Su Zhuyi was very tired. She leaned against the azure pine, though her back was torn and bloody, and when it touched the rough bark, she didn’t feel much pain. Instead, it seemed wisps of cool air entered her body, making her feel somewhat better.
While meditating and absorbing spiritual energy to nourish her wounds, she divided a thread of attention to listen to Little Skull speak.
Listening to him chatter on about so many things, Su Zhuyi roughly understood what had happened.
This time when he returned from his relatives’ place, he had brought gifts for everyone, but the gifts were broken, so he was very sad. It wasn’t a big deal. Thinking of this, Su Zhuyi casually comforted him with a sentence and concentrated wholeheartedly on healing her injuries.
After recovering some energy and when her wounds stopped bleeding and the pain lessened, Su Zhuyi opened her eyes to see Little Skull still sitting there with his head hanging down, tears pattering down. Only then did she raise her hand to pat the skull’s head.
“It might be that the teleportation array had storms and pressure that broke everything—it’s not your fault at all. Your Little Uncle won’t blame you.” Little Skull looked up, holding the jade hairpin in his hand for Su Zhuyi to see, then pulled open his clothes and pointed to the green ribbon tied in a bow. “But why aren’t the green ribbon and jade hairpin broken, while everything else is damaged so badly?”
It couldn’t figure out the reason.
“The little red flower Little Senior Sister gave me, I gave to Little Uncle too, and it didn’t break either.” It held its chin with one hand—not only had it reattached the previously fallen jawbone, but it was also very seriously holding its chin while pondering the problem. “The red dress was bought from some treasure pavilion there, costing many, many spirit stones. Little Uncle said you like wearing beautiful red dresses.”
Su Zhuyi’s heart trembled, inexplicably feeling something strange. Did his Little Uncle know her? How did he know she liked wearing beautiful red dresses?
Indeed, what she loved most was pure red—the brighter and more flamboyant the red, the better. Just like that great fire in Changning Village when she was young, which burned the entire sky red—red enough to sear the eyes, red enough to be blinding. When she was trapped on the Wangtian Tree in Yunxiao Sect, among the dresses Qin Jianglan prepared for her, red ones were the most numerous. There was one embroidered with phoenix feathers and inlaid with gems that she particularly favored. She had diagonally twisted the trailing dress to make it shorter—the short side torn up to only reach the thigh root, though the phoenix feathers remained, sweeping back and forth on her thigh, while the long side still reached her ankles, creating a very asymmetrical, strange beauty.
She had also torn open the neckline to expose half her soft chest. What had originally been a noble phoenix feather and golden thread long dress, looking dignified and elegant, was turned by her into something alluring and enchanting.
Then she wore that dress she had altered every day, swaying before Qin Jianglan’s eyes. It was also that dress that made Qin Jianglan finally unable to maintain his composure, falling prey to her demoness ways.
Those feathers tickled his heart.
Thinking of this, Su Zhuyi unconsciously lowered her head to glance at the worn red dress on the ground, then her gaze fell on a piece of phoenix feather at the dress hem, her eyes seeming unable to move. That phoenix feather was still fiery red, probably the most eye-catching color on the red dress. But those feathers seemed covered with cracks, each fine feather broken. She tremblingly reached out, her finger gently touching it, only to get a handful of ashes.
As if a flame had ignited, that feather was completely burned to ash with just a gentle touch from her finger.
Her heart suddenly ached, and a bold thought surfaced in her mind.
It wasn’t a good thought—at least, it left Su Zhuyi shocked and delighted, yet also somewhat annoyed.
For someone like her, some people were best kept alive only in memories.
Little Skull didn’t notice Su Zhuyi’s strangeness and continued talking to himself. “The jade bracelet was bought together with the red dress. The hairpin was made from a piece of jade we dug up in the spirit mountain—I discovered the jade stone. After Little Uncle polished it, he carved patterns himself and refined it into a magical treasure with formations inside.” He made a motion of wiping tears, but his finger bones couldn’t wipe away the tears. Those two eye sockets kept producing water like spiritual energy spring eyes.
After finishing, Little Skull looked up at the sky again. “We also caught many fireflies together.”
The days with Little Uncle were especially fun because Little Uncle would play with him all day, but Little Senior Sister wouldn’t. But for some unknown reason, he still liked Little Senior Sister more. Coming back crying so hard wasn’t just because things were broken—more importantly, when he wasn’t there, Little Senior Sister was being bullied, bullied until she was covered in wounds.
Thinking this way, his tears became even more unstoppable.
“Stop crying,” Su Zhuyi said.
“Can’t help it,” Little Skull answered.
But he couldn’t just focus on crying and forget important matters.
“The jade slip has words Little Uncle wanted to tell you.” Little Skull sniffled while handing both the half jade slip and jade hairpin to Su Zhuyi. He asked nervously, “Little Senior Sister, listen and see—is there still sound in the jade slip?”
Since it was a voice-recording jade slip, what was carved inside was a voice-recording formation. With the jade slip damaged to this extent, naturally no sound could be preserved. However, Su Zhuyi took the jade slip and still instinctively infused it with spiritual consciousness and energy. Sure enough, no sound came from the jade slip.
She took the jade hairpin in hand, gently touching the carved patterns on it, then infused her spiritual consciousness into it, easily making the hairpin acknowledge her as master. Then she inserted the jade hairpin into her hair bun. The moment the jade hairpin entered her black hair, tiny points of light appeared on it, as if fireflies were dancing in her hair. There weren’t many—just two or three light points circling the hairpin.
“Little Uncle said it looks even better at night,” Little Skull stared at the hairpin in Su Zhuyi’s hair. “He also said Little Senior Sister loves beauty.”
Loves beauty…
More like loves showing off.
Su Zhuyi’s expression was somewhat wooden. She twisted the corner of her mouth, wanting to sneer coldly, but emotions in her heart rose and fell like tides, making her unable to become cold, while subconsciously feeling she couldn’t become heated either. Her gaze fell on the ribbon tied around Little Skull, and she reached out to gently tug the ribbon down, pinching it between her fingers and bringing it to her nose to sniff lightly. Then, seemingly calmly, she asked, “Has your Little Uncle ever told you what his name is?”
“Yes, he’s called Qin Jianglan,” Little Skull quickly replied. “Little Uncle and I both miss you very much. He said he’ll cultivate and ascend as soon as possible. Once he ascends, he can cross some boundary and come find us.”
“Every time I say I miss Little Senior Sister, he wants to miss you together with me.”
“Little Uncle is truly a good person.”
“He also gave many gifts—Xiaoxiao had meat and bones too, but they’re all broken.” Originally speaking excitedly as if forgetting his sadness, but mentioning this, Little Skull became dejected again.
The hand pinching the ribbon paused slightly. Su Zhuyi clenched her hand into a fist, gripping the ribbon tightly in her palm. At this moment, her mood could simply be described as chaotic, like tangled hemp.
The thought that had just popped into her head was confirmed so quickly.
Qin Jianglan was still alive?
No, wait. Su Zhuyi turned to ask Little Skull, “Is your Little Uncle like you…” Su Zhuyi gestured a couple of times, “Also, without flesh?”
“No, Little Uncle is very tall with lots of flesh. I want to grow up to be like him.” Little Skull stared at Su Zhuyi. “Didn’t you say before that Little Uncle is a very good-looking person?”
“Mm.” Su Zhuyi nodded. She organized her thoughts—though her heart was in tumultuous waves, her mind was very clear, so clear it seemed even the gray sky overhead had brightened. She carefully considered Little Skull’s words, finally asking, “The green ribbon was made by Qin Jianglan himself and worn on his head, the hairpin was also made by him, but the little butterfly, dress, jade bracelet, and jade slip were all bought, right?”
“Right,” Little Skull knew Little Senior Sister was looking for the reason and cooperatively answered.
“Things he made himself came through with little damage, but bought items were broken like this—not just from storm pressure, but as if they’d been buried underground too long and deteriorated, just like many flying swords here, eroded by years.”
Why was this?
“Where exactly is he?”
Su Zhuyi felt she was getting close to the answer—just a little more, just a little more. She frowned in thought, suddenly pressing her hand to her chest.
She had figured it out.
She remembered that in a previous life, Qin Jianglan had sacrificed the Liuguang Mirror in his final moments. If he still existed and had returned with her, there shouldn’t be a Qin Chuan in this world. The former Qin Chuan would have died in Changning Village or Feihong Sect, but due to heavenly dao variables, he lived and even became a Yunxiao Sect disciple. So there were some discrepancies—the age wasn’t right either—but the path he would take in the future was the path Qin Jianglan had once walked. He wasn’t just replacing that person; he was replacing that segment of fate.
With no Qin Jianglan between heaven and earth, but instead a Qin Chuan appearing—didn’t this indicate that the real Qin Jianglan wasn’t within the Heavenly Dao?
Not being within the Heavenly Dao meant he could only be inside a dao artifact.
In other words, Qin Jianglan had sacrificed the Liuguang Mirror, and he was now inside it. She didn’t know if both his physical body and primordial spirit were there, or just a simple primordial spirit. However, Su Zhuyi believed it was the former—he had contact with Little Skull without discovering any problems, so his physical body should exist, too.
Qin Jianglan was inside the mirror, yet he didn’t know he was in the Liuguang Mirror. Instead, he talked about crossing boundaries and ascending. Were there other cultivation realms in this world? After reaching a certain cultivation level, would one encounter broader heavens and earth?
Also, initially, hadn’t Qin Jianglan intended to summon her over, but by coincidence, summoned Little Skull instead?
Little Skull was a skeleton frame—it inherently had no life force, meaning Little Skull was equivalent to a dead object, an item. That’s why it could be summoned by Qin Jianglan into the Liuguang Mirror’s world, able to travel through the mirror’s world. Being half a mountain-river spirit with a strong consciousness, it wouldn’t have its awareness annihilated as a result. If it were anyone else or other living beings, they would be directly crushed to ash.
Su Zhuyi knew nothing about these things—this was all her speculation.
She lowered her head, silently looking at the jade slip in her hand.
She loved reading, loved absorbing all kinds of knowledge, loved excavating and understanding history, and was interested in all unknown things. Given Qin Jianglan’s level of understanding of her, that jade slip contained a series of questions about other realms to answer her doubts. However, now the jade slip was broken.
There wasn’t a trace of sound in the jade slip.
Su Zhuyi pinched the jade slip, frowning as she examined it carefully, thinking she’d study it properly after returning to see if she could repair the formation and hear a few sentences, or even one or two words.
Old Dog Qin, ah Old Dog Qin…
In the previous life, you trapped me on the Wangtian Tree for six hundred years.
In this life, you’re trapped in my heart without knowing it.
“If you beg me, I’ll let you out…” The corner of her mouth slightly curved up, then immediately pressed tightly together. “Even if you beg me, I can’t help you.”
Because it’s inside my body, yet I can’t sense it.
Just like how you were always there, but I only know now.
I erected a monument for you for nothing.