Chapter 56 Carrying a Flower and a Bright Lantern "He's tired, let him sleep."...

"He's tired, let him get some sleep."

"Aww." Shi Wenzhe followed Qin Wenxue obediently, like a clingy big dog, unwilling to be separated from its owner for even a moment.

Qin Wenxue took Shi Wenzhe's hand and held it tightly. They walked slowly into the ancestral hall like a pair of friends taking a leisurely stroll. "That space is the cycle of reincarnation. You can only enter but not leave. Linglong originally set it outside the ancestral hall to protect Qianli Bay from outsiders."

Shi Wen asked, "Can it be clearly stated that many people gather and disperse here? Why is he so domineering?"

Qin Wenxue chuckled softly, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes: "He must have kept some of his memories here."

"How was Ming Shu able to navigate the maze of life?"

Qin Wenxue said, “He is different. He originally belonged to this ancestral hall. The Misheng Road can trap outsiders but not him. Just think of him as coming home. No matter how the outside world changes, he will always be able to recognize it.”

Shi Wenzhe nodded: "I always heard Ming Shu say that this was his happy hometown, but it is clearly oppressive and desolate here, and it is not happy at all."

"Qinwenxue, is it hard for it to grow up all by itself?"

Qin Wenxue thought for a moment and said softly, "When I first found it, it was silly and couldn't speak. It just sat on the threshold of the ancestral hall watching the sunlight."

"Qianli Bay is protected by a barrier, and outsiders cannot enter. It is over five hundred years old and has never seen a stranger. When it first saw me, it timidly shrank under the earthen niche and hid, but unfortunately, half of its buttocks were exposed."

“I only met him once and left very quickly, but he chased me for a long time. Chongming travels a thousand miles a day. Qianliwan is all wilderness and Gobi. He used his four legs to chase me from one end to the other. His claws were covered in blood. I saw that he was pitiful and cute, so I changed the restriction and quietly took him out of the ancestral hall.”

"Actually, we left in too much of a hurry. I should have reinforced the barrier more. Otherwise, you wouldn't have fallen into Peach Blossom Valley and suffered these undeserved disasters."

Shi Wenzhe pursed her lips and said softly, "I don't think these are disasters." She and Qin Wenxue met by accident, and their meeting was not very deep. She was very grateful that this trip to Peach Blossom Valley allowed them to get to know and cherish each other.

She knew Linglong had designs on her, but with Qin Wenxue around, she wasn't worried about anything.

Qin Wenxue stood outside the ancestral hall, his posture upright and his movements ethereal, like a fairy detached from the world. Suddenly, the force of Shi Wenxue's hand tightened. She looked up and saw Qin Wenxue move his fingertips, as if he hesitated. He stood there for a while before reaching out and pushing open the ancient and old door.

This ancestral hall was not what Shi Wenzhe remembered. The ancestral hall in Qiyun Hall was older and more dilapidated. The door creaked and groaned when the wind blew, and there were many withered grass and broken leaves inside. Even the clay statue was dusty and gray.

The ancestral hall before us, though old, was very clean. The lamp base bore the heavy marks of time, and the wicks flickered and sparked, as if excited. The earthen niche was carved with crooked little flowers and some blurry characters that were often illegible.

The clay statue's eyes were lowered, devoid of sorrow or joy, as it quietly watched the visitor from outer space. Shi Wenzhe finally saw the full appearance of the clay statue: a very young and handsome man with an almost dazzlingly beautiful face. He was making a flower-twisting motion with his fingertips, and his wide sleeves were layered, resting on his raised elbows.

With just that one glance, Shi Wenzhe inexplicably felt that she must have seen this person before. She racked her brains trying to remember, but she just couldn't recall.

A sudden thud came from the ancestral hall. Shi Wenzhe was like a rabbit with its fur standing on end. Qin Wenxue pointed her finger at the earthen niche, and as if appearing out of thin air, a person gradually emerged from there.

The person was a woman with long, flowing hair. She was dressed in a disheveled state, wearing a sky-blue tight-fitting outfit. Beside her was a fiery red longsword, which spun silently, radiating heat. A silver tassel dangled from her forehead, its tassels swaying incessantly, reflecting the warm yellow candlelight before striking the lifeless little white dog in her arms.

Shi Wenzhe exclaimed, "What the hell? Isn't that little white dog in her arms Ming Shu? But Ming Shu is still alive and well!"

She glanced at the little white dog in Qin Wenxue's arms, then at the little white dog in the woman's arms; they were practically identical.

I often hear people breathing oxygen.

Ming Shu moved its paws, trying to get down, but Qin Wenxue grabbed it and sent some spiritual energy into it before gently placing it on the ground.

The little white dog wobbled towards the woman, then tripped and fell over with a thud, looking incredibly cute.

I heard that Shi Zhe's nose was about to bleed, and I was so cute that I was shaking with delight.

Yun Jin was still immersed in the pain of Ming Shu's death. The cold corpse in her arms whipped her soul again and again, leaving an indelible mark on her. She would never forget what had happened.

After separating from the Venerable One, she was trapped alone in a mesmerized space in Peach Blossom Valley. That space was Peach Blossom Valley a thousand years ago, and she witnessed the thousand years of history and grudges of Peach Blossom Valley as if she were taking a quick tour.

I also witnessed Luo Yunsheng leading the Yunsheng Jiehai Hall to besiege the four major immortal sects, distorting the truth and slandering the demon race. In the end, he led the evil and heretical sects that had defected from the four major immortal sects to attack Peach Blossom Valley. Peach Blossom Valley was almost completely wiped out, and the demon race was driven away, hunted down, and refined. The chaos and suffering of the continent's inhabitants was devastating...

The scene was so cruel and bloody that she couldn't believe that her own kind could be so ruthless. Cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao is about having a clear conscience and standing tall and upright, but those evil demons and heretics were openly slaughtering living beings, which should not be tolerated by the laws of heaven...

Why doesn't Heaven intervene?

She couldn't understand it. Even knowing it was just an illusion, she still wanted to kill Luo Yunsheng to vent her hatred. But just as she was about to make her move, a person descended from the sky in front of her. That person had golden eyes and fox-like eyes. Every glance and smile was full of charm. He smiled at her with his little tiger teeth showing. His handsome face was so familiar and so missed.

Yun Jin paused for a second, and in that very second, another person suddenly appeared behind her. He was a young man with silver hair and red eyes, handsome and dashing. He looked very cold, with a gloomy gaze. Yun Jin felt as if the air itself had frozen, and the gas had turned into frost.

He stared at her menacingly, releasing a powerful aura that froze Yun Jin in place. She watched helplessly as a silver spear materialized in his hand and stabbed towards her chest.

The gun barrel still bore traces of blood, which Yun Jin couldn't avoid at some point. The glaring red almost burned her eyes, but unfortunately, she didn't feel any pain in her chest.

Ming Shu flashed by, moving from in front of her to behind her. The fox tail swayed back and forth, and the white fur brushed against Yun Jin's cheek. It was warm. Before she could recognize him or feel happy, she heard a sharp weapon pierce her chest with a piercing thud.

Blood splattered onto her face, staining her smooth, white fur. The stench of blood repeatedly assaulted her senses. Yun Jin held Ming Shu's limp body and wept bitterly, calling out "Ming Shu" in mournful cries until her voice became hoarse.

Pain and screams shattered the layers of barriers and reached the ears of Qin Wenxue and the other two. This labyrinthine path of life and death was not only the way home that the ancestral hall had left for Ming Shu, but also the path to survival that Yun Jin had cried out for.

Yun Jin has been in Shifang City for three hundred years. She has seen many demons, but there is only one person in the Three Realms with silver hair and red eyes. That person is the portrait of Xianhua Xinzun hanging on the wall of Qin Wenxue's bedroom.

When she arrived at Shifang City, Xianhua Xinzun had already perished, his remains turning into dust and scattering across the world of Zhaoyao Continent.

The humans applauded, saying that he had committed countless evils and killed many people throughout his life, and that he deserved to die.

But Yun Jin didn't think that way, nor did the demons in the Yellow Springs and the Azure Heaven.

Xianhua Xinzun single-handedly fought against the four great immortal sects, protecting his people and ensuring their safety. He is a hero of the demon race and their supreme king.

Even if one dies, the place one arrives at should be a paradise, not a hellish abyss.

Peach Blossom Valley is gone, and the River of Life has ceased to flow, but in the netherworld, there is still a leisurely river that runs through Zhaoyao, like the indomitable spirit of the demon people in the face of fate. That river is called the River of Victory. On the day that Venerable Xianhua fell, lanterns covered a hundred miles of the River of Victory. They were all eternal lamps lit by the demon people for him, praying that his journey to the netherworld would be safe and smooth, and that his way home would be bright and radiant.

The fleeting image of Xinzun with flowers in his hand kept replaying in her mind. Yun Jin lowered her head and looked down. No one knew what her face looked like under the lamplight, nor what she was thinking.

She squatted in front of the earthen shrine, her hair disheveled, her back hunched over. The silver lamp flickered, casting afterimages of its light, but that light did not illuminate her dark heart. Ming Shu transformed into a white fox, lying lifelessly in her arms.

"Perhaps it was just an illusion, a demon from Peach Blossom Valley disguised as the Flower-Holding Venerable to deceive her..." Yun Jin thought silently, "A person like the Flower-Holding Venerable shouldn't look like this..."

She didn't know if the Venerable One had also seen the past of Peach Blossom Valley and encountered a crisis, just like her. But even if he was like her, someone as capable as Qin Wenxue would definitely protect the people he cared about in the face of danger, unlike her who was so useless.

She gave a self-deprecating bitter smile, and two lines of clear tears fell silently. It was as if it were just a dream, and Yun Jin was trapped in the dream, unable and unwilling to come out.

Until a tiny, fluffy white paw suddenly appeared in her line of sight, Yun Jin was stunned for a moment. Her unfocused eyes finally refocused, and she slowly raised her head, revealing a beautiful face like a lotus emerging from water beneath her silver hair and bangs.

She saw the little white dog wobbling towards her, its steps light and quick, but it was unsteady and almost walked diagonally, about to pass through the earthen niche into the depths of the ancestral hall, but it stepped on its right foot with its left foot, saving it in time.

Ming Shu shook his head, still exhausted, panting heavily with his tongue lolling out. He gave Yun Jin a silly, joyful smile.

The smile was so radiant; it was the joy of a long-awaited reunion, the delight of a sudden meeting.

In that instant, all the grief and sorrow in her heart vanished like bubbles. The little white dog's corpse on her arm gradually faded and disappeared. Yun Jin quickly lowered her head, her fingers curling up. Even though she knew that Ming Shu was still alive and that the little white dog in her hand was just an illusion, she still subconsciously reached out to hold on to him.

A white claw scratched Yun Jin's hand, and she gently grasped it in return. The softness and warmth filled her heart, making her involuntarily reveal a gentle smile.

Ming Shu stuck out his tongue and licked the back of her hand, then quietly squatted in Yun Jin's arms. His posture was extremely dignified, with his two hind legs sitting obediently and his front legs stretched out straight. His fox-like eyes were wet as he stared at her without moving.

Ming Shu comforted him, saying, "Don't be sad."

Yun Jin gently combed its fur, saying nothing, though her eyes still held a trace of moisture.