Ciyun

That night, Yin Heng put on the earring and wore it for two years without taking it off.

The earrings swayed with her steps, dancing in mid-air. The jade seemed even more translucent and lustrous than it had been two years ago. There was just one scratch on it, perhaps an accidental scratch from one of those times she came down the mountain to take on a commission.

After lunch, Yin Heng called Xiao Yuan. Since the conversation two years ago, Yin Heng has become more restrained.

In fact, I still stick to that person as usual, but I hide some feelings intentionally or unintentionally.

Xiao Yuan: "Or should we go practice sword fighting?"

Yin Heng: "No, it's boring."

Xiao Yuan: "Then what do you want me to do?"

Yin Heng: "I'll take you to pick fruit."

Autumn had already arrived a few days ago, and the pear tree in Fengyutai had indeed produced fruit, but I wondered if it was ripe.

Yin Heng dragged the other person to Fengyu Terrace. Once they reached the pear tree, he climbed up easily, perched among the intertwined branches, and tossed a plump-looking fruit to Xiao Yuan. The fruit had a thin skin and thick flesh, a green and yellow rind enveloping the inner flesh. Xiao Yuan didn't dislike it, wiping it twice with his hand before taking a bite. Juice dripped down the corners of his mouth as his thin lips left the flesh.

The fruit is very sweet.

Yin Heng picked one for himself from the tree, leaned against it with his legs hanging, looked at Xiao Yuan with interest, and laughed wildly.

“Senior Brother!”

Yin Heng looked off into the distance, a smile still on his face. It was Jiang Yun and Ye Qingci. Jiang Yun took two steps at a time, and Ye Qingci followed closely behind, looking rather glum for some reason. Yin Heng reached up, plucked two more fruits, and tossed them towards them. The two men below grabbed them but didn't eat them. Jiang Yun shouted to Yin Heng, "Brother, don't eat them! Did you hear that the Lianyun Sect of Lianyang Mountain was massacred? No one survived, and the deaths were horrific."

Now it was clear why Ye Qingci looked so downcast. Li Chonghui was a disciple of the Lianyun Sect, and if his sect was massacred, he would surely die. Ye Qingci was good friends with him, so it was inevitable that he would be saddened by the news.

After hearing what Jiang Yun said, Yin Heng stopped laughing and jumped down from the tree, tossing an uneaten fruit in his hand. His eyes passed over the others before returning to Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan still had an indifferent expression. Yin Heng seemed to be trying to read his thoughts, almost being stared through.

Yin Heng: "Go and take a look?"

Yin Jingyi had naturally heard about this as well. Seeing that several people wanted to go and take a look, he did not stop them. He allowed them to go and take a look and also reminded them not to be arrogant and lose their composure.

boom--

The stone door suddenly fell, blocking out all light. The ancient stone door bore the marks of time, its edges corroded by moss. Only a few flickering candlelight illuminated the gloomy underground palace. The man, wearing a black cloak to conceal his face, stepped deeper and deeper until he reached the woman at the deepest point.

The woman knelt on the stone, her hands held wide open by faint shackles. She wore a wedding gown embroidered with gold thread. The phoenix coronet and bridal robe on her head jingled, and her hair was a little disheveled. She lowered her head, her eyes closed, seemingly unaware of the man's arrival.

"Second rhyme."

He called the woman's name, but received no response. She remained motionless with her eyes closed. So the man walked over to her, squatted down, pinched her chin, and whispered, "Chen Ciyun, you're clearly awake, why are you ignoring me?" The man's voice was soft, but she felt it was like the lingering presence of an evil spirit.

Shen Ciyun suddenly opened his eyes, his red eyes filled with tears, and he said hoarsely: “You beast, what are you going to do?!”

"Beast? Yes, I am a beast. Since I am a beast no matter what I do, then doesn't that mean everything I do is reasonable?"

Shen Ciyun didn't know what he was going to do. She instinctively wanted to mobilize her spiritual power, but found that her spiritual power seemed to be stagnant and completely refused to obey her call. She asked in horror: "What did you do to me? Why can't I mobilize my spiritual power?!"

The man released the hand that was pinching her chin, straightened her messy hair, and said casually: "I have sealed your spiritual veins. If you want to mobilize your spiritual power, only I can release it for you, or..."

"I die."

Shen Ciyun shook his head helplessly, chuckled and said self-deprecatingly: “That’s right, how could you let me stay here intact.”

The man stroked her face and buried his head in the crook of her neck. "Why don't you stay with me? I will treat you well. If you don't run away, I will release the shackles."

Shen Ciyun closed her eyes again, without any response, even the angry questioning at the beginning was gone. The man looked at her directly, his beautiful eyebrows were now furrowed, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and his lips were pressed into a line. The man stroked her lips with his thumb, leaned in and kissed her, kissing her breathlessly. Shen Ciyun was extremely forbearing, her body trembling constantly, and the shackles rattled. Tears wet her eyelashes, slid down her cheeks, and dripped onto the back of his hand. She felt the man's movements become gentle, and finally he only pecked the corner of her lips twice before letting her go. The man wiped her tears and stood up. Shen Ciyun thought he was going to leave. In fact, it was not the case. As the man left, the shackles on her hands loosened her hands, and her body followed the man uncontrollably.

It was he who used his spiritual power to control her body. Now that her spiritual veins were sealed, she was no different from an ordinary person and could be easily controlled.

Shen Ciyun followed the man to another room around the corner. The stone walls were carved with incomprehensible patterns, and at the innermost corner was a shrine. It was unknown who this shrine enshrined; the statue's face was damaged, making it difficult to discern its features. Approaching the shrine, the man untied his cloak, revealing his wedding attire. Only now did Shen Ciyun understand his intention in having her wear the dress.

The man controlled Shen Ciyun to kneel down with him facing the shrine. A voice came from nowhere and said, "Bow to Heaven and Earth——"

"Bow to your parents--" The two of them bowed to the illusory "parents".

"Husband and wife bow to each other—"

The man raised his hand and cut a lock of Shen Ciyun's and his hair, entwining them together.

They are married and love each other deeply.

"The ceremony is over——"

Shen Ciyun said in an inaudible voice, "Crazy." The man caught her voice and twisted her hair. "I am crazy."

Shen Ciyun's emotions finally erupted at this moment, and she asked him hoarsely: "What on earth do you want by locking me up here?!"

Man: "I just want you to be by my side. I love you, what's wrong with that?"

The man released his grip on Shen Ciyun, and she grabbed his collar. "You love me? Don't you think it's ridiculous? If you love me, will you slaughter my entire family? If you love me, will you torture my master to death in front of me? If you love me, will you lock me up in this dark dungeon?"

The tragic faces of her fellow disciples who had died, the look on the face of the man who was torturing her master, and the look her master gave her when she was neither able to live nor die were all vivid in her mind, eroding her sanity.

"I hate you so much, I regret why I didn't kill you all those years!"

It's not like Shen Ciyun hadn't cursed him before, and he'd always endured it. This time, however, his anger was provoked. He gripped Shen Ciyun's wrist tightly, staring at her fiercely, "Shen Ciyun! Don't you know why I killed those people? Don't you know how they treated me? But there's one thing you really don't know. You only know that your master treated me and my mother well, but you don't know what your good master did to my mother! I wanted to cut out his disgusting face back then, so that he wouldn't have to show it to anyone again."

"Whether you love me or hate me, now you are in my hands, and we are married. You will only be mine for the rest of your life."

Shen Ciyun suddenly pulled out a hairpin with her other hand and wanted to stab it into his heart. However, she had no spiritual power, only a physical body. Before she could stab him, the man grabbed her hand and threw the hairpin to the ground.

The man grabbed her hands and said, "Do you want to kill me? Senior Sister, I'm waiting for that day—the day you can kill me."

Shen Ciyun was controlled and taken back to the original place, bound by shackles. The man told her that he would release her when she no longer hated him and was willing to stay with him.

But was it possible? Could she not hate him? Could she willingly stay by his side, spending her entire life in this dark dungeon? Even if she knew he had his reasons for killing, she wouldn't forgive him. He wasn't just killing for revenge; he had also murdered thousands of innocent children and destroyed so many families.

She would never forgive him. But in her memory, this person was not like this.

When he first arrived at Lianyun Sect, Shen Ciyun was only a little over ten years old. He had only heard that he and his mother were brought back from the foot of the mountain by his master, who took pity on them and took them in. His fellow disciples, who were also young at the time, would often joke about him being a little beggar after dinner, and some of the naughty ones would even bully him.

After he'd been in Lianyun Sect for over a month, several young disciples cornered him, mocking him as a beggar and claiming he was only alive because of his master's support. Later, they intensified their bullying, frequently hitting him on the head with stones. He didn't resist, not even a word, but each time, his head was broken and bleeding. Shen Ciyun was unaware of this, but one day during her break, she happened to pass by and saw those young disciples bullying him again. She chased them away and warned them not to bully him again.

At that time, Shen Ciyun saw that he was being bullied pitifully, with scars on his head from being hit by them, so she took some medicine and applied it to his wound. She said, "Those people bullied you not once or twice, why didn't you fight back? Are you just letting them bully you like this?"

The man at that time was a few years younger than her, and his voice was soft and sticky. He said, "I used to fight back... but every time I fought back, they would hit me harder and bully me more often."

Shen Ciyun felt sorry for him. She told the little boy, "If they bully you again in the future, just come to me and I'll help you fight back, okay?"

The little boy grinned at the words, pushing aside the pain on his head. And that day, Queen Shen Ciyun did indeed fulfill her promise. She drove away the bullies for the little boy, and the little boy was able to live a stable life in Lianyun Sect.

Shen Ciyun was popular in the Lianyun Sect, but the little boy was the opposite. She was his only friend, so Shen Ciyun often played with him. His hobby was asking Shen Ciyun to teach him swordsmanship or the guqin. When Shen Ciyun asked him why he wanted to learn these things, he replied, "I want to play the guqin for my mother. I heard that the sound of the guqin can soothe people, and my mother always complains about her sleep problems. I also want to learn swordsmanship so that I can protect her in the future."

After that, he diligently cultivated. One day, Shen Ciyun had planned to teach him the qin as usual, but she couldn't find him. She inquired for a long time, but everyone told her that the child had gone down the mountain, and the reason was unknown.

Such an innocent child, the boy at that time had no evil thoughts in his heart, only wishing his mother good health. But Shen Ciyun could never have imagined that such a child would become a murderous demon in the future. His childhood kindness had been extinguished, and his original heart had been lost.

"If you still have a clear conscience and your hands are not stained with the blood of innocent people, I will stay by your side willingly."