Chapter 46 Deeply Wounded
Xie Qingqiu ignored her question and pointed to the deep tunnel, saying, "Go in from here, and there is a hidden secret room inside. Do you know that the secret room used to be where Biyao slept?"
Biyao?
It had been so long since Mu Yao had heard this name that she had almost forgotten about him.
Mu Yao's heart suddenly pounded, and she felt inexplicably flustered, but she still asked sharply, "What do you mean?"
Xie Qingqiu looked at her, his eyes filled with pity: "You understand, don't you? The person he truly loved in his heart has always been Biyao. And you, you're not even a substitute for Biyao."
She suddenly sneered: "The reason Qin Wuyan kept you by his side was to use your divine tree power to revive Biyao."
Mu Yao was stunned, speechless. What was Xie Qingqiu saying? She couldn't understand it.
But almost instinctively she retorted, "Absolutely not!!"
But Xie Qingqiu's eyes were cold as she approached her step by step, her words like a knife, slowly dissecting the bloody truth:
"If it's impossible, why didn't you know about the existence of this secret room? If it's impossible, why didn't he tell you that you're not Yunniang's biological daughter? Even..."
She looked at Mu Yao, gave a cold smile, and suddenly a bright white light appeared on her hand, extremely dazzling.
Mu Yao couldn't help but raise her hand to cover her eyes, only to hear Xie Qingqiu sneer, "You really aren't human."
You're not human!
Mu Yao lowered her hand, about to curse again, when she saw Xie Qingqiu holding a bronze mirror high in her hand. The smooth, pale yellow mirror did not show her face, but rather a giant tree that stood tall and majestic between heaven and earth.
Mu Yao suddenly opened her eyes wide, staring at the mirror in disbelief. She wanted to say something, but saw that her feet were as if bound by ropes. Then she watched as her body gradually turned into the shape of a tree. She clearly felt that her whole body was trapped in this tree, unable to move or speak.
Seeing her true form revealed, Xie Qingqiu put down the mirror. The white light emitted by the mirror disappeared, and Mu Yao's body returned to human form. However, she could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground, her mind in utter chaos. Was she really not human? Was she just a tree?
No! No!! Xie Qingqiu must be lying to her.
Xie Qingqiu's voice rang in my ears again: "This is the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Mirror of Tianyin Temple. It can reveal the true forms of all demons and monsters that have taken human form. If you still don't believe me..."
She paused, then held the mirror up to herself. The dazzling white light reappeared, but Xie Qingqiu's figure was gone. Only a large, green snake stood before her, its tongue flicking out a blood-red tongue.
Mu Yao's eyes widened, her breath almost caught in her throat, she was nearly terrified and shrank back in fear: "You...you're not Xie Qingqiu? Who are you?"
The white light suddenly disappeared, and the snake instantly transformed into human form, which was Xie Qingqiu's appearance.
"As you can see, I am not human either, but a snake demon."
Xie Qingqiu said calmly:
"The year I met Qin Wuyan, my sister and I had only recently taken human form. We had always lived peacefully on Mount Yu in the Southern Frontier. But one day, many cultivators from the mortal realm suddenly entered the mountain. My sister and I had never killed any living beings; we cultivated by gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, we had never received any guidance from immortals, so our cultivation was not even as good as that of an ordinary disciple of the Incense Valley. But demons like us are high-grade materials used by cultivation sects to refine pills. Therefore, Qingwan was captured by the people of the Incense Valley. In order to save her, I had to take a pill that concealed my demonic energy and disguise myself as a human to infiltrate the Incense Valley."
"Fenxiang Valley isn't a safe place to stay. I tried to find out about my sister several times, but I was unintentionally targeted and assaulted. It was Qin Wuyan who saved me. After that, I followed him and begged him to help me save my sister, promising to follow him forever and be at his beck and call. He readily agreed and helped me rescue Qingwan. However, Qingwan was seriously injured by the Nine Cold Ice Spikes, and the cold poison has been in her body for many years. Only the Xuanhuo Mirror can expel the poison from her. I joined the Divine Sect founded by Qin Wuyan, hoping to cultivate by his side and heal my sister in the future."
Recalling these past events, her gaze softened:
“I was very happy during those years with him. Although he seemed cold and aloof on the surface, he was always kind to Qingwan and me. He even promised to help me find the Xuanhuo Mirror to cure Qingwan's poison. As you saw later, he did indeed do it. I always thought that life could continue like this, that I could stay by his side forever. But I never expected that you would appear…”
Xie Qingqiu's gaze suddenly sharpened: "When I was in Fenxiang Valley, I heard about his past with Yan Hong, and I knew that he once loved a woman so much that he was even willing to give up everything just to give her a sliver of hope for resurrection. I once thought that someone like him would never fall in love with any other woman again, but... he was different with you."
She frowned, her expression a mixture of resentment and envy: "I've never met that woman named Biyao, but everyone says you look exactly like her. I once thought that perhaps humans and demons are different, and I shouldn't think about her anymore. But three years ago, on the Qixi Festival, when you went to Yudu City to have your fortune told by Zhou Yixian, I unexpectedly discovered that you are also a demon."
Mu Yao shook her head repeatedly and loudly refuted, "I'm not! How could I possibly be a demon!"
Xie Qingqiu said, "The Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Mirror can't lie. Besides, Zhou Yixian is known for his accurate fortune-telling. But that day he said he couldn't predict your fate. Do you know why?"
Mu Yao remembered this incident very clearly. Zhou Yixian had whispered to her that it was because she wasn't human. At the time, she only thought he was insulting her and didn't take it to heart at all.
But now it seems that what he meant was... she wasn't human, but a demon!
Is she really a demon? But why doesn't she even know herself?
Xie Qingqiu continued, "After that day, I went to see your mother, and she told me personally that you were not her biological daughter, but a child she had adopted from a stranger. Qin Wuyan had always known about this. He even asked Yunniang to keep this secret from you."
Mu Yao felt her whole body turn ice cold, and her heart was filled with panic.
"After further investigation, I discovered that Qin Wuyan had been practicing a forbidden technique."
Xie Qingqiu took out a tattered ancient book from his bosom. "I secretly took this from his study. All the secret techniques on it are related to the soul. One of them is called the Soul Returning Technique, which can bring back a person whose soul has been lost. But the reason why forbidden techniques are forbidden is because cultivating them is extremely dangerous, requiring a huge price to pay, and even suffering backlash."
This reminded Mu Yao of the backlash Qin Wuyan would suffer every month on the fifteenth of the lunar month when the moon was full.
"What does this have to do with me?" Mu Yao still subconsciously rejected the possibility that Qin Wuyan was using her.
"well!"
Xie Qingqiu sighed, "Actually, although you are not human, you are different from me. You are the body of a divine tree, neither demon nor human. I don't know where you came from, but your spiritual power is the purest and most powerful wood element divine power in the world. It not only has the effect of bringing the dead back to life, but can even gather the scattered souls of mortals. Do you still remember when you first arrived at Fox Ridge Mountain, Yunniang suffered from soul loss? It was you who used your spiritual power to bring her soul back."
Mu Yao stared blankly at her, completely at a loss for how to react.
How could she forget? It was Qin Wuyan who told her that her pure spiritual energy might be able to awaken Yunniang. But back then, she could never have imagined that the source of this power would be...
Is she a tree? Or a divine tree from who-knows-where?
The amount of information she received at once was too much for her to believe. But just now, she had seen with her own eyes that under the illumination of the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming Mirror, her skin turned into rough tree bark, her feet and body turned into tree trunks, and her hands became tree branches.
The cruel reality forced her to believe that she might not actually be human.
Xie Qingqiu seemed to see through her thoughts and continued, "Back then, Yunniang had just lost her soul. So, as long as it was recalled within seven days, she could be resurrected. As for Biyao, I heard that back then, only the Hehuan Bell had captured a wisp of her remnant soul. More than twenty years have passed, and her soul is impossible to find. So, if Qin Wuyan wants to revive Biyao, it is impossible to do so by only cultivating forbidden techniques, but if he uses your power, then it may be possible."
"My...my power?" Mu Yao murmured, "What can I do? What reason does he have to use me?"
"He used you, naturally, to revive Biyao. As for how he did it, I have no idea. Because he tore out and hid the most important pages of this ancient book. Forbidden techniques are complex, and although I know very little about them, I do understand that practicing forbidden techniques will inevitably lead to backlash. These days, I have been hiding in the Divine Sect, trying to find out why he did this. Today, I deliberately transformed into your appearance to lure him here. But I didn't expect that once he entered the stone chamber, the backlash would take effect, and he would faint inside."
Mu Yao still didn't understand: "Why did you investigate this matter? And why are you telling me all this?"
Xie Qingqiu sighed, "You saved my life and Qingwan's life, I can't bear to see you deceived and taken advantage of."
Mu Yao was still confused. A voice in her heart told her not to believe Xie Qingqiu's words, but to believe Qin Wuyan. But another voice said that Qin Wuyan had indeed been hiding something from her, and maybe he really had lied to her.
“I know you might still not believe me, but you can try. After he fainted, I used the Dream Return Potion on him. You should know the effects of this poison!”
Upon hearing this, Mu Yao immediately flew into a rage: "How dare you poison him!"
"It's just a little bit, it won't kill him. Dreams can make you constantly think about what you've been longing for. If he wakes up, you should understand that if he truly loves you, he'll be thinking of you. But if he doesn't love you..."
"Stop talking!" Mu Yao interrupted her, covering her ears. "Get out of here! I don't believe a single word you say!"
"Believe it or not, you'll find out once you go in!"
Seeing her exasperated expression, Xie Qingqiu tentatively asked, "Or are you simply too scared to go in?"
"What is there to be afraid of?"
Provoked by her, Mu Yao turned and went inside. Although she said she was not afraid at all, a huge panic surged in her heart.
The tunnel was lit by a dim candlelight, the flames flickering with her steps, casting crisscrossing shadows on the ground. Reaching the end, she descended the stone steps to a stone door. Mu Yao's heart pounded faster and faster, as fierce and heavy as a drumbeat.
But Xie Qingqiu followed right behind her; she would not back down and could not back down.
Taking a deep breath, Mu Yao quickly walked inside.
This is a huge stone chamber. In the four directions of east, south, west and north, there are dozens of candlesticks made in the shape of the four mythical beasts: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise. Each candlestick has a candle as thick as a child's arm burning inside, illuminating the stone chamber brightly.
The arrangement of these candlesticks alone is enough to show that this stone chamber is no ordinary place.
In the middle of the stone chamber, there was a stone couch, and at the head of the couch was a bronze lamp with a kneeling figure, which was also burning with a bright candle.
Qin Wuyan's backlash had subsided, and he lay quietly on the stone bed, but his brow was tightly furrowed, as if he were experiencing a nightmare.
Mu Yao gazed at his sleeping figure, at the stone bed, and felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity, as if she had spent a very long time here before. In her mind, many voices seemed to be calling her name, but those voices were calling for Bi Yao…
Biyao... Biyao...
She was momentarily dazed and couldn't tell whether those people were calling her or Biyao.
Mu Yao shook her head vigorously, trying to stop the strange voices in her head. But the voices grew clearer and clearer in her ears, and she couldn't shake them off.
After a long while, Mu Yao realized that the voice did not come from her, but from Qin Wuyan.
"No... Biyao, don't go there... Biyao, Biyao..."
The man on the bed was pale, muttering in terror, and even had fine beads of sweat on his face.
"Biyao!!"
Qin Wuyan opened his eyes, startled, and sat up abruptly. His eyes widened in terror as he looked at the woman before him, pulling her tightly into his arms. He murmured in panic, "Biyao! Biyao, don't go to Qingyun, don't go..."
Mu Yao let him hold her, feeling as if those two words were a knife stabbing deep into her heart. Her chest ached, and even breathing felt like an unbearable pain.
She forced herself to remain calm, struggled to push him away, and created distance between them. She bit her lower lip, unable to catch her breath, and her voice trembled: "Qin Wuyan, look carefully, I am not Biyao."
Qin Wuyan shook his head slightly, still delirious, his eyes unfocused as he looked at her, his voice weak as he said, "No...you are Biyao...you are the Biyao I've been waiting for all these years..."
He hugged her tightly once more, his voice trembling with emotion, "Biyao, Biyao, I've waited so many years, and you've finally woken up... Biyao, I know you don't love me, but all I want is to protect you..."
I've waited all these years? All I wanted was to protect you?
These words were spoken to someone else… each one piercing her heart, like a sharp dagger cutting her soul into countless wounds…
The poison of "dream resurrection" will cause a person to be constantly thinking about something.
This was something Qin Wuyan had personally taught her, and she remembered it very clearly, just like Xie Qingqiu.
Everything is now clear.
It turned out he really had been lying to her all along. She had trusted him so much, believed everything he said, believed that he truly only loved her. But in the end… it was all a lie. All those days spent together, all those loving words, all those passionate kisses, were nothing more than a huge lie he had woven for her…
For years, she had held him as a god, and her unwavering faith in him was not so unbreakable at this moment. It was as if something in her heart suddenly cracked open, and her whole world collapsed.
Tears streamed down her face as Mu Yao asked, her eyes red, "Qin Wuyan, have you been lying to me all this time? Have you always... treated me like Biyao?"
Qin Wuyan was puzzled by her sudden question. Suddenly, he had a headache. He rubbed the acupoints on his head, closed his eyes, and shook his head. Only then did he recover and become more clear-headed.
What came into view was Mu Yao's tear-streaked face. He suddenly realized he might have said something wrong and hurriedly said, "Yao'er, I..."
"Don't call me Yao'er!!"
Mu Yao interrupted him, tears streaming down her face once again.
Her lips trembled, then gradually turned upwards, revealing a sorrowful smile: "Yao'er... Ha! All these years, have you been calling me, or Biyao?"
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