Chapter 75 Thousand Lanterns "You've misunderstood. I have no such feelings for her."...
After spending these days together, Qingping had come to understand Jiang Yuhuo's fire elemental energy quite well, and also knew why she had used Chenshui—originally, she had only wanted to use the Ice Spirit Technique to win her favor. But this time, Qingping had other plans.
Seeing that Jiang Yuhuo possessed abundant spiritual energy and superb swordsmanship, she was certain she would live a long and prosperous life, perhaps even matching the lifespan of a mermaid. The more Qingping looked at Jiang Yuhuo, the more she felt she couldn't live without her, and she was determined to let her spend more time with His Highness so that he would fall for her as soon as possible.
The next day, however, Qingping was rebuffed by Jiayue.
As usual, Qingping reported her affairs to Jiayue and casually mentioned asking him to teach Jiang Yu the Fire and Ice Spirit Technique.
"What does Your Highness think? If Miss Jiang can help Your Highness get over what happened before, that would be a great thing." Qingping smiled, sincerely planning for Jia Yue's future.
Jia Yue slowly closed the file, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the table. He looked up at his fellow merfolk who had followed him here since childhood, a hint of unease flashing in his eyes. Then he said in a deep voice, "You misunderstand. I have no such feelings for her."
If he was right in his perception, the same was true for that person towards him.
The merman prince behind the desk had an exceptionally cold expression, as if he hadn't felt any interest in that person at all. Qingping couldn't help but wonder, did he really have no such intention? But she had clearly spent the entire night searching for him the night before, and she had no idea when he had developed such a warm heart.
Qingping wanted to say something more, but when she met Jia Yue's cold, sharp gaze, she swallowed her words of comfort. Having failed in her attempt, she could only bow and take her leave.
The palace doors closed gently, and the figures of the merfolk disappeared completely. Only then did Jia Yue take a deep breath and wearily rub his temples. If Qing Ping had looked closely, she would have noticed that his complexion was not very good.
Ever since that night he dreamed of that mortal, he began to dream frequently. In all his dreams, he was chasing that figure, experiencing joy, longing, loss, and pain... Intense emotions assaulted his heart again and again in his dreams, only to vanish into a vast emptiness upon waking.
He told himself that those were just emotions without substance, longings floating in a dream, and that there was no such mortal in his memory.
But last night, that dream came again.
He knew perfectly well that the person in his dream was the mortal who had caused his separation. But this time, when he embraced her again, he smelled the dry scent of incense. The familiar scent made him pause. He swam to the person as if possessed. The blurry figure in his dream looked up, and what appeared was Jiang Yuhuo's face.
Her cold, indifferent gaze fixed on him, her dark eyes devoid of any affection.
He should have let her go; she wasn't some mortal who would gaze at him with tenderness. But in his dream, he completely forgot about Jiang Yuhuo in reality, treating her as that mortal, pouring all his love into her, constantly seeking her presence, wanting to hold her even tighter…
The merman in the hall shook his head, trying to completely banish that image from his mind.
He knew he couldn't go on like this. He had only developed inappropriate feelings for her because he was constantly haunted by those dreams. But this wasn't real; she wasn't the mortal who had triggered his transformation. It was just that his emotions, which he couldn't find a place to belong due to his amnesia, had been accidentally placed on her.
That's all.
It's not too late, as long as he keeps a little control. He knows that when he starts to lose sight of reality and dreams, he will fall into a state of utter ruin.
Therefore, from now on, he can no longer let her appear in his life.
Once he left the Xihua Palace and distanced himself from her presence, he was able to return to his original state of clarity, and his heart was able to regain its former peace.
After the separation, he never pursued that lost memory, but now he felt that perhaps he should look for it, remember his past with that mortal in time, and distinguish the two in time, so as not to fall into another kind of madness.
On the desk were official documents handed over by the Left Protector: the temple in Falling Moon City needed protection, the spirit array in the forbidden area of the back mountain needed reinforcement, and the selection of new disciples was already on the agenda...
He had many things to do and shouldn't have let her distract him.
Jia Yue picked up a report from a stack of papers, which stated that there had been unusual activity in the forbidden area behind the mountain recently and that the spirit array urgently needed to be reinforced. She then walked straight out of the main hall.
*
Jiang Yuhuo learned the Ice Spirit Technique from Qingping, and now she frequently draws an ice mark on herself. It's not that she's bored, but rather that the effectiveness of her marks is far less lasting than Qingping's; she can only rely on quantity. Her marks, along with their cooling effect, usually disappear in less than an hour, while Qingping's can last a full day. She suspects that the effectiveness of learning this specific power is probably related to individual constitution; no matter how much she practices, she probably can't compare to the merfolk.
However, she did make some breakthroughs.
Having learned the Spirit Seal from Mo Sheng, she has been drawing and practicing it day and night for the past few days. The spiritual energy in her body has been increasing at a rate that is almost doubling. She has never felt so full and light. Now, even if she were to use the eighth sword of the Kunlun Nine Swords, "Bierdi Men," several times in a row, it would probably not be difficult.
What surprised Jiang Yuhuo even more was that the heat in her body seemed to be becoming more controllable due to the increase in spiritual power. When one of the two forces in her body was strong, it would overwhelm the other. However, this was probably the effect of being submerged in water for a long time. She could not distinguish between them. The only thing she could be sure of was that her body was becoming stronger, and its weaknesses were becoming more and more controllable.
Xiaoxi had been quite well-behaved these past few days, not sneaking over to find her, which gave her some space to cultivate alone. However, perhaps having gotten used to it following her around and teasing her from time to time, after a few days without it coming, Jiang Yuhuo actually felt a bit empty in her hands during her breaks from cultivation. She quickly stopped herself from having any inappropriate thoughts; after all, it was Jia Yue's spirit beast, and it couldn't always follow her. And at this rate of spiritual cultivation, she might be able to leave soon.
We probably won't see each other again.
Jiang Yuhuo took out a communication talisman. The green jade slip still showed the letter she had written to Wen Yizhan. Wen Yizhan hadn't sent her any messages for a long time.
When she couldn't get any information about Wen Yizhan's whereabouts from him, she asked Qingping if she knew what Jia Yue had asked Wen Yizhan to do.
But Qingping didn't know either. Their conversation that day dismissed everyone else, and then Wen Yizhan disappeared.
Jiang Yuhu frowned, still unwilling to give up, and continued writing a letter on the communication talisman, informing Wen Yizhan that her injuries had been completely healed. The letter contained a hint of threat, emphasizing that if he did not return soon, she would not wait for him anymore.
But after waiting for many more days, the message talisman still did not respond.
Anxiety quickly crept into Jiang Yuhuo's heart, and she decided to go and ask Jia Yue in person.
After daybreak, Jiang Yuhuo originally wanted to ask Qingping to take her to see Jiayue. Usually, Qingping was very willing to help, but recently she had not appeared on time as usual.
After waiting for a while without seeing anyone, she abandoned all formalities and went straight to the Linggu Pagoda, which Qingping had taken her through before.
The figure in white robes and silver embroidery was nowhere to be seen on the tower, nor were there any disciples gathered outside the hall. Jiang Yuhuo asked the disciples standing outside the tower and learned that Jia Yue had not been in Tianque for the past few days.
No wonder Xiaoxi hasn't come to find her.
When the disciple tried to ask when Jia Yue would return, his gaze towards Jiang Yuhuo instantly turned cold, and his words became unfriendly.
"The whereabouts of the eldest son are a secret, so please do not pry into it, Immortal Lord."
Unable to get any information from the other party, Jiang Yuhuo had no choice but to leave obediently.
On the way back, Jiang Yuhuo pondered where Wen Yizhan might have gone.
The world is vast, and the areas where cultivators can go are far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Apart from some infamous forbidden areas, there is nowhere they cannot go. She was at a loss for what to do.
Amidst her troubled mind, Jiang Yuhuo looked up into the distance. A flock of geese, flying in a V-formation, swept across the azure sky, resolutely heading towards their destination. She watched, lost in thought. The lead goose seemed to sense her gaze, glancing back at her, causing the flock to veer slightly in her direction.
Not wanting to disturb their journey, Jiang Yuhuo immediately tucked the silver bracelet from her wrist into her sleeve. The goose leader then withdrew its gaze, reorganized the flock, and led them resolutely northward. They quickly became a line of black dots, finally disappearing from Jiang Yuhuo's sight.
He roams freely in the vast天地 (heaven and earth) and across the four seas.
Leaning against the railing, gazing at the clear blue sky where geese had flown by without leaving a trace, Jiang Yuhuo couldn't help but sigh. She had indeed lingered here for too long.
However, there were some things that she had never been able to understand before, and that she might never have discovered if she hadn't come here and stayed a little longer.
Behind the Linggu Pagoda lies a secluded forest. Jiang Yuhuo, who usually studies diligently indoors, wanted to go into the forest for some fresh air. But before she even stepped onto the steps, she heard a heart-wrenching cry carried on the wind.
Jiang Yuhuo looked up and saw a figure with gray-blue hair on the steps. It was probably another merman, but this merman was being held down by several Tianque disciples. He was desperately trying to break free, but because he wasn't strong enough, he was still firmly restrained by the Tianque disciples. The merman's uniquely beautiful face was flushed red from the effort. Judging from his appearance, he should be a very young merman.
"I refuse to enter the Soul-Locking Cave! You can't separate me from her!"
Just as Jiang Yuhuo was about to go up and check on the situation, he heard the little mermaid utter a familiar name.
"Sister Qingping, I beg you, please don't lock me up in the Soul Locking Cave. Please let me see her one more time. Tomorrow is her birthday, and I promised to go see her. I promise I'll never go again. Just one look at her, please let me see her one more time!"
Jiang Yuhuo then noticed that there was a person standing behind the stone statue, with only a small part of a white garment showing.
"This is His Highness's decision." Qingping's voice sounded unusually cold, a side of her that Jiang Yuhuo had never seen before. "I'm sorry, Qiandeng, I can't let you sneak down the mountain to meet that mortal again."
"Where is Your Highness? I want to see Your Highness! You can't treat me like this! I haven't done anything wrong!" The little mermaid named Qian Deng's voice was filled with heavy sobs.
“Last time you went down the mountain without permission, you deliberately erased all traces of yourself along the way, which made His Highness very angry.”
The little mermaid sobbed, "I didn't know, there were others... Sister Qingping, please tell His Highness that I didn't do it on purpose. I just wanted to hide my tracks. I didn't know that the person His Highness was looking for had also disappeared."
He cried bitterly, his tears falling like pearls onto the ground. Qingping's tone softened, "Qiandeng, you are still too young. You don't know what kind of situation you will face if you continue to let things go. Listen to your sister, separate from her for a while, and you will gradually get over it. It's better to suffer for a few days now than to suffer for hundreds of years in the future."
This kind of persuasion did not calm the other party down. Instead, the little mermaid roared angrily, "I don't want to! I'm not little, I've lived for over a hundred years! You're doing this on purpose. I know she's weak, short-lived, and just an ordinary mortal. You all look down on her, but I think she's wonderful. I only want her. What's wrong with wanting to be with her?"
"She is a mortal, and you shouldn't associate with mortals." The little mermaid's cries did not move Qingping; instead, they made her words even calmer.
"Are we merfolk, who live on land, not even allowed to love someone?"
No one answered.
The gate's security array flickered, and Qingping directed her disciples to throw the little mermaid into the dark cave.
“Your hearts are all bad, I hate you, your hearts are all bad…”
His cries faded into the cave and gradually disappeared.
Qingping sighed at the cave entrance, then closed the spirit array with a wave of her hand. As soon as she stepped down the steps, she saw a familiar, slender figure.
The Kunlun female cultivator who was recuperating here stood at the bottom of the steps and smiled at her, but there was no smile in her eyes. She slowly said, "Mermaid, so you hate mortals so much."
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