Chapter 12: Star and Lotus (End) Thinking about it this way, the fault lies with her, is...

Lian Qiang lay there for a long time, and the past flashed before her eyes. She seemed to be looking back in her deathbed, wondering at what point everything had gone wrong.

Was she possessed by a demon? But if she wasn't, wouldn't the distance between her and Chi Xingji be far? In the end, she could only look up at him from afar, infatuatedly.

Was she too self-righteous and shouldn't have accompanied Chi Xingji to leave Ninghe City? But if that were the case, she would only be able to hear Chi Xingji's story through rumors for the rest of her life. Wouldn't she regret it when she was old and gray?

Were they never supposed to touch the Great Dao? Lian Qiang knew very well that if Chi Xingji hadn't come to the Wuji Sword Sect, she and Chi Xingji would probably never have had any intersection in this life. They would each start their own families, and one day when they returned home, they would look at each other and nod, simply burying the last of their youthful thoughts.

She wanted to ignore Chi Xingji in her memories, but there was no way. Chi Xingji seemed to have been involved in her life from beginning to end. At every fork in the road, she firmly and undoubtedly chose the side with him in front.

Thinking about it this way, the fault was her. She shouldn't have had any admiration for Chi Xingji, and in the end she had to spend half her life trying to make up for it.

Lian Qiang supported herself and climbed up. This was not her home, so she had to go back to the courtyard where the story began.

She wanted to go back to where she came from, where maybe someone was waiting for her. No, it should be said that there must be someone waiting for her there.

Lian Qiang didn't know how long it took her or what methods she used, but she finally returned to the small Ninghe City on her own.

The Lian family in reality was much more dilapidated than the one in her memory. Lian Qiang hadn't noticed. She went over to the door with great joy. She could already imagine what her family looked like...

She wanted to cut the white hair on her parents' temples, continue bickering with her brother, and hug her sister-in-law. Would her nephew already have a family? No matter, no matter, she wanted to stay with them. This time, she would never leave again.

Although she was deeply troubled by the evil spirit, she should still have a long life left, enough for her to take good care of them in their old age and then follow them.

But the person who opened the door was a stranger. Lian Qiang had never seen him before, and he couldn't find any familiarity in his features. He looked Lian Qiang up and down, very alert: "Who are you?"

"I'm Lian Qiang. I'm back. I'm here to look for my parents..." Lian Qiang's words were a little incoherent due to her joy. She calmed herself down and simply told them their names. However, the man's alert expression did not change after she said these names. Instead, he looked a little confused.

"This is indeed a good place for the Lian family, but I have never heard of these names. Did you come to the wrong place..."

Lian Qiang's heart sank as she was doused with cold water. "What about Lian Bai? Is Lian Bai still around? What about Lian Qingling? Haven't you heard of these names?"

The man's expression finally changed. "Are you talking about the head of the family's family's grandfather? There was such a person, but you're late. He passed away a while ago, and the first seven days of mourning were just held yesterday."

Lian Qiang was stunned, unable to accept how her closest family members could have celebrated the seventh day of mourning... It took her a long time to find her voice again: "Is this the person you are talking about Lian Bai, or Lian Qingling?"

"Of course it's the latter. The old man was in his seventies or eighties, so it can be considered a happy funeral... I see you are a young girl, why are you only finding..." The man's face became more and more strange. Could he have met a lunatic?

"Impossible, I left something for them..." A normal person wouldn't have lived to this age, but Lian Qiang had already found a way out for them... Why, why? The gatekeeper's words were like a sharp blade, scraping away the life force from Lian Qiang bit by bit.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I only know that my ancestors were robbed once, and all their belongings were stolen. Fortunately, no one was hurt. If you left anything behind, it was probably stolen then." The man finished speaking, then realized he had said too much to this crazy stranger. He waved him away, "Go away! I'll just pretend I never met you. Don't make me suffer on my duty."

Lian Qiang walked away in a daze. Had the elixir she left behind been stolen? Were those people...pursuant to their original intention...to get the elixir?

The matter was already settled, and it was useless for her to think about it any further. But the more Lian Qiang thought about it, the more regretful she felt, and countless emotions surged in her heart.

Her parents, brother, sister-in-law, sister, and nephew...all passed away...What on earth had she done...

Lian Qiang raised her hands tremblingly. She was still young and her hands did not show any signs of aging. These decades were just a moment for her, but for ordinary people, it was a journey of birth, aging, sickness and death that they had to go through.

She really doesn't have anyone close or familiar to her in this world anymore.

In this vast world, no one is waiting for her to return, and she has nowhere to go.

When she left, Lian Qiang was still unwilling to give up, so she went to the Chi family's backyard for a walk. The tree that she had used to climb over the wall was very old and probably could no longer withstand her climbing.

She stood on tiptoe and looked as far as she could, trying to see the scenery inside the yard clearly. She stretched her neck as far as she could, but she did not see the apricot branches growing out of the wall again.

It must have been cut down. She realized clearly that even if it was still there, things and people had changed. There would never be that boy and her under the apricot tree again.

Lian Qiang walked aimlessly for a long time. When she came to her senses, she looked up and saw that it was the courtyard that Chi Xingji had purchased.

It was Chi Xingji who abandoned her first, but after many twists and turns, she finally came here.

Lian Qiang vaguely calculated that it seemed like she hadn't been home for more than ten days. Everything was covered in a hazy gray, but otherwise nothing had changed. She stumbled along, without Chi Xingji's spiritual power to protect her, and having missed the blooming season, the apricot blossoms in the yard had all fallen.

She went to look at the spiritual tree Chi Xingji had planted himself. It was still as green as yesterday, every leaf lush and lush, and it seemed even taller. Lian Qiang looked at it and suddenly burst into laughter.

Lian Qiang didn't stop laughing until the involuntary feeling hit her. She lay down under the tree, resting her head on her forearm, her other hand raised to block out the glaring sunlight, a posture of extreme weariness.

The sunlight shone on her body, but she didn't feel warm. This time, the demonic energy was far more ferocious than usual. Lian Qiang didn't even mobilize her spiritual power to resist. She was truly exhausted. A quick and clean death like this would be a good ending.

If she could choose her next life, she would like to be a bird. Not bound or tied down, able to go wherever she wants.

Surprisingly, this time, there wasn't much pain, unlike the previous tortures. As she grew increasingly sleepy, Lian Qiang vaguely wondered what would happen if her body were completely overtaken by demonic energy. She didn't really want to become a demon cultivator, as that would mean she'd have to continue struggling to survive. But if she became a walking corpse, wouldn't the suffering be even greater?

She has always been afraid of hardship, but what she experienced in the short second half of her life seemed to pay off all the sweetness she enjoyed in the first half.

Lian Qiang thought about it and thought about Chi Xingji. He should be in heaven now, resting peacefully as the Immortal King. If he wanted to look down, would he still remember her when his eyes swept over her? Or would he still remember her but despise her for ruining him into such a shameful state?

But none of this had anything to do with her anymore. Lian Qiang thought sadly, how shameful, at this point, she actually didn't hate Chi Xingji that much.

She just wished he had confessed earlier, otherwise she wouldn't have to face her death so hastily. She would choose a sunny day to die.

Half asleep and half awake, Lian Qiang felt a surge of power pouring into her dying body. She forced her eyelids open to take a look. It was the nameless spiritual tree, absorbing her life force and continuously channeling spiritual energy into her body.

Normally, when Lian Qiang watered it, it always thirsted for spiritual power, not afraid of too much, but now...

Its fresh leaves gradually withered and turned yellow, and the branches also lost moisture and became fragile... Lian Qiang stared at it and murmured, "Why..."

When death was imminent, she clearly didn't want to live anymore, but it was it that tried its best to save her.

The tree seemed to possess a spirit. Even in the absence of wind, it shook its sparse canopy, as if responding to her. It continued to channel its spiritual energy, and Lian Qiang could feel the two conflicting forces wrestling within her.

The body, which had been dulled by the passive waiting for death, suddenly came back to life, and at the same time, the pain that had been deliberately ignored also became vivid.

Lian Qiang struggled to sit up, leaning against a tree, breathing in deep gulps of air.

At that moment, she suddenly didn't want to die anymore. Even a tree was doing its best to save her, so what was she doing? This was truly a waste of herself.

She mobilized her remaining spiritual power and tried her best to resist the evil spirit. Seeing that the vitality of the spiritual tree was about to be consumed by her, Lian Qiang felt pity and stood up and took a few steps away from it.

If she really died unfortunately, at least there would be an afterlife. But if it died, there would be nothing left.

Lian Qiang gritted her teeth, as if every inch of her muscles and bones were being crushed and reshaped. Her strength was still small, not to mention that she had been hurt so much mentally and physically in recent days.

Looking at the demonic energy invading her, Lian Qiang muttered to herself, "I don't want to die..."

Even though she was alone, she could not face death calmly.

The pain almost deprived her of her other five senses. Lian Qiang heard the sound of footsteps approaching from afar. She thought it was her hallucination. She opened her eyes and wanted to pull the corner of his clothes: "Chi..."

She was wrong. That person was not Chi Xingji. She was very sure that no matter how ruthless Chi Xingji was, he would not turn a blind eye to her dying.

Lian Qiang curled up her body. She no longer had the energy to think about the purpose of this person's visit.

At this moment, no matter who it is, as long as they can save her...

In the chaos, she could only see clearly that the man was dressed in red, so bright that he seemed like the only color in the world. He leaned slightly towards Lian Qiang and stretched out a hand: "I will help you live a decent life. In exchange, you work for me. Are you willing?"

Lian Qiang tried hard to see his facial features clearly, and also managed to put her hand on his, whispering: "I do."