Beneath the Sea of Tears, in the deep ocean where even light couldn't reach, seaweed twisted in coils, and schools of fish drifted leisurely.
By the edge of a long and narrow trench, a young male shark-folk sat.
He lazily twirled a strand of seaweed between his fingers, staring blankly at the passing fish, his silver tail drooping over the edge of the cliff.
Hiding behind a distant coral cluster, Jiaoniang watched the boy's gloomy figure, her eyes filled with sorrow.
He was her child.
But he didn't understand her.
He didn't love her.
Jiaoniang stared at him in a daze, her tears turning into pink pearls that sank to the ocean floor in strings.
After leaving the Crystal Palace, Lu Yao blew the coral whistle the water-droplet seal had given her. A large bubble formed around her, keeping the seawater out.
She planned to float up to the surface and then figure out a way to return to Chongdeng Inn to find Zeyuan and Mobai.
She fixed two eternal-light pearls to the top and front of the bubble. As it slowly floated upward, her field of vision widened.
That's when she saw the pink-tailed shark-folk hiding behind the coral—and the scattered pink pearls floating in the water.
Lu Yao froze.
So this is how shark-folk cried.
During New Year, the little water seal had once taken her to see trenches filled with pearls.
Because Lu Yao liked them, the little seal would collect any he found while patrolling and store them deep in the trench.
Bit by bit, they gathered quite a collection.
It was said that when the Deep Sea Goddess slept, she unconsciously shed tears, which pooled outside the temple gates.
When the little seal found out Lu Yao liked those pearls too, he started picking up the divine ones as well—saving them to give her.
Lu Yao did have a bit of a habit of hoarding things, though not to an extreme.
Now, seeing all those scattered pink pearls, she couldn't take her eyes off them.
She followed Jiaoniang's gaze and spotted a silver-tailed shark-folk boy sitting on the reef.
That must be Xie Zili, the young master of the Xie family who had supposedly been "abducted."
Sensing something in the water, Jiaoniang turned and spotted Lu Yao in the floating bubble. Wiping away her tears, her expression tightened into a few sharp lines.
"What are you doing here?"
Lu Yao gave her an awkward smile.
"There was… a little incident."
Jiaoniang had only abducted Lu Yao because of the box. Now that she had it back, she didn't really care if Lu Yao stayed or left.
But she didn't expect Lu Yao to escape on her own. Jiaoniang let out a cold laugh.
"That old hag let you out?"
Lu Yao stepped back.
"Not exactly."
In truth, she had escaped on her own.
But this was the shark-folk's territory. Jiaoniang caught up with her easily, wrapping her massive fish tail around the bubble.
"Where is the old hag? Did you hide her?"
Lu Yao shook her head.
"No. It's just me."
Jiaoniang didn't believe her.
"Cut the nonsense. She's where you hid the box. Hand her over."
Jiaoniang had already searched Lu Yao halfway through their journey—she had no storage bag, no box.
But earlier, Lu Yao had pulled the box out of nowhere. So Jiaoniang was convinced she'd hidden Madam Xie inside some unfamiliar magical item.
Lu Yao said,
"I really didn't take her with me. She's still on the shell bed in the Crystal Palace. If you don't believe me, go check."
Jiaoniang ignored her. Her tail tightened, about to crush the fragile bubble.
Just then, the boy's voice rang out.
"Jiaoniang, who is that?"
The young shark-folk swam over and saw Jiaoniang had someone wrapped in her tail. His face instantly paled.
"You said if I stayed here, you wouldn't go to the shore again. Why did you abduct another girl?"
Jiaoniang quickly let go of Lu Yao and turned to explain,
"Zili, I didn't abduct her. She just… accidentally fell into the sea. I was about to send her back."
Lu Yao: "…"
Xie Zili looked heartbroken and backed away with a flick of his tail.
"I heard everything. Why are you always lying to me? I agreed to stay here with you. Just look at me—even if I wanted to leave, where could I go like this? Wasn't taking Grandmother enough? Now you're dragging in innocent people too. What are you trying to do?"
Jiaoniang, who had been timid moments before, suddenly snapped. Her voice rose, sharp and defensive.
"What am I trying to do? Why don't you ask what she wants to do? Zili, you are a shark-folk. You don't belong on land—you'll only get hurt there. But that old woman won't give up. She still wants to take you back. I won't… I can't let you end up like me…"
Xie Zili's eyes filled with pain, his expression full of despair.
He'd shown great promise from a young age—joining Lingxiao Sword Sect at five, becoming an inner disciple at fifteen, even being accepted as the Sect Master's direct student.
Had he kept cultivating, he might have soon reached enlightenment in swordsmanship.
But everything changed at sixteen.
The day before his grandmother's birthday banquet, he returned to the manor—and accidentally fell into the garden pond.
His legs suddenly turned into a long silver tail, shocking the entire household.
Because his father married late, Xie Zili was the youngest in that generation.
He had never once doubted he was the legitimate son of the Xie family.
But he was a half-demon.
After living sixteen years as a human, he learned he wasn't the child of his father and mother—but of his father and a shark-folk.
The day it happened, Lord Xie fainted the moment the servants told him.
No one in the mansion dared approach. Xie Zili was trapped in the tiny pond, with nowhere to hide.
Then Jiaoniang appeared and took him away.
Afterward, rumors spread through Nizhao City that a shark-folk had kidnapped the Xie family's young master.
Shark-folk came of age at sixteen—when their bloodline awakened and they inherited the memories of their ancestors.
For half-demons like Xie Zili, it meant their legs would turn into tails, their bodies shifting into a half-human, half-demon form.
Jiaoniang brought him to the Sea of Tears, and they lived together in the deep sea as mother and son.
But he had lived sixteen years as a human. Life in the deep sea didn't suit him.
In his heart, his mother was still the lady of the Xie household—not an unstable, unpredictable shark-demon.
Every time he looked down at his ugly fish tail, he couldn't stop resenting Jiaoniang.
Why was he even born?
Because of her, his whole life had been ruined.
Xie Zili had already been trying to compromise.
But barely six months had passed, and she brought Madam Xie into the sea as well.
No matter how much he begged or pleaded, Jiaoniang refused to let his grandmother go.
Now, seeing her capture another strange woman, all his bottled-up frustration exploded.
He didn't want to indulge her anymore.
A demon was a demon—impossible to reason with, incapable of understanding human emotions.
Faced with her son's harsh accusations, Jiaoniang bowed her head, unable to speak. Her tears fell again, and the pink pearls turned darker and redder with streaks of blood.
Lu Yao usually avoided getting involved in other people's family matters. The tension was thick and awkward, and it wasn't her place to speak.
But Jiaoniang was crying so miserably now, her shimmering pearls stained with blood.
Lu Yao remembered what Madam Xie had told her, and finally spoke.
"Xie Zili, don't say any more. I was brought here by Jiaoniang—but only because of a certain item I returned to her. That's all. I'm preparing to leave now. If you want to know why she took your grandmother, maybe ask her yourself."
Jiaoniang's head snapped up, staring at Lu Yao with a startled, unreadable expression.
Xie Zili asked,
"What's going on?"
Lu Yao looked at Jiaoniang.
"If you've got something to say, just say it."
But Jiaoniang only kept staring at her.
"You really didn't take that old woman with you?"
Lu Yao's portable storage could temporarily carry living beings. But Madam Xie had refused to go. All she asked was that Lu Yao promise to take Xie Zili away.
Lu Yao shook her head.
"No. She's really still there."
Jiaoniang tilted her head slightly.
"You're… strange."
Lu Yao: "…"
Xie Zili also gave her a puzzled look.
Madam Xie had revealed everything—about the past between Jiaoniang and the Xie family—just to convince Lu Yao to help Xie Zili escape.