Chapter 29 The Thousand-Year-Old Pearl Was Never Found 5 I Ate It
Mingyan stopped, her eyes slowly clearing, and she was startled to see Mingying standing on the edge of the cliff: "What are you doing standing there!"
Mingying turned around, her expression hidden in the darkness. Mingyan found her strange and was about to pull her back from the edge of the cliff when Mingying walked over and asked with a smile, "Do you remember what happened?"
Mingyan paused, looked around, and realized, "Why is she here?"
She frowned and thought for a moment, her face flushed and paled, then covered her face in anger and embarrassment: "Why are you, a sickly person, not resting in bed and taking care of yourself, but looking at me all day? And what else do you want to say right now!"
Mingying looked surprised: "Oh, there's more? Mingyan, do you hate going to school?"
Mingyan: "..."
She had been questioning herself about why she couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality, and she even felt a little guilty for pushing Mingying to the ground, as if she had bullied her. But now, she gritted her teeth and just wanted to pounce on her and shut her up. Mingying had always been this silly when she was little, how did she become so hateful as an adult?
Seeing that she seemed about to explode with anger, Mingying smiled and patted her shoulder, then suddenly blurted out, "Mingyan, you're the best!"
Mingyan turned her head away, she really couldn't stand her, she said whatever came to mind, four out of five sentences were nonsense.
She gave a soft snort, glanced behind her, her expression softened, and she still didn't argue with her.
Xiao Jingze watched as the two bright figures overlapped on the edge of the cliff, until only one remained. He gripped the Thousand Machine Manual tightly, then slowly released it, and walked over with a calm expression: "Are you alright?"
Lu Qianhe, holding her zither, glanced at them and asked with a serious expression, "Where is Qianxun Pearl?"
Mingying pointed to herself: "I ate it? I swallowed it."
Xiao Jingze's brow twitched: "You think Qianxun Pearl is a sugar pill?"
Mingying shrugged: "But I've already eaten it?"
Mingyan's expression turned complicated as she recalled the scene from just now: "How was it?"
Mingying paused for a moment and said, "Actually, it doesn't have much taste; it's a bit like drinking water."
She would spit out any pills she swallowed, but the Thousand-Mile Pearl melted in her mouth, which suited her perfectly.
Lu Qianhe could naturally see that she still had no spiritual power; her spiritual energy was blocked from entering, not a single drop could seep in. Undeterred, she closed her eyes and examined her again, and indeed, Mingying was still a mortal.
Mingyan had personally experienced the illusion created by the Thousand-Seeking Pearl, so this couldn't be fake, could it? She stared at Mingying's stomach and pressed it with her hand: "Why isn't there any reaction?"
As soon as she pressed down, she felt a cool gaze on her hand. Mingyan quickly withdrew her hand, but then she realized something was wrong. Why was she so guilty about pressing Mingying's stomach?
Mingying analyzed reasonably: "The transcendent effect of the Thousand-Seeking Pearl is just a rumor, and no one has ever confirmed it. Now that I have eaten it, I am still me, which proves that its effect is false."
Lu Qianhe had prepared for the possibility that the group would fail to obtain the Thousand-Seeking Pearl, and that the pearl would remain dormant for many years again. She hadn't considered that the Thousand-Seeking Pearl didn't possess the power to elevate mortals, and she quickly dismissed this assumption: "Let's wait a while longer."
Mingying nodded nonchalantly: "Anyway, once I eat it, it won't be able to lie to people anymore."
Lu Qianhe naturally knew how many people in the Jin family were watching Qianxunzhu's news, and upon seeing this, she glanced at her and said, "You seem quite detached from worldly affairs."
Mingying smiled and said, "I don't necessarily have to become a cultivator. Now that we've obtained the truth about the Thousand-Seeking Pearl and stopped it from causing further trouble, isn't that good news? By the way, I wonder if A-Tu will recover?"
——
Feng Yi sat down against the withered tree, shrinking into the shadows. A Tu lay flat in front of him, his body covered in talismans. Xiao Jingze ripped the talismans off his face: "Wake him up."
With tears welling up in Feng Yi's eyes, she exclaimed, "You finally remembered me!"
He sat there, having already planned everything out, even if Qianxunzhu suddenly approached him. As long as he didn't listen or look, he would definitely not be bewitched by Qianxunzhu!
He scratched his head, and seeing that no one spoke, asked, "Where's the Thousand-Search Pearl?"
Mingying pointed to herself. Just as Feng Yi was about to ask a few more questions, Xiao Jingze lifted A Tu's eyelids. Mingying saw that his eyes were cloudy and he still looked dazed. He didn't speak or react. She frowned and asked, "Is there no way to recover?"
Feng Yi leaned closer, tore the talisman off A Tu's body, and then lifted him up and shook him: "This doesn't make sense?"
He reached into his sleeve and stuck it on his forehead: "Awakening Talisman!"
Everyone looked down at A-Tu, then looked up again, but it was no use.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Feng Yi rummaged in his brocade pouch and pulled out a translucent, icy green jade talisman brush.
He touched the center of A Tu's forehead with a talisman brush, and A Tu suddenly opened his blood-red eyes. Feng Yi was startled and quickly scratched his eyelids. A Tu closed his eyes again. Feng Yi held the talisman brush with a solemn expression: "This is a case of the soul being disturbed."
Mingying turned to look at Xiao Jingze with a sincere expression: "You must have a way, right?"
Xiao Jingze chuckled and turned his gaze to the side: "Yes, there is, but we will need to trouble Elder Lü."
Lü Qianhe said, "Speak your mind."
Xiao Jingze took out a set of golden needles from his Sumeru Ring and introduced them to everyone: "These are Soul-Piercing Needles. As long as Elder Lü draws out his soul, I can repair it completely."
Mingying took a closer look, and the set of gold needles seemed somewhat familiar... She remembered that one of them had been thrown into the ink pool. When was it replaced?
Ming Yan frowned: "The Soul-Guiding Technique is a recorded evil art. How did Elder Lü learn it?"
Feng Yi put away the talisman brush and waved his hand with a smile: "Miss Ming, you can't just say things like that. Elder Lü doesn't practice soul-guiding techniques, but soul-stabilizing techniques. Besides, these days every family has some secrets."
Mingyan thought of something and remained silent for a moment.
Mingying looked at her from left to right, then asked curiously, "What is evil magic?"
Mingyan replied, "To go against the will of Heaven is to violate the righteous path."
"Wouldn't it be the right thing to mend A-Tu's soul?"
Feng Yi clapped his hands: "Of course! Miss Ming, we are doing a good deed."
Mingyan glanced at him: "I didn't say it wasn't."
Xiao Jingze's lips curled up: "Those old men in the academy classify all the spells created by evil cultivators as evil spells. It's time to change that after all these years."
Lü Qianhe didn't participate in their discussion. She crossed her palms, formed a hand seal, and chanted an incantation. Her spiritual energy wove into a magic array, drawing out A Tu's soul.
Mingying held her breath and saw only a wisp of white, smoke-like soul, tiny and thin in this world, as if it would dissipate with a gust of wind.
She was slightly worried. Lü Qianhe spread it out smoothly, but the thin white smoke wasn't perfectly even, with several broken cracks. The Thousand Machines emitted a bright light, and Xiao Jingze circulated his spiritual power. With a flick of his wrist, a golden needle floated in his palm, mending the smoke.
Mingying watched quietly, and through the white smoke, she could see a few remaining images.
On the day of Wu Po's burial, people came and went, and the sound of weeping never stopped. A Tu knelt in front of the grave and wailed loudly. He returned to the old house alone, only to see Wu Po, who had already been buried, sitting by the kang (a heated brick bed), smiling and waving at him.
Atu took a few steps back and shouted, "You're not her, you're that evil spirit from the village!"
Without a second thought, he threw the firewood at her. The flames leaped high, burning through the beams and the roof. Granny Wu screamed in the fire. Atu ran out with his eyes closed, squatted down, and murmured, "Grandma is dead, Grandma is dead..."
He burned down the house at the foot of the mountain with his own hands. A-Tu cried as he returned to the house after the fire and picked up the copper coins on the ground: "These are what Grandma left me... No! These are that evil thing!"
He hid with the copper coins, trying to avoid letting anyone see the evil thing, but he was gradually influenced by it and became like this. The remaining white smoke was even thicker and could not be seen clearly.
Lu Qianhe commented, "It's a pity he doesn't have spiritual roots, otherwise he would be a good candidate for cultivation."
Mingying said, "It doesn't matter if you're not a good candidate for cultivation. Maybe you'll be a good candidate elsewhere."
After his soul was repaired, Atu opened his eyes and woke up, but he still looked dazed and confused.
Mingyan raised her eyebrows: "Didn't it work?"
A-Tu suddenly knelt down, about to kowtow to the group, when Xiao Jingze grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up: "Why are you kneeling for no reason?"
Atu wiped his eyes: "I know you are cultivators... Thank you, thank you for saving me."
Mingying offered no words of comfort or further inquiry, her expression serious: "Do you want to go to Yunchuan?"
Mingyan looked at her, and Atu shook her head: "I want to stay. I've done so many wrong things..."
Mingying then asked, "Do you need any help?"
Atu shook his head again and said softly, "I want to keep watch for Grandma."
Mingying looked left and right, picked up a branch from nearby, and lit it with heavenly fire to make a torch for him: "In that case, take this with you."
Lü Qianhe asked, "You used heavenly fire to make this?"
Mingying watched Atu's retreating figure, then turned and smiled, "Hmm? Aren't they all fire? Fire is just used to light the way at night."
Feng Yi looked at her and asked, "Have you looked for the Thousand-Search Pearl? Where is it?"
Mingying smiled slightly: "I've already eaten it."
Feng Yi rubbed his hands together expectantly: "How is it?"
He doesn't seem to notice any changes.
Mingying blinked: "It's not very tasty, it has no flavor—cough cough, what I ate should be the real Thousand-Seeking Pearl, but it really doesn't work."
Feng Yi circled her three times in disbelief: "How is that possible? That's the Thousand-Search Pearl!"
How could the Thousand-Search Pearl, which so many people dream of, be completely useless!
Mingying smiled and said, "Rumors are naturally hard to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and it doesn't matter if they're useless. I will remember Miss Jin's sincerity, but I'm sure I'll have to disappoint you."
Lu Qianhe probed again and found that there was indeed no spiritual power, not even a trace of spiritual root. He was just an ordinary mortal from head to toe. She put her hand down and said, "In that case, I will go back to report."
Lü Qianhe looked to the side, and Feng Yi pointed to himself: "Am I leaving too?"
Lü Qianhe didn't speak, but laid the guqin horizontally. Feng Yi chuckled twice, stood on the guqin, and waved his hand: "I'm going back to the Jin family first. See you all again sometime!"
The seven-stringed zither rose into the air. Feng Yi closed his eyes and put a talisman on himself to secure it. Ming Ying waved with a smile and looked at the moon in the sky: "It's a new moon."
Mingyan looked up as well, but didn't think anything was special: "We should go back too."
Mingying looked at her, and Mingyan knew what she was going to say. Before she could speak, she immediately refused, "No, Madam Shen has ordered that you be tied up and taken back as soon as this is over."
Mingying touched her nose sullenly, thinking that her mother didn't want to care about her anymore, but it turned out that her mother was waiting for her here.
She then looked at Xiao Jingze, who was standing in the shadows: "Will you come with us to Yunchuan?"
Xiao Jingze stroked the golden ring in his hand, tossed the Purple Cloud Chariot to her, and decisively refused: "I'm not going."
Mingying nodded, took the Purple Cloud Carriage, turned around, and passed a withered tree. Suddenly, she felt a pain in her heart. She slowly lowered her head and saw a branch pierce through her heart.
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The author's note: In reality, the real Mingying has already fallen; what everyone is seeing is an illusion of the Thousand-Seeking Pearl.
(The above is just something I made up, don't believe it.)
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