Li Ying walked slowly to Cui Xun. The young woman wore her hair in the fashionable cross-heart style, dressed in a cyan round-collared top and a turmeric-colored saffron skirt. The saffron skirt, dyed with turmeric herbs, emitted waves of fragrance. In her hair, she wore a gold hairpin decorated with bright pearls that swayed gracefully as she walked. On her forehead were five-petaled plum blossom decorations. Her skin was white as jade, the decorations as red as fire, making her appear exceptionally beautiful and charming. Cui Xun couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you dressed like this?”

Li Ying had always dressed in the style of noble ladies from thirty years ago, without hairpins or facial decorations. Nowadays, the noble lady’s style is much more extravagant than thirty years ago. Li Ying touched the bright pearl on her gold hairpin, her eyes filled with smiles: “Don’t I look good dressed this way?”

Cui Xun shook his head, the roots of his ears turning slightly red: “No, you look very good.”

Suddenly, he realized something: “How did you get here?”

The young woman moved closer to him, stood on tiptoe, hooked her arms around his neck, her breath fragrant as orchids, and said intimately: “I came to see you. Don’t you want to see me?”

Her face was lustrous as jade, her eyes as bright as stars. Cui Xun felt his heart stir, and the tension from his earlier confrontation with Lingxu Mountain Man gradually dissipated, replaced by growing affection and the thrill of being with the young woman before him. He stared at her brilliant eyes, a gentle smile slowly spreading across his face. But just as his lips began to curve, he suddenly jolted.

Something was wrong.

Li Ying had been upset with him today. She had been very angry about the stimulant medicine, so angry that it seemed she would never forgive him. Cui Xun stared at the “Li Ying” in front of him and abruptly pushed her away: “No, you’re not Bright Moon Pearl.”

He looked around and said coldly, “Lingxu Mountain Man, do you think creating a fake Bright Moon Pearl will prevent me from breaking through the three obstacles? This is nothing but a magical illusion. I will extinguish your Life-Borrowing Lamp!”

The Li Ying he had pushed away looked somewhat aggrieved. She pouted and called softly: “Young Master Seventeen.”

She clung to him tenderly: “Young Master Seventeen, what are you talking about? How could I possibly be fake?”

Cui Xun frowned and was about to push her away when Li Ying suddenly hugged him tightly. Her body was very warm; Cui Xun could even feel the heat radiating from her. Li Ying slowly murmured: “Young Master Seventeen, am I real to you now?”

These were the words she had spoken on the day she confessed her feelings to him, words only the two of them knew. Li Ying looked up again and whispered, “Am I a dream?”

Cui Xun was stunned. He remembered that after saying these words that day, she had told him she had feelings for him. These were her words of love, exclusive to the two of them. So, was she the real Li Ying?

In that moment, Cui Xun immediately felt ashamed of his earlier suspicions. He apologized: “Bright Moon Pearl, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Li Ying smiled, clearly not minding. She looked up at him adoringly, then hooked her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his lips.

Her tongue even skillfully pried open his teeth, exploring his mouth, their tongues entwining.

Cui Xun’s mind exploded. All his vigilance and caution shattered in that moment. His mind went blank, completely forgetting about Lingxu Mountain Man and the Life-Borrowing Lamp. He could only think: how could she… kiss him like this?

The next moment, he thought, no, she shouldn’t kiss him like this. He was too filthy; he would taint her.

So he instinctively tried to push her away, but her soft body wrapped around him like a snake, holding him so tightly he couldn’t move. He could only stand rigidly as she advanced, conquering him. Despite his intense self-control, he couldn’t resist her sweet scent. He was, after all, a man, and she was the woman he loved most in this life. His breathing became ragged, and his carefully maintained control gradually became blurred. He didn’t know how long the kiss lasted or how they ended up rolling on the ground. He only remembered Li Ying kissing his eyes, his nose, and even the ugly scars on his neck where chains had once cut into his flesh. He was in a daze, but when Li Ying tried to untie his belt, he suddenly came to his senses and stopped her hand.

Li Ying lay on his chest, laughing softly. She coquettishly said: “Young Master Seventeen, don’t you want me to bear you a child?”

“A child…” Cui Xun stammered. He had truly never thought about it.

Or rather, he had never imagined that one day he might have his child.

“Ghosts can have children too,” Li Ying smiled. “Besides, I’m a ghost who receives offerings from forty thousand Buddhist temples. I can certainly have children.”

She lay on his chest and whispered, “Young Master Seventeen, your mother passed away too early, and your father wasn’t good to you, so you never enjoyed parental love. But our child would be different. You would dote on him, and I would love him. He wouldn’t live a life like yours.”

Undeniably, her words held great appeal for Cui Xun. In his daze, he began to contemplate what it would be like if he and Li Ying had a child, how he would cherish the child. If it were a boy, he would teach him horsemanship and archery, military strategy, calligraphy, and playing the qin. He would teach him everything he knew. He would love him with all his heart, ensuring he wouldn’t become cold, cruel, and unlikable as he had become. If it were a girl, he would love her even more. He would hold her in the palm of his hand, buy her lots of sugar frosting, and raise her to be kind-hearted and lovely like her mother. He would protect her with his life, ensuring she never suffered any hardship.

Li Ying’s teeth gently pulled open his disheveled clothes and bit his protruding collarbone. Her voice was muffled but extremely seductive: “Young Master Seventeen, I want to have a child with you. Don’t you want to have a child with me?”

She moved upward, gently nibbling his Adam’s apple. Cui Xun shuddered. Her kisses had driven him to the point of losing all reason. He seemed to have forgotten everything in the world, wishing only to be with her forever, never to part. He murmured, “I want to. I want to have a child with you. I want to be with you for a long, long time.”

The young woman lying on top of him suddenly sighed softly: “But you only have ten years of life left. You’re still taking those stimulant medicines. Lingxu Mountain Man said If you don’t stop, you’ll only have five years left. How can you stay with me for a long time? Do you want our child to grow up without a father?”

“I…” Cui Xun had never felt so guilty about taking the stimulant medicine as he did at this moment. He said painfully, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have hidden it from you. I shouldn’t have taken the stimulant medicine…”

“Young Master Seventeen, do you want to live? Do you want to have more than ten years left? Do you want to be with me for a long time? Do you want our child to grow up with a father?”

“I do,” Cui Xun said urgently. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to have only ten years of life left. I don’t want our child to grow up without a father. Bright Moon Pearl, I don’t want to die. I want to be with you forever.”

“Lingxu Mountain Man says he has a way. He told me he’s already two hundred and fifty years old, all thanks to the Life-Borrowing Lamp. He says the Life-Borrowing Lamp can borrow other people’s lifespans. Look, there are over ten thousand souls at the Cloud Marsh Altar. If you transfer anyone’s lifespan to yourself, you can live for more than ten years. You can let Lingxu Mountain Man perform rituals to extend your life. This way, you can live a very long time, transcend life and death, avoid reincarnation, and be with me forever.”

Li Ying lay on top of him, her fingers lightly touching his closed eyelashes, which were as long as crow feathers, black and thick, trembling slightly due to his emotional turmoil. Li Ying poked at his crow-like lashes, feeling as if soft feathers were brushing across her fingertips, ticklish and pleasant. She giggled: “Then, we can have many children. The boys will be handsome like you, and the girls will be beautiful like me. Our family will be together forever.”

As she was touching Cui Xun’s eyelashes, he suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes, which had been as rippling as water waves when she kissed him, were now as cold as frost and snow. Li Ying was stunned. Before she could react, he rudely pushed her off him. Cui Xun stood up, brushing his sleeves with disgust, his voice as cold as ice: “You are not Bright Moon Pearl.”

Li Ying was stunned, then she stood up and stepped forward. Cui Xun retreated and said, “Get away.”

Li Ying stopped in her tracks. She said delicately, “Young Master Seventeen, what are you doing? Look at my face, look at my appearance. I know secrets that only belong to us. I can speak words of love that belong only to the two of us. How am I not Bright Moon Pearl?”

But Cui Xun only said coldly: “You are not.”

He continued: “Bright Moon Pearl would never encourage me to extend my life using the souls of common people, nor would she collude with Lingxu Mountain Man. Therefore, you are not Bright Moon Pearl. You are just an illusion.”

“But Bright Moon Pearl is also a woman, a woman afraid of losing her lover,” Li Ying whispered. “Must Bright Moon Pearl always take responsibility for the world? Can’t Bright Moon Pearl be selfish once for the sake of the person she loves?”

Cui Xun looked at her and slowly shook his head.

Tears gradually filled Li Ying’s eyes. Crystal tears fell like broken strings of pearls: “Young Master Seventeen, Bright Moon Pearl is not a saint. She has no great ambitions. Her only wish in life is to be with the person she loves for a long time. She has never liked any man the way she likes you. She doesn’t want to see you leave. She doesn’t want her remaining time with you to be only ten years. Is that wrong? After all, what does the ghost village have to do with her? What do the people of Taoyuan Town have to do with her? She is just a ghost who died thirty years ago, a ghost killed by her father. After her death, the people rejoiced. So why should she sacrifice her lifelong love for the sake of the people? But why can’t even you understand her?”

Cui Xun listened quietly. He looked at the “Li Ying” in front of him, who was weeping profusely, without any trace of pity. He curved his mouth in a mocking smile: “It’s precisely because I understand her that I can determine you are not Bright Moon Pearl.”

He spoke slowly: “Bright Moon Pearl has the purest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. She loves me deeply and wants to spend a long time with me. But if the price of that time together is sacrificing the lives of innocent people, she couldn’t do it. She could never deprive others of their right to live for the sake of her desires.”

“Li Ying” looked at him in disbelief: “You trust her so much?”

Cui Xun nodded.

“Why?”

“Because she is Bright Moon Pearl,” Cui Xun’s gaze gradually softened. “A body like crystal, clear inside and out, pure and flawless—that is Bright Moon Pearl.”

“Li Ying” smiled bitterly and sighed: “Fine, let’s set aside Bright Moon Pearl’s desires for now. What about yours? Don’t you want to be with Bright Moon Pearl? Don’t you want to spend a long time with her? Don’t you want to have children with her? Your body won’t last even ten years. Can you bear to see her heartbroken after you’re gone? Being so cruel, are you worthy of her devotion to you?”

Cui Xun was stunned. “Li Ying’s” voice was gentle, full of temptation: “Bright Moon Pearl is indeed like crystal, pure and flawless. But you’re different. You’re full of flaws. You’re no longer a good person. Since that’s the case, why would you give up the chance to extend your life for the sake of these insignificant insects? You could have eternal life. If only you were willing, you could transcend reincarnation, live as long as heaven and earth, have children with Bright Moon Pearl, and be together forever.”

“Transcend reincarnation, live as long as heaven and earth, have children with Bright Moon Pearl, and be together forever…” Cui Xun murmured, repeating her words.

“Li Ying’s” face lit up with joy: “Yes, don’t you want that?”

“It does sound very tempting. I was moved for a moment.”

The corners of “Li Ying’s” mouth slowly curved upward, but in the next moment, Cui Xun sighed lightly: “But unfortunately, I don’t want it.”

“Li Ying” was stunned. Cui Xun said very seriously, “I am indeed full of flaws, not a good person. Even I disgust myself. But if I were to extend my life regardless of these people’s lives, Bright Moon Pearl would be angry.”

“Li Ying” was dumbfounded. Cui Xun smiled gently: “I once told Bright Moon Pearl that I want to be human, not a ghost. If I can be human, even if I only have ten years of life left, so what?”

He stared at the young woman who looked exactly like Li Ying: “You are the desire in my heart, you are my evil. You are not Bright Moon Pearl.”

He closed his eyes: “Sword, come!”

When he opened his eyes, a silver sword had appeared in his palm. The sword gleamed coldly. Cui Xun caressed the sword and coldly looked up at the young woman. She had the exact appearance of the person he loved deeply. He had once sworn to protect her with his life. If his judgment were wrong, if the person before him were truly her, if she truly had selfish desires, then he would be committing an error he could never forgive himself for.

But Cui Xun said word by word: “You. Are. Not. Bright. Moon. Pearl.”

Having said this, he decisively thrust the sword forward. The silver sword pierced the young woman’s chest, and crimson blood flowed down from the tip of the sword. The young woman looked at him in disbelief, but his eyes remained cold without the slightest trace of emotion. The young woman smiled sadly, opened her arms, and fell backward. The moment her form touched the ground, she vanished like smoke.

Cui Xun calmly watched all this. The thick white mist appeared again, enveloping the entire land.

After a long while, Cui Xun laughed lightly: “The disaster obstacle.”

Due to encounters with the three disasters and eight calamities, one faces the disaster obstacle.

He had endured hardships, suffered torture, and been devastated to the point where he had only ten years of life left. This was his disaster. If, to overcome this disaster, he had agreed to Lingxu Mountain Man’s life-extension method, harming the lives of innocent people, then he would never have passed this obstacle.

His greatest fear regarding his remaining ten years was not being able to be with Li Ying. He longed to spend a long time with Li Ying, to have children with her. The illusion created by the Life-Borrowing Lamp had magnified his fears and deepened his desires, using Li Ying to prevent him from passing this obstacle. What it didn’t know was that it was because of Li Ying that he could pass this obstacle.

He always wanted to become better, to be more worthy of her.

That way, one day, he would dare to reach out and embrace her.

This hidden goodness ultimately overcame his evil thoughts, becoming his lifeline.

The white mist swirled, obscuring Cui Xun’s figure. After the disaster obstacle came the demon obstacle and the karma obstacle.