Chapter 122 The Lonely Phoenix Through Nine Lifetimes
"you--"
Ji Nian'an's angry shout came to an abrupt halt.
Four bodyguards tumbled down from the beam, their poisoned daggers pressed against Ji Nian'an's throat.
Lu Xuan slowly wiped his hands: "Seventh Prince is right. Only close relatives can kill immortals."
"You rebellious daughter, do you think you can win the hearts of the people by breaking your bones to pray for rain? Little do you know that the new dynasty does not need living saints!"
Lu Yao was extremely weak, "So Lu Shu's illness..."
Lu Xuan sneered, "It's perfect to use her life as a setup to lure you in."
This seemingly respectable father now had a wild, beast-like excitement gleaming in his eyes.
Ji Nian'an was pinned to the ground and watched helplessly as Lu Yao was dragged away.
She struggled desperately, her fingernails digging into the floor, drawing blood.
"Take him to Broken Soul Ridge." Lu Xuan turned around with a smile, flicking his sleeve. "Seventh Prince wants to see with his own eyes how this living god is suppressed."
...
When Ji Nian'an arrived at Broken Soul Ridge, dusk had already fallen.
Nine human-shaped stone tablets, each engraved with blood-red runes, stand eerily on the ridge.
Lu Yao was imprisoned in the mountains, never to be reincarnated.
"Master Ji..."
A faint call came from behind; it was the young eunuch, Sun Fuxi.
He found the solution in the tattered scroll: "Nine people must each choose a stele and endure the suffering of nine reincarnations in order to find a glimmer of hope."
“I’ll do it.” Ji Nian’an interrupted him, her fingertips already pressed on the broken love monument.
"Your Excellency, please reconsider! This 'Severed Love Stele' will condemn you to nine lifetimes of loneliness!" The young eunuch wept uncontrollably. "Severed family ties, the tragic deaths of close friends, even a stray cat fed on the roadside will die suddenly..."
“It’s worth it.” Ji Nian’an looked at the stone tablet, recalling the look in Lu Yao’s eyes when she broke her immortal bones on the Rain Prayer Platform. “Compared to the three immortal bones she broke, what is this?”
...
Nine lifetimes of reincarnation.
In her first life, she was an abandoned baby girl in the snow, adopted by a hunter, whose adoptive parents died in a flash flood, leaving her to live out her days alone in the mountains.
In her second life, she was a cursed midwife; none of the children she delivered survived past the first month of life.
...
A solitary phoenix for nine generations, until the 21st century.
The Ji Nian'an standing before Lu Yao now is the daughter of a mother who died in childbirth.
Outside the delivery room, when the father heard the nurse announce "it's a girl," he turned and left without looking back.
The newborn was wrapped in an old blanket from the hospital and carried home by his elderly maternal grandparents.
"I heard that when she gave birth to her, her mother suffered severe bleeding that couldn't be stopped..."
"This child is destined to bring misfortune to his family."
"The Ji family is really unlucky to have such a jinx."
The gossip of the neighbors followed her like a shadow as she grew up.
The shadow of her mother's death in childbirth loomed over her childhood, while her father seemed unaffected, quickly remarrying and having a new family and new children.
Occasionally, when they bumped into each other on the street, the man she should have called "Dad" would always turn his face away hastily, as if looking at her for even a moment would bring bad luck.
Her maternal grandparents raised her on their meager retirement pensions, but fate seemed to always be proving those rumors true.
When I was in junior high school, my maternal grandmother died suddenly in front of the stove.
Her grandfather held her hand and said, "Don't be afraid," but he himself passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage two years later.
At the funeral, the relatives looked at her with fear and alienation, as if she were some kind of ominous creature.
"He brought misfortune to his father and mother, and now even his maternal grandparents have died."
"Whoever raises her is doomed; it's best to stay away from her."
She was passed around among relatives like a parcel, taking turns being fostered, but she didn't stay with any family for long.
On the day of the college entrance examination, she was the only one in the entire examination hall without any parents waiting for her.
When the university acceptance letter arrived, my aunt sighed: "What's the point of a girl studying so much? She should just get married early... But no, you'll only be harming others if you get married."
Ji Nian'an had long been used to these words, but a corner of her heart still ached faintly.
After graduation, Ji Nian'an came to this remote rural village to teach, immersing herself in the busy work of teaching and educating people.
The bright eyes in the classroom made her feel warmth for the first time in a long time. She loved these children, but dared not get too close.
She was afraid that the rumors would come true, afraid that she really would... bring death to all her loved ones.
Lu Yao stared at Ji Nian'an's face, flipping the copper coin between her fingers. The divination result made her heart tighten.
If she hadn't arrived in time today, Guo Lingling would have been murdered, and Ji Nian'an's life trajectory would have been completely changed.
Ji Nian'an will track down Zhang Weijie alone and seek justice for the children in the most cruel way.
Kill him, castrate him.
She will then spend the rest of her life in a cold prison cell, becoming a poignant story.
Lu Yao put away the copper coins and looked at Ji Nian'an's tense face.
In those eyes, a familiar light flickered.
That was the unwavering stubbornness and determination that remained unchanged despite nine lifetimes of loneliness and hardship.
At this moment, Ji Nian'an protected her student Guo Lingling behind her like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
“Teacher Ji,” Guo Lingling tugged at Ji Nian’an’s sleeve, “my sister is a good person, she saved me.”
Ji Nian'an was taken aback. "What's going on? Explain yourself, Guo Lingling."
Guo Lingling pointed to the departing police car and said, "That Teacher Zhang from Fenfang Education Assistance Network is a bad guy. My sister subdued him and called the police."
Ji Nian'an was shocked. "What did he do, Lingling? He didn't hurt you, did he?"
Guo Lingling shook her head, twisting the hem of her clothes, "I'm fine..."
She bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and then added, "But it seems... he did some really bad things to the other students."
Ji Nian'an's face turned deathly pale instantly.
Lu Yao squatted down at the right moment and stuffed a banknote into Guo Lingling's hand: "Lingling, can you buy a bottle of water for your sister?"
After the girl's figure disappeared around the corner, Lu Yao turned to Ji Nian'an and said, "Zhang Weijie is using the guise of helping students to specifically target left-behind girls."
"He recorded videos to threaten his victims and forced them..."
"brute!"
Ji Nian'an squeezed out those two words through gritted teeth, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
She should have noticed those clues much earlier.
Wang Xiaohua always had red and swollen eyes before transferring schools, and Li Zhaodi had suspicious bruises on her wrists...
"It's all my fault." This thought gnawed at her heart like a venomous snake.
She should have been more attentive, should have asked more questions, should have…
But her ominous fate prevented her from having much contact with them outside of class.
Lu Yao's hand suddenly covered her trembling hand.
"He's been taken away by the police; the evidence is conclusive." Lu Yao's voice was soft, yet it cut through her chaotic thoughts like a sharp blade. "Blaming yourself now is useless; the important thing is—"
Ji Nian'an looked up abruptly, her eyes red-rimmed. "The important thing is that those children need me now."
Lu Yao gazed at her quietly and nodded gently.
“It’s not just Zhang Weijie,” Ji Nian’an clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white, “the network behind him, those equally dirty hands, we can’t let any of them get away.”
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