emperor had been vacant for a thousand years. His Highness used the power of the entire Destiny Clan and seized all the coincidences to give birth to a young lord with the destiny of a solitary ruler.
Logically speaking, a person destined to be alone should not be able to find love.
Not to mention, it's simply unbelievable that both of these fates could happen to the same person.
Zhaoling's face turned ashen upon hearing this; had it not been for the fact that they were in a place where rules intersected, he probably would have been furious.
She finally managed to calm herself down and asked him, "Has the Fate Clan deduced the reason for the change?"
The Lord of Destiny felt a bitter taste in his mouth: "Someone has reversed Yin and Yang, obscuring the secrets of Heaven. But who is this person who has reversed them? Is it one person or several?"
When it comes to deducing the secrets of heaven, no one in the upper realm can surpass the Fate Clan, but the matter of the young lord has clearly been a huge slap in the face to the Fate Clan.
Mingjun was once a member of the Ming clan. He was kept on to assist Prince Zhaoling in giving birth to a young ruler who was destined to be a solitary ruler.
He suddenly remembered that when Shaojun was born, he was unexpectedly found to contain chaotic energy, so he had to leave him in the lower realm. He tentatively asked, "Was it Shaojun's father who did this?"
Zhaoling was taken aback upon hearing this, but decisively shook his head: "He is merely a person from the lower realm, and his family is in decline. Apart from his extraordinary talent, he is nothing special."
Perhaps feeling she had said too much, she said firmly, "It couldn't be him."
Even the young Fu Mingxu, who possessed chaotic energy, was regarded by her as a gift from Heaven to someone with an extremely noble destiny.
Seeing her denial, the Fate Lord dared not question her and only thought of other directions: "Then they must be people from the lower realm or people from the heavenly realm."
Although the Fate Clan excels at deducing celestial secrets, it doesn't mean there aren't other immortals who cultivate this path.
Upon hearing this, Zhaoling seemed to be deep in thought. Her expression turned solemn. "I'll handle things here in the Heavenly Realm. You go and find someone to go to the Cangling Continent."
She turned back and her loving gaze fell on Fu Mingxu. Remembering the chaotic energy within him, she specifically instructed him: "Find a good person, and then have him go find the only golden dragon in the lower realm."
"Golden Dragon?" The Fate Lord was a little confused, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions. He nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."
One cannot linger too long in a place where rules intersect. If it weren't for the blessing of the Bodhi Tree, even Zhaoling wouldn't dare to be presumptuous. But at least she saw her son once. She lovingly tidied his black hair. In the urgency of the situation, she dared not investigate too much for fear of being discovered by the rules. After thinking for a moment, she only placed an extremely powerful defensive immortal spell in his hairband.
The ruler quietly withdrew, leaving only the mother and child under the Bodhi tree.
"Go, wait for me to bring you back." After a while, Zhaoling did not wake him up, but instead sent him back to the rules of heaven and earth within the Three Lives Stone of the Cangling Continent, letting the power of the Heavenly Dao envelop him.
As for the person who caused her son's love to flutter, she will certainly not let him off easily once she investigates him.
The rules of heaven and earth intertwined with profound energy, and time and space became inseparable. Floating and sinking, Fu Mingxu seemed to be trapped in a dream from which he could not awaken.
When he finally managed to open his eyes, he saw Han Tao standing in front of the Three Lives Stone, slightly bent over, doing something.
"Han Tao," he called out subconsciously, but the other person seemed not to hear him and continued what they were doing.
Fu Mingxu was startled. He ran to Han Tao, only to find that the man in front of him ignored him completely.
Shocked, he then noticed that the other person was different from usual.
The same familiar black shirt, but now the color is much richer, as if it came from a great battle, with drops of blood dripping from the slightly damp hem.
Dark, demonic patterns appeared between his brows, and his once brilliant golden eyes were now tinged with black, yet filled with endless sorrow. He gazed at the Three Lives Stone before him with utmost solemnity, as if dealing with the most important thing in the world.
As if sensing something, Fu Mingxu walked away from him, then turned to look behind him and saw him writing something on the Three Lives Stone.
The fingers of that hand were already broken, and bright red blood had congealed into messy bloodstains on the stone surface.
He saw Han Tao purse his lips tightly, wipe away the bloodstains that were no longer legible with his sleeve, and then write on them again with his fingertips.
As blood fell, the five characters "Han Tao Fu Mingxu" appeared on the stone surface again and again, then slowly disappeared, as if mocking his delusional fantasies.
A note from the author:
Zhaoling: Go and let Jinlong find out who caused my son's "Red Phoenix Star" to be activated!
Chapter 77
Fu Mingxu didn't know how long he stood there staring at the words on the stone. The five words on the stone were like a curse on his heart. With each repetition, it felt as if another stone was pressing down on his heart.