“Senior Sister Meng, someone from the Dragon Lion Guard is looking for you.”
“Alright,” Meng Ying replied.
She put down her talisman brush and left her cave dwelling in the military city. At the entrance, she paused briefly, noticing Qin Hao, a Foundation Establishment cultivator she had previously been involved with in the Dragon Lion Guard. She retreated to grab some mildly poisonous herbs, crushed them, and applied them around her eyes. When she removed the herbs, her already delicate eyes turned red, as if she had been crying for days.
As she walked out, Meng Ying deliberately messed up a strand of her hair. By the time she met Qin Hao, she had transformed into a haggard beauty, seemingly heartbroken.
“Senior Brother Qin, you… you’re here,” she said softly.
Qin Hao had come to confront her about rumors of her new relationship, but seeing her in this state, his anger dissipated.
“Are… are you doing alright?” he asked hesitantly.
“Whether I’m well or not, it’s no longer your concern, is it?” Meng Ying replied with a bitter smile. “I should apologize for not congratulating you on your recent marriage. I’ve been distracted by inner demons during my cultivation.”
Qin Hao faltered, then said, “I told you before, if you’re willing to be a concubine for just three to five years, I…”
“My dear Qin,” Meng Ying interrupted, on the verge of tears. “You know I want to be with you. But remember how your sixth uncle looked at me that day? As long as I’m enlisted in the military city, no one can touch me. If I became your concubine, he’d find an excuse to take me as soon as you left for battle.”
Qin Hao protested, “But you shouldn’t have gotten involved with my colleague. I heard you went boating with him…”
Meng Ying’s gaze remained calm and dignified. “The Dragon Lion Guard you’re in is heavily guarded. Yes, I did speak with your colleague briefly. I heard about your recent cold injury and was preparing some medicine… But what’s the point of telling you this now? It’s over between us, Senior Brother Qin. Let’s end it here.”
She turned to walk back to her dwelling, coughing a few times and allowing blood to seep through her fingers.
Alarmed, Qin Hao rushed to support her. “Ying’er!”
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I’ve been at the peak of Foundation Establishment for three months now, but my recent attempts to break through to Core Formation have failed, so…”
Pained, Qin Hao gritted his teeth and took out a wax-sealed pill from his storage ring. “Your inner demon troubles are my fault. This Condensing Essence Pill is extremely effective for improving one’s mental state during Foundation Establishment. Take it.”
Meng Ying refused several times before accepting. Once she had the pill, she hurriedly said, “I see your Dao partner flying over there. You should go. I’ve already troubled you enough.”
His Dao partner’s family held considerable influence in Chen State, so Qin Hao dared not linger. He left reluctantly, looking back several times.
After he was gone, the sorrow in Meng Ying’s eyes vanished. She tossed the pill, smirking, “Heh, men.”
Back in her dwelling, she sat at her dressing table, about to use spirit water to reduce the redness around her eyes when she saw another figure reflected in the mirror.
“Who’s there?!” Meng Ying stood up alertly. Recognizing Nan Yan sitting in her dwelling, she paled. “It’s you!”
“I apologize for entering uninvited,” Nan Yan nodded. “I have some excellent tea from Mao State. May I brew a pot using your water?”
“…”
Moments later, the fragrance of tea filled Meng Ying’s dwelling. She eyed Nan Yan warily before smiling ruefully. “How foolish of me. Though you’ve disguised yourself many times, you’ve always maintained a Buddhist appearance… It’s been a while, Junior Sister Nan Yan, since our days at Yangyue Sect.”
Nan Yan smiled. “Senior Sister Meng.”
Meng Ying gazed at her face, sighing, “Though this isn’t our first meeting, I must say, I never imagined that the chubby girl we once mocked would hide such otherworldly beauty. We were all blind back then.”
“We can reminisce later. I see you’ve made rapid progress, reaching the Fake Core realm already.”
“I’ve been stuck for months. They say if you can’t break through to Core Formation in three attempts, you’ll be stuck at this level for life.” Meng Ying sighed, but noticing Nan Yan’s meaningful gaze, her eyes lit up. “Junior Sister, since you’ve come to visit, do you have a solution?”
Nan Yan replied, “Yes. Join our Buddhist path, cultivate boundless merits, and seek the light above—”
“Impossible,” Meng Ying flatly refused. She then lamented, “If I had your face, I’d have conquered the world a hundred years ago. Three years to subdue a State, five to conquer the world, and in ten, I’d ascend to the higher realms. How could you think of becoming a nun?”
Nan Yan thought she hadn’t misjudged Meng Ying. Her ambition far exceeded that of ordinary people. In a sense, cultivators like her, who channeled all their emotions into the drive for ascension, were truly free and at ease.
“I genuinely believe you have the potential for enlightenment, Senior Sister Meng. The Buddhist path has its merits, and it can be fierce when necessary…”
“Surely you didn’t come here just to tell me this, Junior Sister?”
“Indeed, there is a matter. Senior Sister Meng, listen if you will, but feel free to disregard it if you can’t accept,” Nan Yan cleared her throat. “Have you heard of Ao Xueru, the granddaughter of Fifth Elder Ao Zhang from Dragon City?”
“I heard about her when Senior Brother Chu Jing was still around. She’s betrothed to the Crown Prince of Hai State. Recently, I heard the Prince lost an eye in a private duel and has been suicidal…” Meng Ying trailed off, then realized, “She wants to escape the marriage?”
“I spoke with an elder I know in Dragon City before coming here. If she refuses the marriage, the Ao clan won’t force her. They’ll find another woman to marry in her place.”
Meng Ying jumped up excitedly. “Though the Dragon Lord has grand plans, a political marriage would still be beneficial. The substitute bride would not only receive a dragon blood infusion to inherit the Ao clan’s bloodline but also…”
“The Mountain and Sea Forbidden Technique, the Crown Prince’s consort… There’s likely a position available,” Nan Yan said, then cautioned, “But Senior Sister Meng, think carefully. You don’t know this person’s character. You must be cautious.”
Meng Ying’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Junior Sister, do you realize that most people in this world die on their path to cultivation without ever getting a chance to gamble their entire lives? If I can become an immortal or a god, what do lovers, Dao partners, or even sects matter?”
Nan Yan was stunned… She finally understood Qi Yang’s words.
Daosheng Tian had elevated their position in this world too high. They had created a path to godhood reaching the sky, yet they hesitated at the entrance, unsure of the next step.
Behind them stood countless people like Meng Ying, eyes burning with the desire to ascend.
“I won’t say more. If you’re willing to help me with this, I’ll remember this favor for life,” Meng Ying said, noticing Nan Yan’s hesitation. “Don’t tell me you share those old-fashioned views that marrying a man is gambling one’s life away? In the mortal world, that might apply to lovestruck fools, but this is the cultivation world. Even Qin Hao was courting several women while involved with me. Once I get what I need, I’ll forget about it. I’ve never toyed with those who truly cared. Are you looking down on me for this?”
Nan Yan shook her head gently. “Since you have your principles, I’m in no position to judge. I’ll help you afterward. It’s just that, setting aside worldly constraints, human emotions are precious. Cutting off emotions is like cutting one’s intestines – it hurts both parties. If it were me, I couldn’t be as carefree as you.”
Meng Ying looked at Nan Yan curiously. “With your appearance, if everyone in the world offered you their devoted hearts, would you accept them all? Or perhaps… do you already have someone you like?”
“I…” Nan Yan was at a loss for words.
To say yes seemed a bit unclear, to say no, she couldn’t even convince herself.
In her blood, she was always more like a serene Buddhist, keeping a small patch of pure soil in her heart. No matter how chaotic the soul she waited for might be, she reserved that clean space, waiting for them to pause at the edge of the world, to let their emotional roots take hold and sprout… and then, to dwell in her heart.
What she couldn’t say was that the drop of mortal tears she couldn’t let go of as a Buddhist… was you.
…
“Do you truly like Nan Yan?” Yin Yao asked as he meticulously cleaned his soul weapon “Nightmare Fang” by the lakeside. The curved blade reflected the dim sky, sharp yet dejected like pre-war smoke.
Hearing a soft chuckle behind him, Yin Yao felt inexplicably annoyed. “I’m being direct. I initially agreed to work with you because I didn’t want to drag the little girl too deep into my affairs. Now I just want to know, do you genuinely like her? If you have no other intentions, why hesitate?”
As dusk sank into the misty sea of western mountains, the darkening forest awakened restless ghosts. This gloomy shadow cast a suppressed darkness over Qi Yang’s waiting face.
“I just feel the word ‘like’ is too weak… More often, I feel like I can’t control the beast in my heart. I want to lock her away somewhere without others, where those covetous eyes can’t find her.”
Yin Yao clicked his tongue, glancing warily around. “Is this why you’re determined to kill your master?”
“You probably don’t understand my master’s methods,” Qi Yang raised his hand, grasping at the faint illusion before him, catching only a cold evening breeze. “He would make you watch as your childhood friends and classmates die screaming before your eyes, then tell you he’s been using these scenes to discipline you all these years, urging you to revisit this lesson often.”
When you’ve lost everything and only want to perish with him, fate thrusts someone else’s shadow into your life.
She always called him “Shao Cang” with such warmth and peace.
She said that even if she entered purgatory, she’d still be willing to become a ferry on the river, carrying him to the other shore.
She said… she said too much. It seemed even the world’s best romance writers couldn’t engrave words as deeply as her simple utterances.
“… Few lives are smooth sailing. How can one know who will ultimately stand at the pinnacle orchestrating world affairs without trying?”
“Alright, I understand. Daosheng Tian is currently my biggest obstacle. You want to eradicate them, kill and burn – I have no objections,” Yin Yao glanced at Qi Yang’s hand. He remembered that finger Qi Yang had severed to save Nan Yan from demonic cultivators in the Filthy Valley years ago. Though now replaced with a mechanical prosthetic, it still looked odd to him. “Why don’t you use a Reconnection Pill to regrow that finger? I notice Nan Yan’s face falls every time she sees it. Why keep it?”
Qi Yang lowered his gaze to the mechanical joint, a hint of subtle malice flashing in his eyes.
“But I want to keep it. As long as it remains, my shadow will always be in her heart.”
Yin Yao rolled his eyes. “You don’t want her to attain Buddhahood, do you?”
“Forgive me, but if she insists on becoming a Buddha, I’m afraid I’ll have to be the hell she can’t transcend. You know, in the nine springs of the underworld, the Yellow Springs is the longest…”