Chapter 83 Chapter 83 Every Counter...

There was no response to any of her questions. Linglong was trapped in place, as if she were in a nightmare from which she could not escape.

Shi Wenzhe followed 001 back to the peach tree. The dark tunnel passed by in a flash. She knew nothing of Linglong's thoughts and was instead relieved to be back where she started.

If she knew everything Linglong was thinking, she would definitely dig into his head to see what he was plotting.

If she had known it was in his sea of ​​consciousness, she wouldn't have wasted the rare wish given to her by 001.

The withered tree on the mountaintop is no longer recognizable as the one that once sheltered the sky. It is too short, has lost all its moisture, and its branches have shriveled together.

The crowd had left, the banquet was over, and they had gotten what they wanted. Now, as if they had survived a disaster, they were singing that song again at the foot of the mountain, but this time the song was not filled with the melancholy of the night before; it was now full of joy and excitement.

Linglong was still sitting on the branch, a weary bird that had returned to its nest. She leaned her head against the trunk, lost in thought. It was already dusk, and the sun, which had appeared for the first time in a hundred years, seemed to be celebrating this reunion. The sunlight was exceptionally red, and as it sank into the valley on the other side, the world was covered with rosy clouds.

Linglong, with her back to the rosy dawn, fell into the shadows. All the suffering and sins of the creatures of Peach Blossom Valley were forgiven at the moment of dawn. Only he remained in the abyss, willingly sinking into oblivion.

Shi Wen felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her heart, as if being pricked by needles. 001 screamed wildly in her mind, but at this moment, it all seemed to be muffled by a glass dome. She hesitated, crying with every step she took. By the time Linglong got close, she was crying like a fool.

This farewell was so quiet, with so few people seeing us off. Shi Wenzhe's tears fell like broken beads onto the muddy ground of Peach Blossom Valley, each drop a silent goodbye.

The Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron in its hand sensed the holder's thoughts and emitted a blue light that gradually brightened, flashing once with each step taken.

She was only one step away from the peach tree when Shi Wenzhe's heart trembled. She remembered what Chang Hong had said: the Yin-Yang and Four Symbols Cauldron could reverse Yin and Yang and turn the tide, but it might not necessarily be able to bring the dead back to life.

But it was too difficult, it really stumped her, but she had to try, even if there was only a tiny glimmer of hope.

The Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron gradually disappeared into the peach tree, its blue light shining brightly. Shi Wenzhe tightly closed his eyes, his spiritual power rapidly disappearing.

The delicate figure on the tree paused, and his empty eyes gradually became bright. He stared into the void, as if a vicious dog guarding its home had been suddenly invaded by a stranger, and his whole body was filled with vigilance.

But just as he was about to jump down from the tree to assassinate the intruder, space distorted for a moment. Shi Wenzhe closed his eyes, so he naturally didn't see that Linglong, who had just been wary and sad, had become a different person the moment she looked up.

The wind in Peach Blossom Valley suddenly picked up and became a bit noisy, like the sound of heavy rain hitting banana trees, rustling and crashing.

The heavy rain stripped away all the colors of Peach Blossom Valley. The scenery melted away, and the birds and insects disappeared. Everything slowly vanished, like clouds and smoke. In the vast white space, there were only the two of them and the withered tree, and the water mist gradually spread.

Linglong slowly walked into Shi Wenzhe. Gradually, he grew taller and transformed back into his red-eyed, silver-haired form. He looked Shi Wenzhe up and down, his gaze sweeping over her with a sharp look in his eyes. Finally, he bent down and stood in front of her.

Shi Wenzhe's closed eyelids trembled, and he let out a groan of unbearable strain. Linglong took a step back, looked at the empty surroundings, frowned, and realized her spiritual energy was out of control...

He blinked, and in an instant, the scenery returned to Peach Blossom Valley. He could smell the fragrance of flowers wafting from who-knows-where, and he repeatedly manipulated the Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron.

All magical artifacts have their own temperaments; if you want to use them, you must first subdue them.

With a click, as if a long-matched key had unlocked the dusty iron lock, the Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron suddenly grew larger, covering the canopy of the peach tree and blocking out the light.

"It's done!" Shi Wenzhe breathed a sigh of relief, immediately opened his eyes, and looked expectantly at the glowing cauldron.

Linglong clenched her fists, her shoulders and back straight, and her anticipation was also faintly revealed in Shi Wenzhe's expectant eyes.

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

Shi Wenzhe heard 001 sigh for the first time. It used to be a mechanical, emotionless electronic voice. This was the first time she heard a long sigh in the electronic voice.

001 seemed to have compromised, saying, "Host, I've said it before: even if a god descends, it's impossible to bring back someone who died in the past. Your mission is complete, and you could have returned to Yunmengze to complete your next task long ago. Don't be stubborn, go back."

I often hear of broken promises but I don't believe them.

No matter how she tried, it didn't work. The spiritual energy that filled her body gradually dissipated, and it all went into the Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron.

The blue light on the cauldron grew brighter and brighter, and gusts of wind stirred it.

At that moment, Linglong coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Shi Wenzhe was startled. The bright red blood splattered on her clothes, and the shock in her heart was overwhelming. This was the first time someone had been able to touch her body, making her realize that she was no longer different from others.

She stared intently and asked cautiously, "Linglong?" Was it him?

Linglong wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his face pale and menacing. He said in a hoarse voice, "Don't pour any more spiritual energy into this broken cauldron."

"You can see me?!" Shi Wen pointed at herself with her fingers and asked the biggest question she had ever uttered in her life, her voice trembling like waves. Her lips were trembling and she was saying incoherently. Then she said, "Why? I'm saving him."

Linglong's brows furrowed with impatience, as if he were holding back a lot of anger. His chest heaved rapidly a few times before calming down. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: "If you pour any more spiritual energy into me, my sea of ​​consciousness will break!"

Shi Wenzhe pinched his cheek, puzzled: "What do you mean?"

Linglong glared at her, furious. "You know everything perfectly well, what are you pretending for!"

Shi Wenzhe exclaimed, "Huh?" She pointed to the tree, then to herself, and whispered, "Are you crazy? I think you're not mentally sound."

Seeing her idiotic expression, Linglong couldn't help but wonder if she was overthinking things. Shi Wenzhe didn't seem very bright at all; without clues, she wouldn't have discovered that this grand dream that had lasted for thousands of years was a lie.

Is it fake, so you genuinely want to save Zhaohua?

He turned his head away, suddenly unable to say anything harsh.

Linglong was surrounded by an aura of death, looking very lonely. Shi Wenzhe couldn't help but show a concerned expression, as if he were looking at his child who had been working hard for many years and had returned home injured.

Linglong avoided her concerned gaze, his eyes fixed on the withered tree. He knew the texture of the withered tree by heart. Those textures were hard and dry, and they would prick his hand when he touched them. Zhaohua had said before that the peach tree's branches were too big, and the texture and growth rings on the bark had deep traces of time. It would hurt the claws of small birds when they grabbed the branches, so he made a nest there.

The peach tree has withered and become very small, but its patterns are still so deeply etched in our memories.

Linglong chuckled self-deprecatingly. A gust of wind blew through Peach Blossom Valley, ruffling his long, soft hair. Shi Wenzhe's eyes were glazed over as he drifted between the rosy light and his flowing hair. In that instant, when his eyes refocused, Linglong's black hair slowly turned white from the roots, and in a flash, his silver hair flew in the wind.

Linglong rolled her eyes, and in the instant she met Shi Wenzhe's gaze, her pupils turned from brown to a dazzling red.

The wind stopped.

Shi Wenzhe took a step back, his words stuck in his throat, turning into a terrified sob.

Linglong said softly, "Did you see it?"

Shi Wenzhe was about to cry, and nodded.

Linglong: "So stop pouring spiritual energy into it."

Shi Wen hesitated, torn between fear of admitting defeat and refusal, and chose to timidly refuse, "I want to save him! Don't you... want Zhaohua?"

Linglong was furious with Shi Wenzhe for being such an idiot. She rolled her eyes at her several times and said angrily, "Didn't you realize I was lying to you? If I lied to you, how are you supposed to save me? Didn't you realize that this was all a trap I set for you?!"

Shi Wenzhe lowered his head, looking both sad and angry.

"Don't yell at me! I think you're a bird, I don't want to argue with you, and besides..."

Shi Wenzhe thought to herself, "Moreover, she had witnessed Linglong and Zhaohua's journey through every day and night, with both the beauty and the suffering being so extreme, each one unforgettable."

If it takes more than ten years to raise a puppy, it would take decades to reconcile with its death. How much more so for Yun, who has raised Linglong and Zhaohua for thousands of years, to say the least, to pour her heart and soul into them. How could she so easily accept Zhaohua's departure?

Her manner was hesitant; she was both wary of Linglong's attacks and concerned about Zhaohua's revival, dragging her feet and refusing to budge. Her stubbornness bordered on obsession, adding a touch of sorrow to Linglong's perpetually misty brows.

Linglong sighed, his tone softening, and said again, "Give up."

After saying this, without waiting for Shi Wenzhe's reply, he sat down under the withered tree, his eyes gentle. He touched the trunk again with his palm and said to himself, "Actually, I didn't want to tell you, so that you wouldn't suffer too much when you die." He looked up from under the tree at the top, where the once lush canopy was still vivid in his mind, but now only withered branches clung to life. "But I didn't expect that you would see my memories, no, not my memories, but Zhaohua's memories in this withered tree."

Linglong turned her head and looked directly at Shi Wenzhe, as if she had only mentioned an ordinary little thing. Her expression was relaxed and she didn't care at all. But in Shi Wenzhe's ears, it became a high alert, no less than a volcanic eruption.

Linglong asked, "Do you know where this is?"

Shi Wen replied, "It's your sea of ​​consciousness."

Linglong continued, "Then why would I capture you and put you into my sea of ​​consciousness?"

Shi Wenzhe replied, "I don't know."

Linglong chuckled and said helplessly, "You're so stupid. No wonder Little Butterfly looks at you like you're a dog. If you were out of sight for even a moment, you'd probably run away and become a stray."

"Haven't you noticed that your spirit has weakened over time?"

Shi Wenzhe nodded blankly, "I know."

"Hmm, good to know." Linglong cupped her face, her mood seemingly improving a bit. "Actually, I had the peach tree absorb your soul, and in the end, it happened without anyone noticing..."

Shi Wenzhe's tension rose to his throat.

Linglong raised an eyebrow and dropped a bombshell: "Possession."

He said slowly, "But you seem to enjoy it and have gone to such great lengths to save the peach tree. You truly deserve to be called the savior chosen by Heaven."

"I didn't want to tell you all this, Shi Wenzhe. I gave everything to leave a remnant of my soul in this world, all I wanted was to find a chance for Zhaohua to live. That chance was in you. But by some twist of fate, Zhaohua's remaining soul in the peach tree has been blocking me. He showed you his memories because he really wanted to tell you where you are. I'm a bad person..."

Shi Wenzhe's eyes welled with tears, and he seemed on the verge of collapse, interrupting, "But you've told me now!"

That's because you already know.

Shi Wenzhe said, "If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known."

Linglong: "Then you're really stupid. What, do you really want to be possessed by me willingly?"

Linglong blinked, looking much more vulnerable. He smiled and changed the subject, "Did you see Qingzhu in your memories?"

Shi Wenzhe looked bewildered and said, "I saw it."

"I think you can go find her after you leave Peach Blossom Valley. She seems to have the same secret as you. Yi Chi Xue cultivates the ruthless path, and you are still a demon. You probably won't be taken seriously if you go there. Go directly to Dan Feng. That person has the world in his heart, carries a heavy burden, and is an idealist. He is probably still working as a slave in Yi Chi Xue."

"Sigh, actually I'm a little reluctant. You know, it's quite difficult for me to let go of a thousand-year-old obsession, but Zhaohua has already intervened..."

He smiled indulgently at the withered tree, as if he couldn't do anything about it.

“I had a dream last night. In the dream, I turned back into a kingfisher and stood on a tree branch basking in the sun. Zhaohua was with me and talking to me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. His eyes were darting around. He got angry and raised a peach branch and slapped me twice.”

"Do you know how much my feet hurt? Never mind, you probably don't know either."

Shi Wenzhe thought to herself that she must know, because she had seen kingfishers being whipped before; they just chirped and chattered. However, every time the peach tree was whipped, Zhaohua would regret having hit it so hard…

Linglong muttered to herself, "I was a little angry at the time. He hadn't seen me for so long, and instead of missing me, he slapped me twice..."

The memories became vivid as they came to mind, and Shi Wenzhe's thoughts and Linglong's words overlapped.

But each time, Zhaohua would hold the kingfisher in her arms and gently groom its feathers.

"But then he pulled me into his arms and groomed me. Suddenly, I wasn't angry anymore. It had been a thousand years. That was the first time he had entered my dream. When he left, he told me that if I missed him, we could meet in my dreams..."

"You stingy person."

Linglong spoke softly, and a tear fell unconsciously from her eye. "The sun in my dream was so beautiful, like the scenery of Peach Blossom Valley in the past. I'm tired."

Linglong gave a bitter laugh: "He's such a serious person. I feel that if I hurt you for his sake, I'll never see him again when I go to hell."

"Shi Wenzhe, you should leave. Little Butterfly is a very taciturn person. The underworld is full of hardships, and no matter how good or bad things are, he will definitely keep them to himself. It would be good for you to stay with him."

Shi Wenzhe was completely bewildered. Linglong's words sounded like she was giving her last words, which was not a good sign.

She asked in a trembling voice, "Where are you going? Don't you want to live anymore?"

Linglong ignored her.

Shi Wenzhe's eyes were red and his chest was heaving. She thought, "Yes, Linglong must have wanted to die a long time ago. Every one of the things he did could have resulted in him being reduced to ashes if he had taken one wrong step."

She just didn't expect that Linglong would be so honest with her about everything.

The Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron automatically retracted and landed on Shi Wenzhe's shoulder. The surrounding scenery completely changed, returning to that vast, white space. Water vapor rose again, swirling around the withered trees and obscuring Linglong's figure.

Water gushed out from under her feet, wetting Shi Wenzhe's folded dress. She pushed aside the ripples and waded through the water. When she saw the withered tree again, her heart ached for a moment.

She suddenly felt utterly defeated, a defeat she had experienced countless times throughout the millennia. When Linglong died, when Liu Mian died, when Nan Wu died… so many times, she had felt that same defeat. Back then, she was just a wandering ghost, able to deceive herself. But now, could she still deceive herself?

She didn't know what she should or could do, but a voice in her heart told her that if she couldn't change the outcome this time, then there was no point in her coming to Zhaoyao.

The mist seeped straight into her lungs, like a venomous snake greedily sucking blood and flesh. Linglong coughed, and the air was filled with the smell of blood. Shi Wenzhe heard Linglong's heart-wrenching cough, as if she was coughing up her lungs.

She stumbled toward the withered tree, but Linglong suddenly stopped her. "Go away," he said, trying to shoo her away again, but Shi Wenzhe remained unmoved, like a spoiled child.

Linglong chuckled softly, then sighed, realizing there was nothing she could do about this person.

The water vapor surged, and Linglong's mind stirred. She gently forced Shi Wenzhe out of her sea of ​​consciousness. It was a very gentle action, without even disturbing Shi Wenzhe's soul. She remained in place like a little fool, waiting for Linglong to relax. What would she do after relaxing? Perhaps she would take the person who had already decided to die away from here by surprise.

But this is his sea of ​​consciousness. As long as the withered tree remains, Linglong will not leave.

Shi Wenzhe looked at the withered tree with a branch peeking out from the mist and her heart stirred. She turned the Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron in her hand again. The Yin-Yang Four Symbols Cauldron sensed Shi Wenzhe's thoughts and slowly emitted a blue light, eager to move.