Chapter 219 (End of Text):
"So, how exactly did you eliminate the flower demon?"
Inside the study, Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi sat on a couch. Opposite them, Jiang Caijie and the recorder each sat on a tea chair, with a tea table between them. On the tea table was a recording stone, which emitted a faint light, recording the events that occurred in the room.
After Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi woke up, the Jiang Caijie official and the recorder conducted a thorough examination of the two, confirming that there was no demonic energy remaining on their bodies. At the same time, good news came from all over the Wuqing Dao Palace, and the Xuantian Sect cultivators who had been hypnotized by the flower demons also woke up one after another.
Overnight, the Wuqing Dao Palace was brightly lit, and Xuantian Sect cultivators, carrying lanterns and exchanging congratulations, gathered in Lu Yingqi's courtyard, hoping to see their great benefactor who saved them from their nightmare. Sect Master Feng and the Fifth Elder also sent message paper cranes, hoping to have a face-to-face conversation with the person who saved Xuantian Sect.
However, these enthusiastic requests were rejected by Judge Jiang and the Registrar. Their reasons were quite valid: Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi could not see anyone until the Mirror Palace had investigated the matter thoroughly.
Thus, the current situation arose.
Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi fell silent for a moment.
How exactly did they eliminate the flower demon... to be honest, they didn't know either.
The flower fairy disappeared without a trace, and they didn't even see when she vanished.
If those who had been hypnotized hadn't also woken up, they wouldn't have been able to be sure whether the flower fairy had really disappeared.
“It’s… just like we described earlier,” Rong Xie said.
“Yes.” Shen Bingsi nodded.
"You saw each other, hugged," the registrar tilted his head slightly, seemingly puzzled, "and then the flower fairy didn't say anything, and you woke up?"
"Hmm..." Rong Xie thought for a moment. Shen Bing Si had carried him for a while, so there was no need to mention this, right? The flower fairy couldn't possibly be killed by their sweetness, could she?
“Yes.” Shen Bingsi nodded.
The registrar and Judge Jiang exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.
"What were the last words the flower fairy said? Was it to sign a soul contract with Shen Bingsi?" the recorder asked again.
“Yes,” Rong Xie said with certainty, “It deliberately distorted reality, making Shen Bingsi mistakenly believe that it was her fault that caused Judge Jiang to self-destruct his primordial spirit, resulting in the annihilation of everyone. While Shen Bingsi was in a daze, it took the opportunity to offer to help Shen Bingsi start over, on the condition that she sign a soul contract with him.”
“That’s exactly how the flower spirit acted, which is consistent with our investigation,” Judge Jiang said.
Shen Bingsi nodded: "Yes."
The recorder glanced at Shen Bingsi, then turned his gaze to Rong Xie: "Then why didn't the flower fairy help Shen Bingsi be reborn in the end? Something must have happened in between. Didn't you hear anything else? Strange sounds, unusual phenomena, anything?"
Rong Xie recalled for a moment, touching his chin: "It seems... I heard a strange sizzling sound, like water splashing on a very hot iron plate."
"..."
"Water splashing on an iron plate? That's the sound of water vapor turning into steam," the recorder pondered. "There is indeed such a sound when a spirit is annihilated. It's possible that the flower fairy was reduced to ashes at that time. However, you didn't do anything special, just hugged and said a few words. Shen Bingsi, why aren't you right?"
Shen Bingsi tilted her head back, clearly lost in thought.
"Shen Bingsi?" the registrar asked, puzzled.
"Hmm," Shen Bingsi pulled her thoughts back from their reverie, "because I don't remember what the buzzing sound was?"
"What else can you remember?" the clerk asked with a look of disdain.
“You don’t understand,” Shen Bingsi said disdainfully. “You cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness, you will never understand. Sometimes you just don’t have time to pay attention to other things.”
The registrar wrinkled his nose: "Shen Bingsi, I think you're terminally ill."
The two maintained their old habit of bickering when they were colleagues, and for a moment it seemed as if they had returned to the state of investigating cases together.
“So that’s how it is,” Judge Jiang said, seemingly enlightened. “I think I know why now.”
The three of them immediately looked at him.
"The key is this: Shen Bingsi had no time to pay attention to anything else. Her mind was filled with the joy of reuniting with Rong Xie. This was a fatal blow to the flower demon. It occupied the mind but had no place to reside. Moreover, the flower demon feeds on dark energy. At that time, Shen Bingsi's mind should not have had any dark energy. The flower demon's last wisp of resentment was already very weak, and it could not even be called a spirit. Once there was no dark energy to sustain it, it quickly disappeared."
Judge Jiang analyzed.
The three of them pondered for a while.
“…That makes sense.” Rong Xie stroked his chin.
"Yes." Shen Bingsi nodded. "That should be it!"
The registrar asked suspiciously, "This will work? Then wouldn't the nemesis of the mimosa flower demon be a madman whose mind is only filled with love?"
"What do you mean by a madman whose mind is filled with nothing but love?" Shen Bingsi protested.
"I'm just using someone's previous description," the registrar chuckled, covering his mouth.
"..." After throwing so many boomerangs, I've become desensitized to them.
“But,” the registrar questioned again, “given the flower demon’s omnipresent nature, it should have immediately invaded Rong Xie’s consciousness after leaving Shen Bing Si’s. Why didn’t Rong Xie fall for it?”
“That’s easy to explain,” Judge Jiang said. “Rong Xie was also completely focused at the time and didn’t notice anything else, so naturally he couldn’t provide the flower demon with a space to invade.”
“Heh,” the registrar said, “it seems that the nemesis of flower fairies is indeed a loving young couple.”
Rong Xie's cheeks flushed slightly. Jiang Caijie's serious use of the word "fully focused" made him extremely embarrassed, and the more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he became.
"Of course!" Shen Bingsi pressed down on Rong Xie's hand, which was resting on the edge of the bed, and was quite embarrassed.
The ins and outs of the matter have been roughly clarified. The next step is to verify it with the Heavenly Mirror and then announce it to everyone.
As dawn broke outside, the monks gathered in the courtyard did not disperse. They were waiting for the adjudicator to announce the final result, and to thank their benefactor and celebrate their survival.
Everyone was very enthusiastic, and since cultivators don't need to rest, they could stay for ten days or half a month. If Jiang Caijie and the others were to go out, they would inevitably have to face the question of how to explain to everyone "how the flower demon was destroyed".
"...Then tell the truth?" After a moment of silence, Judge Jiang looked at the registrar.
The recorder put away the image stone: "Whatever you say. But I won't admit in public that the one who saved the cultivation world is a head full of love."
“There are two,” Shen Bingsi reminded him.
Judge Jiang chuckled and shook his head: "You can't say that."
"Then how should we say it?" the registrar asked.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Caijie said, "The ones who should save the cultivation world are two hearts full of love."
"..."
A strange fluctuation affected the three people in the study. They all felt uncomfortable all over and subconsciously shrugged their shoulders, trying to get rid of the itchy feeling that made their hair stand on end.
"How about this," Rong Xie couldn't help but suggest, "Elder Bai once mentioned that the one who defeats the flower demon will be an extremely yang person, someone who is upright and never regrets his actions. Let's say that Shen Bing Si is that person."
“That does sound much better,” the registrar agreed. “However, I won’t say it, because I don’t like lying.”
"Haven't you told enough lies already?" Shen Bingsi directly exposed him.
The recorder is the person who is responsible for compiling case results and releasing them to the cultivation world. In order to balance the various forces and maintain harmony in the cultivation world, she has lied a lot, or rather, whitewashed the situation.
“It’s only a little more than what you said,” the clerk said.
“This isn’t exactly a lie. From another perspective, that’s how it is.” Judge Jiang smoothed things over, finding a point that was comfortable for all parties. “Rong Xie, you’ve given us a great idea. We’ll announce it to the public like this later.”
"Okay." Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief; the Q&A session after waking up was finally over. "Can we leave through the back door now?"
Entering a dream is also very exhausting. The ups and downs experienced during the dream almost deplete one's emotions. After waking up, one still feels tired and wants to rest.
More importantly, Rong Xie wanted some peace and quiet, to be alone, or to have a private chat with Shen Bing Si. They hadn't had a chance to be alone together since they woke up.
Shen Bingsi clearly thought so too. He squeezed Rong Xie's hand and said to Judge Jiang, "Brother Jiang, it's enough that you've announced the results to those people in the Xuantian Sect. We don't need to show our faces anymore, right? Rong'er is tired. We want to go back to Huanxue Manor."
Upon hearing the words "Huanxue Manor," Rong Xie felt his heart soothed. He wished he could immediately walk through the hidden door behind the weeping crabapple tree and sprawl out on his comfortable bed.
Jiang Caijie accurately received Rong Xie's expectant gaze and asked, "You're just leaving like this? All those cultivators outside are waiting for you, as are Sect Master Feng and the Fifth Elder. They're probably preparing a grand ceremony for you. They'll definitely be very disappointed if you just leave like this."
“Yes, even just going out to meet him would be worthwhile,” the registrar added.
Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi exchanged a glance, and Rong Xie nodded.
Shen Bingsi stood up and said to her two former colleagues, "Actually, we do not intend to accept the gratitude from the Xuantian Sect."
"?" Both the adjudicator and the recorder were somewhat surprised.
“We haven’t forgiven them, so we won’t accept their thanks. In the end, they caused this disaster, and it has implicated us as well.” Shen Bingsi was unusually solemn. “If it weren’t for Rong’er, we might all be dead by now.”
"This...do you intend to make them apologize?" The clerk thought for a moment, "It's not impossible."
"No, we won't accept either thanks or apologies until they've thought things through and made changes. Acceptance would mean they can do it again next time and ask us for help again, and we don't want to get involved in their troubles at all."
The judge and the recorder looked at Shen Bingsi, their surprised expressions gradually turning into deep thought.
“Brother Jiang, after you and Sister Xiaohe leave here, you’ll inevitably announce to them that we defeated the flower demon, and we’ll become the heroes who defeated the flower demon. Next time, if they create flower demons or grass demons for their own reasons, they’ll come to us to deal with them. If we don’t help, they’ll see us as enemies who stand by and do nothing,” Shen Bingsi chuckled. “I’ve seen this kind of thing many times. If I were still an exorcist, there would be nothing to say. Slaying demons is my duty. But now, I have a new mission, and I can’t waste time getting entangled in these things.”
The adjudicator and the clerk remained silent; clearly, they too had had similar experiences.
“Brother Jiang, I know you bear the heavy responsibility of maintaining peace in the cultivation world and need to weigh many things, but superficial peace is vulnerable when real danger comes. If we can use this flower demon's chaos to make the higher-ups of the Xuan Tian Sect reflect on their problems, perhaps it would be a good thing,” Shen Bingsi said.
“I understand.” Judge Jiang acknowledged Shen Bingsi’s statement. “You may go. I will explain to the people of Xuantian Sect.”
"Thank you," Shen Bingsi said with a smile.
"However..." the registrar asked curiously, "you said you have a new mission, what is it?"
Shen Bingsi turned around, took Rong Xie's hand, and smiled at him: "Of course... I want to travel and enjoy life with Rong'er. In the past, I was focused on cultivation, but now that cultivation has come to an end, it's time to enter a new stage of life."
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The main text is finished! Hooray! [Hooray][Hooray]
Here's a source of the names Shen Bingsi and Rong Xie [covering face and peeking]
"Looking at the Tide" by Qin Guan
Plum blossoms are sparse and pale, ice melts and dissipates, the east wind silently changes the seasons. A leisurely stroll through Golden Valley, along the lanes of Bronze Camel, treading lightly on the sandy ground after a clear day. I still remember mistakenly following the carriage. Just as catkins flutter and butterflies dance, fragrant thoughts intertwine. Beneath the willows and along the peach path, spring's colors are scattered across every household.
Drinking at night in the West Garden, the bugle sounds. Bright lanterns obscure the moon, flying canopies hinder the flowers. The orchid garden is not yet empty, but the travelers are growing old; to return again is a regrettable thing. The wine flags flutter askew in the twilight. Leaning against the railing, gazing into the distance, I sometimes see crows roosting. Helplessly, my heart longs to return, secretly following the flowing water to the ends of the earth.
Thank you all for your support from March to November. Although this book flopped towards the end, I'm very satisfied with the writing process, as I've brought all the plot points I set up in the beginning to fruition!
The following chapters will be an epilogue, explaining the conclusion of the last case, the future of the protagonist, and the fate of the supporting characters.
If you have any other requests, feel free to leave a comment below! However, the chef might not be able to cook it (flustered, holding a spatula).
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