Author's Notes
Chang Yi decides...
The princess stands...
Chapter 4 – Bottom of the Sea
The emperor of the ocean tribes is horrified to see his son throwing himself backwards in front of the human, protecting her from the attack by using his body as a shield, causing him to be seriously injured.
Taking advantage of his father's stupor and moved by the desire to get away safely with the human, he does the unthinkable and strikes him with his tail.
Being stunned by wounding his son and the unexpected act, the emperor ends up being thrown back by the force of the blow while the youngest made the lotus-shaped fins bloom and the tip of his tail also at the same time as the scales they glowed brightly.
He flees like a bolt of lightning out of the water where the storm had stopped and, breaking the surface, he flies into the sky.
The princess manages to get air into her lungs and after taking a few breaths of air, she is astonished to see that they are flying. The young woman confessed that she never imagined that demons with tails had their own way of moving outside their environment, not knowing that he could use legs whenever he wanted.
The demon master noticed that the shine on the scales became even more attractive and under the incidence of the sun, the scales gained an even more shiny appearance as the breeze blew through them at the same time that the tail continued to float with lightness and majesty in the air. rarefied as if in water.
The young woman was fascinated to the point that she didn't mind being in his cold arms in contrast to her warm skin. From her point of view, the merman was shockingly beautiful and she questioned whether it was something typical of his species according to what the scrolls said about the transcendental beauty of the jiaoren.
Taken by the beauty in front of her, the human allows herself to bring her fingertips to his cheek, touching it lightly.
As she did this, the princess had the strangest feeling that she was being disrespectful because she had the impression that she was touching the face of some deity or even Buddha and, faced with this unusual thought, she quickly withdraws her hand.
For some reason, she could feel that this jiaoren's soul was very pure and as she reflected on it, she realized that it was true because that feeling didn't leave her for a moment.
The princess recalls that she only read about fairy-like monsters in illustrated books and scrolls whose contents were considered merely a fantasy because by common consensus, there was no way a demon could be a fairy in the field of purity of soul as propagated by the Common knowledge, however notorious, was the existence of godly monsters towards humans while for demon masters, all demons were evil and there were no good monsters, thus justifying their extermination and enslavement without any exception or analysis.
But as she looked at him and as she interacted with the merman, the princess firmly believed that it was not fantasy, but the truth. At least, regarding the jiaoren in front of her.
After all, after living in court and witnessing absurdities and injustices, in addition to interacting with several people although she rarely interacted with monsters, the young woman could speak with conviction that the soul of this demon was pure as if it were a fairy.
The princess comes out of her thoughts, raising her eyes and as she does so, the young woman sees that his face was lifted, looking with determination forward and as she realized that he had used magic for her to be protected from the gust of wind by his flight, the princess decides to ask a silly question when she sees how high they fly, ignoring the fact that she had created a nickname for him because she felt comfortable, "I would like to know, big-tailed fish. If I use my magic and get wet your tail, you can fly even higher. Maybe even the sky?" She asks as she smiles.
It was just an unimportant question and said as a joke.
Therefore, she didn't expect to get any response from him.
However, upon glancing at the merman's face, the demon master noticed that he seemed to be thinking seriously about her question, making her mouth drop open.
Then the Crown Prince replies, "Yes. I can fly higher. I was able to fly thanks to the humidity. But, I'm going to have to dive in a little while because I'm not able to properly retain the remaining moisture in my tail because today the air is too dry."
Still in shock, she managed the fact that he responded seriously to a question asked in the form of amusement and as she recovered, she found the merman more and more cute, causing a smile to sprout on her face.
As they descended towards the surface of the sea, the princess braced herself for impact with the ocean as she prayed for the jiaoren to remember that a human would not survive such an abrupt entry.
Then, the young woman hears him mutter something in his language at the same time that she feels a soft touch on her face.
After several minutes of terrible expectation, the young woman opens one eye and then the other, and then looks in surprise at where they were, realizing that the newt had protected her from the abrupt entry into the surface of the sea.
After submerging to a considerable depth, the crown prince made her sit on another rock, with the difference that now they were surrounded by beautiful reefs full of corals, with several fish swimming around and among the different corals, making her smile immensely while she realized that the jiaoren had conjured the spell again so that she could breathe and speak underwater, in addition to not feeling the pressure around her.
When she looks up, she realizes that little light could reach where she was, indicating that she was at the bottom of the ocean. The young woman also remembers that she was not feeling the marine pressure because he also worked on that, leaving her relieved to see that the merman did not forget her weakness for being a human.
After all, this was his environment and not hers.
The princess forgets to comment on what happened before as she was fascinated by the beauty around her that made her smile immensely, forgetting for a moment what she was going to ask as she looked at the various marine species and the beautiful coral that stretched across the underwater rock. Fish of various colors and shapes, starfish, hermit snails and other species swam or walked peacefully around the place and she could have sworn she saw a squid hidden among the fine sand of the coral reef.
Chang Yi looked closely at the human and confessed that her smile was beautiful while her face was youthful while her eyes seemed to shine with the beauty around them, making him realize that the young woman's happiness was sincere.
He confessed that he never imagined that he would stay so long with a human and that he would get to the point of talking to one. The young woman was fascinating and confessed that humans looked interesting. When she was about to question what she had learned about them, she remembered what the demon master had said about lying.
Though the human female in front of her hadn't lied, she had said it was common practice for her race, confirming what he'd learned.
Therefore, what they said about her race, in terms of being unreliable, had a grain of truth. The danger from demon masters was real.
However, that human who had a double wrist didn't seem like a threat and it made him question whether she was even a Demon Master.
Taking advantage of the fact that she was distracted, with the young woman's light laughter warming his heart, the crown prince asks, "Are you really a Master of demons?"
"Yes. But, I'm not from any of the remaining three places where Demon Masters are concentrated, and I don't have the curse on my body either. At least, that's what I think. Before there were four, but, one of them was destroyed almost two thousand years ago."
"What curse?"
"If the Demon Master leaves the area he is confined to without prior permission from the Master of the place, the poison in his body will kill him within a month, unless he takes the antidote when he is outside the designated area. This poison is as a curse that allows full control over demon masters."
As he looked at the young woman, the jiaoren began to analyze her reactions, gestures and words. She was a Demon Master and didn't show disgust or anger towards him. Nevertheless, she treated him normally and even with fascination.
It was surprising to the merman that the human female in front of him did not act as he expected of a demon Master. Her view of demons was also different, considering what was known about those who managed to kill and enslave their kind.
The Crown Prince also confessed that he was surprised that there was a poison in the form of a curse among the Demon Masters for the royal family to control them.
"Who created and placed this curse? It was someone from the royal family, right?"
"No. The creator of this curse is the Grand Master of demons, Ning Qing. He created this curse and placed it on everyone, forcing the Valley, Mountain, and Platform Masters to place it on their subordinates, when they didn't place it on children before to send to the platform, the valley or the mountain after identifying the occult pulse in them. It is a way for the royal family to control and subdue the Demon Masters along with confinement in predefined areas. Over time, this weakened them, making them have few really powerful demon masters. The sealing of the Jade Phoenix and other powerful demons led to the sacrifice of powerful demon masters along with the fact that the great demon master took the most powerful ones and took them to his sect after detecting the power of the occult pulse. There are very rare cases where the occult pulse does not reveal its true potential in childhood and only later does it reveal its true power. Therefore, one or another Master of a powerful demon is found outside the Demon Grand Master's Sect. This also occurs when they are born from the relationship between Demon Masters like two of my four friends, with them being my only friends. Two of them are powerful, but they managed to contain their true abilities by relying on the luck that their real power was only awakened when they were older and not when they were children. Their father still thinks their power is low."
Chang Yi's smile drops a little from his face upon hearing about the human males at the same time that her tail wiggles slightly in frustration, causing small ripples in the water around her that went unnoticed by the human.
After all, he didn't relish the idea of males, even of another race, near her.
The jiaoren closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, managing to placate the possessiveness that took him, and then he opens them, noticing that she has shown interest in some colorful fish in the distance.
Smiling, the Crown Prince uses her influence and magic, making the fish approach and surround the young woman, drawing more laughter from her as she touches them gently, causing Chang Yi's heart to warm even more as she smiles.
Then, he remembers her actions from moments before when her back burns, making him bring a hand to her back, knowing that the water around him was already acting as a cure for her injuries.
After all, it didn't matter the type of injury. If their skin was moistened, the wound would begin to heal, the prince knowing that it had not fully healed yet because it was made from the cedar of the seas.
The noble was also aware of how human she was, her parent only using a tiny bit of cedar power. For a human body, a tiny piece of cedar was more than enough to disintegrate the body. No wonder it was a feared cedar even on land.
After all, the magical and ancient ancestral object embodied all the power of the ocean, becoming the symbol of the ocean emperor, and could only be used by the one who was elected emperor of the sea tribes when the previous emperor passed the cedar to the new emperor.
After stroking the fish, the princess remembers what she was going to ask and when she looks up, she sees the sad features of the jiaoren who has a thoughtful look and when she sees this, she feels her heart constrict.
For some reason, even though she'd only met the merman a few hours ago, she cared for him. In fact, the princess felt happy around him, in addition to his presence making her heart beat faster while she felt butterflies in her stomach, making her question if this was what they called love at first sight and if, in fact, they were united by the red thread of fate.
After all, their meeting might have been predestined because she had heard that when it was predestined for someone, no matter the distance or the time, the red thread of fate would always guide and unite them. Having that thought, the young woman feels happy, but when she sees his face, that feeling disappears.
So, the princess asks in a confirming tone, remembering what happened at the same time that the young woman did not see the tail he gave her father, just as she did not see that the cedar was pointed at her because at that moment she was fighting for oxygen.
"Why are you sad? What happened? And how did we escape that jiaoren? Was he your father?"
After sighing, he says, still crestfallen, "He was my father. As soon as he spotted you, my parent prepared to attack her with the cedar, but I blocked it and then, taking advantage of the fact that he was shocked by my act, I tailed him and then we fled."
She is stupefied and taken by despair, the young woman goes behind him, surprising him.
Seeing the wound on his back without scales, tears come to her eyes and the princess raises her hand to touch it, then retreating for fear of hurting him if she touches it because they were frightening wounds that made her desperate.
His back had open wounds and it was possible to see the flesh and even some bones of the spine that was exposed. The blood seemed to have been drained from the wounds, thus preventing it from soiling the surrounding water, with the young woman noticing that the edges appeared to have been burned.
The princess had one hand over her mouth while her eyes were teary and when she remembered that he still had the strength to strike his parent and fly with her to get as far away as possible, she couldn't help but be impressed.
However, when she leaves her thoughts and sees his back that was in tatters although it was visible that he looked better, she takes a deep breath and makes seals with her hands to try to heal him, with the young woman being relieved to see that her healing matrix had some effect although it was a very slow process while her eyes were choked with the silent tears she shed.
While doing so, the princess questioned herself why the jiaoren would stand in front of such a blow and then strike her father.
After all, she could see from the pain in his eyes that he loved his father. Doing something like that for a stranger she just met left her astonished, making her think of some reasons for his unusual act despite all the reasons not being enough for such an attitude, even if it was for having saved her from the deadly waves and for not wanting his efforts to be in vain.
The merman smells tears with his heightened senses and notices her teary and horrified eyes as she looks at his back and seeing the young woman's tears, he feels bad.
Afterwards, the crown prince realized that the human was using the occult pulse to aid in the healing and was left speechless as he was amazed that he had not felt her using magic on him, realizing in that instant that the young woman could have attacked him from behind, doing so with which he could not block and as a consequence, he could subdue him by taking advantage of the wounds on his back.
Her act took him by surprise and he couldn't help but smile slightly, although the smile fell when he saw the human female's watery eyes and sincere despair when seeing the state he was in.
Then, the princess surprises him again by asking in a tearful voice, "Why did you receive such a brutal blow?"