About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xuan Yuanhao walked in carrying an exquisite box. He smiled and sat down on the chair next to Liuli, handing the box to her and saying gently, "Here you go, young lady."
Liuli hesitated before taking the box. She opened the lid and saw, indeed, the Imperial Seal of the State that she had seen before. Still somewhat skeptical, Liuli asked hesitantly, "Are you really giving me this seal?"
“Yes.” Xuan Yuanhao said with a gentle smile, “Yi Han made a secret room in my palace and used magic to protect it to store the Imperial Seal. It’s very troublesome to go into the secret room, which is why you’ve been waiting for so long, Miss.”
"It's alright," Liuli replied casually. She took the jade seal out of the box and examined it from all angles. The jade seal was warm and translucent, with a faint light reflecting off it. If she didn't know that it was made of divine stone, she would have really thought it was made of jade.
She tried to channel her magic into the jade seal, and a faint wisp of black energy surged into it. The jade seal instantly shone brightly, and a seven-colored light and a black light intertwined within it for a moment before dissipating.
Unbeknownst to Liuli, just as she was channeling that wisp of magic into the jade seal, the ancient sword within the dazzling cluster of light above the distant Zhulu Plain trembled slightly.
The storage ring on Liuli's hand flashed with light, engulfing the jade seal in her hand. When the light dissipated, her hand was empty.
Liuli placed the exquisite box on a small table to the side, clapped her hands, and stood up, saying, "Xuanyuan Hao, thank you. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave!"
"Are you leaving already?" A hint of reluctance appeared on Xuan Yuanhao's face. He then stood up and said, "It's getting late. Why don't you have dinner before you go, young lady?"
"No, thank you." Liuli shook her head and said, "Farewell!"
"Well... alright then." Xuan Yuanhao paused, then asked expectantly, "Will you come to see me again, young lady?"
Liuli hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes."
Xuan Yuanhao narrowed his eyes and smiled. His smile was bright, revealing a set of white teeth. If one ignored the gray in his temples and the fine lines on his face, this man was still the same gentle and cheerful boy from back then.
He smiled and said, "Alright, when you come again, I will definitely prepare a feast for you and have a good chat with you."
"Hmm." Liuli responded faintly and turned to leave.
"Wait a moment, young lady!" Xuan Yuanhao called out hastily, remembering something.
"What?" Liuli turned her head and looked at him in confusion.
Xuan Yuanhao hurriedly walked to the long table by the south wall and picked up a newly completed painting. As he walked, he said with a smile, "I have a painting here that I would like to give to you, Miss. I hope you will not find it offensive."
He strode up to Liuli and handed her the painting with a smile.
Liuli reached out and took the scroll. Looking down, she saw a woman in white with slightly raised eyebrows and a sly smile on her lips.
A hint of bewilderment flickered in Liuli's eyes as she hesitated, "Is...it me in this painting?"
“Yes.” Xuan Yuanhao said gently, “This was when I first met you, young lady.”
Liuli stared at the woman in the painting for a long time. Over the years, whether she saw her reflection in the bronze mirror or in the water, she always saw an indifferent and cold expression, with no smile on her lips. She had never imagined that she could smile so happily, as if she had no worries at all.
She carefully rolled up the scroll and put it into her storage ring. Looking up at Xuan Yuanhao, she said sincerely, "Thank you. Farewell."
"Alright." Xuan Yuanhao tried his best to hide his reluctance and said with a smile, "Take care, young lady."
Liuli nodded, turned and took a few steps out of the Tranquil Heart Palace. Outside the palace, she summoned a nine-colored lotus platform, stepped onto it, and flew into the sky, disappearing in an instant.
Xuanyuan Hao came to the outside of the hall and looked up at a golden light that quickly disappeared into the horizon. He could no longer see the slender figure in the light, but he refused to return to the hall. He just kept staring in that direction, unwilling to look away.
--
After obtaining the Imperial Seal, Liuli did not rush to refine it into a weapon. Also, because Xuanyuan Hao voluntarily gave the seal to Liuli, no divine punishment descended upon her.
She did not stop there. She waited for a disciple of the Pudu Temple at the foot of the mountain, captured the disciple, and used the Heavenly Demon to destroy her Buddhist heart and sanity, torturing her until she went mad and became possessed by demons. Then she threw her into the Pudu Temple and watched the show from the air with amusement.
When the disciples of Pudu Temple discovered Liuli, they chased after her, but they could not catch up with the Nine-Colored Lotus Platform. They were only insulted by her and returned in disgrace.
For the next ten days or so, Liuli repeated her old tricks, torturing lone Buddhist disciples until they were possessed by demons, then throwing them into their sects and watching with amusement as they fought amongst themselves. The three Buddhist sects suffered greatly as a result.
These crazed disciples, after being thrown into the temple, had already lost their minds. They saw the shadow of the Heavenly Demon in everyone, and thus only knew how to kill, and acted ruthlessly.
Furthermore, most of the disciples chosen by Liuli had already reached the Buddhist Heart Realm or higher, and were all outstanding disciples of the temple. The disciples of the three sects were unwilling to kill them, so they could only exert some effort to capture them and then awaken their minds with Buddhist incantations. However, awakening their minds was extremely difficult. It often required several highly accomplished elders of the temple to chant Buddhist incantations in the ears of the demon-possessed disciples for several days and nights without stopping, in order to barely awaken them.
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