Under The Lake

3. In Which Wangji Has A Rather Interesting Dream

Wangji was walking through the main pavilion on his way to the library. His brother and uncle had been busy preparing for the upcoming lectures, and there was still much to be done.

He elegantly walked through courtyards and pavilions as the January sun beamed down on him through the clouds in a pale white light.

He looked a shade of palest porcelain as he walked, his robes gently fluttering, giving him the appearance of a wandering spirit as he moved about Cloud Recesses.

Ever since that little incident at Biling Lake, Wangji had become a lot paler than usual. And he found that he hardly ever needed an outer cloak, despite the frigid weather up on Gusu's highest peak.

And the changes to his physical appearance hadn't gone unnoticed by others either. As a result, his ranking in the cultivation world's most eligible bachelor list had gone up. He now ranked higher than both the Young Master of the Lanling Jin Sect and his own brother.

Not that he cared about such boring and stupid affairs. He was never the type of person who cared deeply about what others thought of him.

Gliding to his quarters, he opened the mahogany doors to the Jingshi and elegantly stepped inside.

Sighing a long sigh, he sat down at his table and poured himself a large cup of water. He drank it all in one go, despite the chilly weather.

Looking outside at the cold light invading Cloud Recesses, he stared outside with a glassy visage.

Not taking his eyes away from his window, he poured himself a second glass and drank it. Then a third, then a fourth, until he found that his teapot was empty.

Sighing in annoyance, he looked down at his desk with a half-lidded expression.

He wanted to go out swimming, but going swimming in the middle of a bright day was suicide.

Now looking at his teapot, he scowled at it as if it had said something rude to him.

After two months of being a merman, he found that he rather liked the freedom it brought.

At one point, he had even swum halfway to Yunmeng and back in less than two hours.

He loved how he moved freely under the water and how he seemed to understand the water.

It wasn't just understanding which way was where. It was like he could talk to it. It didn't exactly answer to him with words, but it was more like he could hear its heartbeat.

As though it was alive, and answered only to him.

With his mind filled with water, he continued staring at his empty teapot with a blank expression.

He let his brain carry him away, as he thought of fish and underwater plants, and slowly fell asleep.

He was in BiLing lake and was swimming slowly in merman form now. The water moved around his arms and small fish swam past him as the pale moonlight shone just above the surface.

Just in front of him was a woman-no, she was a mermaid. With a red and orange tail and green ribbons patterns. Her long brown hair floated around her as she stared back at Wangji with her magenta eyes.

For what seemed like an eternity, they both just stared at each other. Until, with a sort of a blur, the woman was now covered with thick layers of blood. An arrow was sticking out of her side, its white feather offset-fletching was dirtied with red and standing out among her billowing yellow robes.

Her face was marred with anger and fear, just like the night she died.

Taking her hand to her side, she pulled out the arrow, not flinching once, still staring at Wangji. Holding the bloody black bamboo arrow with an elaborate iron head, she held it out to him.

Wangji awoke with a start, as he found himself pressed upon his desk.

As he lifted his head, a spare piece of parchment stuck to his forehead.

Swatting it away in irritancy, he looked around frantically, as though the woman was going to pop out from behind a bookshelf and scare the life out of him.

After taking a deep breath, a thought popped into his head. It was the kind of thought that once you think it, you can't forget it, even if you suddenly developed stage seven dementia.

Just why did that woman die that night?

After all this time, he had never once stopped to question it. People don't usually walk around with arrows in their sides. Obviously, someone had tried to hunt her down and kill her. But it couldn't of been any Lan disciples or rogue cultivators on a night hunt.

A mermaid escaping someone's grasp? Surely he would have heard something about it.

If Wangji wasn't there that night, she would have perished without a single trace nor anyone ever knowing.

His mind went back to his frighteningly realistic dream. The woman was trying to tell him something.

The arrow. There was something special about that arrow. Otherwise, why would the woman try to give it to him?

It looked unique and the arrowhead twisted and spiralled with jagged points. It was a brutal design, and it was made for fatal shots only.

He grew up surrounded by different cultivation weapons, but he had never seen an arrowhead of that design.

It scared him, and he didn't like being scared.

He needed to find out where the arrow was made, and who it belonged to.

Clearing his desk rapidly, he got up and went over to his door.

Hold on a minute.

If he wasn't there that night, she would have perished without a single trace nor anyone ever knowing.

That area was located on the farthest outskirts, and hardly anyone passed by it.

Well then, the chances of anyone picking up the arrow and disposing of it were rather slim. After all this time, wouldn't it be buried underneath the dirt and leaves, just waiting there?

There was a good chance that Wangji was right. And he wasn't going to waste time in confirming his suspicions.