Repaying a Debt of Gratitude
The fifth round leaves the yellow scaled merman dazed before the watching crowd, since the carcass he hid in the fake rock is in Xia Lin’s hands. He screams that she cheated, and she retorts that he lost fair and square. She demands the transaction: he won no round, so Golden Jade House is hers. ch. 1661
He refuses, calling the house his foundation, but when the scarred merman proposes taking the other side down with them, he realizes Xia Lin is only a pawn. Whoever stands behind her could manipulate this from afar. Fighting would be courting death. His instincts place the enemy in the crowd, but he cannot identify anyone. Valuing his life above the house, he admits defeat, sprawls on the ground and begs to be told when he offended them. ch. 1661
Some in the crowd snort in disdain, others think him formidable for putting down his pride. Xia Lin feels deep admiration for Master Chu, whose guidance has spared her worse trouble than the merman’s. Guided by Fang Yuan, she tells the merman that someone wanted him to lose. She will return the house on one condition: he must turn to kindness and good deeds, or next time they will take more than the house. ch. 1661
The merman thanks her profusely, vows he will definitely change, and calls her a saintess. She answers that she is not the saintess and has no qualification to be one, warns that they will be watching him, and leaves. Fang Yuan teleports her to the island’s edge, speaking only by voice, and she asks how to repay him. He answers only that they will meet again if fated. ch. 1661
A memory emerges of the beach, where Fang Yuan chased after Xie Han Mo and her group as they left. Her guards told him to stop following, since the saintess could have stayed hidden but showed up to save him, and now they had no evidence and had alerted the other party. He admitted he was rash, said she was the Merman Imperial Court’s current generation saintess seeking evidence of Frost Tide tribe’s corruption, and offered help. Having operated gambling dens, he said, he knew the tribe’s main avenue for money laundering had to be the den from earlier in that memory. He asked to repay the debt of saving his life. After three breaths she nodded, thanked him in advance and asked his name, and he gave it as Gu Yue Fang Yuan and told her to call him Fang Yuan. ch. 1661
