The moonlight spread like water little by little, immersing the whole town in haze.
One or two night insects began to sing, and gradually, more and more creatures joined in, adding a vivid touch to the picture of the moonlit night. These sounds are small and beautiful, scattered in all directions, and they harmonize with each other, forming a mesh of music. Every quiet household is like a thousand knots in a net. Looking from a high place, it looks like rafts floating and sinking in the moonlit sea. Thousands of lights flashed, and millions of stars flickered.
As the moon rises, the stars in the sky and on earth are submerged in the moonlight, falling into a deep sleep in the quiet night.
The inn also blends into this tranquility. Almost all the guests were asleep, and even Xie Zhe and Han Zhang were preparing to rest in the guest room. No matter what the identity of the people staying tonight is, or why they are busy, they are all in one place at this moment, waiting to fall asleep. These travelers with different origins gather under the same roof by chance. No one knows whether this chance meeting is a chance to meet again in the future, or whether it is a separation and we will never see each other again.
After all, there are still people who are awake and reluctant to let go of the bright moon tonight.
Jiao Mo sat on the roof, looking up at the half waxing and half waning moon. The gauze of moonlight gently enveloped her, like a silk garment woven from heaven, floating down to earth to embrace the incarnation of beauty that also emerged from the earth. Washed away by the waves of moonlight, the dust of hundreds of years seemed to be washed away. She looked so young, almost as if she was still at an age where she had no need to wake up from a good dream.
But both she and the people next to her remained awake in the dreamlike moonlight.
"I should have seen you."
Kanna-kun is not a person who likes to talk, but this time, he took the initiative to break the silence.
"However, you are different from the people I have met. She does not belong to this continent, and she should not meet me again here. Besides...it has been many years since I last saw that person. .for many years.”
He looked at Jiao Mo. The shark was bathed in the moonlight ocean, and his curtain blocked the moonlight, leaving a small shadow covering him, like he was in a dark cave in the sea.
Jiaomo's eyes were still on the moon. She was so focused, as if in that half of the moon, a strange and illusory joys and sorrows were being staged, and the actors in the drama were people she knew well. When she spoke eloquently, her voice was like a chant, so gentle that it disappeared as soon as she blew it.
"That person... after so many years, he may have children and grandchildren, relatives and friends, everything is perfect, and he is living a peaceful life."
"Really?" Kanna-kun turned around and looked at the same moon, but seemed to see a completely different scene. "I thought she couldn't live idle. With her temperament, she probably wanted to travel all over the world. , you can’t be at peace until you die.”
"Then you still know her quite well." Jiao Mo smiled softly, his eyes flashing in the moonlight, like crystal foam, "She just loves to wander in foreign countries... She has passed by It's been a long journey, and I've been far away from home for a long time."
Kanna-kun paused, but only for a moment. He had never been a roundabout person, so he asked straightforwardly:
"What about her family? Are that person's family okay? They were kind to me a long time ago. I wonder if she still has news about them, or has lost contact with them like me."
"Birth, aging, sickness and death are natural processes. Decline and rebirth are common in any race. Thousands of years have passed, and those lives that have come to an end have already reached their end." She replied softly, "However, there are also many who are full of vitality. The young people, like that girl, believe in the ancient legend: the sharks can transform into humans and set foot on the vast land." "I rarely believe in such bizarre myths... But I didn't expect that this one turned out to be true. .”
Kanna-kun said calmly, his expression hidden by the curtain hat.
"This is the only way for our family to set foot on the land. The only one."
"I cut open my tail and got a pair of bloody legs. It must be so painful that I will never forget it."
"The price is more than just this... If you become a human in this way, your life as a shark will also be sacrificed. The length of your life will be suddenly shortened and you will become like a human. What's more important is that sharks cannot live on land. Vocalization. The ability of human speech cannot be obtained naturally by becoming human."
Kanna-kun was stunned for a moment. He frowned and looked carefully at the woman chatting beside him. She seemed a little confused and her eyes looked a little strange. Jiao Mo happened to look at him, understood immediately, smiled and sighed.
"This does not mean that the one who can speak here will not be a shark. There are many strange people and treasures in the world. If you want a shark to speak on land, there will always be a corresponding method. That evil messenger... Wuyonglan , I met him once before he became the evil messenger of lies."
Met him once.
As early as that time, Wuyonglan had already collected some fragments of Ruyi Pearl. At that time, he did not have the power and power he has today, and even the money was not enough to support his ambitions. The shark who came ashore had made a deal with the evil angel and exchanged him for a fragment with the rare treasures brought from the deep sea. Her wish is naturally to find her own voice, hoping that she can speak as loudly on land as she does in the sea.
"...Wishful Bead." Shen Wujun pinched the bridge of his nose, "I know that thing. There is a price to pay for using such crooked things. You have to bear the curse, and this curse is even unknown. You may not even know it. I don’t even know what the content is, let alone how to decipher it.”
"I know." Jiao Mo shook his head lightly and said, "At that time I heard a voice... I don't know where it came from, it just appeared in my mind quietly like that, and I couldn't even identify the voice. It seemed like it was just a thought, but I was definitely not mine. But from then on I knew that my time was running out and the end was coming. But not from the moment my wish came true. Until one day, I could When I understand the value and meaning of life, I will meet my end. I am convinced that this is the price I have to bear."
what is this? Kanna-kun opened his mouth and closed it again. This curse sounds horrifying at first, but seems strange when you think about it. Not only is the form too general and difficult to judge, its content is also extremely sinister. Where is the saying that just after enlightenment about life, people are asked to die? If you think about it more, you can realize its danger. Maybe, this will really be a curse brought about by wishes. But Kanna-kun did not say these words and only responded with silence.
"Anyway, in another twenty or thirty years, I will be old. Now...it's still early, I'm not in a hurry." Jiao Mo smiled.
"Twenty or thirty years is but a moment, a snap of the fingers."
After a long time, these words flowed out of Kanna-kun's mouth now, so calmly and naturally. Twenty or thirty years, for the sharks or impermanence, is just a wave of inconspicuousness in the long river of time; but for humans, it is enough to complete the rest of their hurried lives. Apart from the impermanence of the Six Paths, anyone who can say this is at least an old man in his sixties.
"But I remember that you were not proficient in human language in the past." Kanna-kun said, "But now, you speak very well, and you are so proficient in the expression of every word. How long did it take you to fully master it? Human language?”
Jiao Mo laughed and said to him: "You won't forget, right? I didn't run to the shore when I was very young. The passing tribesmen brought many human languages from the land. Commonly used words, some older people The sharks are all familiar with each other. I visited the elders with more experience and learned the most basic ones. At least when I came to the shore, I could have simple conversations with humans, and I could understand a lot of what they said. "
"You said you came to the shore ten years ago. I'm afraid a long time has passed in the sea. Things on land always develop very quickly and are not as static as in the sea. The same goes for words. Even I can feel it, Words can easily become outdated. Likewise, there are always new ways of saying things.”
"Of course. However, any language has basic routines. Although I have had little contact with it, I have thought it through thoroughly and can quickly adapt to the language on the shore. I was not used to it at first, but after living among humans, I will soon be able to Adapt to the environment. Writing is a headache for me, because there is no concept of writing in the sea, it is just... pictures. We will send out sounds that people cannot hear to convey information, and they can go very far away. However, I later heard that human writing also evolved from paintings. Maybe as time goes by, we can also have our own writing. The lifespan of the sharks is very long, and many things are just passed down by word of mouth... Alas, In short, you can’t use paper and pen in the sea, and the paintings are only carved on rocks, so there is no need. What makes me more difficult after that is the dialect. Some are completely different from the official language, almost like another language. "
"Ah... I understand that. I just became the Six Paths Impermanence, and I also encountered such troubles when I was traveling around the world."
"But as long as you give it enough time, you can master anything. However, I won't stay in one place for too long... I like to move around."
Kanna-kun looked at her with a somewhat puzzled expression.
"But the sea is also very big, much bigger than the land. Isn't it worth your while to swim around in the sea?"
"Have you forgotten? In fact, the reason why I came to the shore in the first place was not just to see you. I have known for a long time that compared to the sharks, human life is only a cup of tea. Your name was I couldn't find out anything about it. But after I got to the shore, I learned many human legends... One of them impressed me deeply. "The Godslayer who killed eight evil gods has a pair of black and white curved hands that are unparalleled in the world." 'Knife'. He originally died in the last battle and died together with 'Heaven', but Lord Yama praised his achievements and rewarded him with the mission of the Six Paths of Impermanence. There are such people who are still alive in the world today."
"...What a mess." Kanna-kun sneered, "It's just a matter of survival. You may have remembered it wrong. There is another widely circulated version of this story, which says that it was a villain who destroyed the kind-hearted southerners. He also took away the magic weapon that they had placed their faith in. In order to punish him, the Lord made him do impermanence and pay off the sin of blasphemy. Which one do you believe?"
"Which one do you want me to believe?"
Kanna-kun didn't answer her.
Jiao Mo said to himself: "I thought it must be you. From then on, I just wanted to see you. I didn't have any other ideas, I just wanted to tell you that I came to the shore. By the way, I'm still thinking... what are the eight evil gods and the seven magic weapons? What's more, I was born in the territorial waters of the southern country, but I never knew who the eighth god named 'Tian' was. Later, I also saw the remnants of that era. Descendants, and some impermanence, have probably guessed the whole story. Taking one's own life in the name of heaven... I think this is really something you can do."
"You sound like you're describing a madman."
Kanna-kun turned away.
