Chapter 717: 10,000 Years
Gouwen stood up, smiling at Xu behind Fisher. The gloomy expression that had been on his face since they saw Fisher again finally took on a hint of a smile, and he irritably said to Fisher,
“If it weren’t necessary, would I let Jasmine come here and take such risks? Her condition is getting more serious; staying in reality will only bring about greater disasters. Ramastia is right; hiding away is not a solution. Her soul is not pure; her past will inevitably awaken.”
Fisher nodded and finally turned to look behind him, only to see Jasmine, who was nestled in Xu’s arms, puffing her cheeks, her already chubby face appearing even rounder, clearly upset.
Looking at the smiling Renee beside him, Fisher had no choice but to step closer to Renee and introduce her to Jasmine,
“Jasmine, this is Renee.”
“I’ve met her before, back at Saint Nali University…”
Jasmine regarded Renee suspiciously, especially when she saw the ethereal figure floating in the air and the faint magic power emanating from her, realizing the other person was not human.
At the same time, there was only one type of subhuman that resembled a human in appearance and possessed a vast amount of magical power.
A Sorceress.
Fisher glanced at the eager Renee beside him and quickly spoke before she could,
“Ah, she’s the one who disguised herself as a Cardu saint to enter Saint Nali University. I met her in Shivali before heading to the Southern Continent. Her true identity is a deity residing in the Spirit Realm, and for a long time, she has been helping Ramastia fend off invasions from other deities, so she rarely appears. I hadn’t seen her for a long time, and it’s not easy to reunite with her now that I’m in the Spirit Realm.”
Then Fisher turned to Gouwen and Xu, who were holding Jasmine, and said,
“Moreover, the situation is urgent now; her avatar is here to help us solve the problem with Hamon Hamon and Dream. Jasmine, your situation is complicated, and I need to explain everything to you slowly, especially regarding your past.”
Fisher’s words were comprehensive and revealed the entire gap in status regarding Renee. His intent wasn’t merely to confess to Jasmine about Renee; the main focus was actually on Xu, Gouwen, and Renee.
The message to Renee was quite simple; she wouldn’t be the type to be particular about Jasmine. Similar to how she arranged for Fisher and Captain Alagina to reunite in the background during their time at Pirate Harbor, although jealousy ended up letting Fisher taste the bitterness of a love triangle, as she said, her original intent wasn’t like that.
The crucial point was not to let her feel unhappy.
Especially now that Fisher was in the Spirit Realm, Renee might think, while he had been hiding in reality, I didn’t interfere with you, but now that he’s come to the Spirit Realm to accompany me, you want to stick your nose in, I see you don’t want to reap good fruit.
If Renee felt that way, then the kind of pressure full of firepower wouldn’t be something Jasmine’s gentle temperament could endure. Moreover, Xu and Gouwen were still present, and there were urgent matters to attend to. If the situation went awry, Fisher would ultimately bear the consequences.
It would be better to implicitly suggest Renee to clarify her attitude, indicating that they had “not seen each other for a long time,” which meant that time in the Spirit Realm originally belonged to her.
As for Gouwen, it was even simpler; it was essentially “urgent matters take precedence.”
Renee was a deity aiding Ramastia, and she had also had ties with Asuka in the past. Now it was a matter of urgency; these private matters could wait until after this was settled.
Why say this specifically to Gouwen? Hadn’t Fisher previously spoken similar words to Gouwen and Xu as a couple?
Well…
Because Fisher noticed our esteemed God of Destruction still bore a hostile attitude toward Jasmine, fiercely opposed to his scoundrel actions, completely deaf to the unspoken hints of Fisher’s plea for mercy.
Aunt Xu was particularly slow in this regard, but as soon as Fisher opened his mouth, Gouwen knew what he meant. Besides, he and Fisher were on the same page from the start; he didn’t intend to let the conflict blow up completely.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said, “This is your bad news, not our bad news.”
Gouwen wished for Fisher’s emotional debts to explode, letting him taste the malice of greed, but the truth was he understood better than anyone that Jasmine, or Asuka, would not let go. She had been waiting for this for ten thousand years. Even if there was a reckoning, it should be her to deal with it.
Gouwen shot an annoyed glance at Fisher and walked over to Xu, grasping her hand as she looked at Fisher with an expressionless face, saying,
“Dear, you just got here, and the waters are deep. The most urgent matter now is regarding Jasmine. She can’t delay any longer.”
Under Gouwen’s persuasion, Xu finally averted her gaze. She lowered her head to glance at Jasmine, who was pouting her lips and still struggling with her thoughts about Renee,
“…”
Jasmine was quite perceptive; in fact, when she saw the familiar figure of Renee, she realized that Renee might be a woman closely related to Fisher, someone who might not even be recognized by Raphael.
Jasmine could accept Raphael calmly, but it was less easy with other women. However, Jasmine’s soft temperament was well known; in a fit of rage, she was indeed upset.
The underlying issue was not her temperament but her lack of confidence.
Like the relationship between Fisher and Raphael, she knew the efforts Raphael had made for her goals. She fought hard in the Southern Continent and could even make arrangements for the Southern Continent’s subhumans to accept Fisher as a human so that he could meet his mother, devising various strategies to pave the way for Dragon Court.
That Phoenix lady was probably the same; otherwise, she wouldn’t have risked her life to traverse multiple demigods’ battlefields to send medicine to Fisher.
As for herself, during her time in Saint Nali, she understood nothing. If it weren’t for Fisher protecting her, she could have died in the conspiracy devised by Elizabeth and Blake; later, she separated from Fisher and returned underwater to overcome her curse, largely relying on her mother’s help to do so. After overcoming the curse, she learned about the Apocalypse Prophecy and wanted to return to the shore to help Fisher, even swearing an oath with her mother to reach Mythical Rank, which she mostly achieved by following Raphael and learning little by little.
It seemed like she had worked hard, but her progress relied entirely on others. Without others, she couldn’t do anything. Thus, even if she felt unhappy deep down, she lacked the confidence to voice her grievances.
Just like when she saw Eil in the Demon Dynasty, she felt very jealous and upset, but she couldn’t even come up with a reasonable excuse for jealousy and had to rely on Raphael’s standing to criticize.
Even “eating” Fisher felt like something that demon bestowed upon her.
This had been Jasmine’s long-standing entanglement and softness; during her time in Saint Nali, it was the same. Everyone was helping and making efforts, yet she felt like a bystander.
She couldn’t reach Mythical Rank and could only watch as her mother was attacked in the sky; she couldn’t get close to the crevice, so even if she couldn’t assist Fisher, who was fighting alone in the crevice, she couldn’t even participate in delivering medicine. In the end, even the right to judge Elizabeth was granted by Elizabeth’s guiding eye.
Did the punch hitting Elizabeth’s face not come from her own heart?
How ironic.
All along, Jasmine had been deceiving herself with optimism, convincing herself that she was diligent enough to keep up with others, drinking soup and eating meat together.
She had deceived herself for so long; when did she become so familiar with it? When had it silently turned into her habit?
Now, facing a competitor at the “divine” level, that feeling of “lack of confidence,” which Jasmine hated, surged back up.
What quality did she have to defeat her?
Did she need to rely on her mother once again, like at Saint Nali, to pressure other women and Fisher?
“Jasmine.”
This thought struck Jasmine like a lightning bolt in her mind, but outwardly, she merely blinked.
Ahead, Renee and Gouwen received Fisher’s cues, prompting Gouwen to move beside Xu, while Renee held her hands, maintaining a smile but no longer speaking. Fisher sighed and wanted to go over to Jasmine to say something to her.
“…”
However, Xu, noticing the tips of Jasmine’s blue hair beginning to change to dark hues, exclaimed sharply.
From Xu’s perspective, handwritten Chinese characters were spreading like earthworms from Jasmine’s neck.
Xu narrowed her eyes, quickly grasping Jasmine’s shoulder, looking unsympathetic as she said to Fisher,
“Let’s talk about other things later. I’ll take Jasmine back to rest. She’s just entered the Spirit Realm and isn’t quite adapting yet.”
“…”
Fisher blinked. At that moment, Jasmine abruptly looked up, her brown-black eyes starting to darken. She wanted to say something but was pulled away by the “cold-faced mother-in-law,” heading toward the trees behind them.
“Ugh.”
“Dear, where is your resting place? Take me there.”
“Uh? Oh.”
Gouwen glanced back at the stationary Fisher, hurriedly following after them, quickly disappearing into the woods with Xu and Jasmine.
From Fisher’s arms, Emhart squeezed out his square head, peering outside in confusion,
“Is that it? You just solved it like that? Jasmine can’t be that easy, and Xu and Gouwen didn’t even beat you up?”
“…”
If it were like that, Fisher might have relaxed a bit, but watching Jasmine leave just now made him have a bad premonition.
The way Jasmine had looked at him earlier felt strangely familiar, as if he’d seen that gaze somewhere before.
He swallowed hard, suddenly recalling something.
Ten thousand years ago, at the top of the stone tower in the center of the Ideal Nation, Fisher watched in shock as Tang Zeming Asuka crushed Margaret’s head with her fists.
At that moment, Margaret’s blood splattered all over Tang Zeming Asuka’s face as she gasped, fist clenched, turning to look at him with those profound eyes, as if she just murdered someone without any qualms. That was the same kind of gaze.
Why did it feel
Like it would be better if the scene exploded into chaos after all?
Now it merely made him feel as if he could be cut at any moment.
Moreover, he had a feeling that the Tang Zeming Asuka who had passed ten thousand years was bound to be a bit different from the Tang Zeming Asuka in his memories from ten thousand years ago; otherwise, she wouldn’t be called the “Magic Lord,” nor would her description by Ashley be so exaggerated.
Fisher rubbed his forehead and pressed Emhart, who was enjoying the show, back into his embrace, not disturbing the family of Xu and Gouwen, who were preparing to catch up and negotiate. He turned to see the floating Renee with her arms crossed behind her, surprised to find Lady Bojiang standing not far away, looking like she was enjoying the drama.
“You ran away just like that? So disappointing. Not even as good as that Elizabeth, nor even any better than that Alagina.”
Who could compare to you?
Fisher helplessly glanced at the aloof Renee at the moment and then at Lady Bojiang behind her, seeing her flick her luminous tentacle, wearing a similarly “helpless” expression.
“Mr. Fisher, when are we setting off to my mom and dad’s place?”
Still immersed in the previous events, Fisher suddenly heard a familiar electronic voice and remembered there was an equally impatient David beside him.
He stroked his chin, turning to look at the “anomalous substance” growing in the ground, equally curious about Hamon Hamon’s current situation.
The outer gods that had undergone some changes, the gathering feast of the stars, and Michael Mikhail’s sanctuary that had been closed for a thousand years.
Even without the need for that mechanism’s completion manual, Fisher felt it necessary to check on the situation over there.
The gods had yet to finalize their strategy for dealing with Dream, and if Hamon Hamon’s conditions were related to his authority, there might be unexpected gains after exploration.
“Let’s wait for Gouwen to come back, then we can prepare and set off.”
In Gouwen’s basement.
Guided by Gouwen, Xu walked into a rather spacious laboratory. As soon as she arrived, she frowned, complaining about the messy living environment.
“Everything is haphazardly placed. It was like this when we were at sea; it made the experimental tools float all over the room, and no one bothers to organize things. How can anyone sleep in such chaos?”
Xu raised her hand, and the items on the bed with wrinkled sheets and bedding began to smooth out, along with the scattered papers and materials on the floor, floating up and getting arranged neatly on the table.
Gouwen rubbed the back of his head sheepishly but still turned to look at Jasmine, who wore a somewhat dazed expression.
“Jasmine, sit.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jasmine nodded and sat in the chair Gouwen pulled out for her, her head lowered, even her long whale tail drooping down. Gouwen helplessly reached out to rub her head and asked,
“What’s wrong? Is it because of that Renee?”
“Hmph, can you be happy around someone like Fisher who has that kind of neurotic aura? That neurotic’s descendant is only going to be more troublesome than her.”
Gouwen shot a glance at his wife nearby, fully aware of how the Subhuman Girl Enthusiast had made an impression on Xu.
One could say that with the foundation of the Subhuman Girl Enthusiast, no matter how Fisher behaved, he wouldn’t be viewed favorably in Xu’s eyes; one could imagine how terrible the Subhuman Girl Enthusiast was.
But hearing Gouwen’s words, Jasmine pressed her lips together but just shook her head, saying,
“Not really, Dad, I just… feel so powerless and helpless.”
“Powerless?”
“Yeah, I don’t know why. Why can’t I reach Mythical Rank like Mom? Why am I so weak, and it’s hard to control my curse? There are so many taboos I can’t cross. Mom brought me here without saying a word, and I don’t even know why. I can occasionally sense that something is off with me, like someone is talking to me, just like Fisher and some terrifying woman I don’t know.”
Gouwen and Xu exchanged glances, both expressing helplessness.
Ultimately, it was Gouwen who spoke first. After pondering for a moment, he slowly crouched in front of Jasmine, looking into her brown-black eyes and softly said,
“Jasmine, actually, you have great potential. You possess unimaginable strength within you. But often, being stronger is not always better. It doesn’t mean that possessing power allows you to do as you please or become stronger at will; instead, you’ll only face greater challenges and pain, and your mother and I don’t want that for you. It’s just that now, that power and those challenges can no longer be hidden from you.
“Jasmine, your soul is not completely pure; it was salvaged from the Sea of Souls just before it was integrated. That soul belongs to the migrating being known as ‘Tang Zeming Asuka,’ whom we met ten thousand years ago. Your mother and I regard her as our child, which is why your soul was allowed to enter her body and be reborn into this world.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened, and the darkness in her brown-black pupils deepened.
“Migrating being?”
“Yeah, Jasmine, do you remember your childhood name and the name of your accompanying sea beast?”
“Xianghun.”
“Yes, your soul originates from a migrating being named ‘Tang Zeming Asuka.’ She is esteemed by migrating beings as the ‘Magic Lord’ and is the one with the most potent chaotic power among them. Thousands of years ago, her body and soul separated, and during her attempt to escape this world, her soul was critically wounded. Ultimately, to prevent triggering greater disasters, she chose to self-destruct and fell into the Sea of Souls, from which Ramastia rescued her.”
Behind them, Xu closed her eyes, while Gouwen slowly extended two fingers, stopping just before Jasmine’s eyes.
“The most crucial point is that ten thousand years ago, you were also a student of Fisher Benavides. And counting from then, you have waited for him for a full ten thousand years.”
