Chapter 129 Missed Opportunity "However, we will meet again soon."...
Perhaps because she believed him, or perhaps because it was the first time she had seen him weep with tears streaming down his face, Jiang Yuhuo did not push him away as she had done before.
Jia Yue held her close, leaned down slightly, and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. At this moment, he was unusually calm, as if all the emotions of the past had dissolved in this embrace, as if he had finally decided to let go. He quietly breathed in her scent, quietly felt her presence.
The shadowy figure disappeared beneath the white robe, and no one spoke again.
The cool body temperature unique to merfolk calmed Jiang Yuhuo's burning sensation.
She had gone to the woods to calm her feverish body, but when she turned around, she saw Jia Yue attacking Wen Yizhan, so she had no choice but to attack him in return.
The fragrance of the Udumbara flower soothed and calmed Jiang Yuhuo, who gradually became drowsy. In a daze, she recalled a time when she was woken up by the heat in the middle of the night and groggily climbed into the bathtub where he was staying, and she had hugged him like this to seek coolness.
She slept very well that time, but it kept him awake.
Not far away, the river waves lapped against the shore, their gentle rhythm carrying one's thoughts to distant places. Jiang Yuhuo gradually closed his eyes unconsciously.
She felt like she had only closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, the sky was already a pale, iron-gray color.
A night passed, and a faint red glow rose on the river's surface.
She actually fell asleep, and it was a deeper sleep than ever before.
The people around me have all left.
As he promised.
Jiang Yuhuo walked out of the woods, and the barrier vanished the instant she stepped out.
On the open ground not far away, the immortals guarding the river were still meditating, and Xiao Jing was still sleeping peacefully within the barrier she had set up.
Wen Yizhan sat on a rock, seemingly asleep. But the moment Jiang Yuhuo came out, he raised his head, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Jiang Yuhuo noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and his complexion was not good, as if he hadn't slept all night.
Wen Yizhan stared at her intently as she walked towards him.
A hoarse voice rang out.
"Junior sister, didn't you say you'd be right back?"
Jiang Yuhuo suddenly stopped. Wen Yizhan was smiling as always, but the smile was more painful than crying, and her eyes were even darker than the sky at that moment.
It looks unfamiliar.
"I……"
Jiang Yuhuo wanted to explain that she had just accidentally fallen asleep inside, but the communication talisman on her waist suddenly lit up at that moment.
Wen Yizhan's gaze grew increasingly dark.
This communication talisman was given to his disciple by Zhang Zhenyang. It can only be used for communication between the three members of their sect. No one else can find it unless the owner of the talisman actively binds it to someone else's talisman.
Junior sister, have you bound your talisman to that merman...?
Jiang Yuhuo picked up the communication talisman. It had no source, no signature, and only a short, incoherent message.
"I miss you so much, I miss you so much, why haven't you come to see me yet! I have so much to tell you, please come to see me soon, I can't hold back anymore. Please come see me, I'll give you anything."
It's like a random string of words that I accidentally caught.
However, her communication talisman is exclusive to her sect and never mixes in other people's messages.
And in that case...
Jiang Yuhuo suddenly thought of someone, and only he had ever stolen her communication talisman.
Li Mengbai.
As if to confirm her guess, the mark on her wrist began to feel slightly warm, but through the sleeve, no one could see the abnormality on her wrist.
Wen Yizhan's gaze was fixed on her communication talisman, and he tugged at the corner of his lips, knowingly asking, "Did Master send a message?"
Jiang Yuhuo didn't catch his hidden meaning and shook her head, saying, "No."
She casually erased the intrusive letter and severed the talisman thread that Li Mengbai had secretly attached, saying, "It was just a mistake."
They will probably have no further contact in the future.
*
Li Mengbai had just finished dealing with a matter and was about to head home, intending to give that clueless old man, Yao Weng, a good talking-to. He had only been away from being disciplined for a short time, yet he dared to leak all sorts of information.
Before they could even leave the Li family's house, someone else came knocking.
"Young Master, the thirteenth young master of the Ji family of Jiuxi requests an audience."
Li Mengbai raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Ji Qiu'an, what's he doing here?"
Unlike Li Mengbai, Ji Qiu'an is a cultivator who has worked his way up from the bottom of the Ji family. Because he has gradually risen to the center of the Ji family through his own strength, he dislikes the rules of blood ties among aristocratic families. Also, because he is still young, he cannot hide the arrogance in his bones and has always disdained to make friends and curry favor.
That just so happens to be the type of person Li Mengbai hates the most; he despises those seemingly upright and honest people.
Li Mengbai couldn't fathom what this person could possibly want from him. Curiosity overcame the slight exhaustion from expending so much spiritual energy. So, the person who was originally rushing home to sleep sat down on the soft couch again.
In the reception room, Li Mengbai listened to Ji Qiu'an's long, polite conversation and lazily yawned, only replying casually a few times, her entire demeanor clearly showing impatience. Just as Li Mengbai was about to get up and leave, Ji Qiu'an finally got to the point, subtly probing and carefully trying to find out the real issue.
"My elder sister will be engaged soon, and I would be honored to have Mr. Li attend the ceremony."
"However... my elder sister has been worried about her marriage recently. Unfortunately, as a man, I am unable to understand a woman's feelings. If there were a female cultivator of similar age who could offer some comfort, that would be wonderful."
Li Mengbai blew on the tea foam but didn't reply.
"When we last met, the immortal lord beside Young Master Li had a past with my elder sister. I wonder if it would be possible to invite her to the manor for a chat with my elder sister?"
Ji Qiu'an took a long detour before finally getting to that person. He spoke casually, but his fingers unconsciously tightened around the untouched teacup. If he hadn't wandered around the city for so many days without encountering her, he wouldn't have come to the Li family.
Li Mengbai took a sip of tea, and after a long while, she lifted her eyelids and said leisurely, "Her? She's not very good at comforting people, but she's very good at scolding them. She'll probably drive your older sister half to death."
He said this with a smile on his lips and a soft tone, as if he and that person were the closest of friends.
Ji Qiu'an's smile froze for a moment. "But my elder sister said that Jiang Xianjun is a trustworthy person. I suppose Young Master Li is unaware of their interactions."
The hand that was lifting the lid paused, and the atmosphere suddenly turned cold, with only the rich fragrance of ambergris remaining in the air.
Ji Qiu'an disliked Li Mengbai's ambiguous attitude to begin with, and now that things were quiet, he felt restless and unconsciously inhaled more of the fragrance.
"If it is inconvenient for Young Master Li, you may pass on a message to Immortal Lady Jiang. If she is present, you may ask Immortal Lady Jiang to come out and speak with you."
He spoke as if he were a proper gentleman, but the hope in his eyes betrayed him.
Li Mengbai lifted his eyelids and glanced at the person opposite him. Tsk, just average-looking.
He gave a disdainful laugh. "If you want to invite someone over, why doesn't Miss Ji come in person? Instead, she sends someone who has nothing to do with her. I really don't know if Miss Ji wants to catch up with old friends or if someone else has ulterior motives. If someone like that comes to invite me, I wouldn't dare to go either."
Ji Qiu'an knew he was deliberately provoking him, but the words "completely unrelated" still made him feel a pang in his heart. He could be unrelated to anyone, but not to her.
"They are not completely unrelated! She...she is also an old friend of mine. If Young Master Li does not believe me, you can ask Lady Jiang to come out, and I will explain the whole story to her, and she will understand."
The smile on Li Mengbai's lips suddenly turned cold. "Young Master Ji speaks so casually, who knows if it's true or not. She used to be famous in the Immortal Sect Competition. If just anyone came along claiming to be her old friend and clamoring to see her, wouldn't she be exhausted?"
Ji Qiu'an was young after all. When he heard Li Mengbai describe him as a vain and opportunistic person, the boy immediately became anxious. He was handsome with red lips and white teeth, and his ears turned red when he got anxious.
"Of course I'm not just saying this offhand. Back when I was experiencing life in the mortal realm, it was she who saved my life. We parted in such a hurry that year that I didn't have time to properly thank her. All these years, I've been looking for her."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ji Qiu'an was startled for a moment. How could he have said it so easily? The room felt so stuffy, and the scent of incense had become so strong that it was irritating him. But then he felt that after saying these things, the stuffiness lessened, making him wish he could vomit it all out, just waiting for a trigger to pull him out.
"Back then?" Li Mengbai raised an eyebrow. "The year you left home to gain experience?"
The smoke from the Boshan incense burner flowed slowly, and the aroma of incense in the air became even stronger.
“That’s right, it was seven years ago. At that time, I hadn’t even learned how to guide Qi into my body, and I was almost captured and forced to undergo a marrow cleansing. She killed those swindlers and saved me.”
Ji Qiu'an had inhaled a lot of incense, and he would tell everyone he knew whatever they asked, but he still looked a little embarrassed when talking about it.
Where did she rescue you?
"I remember Pinghai County was a dilapidated temple on the outskirts, but she burned it down. I went to look for it later, but it was all overgrown with weeds now, nothing was left..."
Li Mengbai interrupted his incessant recollection, "You mean, seven years ago, she destroyed the spirit marrow trading point converted from an abandoned temple on the outskirts of Pinghai County?"
His face was terribly pale, his gaze was cold, and he stared straight into Ji Qiu'an's eyes, afraid of missing any subtle expression.
Ji Qiu'an nodded. "I remember she was probably also tricked by that group. She came to take revenge. It was a cold day, and she was dressed very lightly. She broke in from outside and killed them all." He seemed to recall a pleasant memory, a smile playing on his lips. "When she killed, she was so efficient, so...beautiful. I was terrified, but I also wanted to watch. I didn't dare blink..."
A sudden "buzz" went through Li Mengbai's mind; he remembered and pieced it all together.
Li Mengbai could no longer hear Ji Qiu'an's voice; Jiang Yuhuo's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"When I was young and had nowhere to turn, he saved me."
"...At that time, it snowed heavily. I killed many people and didn't know where to go or how to take revenge... He and my master appeared."
In the endless, dark cave, she opened her heart to him for the first time, and it was also the first time he felt such clear jealousy towards Wen Yizhan.
Why is he favored by God? Why was he able to meet her so early?
Yes, it snowed heavily in Pinghai County that day. When he led his men there, the old temple had already been burned to the ground.
Because he did not receive enough spiritual essence to nourish his injured soul in time, Li Shichuan is still recuperating.
It turns out she was the one who did it.
It turns out they were once so close, so close they almost bumped into each other.
If Wen Yizhan hadn't taken her away, she should have met him and grown up together...
The person she would worry about deeply and would risk her life to save should have been him.
It's all because of that bastard! He stole her away!
Li Mengbai suddenly became obsessed with her.
I really want to see her, I really want to talk to her.
I desperately want to tell her that she should have met him in Pinghai County back then. It's all that bastard Wen Yizhan's fault! They were the ones who grew up relying on each other!
In his frenzy, he scribbled a bunch of words on the communication talisman, and the mark on his wrist became slightly warm due to his emotional fluctuations, clearly indicating the direction of another person.
Ji Qiu'an, her mind clouded by the incense, said to Li Mengbai with a mixture of shyness and anticipation, "Could you ask her to come out and see me?"
The bright purple figure, about to leave, suddenly stopped. Li Mengbai turned back and smiled, the first genuine smile of the day.
"Oh, she went back to Kunlun."
Ji Qiu'an's mind was slow at the moment. He couldn't understand why she wasn't here. He hesitated, wanting to ask more, but didn't know what to ask.
Suddenly, Li Mengbai had an object in his hand, which he was playing with, making a series of crisp sounds.
Only Li Mengbai knew that it was a bell, small and neat, probably one that had fallen from a string. The workmanship was unusually exquisite, and most importantly, a word was engraved on the very hidden bead inside.
Ji.
The royal surname of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
He clutched the bell in his hand and flashed a sweet smile.
"However, we will meet soon."
This time, they won't miss it again.
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