Good morning, Your Majesty the Heavenly Emperor
In the early morning, the sunlight in the Ziji Palace's sleeping quarters is so intense that it doesn't leak out at all, but shines in obliquely.
Sunlight streamed through the jade window and fell onto the ground. The smooth surface pushed the army of beams of light onto the star-studded dome, illuminating a scene of clouds moving in all directions.
Then the light, like rain, fell upon the bed in the bedroom, illuminating the curtains and kissing my eyes and skin.
Sigh, being the Heavenly Emperor is no easy task.
Even the light had long since blinded the gods in the palace, urging them to get up early.
Xie Jinhui said he had mastered great self-control and could remain unmoved even with a woman in his lap, so he confidently pulled me to share his pillow with him.
She slept exceptionally well that night, without having to be on guard against anything.
The fatigue, worries, doubts, troubles, and even the future that had nothing to do with today were all left behind in Xie Jinhui's embrace.
If anyone were to ask me what "forever" means, I would say it's not a moment, not eternity, but every moment of resting my head on Xie Jinhui's arm, watching myself become him, him become me, and then merging into the world.
Master said that if a being achieves self-perfection, then the love it gives can transcend the mind, race, species, time and space, and at the same time become the nourishment of all things and the nourishment of all things.
I don't yet know what ultimate fulfillment is, but after that night I shared a bed with Xie Jinhui, I feel as if returning to him, or every step he takes towards me, is the journey towards fulfillment.
I gently shook his arm, and I knew he was awake, but for some reason, there were still traces of sullenness on his face.
“Yuan’e,” Xie Jinhui opened his eyes slightly and said angrily, “How many times have you spied on Su Ling all night, you…”
I blinked, wanting to laugh at him, but I held it in.
His jealousy is so intense, even if I wanted to fall for Su Ling, I wouldn't be able to get close to her at all.
"Xie Jinhui, Su Ling's appearance is only slightly more refined than yours before."
I did peek, but I peeked at my most, most, most beloved little dust particle!
Xie Jinhui was delighted to hear this, but I suggested to him, "Why don't you think of a way to go back to how things were before?"
He gave a sullen laugh, appearing completely at ease.
“Su Ling’s appearance is like a furnace; I can’t take it off, nor should I.” As he spoke, he stroked the stray hairs that had slipped down my nose and examined me closely.
"Actually, Yuanhe looks slightly different this time; she's become more beautiful."
I smiled faintly and pulled his face.
I thought to myself: I should thank that monkey that sprayed my face with "pretty water"!
"Then let's both have affairs," I said. "Look, we can have both our new and old loves combined, isn't that great!"
"Don't be unfaithful!" His long branches pulled me into his arms, wrapping around me tightly.
“It’s just us,” he said.
Are we the only ones?
I am very confused about the emotional roots, the seven desires, the consciousness, and the relationship between Su Lingshe and me.
"Xie Jinhui, I am clearly the love root abandoned by the Holy Emperor Shengsheng, so why can't he recognize me, but you are the one who senses me?"
Hehe, you still like me that much.
“Because…” Xie Jinhui drawled, “Emperor Shengsheng is determined to sever ties with you and has completely forgotten you.”
"And me," he chuckled self-deprecatingly, "my mission is simply to summon you, lure you in, and then burn you."
I snuggled into his chest and said mischievously, "Hmm, it's pretty warm!"
But Xie Jinhui, the Holy Emperor treated me very specially, and I feel that he hasn't completely forgotten me.
“Yes,” he said. “The Holy Emperor may have developed fatherly feelings for you, after all, you are the one he loves.”
Hearing him say that, my mind opened up, and I immediately asked, "What are the feelings of the Seven Desires towards me?"
I felt Xie Jinhui's hand on my back tighten slightly.
"And what about Emperor Su Ling? If he were to see me, what kind of feelings would he have for me?"
Xie Jinhui's body contracted around me; was he trying to meld me into his body?
He was like a sky, pressing me down, as if trying to squeeze out all living things, air, and space between us.
I suddenly realized why he was jealous. It turned out that he had so many imaginary "love rivals," all of whom were himself or similar to himself.
"Yuan'e, what are your intentions toward Suo Ling? Speak!"
I pulled out my index finger and touched the center of his forehead, which was full of teasing smiles, as if sealing a demon.
"Xie Jinhui, I finally understand what's going on in your head right now!"
Xie Jinhui looked bewildered and blankly asked me for advice.
"You used to be a speck of dust, now you're a drop of water. You're just stuck in a muddy mess!"
Hehehe!
Xie Jinhui nimbly rolled over, taking me with him for a moment.
He retorted, "Little Stone, come here, watch me turn the tide and roll you in the mud."
The screen separates the lingering lights of a hangover; they have forgotten their fading glow and now shyly extinguish their flames.
Debauchery? That's too extravagant. Xie Jinhui and I are still the immortal daredevils who leave early and return late.
Even though the great cause of dying together was not accomplished, the pace of progress never stops.
Xie Jinhui took me to an old place in the lower realm. He said that if this step succeeded, it would be as easy as taking something out of a bag to dig out the hiding place of all seven desires.
He boasted because he later asked others for favors, but at the time, his ideas shattered my mud-headed notions.
We went to the cave where we had been imprisoned and personally took out a pair of charred grasshoppers that were hugging (biting each other's necks) from a transparent cover.
Their forms were shattered, and these dust particles were gathered and entered into our immortal bodies.
I picked up a charred grasshopper leg and asked, slightly puzzled, "Will this work?"
Xie Jinhui took my hand and, with the help of the Butterfly Dream Bell, returned to the past once again through the memories remaining in the cave.
“Doing this in the present time and space is not advisable, as it may awaken the seven desires, causing him to perish and harm the world.”
But going back in time wouldn't be a problem; we have our grasshopper son.
I followed his chain of immortal power as it flowed through time. Seeing his effortless demeanor, I couldn't help but ask, "Xie Jinhui, you really don't know how to open the Saint Sheng Heavenly Emperor's Sea of Time?"
He turned around and shook his head.
"Su Ling doesn't know, and I really don't."
It's really strange how he controls time, how he bends it, and even how he manipulates it. I was amazed and exclaimed in disbelief.
But he couldn't traverse the 320,000-year time interval.
I'm not surprised that Xie Jinhui could think of using the "blood ties" and fateful chains of the grasshopper son again.
But he wants to use our former grasshopper bodies, bound by the bonds of our parents' lives, to awaken our grasshopper son.
Then, by relying on blood ties and emotional nature, it can be summoned, thus escaping the control of the spirit of the seven desires.
This method caused my moral compass and the tower of good and evil to collapse in an instant.
I transformed into a grasshopper mother, flowing into the past, gazing from the air at the sleeping, icy grasshoppers beneath the abyss.
“Baby…” My heart tightened, and I called out softly.
He feared it would wake up, but he feared it wouldn't. Xie Jinhui's plan had failed.
The grasshopper son was surrounded by a layer of soft, serrated light, like a warm horizon that shielded him from the cold of the abyss.
Its delicate feet twitched, and its antennae trembled.
Xie Jinhui, who was beside me, called out with great emotion, "Baby, wake up..."
The grasshopper son's bean-like eyes rolled around, and the thin film of ignorance covering his eyes faded away.
It flipped over and jumped up, its whole body enveloped in joy.
It is indeed a spiritual being, the child of me and Xie Mazha. Even though it is a tiny insect, it has already developed sentience.
It leaped toward us, breaking free from the binding threads of its spirit.
As they struggled to fly higher, they excitedly shouted in their childish voices, "Mother, Father!"
My grasshopper eyes were filled with tears. As my youngest son flew closer and closer to us, I mocked Xie grasshopper in an almost sarcastic tone.
"Who says grasshoppers can't fly to the celestial realm? I think our son can!"
Originally, if the grasshopper son could be awakened, freed from the control of the seven desires, and run towards us with individual consciousness, this past drama of recognizing his parents should have ended.
But Xie Jinhui didn't have time to leave, and I didn't want to leave either.
The grasshopper son hopped up to our cloud, rolled and cheered around us, laughing and leaping about, having a wonderful time.
Xie Jinhui and I have never raised a son, never been parents, and have no idea how to coax a grasshopper.
But we hit it off immediately and took the child to the wheat field where the wheat ears were plump and the harvest was in sight.
Watching the grasshopper son triumphantly in the autumn wind, trampling the ears of wheat with swift hooves, I wish it could witness all the splendor of life.
Eat your fill of those slices, those tiny grains, those delicious white treats.
The grasshopper son roams freely, he is a prince in the wheat field.
Sometimes Xie the grasshopper and I would fly with it, and sometimes we would be pests with it, sticking our butts out and gnawing on the wheat ears.
Whether it's life or insects, in that fleeting illusion, did we ultimately fulfill our son's wishes, or did our son soothe the guilt in our hearts?
I didn't know that, seeing my son, the grasshopper, meet his beloved grasshopper, Xie the grasshopper and I soon became grandparents.
Grandpa and Grandma will never grow old, but the swirling snowflakes have arrived.
The early snow fell all night, and dawn could not break through the darkness.
So, the children and grandchildren in the wheat field, not seeing the snow clearly and not understanding the ice, had their souls covered by a thick layer of snow amidst the withered ice grass.
Our sons and grandsons all died of old age, or rather, they died at just the right time.
Accompanying our son, the grasshopper, through his entire life is not enough for Xie Jinhui and me to hold hands again.
As I walked out of the Butterfly Dream Bell with Xie Jinhui, my fingertips felt icy cold. The sky above the fourteen strings of the Immortal Realm was clear and azure.
Thinking about what lies ahead, one must not only go to the Hall of World Divisions to verify the location of each spirit creature, but also search for the parents of each spirit creature in the vast world.
The path to destruction for the stoves and firewood was fraught with difficulty.
I asked Xie Jinhui if the parents of the spirits might still be alive, some might be dead, and some might be neither alive nor dead, and their state of being uncertain.
Finding even a few pairs would be good enough, let alone finding them all. I feel like the goddess Yuan'e couldn't do it!
Xie Jinhui loosened my clenched fist one by one.
They are still wandering back and forth in the world.
All things originate from dust. Even if the physical form perishes and consciousness dissipates, their memories, their occurrences, and their lingering attachments still resonate everywhere.
Some remained silent and became mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees; others were reborn into the bodies of living beings.
Even if it changes form, it will always exist.
"You mean, even if they've been reincarnated, we still need to find them, extract them, and then..."
I asked him anxiously.
Xie Jinhui smiled.
"They cannot be reincarnated; they are the two purest individuals among all living beings and spirits."
In order to create usable spiritual beings, the seven desires have completely absorbed the spiritual essence of the parents of these spiritual beings.
They live in a daze, and when they die, they scatter into dust, wandering aimlessly.
He put his arm around my shoulder and said, "We are both an accident and a lifeline."
Perhaps, it was a divine will that even the seven desires could not have foreseen.
Yes, how did Qi Yu end up capturing me and Xie Jinhui? By some twist of fate, we became like grasshoppers, leaving ourselves with a blind spot.
I sat in my bedchamber, watching the sun climb over the sleeping blue sky, casting its sweaty, shimmering light and shadow.
"Xie Jinhui, gather them together, summon their children..."
And then, and then, they will definitely…
I looked up to meet Xie Jinhui, who was backlit. It turns out that sometimes even a god can look like a shadow.
"The kites will most likely burn along with us."
Let's call it, forcibly instigating them to sacrifice themselves for the common people.
"Would they be willing?" I asked weakly, almost groaning.
Xie Jinhui stroked the top of my head and pulled my head close.
"I don't know," he said, "but we'll be reunited."
My mood is not good, but my emotions, cognition, feelings, compassion for the spirits, and contemplation of fairness are all like a radiant and pure fog, obstructing the path we should be on, the path we should be walking on, the path we should be free from distractions.
He reached out and patted Xie Jinhui's back, urging him, "Xie Jinhui, I've rested enough, let's go collect spirit items."
Xie Jinhui, however, told me to stay in the palace and wait for him. He said he couldn't collect spiritual objects, but a reclusive deity could.
A reclusive deity?
Xie Jinhui said that Yifeng Canal is the spiritual master of all things.
If he were willing to help, let alone spirit creatures that are only a few hundred thousand years old, this emperor could understand the origins and development of all spirit creatures from the beginning of creation to the present.
Xie Jinhui is going to Youqing Peach Residence!
What a mysterious place, a place that even immortals yearn for, I also want to go.
Xie Jinhui frowned and muttered, "No, Yuanhe is waiting for me here!"
His tone left no room for argument; did he mean to suggest that Youqing Peach Abode was going to eat the goddess?
Xie Jinhui snorted coldly: "I don't think he's safe!"
"How is it unsafe?" I pressed.
Xie Jinhui stared at me, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"My instinct tells me I'm not safe!"
Ah! I think I understand now, the true form of Emperor Su Ling, the pure water, must taste sour!
Knowing he had important business to attend to, I still held onto his arm tightly and pleaded, "Xie Jinhui, if you won't take me to Youqing Peach Abode, you should at least take me to see your lair—the Boundless Heaven. Come back, take me there, please, please!"
Xie Jinhui's troubled expression infected me from the inside out.
"Yuan'e, I don't remember the way home. Do you have a key?"
What is this? He claims to be the divine consciousness of Emperor Su Ling, yet he doesn't even know how to return to the Boundless Heaven. He's a half-baked idiot!
"Xie Jinhui, with your abilities, do you really think Emperor Yifengqu would help you?"
“Of course,” Xie Jinhui said arrogantly, “because I am Suo!” He spoke without any shame.
He stepped out of the bedroom, and I lay on the couch kicking my legs.
They just abandoned me like that, it's really...
I pointed at his back and mocked him as I walked towards the gate, expressing my dissatisfaction.
"I'm going to find Qiyu to get the key!"
Xie Jinhui turned back, leaning against the doorframe and baring his teeth, "You dare!"
Ah, I raise my palm: Palm Plum, Palm Plum, when will you become an immortal? You must cure Xie Jinhui's sourness.
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