The young woman suddenly turned around, revealing a face as beautiful as a lotus flower. At first glance, she bore a striking resemblance to Bai Li Gelin, but upon closer inspection, Li Fei realized she wasn’t Gelin, just a young girl with similar features.
Li Fei had been too hasty. Four hundred years had passed; even if Bai Li Gelin had achieved immortality, she couldn’t still appear as a young girl. The girl before her was only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a gaze and expression still showing traces of youth. Her face was about seventy percent similar to Gelin’s, but compared to Gelin, she had a wilder, more unrestrained air about her.
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else, haven’t you?” the girl’s attitude was quite friendly.
Li Fei withdrew her hand and apologized, “I’m sorry, I did mistake you for someone else. Please forgive my rudeness.” She turned and walked away, moving through the crowd to observe the girl from afar. Lei Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes as he watched for a moment, then suddenly spoke, “She must be from a cultivation sect. I can sense strong spiritual energy fluctuations from her. Even if she’s not Bai Li Gelin, she must be related to her somehow.”
“… Could she be Gelin and Lu Li’s child?” Li Fei’s limited imagination could only come up with this possibility.
Ri Yan said indifferently, “Impossible! Dao companions aren’t like mortal couples who prioritize having children. For female cultivators, pregnancy and childbirth are taboo. Those who cherish their cultivation wouldn’t do such a thing. During the ten months of pregnancy, spiritual energy can’t be used recklessly, making them no different from mortals. Childbirth is a matter of life and death. Even if they successfully give birth to a child with spiritual roots, the mother’s cultivation would decline for nearly ten years. What if enemies come seeking revenge during that time? Cultivators avoid exposing their weaknesses. Any girl with a bit of sense wouldn’t do this.”
Li Fei shook her head, “It has nothing to do with having sense. If it’s something Gelin wants to do, she’ll do it regardless of the consequences.”
Ri Yan snorted disdainfully, “That’s why I never liked that girl! I could tell she was beyond help from when she was young!”
Li Fei didn’t respond. She continued to watch the girl, who seemed bored with the Spirit Stele and was now yawning as she mounted a tiger demon. She swayed back and forth leisurely, heading towards the inner city. Li Fei immediately hid in the shadows and followed.
The child seemed to be wandering, looking at mask vendors one moment and various shops the next. Li Fei couldn’t help but wonder: it was already past the Chen hour (7-9 AM), and since she had cultivation and wore the disciple robes of the Wan Xian Hui, why wasn’t she practicing in her sect instead of wandering around? Didn’t her master care?
Suddenly, a figure flashed in front of the tiger demon. A woman in colorful clothes appeared like smoke before the girl. Li Fei looked closely and saw that the woman who had suddenly appeared was about forty years old. Despite her age, she was still as beautiful as a peach blossom with a slender figure. She looked familiar – it was A-Jiao, the female disciple of Wan Xian Hui who had once impersonated an academy teacher.
Was A Jiao her master? Li Fei saw her face was stern, seemingly scolding the girl, who could only nod obediently.
Li Fei wanted to approach them, so she released a tiny bit of her suppressed spiritual energy and followed them at a distance.
They left the city along a small path, winding their way to a secluded spot. A Jiao suddenly stopped and turned back coldly, “Who’s following us? Show yourself immediately!”
Li Fei slowly emerged from the shadows, stepped forward, and bowed politely, saying, “Master A Jiao, it’s been many years.”
A Jiao was startled to see an ordinary-looking village woman appear. When she heard her accurately call out her name, she was even more shocked. This village woman spoke gently and politely, not seeming to have any ill intentions. Did she know her? Had they met before? Why couldn’t she remember at all?
Li Fei removed her disguise and bowed again, “This disciple is Jiang Li Fei. We once had a brief master-disciple relationship at the academy.”
Jiang Li Fei?! A Jiao was momentarily stunned by this familiar name, then suddenly realized something. She raised her hand, and two extremely ferocious and terrifying demon beasts appeared behind her. This Wan Xian Hui elder, a female immortal who had weathered four hundred years, now showed a hint of uncontrollable panic. She shouted, “What do you want? Where did you come from?!”
As Li Fei was about to speak, a red flash suddenly appeared before her eyes. A-Jiao had launched a sneak attack, a large cloud of mist-like bright red little demon spirits swirling towards her. She didn’t move, not even blinking. Behind her, Lei Xiuyuan had already acted, trapping those bright red little demon spirits in a golden light, rendering them immobile.
With the disguise broken, A-Jiao immediately recognized the man beside her as Yaksha Lei Xiuyuan. She panicked even more, retreating several steps and shielding the girl behind her. Her voice trembled slightly, “What… what do you want?”
The affair between Jiang Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan had spread throughout the entire cultivation world back then. Since that time, every sect has become much stricter in recruiting new disciples to avoid such absurd incidents. Calculating the time, it had been four hundred years since the last sea calamity, with another hundred years to go before the next one. How did these two overseas anomalies come over? Was the sea calamity coming early?!
Li Fei smiled slightly, “We mean no harm. I hope Master A Jiao won’t be alarmed, lest we spoil the harmony.”
She raised her hand and opened her palm, revealing the small wooden bird A-Jiao had secretly sent out to warn others, now limp in her hand.
Seeing their abilities, A Jiao knew she was no match for them. Her initial panic gradually faded, and she said in a deep voice, “You leaked your spiritual energy and followed us. Did you want to contact me privately? I don’t remember having any relationship with you. If you have something to say, don’t beat around the bush, speak quickly!”
Indeed, she was still the straightforward and fiery woman from the Eastern Sea. Li Fei didn’t mince words either and asked directly, “I want to know how Gelin is doing now?”
Though she was asking A Jiao, her eyes were fixed on the girl behind her. Although the child was also quite frightened, her fear seemed to be mixed with more curiosity. She was a brave girl.
A Jiao’s expression changed subtly, her hostility slowly receding. She looked back at the girl, hesitating to speak.
A white light flashed from Li Fei’s body, condensing at her fingertip. A clear light shot like lightning toward the girl, who immediately collapsed to the ground, motionless.
“It’s alright,” Li Fei waved her hand. “Let her sleep for a while. You seemed unwilling to let her hear.”
A Jiao was silent for a moment, then suddenly bent down to pick up the girl. She said in a low voice, “You want to see Gelin. It’s a coincidence. Follow me, I’ll take you to see them both.”
Both of them? Did she mean Gelin and Lu Li? Li Fei saw her walking very fast and quickly caught up, asking, “Is this girl Gelin’s… child?”
A Jiao said flatly, “Her surname is Lu, given the name Xi Wei. She’s the only child of Bai Li Gelin and Lu Li, just turned sixteen this June.”
So she is Gelin’s child! Li Fei suddenly had a bad feeling. If she was Gelin and Lu Li’s daughter, why didn’t she react to Gelin’s name? And why was A-Jiao unwilling to let her hear about Gelin?
As A Jiao walked quickly, she continued, “I didn’t expect you to be such a loyal person. After four hundred years, you still remember your old friends here. If Gelin knew, she would probably be happy. In all these years, apart from me, no one else has come to see her.”
Li Fei’s bad feelings grew stronger, and she couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “What happened to Gelin?”
A Jiao pressed her lips together and remained silent.
After walking quickly for half a day, the scenery gradually became desolate and open. In the distance, a small courtyard stood in an open space, surrounded by shady trees, quite elegant and quaint.
A Jiao pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in, familiar with the surroundings. Although the room was clean, it was empty, with only a small purple copper tripod on the table, filled with snow-white incense ash.
A-Jiao lit three incense sticks and gave two to Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan. Then she spoke, “You won’t be able to see them in person. Cultivators don’t leave corpses or graves. Since you’re here, light an incense stick for them. I’m sure they’ll be comforted to sense it in the afterlife.”
Li Fei felt her wrist trembling as she slowly took the incense stick. Although she had a thousand things she wanted to ask, she couldn’t utter a word. She turned to stare at the purple copper tripod, her lips quivering, tears already flowing like a spring from her eyes.
“Don’t be sad,” A Jiao began to comfort her. “After her death, she was reunited with her family and had her lover by her side. She even left behind flesh and blood in this world. It can be considered a perfect ending.”
Li Fei tightly closed her eyes. It took a long time before she could barely speak, “How… how did she pass away? She still has her elder sister and brother-in-law. Don’t they come to see her?”
She couldn’t believe that Bai Li Chang Yue and Ye Ye could be so heartless. They had promised to stay together that day in the Eastern Sea.
A Jiao inserted the incense stick into the purple copper tripod and said softly, “Oh, right, you went overseas, so you don’t know anything. Her elder sister and brother-in-law died long ago, at the hands of your former friend, that Prince. In these four hundred years, Gelin spent countless efforts in bitter cultivation, all for revenge. Unfortunately, her skills were not enough, and she thought too much. Unable to overcome the emotional tribulation, she passed away sixteen years ago after giving birth to Xi Wei.”
Li Fei’s whole body shook violently, nearly dropping the incense stick in her hand. She stared at A Jiao in shock. What did she just say? Chang Yue and Ye Ye had long since died at the hands of Ji Tongzhou?!
A Jiao took the incense stick from her hand and inserted it into the copper tripod, then continued, “Gelin was a person with too many worries. Even achieving immortality took her longer than others. Over two hundred years ago, she finally achieved immortality, but my father didn’t think highly of her. It’s good for a person to have the heart to become stronger, but she harbored too much hatred. Even if she achieved something for a while, it couldn’t last long. He feared she would face difficult tribulations in the future. My father has always been good at judging people, and this time was no exception.”
But for Gelin, it was never about lasting long. Even if she only had a moment of strength, as long as it allowed her to take revenge, it would have been enough.
When it came to blood feuds involving family, even Master Shen couldn’t intervene. His two proud disciples, one likely to face difficult tribulations, the other too deeply in love and following closely behind left him helpless. If they had succeeded in their revenge, it would have been fine. But that Prince had extraordinary talent, seen once in a thousand years. Everyone had witnessed his Xuan Hua Fire in the Eastern Sea back then. Moreover, he achieved immortality in just twenty years. How could they compare? How could they possibly match up?
Even so, he could only watch them go without hesitation. On the day they left, Bai Li Gelin’s eyes were unusually bright. She turned back to Master Shen and respectfully kowtowed three times, saying in a low voice, “Thank you for your teachings, Master. Your kindness is profound, and I fear I cannot repay it.”
By then, she had already achieved immortality, yet she still addressed herself as a disciple, leaving Master Shen dejected for many years.
A Jiao sighed softly, “I saw them off when they left the sect, and I was there when they returned. To be honest, I thought I’d never see them again.”