When she looked up, she met Ruxin's eyes, and for a moment, Shuixin was mesmerized.
"It's nothing." After a long while, she finally came to her senses and struggled to stand up, but one of her arms hung limply at her sides. The backlash of her inner energy had caused her arm to temporarily lose all feeling.
Ru Xin gently lifted her arm, then placed both hands on it, massaging from her wrist down to her shoulder.
His finger techniques were light and gentle, and his true energy slowly entered Shui Xin's body, and her arm returned to normal immediately.
Ruxin grasped her arm and made a few gestures, saying calmly, "I was in meditation just now, and my true energy filled my whole body. You touched it with your hand, so you suffered a backlash. But it's okay, you'll be fine after a rest. Remember not to overwork yourself these next few days."
"Mmm." Shui Xin nodded softly, her voice barely audible.
Being so close to Ruxin, she could even feel her presence, which made her blush and feel incredibly shy.
In fact, Shui Xin possesses a natural charm and has seen countless men; ordinary men would never evoke such feelings in her.
But Ru Xin in front of her gave her a different feeling, even making her heart pound, something she had never experienced before.
Ru Xin released her hand and then put her hands behind her back.
A complex expression appeared on his face, as if he was hesitant about something.
"You...have something on your mind?" Shui Xin looked up at Ru Xin and mustered up her courage to ask.
"Worries?" Ru Xin smiled faintly: "Who in this world doesn't have worries? Although I shaved my head before the Buddha and cut off three thousand strands of hair, I am still in the mortal world."
"Some things cannot be severed even if one does not sever worldly ties."
“You can tell me what’s on your mind. It’s really hard to keep it all bottled up inside.” Shui Xin looked up at Ru Xin and asked tentatively, “Is it about the decisive battle at Dangming Lake tomorrow?”
"Yes and no." Ruxin raised her head and said quietly, "The outcome of tomorrow's decisive battle is 50/50, but these are not things I'm worried about."
"So what are you worried about?" Shui Xin asked curiously.
Ru Xin smiled but didn't speak. He murmured, "What am I worried about? I don't know, I just feel a little uneasy."
"After returning from the temple that day, my heart was in turmoil. The shock of new life, the blood, the new life mingling together, I had a kind of illusion..."
"What kind of illusion?" Shui Xin asked.
"It's as if the baby boy I'm holding in my arms is myself," Ruxin murmured. "I came into this world in fear, and I can hear all the joys and sorrows around me, but I can't truly feel them."
"You're projecting yourself onto this," Shui Xin said, relieved. "Do you know about your past?"
"I don't know." Ru Xin slowly shook his head, somewhat puzzled. "Am I projecting myself onto this?"
“Yes, you don’t know your past; it’s a memory gap,” Shui Xin explained. “Blood, new life—all of these can awaken memories deep within you.”
"Is that so?" Ru Xin was startled, his expression becoming even more confused. He murmured, "Could it be that all of that... wasn't an illusion, but my memories? My sealed memories, or rather, forgotten memories?"
"What kind of memories?" Shui Xin raised her eyes to look at Ru Xin. She had a feeling that Ru Xin, who was always calm and composed, like a fairy, also had a past that no one knew.
Ru Xin did not answer. He closed his eyes and recalled the scene that appeared deep in his heart that day.
In a village, a little boy stands in the center of the village, looking somewhat helpless, while corpses lie scattered around him.
Blood and corpses—these were the only images he saw.
He was almost certain that the little boy was himself, and that he was at least six years old at the time. It was impossible for him to have no memory of what had happened back then.
His memories before the age of six were a complete blank, as if they were sealed away or forcibly erased.
He recalled what Ye Xingchen had said before leaving the temple that day: if he didn't face his problems, they would remain deep within him and eventually become inner demons.
He had no memory of his parents, nor did he know who they were or where he came from.
But his senior brother told him that he had traveled to a village where everyone had died from a plague, leaving him all alone.
He took himself back to the Great Wuxiang Temple, and it took him three days and three nights before he woke up.
Upon waking, she remembered nothing, not knowing who she was or what her name was. Therefore, her senior brother, acting on behalf of their master, accepted her as a disciple and bestowed upon her the Dharma name "Ruxin".
He never delved into his own background, because he always believed that worldly affairs were like fleeting clouds, and that the past was the past. He believed that if fate brought him together again, he would remember everything.
But the scent of blood and new life that day seemed to have stimulated something deep within him, making him vaguely recall something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
As for the plague that my senior brother mentioned? What kind of plague could cause everyone to die covered in blood?
“Actually, I can see that we are both people with bitter fates.” Shui Xin looked at him quietly: “Our names both contain the character ‘heart’, perhaps this is our destiny.”
“I… am a nun, having renounced all worldly desires.” Ru Xin paused, and for the first time in her life, she stammered.
The beautiful woman before him was an inescapable bond with him; he had known it from the very first moment he saw her.
But he was Ruxin, a high-ranking monk of the Rujia sect of Dawuxiang Temple. He had taken vows and converted to Buddhism.
He made a vow before Buddha that his entire life belonged to Buddha.
Even if you have someone you love, you can only bury those feelings deep inside your heart.
Shui Xin stared at him blankly, then suddenly wrapped her arms around Ru Xin and gently hugged him from behind.
Ru Xin's body stiffened. He had never been close to a woman before and was dumbfounded by Shui Xin's sudden action.
He shook his arms, about to unleash his inner energy to blast her away, and rebuked her for her rudeness.
"I like you," Shui Xin uttered.
Those four short words, like a spell, froze Ru Xin on the spot. His inner energy was like a river that had been blocked, and he could no longer unleash it.
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