Chapter 2526: I’m Willing to Pay Any Price

“Could someone be framing him?” Yumen Beiqing asked.

Yi waved his hand. “That’s unlikely. Given the lofty stature of the Golden Crow Third Crown Prince, how can he not know if someone steals his feather?”

Yumen Beiqing fell silent. His words made sense.

Yi clasped his fist and said, “Thank you for your intelligence. I’ll pursue that pig head’s primordial spirit now. If you find Chang’e, please inform me or the Chang clan.” He passed a piece of jade to Zu An. “You can contact me through this jade if you find anything.”

Zu An stowed away the jade and replied with an awkward smile, “Alright.”

Before leaving in a hurry, Yi thanked the two of them again. He was anxious to find his missing fiancée.

“You seem to be very concerned about the Golden Crow Third Crown Prince?” Zu An asked Yumen Beiqing with an ambiguous smile.

Yumen Beiqing chuckled naturally. “I have fought alongside the Golden Crow race for many years. The thought that someone might be framing them bothers me.” She quickly added, “Do you not plan to tell Yi about Chang’e’s whereabouts? If he learns that you have been lying to him, he might turn against you.”

Zu An was in a dilemma. “I can’t hand the Mermaid Queen to him. I can only take things one step at a time.”

He dared not call the Mermaid Queen to the deck because of her prominent identity in this world, so he headed down into the cabin to look for her.

The Mermaid Queen was sitting nervously on a chair. It was only upon seeing him that she revealed a faint smile. “So that’s Yi. You are acquainted with him?”

“It was a coincidence. We bumped into him along the way and took him with us.” Zu An still found this situation ridiculous. “So, how did you come here?”

The Mermaid Queen’s face reddened as she stuttered, “I don’t know either. One day, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice, saying that she could fulfill my wish, but she asked if I was willing to pay the price for it...”

Zu An got agitated. “What price did you pay?”

The Mermaid Queen pursed her lips. “I didn’t pay anything. Perhaps it was because she pitied me. When I opened my eyes, I was already in this world. Then... I met you.”

After parting ways with Zu An back then, she'd returned to the Ocean races to distribute the antidote to her people. The Ocean races had returned to their former strength, but she felt lonelier than ever.

One day, she'd gone to a sandbank on the surface of the sea and gazed at the moon while silently murmuring her feelings for Zu An. However, as they weren’t from the same spacetime, she knew that they didn’t have a future together. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. In the end, she couldn’t hold back her tears.

After crying for a long time, she'd suddenly heard a faint woman’s voice asking her if she truly wanted to be together with her big brother Zu. The Mermaid Queen had naturally replied with a nod.

The woman had then asked her, “Will you pay the price if I realize this wish for you?”

“I will!” It sounded reckless in hindsight, but back then, she'd answered that question without hesitation.

The woman had been surprised. “You answered despite not knowing the price you have to pay?”

“I’m willing to pay any price as long as I can be with big brother Zu.” The Mermaid Queen knew that there was no way they could be together, so she'd wanted to hear the woman out even if she was lying to her.

“What a fool...” The woman sighed. “You’ll suffer long years of loneliness just for a brief reunion with him. Are you still willing to do so?”

The Mermaid Queen had been stunned. She wasn't hesitant because of the price, but because the other party’s offer was starting to sound credible. Perplexed, she asked, “Who are you?”

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“You need not care who I am. You just have to answer my question,” the woman had replied.

The Mermaid Queen had hardened her determination. “I’m willing to pay the price!”

She'd thought that the woman was lying, but even if she wasn't, she was willing to pay the price to be with big brother Zu.

Shortly after she answered the question, she suddenly fell into a daze. By the time she snapped out of it, she had already become the Chang clan’s Saintess, and she had a fiancé who was waiting to propose to her. This had shocked her. She had no idea why she had suddenly been transported into this foreign world.

However, she had no time to think too much about it. The imminent arrival of her fiancé had stoked her sense of urgency. It had crossed her mind to wonder whether that fiancé named Yi was big brother Zu, but she hadn’t dared to bet on it. If her bet was wrong, it would all be over. So, she'd chosen to escape.

Little had she expected to encounter a group of assassins shortly after she fled. She'd had to exhaust all her methods before she managed to temporarily shake them off her trail.

She'd thought she wouldn’t have a chance to see big brother Zu again, but the familiar Crystal Boat suddenly appeared in front of her. She'd called out to him with some skepticism, but the big brother Zu whom she'd been thinking about day and night really had appeared in front of her. At that moment, she'd felt so blissful that she could faint.

She shared everything that had happened with Zu An, though she did leave out some of the more embarrassing details, including the exact price she had to pay.

I wouldn’t mind telling everything to big brother Zu if there were no one else around, but the Fiend races’ Saintess is right there. They seem to be lovers. It wouldn’t be good for me to say those words here.

Even so, Zu An and Yumen Beiqing were still stunned.

“Who was that woman? To think that she has the power to directly transport you to this world!” Yumen Beiqing was far more shocked than she let on. Even she at her peak didn’t possess such powers.

The Mermaid Queen shook her head. “I don’t know who that woman is. I tried contacting her after arriving in this world, but I never heard that voice ever again.”

“A woman’s voice...” Zu An could already fathom a guess. “Can you imitate that voice?”

“I should be able to.” The Mermaid Queen was a born musician. She had extreme sensitivity toward melodies and voices. She closed her eyes to recall the situation back then before slowly imitating the woman’s words.

Others could have struggled with the details, but the Mermaid Queen, with her impeccable skills, was able to fully recreate the woman’s voice.

Yumen Beiqing widened her eyes.

To think it was her!

Zu An also looked conflicted. Seconds later, he let out a sigh. “I have an idea of who it is.”

Yumen Beiqing was surprised. She looked at Zu An with questioning eyes, not expecting him to know who that woman was.

“Who is it?” the Mermaid Queen anxiously asked. That was the thing she was the most curious about. Who could have the power to fulfill her wish?

Zu An took a deep breath before slowly revealing a name. “Lady Houtu.”