A month later…

Ziqing’s family returned to Da Zhou, and the long-quiet Prince Yao residence grew lively once again. Baili Xiaosheng and Guxi returned to Duku in Nanzhao, where Guxi accepted the post of Grand General of Nanzhao, beginning a busy career as a military officer.

Lady Jinjiao stayed at Duku for a while longer, but with no sign of Baili Weisheng returning, she eventually made her way back to the South Sea.

But just as she entered the water, a streak of golden light suddenly came swimming from the distance, rippling through the sea like a shimmering golden stream, or like a golden silk ribbon drifting through the water, drawing schools of brilliantly colored fish to gather and follow along.

Lady Jinjiao froze mid-motion. She knew at once—her son had come home!

Sure enough, as it drew closer, she saw him clearly: Baili Weisheng, human above, fish-tailed below, clad in golden, scale-like armor, radiant as a deity, noble and solemn.

His expression was stern and grave as he approached from a distance.

Lady Jinjiao couldn’t stop smiling, and as she smiled, tears of joy welled up in her eyes.

Baili Weisheng arrived before her, and seeing his mother smiling so broadly, he couldn’t maintain his solemn front either, bursting into laughter. “Old woman, it’s been a while!”

Lady Jinjiao shook her head helplessly. “If you’d stayed away any longer, this old woman would’ve grown too old to even move.”

“If you can’t move, you can always swim,” Baili Weisheng said with a laugh, coming forward to help her. Mother and son swam together into the depths of the sea, toward a palace beneath the waves more beautiful, more magnificent than even the legendary Dragon King’s palace of the deep.

Inside, thrones of coral and seashells adorned every room—yet mother and son chose instead to sit atop the roof.

“I know you’re not planning to stay. So tell me—what did you come for?” Lady Jinjiao asked with a smile. As for her son, she’d long since made peace with it—he had his own path, his own reckless, unrestrained life, and no one could ever hold him back.

But surprisingly, Baili Weisheng answered quite honestly. “I just came to visit. To look around a bit.”

Lady Jinjiao let out a deep sigh, but still pulled her son into an embrace, saying, “Stay for dinner, then.”

“Of course,” Baili Weisheng said without hesitation.

“So… shall we talk about your marriage prospects?” Lady Jinjiao asked, deliberately steering the conversation.

“Sure, go ahead. Which family’s daughter is beautiful as a flower this time?” Baili Weisheng asked, putting on his usual playful air.

“The girl from the east is lovely as a flower, the girl from the west is graceful beyond compare—your mother’s at her wit’s end trying to choose for you,” Lady Jinjiao continued.

“Then I’ll just marry them all and bring them home to serve you exclusively,” Baili Weisheng replied.

Lady Jinjiao shot him a look, genuinely unable to continue the conversation with him.

“Sigh, such a fine girl, Duo’er was. What a shame,” Lady Jinjiao said with a sigh.

“And Little Qingqing—such a fine girl too. Isn’t that an even bigger shame?” Baili Weisheng shot back.

Lady Jinjiao startled. “What do you mean by that?”

Seeing how flustered she’d become, Baili Weisheng laughed heartily, rising and swimming off deeper into the palace. “Mother, I was only joking!”

The moment he spoke, the golden light vanished along with him. Lady Jinjiao didn’t chase after him, letting out a soft sigh before swimming down from the rooftop.

Meanwhile, Baili Weisheng found himself at the very edge of the South Sea’s Golden Kraken Palace, beside the deepest trench in the entire ocean.

This trench was like a cliff beneath the sea—below it lay a bottomless abyss, the lowest point in the entire world.

He sat right at the edge of that cliff, holding the porcelain vial up high. In the glow of the golden light, the seductive crimson of the undying blood within was faintly visible.

The vial wasn’t full—only about two-thirds. He gave it a gentle shake, and the blood within shifted along with the motion, as if it possessed a spirit of its own.

Watching it, watching it, Baili Weisheng unconsciously began murmuring to himself.

“Xuanyuan Lige, you’d better keep living! Han Ziqing needs you. She truly needs you!”

“Xuanyuan Lige, when someone can still hate you, still resent you, it’s because they still care!”

“Xuanyuan Lige, answer me!”

“Lige, you know something? Actually… I liked Ziqing too! Liked her so, so much. The first time I met her in Lishao Mountain, I fell for her. I always wanted to bring her home with me, but unfortunately… unfortunately, I never had a home to bring her to. And unfortunately, she already had Jun Beiyue.”

“Lige, tell me, what’s so great about that Jun Beiyue, anyway? He just met Ziqing a little bit before we did, that’s all.”

“Heh, every time I saw that Jun Beiyue bastard, I wanted to kick him halfway across the world.”

“Lige, actually… actually… heh, actually, everything I did back then, it was never really about bringing her home. All I ever did was send her home… find her way to Orphan Island, and Jun Beiyue would carry her off in a grand bridal procession!”

…

These were the very same words he’d spoken years ago, in that cave on Yuqiong Mountain in Nanzhao. But unlike back then, this time he spoke with remarkable calm.

During his time wandering, memories had come flooding back like a surging tide, and only now did he recall that he’d once said these very words to Xuanyuan Lige.

But back then, had Lige heard him? Had he remembered any of it?

Even he himself hadn’t remembered it—but that alone wasn’t the strange part. Why had these memories, all of them, come surging back only now, after all these years?

Including… including the question he’d once asked Meng Duo’er, back during his time of amnesia.

He’d asked her, “I want to know… did I once have feelings for Han Ziqing? Whenever I see her, I feel something strange.”

Back then, Meng Duo’er hadn’t given him an answer, and he hadn’t pressed further.

Even after his memory returned, he’d forgotten everything he’d said during those lost, amnesiac days.

Now, all these years later, everything had come rushing back at once—every word he’d spoken, every thought he’d had, all of it resurfacing together!

The man-gu had no heart—it was the most unfeeling thing in the world!

He had never truly, genuinely seen into his own heart—and just when he’d finally managed to see it clearly, just when he’d finally told Xuanyuan Lige everything, that very moment had been when he lost his memory!

During those years of amnesia, some feelings had actually been clearer, truer.

But once his memory returned, he’d forgotten that genuine feeling all over again—and only now, only now, did he finally feel it as vividly real as this.

As Baili Weisheng thought it all through, he suddenly smiled—a faint, quiet smile, like a lotus blooming in the darkness, beautiful and pure.

Gradually, his smile grew wider, more unrestrained. He gently let go, and the porcelain vial dropped into the trench—but almost instantly, he dove after it, catching up to the vial and seizing it in his hand.

“Little Lili, ah, well, so be it. This memory of yours—this scholar will guard it. Forever.”

With that, he gripped the vial tightly and plunged headfirst into the depths of the trench—but very soon, he transformed into a streak of golden light, shooting straight back upward, wild and free, utterly unrestrained, utterly at ease!

Settling for someone else is merely a kind of compromise. But when compromise becomes habit, habit becomes love.

And yet, in this world, there will always be those who refuse to settle.

The golden light blazed brilliantly through the ocean, like sunlight illuminating the entire darkened sea. Someone, amid that golden radiance, glimpsed a streak of seductive crimson light, passing through the golden glow and vanishing into the depths of the trench.

Legend has it that if you can preserve the memory of the one you love within your very blood, your blood itself will become undying, eternal…

【THE END】