Chapter 88: Flashback
Inside the Forgotten Dust Palace, the unchanging chill of eternity seemed to be softened by the moonlight streaming in from the windows.
Unusually, Ye Wuyang did not meditate or cultivate, but instead stood with his hands behind his back in front of the carved window lattice.
The bright moonlight shone down, casting a hazy glow on his plain white Taoist robe, but it could not dispel the loneliness that permeated his being.
His gaze was cast into the endless void, dark and profound, as if piercing through layers of time and space, landing in some distant place.
Unconsciously, he toyed with the "Thinking of Home" jade hairpin that he had just retrieved from Fang Li. The hairpin emitted a soft, warm hum from his fingertips, its luster flowing as if silently responding to something.
The scenery before him shifted, and he seemed to have returned to a cloud-covered peak, where palaces stretched endlessly and celestial flowers and auspicious herbs swayed and shone.
A woman stood beneath a radiant, celestial tree, her figure ethereal and graceful. Though her face was indistinct, her laughter was clear and melodious, like a spring cascading over jade.
She held a shimmering, nascent jade hairpin in her palm, smiled slyly, and gently placed it in her hair before turning to look at Ye Wuyang standing silently behind her.
"Wuyang, look!" The woman's voice was playful and proud. "This hairpin is called 'Thinking of Home'! It was made from a wisp of my original chaotic energy, and it took a lot of effort to condense it! Isn't it amazing?" Her eyes shone like stars as she looked at him, filled with complete trust and affection. "If one day... we accidentally get separated, you'll definitely find me with this! You can't go back on your word!"
Ye Wuyang, though still aloof and taciturn, had a gentle light in his eyes and a slight smile on his lips.
He raised his hand, his fingertips gently brushing across the hairpin, a wisp of annihilating sword intent quietly merging into it, transforming into a silent protection.
“…Okay,” he replied, his words concise yet carrying immense weight.
The humming of the jade hairpin in her palm pulled Ye Wuyang back from her memories; the warm touch seemed to still retain the warmth of the past.
As my fingertips caressed the hairpin, another long-forgotten memory surfaced.
Above the open-air platform of Tianyin Pavilion, the sea of clouds surges and roars beneath your feet.
The woman leaned lazily against Ye Wuyang's side, with the Jiaowei "Biehe" guqin on her lap.
Ye Wuyang sat quietly to one side, holding a jade flute in his hand.
The woman's slender fingers plucked the strings, producing a clear and ethereal melody that cleansed the soul. Ye Wuyang's lips touched the mouth of the flute, its sound distant and desolate, like snow falling on a cold pool at night.
Two completely different rhythms blended perfectly, transforming into a heavenly melody that transcended words, causing the surrounding clouds to dance gracefully, and cranes to come and circle around upon hearing the sound.
The woman occasionally turned her head to look at the person beside her, her eyes filled with tenderness and affection. Although Ye Wuyang was gazing at the distant sea of clouds, his aura blended perfectly with the woman's music.
The harmonious rhythm still seemed to echo in his ears, and Ye Wuyang's eyes were momentarily unfocused.
But this harmonious scene was suddenly shattered! In its place came the collapse of heaven and earth and the raging flames of demons.
The void shattered, and the laws mourned.
The woman was covered in blood, her breath was weak and feeble, but her eyes were resolute.
She stood before the crumbling world of countless creatures, the "Yearning for Home" hairpin tightly clutched in her hand now cracked, and the "Farewell Crane" zither floating beside her with its strings all broken!
A small beast, its body as clear as glass, its wings shimmering with iridescent light, and resembling a miniature phoenix, swirled around the woman, its feathers bursting open as it roared angrily at the overwhelming demonic flames.
When Xiao Liuli saw the woman resolutely burn her last bit of primordial essence to purify the demonic energy in order to protect the last bit of the world's origin behind her, her body began to become transparent and was about to completely dissipate into the world.
"Chirp—!!!"
A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the world!
It suddenly turned its head and rushed towards the woman who was about to completely disappear!
"boom--!"
A blinding, shimmering flame erupted from Xiao Liuli's body! It burned away its own primordial soul and true spirit, engulfing its entire being!
A crystal-clear light shield, imbued with endless longing, enveloped the last vestiges of the woman's fading spirit, along with the fragments of the "Yearning for Home" hairpin that had shattered and scattered from her hair!
"No—!" Ye Wuyang's eyes widened in horror as he unleashed his sword intent of annihilation, but it was ultimately delayed for a moment by the raging demonic energy!
The protective shield vibrated violently under the impact of the demonic energy, its light flickering erratically.
Amidst the flames, Xiao Liuli's radiant body gradually vanished into nothingness, but its will to burn everything desperately protected that faint trace of true spirit and the hairpin fragments.
Finally, at the last moment when Ye Wuyang tore through the demonic energy barrier, the light shield forged from the burning soul, carrying a faint hope, transformed into a dim stream of light and disappeared into the vast and unknowable depths of reincarnation.
The "Yearning for Home" hairpin shattered completely, leaving only a sliver of light disappearing into the void. The "Farewell Crane" zither let out a mournful cry before plummeting into endless darkness…
In the same spot, only a faint spark of glazed starlight remained, which was completely extinguished in the raging demonic wind.
Before the chaotic light completely engulfed her, the woman seemed to sense Xiao Liuli's burning body protecting her. A crystal-clear tear silently slid down and merged into the light shield.
She looked back with difficulty in the direction of Ye Wuyang, her eyes filled with an endless, unforgettable longing and intense reluctance. In the end, all of that turned into emptiness and a resolute sacrifice.
Ye Wuyang's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, the violent sword intent stiffening.
Witnessing Xiao Liuli burn herself to protect her master, the heart-wrenching cry, the glacial flames that consumed her, and the woman's last tear and empty gaze... became the deepest, most painful, and unhealed scar in his ten thousand years of frozen time.
In reality, Ye Wuyang's knuckles, gripping the jade hairpin, turned a deep white from the force. A chilling killing intent, filled with overwhelming sorrow, raging fury, and endless regret that had been dormant for ten thousand years, was about to burst forth from his body like a volcano about to erupt!
The temperature inside the Forgotten Dust Palace plummeted, and even the flowing moonlight seemed to freeze into ice shards, which fluttered down.
"Through countless tribulations and countless reincarnations... I have finally found it."
"His spiritual consciousness is not yet awakened, and his chaotic foundation is still weak... His temperament is..." He subconsciously scanned the direction of Yixing Peak and accurately captured Fang Li sitting cross-legged on the couch, tapping the humming Jiaowei Qin in her arms while chattering with the system in her mind, "Is the Immortal Venerable grumpy today? His face is so cold."
"...became much more lively and carefree." A hint of helplessness and indulgence quietly replaced the heaviness.
"She originated from chaos... In this life..." Her gaze returned to the buzzing jade hairpin in her palm. With a slight movement of her fingertips, a wisp of pure and gentle chaotic energy quietly flowed into it, nourishing the hairpin spirit.
"With me here, no evil spirit in the heavens will dare to harm you in the slightest. Little Liuli... I will also find her."
Inside the Bizhu Garden on Yixing Peak.
The system, which was analyzing the situation with great clarity, suddenly shivered, and its data stream inexplicably became disordered: ["Huh? Host, just now I felt... a strange urge to cry? Strange... is there a bug in my database?"]
Inside the Hall of Forgotten Dust, Ye Wuyang completely calmed his turbulent emotions, lightly raised his fingertips, and sent an invisible divine thought directly to True Person Qingxuan.
"Let her...cultivate diligently and consolidate what she gained in the secret realm." The voice was calm.
He paused, then added, his tone calm but unequivocal.
“…That hairpin is beneficial to her nourishing her spirit and connecting her with her origins. She must be told to wear it with her at all times and never let it leave her side.”
The sound transmission dissipated.
The Forgotten Dust Palace returned to its ancient silence and coldness, as if the brief emotional fluctuations just now were merely an illusion.
Only the jade hairpin inscribed with "Yearning for Home" floated quietly in his palm, radiating a warm, spiritual light.
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