Chapter 34: Reigning Over the World

The precious orb was like a projection, infinitely magnifying the image of the young man within. His body seemed to eclipse the sky and cover the moon; with every opening and closing of his eyes, a sharp glint flashed forth. His voice resounded across the entire expanse of the sea.

“When the other shore flower blooms—the king reigns over all!”

“City Lord of the Other Shore!”

Beneath the orb, the old turtle’s eyes widened in shock. The youth’s visage and that of the ancient emperor from ancestral memories began to merge, overlapping perfectly by the end, without the slightest flaw.

“How is this possible?!”

The old turtle’s heart trembled in fear—how could this boy look exactly like the ancient City Lord of the Other Shore?

“Could he be a descendant of the ancient lord?” the old turtle muttered, still unsettled.

Meanwhile, countless merfolk in the ancient city had already fallen to their knees, bowing their heads to this imposing man. Though they possessed inherited memories, few could confirm whether he truly resembled the ancient lord, for not every ancestor had seen the lord with their own eyes. In this era, only the lineage of the Prime Minister Turtle had access to the ancient lord’s countenance. The other lineages lay dormant or were still gestating in cycles of rebirth, yet to be born; even if they knew, it would only be in the future.

As for Lin Qiu, he was unaware. He had not awakened his inherited memories, and even if he had, given his ancestor’s status, he would never have qualified to stand before the ancient lord.

The old turtle’s eyes flickered with suspicion and awe as its form gradually faded from sight.

“No matter who you are, just because you look identical to the ancient City Lord, this life, as the Prime Minister Turtle, I shall follow you,” the old turtle muttered, just as he saw the majestic youth’s eyes slowly open.

In that instant, the entire sea seemed to freeze. All living creatures felt their hearts clench tightly. Those indifferent eyes radiated an overwhelming aura of dominance.

Yet, in his heart, Lin Qiu felt a trace of pride. “My gaze must be sharp enough—it should be enough to awe these beings.”

Pleased with himself, he cast a final, indifferent glance, his figure becoming ethereal and vanishing from sight.

“That scared me to death!” a merfolk collapsed limply to the ground, wet stains spreading beneath him. A single casual glance had frightened him so much he lost control.

He was not alone; countless merfolk felt as if their bodies had been wrung, left limp and powerless, sprawling weakly on the ground.

The old turtle, too, shuddered under that gaze.

“This is exactly the same as the ancient lord’s eyes.”

“Can there really be two identical leaves in this world?”

“The other shore flower, the other shore flower…” the old turtle murmured. The name of this flower was strange—he could not recall any such blossom in the world, nor did he know why the ancient lord named the city after it.

Yet the words the ancient lord once spoke were identical to those of the new city lord:

“When the other shore flower blooms—the king reigns over all!”

“Those words are like an oath—so domineering!”

“Of the nine ancient cities of the previous civilization, only the ancient lord was so forceful.”

“With but a word from him, the lords of the other eight cities would fall respectfully silent.”

“The ancient lord was truly remarkable; in that distant era, among the nine ancient cities, the Other Shore was supreme!”

The old turtle seemed lost in remembrance. It did not belong to that age; all it had were inherited memories from its ancestors. The Prime Minister Turtle’s lineage possessed exceptional longevity. By now, it no longer knew how many tens of thousands of years it had lived.

Never did it expect to witness the ancient city open once more.

“Could the lord’s return not be a coincidence? Are the changes in heaven and earth not mere chance?”

“And his appearance—could it mean the glorious era of old will be reborn?”

Such thoughts crowded the old turtle’s mind in endless succession.

“Ah, old age makes one prone to wild imaginings! I’m not as energetic as I once was!”

Shaking its head with a sigh, the turtle slid through the water, heading toward the ancient city. As it swam, its form shrank smaller and smaller. When it reached the city’s luminous barrier, it had transformed into a turtle only a meter in size.

“Pop!”

A soft sound rang out. The old turtle entered the city, ripples spreading across the barrier like water.

“Ah!”

A shrill scream pierced the sky.

“No—!”

Splash!

Before the cry had faded, a loud thud sounded. On the ground of the ancient city, a bald figure with a turtle shell on his back lay sprawled, his index finger twitching spasmodically. From afar, he looked just like a toad.

“I’ve utterly disgraced the lineage of the Prime Minister Turtle!”

“Curse this wretched memory of mine—old age has made me addled; I forgot there’s a forbidden airspace in the ancient city.”

“Other than the lord himself, no aquatic folk are permitted to fly within the city.”

“Curse this wretched memory!”

His muttering continued endlessly. Just then, as the bald turtle-shell figure in floral shorts grumbled, he heard the patter of footsteps approaching from afar.

At once, he fell silent.

When the footsteps stopped right in front of him, he cautiously lifted his bald head, revealing a smooth face—one that exuded a certain comic charm. His white brows arched above his brow bones, and below his prominent nose hung a white mustache.

“Hm, Turtle Hermit?!”

Lin Qiu looked at the turtle-shelled bald old man before him, surprise in his eyes. Wasn’t this the Turtle Hermit from the anime he’d watched as a child? Turtle shell, bald head, white brows, white mustache, floral shorts—it was all there. Only the staff was missing.

“Did you hurt yourself in the fall?” Lin Qiu pushed aside his wandering thoughts, bending forward slightly, his tone gentle and eyes full of concern for small animals as he looked at the Prime Minister Turtle.

“My lord… City Lord…” the old turtle was overwhelmed with emotion and scrambled to his feet.

“I’m thick-skinned and tough—no harm done. It’s just a pity about this floor tile!”

Where the turtle had crashed, the ancient ground now bore a spiderweb of cracks. This city, which had endured over two hundred million years and possessed immortal qualities, had nonetheless been marred by his fall.

Lin Qiu gazed at the cracks, pondering—was he contemplating the ancient city’s fragility, or wondering if the Prime Minister Turtle truly was so thick-skinned and sturdy?

He nodded gently, “So long as you’re unharmed. These small cracks are nothing to worry about.”

As Lin Qiu’s words fell, the spiderweb of cracks on the ground began to knit together. In the span of two heartbeats, the floor had returned to its pristine state.

The immortal metal possessed regenerative powers, much like the memory metals studied by modern mankind. No matter the damage, so long as its parameters were set, it could restore itself in a short time.

Of course, such memory metals remained, for now, nothing more than the stuff of idle boasting in human laboratories.