It can be repaired now.
How did Xie Jinhui manage to do that?
His true form stood amidst the intricate array of strands, turned around, and reached out to me.
Currently, a balance of power has been established, and all the known locations of spiritual objects have been bound with binding immortal power threads.
These lines are like a breeze that blows by chance; even if one wanders among them, one will not be wary, let alone discover them.
I also transformed into my true form, took Xie Jinhui's hands, and looked up at him, intending to hand him the thread I had tied.
Xie Jinhui grasped my hand in return, his eyes revealing a hint of sorrow and an untouchable gentle majesty.
"Yuan'e, keep this for self-defense."
I watched intently as his expression gradually shifted from calm to a cold and resolute one, as if he were setting up multiple barriers to protect me from any disturbance.
I squeezed his hand and said with a smile, "You could tell that the fake Emperor Shengsheng was being mean to me in the Purple Palace that day..."
Before I could finish speaking, Xie Jinhui nodded, his eyes narrowing into slits. I reckon that as soon as he opened his eyes again, he would unleash two flying daggers to gouge out the fake Heavenly Emperor's eyes.
“The monster has ill intentions towards you,” he said.
Xie Jinhui's breathing was even; he wasn't angry, he was simply stating a fact.
I pulled my hand away from his, put my arm around his waist, leaned back, and smiled at him again—a truly sincere smile.
"Xie Jinhui, I am yours."
Xie Jinhui returned the "Myriad Spirits Gathering Talisman" to his left palm, and the myriad strands around him finally disappeared, and we were once again surrounded by a beam of spiritual light as still as water.
It was so quiet. Xie Jinhui's laughter lingered like raindrops, echoing in the tubular space, making my heart rise and fall like a spiral.
As the white light faded, all was silent.
Xie Jinhui chuckled softly, his words falling like raindrops into my ear: "Yuanhe, you only need to be true to yourself, and I am devoted to you."
Xie Jinhui told me that the reason he was able to bind the spiritual core guarded by the spirit in the present time and space without anyone noticing was because he secretly set a mark in the stream of memories of the grasshopper son.
He first used the spiritual power of the grasshopper son in his memory stream to sense other spiritual beings, and then used his own immortal power to penetrate them one by one, making them all believe that Xie Jinhui was also of the same kind.
Xie Jinhui then transferred and implanted these memories from the past into the present time and space.
Those spirits actually accepted this memory and mark, and still allowed Xie Jinhui to approach them.
I was completely confused, so I asked him.
"You didn't actually go back to the real past; you only manipulated a memory from the past. How could the normal flow of time possibly remember what you did?"
Xie Jinhui, you're playing with time! How could that be?
Xie Jinhui gently rubbed my face and said with great interest, "I always feel that time, to me, is like Yuan'e's face—it can be kneaded, shaped, and rounded."
I reached out and pinched a piece of skin off his face, laughing as I asked him a question that was making hissing noises.
"Does it hurt?"
I roughly understood what Xie Jinhui was saying. It wasn't about reversing time, but rather planting a seed called "he once existed" in the common memory stream of all the spirits, and they accepted this seed.
We remained in this position, violently attacking each other's faces, as we returned to the bottom of Dizhuo Pond via the Butterfly Dream Bell.
Having secured part of the fake Heavenly Emperor's "lifeline," the remaining clues still require a way to infiltrate the Hall of World Divisions and uncover them one by one.
Given Xie Jinhui's status as the future Heavenly Emperor, it's uncertain whether the Fenye Palace will allow him to pass.
But Xie Jinhui and I both felt it was difficult.
They could either overthrow the fake Heavenly Emperor, but the prerequisite for doing so was obtaining clues, and to obtain clues, they needed the approval of the Division Palace.
The Dividing Palace only recognizes the Heavenly Emperor.
It seems to be an unbreakable cycle; the matter of the fake Heavenly Emperor cannot be publicized for the time being.
If the fake Heavenly Emperor continues to act as the emperor and doesn't give Xie Jinhui any chance, then that move will be extremely difficult to execute.
However, one should not be impatient in life, and one should be even less impatient in the life of an immortal, especially an immortal in a game of strategy.
Xie Jinhui and I pushed off the heavy, viscous water, embracing each other as we surfaced from the Dizhuo Pond, and smiled at each other.
We must maintain a tender and affectionate image for the sake of certain deities who might be secretly watching us.
Hehe, do we even need to pretend to be affectionate?
Xie Jinhui peeked out, then half of his body surfaced, oh dear.
As the boundless water splashed over him, he resembled a silver fish, his cheeks glowing like peach blossoms, and his lips dripping with the fragrance of dew.
The water droplets couldn't cling to his smooth skin, sliding down his body in glistening lines before reluctantly falling back into the water.
I stared at him, swallowing hard, and he stared back at me, who was so close to me, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Stop rolling, stop rolling! The water droplet bypassed his Adam's apple and flowed downwards, downwards, and my gaze involuntarily followed it downwards.
It flowed into the depths of his clothes, into the unseen hills of reverie.
I'm not just fantasizing; I've seen it. So my vulgarity is very specific, so specific that it completely restrained the filth at the entrance of his Shenque Cave.
I don't know what Xie Jinhui can see in me; he probably doesn't see it as specifically as I do, but he probably thinks about it more deeply.
Otherwise, why would his cheeks turn red, and his ears, neck, and eyes all turn a peach-colored hue?
The color of peach blossoms is so beautiful. My "Grandpa Peach Tree" has personally given me fruit to eat.
"It's my own peach, no need to be polite," I said, cupping his face in my hands and biting his lip.
I didn't linger; I let go after biting him. Now, more than kissing him, I want to see him submerged in the water, his thin frame possessing an alluring charm that draws me in.
Thank God, my "husband," I am so satisfied.
Xie Jinhui, this water column, probably intends to become a water fossil; he doesn't move at all. I kissed him, but he still didn't move.
Despite the swirling mist and the water droplets forming a screen, Xie Jinhui's body would eventually dry up.
I waited for him to dry off, to see if he would either go back into the water or come ashore with me when he was completely dry.
Xie Jinhui remained motionless, his hands slightly outstretched, raising his two jade-like fingers from the water, as if stirring up a flowing spring and waterfall, with each drop creating ripples that stirred the heart.
Her jade-like fingers landed on my cheek; perhaps the heat from my face soothed the coolness of her fingertips.
Xie Jinhui's fingers trembled and twisted, and I saw in his eyes the same image on my face as an angry sunset, a crimson sunset scene.
The redness in his eyes reflects the warmth in my heart.
Xie Jinhui took a deep breath and exhaled a misty vapor.
“Yuan’e, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”
When he said this, he stammered a few words, sounding shy and hesitant.
Coincidentally, I have the same idea.
I looked up, as if to light a fire, but before I could even start, the fire was dampened by the hazy, slowly moving shadows on the edge of the pond.
Xie Jinhui turned his head to follow my gaze and chuckled.
“Yuan’e, look! There’s a migrating bamboo forest over there.”
I don't know if it's just my imagination, but there was a hint of schadenfreude in Xie Jinhui's tone.
I looked at the bamboo forest, which moved like a string being pulled, turning its head back with each step, and taking half a step back with each two steps, and a feeling of pity arose in my heart.
I recognize these bamboo stalks; they are all components of a whole bamboo forest.
A single bamboo stalk is not immortal, but without any one of them, the bamboo grove is not qualified to ascend.
They used to wander around, and I even overheard them talking badly about Xie Jinhui.
So I tied them up, making it a little harder for them to get home.
But alas, so many years have passed, and they are still on their way home, moving at an absurdly slow pace.
Xie Jinhui couldn't hold back his laughter any longer, and the sound of "hahaha" echoed loudly.
This laugh was quite something; the bamboo stalks heard it and were so frightened that they dared not move, and all of them started trembling and shaking their poles.
"Thank you, Divine Lord and Goddess Yuan'e. We were just passing by and had no intention of disturbing you."
The sounds are so pitiful; they try to be as quiet as possible and move extremely slowly.
I asked them, puzzled.
"Fellow cultivators, are you heading home so early today?"
A bamboo stalk cried out, "Goddess Yuan'e, we know we were wrong. Ever since you disciplined us that day, we have never touched our home again."
We've been on our way for over a decade now!
I was baffled. It was merely bound by a celestial power lock, which would naturally untie with the passage of time. Yet, they remained trapped to this day, and...
“Hey, hollow bamboos, why are you walking so slowly?” I said.
At this, Wan Zhu wept.
"We don't know either. Right after the goddess Yuan'e tied us up, a sticky mess was splashed onto our forest."
Then, not only did our feet get stuck, but we left long trails wherever we went..."
Then another bamboo stalk burst into tears.
"We were almost home when a huge boulder fell from Fei Kong Mountain. We were rescued by the little fairy who was searching for us and brought to the Ziji Palace."
We're shy, so we stood in the Purple Extreme Palace for several years until all the fellow immortals forgot about us before we set off again.
Now, they've inadvertently stumbled upon the secret affair between Xie Shenjun and the goddess Yuan'e.
I've never seen such an eerily straight bamboo. Before the words "its private affairs" even landed, I heard a group of bamboo poles whipping and beating it.
The bamboo has stopped howling; it must have been knocked unconscious.
Xie Jinhui brought a burst of compassionate energy, dedicated to saving all living beings and helping the hollow bamboo to escape suffering and attain happiness.
With a flick of her sleeve, she sent the bamboo forest back to its self-destructed home, and then went to the "Teng Nuo Yuan" (a place name).
After delivering the bamboo grove, Xie Jinhui covered his mouth and chuckled.
I tickled his armpits to force him to confess.
"Xie Jinhui, did you glue those hollow bamboo stems on?"
Xie Jinhui grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms; his smile was still jumping inside me.
“Yuan’e, listen to my excuses.”
At that time, many snails appeared in my pond. I thought the snail mucus was useful, so I collected a lot of it, thinking of playing a trick on someone.
And so, at that time, I heard Yuanhe say, "If that day ever comes, I will be the one who dies first, and I will personally bind him with my soul lock."
Upon hearing this, my heart warmed, and I bestowed the snail mucus upon the bamboo forest.
They reminded Yuan'e of the unforgivable act of dying for her.
"Why forgive them now?" I leaned forward, my breath catching Xie Jinhui's.
I suddenly felt as if the air had solidified into flames, and if our breaths rubbed together a few more times, some tacit understanding that belonged only to us, of taking and taking, would become clear without us even saying it.
Xie Jinhui's dripping hair clung to his cheeks, and he used this coolness to maintain his peace.
“Yuan’e.” His breathing suddenly changed rhythm, rising and falling, unpredictable.
“Please forgive me,” he said. “I just want to get them away so I can talk to you about something quickly.”
I raised my hand and placed it on his chest, teasingly saying, "I won't let you off the hook unless you use snail slime on yourself and taste it for yourself."
Upon hearing this, Xie Jinhui's eyes became ambiguous as he looked down at his own body beneath the water's surface.
He suddenly looked up, his eyes seemed to be coated with mucus, making my eyes glued to him.
"Yuan'e, where do you want to stick to me?"
Good heavens, he was just being sarcastic! I raised my hand to punch him.
Xie Jinhui put one arm around my waist and the other around my wrists, then used his immortal power to lift us both out of the pool.
Water droplets swirled and fell inside and outside the pool, crackling like firecrackers.
I felt myself turn around slightly and my back was pressed against a soft rock.
Huh? That's right, even though the stones by the Dizhuo Pond look like stones, their bodies are as soft as if they were made of water.
I leaned against the rock, and Xie Jinhui slowly leaned forward. The god in front of me and the rock behind me were both gentle, not oppressive, but they made my heart surge even more than oppressive.
“Yuan’e,” Xie Jinhui said with a smile in his eyes, “I want to ask you, can we not wait for the wedding date in January, but choose a time when I can give myself to you earlier?”
Ha, you're offering yourself to me? Xie Jinhui, you might as well say you can't wait any longer and want to cultivate with me as soon as possible.
I understand what Xie Jinhui means; he is not the kind of person who is impatient.
He was just a little flustered because of the fake Saint Emperor incident.
He didn't want to get me; he wanted our marriage to come true.
Despite having grasped many of the fake Emperor Sheng's weaknesses, the future situation, whether shrouded in darkness or suspicion, has yet to unfold.
The future is unpredictable and ever-changing; even Xie Jinhui fears he might not be able to hold on to it.
When he saw that I didn't answer, he tried to wake me up with a kiss.
Strangely, the closer he got to me, the more my body bent backward.
Before I knew it, I was lying on a waterbed.
I understand now. That soft stone wasn't up to any good. Why did it cater to me and Xie Jinhui, doing everything it could to transform itself, ultimately turning itself from a high rock by the pond into a flat, wave-like bed?
Unbeknownst to Xie Jinhui, he had placed his hands on the bed and looked down at me with a dazed and surprised expression.
He realized something was wrong and immediately got up to get out of bed.
I grabbed his long arm, pulled him down onto the bed, switched places with him, and looked down at him.
The wet fairy robes couldn't stir even the slightest breeze, and the heavy, easygoing Xie Jinhui fell onto the waterbed with a thud.
The splashing water droplets are a way for me to temporarily shake off all my worries about the future.
If fish can drown, this is one of the few moments of respite for Xie Jinhui and me.
"Xie Jinhui," I couldn't help but smile as I looked at Xie Jinhui, who was lying flat on the bed, tense all over, with his eyes darting around.
"No need to choose a date, we can do it now."
Xie Jinhui's eyes widened suddenly, not with lust, but with shock.
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