First entry into Tianyan Pavilion
After leaving the mansion that held all her love and pain, Yu Jinli felt as if her whole world had turned gray and white.
Like a puppet stripped of all emotion, she numbly followed her parents and Gu Yanzhi onto a private jet.
As the plane took off, she took one last look through the small porthole at the familiar city that was rapidly shrinking.
Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably again.
But this time, she didn't make a sound.
She simply buried her face in her knees quietly.
The plane flew westward, through the clouds, and over the mountains.
Finally, it landed deep in the Kunlun Mountains, at a secluded private airport covered in snow.
As soon as I got off the plane, a biting, icy wind carrying snowflakes hit me in the face.
Yu Jinli couldn't help but shiver.
Yuehua quickly draped a warm white down jacket that she had prepared beforehand over her shoulders.
"Child, are you cold?" Yuehua's voice was full of worry.
Yu Jinli shook her head and remained silent.
She looked at the boundless, pristine yet desolate white world before her, and felt a void in her heart.
Is this what she calls home?
Can this place truly heal her heart, which is already riddled with wounds?
Gu Yanzhi walked to her side and said softly, "Koi, come with me."
The group trudged through the thick snow and onto what looked like an ordinary mountain trail.
However, after walking for about ten minutes, Yu Jinli realized that the scene in front of her was starting to look somewhat...unreal.
The surrounding temperature was slowly rising.
The biting cold wind softened.
Even the air began to fill with a faint floral and herbal fragrance.
Just as she was filled with doubt and surprise, Gu Yanzhi stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary mountain wall.
He reached out and gently tapped the mountainside a few times in a peculiar rhythm.
Then, a magical thing happened.
The hard mountain wall rippled like water, revealing a warm passage behind it that emitted a soft white light.
Yu Jinli stared in disbelief at the special effects before her, which were comparable to those in a fantasy movie, feeling that her worldview had been shaken once again.
"Let's go." Gu Yanzhi smiled gently at her. "Welcome home."
After passing through that warm passage, the view suddenly opened up before me.
Yu Jinli felt as if she had been instantly transported from the icy wilderness of Siberia to the idyllic water towns of Jiangnan.
It was a magnificent architectural complex, standing atop a snow-capped mountain, composed of white jade and ice crystals, shimmering with seven colors under the sunlight, like a fairyland.
Pavilions and towers, with flying eaves and brackets, are simple yet full of charm.
Exotic flowers and rare herbs vie for attention. Cranes and deer stroll leisurely.
The air was filled with a refreshing and intense spiritual energy, almost tangible.
This is the legendary Tianyan Pavilion.
A boy dressed in a blue Taoist robe, who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, ran over quickly like a little swallow.
"Senior Brother! Sect Leader! Mistress! You're back!"
His eyes lit up instantly when he saw Yu Jinli behind Gu Yanzhi.
"Wow! Is this beautiful lady our long-lost junior sister?" He looked her up and down curiously.
"Don't be so disrespectful," Yuehua scolded, but her tone was full of affection. "This is your junior uncle."
"Huh? Martial Uncle?" The boy scratched his head, seemingly not quite understanding.
"Alright, stop blocking the way here."
A clear and cheerful female voice came from behind.
A spirited woman dressed in a fiery red outfit, with her hair tied in a high ponytail and carrying a long sword, strode over.
She is Lin Shu, the senior disciple of Tianyan Pavilion who has the highest cultivation level and is the most authoritative among the current disciples.
"Senior Brother! Sect Leader! Mistress! You're back!"
His eyes lit up instantly when he saw Yu Jinli behind Gu Yanzhi.
"Wow! Is this beautiful lady our long-lost... legendary junior sister?" He looked her up and down curiously.
"Alright, stop blocking the way here."
A clear and cheerful female voice came from behind.
A spirited woman dressed in a fiery red outfit, with her hair tied in a high ponytail and carrying a long sword, strode over.
She is Lin Shu, the senior disciple of Tianyan Pavilion who has the highest cultivation level and is the most authoritative among the current disciples.
"Master and Mistress, Eldest Brother," she bowed respectfully, and then her gaze, like a precise measuring stick, fell upon Yu Jinli.
It was an undisguised, head-to-toe scrutiny, tinged with curiosity, a hint of inquiry, and... an indescribable sense of challenge.
It was as if they were weighing the true worth of this legendary, long-lost sect leader, this girl who had been parachuted in as their junior sister upon entering the sect.
Finally, she gave Yu Jinli a perfunctory nod, which was her way of greeting him.
"Welcome home, junior sister."
Next, Yu Jinli was like a giant panda being watched, surrounded by a group of overly enthusiastic senior brothers and sisters who suddenly appeared.
There is a tech-savvy senior brother who is obsessed with using talismans to grow all sorts of strange mushrooms.
There was a pedantic fourth senior brother who always carried a book and spoke in classical Chinese phrases.
And then there's... a devilishly handsome fifth senior brother, more beautiful than a woman, who seems to be flirting with everyone he looks at.
Each of them was filled with curiosity about her, this legendary junior sister.
They pulled her aside, asking her all sorts of questions, digging up her pitiful, already shattered, dark past.
Yu Jinli was driven crazy by their noise.
Looking at the vibrant, energetic smiling faces before her, the gray, desolate wasteland in her heart seemed to be tinged with a tiny, insignificant touch of color.
But it was only a tiny bit.
Her heart was still empty.
Like a beautiful empty shell whose heart has been ripped out.
Yuehua noticed her daughter's weariness and aloofness.
She dismissed the group of disciples who still wanted to gossip, then took Yu Jinli's hand and said softly, "Child, are you tired? Let me take you to see your place."
Yu Jinli was led by her to a secluded bamboo house located on the edge of a cliff in the back mountain.
The bamboo house was small and elegant, surrounded by various kinds of spiritual herbs that she didn't know the names of and that emitted a strange fragrance.
From here, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the entire Tianyan Pavilion and the magnificent sea of clouds in the distance.
"This is the place with the most abundant spiritual energy in our Tianyan Pavilion." Yuehua's voice carried a hint of nostalgia. "It is also the Star Gazing Pavilion, where only the Holy Maidens of all generations could reside."
"From today onwards, this will be your home."
Home?
Looking at the unbelievably beautiful bamboo house in front of her, Yu Jinli felt a strange and unfamiliar sense of unease rising in her heart.
She instinctively took a half step back.
Yuehua looked at her daughter's reaction and a pang of heartache flashed in her eyes.
She knew that the child still resented her.
“Child,” she said softly, “I know it’s hard for you to accept right now. It’s okay, Mom won’t force you.”
"You should rest first. We'll talk slowly when you've figured things out."
After saying that, she turned around and left quietly, leaving Yu Jinli alone.
Yu Jinli walked into the bamboo house filled with the fragrance of grass and trees and placed her small suitcase in the corner.
Then, she walked to the window and opened it.
The magnificent sea of clouds and the distant, snow-capped mountains are all within sight.
This place is beautiful, as beautiful as a painting.
It's so quiet here that you can hear your own heartbeat.
But for some reason, she felt that this place was even lonelier than Feng Jinxuan's cold and empty mansion.
She suddenly missed the man who always had a sharp tongue but would unhesitatingly shield her when she was in danger.
She misses that man who was always childish and awkward, yet clumsily held up the sky for her.
She misses that coward she pushed away with her own hands.
She didn't know what happened to him after she left.
Do you eat on time?
Did you get a good night's sleep?
Without her "purification," will that damned bad luck that's haunting him start to torment him even more severely again?
As she was lost in thought, a sudden, deep-seated weariness swept over her.
It was the energy within her body that was issuing a warning.
Their destinies were already deeply intertwined.
If he is not good, she... will also find it difficult to live in peace.
She couldn't hold on any longer.
She slowly lay down on the soft bamboo bed covered with clean sheets.
Soon, I fell into a deep, yet incredibly chaotic dream.
There are no snow-capped mountains or seas of clouds in my dream.
There was only an endless expanse of cold darkness.
In the heart of that darkness, she saw the figure she had longed for.
He knelt amidst the chaos, clutching tightly the safety amulet she had personally returned to him.
A mouthful of bright red, scalding blood gushed from his mouth.
It dyed him and that safety buckle a bright red...
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