After an unknown amount of time, the golden tide gradually receded, and the feeling of fullness slowly calmed.

The last trace of writing withdrew from her sea of consciousness, and Zanxing opened her eyes.

Qinghua Xianzi stood in place, her expression still calm, though there was some weariness in her gaze.

“The ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun’ in the martial arts hall was not complete. Now, the staff techniques in your sea of consciousness are the true ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun.'” Qinghua Xianzi spoke indifferently: “In the future, I hope you will practice this staff technique well and protect the peace of the mortal realm when the heavenly tribulation arrives.”

Zanxing looked at the woman before her. After a moment of silence, she said: “Fairy, you still don’t know my name, do you?”

From entering the painting until now, Qinghua Xianzi had never once asked her name. Perhaps because inheritance matters didn’t concern themselves with identity, but Zanxing felt it was because this heaven’s pride daughter was naturally proud.

“The fairy began the inheritance without asking anything,” she said. “Aren’t you afraid of passing it to the wrong person?”

“No.” Qinghua Xianzi shook her head: “That you could enter the secret realm and reach this place was destined by heaven. Just like this painted realm – only you could enter, no one else.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a sound came from the darkness. Someone rushed in, appearing before Zanxing in a flash. Gu Baiying turned to look at Zanxing, frowning: “Yang Zanxing, you’re not dead, are you?”

Zanxing looked toward Qinghua Xianzi: “Didn’t you say no one but me could enter the painting?”

A flash of surprise crossed Qinghua Xianzi’s beautiful eyes as she said: “How is that possible? This painting has my spiritual consciousness on it. Unless one is chosen by the Biyi flower, no one else can…”

“Just a broken restriction. A light charge can break it open,” Gu Baiying impatiently interrupted her words, pointing his silver spear horizontally: “Playing so many tricks – who are you?”

Qinghua Xianzi’s gaze fell on Gu Baiying, and she froze.

Zanxing quietly stepped back.

In the void white chaos of the painted realm, only two people in white clothes stood facing each other. The woman’s black hair cascaded like a waterfall, her dress hem flying, beautiful as a sparkling pearl. The handsome youth before her was like a sharp spear – upright, proud, with a brilliant spirit. If there was anything similar about them, it was that their eyes were both like pools of clear spring water, bright and luminous, shining like stars.

They were remarkably alike.

Gu Baiying fell silent.

The Embroidered Bone Spear in his hand had unconsciously lowered, and his gaze staring at the person before him seemed to hold some disbelief mixed with doubt.

Qinghua Xianzi said: “Baiying…”

Gu Baiying suddenly turned around, staring at Zanxing, who was trying to play dead: “Yang Zanxing, what are you doing? How can there be illusions here?” He then said coldly to Qinghua Xianzi: “Just demon race tricks, don’t think I’ll believe you!”

Although he said this, he didn’t point his spear at her as before. Zanxing could even glimpse a hint of confusion in the youth’s eyes.

Meeting here was probably something he hadn’t expected either.

Zanxing carefully chose her words: “I think this isn’t an illusion. Martial Uncle, this is Qinghua Xianzi’s spiritual consciousness. I just received her inheritance…”

This kind of mother-son recognition scene really wasn’t something an outsider like her should witness. However, since she couldn’t leave the painting at the moment, Zanxing had to steel herself and remain here.

Gu Baiying turned back to look at Qinghua Xianzi. Qinghua Xianzi stared at him and suddenly smiled. Zanxing had only seen Qinghua Xianzi’s smile in the painted realm under the Biyi flower tree. Now this woman’s gentle smile brought an infinite spring breeze, surpassing the brilliance of stars.

She reached out her hand, and the blue bell at Gu Baiying’s waist flew out and landed in her palm.

The Jiexin Bell forms a contract with its master and cannot be controlled by others. Since she could take the Jiexin Bell now, it proved she was indeed the real Qinghua Xianzi.

Qinghua Xianzi held the blue bell, her gaze revealing some nostalgia. After a moment, she flicked her finger, and the bell flew back to Gu Baiying’s waist. She looked at Gu Baiying and smiled: “You’ve grown up, Baiying.”

Gu Baiying looked at her.

Though the youth tried hard to maintain composure on his face, his fingertips gripping the silver spear trembled slightly. After a very long time, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse: “Spiritual consciousness… are you already… gone?”

Qinghua Xianzi had disappeared for over ten years. No one in any sect of the cultivation world knew her whereabouts. Countless people speculated that Qinghua Xianzi had already perished, and Gu Baiying thought so too, yet in his heart, he still held onto a thread of hope. Now discovering his mother’s remaining wisp of spiritual consciousness in this undiscovered painting in the secret realm, the real Qinghua Xianzi was probably already gone.

Qinghua Xianzi sighed.

Gu Baiying’s palm slowly clenched tightly. He lowered his head, and after a while, raised his eyes to look at her: “I have several questions I want to ask you.”

The youth’s gaze was calm: “Why did you leave without saying goodbye back then? Why does your spiritual consciousness appear in Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm? Who painted the portrait in the thatched cottage… was it my father?”

Zanxing sighed inwardly. No matter how high-spirited and carefree Gu Baiying was in the sect, in his heart, he had probably never stopped doubting his origins for even a moment. Zi Luo was right – this youth cared deeply about his closest relatives.

He asked calmly, but Qinghua Xianzi’s gaze became sorrowful. She looked deeply, deeply at Gu Baiying, as if falling into some distant memory. She paused for a long time before speaking: “Your eyes are very much like his, Baiying.”

“Gu Caiyu is your father,” she said.

“Back then, while searching for a spiritual herb, I accidentally entered this place in Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm. This place has restrictions and technical artifacts left by a great master. Only by defeating the spiritual consciousness left by that master could one obtain the techniques and break the restrictions to leave.” Her voice in the painting was soft and gentle, like telling a long story.

“I met your father, Gu Caiyu, here.”

Qinghua Xianzi looked at Gu Baiying, as if seeing the shadow of someone from memory through him. The smile at the corner of her lips gradually bloomed as she said, “He was a rogue cultivator with no sect and no martial brothers. His cultivation was ordinary, and upon entering, he nearly lost his life to falling rocks.”

Qinghua Xianzi had grown up in Taiyan Sect when it was at its peak, surrounded by praise since childhood. Naturally, this heaven’s pride daughter looked down on such a rogue cultivator who was all appearance but low cultivation.

So when she first arrived, she held no hope that Gu Caiyu could be of any help. No matter how much Gu Caiyu tried to please her, the result was always his warm face meeting her cold attitude.

Qinghua Xianzi was disdainful of Gu Caiyu, but Gu Caiyu didn’t take her coldness to heart at all. Qinghua Xianzi had never seen Gu Caiyu cultivate – he was always more enthusiastic about trivial matters. He even built a thatched cottage in the wilderness, as if determined to live there permanently.

He always said, “Fairy, whether we can get out depends entirely on you. You must cultivate well.”

Qinghua Xianzi couldn’t be bothered to respond. She went daily to compete with the master’s spiritual consciousness and was often injured. Gu Caiyu would silently gather useful medicinal herbs nearby, then throw them in front of her and run away, leaving Qinghua Xianzi both angry and amused.

Life in the secret realm was monotonous and boring. Thanks to Gu Caiyu, she could occasionally find life’s pleasures in the gaps of this tedious existence. She watched Gu Caiyu raise chickens in the secret realm, naming the chicken White Cut Chicken. Sometimes, when fetching water nearby, he cooked daily meals. Though they were all the same wild vegetables and fruits, he somehow made them taste different.

Qinghua Xianzi thought: There would be no such leisurely person in the sect. And someone who would bother catching bugs to feed chickens could never ascend to immortality in this lifetime.

Days passed one by one. Later, it rained and she moved into that thatched cottage. The Biyi flower tree bloomed, and she talked with Gu Caiyu under the flower tree. They watched fireworks created by illusions together…

Time’s power is very strong. It can make two completely unrelated people live under the same roof, and it can make a female cultivator who looked down on someone gradually accept that person as a friend in her heart.

Friend – that’s what Qinghua Xianzi thought at the time.

Gu Baiying asked: “So in the end, you broke through this place’s restrictions and left together with him?”

Since Gu Caiyu’s cultivation was low, the one who defeated that master’s remaining spiritual consciousness could only have been Qinghua Xianzi.

Hearing this, Qinghua Xianzi seemed to think of something amusing and smiled: “At first, I thought so too.”

The Gu Caiyu in the secret realm never spent any effort cultivating, so the task of trying to break the restrictions fell entirely on Qinghua Xianzi. She had to practice sword techniques daily – she still used a sword then. Gu Caiyu would always sit to the side with White Cut Chicken, lazily commenting: “Ah, fairy, that sword strike just now wasn’t good. You used too much force. Be gentler, don’t scare the chicken.”

“I think your footwork is a bit chaotic? Fairy, your temperament is a bit impatient. We have plenty of time, no need to rush.”

After his nonsensical rambling, Qinghua Xianzi treated it all as a waste of words, though occasionally he would accidentally hit the mark and she’d discover flaws and gaps in her techniques. She cultivated like this, and one day broke open the restrictions near the stone mountain.

Even at that time, Qinghua Xianzi never suspected anything was amiss. She collected the master’s techniques and spirit artifacts, intending to give some to Gu Caiyu, but he casually waved his hand: “No need, they’d be useless to me. You should keep them yourself. Good things shouldn’t be wasted.”

He didn’t want them, and Qinghua Xianzi couldn’t force them on him. They were just two people who met by chance, gained some friendship from traveling together in the secret realm for a time, then went their separate ways. There wouldn’t be much chance to meet again in the future. Human connections had always been like this – no need for regret, no need to force retention.

“I always thought Gu Caiyu was a rogue cultivator with low cultivation. Later, I learned that his cultivation at that time had already reached late-stage Mahayana. He only needed to undergo tribulation to ascend to immortality.”

Qinghua Xianzi lowered her eyes: “He was a once-in-a-century genius in the cultivation world.”