Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 564: The Struggle Between Humans and Gods

Xia Chichi’s gaze toward Hai Pinglan began to grow cold.

At first, she might have been able to interpret Hai Pinglan’s expulsion of Lady Three in a more positive light, thinking he might have been trying to preserve a seed of hope. But when he uttered the words “kill her without mercy” and “he could have become the crown prince,” there was no room left for forgiveness.

Back then, Hai Changkong was in his early thirties, full of ambition and drive. With such a promise dangled in front of him, he would have done everything in his power to kill Lady Three. At that time, she was just a young girl, far from the Black Tortoise of today—one wrong move, and she could have very well died.

Regardless of any underlying motives or hidden reasons, those words were unforgivable.

What was worse was that he spoke of it with a smile, without a trace of regret or realization of the gravity of his words.

Xia Chichi spoke coldly, “As I understand it, your kingdom still doesn’t have a crown prince, and Hai Changkong is in his fifties by now, right? Is that because Lady Three is still alive?”

Hai Pinglan chuckled. “Of course. Since he failed, the conditions of the promise weren’t met. I have over a hundred adopted sons, and several of them are quite capable. It’s quite difficult to decide which one to choose.”

Xia Chichi found this conversation increasingly distasteful and asked, “Why are you telling me this? Is it because you’ve learned of Lady Three’s connection to the Four Idols Cult and you’re planning to sever ties with us?”

Hai Pinglan shook his head. “If you’ve listened closely to what I’ve said, you should realize it was intentional back then. Otherwise, why would I tell you this now?”

Xia Chichi thought to herself that she did understand, but it did not matter.

Why do these rulers always act so heartless, disregarding the feelings of others in pursuit of their own goals?

One small thing stood out to her, though. Xia Longyuan only ever used the term “I” when addressing Zhao Changhe; otherwise, it was always the royal “We.” But Hai Pinglan always used either “I” or “this old man.” It was odd, in a way.

Hai Pinglan spoke again. “While traveling the seas, have you ever heard that the king of Penglai is surnamed Yuan, not Hai?”

Xia Chichi nodded. “I’ve heard that. But wasn’t that just an early misconception? Now, everyone knows that you are the king of Penglai.”

Hai Pinglan shook his head. “No, that’s incorrect. I never took the throne. Legally speaking, Penglai’s ruler has always been her.”

Xia Chichi was stunned. “But didn’t she pass away?”

“When we first began exploring the seas, we came across a powerful ancient artifact called the Soul of Water. It was said to be linked to the Black Tortoise of old... When we discovered it, a strange conflict ensued—a battle without an enemy. I was still recovering from injuries then, so I didn’t participate. According to Lady Three’s mother, the Soul of Water was taken by someone.” Hai Pinglan sighed, then continued, “It was only much later that I realized it was never taken—the Soul of Water had always resided in her soul sea.”

Xia Chichi’s heart skipped a beat. “The Sea Emperor!”

“That’s right. The Sea Emperor had already taken over her spirit, but we didn’t realize it at the time,” Hai Pinglan said. “Later, her mother and I had a disagreement. I wanted to establish a kingdom in Penglai, build an army, and return to the mainland. She believed that the Great Xia Empire was thriving and stable—there was no point in trying to disrupt things. She wanted either to settle peacefully in Penglai or to return to Jiangnan, as by then, the empire had long stopped hunting us. There was no need to keep wandering the seas. I, of course, didn’t agree. I had always wanted to go back and kill your father...”

Xia Chichi: “...Well, thanks for that.”

“We rarely argued, but this time, neither of us could convince the other, and it ended badly.” Hai Pinglan stared into his cup, and a faint, gentle smile appeared on his lips as if he was reminiscing fondly about their argument, finding warmth in the memory.

Xia Chichi watched him in silence, waiting for him to continue.

Hai Pinglan came back to himself, sighing. “So, one day, when she suddenly changed her mind and said she was willing to establish a kingdom... Can you guess how I felt at that moment?”

Xia Chichi ventured a guess. “Ecstatic?”

“Wrong,” Hai Pinglan replied flatly. “I knew her too well. Once she makes up her mind, nothing can change it. How could she suddenly change her stance and support me for no reason? I grew cautious, testing her from different angles. I found that her memories were intact, but her personality had changed. She was no longer the same person.”

Xia Chichi was instantly captivated. “And then?”

“I may not be able to beat your father, but I’m still one of the top fighters at the third layer of the Profound Mysteries, third on the Ranking of Heaven.” Hai Pinglan smiled slightly. “I suspected she’d been possessed. So, I suddenly restrained her and investigated, and sure enough, her soul sea was tainted by an unusual yin qi. It wasn’t a complete possession, but it had corrupted her enough that she was no longer herself, and she didn’t even realize it.”

Xia Chichi had an inkling of where this was going. She immediately thought of the Wang Clan’s yin qi and Wang Daoning’s pact with the tiger.

Could it be that Wang Daoning is no longer the person he once was?

Hai Pinglan continued, “By then, the injuries I’d sustained at your father’s hands had long since healed. The Sea Emperor, on the other hand, was weakened—that’s why it resorted to such underhanded means. I thought I could purge her soul sea of the yin qi... But ultimately, I learned that if you haven’t reached the Profound Control Realm, you simply can’t compete with a god or demon. Our understanding of yin spirits is nowhere near the Sea Emperor’s, even in his weakened state.”

“...You failed?”

“Yes,” Hai Pinglan answered calmly. “I killed her with my own hands. It wasn’t accidental, nor was it some mishap caused by the yin qi. I made the decision myself. I simply couldn’t bear to see someone else walking around in her body.”

Xia Chichi: “...”

“The Sea Emperor hadn’t expected me to be so ruthless. It was furious and retaliated, trying to seize control of my spiritual platform. For many years after, the battle raged in my spiritual platform.”

“You didn’t know when you might be completely taken over, so you drove Lady Three away to keep her as far away as possible, hoping she’d at least be a seed of hope left behind?” Xia Chichi asked curiously. “But earlier, you said you ordered her to be killed on sight... Was that something the Sea Emperor forced you to say?”

Hai Pinglan shook his head. “You’re overthinking it. Why are you still so hopeful, given how harsh your childhood was?”

Xia Chichi fell silent again.

“At the time, the Sea Emperor was tearing at my spirit, and she was leading her followers to challenge me. If you were in my place, wouldn’t you also suspect she had been corrupted, just like her mother? That she was here to help the Sea Emperor? Naturally, the order was to kill on sight—what was I supposed to do, let her stick around to kill me?”

Xia Chichi sighed. “If I were you, I’d order them to capture her alive.”

“It was a chaotic, urgent situation. If I’d hesitated or been too soft, we would’ve lost. A kingdom doesn’t have to be hers to inherit—what I promised to Hai Changkong still stands.” Hai Pinglan’s tone remained even.

Xia Chichi said mockingly, “If all you cared about was the succession... Well, I guess we think differently. If it’s just about that, you could’ve simply had another child—it’s not like it matters that much.”

Hai Pinglan did not argue. He only said, “Later, things changed. I wrestled with the Sea Emperor for almost a year. I was at a disadvantage, but the Sea Emperor also realized that fully possessing me would come at a high cost. So, I offered to submit.”

“Submit...?”

“I proposed that the Sea Emperor leave my soul sea, and in return, I would honor him as a god, build temples in his name, and spread his faith to aid his revival. That’s what he wanted most, and we reached an agreement.”

Xia Chichi laughed in disbelief. “When you killed your wife, I thought you had some backbone, but in the end, you still became just another puppet emperor.” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hai Pinglan replied evenly, “Revenge is a dish best served cold. The Sea Emperor may have been revived and gained power, but I haven’t been idle either.”

“How so?”

“Back then, a group of people left with Lady Three. Ironically, they became the seeds you spoke of. No matter how the nations of the sea gradually fell, that group refused to submit. When I made contact with them in secret and explained everything, they became my hidden blades. Nations thought they were just victims of pirate raids, but the resources mostly ended up with me. On the surface, everything in Penglai was under the Sea Emperor’s watch—I was its puppet with no resources for cultivation. In reality, I had been accumulating resources for years. Once I break through to the Profound Control Realm, that will be the moment I launch my counterattack.”

Xia Chichi asked, “So, have you broken through?”

Hai Pinglan did not answer. Instead, he continued, “The plan has several stages. First, redirect trouble eastward, driving tigers to attack wolves only so you can then swallow them both. The population at sea is limited, and even combined, all the nations don’t compare to a large province of the Great Xia Empire. The growth of the Sea Emperor’s power was constrained, so it was eager to expand. I arranged for it to connect with the Wang Clan. This shifted its focus toward the mainland, which made it easier to secretly carry out my actions and also brought it into contact with Xia Longyuan.”

He paused here, his tone becoming slightly strange. “Do you know? Not long ago, the Sea Emperor and your father had an exchange from afar.”

Xia Chichi nodded. “I know. It happened during the battle between the Cui and Wang Clans.”

“That exchange left the Sea Emperor with some hidden wounds, and it also realized it might not be a match for Xia Longyuan...” Hai Pinglan’s voice held a complex emotion. “Xia Longyuan is already at that level...”

Xia Chichi’s expression remained unreadable.

Hai Pinglan snapped out of his thoughts and smiled. “In any case, the Sea Emperor became anxious. Without being fully revived, it wouldn’t be able to stand against Xia Longyuan. If that’s the case, the Wang Clan’s rebellion would be pointless. At this point, I ordered the pirates to drive fishermen and merchants away from the sea, denying the Sea Emperor even the small number of followers it had left. Enraged, it commanded the nations to eradicate the pirates. Simultaneously, it devised a sacrificial ritual—a plan it had initially avoided. It inscribed arrays on the ships, turning casualties in battle into sacrificial offerings. Not a single drop was to be wasted.”

Xia Chichi was clearly fascinated. “So, how did you undermine it from the shadows?”

“Initially, the Sea Emperor only intended to use the casualties from the war as nourishment. But I had Changkong and Qianfan work together to turn the situation into a trap—making it look like everyone was meant to be sacrificed. I also negotiated with a small nation to surrender in advance and reveal the sacrificial array at the right time. This way, others would survive and return to spread the word, leading to a complete collapse in the Sea Emperor’s support base. It wouldn’t just fail to revive—it might even end up weaker than before.”

He sighed. “I had my plan, and the Sea Emperor had its own schemes. On the surface, it gathered the nations to exterminate the pirates, but it secretly used the Sea Tribe it had nurtured over the years to launch a surprise attack on the pirates. This was my miscalculation—I never expected that after all these years of loyalty, there would still be those in the pirate crew who would turn to the Sea Emperor...”