“Sea Maiden?” Yu Qing pricked up his ears. The two young monks were also listening nearby, though their reactions were not as obvious.
The Nether Monk pondered briefly before replying, “I have never heard of such a thing.”
The woman said, “My Sea Clan originally served the Nether Sea Immortal Mansion, guiding guests to and from the mansion. The mansion had a maidservant whose duty was to receive and send off visitors, and thus she held dominion over my Sea Clan. She was called the ‘Sea Maiden.’ When guests came and went, the Sea Maiden would use an object to summon my Sea Clan to obey her commands. That object was a ring, named ‘Tidal.’
“According to oral tradition passed down through generations, the ‘Tidal’ ring was actually two rings. One was ‘Tide,’ used when guests arrived. One was ‘Ebb,’ used when guests departed. When my Sea Clan heard the summons of the ‘Tide Ring,’ we knew to rush to Star Array Island to receive a guest. When we heard the summons of the ‘Ebb Ring,’ we knew to go to the Immortal Mansion to send off a guest.
“These two rings could be joined together. Normally, they were worn on the Sea Maiden’s hand. I have seen carvings on the walls of the Water Mansion’s forbidden grounds. The ring’s appearance is exactly the same as the one on your hand, though I do not know if it is genuine or fake.”
Hearing this, Yu Qing’s mind churned endlessly. This matched certain details Wu Hei had mentioned. Wu Hei had said the rings had a yin and yang distinction, and that the two rings could fit together. Could that strongman’s younger sister have been the original Sea Maiden of the Nether Sea Immortal Mansion?
He had not expected to obtain such a significant clue so soon. He suddenly felt this trip had been worthwhile.
At this point, the Nether Monk also seemed to have grown interested. He asked, “Then how does one prove whether this ring is genuine or fake?”
The woman reached out, took the ring from his hand, and turned it over in her palm. “I do not know either. It seems none of my clan’s ancestors ever saw how this ‘Tidal’ ring was used, because when the Sea Maiden used it, none of the clan members were present. By the time we heard the summons and rushed over, we could no longer see anything. However, it must work the same way as the Nether Temple’s conch shell summoning us. It relies on sound.”
As she spoke, she actually put it to her lips and tried blowing into it. Apart from a few puffs from her mouth, no matter what angle she tried, it was useless.
Yu Qing watched with a toothache of frustration. To think she would try blowing into the ring like a trumpet. He wondered how her brain worked. He still hoped she would wipe the saliva off the ring first.
He actually did not need to consider the question of authenticity anymore. He believed it was definitely real. Something given by the Golden Ruins strongman was most likely not fake.
However, the woman began muttering to herself again as she turned the ring over. “The material of this ring is clearly not ordinary. If blowing it does not make a sound, how does it produce sound? Could it be in water…”
She suddenly turned and walked to the water’s edge, crouched down, and began dangling and fiddling with the ring in the water.
Just as even the Nether Monk was growing impatient and wanted to urge her to give it up, suddenly a series of “ding-ling, ding-ling” wind chime sounds emerged from the ring in the woman’s hand.
It sounded like many wind chimes ringing together. The sound was delicate and dense, crisp and pleasant, the kind that cleansed the heart and mind. In short, it gave one a rather dreamlike feeling.
The Nether Monk, Yu Qing, and the two young monks were all instantly stunned. They all stared at the woman’s movements.
The woman crouching by the water also froze. Her hand movements froze in place. Her eyes stared blankly at the ring half-submerged in her hand. Clearly, she too had been caught off guard by the sudden sound she had produced.
The Nether Monk asked, “What happened?”
The woman said blankly, “I was just trying to inject magical power into it, and then I rinsed…” Before she finished, she continued to swish the ring back and forth in the water.
Ding-ling, ding-ling. The delicate, dense, dreamlike sound rang out again. Listening to it made one feel refreshed and clear-headed, as if immortal music were floating on the air.
After a good while, she stood up excitedly and turned to the Nether Monk. “It is real. I do not know whether it is the ‘Tide Ring’ or the ‘Ebb Ring,’ but I can sense that my Sea Clan can hear this sound from very far away in the water.”
She then fixed her gaze on Yu Qing again and pressed further, “Where did you get this ring?”
Yu Qing asked her in return, “Since you said there are two rings, has your Sea Clan not seen anyone else wearing this kind of ring all these years?”
The woman suddenly froze, as if she had realized something. She also asked in return, “Actually, you do not know the origin of this ring, do you?”
Yu Qing was slightly taken aback. He asked in return, “How can you tell?”
The woman said, “Your words just now reminded me. You asked whether our Sea Clan had seen anyone else wearing this kind of ring all these years. Someone who knows the origin of this ring, if they do not want the Sea Clan to recognize it, would not let the Sea Clan see it. There would be no conflict at all. So how could they run to the Nether Temple demanding an explanation?”
Yu Qing remained silent. He could not speak of what he knew.
The woman’s eyes flickered. Slowly, she clenched the ring in her palm.
The Nether Monk reached out, took the ring back from her hand, and also walked barefoot to the water’s edge to crouch down. Following the method the woman had described, he slowly injected magical power and manipulated it, rinsing it in the water. Sure enough, that dreamlike ding-ling sound rang out again.
After standing up, he turned and walked back to Yu Qing, handing the ring back. “You should already have the explanation you wanted.” He turned his head to look at the merman corpse on the reef. “The fault is counted against it. Its punishment has already been carried out by your own hand. It has paid with its life as the price. Let the matter rest here. How about it?”
Yu Qing took back the ring and put it back on his finger. He asked, “If I had died at its hands, would I have died for nothing?”
The Nether Monk said, “What are you trying to say?”
Yu Qing said, “Is there no apology or compensation? At the very least… should I not receive some compensation?”
The Nether Monk said, “What compensation do you want?”
Yu Qing said, “I am a reasonable person. I will not make unreasonable demands. Just give me some money and that will be the end of it.”
The Nether Monk said, “I said the ‘fault’ is counted against it. It is not necessarily truly its fault. How do I know whether you knew the origin of this ring and deliberately lured and killed a Sea Clan member to extort us?”
Yu Qing glared. “Who would dare come to the Nether Temple to extort money?”
The Nether Monk twirled the prayer beads in his hand and said calmly, “Buddhism does not distinguish right from wrong. The Dust-Sweeping Temple has never apologised to anyone, nor does it need to apologise to anyone. If you insist, then there will be no room for ambiguity. You will stay at our temple. You may leave only when the truth of the matter has been investigated.”
The woman nearby listened with a faint smile.
The two young monks quietly pressed their palms together and lowered their heads, as if they were one step away from chanting Amitabha.
“…”
Yu Qing was speechless, staring dryly at the other party. Those words were clearly a threat. He finally squeezed out, “For the Master’s sake, I will let this matter go.”
After speaking, he stepped sideways, then stepped forward, and also walked to the water’s edge to crouch down. He put his ring-wearing hand into the water and followed the demonstration from earlier. Sure enough, it produced the ding-ling, ding-ling dreamlike sound.
After trying it himself, he roughly understood what was going on. After injecting magical power into the ring, the power would extend into a kind of space following the shape of the ring face. When rinsed with water, it would produce a sound. Whether the crafting technique was brilliant or not, he did not know, but it was certainly ingenious.
Since the other party was unwilling to compensate, and he himself had said to let it go, logically speaking, he should leave now.
But he did not. After pulling his hand from the water, he deliberately continued crouching there, silently calculating in his heart, waiting for someone else to speak first.
Sure enough, the Nether Monk spoke. “Are you not planning to leave?”
Yu Qing then stood up and turned around. “Master misunderstands. This humble one simply finds it strange. Since the Sea Maiden’s ring has been left behind, presumably she did not go to the Immortal Realm. I would like to ask, where did she go? Was she killed by the people who stormed the Immortal Mansion back then?”
The Nether Monk had not even known who the Sea Maiden was before this. This question was essentially asked of the wrong person.
Sure enough, the woman took over. “The Sea Maiden is not fixed to any particular person. Whoever the Immortal Mansion designates is who it is. It is merely a matter of handing the ring to someone. The last Sea Maiden did not go to the Immortal Realm. Whether she was killed by those who stormed the Immortal Mansion is unclear. In any case, after the Immortal Mansion was breached, she disappeared.”
Yu Qing very much wanted to mention what he had heard from the inn attendant, that someone had seen a person wearing the same ring. However, he held back when the words reached his lips, because at least for now it seemed these people did not know either. He suspected asking would be futile. If the other party truly was unwilling to tell him, saying more would be of no benefit.
Still, he tried asking, “Does the Sea Maiden not have a name?”
He did not directly ask what the Sea Maiden’s name was.
The Nether Monk responded lightly, “Why do you ask the name of someone from thousands of years ago?”
Yu Qing shrugged. “Just curious.”
The woman said, “I told you the Sea Maiden is not a fixed person. She could change at any time. My Sea Clan only knows her as the ‘Sea Maiden.’ Who would remember a name? Those who knew are long dead.”
Yu Qing pondered secretly. From the timeline, this last Sea Maiden was very likely the strongman’s younger sister. Suddenly, he caught the Nether Monk looking at him with that same expression. It was still that sentence. He did not know if it was his imagination, but he always felt something was slightly off.
This strangeness made him feel uneasy. After thinking it over, he decided to take his leave. He cupped his hands and said, “Since that is the case, this humble one will take his leave.”
The Nether Monk pressed his palms together slightly. One of the young monks immediately came to see the guest out. Yu Qing flew up the cliff face and left.
The others also arrived at the cliff top one after another to see him off.
When there was no one else nearby, the woman suddenly said in a low voice, “That ring. Did you not see me giving you a meaningful look? Why did you not keep the ring but instead stop me from obtaining it?”
The Nether Monk walked slowly. “What use is there in keeping it?”
The woman spoke in a low, soft voice. “I will not hide it from you. Those two rings joined together can serve as a key. Collecting both rings can open the secret realm of my Water Mansion’s forbidden grounds.”
Having learned this secret, the Nether Monk said without a ripple, “When the opportunity arrives, you need not search. The two rings will go to your Water Mansion of their own accord. When the opportunity has not arrived, it cannot be forced. Holding one ring, you cannot open it either, and you may even bring disaster upon yourself. Do you know who that boy is?”
The woman asked suspiciously, “Who could he be?”
“A Shiheng.”
“Oh, that so-called number one talent under heaven?”
“Sinan Mansion, the Grand Enterprise Office, and Thousand Streams Mountain were able to open Little Cloud Realm because they had secretly set their sights on him. He has now inexplicably produced a ring. How do you know those three factions are not secretly watching?”
The woman fell into thought. She roughly understood his meaning. He was worried this might be bait laid by someone with ulterior motives, and she should not bite the hook lightly.
Still, she gave a light, reproachful humph. “Fine. I suppose you have some conscience. At least you stood on my side. At the very least, you did not make me apologise and compensate.”
The Nether Monk said, “This poor monk was not helping you. That boy is no good thing either. He has quite some nerve, daring to come to this poor monk’s place to swindle and deceive.”
The woman asked suspiciously, “How so? What did he deceive you of?”
The Nether Monk smiled without answering.
Just then, the young monk Chang Feng came to report that the guest had been sent off.
After the Nether Monk nodded slightly, he suddenly asked, “Three years ago, that young man who was brought to the temple to have his broken arm treated, where did he go afterwards?”
Chang Feng did not know why he suddenly asked this. He replied, “I do not know. After he was healed, he was handed over to the Duke’s men to escort him away. He should have returned safely. Otherwise, there would have been inquiries.”