“… Is this considered running away?” Li Fei asked slowly after a long silence.
Hu Jiaping stared at her seriously: “You’re not a child anymore. You should know the consequences of acting purely on impulse.”
Is this okay? Pretending nothing happened, squandering the life that Master exchanged with his own.
“Jiang Li Fei, we’re not people from the Central Plains. To them, we’re even sworn enemies. Not everyone has as big a heart as Master. Five hundred years ago, we already killed countless people. This time, you still want to kill the immortals of Wuyue Palace. Let me tell you, this isn’t called revenge, it’s called slaughter, it’s called bullying the weak. I don’t believe Master would want to see you do such things in the afterlife. When he raised you, he must have wished to solve the mystery of the Sea Calamity, to prevent the tragedy that occurs every five hundred years from repeating. He didn’t want you to continue the slaughter.”
If Master hadn’t brought her back to the Central Plains and hadn’t raised the memory-lost child Hu Jiaping again, everything today would be different. They had deeply experienced the warmth and cruelty of human hearts. Living in the Central Plains for so many years made them more human-like, rather than cursed Yecha and cold Jianmu Fruit. While gaining various affections, they also developed vulnerabilities and attachments.
In the ten years living with Master, he never once looked at her as if she were different. Li Fei recalled those distant memories again. Master held her and sighed: “I wonder if I’ll be able to see you grow up.”
She had grown up now. In the seventeen years of living as an ordinary person in the Central Plains, she had experienced all kinds of emotions. The last time Master saw her in the Foreign Tomb, although she knew nothing then, her face was full of happiness. He smiled contentedly and left contentedly. She finally understood the true meaning of him leaving her that black book.
Ri Yan always said humans were too fickle, that human hearts kill people, today’s lovers become tomorrow’s mortal enemies. But amidst these fickle, changing emotions, there are always some precious feelings as stable as bedrock. At first, wasn’t Master also wary and curious about them as foreigners from overseas? Although human emotions are easily born and fragile, causing various obstacles on the path of cultivation, that is precisely what makes humans unique.
“I don’t plan to return to Wuyue Palace,” Li Fei suddenly spoke solemnly. “With this Sea Calamity coming, I want to go overseas.”
Hu Jiaping sighed: “Want to find your kin? The Jianmu Fruit only produces one at a time. A new one is only born after the previous one dies. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, forget about finding your kin.”
Li Fei shook her head. She took out the black book and said, looking down: “The places Master went, I want to see them all with my own eyes, including that Jianmu tree.”
Hu Jiaping took the book and flipped through it, chuckling: “He went to quite a few places, but didn’t write about many things. What a careless old man.”
He didn’t even reveal his identity to Ri Yan. It seems the Yecha had brought too many shadows to the immortals of the Central Plains, to the point where even mentioning them caused fear. It was best not to reveal if possible.
“I’m about to break through the fifth bottleneck,” Hu Jiaping returned the book to Li Fei, winking at her. “It’s good to live through life again. After I become an immortal, I’ll take A Mu overseas to find strange fire to reforge Li Duo, if I’m still alive by then.”
Li Fei also smiled, saying softly: “Are Yecha the same as humans? Or is it because you lost your memory that you’re so chatty?”
Calling him chatty… Hu Jiaping glared at her. This child is not polite!
“Yecha are considered human, I suppose. Of course, there are all kinds of personalities, what did you think?” Hu Jiaping patted her head. “Yecha only loses all reason when it comes to the Jianmu Fruit. You can ask Lei Xiuyuan about the feeling of being cursed. But from what I see, that little guy’s mischievous personality doesn’t seem like a Yecha at all! Most in our tribe are silent men of action, true men who do what they think.”
How come she didn’t see Hu Jiaping being “silent” at all? Though he certainly embodied “doing what he thinks” to the fullest.
“That curse… can I break it?” Li Fei hesitated but still asked.
Hu Jiaping shook his head: “I don’t know. Even the origin of the curse is just an ancient legend. But I do know that having one’s horn cut off leads to loss of memory and abilities, yet it doesn’t break the curse. I’m not sure how Master happened to break the curse.”
Saying this, he rolled his eyes and smiled again, suddenly speaking: “Do you still plan to stick with that guy? Can you tell if he truly likes you, or just wants to possess you exclusively? Don’t say your big senior brother didn’t warn you, that curse is extremely vicious, recognizing no one. Your predecessor Jianmu Fruit was said to have been torn apart in the end after being fought over by the Yecha. Isn’t there still one of her arm bones in the Foreign Tomb? You’ve seen it too, so you’d better be careful… Oh no, speaking ill of this kid, he can’t sit still…”
Li Fei turned around quickly, only to see Lei Xiuyuan perched high up in the tree shadows, riding on his spinning turtle shell. His two eyes were coldly watching Hu Jiaping. She couldn’t sense even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation from him.
“Too much nonsense,” Lei Xiuyuan landed beside her. He seemed to want to reach out and pull her as he used to, but for some reason, he retracted his hand. He just stared at Hu Jiaping without courtesy.
Hu Jiaping spread his hands with a bitter smile: “I don’t have horns anymore, and the curse is gone. You don’t need to treat me as an enemy, right?”
Lei Xiuyuan quietly gazed at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze and said softly: “Only I am left.”
The once far-famed and prosperous Yecha tribe overseas had declined to such a state due to the curse of the Jianmu Fruit. It was truly saddening.
Hu Jiaping smiled inappropriately: “So let’s all work hard. We still need to pass on this tragic bloodline.”
Who knows if the children born between Yecha and Jianmu Fruit would grow up to fight their fathers for their mothers… This scenario imagined was both tragic and somehow absurdly comical. It was said that in the past, the fates of the Jianmu Fruits were not good. If they weren’t dismembered by out-of-control Yecha, they were repeatedly imprisoned as forbidden objects for life. Although they had innate special abilities, they couldn’t withstand a group of Yecha fighting to the death. This curse could be said to harm others without benefiting oneself.
“When did you recognize me?” Lei Xiuyuan didn’t respond to his inappropriate comment.
Hu Jiaping thought for a moment: “Seven years ago, when I saw the little girl at the academy, I vaguely remembered something. I knew Master had brought back a Jianmu Fruit from overseas. Later, when she told me about Master’s affairs, I learned of her identity. Over these years, I’ve been regaining my memories bit by bit. It wasn’t until the Spiritual Battle Conference, when you released the dark clouds covering the sky, that I immediately sensed you were of my tribe. That’s when I remembered everything.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Why should I say anything? I was living well, why would I look for trouble?”
Lei Xiuyuan paused for a moment, then looked towards Li Fei. She was also looking at him, with the same gaze as always. His heart eased slightly, and he said calmly: “That day, in the Forest Law, I have traced back hundreds of years. I escaped back overseas and fell into a deep sleep until I sensed a newly born Jianmu Fruit being picked. I chased after it all the way, was injured by the heavenly thunder and sea of fire, and was critically wounded. I drifted at sea for many years, losing all memory. It was only a few days ago that I finally recovered.”
The Forest Law only traced back time. Their bodies became children, but their abilities remained. The weak bodies couldn’t withstand such great power, so they could only fall into slumber. When he was young, he would always burst out with amazing power in times of crisis but afterward would fall into intense pain. It was all because his body couldn’t bear the power of a Yecha. At the Spiritual Battle Conference, Li Fei completely healed the internal injuries in his body, and with her frequent use of spirit absorption, the outer shell became unstable. As a Jianmu Fruit, she inherently could amplify Yecha’s power. All these conditions triggered together, finally waking him up completely this time.
He had always wanted to have the ability to fully protect Li Fei and had always fought desperately for it. Ironically, now that he finally had the ability, he would rather not have remembered anything.
Hu Jiaping laughed and sighed: “If that old man knew what kind of cause and effect his unintentional move had created, he would probably be laughing so hard in the afterlife that he couldn’t close his mouth.”
For an immortal of his age, to still maintain such an innocent heart after nearly a thousand years was truly rare and precious. It was this heart that once brought him within one step of achieving the great Dao, but it was also because of this innocent heart that he ultimately couldn’t escape the cycle of life and death.
Hu Jiaping let out a long sigh and looked back. In the distance, a figure flickered slightly in the night, not approaching, but silently hovering in mid-air waiting.
“I should go now. I’ve said what I wanted to say, what I could say. Whether you blame me or doubt me, I’m just shamelessly wanting to live my good life. Don’t look for me if nothing’s wrong in the future, and especially don’t look for me if something is wrong. Little girl, if I can still live to become an immortal and go overseas, treat me to a meal, okay?”
In the end, he was still so unserious, winking and waving his hand, nimbly and decisively riding a small white cloud towards the black-veiled woman in the distance. She had packed a huge bundle, respectfully carrying it on her back. The two seemed to argue for a while, and finally, she reluctantly gave the bundle to Hu Jiaping to carry. He put his arm around her, chattering away without looking back, flying away from the academy.
Li Fei stood quietly by the lotus pond for a moment, with Lei Xiuyuan standing quietly beside her, not saying a word. He didn’t come close as he used to, but he wasn’t far either. It was a distance that allowed her to sense his current uncertainty.
“Xiuyuan,” she suddenly spoke. After several days, her voice finally carried a smile again. “Do you remember the time when just the two of us came to return books to the Book Tower at night?”
Lei Xiuyuan slowly “hmm” ed: “You tore the sleeve of my only disciple’s robe.”
Li Fei couldn’t help but laugh: “That’s all you remember.”
At that time, their group of four was constantly exhausted by Hu Jiaping. Every day, besides cultivating, they had to copy books and take turns returning the copied books to the Book Tower. She remembered that day, the book they copied was particularly thick. When the four of them finished copying, it was already past their usual bedtime. It happened to be Li Fei’s turn to return the book that day. If she didn’t return it that day, she would have to endure Hu Jiaping’s tickling technique the next day. Even though she was extremely reluctant, she still mustered up her courage and flew towards the Book Tower alone.
When she arrived at the Book Tower, she realized that Lei Xiuyuan had been following her from afar the whole time. Bai Lige and Ji Tongzhou couldn’t stay awake and went to sleep, only he quietly accompanied her all the way.