Chapter 186 Rain Bell (Part 4) An undying light, an unyielding wind…

Who delivered the message to you?

The spirit of the Tai'a sword leaped down from the beam, her white, pupil-less eyes looking around with a hint of bewilderment. But when she saw Qiu Tong's expression, she understood perfectly.

"Judging from your appearance, you must be the Kunwu Sword Master. He asked you when you're going back? I almost forgot, although you're a demon, you're also a disciple of Daohe Palace. You've been down the mountain for so long, why are you only being asked to go back now?"

Upon seeing these words, Qiu Tong did not appear happy, but after hearing the sword spirit's words, a strange feeling arose in her heart.

She stood up, then suddenly realized, "Strange things have been happening a lot lately, and I've been so busy I'm completely overwhelmed. Daohe Palace has always been very strict with its rules. It doesn't matter to the direct disciples, but for ordinary disciples like me, we have to report when we go down the mountain and when we return. Why hasn't anyone sent me a message yet?"

The spirit of the Tai'a Sword leaned closer, resting his chin on his hand as he faced her: "Is it because you're not popular? Or have the elders simply forgotten about you?"

Qiu Tong's eyes widened: "How is that possible? I'm loved by everyone at Daohe Palace, and many elders treat me with great care!"

“But no one has contacted you except for this Kunwu Sword Master.” The Tai’a Sword Spirit flipped onto the beam, hanging upside down and swaying. Seeing that Qiu Tong was still deep in thought, he comforted her, “Perhaps, others know that you two are close, which is why they asked you when you will return.”

Qiu Tong bit her lip, her eyes lowered slightly, and there was no joy on her face.

“If it were before, he would definitely ask me when I’m coming back, but now… it’s just that outsiders see us as close, but I know in my heart that we are not actually connected. Why would he care when I’m coming back? I guess he’s just asking on behalf of someone else.”

Unexpectedly, Qiu Tong recalled that back in the Demon Capital, she had asked Wei Changzai if he would be willing to help her in the future. His answer at the time was yes, and he was willing to accompany her back to the Fox Clan.

But she also remembered the look in Wei Changzai's eyes when he looked at Lin Feiran.

Qiu Tong gripped the jade pendant tightly, and it was hard to say that she didn't feel resentment.

She resented Wei Changzai's fickleness, his indifference, and his uncertainty. Compared to the cold-on-the-outside-but-warm-on-the-inside man from her previous life, how could she not feel disappointed?

Even worse, she felt a sense of fear when faced with the gloom and coldness that Wei Changzai unintentionally revealed.

...He wasn't always like this.

Qiu Tong couldn't deny that even she found it difficult to handle Wei Changzai in this situation.

She held up the jade token, somewhat sullenly, and said, "We haven't been in touch for a long time, why are you suddenly asking about this? Did an elder in the palace send you to inquire about this?"

She realized her tone was cold and hard, and the person on the other side of the jade pendant seemed to sense it as well, remaining silent for a long time before replying.

"Really? How long?"

With just this one shameless and almost blunt question, Qiu Tong was instantly certain that the person opposite her was none other than Consort Wei.

She began her accusation: "Starting from when you came down the mountain, why don't you ask how many times you contacted me first?"

A cry of an eagle swept across the mountain stream, the wind rustled the eaves bells, and a few snowflakes fell.

Zhang Chunhe brushed the snow off the bamboo and stared intently at the words appearing on the jade tablet. His expression remained unchanged, but his eyes became much deeper.

He pondered for a long time before replying, "It turns out I don't contact you often, but if I don't talk to you, who else can I confide in?"

Qiu Tong frowned, biting her lip, so angry she almost jumped up. She turned to look at the Tai'a Sword Spirit and said angrily, "What does he mean!"

Although the Tai'a Sword Spirit looks small, it has lived much longer than Qiu Tong, so she asserted.

"This person is sick."

Qiu Tong tossed the jade pendant onto the table and drank a cup of cold tea, which calmed her temper somewhat.

The spirit of the Tai'a sword lingered for a while, still feeling that something was amiss. So it flipped over and leaped onto the table, sat cross-legged, and raised its hand to reply, "Why are you saying all this? Is there something important that you suddenly asked me when I'm returning to the mountain?"

After a short wait, the other end replied, "We've confessed our feelings for each other, but our relationship is still undecided..."

The words were left unsaid, but the implication was clear.

Qiu Tong stared blankly at the words, feeling a mix of emotions. She couldn't help but recall the day when Wei Changzai and she confessed their feelings to each other in her previous life. Her heart stirred slightly, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a sense of confusion and absurdity.

She took the jade pendant, completely bewildered: "When will we express our feelings for each other?"

This time, after waiting for a long time, not a single word came from the jade tablet.

Qiu Tong felt that she understood Wei Changzai less and less. She lay on the bed and looked sadly at the top of the tent.

Unbeknownst to her, Zhang Chunhe was raising his hand to form a hand seal, and a paper crane flew out from his palm, heading straight down to the imperial palace.

Wei Changzai was invited by the Emperor to a banquet in the palace and has not returned yet. Zhang Chunhe wants him to return to the mountain immediately so that he can ask him the reason why.

He thought that Wei Changzai and Qiu Tong had already privately expressed their feelings for each other, so he sent a letter today. Who would have thought that he would get such an unexpected result?

The paper crane flew down the mountain, but after circling around the palace for a long time, it was unable to break through the maze and enter. It could only burn out outside the formation.

Zhang Chunhe then remembered that there were many mazes in the palace, but this alone was enough to show his current agitation.

He immediately sat cross-legged and silently recited the Heart Sutra. After calming his mind, he wrote a letter to Ding Yi and asked him to deliver it to him. Then he got up and went to his study alone.

He was going to Guanlantai to find out what was going on.

But before leaving, he still took the jade pendant and replied with three words.

"I'm waiting for you."

...

Because of Wei Changzai's message, the room remained quiet.

The spirit of the Tai'a sword leaned over the corner of the bed, paused for a moment, and then comforted you, saying, "Perhaps he thought he had already expressed his feelings, but you didn't notice. Maybe when you return to the mountain this time, he won't hide it anymore."

"I don't know about other things, but he is definitely not a reserved or introverted person."

Qiu Tong turned and buried herself in the soft blanket. After a few breaths, she sat up again, her expression returning to normal.

She turned to look at the spirit of the Tai'a sword: "Senior, when will I be able to refine the pure light within the Tai'a sword to a sufficiently high purity?"

The spirit of the Tai'a sword hesitated even more: "This is not easy to begin with. With your level, if you want to break through the illusion, I estimate it will take another year or two."

Qiu Tong covered her face and sighed deeply.

She had indeed broken through to a higher realm, but it was simply a pipe dream to make Langqiu, who was under a spell, wake up for a short time. Moreover, the Tai'a Sword could only be controlled by its master, and no one else could help.

She stood up and picked up the jade pendant again.

The options now are either to give up and stop pursuing the matter, or to return to Daohe Palace and find Zhang Chunhe's prescription from back then based on my memories.

If Zhang Chunhe can find it, she certainly can too; it's at least faster than smelting.

Even though Wei Changzai didn't reply, she still said it.

"Once this matter is settled, we will soon set off to return to the mountains."

The man and the spirit sat facing each other in silence for a long time.

The spirit of the Tai'a sword still couldn't help but sigh.

"The thought that Kunwu Sword Heart is higher than the sky, and after waiting for hundreds of years, he chose such a brainless sword master, makes this sword spirit feel very comforted. I'm afraid I'll secretly wake up laughing tonight."

Qiu Tong was speechless for a moment.

...

In the silence of the room, Wei Changzai covered his mouth and sneezed, accidentally bumping into the bookshelf. The painting that the three of them were watching fell straight into Lin Feiran's hands with a soft thud.

Shen Qi turned around and looked at him suspiciously, "Fellow Daoist Wei, we are all cultivators, is it cold in this secret chamber?"

No.

Wei Changzai showed no sign of embarrassment. He glanced at Shen Qi, then stepped forward and hung the painting back in its original place after rolling it up halfway.

"Is this your mother?"

Although his tone rose slightly at the end, it sounded confident.

Lin Feiran continued to gaze quietly at the painting, lost in thought.

Shen Qi stepped forward, his face showing surprise, but after a closer look, he could indeed see some resemblance to the woman who was holding an umbrella and laughing.

His eyes were like scattered stars, and his nose was like a camel's hump.

However, the smile on the person in the painting was too exaggerated, a rare expression for Lin Feiran, making it difficult to immediately connect the two of them.

Wei Changzai could immediately tell that, besides being very familiar with her, he had also seen Lin Feiran laugh like that before.

Bright and fearless.

"Yes," she finally said.

Lin Feiran stood in front of the painting. She wasn't surprised that her mother and Bai Lu had known each other for a long time. She had already guessed it when Princess Mingyue told her about the past.

Her gaze swept across her mother's face, then slowly landed on the green silk umbrella and the mechanical bird.

She thought that her mother was indeed skilled in weapon crafting.

Seeing that she had been staring at him for a long time and that they had such a special connection, Shen Qi's heart softened, so he took out the old pen from his waist and spoke.

"If you want to keep this painting, I can help you make a copy."

The students of the Imperial Academy were skilled in both poetry and painting, and their ability to copy and present this painting was a token of their gratitude.

Lin Feiran and Wei Changzai both looked at him, but their gazes were not quite the same.

Seeing her hesitation, Shen Qi took out a piece of paper, spread it out, and smiled, "Unlike regular painting, if it's just copying, it won't take too much effort or time; a quarter of an hour will be enough."

Lin Feiran remained silent for a moment, then stopped making excuses: "Thank you."

Shen Qi's deer-like eyes curved slightly, and he lowered his gaze shyly as he picked up his brush and began to draw on the rice paper.

Wei Changzai stood aside, taking in Lin Feiran's expression. He seemed touched, so he looked at his own hands and suddenly wondered what he could do.

Shen Qi was indeed talented in the art of calligraphy. He dipped his brush in ink, mixed colors, and with the aid of his cultivation technique, he copied the painting perfectly, even adding a few lines of small characters in the lower right corner.

"Young girl, your hairpin and skirt are fragrant, let's go hand in hand and cruise the three rivers. At Jinling Ferry, by the muddy hall, you are adorned with pink lotus blossoms, and the rain is falling heavily."

On the seventh day of the tenth month, I encountered rain while crossing the Jinling Ferry, and thus composed this poem.

As Shen Qi finished painting, perhaps he was feeling a sense of nostalgia, as if he had just completed this piece.

"I never imagined that the Holy Palace Lady had such a past."

What's past is past and will never return, just as we'll never see that expression on the Holy Palace Lady's face again.

“I never imagined that my mother had such a past.”

Lin Feiran accepted the painting, thanked him again, and then deactivated the magic array.

After leaving the study, the three did not return to the vicinity of the original flower hall, but went to another palace.

A series of orderly footsteps and the hurried voices of two maids came from outside the hall. The two were talking about the debate between Murong Qiudi and the ministers at the welcoming banquet.

The banquet was in an uproar, with the crowd divided into two factions: one agreed to eliminate the Secret Sect, while the other felt that the Goddess Sect was suspicious and suggested taking control of it first.

During this time, the Emperor did not say a word, but only ordered them to keep serving and removing dishes, keeping them busy and dizzy.

"Fortunately, Venerable Ding Yi entered the hall at the most chaotic moment. Otherwise, if some cultivators had started fighting, wouldn't we have been in trouble?"

"But it's strange, the Venerable One didn't say a word after entering the hall. He just found a corner to sit in, and we don't know what he wanted to do."

"Don't ask about the important people's affairs, just serve the food."

Lin Feiran paused, listened to what was happening at the banquet, and her mind began to stir.

The footsteps grew closer, seemingly coming from this direction.

Lin Feiran glanced at the two of them, and Wei Changzai immediately raised the Myriad Manifestations Compass. After forming a hand seal and channeling spiritual power into it, the beast head on it began to rotate again, pointing straight to the south.

At the same time, she also glimpsed the magic array here and found the method of teleportation in the scrolls. Before the person who came pushed open the door, the three of them had already disappeared from the spot.

With the All-Encompassing Compass guiding the way, Lin Feiran no longer needed to be distracted by discerning directions; he only needed to peruse the three volumes of "The Great Sound is Silent" in his hands.

The palace's magic array operated extremely quickly. They passed through one hall after another and entered one secret chamber after another. It took about half an hour, and the scenery before their eyes kept changing.

After Lin Feiran had almost become familiar with the three volumes of the classic texts, they finally stopped in a dark room.

The fireflies beside Wei Chang floated up, but they could not illuminate anything, only a vast, thick blackness.

Shen Qi looked around and couldn't help but ask, "Where is this?"

“This is a seamless place entirely composed of magic arrays,” Wei Changzai explained, then looked at the compass that had stopped.

What is the Avici Hell?

"When you master the art of array formations, you can create your own world. But unlike the Sword Realm and the Small World, the Boundless Land has no light, no wind, only an endless void."

Lin Feiran walked to Wei Changzai's side and looked at the Myriad Compass as well.

She said, "Bai Lu is right here."

Shen Qi held the firefly and walked for a long time in the direction the compass pointed, but still found nothing. He quickly ran back and asked in confusion, "Do we still need to break the formation?"

Lin Feiran put the book away and shook her head: "She is in the formation. Once we leave, we may not be able to come back. This is her sanctuary, and she is watching us from somewhere right now."

"...Then how do we find her?"

Shen Qi usually studies poetry and classics diligently, and in his spare time he also appreciates poetry and paints. Therefore, he knows nothing about the methods of fighting.

"Will we be trapped here forever?"

"Won't."

Wei Changzai raised his hand, and a faint sound of weapons clashing rang out as the Radiant Snow Sword behind him was drawn.

Lin Feiran said, "To unravel the illusion of the Avici Hell, all you need to do is ensure that there is an undying light and an ever-flowing wind here."

Seeing that the two seemed confident and had a plan in mind, Shen Qi couldn't help but move closer to Lin Feiran and peer around: "Could it be using the light of these fireflies? But where is the wind coming from?"

"We've encountered such a deadly place before."

After taking out the shimmering sword, he readily handed it to Lin Feiran. Then, he took out another longsword from his storage bag, the Kunwu sword, which he had often kept hidden away. Now, it finally had its day to be drawn.

Lin Feiran stretched out his long arm and skillfully and neatly twirled his sword. Although the movement was casual, it had an attractive quality that made it impossible to look away.

Beneath the fireflies, her figure moved casually. Suddenly, even that faint light vanished, leaving only darkness.

In the vast emptiness, Wei Changzai's clear, cold voice rang out, yet it carried a different kind of fluctuation than usual—an undulation of near-obsession and admiration.

A sword rang out, and suddenly a glimmer of light appeared in this desolate world.

Unlike the scorching sun or the cool moonlight, unlike the shimmering waves or the faint fireflies, it is very faint, yet impossible to ignore.

Just as parents gaze at their children, toddlers look up at the sky, graceful kingfishers perch on mountaintops awaiting sunrise, and fledglings peer into the rain-soaked ground.

At that moment, a ray of light shone from Lin Feiran's eyes, illuminating the boundless darkness.

She held the sword in her right hand and swung it diagonally across her eyes, the light shining on the blade and reflecting in her clear eyes. Then she swung the sword, and the light on it grew stronger and quickly spread outwards.

In no time, the place became a pure white expanse.

Wei Changzai spoke, his gaze fixed on the figure.

"She told me that the only thing that never dies in the world is the ever-burning light of hope in one's eyes."

But not everyone has such brilliance.

Shen Qi stared blankly at the figure, his eyes still lingering with the amazement of seeing that light for the first time. For a moment, it was as if a drop of water had entered his heart, causing endless waves.

The next moment, Lin Feiran leaped up, and Wei Changzai also took his sword and went to spar with her. The two did not speak, but they were very tacit.

After exchanging about ten moves, a gust of wind suddenly swirled from the sword, accompanied by a chilling sound of weapons clashing, and then swept outwards with a whooshing sound that lingered for a long time.

Although neither of them spoke, Shen Qi understood the reason behind it.

The sword wind, carrying an indomitable momentum, swept across, as if scraping away the entire white expanse, finally revealing color to the void.

Houses with black tiles and white eaves stand side by side, but what separates the houses are not alleys, but jade mountains that emerge from them. Between the mountains and between the houses, many peonies take root and grow, in red, white, pink and green, but not in a complicated way.

This is a water town in southern China, filled with rugged rocks.

However, the river flowing in this river is not clear water, but a winding river that reflects the starry sky.

In the Milky Way, there is a towering jade pillar that reaches from the ground to the heavens, twisting and turning upwards like the roots of a tree.

Bai Lu sat atop a jade mountain, a small table in front of her. The fierce wind from the sword blew through her flowing robes, causing them to flutter wildly, but she paid no attention. She simply sat at the table, writing something on the paper, with a pile of slightly messy drafts beside her.

She seemed to stop painting the last picture before looking down at Lin Feiran, who was standing in the middle.

"You still came."

Lin Feiran turned his right hand, and the Radiant Sword went straight back into its sheath, making a ringing sound behind Wei Changzai.

She gazed silently in that direction, the starlight reflected in her eyes flickering slightly, and said, "Without your guidance, how could I have gotten here?"

Bai Lu smiled without saying a word.

Shen Qi took a small breath: "Fellow Daoist Wei, what does this mean?"

Wei Changzai looked at him, puzzled by his surprise, and asked, "How do you think we stumbled into that study?"

"Isn't it just because I'm unlucky?" Shen Qi's voice was barely audible.

Wei Changzai looked away: "Unlucky people can't get into that study."

Just then, her soft voice rang out again: "Xiao Qi, it's been a long time. You've grown up a lot."

Shen Qi looked up and saw that the woman had a faint expression with a barely perceptible smile. Although she was only wearing a white gauze dress, her black hair was as black as wood and her eyebrows and eyes were bright. She was truly stunning and beautiful, just like when he first met her in his childhood.

At that time, a group of children were led into the palace, and she stood among the flowers, smiling faintly, and bent down to embrace them.

"Bai, Lady Bai," he called out instinctively.

Bai Lu nodded slightly, but her gaze still shifted to Lin Feiran.

"You still broke my seal, but I'm not surprised. I told your mother before that you would remember, no matter what obstacles there were."

Because you resemble her a lot.

"I knew you would come here to find me when you broke the seal."

She turned her gaze to him: "But I didn't expect that you would break through the impasse so easily."

She raised her hand, and a ray of light flew out from the Milky Way and landed between her fingers: "I like this light of yours very much."

"Why are you just staring at me without saying anything, little Manman?"

"The moment you entered the study, you knew it was a trap, but you didn't turn back and still came. If you had passed away without getting any answers, wouldn't that have been a regret?"