Chapter 2438: Legend of the Saintess

Zu An was aghast.

Did I unknowingly reveal something unintended?

But he couldn’t find any issues when he reviewed what he’d said so far.

The Mermaid Queen noticed his expression and explained with a forced smile, “It’s not that tough to guess. If you were from a world unrelated to ours, you wouldn’t have been vigilant enough to avoid me as if I was a venomous scorpion.”

Zu An felt awkward hearing her description.

Am I that obvious?

The Peacock Princess stared at Zu An.

It’s as I deduced. The Mermaid Queen has been actively courting him, but he keeps avoiding her. I wonder how the men of the world will react if they learn that the lofty goddess they’ve been courting was herself courting another man, but failed.

The concept of spacetime was too abstract to someone as young as her. She was more interested in gossip.

The Mermaid Queen continued, “Since it’s related to our world, it must be either the past or the future. If it were the past...”

She eyed Zu An from head to toe. “You may have hidden your identity and appearance, but I can tell you aren’t from our Mermaid race or any of the Ocean races, so you should have no reason to avoid me. I’ve also never heard about an expert of your caliber in all of history. So, all that’s left is the future. You must be worried about time paradoxes, likely because you’re related to one of my descendants.”

Her face slowly turned pale as she secretly prayed for that to not be the case.

Peach blinked in amazement.

My queen is incredible, for her to decipher so much from bits and pieces... but has she not considered that my queen’s husband might be talking nonsense?

The Peacock Princess shared the same concern as well. All the talk about coming from the future sounded ridiculous to her. If people from the future could time travel to the past, they would already have heard about such cases by now, right?

This mysterious fellow might have saved me, but I owe a debt to the Mermaid Queen too. Later, I should warn her, lest she get scammed by him.

Zu An hesitated for a moment before replying, “Don’t guess any further. Knowing too much can be dangerous too.”

The Mermaid Queen laughed wretchedly. “I get it.”

Zu An was bewildered.

What did you get when I haven’t said anything?

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The Peacock Princess couldn’t bear it anymore and asked, “Since you said you’re from the future, why don’t you tell us what the future is like? Did we get conquered by the monsters?”

The Fiend Emperor was dead, and the Fiend races were fighting a losing battle. Despite Saintess Yumen Beiqing’s emergence, everyone knew that this was only a temporary respite.

“You didn’t. In my time, your people were known to be very brave. They defeated the invading monsters and drove them out of our world,” Zu An replied.

The monsters had made another comeback thousands of years later, but he’d sent them packing that time... But there was no need to mention that.

“What?!” The Peacock Princess was elated to hear that, not expecting such an outcome. However, she soon wondered if he was saying those words just to soothe her, though judging from his expression, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Even the Mermaid Queen was taken aback. Even though she was the one who had been pushing for an alliance between the Ocean races and the Fiend races to oppose the monsters, she was well aware that the odds weren’t in their favor. She’d just been doing whatever she could to maximize the Ocean races’ chances of survival. After all, if the monsters finished cleaning up the others, the Ocean races would be next.

And yet, someone was telling her that they’d driven out the overwhelmingly powerful monsters? That was something she dared not even dream of!

“How did we defeat them?” the Peacock Princess blurted out.

Zu An shook his head. “I can’t share the details, or rather, I don’t know them either. However, I am certain you defeated the monsters.”

There were hardly any details surrounding this era, but from the looks of the current situation, the Fiend races and the Ocean races didn’t stand a chance against the monsters. Otherwise, the Ocean races wouldn’t have been cornered by a single Incestuous King.

Could it be...

A ridiculous thought popped into his mind, and his expression became weird.

Did they defeat the monsters thanks to my intervention? But what if I go too far and alter history... No, if we went along the current trajectory, the Fiend races and Ocean races would be crushed by the monsters. It must be my intervention that pulls history back to its original track.

Damn! I fought desperately against the monsters in the present, and now I have to do the same in the past too? Can’t you let me catch a breather? It’s as if I was born as an ox, forced to grind non-stop!

The Peacock Princess and the Mermaid Queen were disappointed by the lack of details, but his affirmative response enthused them. Their faces gleamed with excitement.

“I must return to the Fiend races as soon as possible and inform the Saintess and the others about this. This should reignite hope in them!” the Peacock Princess exclaimed.

“About that... Tell me more about your Saintess,” Zu An said.

He knew next to nothing about her except for her name; it was as if her life was shrouded in mystery. He wanted to know why her will fragment had said those words to him in the Sealed Land. She clearly recognized him. He was curious to know if she’d met him in this world.

The Mermaid Queen pricked up her ears. She was curious about Saintess Yumen Beiqing too.

I heard the Saintess is an outstanding beauty too, and there are many legends shrouding her. Her popularity might even exceed mine!

“Shouldn’t you know better, since you’re from the future?” the Peacock Princess asked doubtfully.

“There are many gaps in the records, so some of the details are unknown to me,” Zu An replied.

“I see.” The Peacock Princess finally answered, “The Saintess is from the Fusang tribe. She is from a Yin Yang clan, specializing in Yin Yang and formation arts. The Fiend races were at their peak then, and there were many clans like hers around. Her clan isn’t unknown, but it can only be considered a minor one.

“One day, the monsters invaded and pushed back our people. Our Fiend Emperor even died a few years ago. The Fiend races were left in dire circumstances. It was then that a woman named Yumen Beiqing showed her edge. She led the Fiend races against the monsters and achieved victories one after another. Not only did she hold the fort, but her occasional counterattacks also inflicted heavy losses on the monsters. Over time, everyone began calling her Saintess.

“There is a legend that our Fiend Emperor’s ancestors originated from the Fusang Tree[1], and the Saintess is from the Fusang tribe. Everyone believes this is heaven’s will.”

Zu An thought this reeked of a typical chaste saintess plotline.

He had heard about the legend concerning the Fiend races’ ancestor and the Fusang Tree’s Golden Crow. In some versions of the legend, the Ten Crows were rumored to often appear together, bringing ten days of crisis to the mortal world. In the end, Hou Yi was forced to shoot down nine of them.

That’s weird. Hou Yi shooting down nine suns should be good news for the Human race. Why are the Fiend races still in a dominant position? Are the legends from different worlds?

But back when I was inside the dungeon in the

Fiend races’ Imperial Tomb, there was the legend of Hou Yi shooting down the suns.

—

Starve’s T/N:

I’m changing Imperial Gate Bei Qing to Yumen Beiqing. Her name is Yumen Beiqing, with her title being Saintess instead of Imperial Gate (Yumen).

She was initially introduced as 御门大师, which, without further information then, could be translated as Venerated Master of the Imperial Gate. But now that it’s clear her title is ‘Saintess’ instead of ‘Imperial Gate’, I’ve changed all the Imperial Gates to Yumen.

1. The Fusang Tree is the tree where the nine golden crows rested after carrying the sun. ☜