Jia Ling'er Petrified, the Mermaid's Curse

[Ding! Host has scammed the Jialan Empress, earning 400 million scam points.]

Jiang Che, who had been sleeping while hugging Jia Ling'er, suddenly woke up from his dream. He rubbed his eyes with his hand.

Young Master Jiang had always been grumpy when woken up, hating nothing more than being disturbed during his sleep—except for the sound of points being credited. Especially when it was a whopping 400 million points, which would only make him grin from ear to ear.

It was like being abruptly awakened by your phone ringing with the announcement, "[Fortune Pay has credited your account with 100 million yuan...]" Even if your sweet dream was interrupted, you wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of anger.

"Jialan Empress? Where did I scam her? Logically, that woman should still be in her cooldown period after the last big explosion..."

But soon, Jiang Che noticed something strange.

The soul of the person beside him seemed to have vanished, pulled into another space.

"Ling'er?" Jiang Che patted Jia Ling'er’s shoulder, but she didn’t react at all.

"Soul projection? But that doesn’t make sense..." Jiang Che narrowed his eyes.

Someone was clearly messing around.

[Mother, does the Stone Man’s Tear really have such powerful effects?]

[Indeed, and that’s not all... Our ancestral lands hold even more treasures, including countless immortal artifacts. I don’t know how Jiang Che managed to find them.]

[Mother, do you still plan to kill him? He’s the hope for our Jialan Clan’s future rise! If I can win his favor... you could live a happy life too. Maybe he could even purify your bloodline!]

[...]

With his "Eavesdropping" ability activated, Jiang Che heard Jia Ling'er seemingly conversing with someone—likely her mother.

After all, an Empress was still an Empress. Her methods were formidable. Without using Eavesdropping, he might not have even detected her presence.

"System, what’s going on? Why can’t I trace the source of the voice?"

The ever-dutiful System responded promptly.

[Host, this information involves Emperor-level secrets. A fee of 1 million points is required...]

"I’ll give you nothing! Spit it out—you even dare to charge me for this?"

[Ding! Host has scammed the System, earning 10 million scam points...]

Jiang Che had long understood the System’s quirks. A little bargaining or scolding could sometimes squeeze out extra rewards—making it the most considerate System ever.

[The Jialan Empress cultivates the 'Dream Dao,' allowing her to invade others' dreams or even merge her own dreams with theirs. Within dreams, she is invincible—an extremely terrifying ability. Jia Ling'er has been dragged into a dream. Exercise extreme caution, Host.]

Jiang Che nodded slightly. "Dream invasion?"

This was the first time the System had warned him to be careful, meaning there was real danger.

After all, the Jialan Empress was a half-step Immortal powerhouse—her methods were beyond ordinary comprehension.

But Jiang Che wasn’t afraid of capsizing in a ditch. His ship was an aircraft carrier—no ditch could hold it!

"Can you get me into the dream? I want to eavesdrop on their conversation and see what this Jialan Empress looks like!"

The System fell silent for a few seconds, as if frozen.

[Advanced Dream Card: Allows dream invasion as an observer. 90% chance of detection by the Empress.]

[Super Dream Card: 45% detection chance.]

[Ultimate Dream Card: 5% detection chance, bypasses all cultivation barriers.]

The Ultimate Dream Card cost 5 million points. Jiang Che didn’t haggle this time—occasional bargaining was fine, but doing it every time would be too shameless.

Still, before entering the dream, he prepared multiple life-saving measures. The survival items he’d bought from the System could form a small mountain.

Against an Empress? No fear. From physical immortality to causality-defying resilience—his motto was simple: "Hard to kill."

......

"Ling'er, you must remember—staying by his side is fine, but you must never fall in love with him. Our Jialan Clan’s ancestral rule is... never love a human."

The Jialan Empress spoke with absolute seriousness.

"Our ancestor, the first mermaid, was deceived by a human. That’s why this prohibition is etched into our bloodline. Violating it... means turning into stone!"

Her tone was grave.

"Mother, do you really think I’d fall for that scoundrel? Impossible! Even if he took my purity... my heart will never belong to him!"

"Lin—Ling'er!!! Your hand!!!" The Empress suddenly widened her eyes in shock.

"My hand? What’s wrong with it?"

Jia Ling'er looked down—and her composure shattered.

The tip of her little finger had begun turning to stone.

The petrification wasn’t severe yet, but it was undeniably happening.

"Mo-Mother, I swear I don’t love him! He’s a perverted bastard—I’d rather die than love him!"

Panic set in. She’d just claimed she wouldn’t fall for Jiang Che, and now this?

The Empress also flustered but forced calm.

"Then Jiang Che must die. Before your feelings deepen, eliminating him is the only way to stop the petrification."

"Wha—Mother! But killing him means losing the ancestral land’s secrets! He holds the key information!"

The Empress studied her daughter silently before speaking.

"Ling'er, you’ll have to endure. Extract the ancestral land’s secrets or have him purify your bloodline first. Once his value is drained... I’ll eliminate him for you."

"But remember—you must not love him. This is our ancestor’s inescapable curse, one even Immortals can’t break."

Her words were final.

...

"Petrification?"

Jiang Che, eavesdropping in secret, frowned.

The Jialan Clan turns to stone if they love humans?

But that didn’t add up.

Why hadn’t Qing'er and the other mermaids petrified? Did they not love him?

The thought stung, but he shook his head.

"Impossible. Qing'er and the others definitely have feelings for me. It must be because of my Emperor’s Blood—their lineage changed, bypassing the curse."

A complete bloodline overhaul meant their DNA no longer carried the ancestral prohibition.

Maybe in another realm, the mermaid ancestor and her human lover lived happily ever after, shedding tears of joy every day.

Jiang Che made a bold hypothesis.

After all, who said tears only came from sorrow? Sometimes, overwhelming happiness could bring them too.