Mother
The thought had barely formed when Yunwei's bosom suddenly felt empty.
The plain old sachet left by her mother slipped to the ground. A warm, smooth jade ring rolled out from it, and with a soft "clink," it shattered.
In an instant, a soft white light emanated from the jade ring fragments and rose, quickly condensing into a hazy yet incredibly clear phantom.
The woman had gentle features and an elegant demeanor; she was none other than Yun Qing, the mother she had longed for but had been separated from for thirteen years.
She was still wearing the plain white ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) that I remembered wearing most often, with her hair simply styled, and she was quietly watching me.
Yunwei's pupils suddenly contracted, and her breathing became labored.
"Yun'er." Her mother smiled at her.
"Mother?" Yun Wei murmured, unconsciously raising her hand, her fingertips almost touching the translucent shadow, then pulling it back, as if the illusory existence would dissipate if she exerted even a little force.
It felt like something was gripping her heart tightly, a bitter feeling surging up like a tidal wave, but she suppressed it firmly in her throat.
She stared at the man, her eyelashes trembling. Her hands, hanging by her sides, quietly curled up, her nails digging into her palms as she steadied her voice: "You...you're not dead?"
The last syllable trembled almost inaudibly.
"So what have you been doing hiding here all these years?"
Hearing this, she shook her head, her gaze falling on the still-damp bloodstains on Yun Wei's lips and the crimson spots on her clothes, her eyes filled with even greater sorrow. "Silly child, I have long since perished. This is merely a wisp of my consciousness that separated from me years ago, sealed within this jade ring. I instructed my surviving sister that if she were inclined towards the Dao, she should crush this jade, and my divine sense would sense it and guide her to find me. Alas..."
She sighed, filled with endless regret: "She was young and frightened at the time, and did not hear my last words clearly. She only treasured this thing as a keepsake. My wisp of consciousness has been dormant until now, until it shattered and revealed itself just now."
Yunwei paused for a moment. If her younger sister had remembered her instructions clearly, her mother's divine sense could have guided her to escape Chishui Village, a place that favored sons over daughters and treated women like dirt, and embark on the path of cultivation to change her destiny.
She almost had the chance to escape her misery.
Before Yunwei could finish her thought, her mother's illusory figure suddenly swayed, and the white light around her dimmed a bit.
“Just now your soul power surged and your blood flowed in reverse, it’s not that the secret record is fake.” She paused, her gaze falling on the jade slip in front of Yun Wei’s knees, her tone becoming more solemn, “That ‘Returning to Origin Nourishing Soul Secret Record’ is a unique secret technique I created back then… If you force yourself to comprehend it, you will end up like you just now, causing your soul power to surge in reverse and backfire on yourself.”
She looked up and said, "It was my oversight. I didn't expect my Yun'er would need it, and even went so far as to force her to comprehend it with her remnant soul."
She gently raised her illusory hand, as if wanting to touch Yunwei's pale cheek, her eyes filled with heartache.
Yun's fingers, hanging slightly at her sides, curled up gently, the tips turning pale white from the force.
She gazed at her mother's illusory figure, her eyes calm as a deep pool, devoid of any resentment, only her slightly forward-leaning posture revealing a hint of suppressed urgency.
So that's how it is; it was all a series of unexpected twists of fate.
How could she blame her mother? She left behind this last bit of consciousness to guide her younger sister, but now it has become the key to saving her.
The pain caused by the backlash from the secret technique had long since faded. What was surging in Yunwei's heart now was the question that had been building up for thirteen years.
"Mother, what was the reason for the Cold Soul Abyss incident back then?" Yun Wei asked softly, her eyelids slightly raised, her gaze falling directly on her mother's illusory figure. Her usually cold eyes were now covered with a very thin layer of mist, and even the corners of her eyes were slightly red.
The illusory figure swayed slightly, and when its eyelashes drooped, it seemed as if tears glistened in the white light.
"Yun'er, my child... The truth behind the past is something you must find for yourself. I am here not to answer your questions, but to protect you."
Yun Wei's heart tightened, and a trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes, but she did not ask any further questions.
She knew that her mother was unwilling to talk about it, and asking again would be futile.
Yun Qing looked at her, and a very faint smile suddenly bloomed on her lips. The smile spread across her eyebrows and eyes, making her already gentle features even more tender.
But Yunwei could see clearly that the white light at the edge of her mother's phantom was falling down like snowflakes blown by the wind.
"I will burn away this last wisp of consciousness to rebuild your soul foundation. Live on, keep going. You must believe that you will be able to uproot all the buried truths in this world, no matter how deeply they are hidden." As she spoke, her illusory fingertips gently touched Yun Wei's brow.
Reconstructing her soul foundation? But all she wanted was for her mother to continue staying by her side.
The illusory image flickered on and off, and when Yunwei reached out to grab it, her fingertips only passed through nothingness.
She regained consciousness instantly. Her mother was long gone; what was the point of dwelling on these things? She had burned her spiritual energy solely to aid herself, hoping her mother would survive and uncover the truth.
With the sect competition imminent, Xie Qingfeng still held a high position, and her mother's grievances awaited redress; she had no time to wallow in self-pity.
After a while, Yun Wei slowly raised her hand, put her index and middle fingers together, and gently touched her brow. This was the starting gesture when the Guiyun Sect made its oath.
Her gaze swept over her mother's illusory figure, showing no trace of sorrow, only clarity and sharpness: "I, Yunwei, hereby swear that I will use the sword in my hand to wash away my mother's long-standing stigma. If I break this oath, may my soul be scattered and never be reincarnated."
Yun Qing nodded slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Mother believes you."
After she finished speaking, the white light around her suddenly intensified, transforming into a condensed stream of warm white light that entered Yun Wei's mind and spirit.
Yun closed her eyes, placed her hands together in front of her abdomen, and focused her mind.
This time, there was no more stagnation or coldness in my body.
The warm current flowed slowly through her meridians, and wherever it passed, the stinging pain caused by the damage to her remnant soul faded away, and the spiritual energy that had been disordered due to the damage to her remnant soul also calmed down.
Finally, she slowly opened her eyes. The bamboo hut was empty and silent, with only the swaying bamboo shadows outside the window.
The mother's figure had vanished without a trace, as if she had never existed, leaving only the old sachet lying forlornly on the ground.
A drop of icy liquid slid down Yunwei's cheek without warning and landed on the back of her hand.
She paused slightly, raised her hand and touched the dampness, a strange sense of bewilderment washing over her.
She doesn't like to cry. When she was young, she practiced swordsmanship. No matter how hard or tiring it was, even if she broke her bones or fractured her muscles, she never shed a tear, because tears are a declaration of weakness, a vulnerability to show to her opponent.
The path of the sword allows no weakness whatsoever.
But this tear is not for weakness, but for farewell, for someone I can no longer reach.
Just then, the door of the bamboo hut was pushed open, and the boy, covered in the chill of the night dew, rushed in.
He immediately noticed the glaring bloodstains on Yun Wei's clothes and the dampness around her eyes.
He had seen her cold and aloof, keeping everyone at arm's length; he had seen her decisive and ruthless, her sword aura unstoppable; he had also seen her soul residing in a broken sword, weak and frail... but he had never seen her shed a tear.
The boy almost staggered over, knelt on one knee, and gripped her shoulders tightly with both hands, as if he wanted to crush her shoulder bones.
His jaw tightened, his cobalt blue eyes fixed on her, his voice filled with barely concealed anxiety, almost spitting out the words through gritted teeth: "What happened?! Did the sect leader tamper with the secret records and injure you? I knew he had ill intentions! You..."
Yunwei was taken aback by his sudden restraint and almost roaring question, and instinctively tried to break free.
Xie Lanchen was afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid that she would die? Was it because of the life-sharing pact? This thought flashed through her mind.
This usually arrogant and awkward nemesis, who was always at odds with her, actually lost his composure so much because she was injured, vomited blood, and even shed a single tear.
"Let go," Yun Wei said at the opportune moment.
The boy's expression froze. Looking at her cool and aloof eyes, the anxiety was still there, but he still let go of her hand.
He took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound calm: "What just happened?"
Yun Wei remained silent, standing up on her own. The sense of stability that arose from within after her remnant soul was repaired made her figure appear even more upright and aloof, exuding an extraordinary aura.
With a slight movement of her fingertips, a wisp of spiritual energy swept up the sachet and broken jade from the ground, placing them steadily into her hand.
Yunwei looked down at it, her eyes filled with a rare tenderness and appreciation.
“It’s not a problem with the secret records,” she said.
“The secret record is real, but I cannot decipher it. Just now, my blood and qi reversed, triggering the manifestation of a wisp of my mother’s consciousness left in the sachet.” She succinctly explained the origin of the sachet, the appearance of her mother’s remnant consciousness, and the true key to the secret record.
As Xie Lanchen listened to her story, his gaze fell on the sachet she was clutching tightly, and complex emotions surged deep within his cobalt blue eyes.
So it turns out... it was for her mother.
"So you're alright?" he asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over her as if to confirm that she was truly unharmed.
Yunwei nodded: "Yes, my mother helped me repair my remnant soul."
The boy remained silent for a moment, then stood up as well, his cobalt blue eyes never leaving her, as if glued to her.
He frowned slightly, as if he had suddenly remembered something. He swallowed hard, and finally asked, "I once saw an unnamed blue stone tablet in the back mountain of Guiyun Sect, standing alone by a stream. There wasn't even a name on it. I suppose that was the one you erected for your mother?"
Yunwei glanced at him, her eyes filled with displeasure: "Yes. After my mother died, her remains were lost, and no one in the Guiyun Sect erected a monument for her, nor were they allowed to offer sacrifices. So I found a piece of bluestone by a very secluded stream in the back mountain of the sect, which I regarded as my mother's resting place. But you always block my way, year after year."
She remembered how the boy used to lean silently against an old tree by the roadside, holding a long sword in his arms, his face bearing a complex expression she couldn't decipher, seemingly melancholy and brooding, yet also harboring a meaning she couldn't quite put her finger on.
He never approached her, nor did he speak; he simply gazed at her intently with his cobalt blue eyes.
At that time, she thought the boy was a spy sent by Xie Qingfeng to monitor her movements and prevent her from investigating her mother's past. Therefore, every time she went to pay respects to her mother, she would look straight ahead and pretend not to see him. Her dislike gradually grew, and over time, she also developed some resentment towards the boy.
“Xie Lanchen,” Yun Wei spoke, her cold gaze falling on his face, “Why do you hate me so much?” She asked directly, giving him no room to avoid the question.
Xie Lanchen was taken aback by the question. A hint of panic flashed in his usually nonchalant eyes, but it was quickly concealed by his usual aloofness.
He scoffed, turned his face away, and replied coldly, "I... I just happened to be practicing my sword there."
Finally, the young man couldn't hold back any longer. He turned his head to face her and softened his voice, "No... I just... didn't want you to be seen by the disciples of the Enforcement Hall patrolling the mountain. The sect leader is extremely displeased with your private worship. You were already in a difficult situation then, and if you were caught doing something wrong..."
Yunwei glanced at him, somewhat surprised.
She had always thought the boy was spying on her, but she never imagined it was for this reason.
In those years, the people in the Enforcement Hall did keep a close eye on her. If she were caught worshipping her mother, she would probably be accused of some crime.
She looked at Xie Lanchen's lowered eyes, and his usual aloofness had faded somewhat.
It turns out he wasn't always her enemy.
"Thank you." Yun Wei finally spoke, her voice less distant, "Whether it was back then or tonight in the library."
She paused, then added, "Previously, my soul was damaged and my emotions were dulled, so I was quite distant from you, but it wasn't intentional."
Upon hearing this, the boy was visibly taken aback, a glint of light flashing across his eyes. The corners of his mouth seemed to want to turn up, but he suppressed it tightly, turning his head away in a feigned indifference: "Who wants your thanks? It was just a small favor."
How could she not see through his awkward thoughts? But now that her remnant soul had just recovered, she really didn't have the energy to investigate the boy's unpredictable temperament.
Yun raised her eyes slightly, her gaze devoid of any extra emotion, and simply said, "Now that we've laid everything out, you may leave."
She needs time to process everything that happened tonight, and she also needs to consolidate the soul essence that has just been repaired.
Xie Lanchen pursed his lips and remained silent for a while before responding in a muffled voice, "Your remnant soul has just recovered, so don't use your spiritual power recklessly. Rest well."
Yun Wei nodded, her tone as usual: "See you tomorrow."
Once the remnant soul is restored, the soul foundation is reforged.
She should rightfully claim the top spot.
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