Chapter 80 Why is he the only one suffering from the past? ...

Jiang Yuhuo had originally planned to wait for Jia Yue to return, ask him about her senior brother's whereabouts, obtain the Spirit-Subduing Wood, and then leave. However, she hadn't expected Qian Deng's sudden incident, and figured they must be busy and too preoccupied to deal with her, so she decided not to disturb them. Fortunately, news of her senior brother had finally arrived, so she only needed to stay here for three more days.

Three days isn't a short time, and for Jiang Yuhuo, there was plenty to do. Now that her internal injuries had healed, she took out her iron sword, which she hadn't picked up in a long time, and found a secluded forest to practice. Although her spiritual power had reached a level she never dared to dream of before, swordsmanship was her foundation, and she couldn't neglect it for even a day.

He drew his sword and swept it horizontally, the tip of the sword filled with rich spiritual energy, and a sword light echoed through the forest, sweeping up the fallen leaves that flew everywhere.

While she was engrossed in practicing her sword, she suddenly sensed a chill shooting straight at her from behind. She instinctively swung her sword to attack, only to discover that the one "ambushing" her from behind was a slender silver figure.

She immediately withdrew her sword, thankfully managing to stop in time and avoid cutting the attacker in two. However, the sword energy she had swept out still struck it, producing a metallic clang. The little stream, which had appeared out of nowhere, lay on the ground.

Jiang Yuhuo was startled and immediately squatted down to check. Its entire body was uninjured, its shimmering skin intact, not even a single scale was missing. But Xiaoxi's entire body was limp on the ground, motionless, only its head was weakly raised, its two black eyes looking at her with a pitiful expression, as if it had suffered a serious injury and was extremely weak.

Jiang Yuhuo couldn't find any wounds on its body, so she touched the spot where the sword energy had swept through, just as she remembered it, and asked softly, "Does it hurt a lot?"

The silver snake immediately nodded and casually flicked its tail to wrap around her hand.

Feeling guilty, Jiang Yuhuo held its entire body in her hands and used her spiritual energy to help relieve its pain.

The silver snake had never received such care from her before. Even when she allowed it to get close, it would ignore it and just do its own thing. Now it clung to her even more and refused to let go.

Jiang Yuhuo couldn't help but sigh, "How can I deal with someone so clingy?"

She will be leaving in three days.

*

As night falls on the town nestled among the mountains, lights gradually illuminate the houses at the foot of the mountains, dotting the continuous mountain range.

An old man carrying a load on his shoulder pole was walking home along the riverside path after finishing his work, as usual. But today, the way home was a little different. The old man stopped and saw a white figure standing by the river. Even just a blurry silhouette in the night gave off an ethereal and otherworldly feeling.

It was already dark, and instead of going home, this perfectly fine person was standing motionless by the river. Could he be haunted by something?

Remembering the strange rumors about this river, the old man immediately put down his carrying pole and shouted to the figure, "Please come up quickly, it's getting dark soon, and we need to stay away from this river at night."

The old man tried to persuade the person to come up, but the white figure remained motionless, as if it could not hear him. He moved a little closer, but immediately felt a chill seep into his bones.

Is this...is this a human? Or...a ghost?

The villagers living here often talk about seeing ghostly figures floating on this river at night, water ghosts that would drag people into the water.

The old man trembled, feeling uneasy. Could it be his turn this time?

Just as he was about to flee, the man by the river suddenly turned around. Upon seeing the man's face, the old man gasped in shock.

Good heavens, where did this deity come from?

He had never seen such a person before; such demeanor could certainly not be that of a haunting ghost.

"Why are you standing by this river?" The old man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Do you know how many people have died here? At night, those ghosts would deliberately drag the living down to die in their place."

The man's eyes were indifferent. The ghost he spoke of was not only unafraid, but also intrigued. "Do you know how those people died?"

The old man glanced around warily. "Why are you asking these questions? If the authorities find out, you could go to jail."

"Looking for an old friend." Upon hearing the word "official," the man remained calm.

Seeing that he didn't seem to care much about the government, the old man figured he wouldn't be the one to inform on others. Those secrets that had been kept hidden in his heart for so long had gradually lost their desire to be revealed. But now that someone had brought them up, he said with a bit of pride, "You must be from out of town. You've come to the right person to ask me. I doubt you can find another person in the entire Shilan Town who knows this place better than me."

The man nodded slightly, indicating that he could continue.

The old man didn't know why, but after the man only glanced at him, his words poured out like beans from a bamboo tube, without any regard for whether they were outrageous or not. It was as if the old man's mind had been captured and he couldn't control himself.

He was originally a resident of the neighboring Cangwu County. After the Dayong Dynasty incorporated this land into its territory, he immediately sensed the potential for profit and migrated here with the new soldiers and civilians. He did some small business with the laborers and officers who were mining. Perhaps because everyone who came to this remote and impoverished place to make a living was extremely poor, his business did not improve much. However, over time, he heard many things.

For example, Shilan Town also has another name, Liyue Village. Many barbarians used to live in Shilan Town, but they were massacred and wiped out overnight because of the discovery of minerals.

When he first arrived, there were still traces of barbarian life here. Under the ruins of some burned houses, one could find many rare treasures. He was always lucky, and he found a glass bottle in the remote ruins. He thought it was exquisite and cute, so he kept it.

But now, the people and soldiers of Dayong have built houses in the Dayong style on the land, and most of the people living here are miners and soldiers. The only thing those barbarians left behind is probably the terrifying legends about this river, but the old man has never seen them.

The immortal-like figure paused for a moment on the river, and the old man heard a sound like jade striking stone.

"Give me back that bottle." The speaker's gaze drifted into the distance, as if recounting a story, or perhaps sighing, "That was mine."

The old man was stunned, his mind blank. He felt he dared not disobey the man's orders, and inexplicably obeyed, leading the man into his home. He didn't have much wealth, so he cherished the glass bottle all the more.

A flicker of emotion crossed the man's eyes as he looked at the glass bottle he had pulled from the bottom of the box. After all these years, the bottle was remarkably well-preserved, its color still clear and lustrous.

The old man held the bottle, his eyes glazed over, when a clean, white hand took the bottle from his hand and quickly left.

The old man sat in the house for a while before he suddenly realized that this was blatant robbery!

He hurriedly chased after them, but there wasn't a soul in sight outside.

The old man stomped his feet in anger, regretting that he had meddled. He sighed many times, still feeling depressed, and went into the house with a belly full of resentment.

But he froze as soon as he entered the house.

Inside the main room, a large, lustrous pearl was placed in the center of a small table.

*

Jia Yue played with the exquisite glass bottle in his hand. It was very small, and he could hold it completely in one hand.

He didn't actually recognize the bottle at all; he just heard the old man mention glass and inexplicably recalled the blurry space in his dream. He instinctively wanted to take it from the man's hand. He felt it should be his.

He stared at the moonlight for a long time, but all he could find in his mind was a blurry image, nothing more.

He returned to the river. The night was deep and cold, and wisps of smoke rose from the river, their drifting forms indeed resembling ghosts in the darkness. This was probably the "ghost" the old man had spoken of, but he felt no trace of it.

But those who died in this place left not even their souls behind.

He longed to see that person, even if it was just her spirit.

But no, nothing at all. Everything here has changed. Those people destroyed everything and rebuilt everything, leaving him with no trace of that person.

He arrived too late.

He once naively thought that erasing that memory would make it seem as if nothing had happened.

Tianque elevated him to his current position, and he was well aware of their expectations, or rather, their demands. He didn't need to guess who had tampered with his memories.

Even so, he made no attempt to regain his memories. Because, like the elders of Tianque, he believed that his true mission was to cultivate into a god, rebuild the Heavenly Pillar, and reconnect heaven and earth.

That past in the mortal realm is nothing more than a scandal that should not be brought up again and should have been completely erased long ago.

But is that really the case?

He knew that wasn't the case. Even if memories could be erased, it was difficult to sever emotions. That's why he ordered Qian Deng to cut off her romantic ties as soon as possible so as not to repeat his mistakes.

Even after he had said all that, Qian Deng still refused to give up.

Qian Deng was right. They were indeed different. He was loyal and pure, and fearless, while he not only couldn't find his memories, but also mistook someone else for her.

Standing atop the mountain, looking down at the unfamiliar town below, Jia Yue felt utterly absurd and ridiculous in her presence.

*

It was already late at night when I returned to Tianque.

Jia Yue landed in front of the sleeping quarters, but saw a figure that shouldn't be there at the entrance.

Jiang Yuhuo sat outside his palace gate, her head resting on the doorpost, her eyes closed, asleep without any defenses. In her hands she held a silver snake that was also fast asleep, coiled up in a ball.

Jia Yue turned to leave. Every time he saw her, he would be reminded of his ridiculous delusions, how joyful he was when he returned from the Spirit-Sealing Array, and how humiliated he was when he came out of the Spirit Valley Tower underground palace.

But the thought that while he was frantically searching for her memories in the water mirror, she was peacefully sleeping on her bed, and now, tormented by his chaotic emotions, he was forced to go to the mortal world to search for his lost memories, while she was sleeping carefree at the gate of his palace, filled him with extreme resentment.

Why is he the only one suffering?

There was a kind of inexplicable hatred, a hatred for why it wasn't her, a hatred for why she didn't meet him in this world.

If it were her, he could stand openly before her, raise the marriage vows on his fingers, and tell her that they were partners, that they had promised to spend their lives together, and that he now rightfully wanted to be with her. But she wasn't.

Filled with hatred, he walked back to Jiang Yuhuo, a surge of malice rising within him, wanting to wake her up.

So he knelt down in front of her, facing her clean face and peaceful sleeping face. Just one more glance and his overwhelming hatred instantly turned into bitterness.

He tilted his head to look at her, his gaze lingering on her thin red lips, intently and almost obsessively studying her face, trying to understand how she could bewitch people.

Why do you always disturb his mind? Why do you always make him unable to look away when you appear? Why do you still want to get close to me even though you hate me to the core?

He already knew from the water mirror that she and Mo Sheng had secretly learned the Heavenly Palace Spiritual Cultivation Technique that night.

If you want to learn Tianque's things and improve your spiritual power, why don't you come to him?

Whether it's spiritual cultivation or dual cultivation, he's far more useful than Mo Sheng, so why can't it be him?

Do you know that I've forgotten my lover, but I've mistaken you for her?

What should I do... Jiang Yuhuo, what should I do?

You can't always be oblivious; you're the one who barged in.

Jiang Yuhuo, come be my partner...

The merman kept intruding into the sleeping person's space, getting close to her face, letting their cold aura intertwine with hers, their gaze always fixed on her thin red lips.

Getting closer and closer...

He was less than half an inch away from kissing that place that so deeply tempted him.

-----------------------

Author's note: I can't kiss her. I really wanted to write it, but... never mind.

If Xiao Jiang were to wake up, she might very well want to stab him with a sword.

That's settled then, Xiao Hai, you can crawl in the shadows for now. [melted emoji]