Three Realms and Three Births
Liu Weiyang stood by the mulberry grove, hands behind his back, his robes fluttering, as if he had stepped into a painting.
Yan Dan suddenly recalled a saying: "Even the most ruthless can be moving." Whether it was the evil god Xuan Xiang or Liu Weiyang, the master of Shenxiao Palace, they stood there silently, exuding a restrained brilliance. It was as if there was no confusion or bewilderment in them, only the unwavering determination to pursue the path ahead.
Liu Weiyang was silent for a while, then suddenly said something strange: "In the ancient tomb in Qing Shi Town, you could sense my presence and know that I am not within the Three Realms. And when you made your move, I also knew that you are the same as me."
Yan Dan gazed at the clusters of plump mulberries above her head, and after a long while said, "What you said is not wrong, but there is one difference: I later voluntarily entered the demon register."
Because I'm too lonely.
Over the years, she had never met a companion like herself. She was less than a wisp of air or a drop of water; she was nothing, completely detached from the three realms. Even if one day she ceased to live in this world, no one would know.
“I didn’t sense your presence either. You didn’t use any magic that day, just ordinary martial arts.” Yan Dan turned to look at him and said seriously, “I can’t do what you did. I was with ordinary people then, but I still felt different. I can’t help it, that strange feeling is deeply ingrained… I often can’t sleep, it’s very hard to get through…”
Liu Weiyang turned his head to look at the other side and said softly, "What's the use? I can't even remember who I am."
"What if, and I mean, what if, you were the evil god Xuanxiang?"
“I never think about things that are baseless or unsubstantiated.” He said calmly, “Whether I am the evil god Xuan Xiang or not, so what?”
Yan Dan couldn't help but retort: "How can you say it's without evidence? Wasn't the Blood Eagle's reaction strange back then? Nan Zhao just said that you have the bloodline of an evil god, and Xuan Xiang looks so much like you. Do you think it's just a coincidence?"
Liu Weiyang suddenly turned his head, his eyes still calm and indifferent: "That's your speculation. You may be able to speculate about Shen Yijun and the others, but you may not be able to guess anything else."
Yan Dan glared at him, and the two stared at each other for a moment. Unfortunately, she was far inferior in terms of aura, so she had no choice but to give up: "Fine, fine, then what do you want? Actually, whether you are Xuan Xiang or not has nothing to do with me. If you have any thoughts, tell me if it's convenient, and see if I can help you."
"When Tao Ziqi forced me into the demonic form, she said that she was the Ziqi Star Envoy, one of the Nine Luminaries."
Yan Dan raised her finger and tapped her chin: "The Purple Qi Star Envoy is the only woman among the Nine Luminaries. They are all quite ordinary... Ah, right, it's the Star Lord Ketu! During the war between immortals and demons, the Heavenly Extreme Purple Void Emperor and the Star Lord Ketu were the first to encounter the evil god Xuan Xiang. In the end, neither of these two immortal lords even recovered their bodies." She paused, then added: "The Star Lord Ketu is fine, but the Purple Void Emperor is truly a pity. I cultivated in the Heavenly Court for a while back then, and all the little immortals who saw the Purple Void Emperor said he was elegant and knowledgeable about both ancient and modern times."
"Is that so?" Liu Weiyang was lost in thought for a moment, then asked, "And you, how did you manage to transcend the Three Realms?"
"Ah, me?" Yan Dan was stunned for a moment, not knowing why he suddenly turned the topic to her, and could only laugh awkwardly, "Well, actually I was originally a minor immortal in the Heavenly Court, but later I violated the Heavenly Laws and was to be sent to the Heavenly Execution Platform. You know, going to the Heavenly Execution Platform, you're neither human nor ghost, and you don't even know if you'll survive, so I ran away." She paused, seeing that Liu Weiyang was still waiting for her to continue, so she had to bite the bullet and continue, "Later I realized that the path I found was actually the Path of Reincarnation, which means seven lifetimes of reincarnation. Whatever is missing from the register of the Underworld will fill the gap. What if I've been missing cockroaches, bedbugs, and turtles all these years? Wouldn't I be ridiculed? So I gave up my immortal status and didn't go through seven lifetimes of reincarnation, but in doing so, I became detached from the Three Realms."
Liu Weiyang remained silent.
Yan Dan paced back and forth for a while, then suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, did you paint the landscape painting in the last stone chamber of the ancient tomb in Qing Shi Town?"
Liu Weiyang nodded slightly.
Do you still remember where that place in the painting is?
"...I don't remember." It's just a vague impression in his mind. He has traveled thousands of miles, even to remote towns, but he still hasn't found the place in the painting.
Yan Dan sighed, "It seems our experiences do have some overlap. The place you painted is in the underworld." Seeing the slight change in Liu Weiyang's expression, she patiently explained, "The underworld I'm referring to is what mortals often call the netherworld. The arena of life and death, the River of Oblivion, the Yellow Springs Road—actually, the scenery there is very beautiful, not as terrifying as mortals describe. And your painting is almost perfect."
“After I left the immortal realm, I went to the underworld. It took me eight hundred years to cross the River of Oblivion. Many people who crossed the river with me forgot their past lives once they reached the shore and were reborn as humans. But I couldn’t forget, and I couldn’t leave the underworld…” Yan Dan sighed and slowly frowned. “Many, many years later, I finally found the way back to the mortal realm from the underworld, but during those thousand years, my cultivation was completely wasted, and that’s how I became like this.”
Liu Weiyang's lips twitched slightly, about to speak, when Yan Dan suddenly grabbed his hand and said seriously, "I can understand how you feel, but Miss Nong Cui is really a good match for you, so just go for it."
Liu Weiyang abruptly shook off her hand, turned around, and strode away.
Yan Dan smiled as she watched his retreating figure: "Young Master Liu, I haven't even said those things to Yu Mo. It's too embarrassing, so please don't tell anyone."
Liu Weiyang paused, turned around and smiled slightly: "Let me think about it some more."
His most common expression is no expression, or a sad, bitter smile, but this fleeting smile is like thin ice melting.
Yan Dan touched her chin and couldn't help but think that she used to dislike Liu Weiyang for being so lifeless and never saying a word, but now it seemed that he wasn't so bad after all.
Yan Dan squatted by the stream, washing a bunch of plump, deep purple mulberries. Although the Luo Yue clan had declined, it was far from being in dire straits. When it reached the point where the waist was like the legs and the legs were like the waist, she would inevitably feel guilty when she sold Liu Weiyang.
Given the current situation, Liu Weiyang is likely to have no choice but to marry her, whether he wants to or not. She is simply going with the flow.
She took a delicious bite of the mulberries glistening with stream water, when she suddenly caught sight of two rather familiar figures out of the corner of her eye. She immediately tossed the mulberries aside and rushed over with a beaming smile: "Princess! And Senior Brother, you—oh?"
Tang Zhou stepped forward and hugged her tightly, his breath brushing against her temples. Yan Dan froze, unable to move. Fortunately, he quickly released her, looked her over carefully for a moment, and smiled slightly, "It seems you're not injured at all."
Yan Dan, who considered herself to have a thick skin, actually felt her face burning: "Looks like I'm luckier." She turned to look at Yu Mo and was startled: "Yu Mo, can you still see with your left eye?" The injury at the corner of his eye seemed to be more serious than when she saw it that day; it was already red and swollen.
Yu Mo reached out and touched it, saying casually, "It's alright, it's just a bit strenuous."
Yan Dan breathed a sigh of relief and murmured, "It's good that he can be cured..." She reached out to support Yu Mo and said softly, "The place I'm staying at is just ahead."
Tang Zhou looked at them and could only ask, "Where is Brother Liu? Although we fell down almost at the same time, the whole mountain had already been half overturned by then."
Yan Dan gritted her teeth, making a grinding sound: "I married him off, but who told him to push me off a cliff without even saying a word?"
Tang Zhou wasn't too surprised, he just sighed softly, "She's married off."
Yu Mo smiled slightly, his voice low and pleasant: "So it was misplaced anger."
"So what if it's displaced anger?" Yan Dan put on her most domineering and unreasonable expression.
"Nothing much. I just think, at least he pushed you down, while Tang and I were kicked down. How should we settle this score?"
Yan Dan couldn't help but think that this Young Master Liu was really too ruthless. If he didn't have such skills, he would have enemies all over the world and probably would have been torn to pieces ten times over.
Yu Mo's eye injury was severe. The wound had reopened two or three times and had become infected with dirt, showing signs of suppuration. Even with her magic, it wouldn't heal quickly.
Yan Dan lay by the bedside, resting her chin on her hand as she watched his sleeping face. She had used a rather rudimentary form of magic to induce sleep, and if Yu Mo didn't cooperate, it probably wouldn't work on him. She couldn't help but think that she might be the only person in the world whom Yu Mo could entrust his life to, and she could also entrust her own safety entirely to him.
But in the past twenty years, she had never told him.
She didn't know how to say those words.
"It seems like all the injuries you've suffered these past few years are my fault, and it's the same again this time. If only I had half of Young Master Liu's skills, at least you wouldn't be so focused on me that you forget about yourself..." Yan Dan was very distressed. "Actually, I've been trying hard to learn demonic arts, but I always start halfway through, and I'm still just a novice." She hugged a quilt, squatted by the bed, and slowly became sleepy: "But Yu Mo, could you please stop using those demonic arts that involve disemboweling people so easily? It's just too bloody and ugly..."
As she drifted off to sleep, she could still faintly smell the scent of agarwood. She couldn't help but think that back in Yelan Mountain, Yu Mo had always had a particular fondness for agarwood. While this preference was rather peculiar, it wasn't entirely out of place for him. Over time, he even carried a subtle, pleasant lotus scent on his person, which happened to be her favorite agarwood fragrance.
In her sleep, she vaguely heard a soft sigh, and someone whispered in her ear, "Because it's late, there weren't any seats left for me..."
Yan Dan frowned unconsciously.
She couldn't understand anything about whether it was early or late.
Since entering the Demon Realm, Yan Dan had become very sleepy, often falling into a deep sleep and losing consciousness as soon as she lay down. When she woke up, light was already streaming into the pavilion, and she was lying in bed, covered with a thin blanket.
As soon as she sat up, she sensed that something was off about the atmosphere around her.
She slowly, stiffly turned her head. The door was wide open, and Liu Weiyang was leaning against it, a pale green jade flute resting on his arm, one leg slightly bent, his posture incredibly elegant. She had never seen him so elegant before, but why here of all places? Tang Zhou, on the other hand, sat leisurely at the table, one hand supporting his chin, the other holding a teacup. Seeing that she was awake, he remained seated, his gaze sweeping over her collar, lingering for a moment, before turning away. Yu Mo stood with his back to her by the window, his hair as black as ink, his figure upright, and spoke slowly and deliberately: "This really is something I can't quite figure out."
Yan Dan nearly vomited blood. Someone tell her, what on earth is going on? This room is still hers, after all. Yu Mo being here is one thing, but why are the other two here too?! She trembled for a long time before finally managing to choke out, "Why are you all here…?"
"Even if they come to stop us, it's not certain they can succeed," Tang Zhou said calmly, setting down his teacup.
Liu Weiyang shook his head slightly: "Since we are in the Demon Realm, we must follow its rules." He turned to look at Yu Mo: "These illusionary formations are ultimately more proficient in your skills. Do you have any insights?"
Yu Mo turned his head and smiled slightly, "I wouldn't call it a brilliant idea, but I also think we should follow the rules of the Demon Form. I can no longer sense the killing intent and fluctuations at the center of the Demon Form. Perhaps we will find a way out once we get through this hurdle."
"I'm afraid it will be somewhat difficult. I think they've already decided that this matter is inextricably linked to us," Tang Zhou said slowly.
"Hey, you guys..." Yan Dan could only struggle in desperation.
"That depends on how Brother Liu handles it." Yu Mo glanced at Liu Weiyang and said with a smile, "The people of Luoyue will always show Brother Liu some respect."
Yan Dan angrily slammed her fist on the bedside: "What are you three doing here?! Or is there something you absolutely have to say here?!"
Liu Weiyang finally turned to her and said casually, "You're awake?"
Yan Dan clenched her fists and managed to squeeze out a few words: "I've been awake for a long time..."
Tang Zhou chuckled lightly: "I just noticed. But why are you so angry?" He told this lie without batting an eye, remaining calm and composed.
Yan Dan could only admit defeat and feel inferior: "I'm not angry... How could I be angry? After all, not everyone wakes up to find someone else in their room. What are you all doing here?"
Yu Mo walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed with his long legs crossed: "Last night, a Luo Yue person died suddenly."
Yan Dan immediately pressed, "Who is it?"
Liu Weiyang's lips twitched slightly. He straightened up, flicked his sleeve, and said, "I'll go and talk to them right away."
Yan Dan immediately understood: "Is it Young Master Liu's father-in-law? Or his mother-in-law? It can't be his fiancée, can it?"
Tang Zhou smiled and said, "It's my mother-in-law."
"Oh, then it's really a wedding or a funeral..." Yan Dan suddenly rolled off the bed. "Wait, wait, Young Master Liu's mother-in-law has passed away. Isn't that going to be blamed on us?"
Yu Mo quickly reached out and hugged her, smiling slightly, "They didn't say that. They just said that we can't leave until the murderer is found."
Yan Dan could only think of the phrase "misfortunes never come singly".
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
