Author's Notes
In the ocean...
A-ji decides...
Chang...
Chapter 12 - The Princess's Thoughts
"I will use a method so they won't be suspicious. For that, all it takes is the power and skill of my most trusted disciples." he smirks.
Hundreds of kilometers away, in the ocean, more precisely in an immense shell, A-ji waited for Chang Yi to return while he delved into some reminiscences comparing her unhappy and tormented life before meeting the jiaoren and after meeting him.
The young woman comes out of her memories when the prince surprises her by appearing with two dead octopuses of considerable size together with some oysters that were the largest she had ever seen, as well as some shrimp that were large in size, with all of them meeting in a kind of white net of ice created by demonic power, with the human being surprised to see that he makes a wide movement with his hand, creating a huge bubble that pushes the water away to the sides, giving rise to a dry environment, making the princess exclaim with fascination in her eyes and countenance, "This is amazing!"
"I thought you'd prefer to eat in a dry environment."
"If there was smoke, could you disperse it without spreading into the ocean?"
He looks thoughtful and then says, "Yes. I can set this bubble to absorb. Then I dissipate it."
"Thanks!" she exclaims with excitement as she claps her hands together, "Now I can roast the octopuses and shrimps."
Chang Yi had already heard that humans roasted food and he confessed that he was curious to see how they did it and what it tasted like because his kind ate everything raw.
"Sorry, I'm giving you trouble. Besides, you have the back injury."
"It's no work at all. I'm also curious to know what roasted food tastes like. My kind only eat raw food. Besides, the wound is already healed."
She smiles and nods, knowing the jiaoren was only speaking the truth, and then the demon master comes out of her shell, causing him to arch his brow.
Then, when the princess returns, the merman sees the young woman carrying in her hands a flat stone of considerable size that came loose from the rock during Chang Yi's fight against the squid and after entering the barrier he conjured, A-ji uses a technique spiritual to dry your clothes and your hair.
After the young woman has positioned the flat stone, the master of demons makes simple seals with her hands and a small reddish matrix appears under the stone, which becomes very hot, then placing the octopus and shrimp to bake.
While they sizzled on the burning stone, the prince easily opened the oysters and surprised her by holding them out to her, who took them, then handed some to him, who accepted them.
After the octopuses and shrimps are roasted, the princess divides them between both of them and starts to eat with the jiaoren.
"Thank you very much" the princess thanks him after eating the last piece.
"I appreciate you sharing. Indeed, it tastes different."
"Did you like it?"
"I liked it. It's very different. I thank you for giving me this experience."
She smiles as she finishes the last piece while thinking about how good it would be to be able to drink water.
However, the fact that it was at the bottom of the sea made it impossible for it to drink fresh water.
After all, she wouldn't appreciate drinking salt water.
Therefore, she decides to ignore the thirst she felt as they both sat side by side.
So the prince asks as he remembers something.
"I heard that your kind drink different liquids."
"True. We drink from water, fruit juices to alcoholic beverages. There are even vegetable juices. We also drink tea that is made from leaves, flowers or fruits. We also drink milk that is milked from cows, goats or other animals."
"And drink when?"
"When we are thirsty, when we are craving or when we are celebrating something."
"The only liquid we have here besides blood is water."
"But, it's salt water. I drink fresh water."
"Sweet water?"
"That's what we call unsalted water that you find in springs, rivers, streams and waterfalls. I even feel like drinking water. I haven't had a drink since I arrived."
Chang Yi makes a movement with his hands and brings out a kind of deep shell made of ice and water inside, with him extending it towards her.
"Thanks, but we don't drink salt water."
"I took out the salt. I've tasted the water from a creek as a curiosity. So I have a basis of the difference between the waters."
The princess takes it and takes it to her lips, with the liquid touching her tongue and realizing that it was fresh, a smile appears on her face, which was reciprocated by the merman.
A-ji begins to sip large gulps of water with Chang Yi filling whenever the young woman wants until she is satisfied, and then the shell disappears with a simple gesture of the prince's hand.
So, at a certain point, he lays his head beside her while the young woman stroked his soft, white hair, with both of them staying like that for a few minutes.
Suddenly, Chang Yi's ears twitch and she looks with question on his face as she watched him sit down, the handsome merman's face getting deep as if he was concentrating while closing his eyes, then widening his eyes.
Suddenly, under the human's confused gaze, he goes to the large pearl and creates ice chains that surround the object while the demon held the tip in his hands.
Then, the prince takes her in his arms abruptly, with both of them quickly leaving the shell, and then the jiaoren begins to swim, vigorously moving its big and strong tail.
"What's up, big-tailed fish?"
"We have visitors. I need to get away as soon as possible."
She notices that her arms glow and he throws another spell at her, with the young woman realizing that the speed of water in her body no longer afflicts her as she is appalled by the speed they can reach.
In fact, not even the fastest boat in the world could match the speed of the jiaoren on the water.
The princess looks back and sees a fish with a long face, with the human noticing that it was getting further and further away while she shouted something incomprehensible to the young woman because they were too far from the pursuer.
The demon master confessed that she was curious to know what he was screaming desperately because the anguish and despair were clear, with the human making a mental note to ask the prince later if he could hear because she couldn't hear anything.
After an incredibly fast swim, Chang Yi manages to lose his pursuer and after they continue for some time, he stops and makes her sit on a reef, with the merman deciding to rest beside her.
Then the princess asks, "What was he yelling? I couldn't hear. It was a jiaoren too, wasn't it? It sounded like a version of bluefin tuna."
"Yes. You're right. He can be considered as belonging to the only fish tribe in the ocean. They have achieved status among the tribes thanks to their speed that stands out from other jiaoren, in addition to not being easy to lose. They are also excellent in the search skill. My father sent them."
"You were amazing. After all, you managed to lose him even with him in his true form."
"The royal family is superior in terms of demonic power, strength and speed. No matter how fast they are, they can't catch up with us. They can only catch up with other jiaoren."
"What was he yelling? He looked distressed."
She notices that the prince sighs, then speaks, "He was begging me to stop defending you and to get away from you. The news that I am with a human and that this human is a Demon Master must have already spread to many other demons. As you may know, you are hated."
The princess looked sad as the jiaoren spoke, "But, I don't think you're a threat. I don't care about their opinion."
The demon master turns around and places her hands on top of his hands, speaking, "Big-tailed fish, you are the crown prince. You have a duty to your people. They are worried and rightly so. You have already wounded and even beat your father for me, as well as battling one of your own kind that led to her death If I leave the ocean, everything will quiet down. You must remember that I am a human and we live on land. You lives in the ocean. Also, unfortunately, I have occult pulse which makes me hated. If I were an ordinary human, I probably wouldn't have all this commotion."
He looks up and she sees a ripple in his icy blue eyes that comes on suddenly and then disappears.
"I think it's best if I go back to earth. I'll always be grateful for you saving me, as well as showing me this wonderful world. I guess I didn't see it all, but what I did see was a lot. I never expected to see it such beautiful places and having the opportunity to talk to a jiaoren in person."
It took all her strength to request his return to earth and, consequently, his return to his personal hell. Anyone who experienced what she experienced would fight to stay in the ocean. But, the young woman was aware that Chang Yi had given her the world and allowed her to be happy despite the difficulties caused by having a hidden pulse. A-ji was aware of how much she owed the jiaoren and believed that even in two lifetimes she would not be able to repay all that he had given her and all the happiness he had given her.
Furthermore, the princess believed that her feelings were love as she recalled what she read in books. She also remembered what love was and that if you loved someone, you wanted that person's happiness and security. As much as her heart wanted to stay in the ocean because she loved it and because in that environment she experienced complete happiness, the master of demons did not want the merman to suffer and continue to be persecuted by her kind.
Furthermore, she didn't want to see him alienate her father who seemed to love his son as opposed to her father who despised her while always questioning why the king didn't have her killed because her mother hated her, too.
A-ji closes her eyes momentarily and decides that she would not drag the prince into her troubles and despicable life. He lived a life she heartily envied as she felt happy that jiaoren had such a bright life while hers was one of perpetual darkness and whose solace was found only in her friends who provided her with a temporary outlet because there was no more his martial arts shifu because he had been murdered by his cousin's men.
The princess could do nothing but watch the brutal death of her master who, before dying, took all of his assassins with the exception of one, Zhu Ling, who survived a mortal wound. He miraculously survived, and A-ji always regretted not having had the courage to kill him in secret.
In fact, she was pathetic. Her shifu taught her so much and was like a father. The pain of guilt for not having avenged his death was still crushing her and day after day, only remorse remained while guilt was a cruel and equally relentless executioner.
What was worse was that at the time of the attack against him, Dai Di cared for her until the end, making a discreet negative sign with her head when her disciple considered helping him in battle, knowing that with her help, he might had a chance to survive.
The reason for preventing the young woman from intervening was because she knew the consequences of her act that could lead to her death because she knew her life in the palace and knew that the king and queen hated her while her older sister despised her and bullied daily.
The princess always felt miserable that she didn't have the courage to kill her cousin to get revenge as she envied the fact that people were so easy to get revenge.
The most she could do was finish her shifu's quest in secret. The mission he devoted her life to and fulfilling it was a matter of honor and fulfilling his final wish, as well as another wish she made a point of fulfilling.
Even so, the young woman wanted to do justice to her shifu Dai Di. That feeling of injustice still persisted in being hers.
The most ironic thing was that if she had done justice for his death, she would probably no longer be alive and that would mean that Chang Yi would never experience the problems she had until that moment.
Furthermore, A-ji would not have been responsible for the crew's fate because it was her idea to extend the trip route beyond the scheduled one because she wanted to find a jiaoren even though the captain had commented that it would be almost impossible to sight one of that species.
Her wish cost everyone their lives and made the one she loved the most go through many problems caused by her existence. The princess questioned whether, in fact, her life was cursed and that it cursed others who were involved with her.
Faced with this thought, the young woman began to fear for Chang Yi because if in fact she was cursed as her parents and others had told her her entire life, the merman was taking risks by staying with her, as well as her friends.
The princess comes out of her thoughts with the merman's beautiful baritone voice, "In fact, if it were an ordinary human, there wouldn't be all this chaos" the prince says sadly after being thoughtful and therefore, he did not see the human's sad face.
Then, the young woman puts her hand on his head and caresses him as she did before, enjoying the softness of the threads, and then speaks while forcing a smile on her face at the prospect of returning to the hell that awaited her on earth, "We always We'll be friends. I'll never forget you. But now I have to go back to where I belong."
"I'll take you to land. There's a beach if we head that way."
"You don't have to take me. Leave me in the direction of the beach and I'll swim to it. It's not good for you to go near the beach. It's dangerous."
"But..."
"No, "but". Let's not risk it. I'm fine. I can swim. Besides, I'm a Kung Fu master. Believe me, I swim really fast. Much faster than ordinary people. Besides, I can use my hidden wrist to help."
He sighs and nods, "I promised I would take you to see Song Wu."
"I'd love to see it before I leave." she cursed herself for the words coming out of her mouth before she had time to stop them.
After all, she was risking his well-being too much. Extending their coexistence to see a legendary demon was too risky.
What responded to the jiaoren was her heart filled with the immense desire to prolong his presence in her miserable life and also the longing to see a legendary demon belonging to the legendary quartet.
If her rational mind had taken the lead, consent would never have left her lips and she would be walking away from him who gave her the world.
"Then let's go. I'll take you to him."
"There won't be any other jiaoren around, right?"
"Yes. How did you suspect?"