Chapter 88 How lucky is it?
When Biyao woke up, she found herself lying in an ancient cave. The cave walls were lit by lamps, and as the bright yellow light flickered, she gradually saw the face of the person in front of her.
"Zhang...Zhang Xiaofan?"
Biyao slowly sat up, rubbed her eyes, and confirmed again that the person in front of her was indeed Zhang Xiaofan, but his clothes were obviously not the Taoist robe of Qingyun Sect, but more like the disciple's clothes of Ghost King Sect.
"Biyao!" Gui Li exclaimed with joy as he pulled her into his arms. "You're finally awake!"
What's going on?
Biyao looked dazed. Had she not died?
She remembered that when she was caught in the Six-Star Reincarnation Disc, Zhang Xiaofan, who was controlled by the Underworld Emperor, suddenly rushed over to kill her, but Qin Wuyan blocked her way. Then she only saw a crimson red, with blood flowers blooming, as if Qin Wuyan had chosen to perish together with the Nine Netherworld Emperor.
In her despair, she only thought of dying with Qin Wuyan, so she let the whirlwind emitted by the Six-Star Reincarnation Disc lift her up. The fierce wind howled and roared, cutting countless bloody wounds on her body, and then she slowly lost consciousness.
Biyao shoved Zhang Xiaofan away abruptly, frowning as she asked, "Why are you still alive? Where is Qin Wuyan?"
"Biyao?"
Gui Li looked at her in confusion and slowly said, "Don't you remember? Ten years ago... you shielded me from the Zhuxian Sword and saved me..."
Ten years ago? He blocked the Immortal Execution Sword?
Biyao was so shocked she practically jumped to her feet. Blocking the Zhuxian Sword was clearly something that happened in her previous life, so why did he say it was ten years ago? According to the timeline of her rebirth, that's more than twenty years ago!
Her face was filled with shock as she grabbed Gui Li's collar and asked urgently, "Where is Qin Wuyan? Where is he?"
Gui Li grew increasingly puzzled, not understanding why she kept asking Qin Wuyan after waking up. He lowered his eyes slightly and whispered, "He... might be helping your father revive the Beast God..."
Biyao immediately tried to run out of the cave, and Guili couldn't stop her. He could only run out of the Demon-Suppressing Cave with her.
Outside the cave was a mountain range and dense forest, lush and green. Not far away, the peak of the Netherworld Peak was shrouded in black mist, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring. Occasionally, shouts of killing and screams could be heard...
Biyao stared blankly into the distance, then suddenly pinched her arm hard, wincing in pain and letting out a muffled groan.
Not a dream?
Before she could figure out what was going on, a white sword light suddenly flew over. She instinctively dodged, but the sword light was so fast that it still left a wound on her left arm. Strangely, the wound did not bleed, but only wisps of white steam escaped.
As Biyao dodged, she bumped into Gui Li, who then grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. The force of their movements caused them to lose their footing and fall to the ground.
"Biyao!!" Gui Li hurriedly got up and hugged her tightly: "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine!" Biyao broke free from his hand and stood up. A large group of disciples from Qingyun Sect and Fenxiang Valley had already appeared in the woods, led by Zeng Shushu, Lin Jingyu, Lu Xueqi, and Li Xun.
The sword light just now came from them.
Seeing Li Xun still standing there alive, Biyao couldn't help but feel even more suspicious. If what she was experiencing now wasn't a dream, then was everything she had gone through before truly a dream?
No... it couldn't be a dream. How could there be such a long and realistic dream?
Is it an illusion?
She looked at her right hand and saw only a sad flower. Suddenly, she remembered that when she was collecting the five emotions, all her feelings in Qin Wuyan's memory world were real.
Zeng Shushu and the others looked at Biyao and Guili with shock and confusion. After a while, Zeng Shushu said, "Xiao Fan, now that Biyao has woken up, are you still going to be stubborn and help the Ghost King Sect cause trouble?"
Lin Jingyu also advised, "Xiao Fan, the sect leader and your uncle have already stopped the Ghost King's plan to revive the Beast God on Mingling Peak. You're staying here instead of going to Mingling Peak because you don't want to confront our Qingyun Sect, right? If you really don't want to go back to the Qingyun Sect, then go back to Caomiao Village! Don't be an accomplice to evil anymore."
Gui Li slowly stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "What I do is none of your business!" His gaze turned to Bi Yao, and his voice softened a little: "Bi Yao, let's go, don't worry about them."
Biyao still found everything too strange, so she ignored him and looked at Zeng Shushu and the others, asking, "What did you just say? You stopped my father from resurrecting the Beast God? Where is my father? And where are Qin Wuyan, Brother Qinglong, and the others?"
Lin Jingyu replied, "The Ghost King was seriously injured and has already left Mingling Peak. As for Qin Wuyan? He's dead!"
Biyao's heart tightened, and her hands and feet turned ice-cold: "Dead? What do you mean?!"
Zeng Shushu sneered, "Dead is dead, what else could it mean? He killed my grandfather, he should have died long ago!"
Biyao swayed, almost fainting to the ground. Guili quickly caught her, sighed deeply, and whispered, "Biyao, you..." He opened his mouth, hesitated for a long time, and then didn't continue.
Biyao steadied herself, suppressed the doubts in her heart, and turned back to the Demon-Suppressing Cave. Gui Li naturally followed her back.
However, after staying in the cave for a while, she suddenly ran out again. She still saw tall mountains and dense forests, with wildflowers and exotic plants growing everywhere, but Zeng Shushu, Lin Jingyu, and the others were nowhere to be seen. She stood quietly in the mountain wind for a while, then went back into the cave. She went in and out of the cave several times, and Gui Li followed her in and out of the ancient cave repeatedly.
Finally, Biyao sat down in the cave, pondered silently for a long time, and then asked, "Xiaofan, how did I wake up?"
For a fleeting moment, Biyao felt that when she asked the question, a fleeting look of joy appeared in his eyes, as if he had been looking forward to it for a long time.
Gui Li said, "I met a shaman in the southern borderlands who knew the art of summoning souls. He taught me the art. When your father resurrected the Beast God, he gathered a large amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth. That's how you finally woke up."
Biyao asked, "Did you see Qin Wuyan before I woke up?"
As she asked the question, she keenly caught a hint of displeasure in his eyes.
Gui Li said calmly, "No. He is from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect. Since you fell into a deep sleep, he has had no contact with the Ghost King Sect."
Biyao continued, "Xiaofan, don't you want to know why I keep asking you about Qin Wuyan?"
Gui Li gave a wry smile: "Of course I want to know... but I'm worried that you've just woken up and might still be very weak. I just want you to wake up, nothing else matters."
Biyao asked, "Then what about you? Why didn't you go back to Qingyun Sect with Lin Jingyu and Zeng Shushu?"
Gui Li's expression turned desolate: "Bi Yao, I joined the Ghost King Sect after you fell into a deep sleep. I am now Gui Li of the Ghost King Sect. The Zhang Xiao Fan of the past is long gone."
Biyao's expression remained calm and composed. She showed neither surprise nor regret at his words. She gazed at him quietly for a long time before slowly saying, "If you want to stay in the Ghost King Sect because of me, then you don't need to. Go back if you want, and don't worry about me anymore."
Gui Li's eyes darkened, and he asked, "Bi Yao, what you're saying is... that you don't care whether I stay or leave?"
Biyao nodded.
Gui Li asked, "What if I still want to stay in the Ghost King Sect? Will you send me away?"
Instead of answering, Biyao asked, "If I hadn't awakened, would you have stayed in the Ghost King Sect?"
A long silence fell over the cave, so quiet that one could almost hear the faint flickering of a burning candle.
After a long silence, Gui Li finally said, "Bi Yao, I..."
"No need to say anything more."
Biyao interrupted him, saying calmly, "Xiaofan, whatever your answer is, I don't really care anymore. I admit, I once truly loved you, and was even willing to give everything for you. I've never regretted shielding you from the Zhuxian Sword. But you are no longer the person you used to be, and neither am I."
"Now that I'm awake, you don't need to force yourself to do things you don't like just to be grateful for saving my life. After all, you saved my life years ago too. You don't owe me anything, and I don't owe you anything. I don't love you now, and you probably don't love me much either. I just hope you can face your true feelings, recognize what kind of person you really are, and what you truly want in this life."
She couldn't be sure yet whether the person in front of her was the real Zhang Xiaofan, but judging from his appearance and expression, her intuition told her that this person was Zhang Xiaofan, or perhaps, as he said, he was Gui Li.
If he hasn't done anything to hurt her in this world yet, she doesn't want to hold grudges against him for the past.
Hating someone is exhausting. People should use their time and energy to love those who deserve their love. Why waste your energy and effort on hating someone?
"What kind of person am I? What do I really want in this life?"
Gui Li shook his head and gave a bitter smile, muttering to himself as he repeated Bi Yao's words.
He suddenly stepped forward, reaching out as if to pull her into his arms, but Biyao instinctively took a step back, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from him.
Gui Li's eyes gradually darkened, and she sensed a dangerous aura that was about to erupt, sending chills down her spine.
He said slowly, "Why? Biyao, since you loved me so much before, why can you say you don't love me anymore now?"
Biyao sensed something was wrong with him, so she took another step back, but her tone remained firm as she said, "If you don't love me anymore, you just don't love me anymore. There's no reason."
Gui Li slowly approached her, his expression sinister: "You're lying! You loved me back then only because I saved your life, didn't you? Now, I'm the one who woke you up, so why won't you love me?"
Biyao said, "Kindness is kindness, and love is love. Besides, as I just said, I once saved you from the Zhuxian Sword, so we are even."
Gui Li's lips curled into a cold smile: "Is that so? But according to you, I should have been the one to save you first. You only saved me once. And now that I've saved you a second time, you still owe me."
“You…” Biyao was speechless for a moment. “If you insist on arguing like this, so be it. But a debt of gratitude is a debt of gratitude, and I really don’t love you anymore.”
Gui Li narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Then who do you love? Qin Wuyan? But you love him, isn't it because he saved your life?"
Biyao's eyes widened suddenly. "You...you know?? Are you really Zhang Xiaofan? Where is this? What did you do to Qin Wuyan...Ugh!!..."
Gui Li suddenly stepped forward, grabbed her, restrained her body, and lowered his head to kiss her.
Biyao stared in utter horror, never expecting him to do such a thing. This was nothing like the naive and impulsive Zhang Xiaofan she knew.
She struggled fiercely, but couldn't break free. She could only bite his lip hard, a faint taste of blood spreading between her teeth. Gui Li winced in pain and finally pulled away, his grip loosening, and Bi Yao immediately slipped out of his embrace.
"Slap!!" She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.
"Zhang Xiaofan, do you know what you're doing?!"
Gui Li paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into wild laughter: "What am I doing? Hahahaha... You ask me what I'm doing?! Hahahaha... Bi Yao, I also want to know what I'm doing! From the day you stood alive in front of me, I've always wondered, if I hadn't given up looking for you, if I had found you and saved you, would you still love me and stay by my side forever? When Qin Wuyan stabbed the Nine Netherworld Emperor, he also stabbed me. I thought I would die at Qin Wuyan's hands, but when I woke up, I found myself back in the Demon Suppression Cave, back to the time when I was going to resurrect you!"
His emotions grew increasingly agitated, his eyes reddening slightly, and he grabbed Biyao's arm again:
“I’ve gone back to the past, I really have gone back to the past!! I’ve been waiting for you to wake up, and when I saw you actually wake up, do you know how happy I was, Biyao! Biyao! Let’s start over, okay? You’re the only one in my heart. Forget Qin Wuyan, he’s dead, and this time it was really me who saved you, not him! Look, even God has given us a chance to start over, so just forget everything that happened before and stay with me…”
"Beside me..." he uttered the last two words with trembling, slowly lowered his head, and a short sword was inserted into his chest. The person holding that sword was none other than Biyao.
Biyao drew her short sword with a "whoosh!" The wound on Gui Li did not bleed, but only wisps of eerie black smoke rose out.
She staggered backward, tears streaming down her face, her voice filled with sorrow: "Xiao Fan, actually you... you're already dead. You didn't go back to the past; your soul is just trapped in the world created by your own inner demons and refuses to leave."
Gui Li opened his eyes wide, seemingly still not believing her words. He opened his mouth slightly, as if he wanted to say something more. Suddenly, the Demon-Suppressing Cave began to shake violently, as if the sky had collapsed and the earth had caved in. Then, a dazzling white light shone, so bright that Bi Yao could not open her eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, everything around her had vanished into thin air.
This time, Biyao found herself inexplicably in a strange space. Above her was not the sky, but only the aurora borealis, flowing with hundreds of colors, constantly changing its shape. Sometimes it was like a flowing rainbow, sometimes like a colorful sunrise, and sometimes it condensed into countless sparkling stars.
"Where is this?" she couldn't help but ask.
"We are inside the Six-Star Reincarnation Disc." A wisp of blue light drifted out from the Sorrowful Flower in Biyao's hand, condensing into a human figure, which was none other than the Mountain Demon.
Just now in the illusion, Biyao discovered that the spirit of the mountain demon was still in her Sorrow Flower, which made her even more certain that all of this was an illusion. The mountain demon told her that the source of the illusion must be someone's obsession. As long as the person who caused the obsession is found and killed, the illusion will collapse.
The mountain demon said, "You should really be glad you spared me back then, otherwise you definitely wouldn't have survived this time you were caught up in the Six Star Reincarnation Disc."
Biyao asked, "What about Qin Wuyan?"
The mandrill shook its head and said, "I don't know. It's already difficult enough that I managed to preserve your soul. How could I possibly care about him?"
"Biyao..." A familiar soft voice called from behind.
Biyao turned around happily, but what she saw was not Qin Wuyan, but Zhang Xiaofan.
But his body was transparent at this moment, surrounded by a white light.
Although the world just now was just an illusion, she had actually killed him after all, so Biyao still felt somewhat guilty when she saw him now.
Zhang Xiaofan smiled slightly and said, "Biyao... thank you!"
Biyao's face turned pale. She had just killed him, so how could she possibly thank him?
Although she had indeed considered killing Qin Wuyan when she saw him dissipate, she realized that killing was still too difficult for her when it came to actually doing it.
When she was the young master of the Ghost King Sect, she would always say that she was going to kill someone, but in reality, she never actually killed anyone in her entire life.
The only time she ever plunged a sword straight into someone's body was on Mount Gufeng, when Qin Wuyan's death drove her to kill Tian Ling'er in a fit of rage.
But after killing them all, the feeling wasn't pleasant.
With a guilty expression, Biyao said softly, "Xiaofan, I... really had no choice." Even though it was an illusion, she knew that the pain was real.
Zhang Xiaofan smiled and shook his head, saying, "Biyao, you don't need to apologize. You've freed me. I've always had inner demons, first the Grass Temple Village incident, then you, and then my master... Many of my choices in life have been passive. You're right, I was too cowardly and never dared to face my true feelings. I used to think I just wanted to be an ordinary person and live an ordinary life."
"I thought Xueqi and I could live like that, but people are always greedy. When I found out that you reappeared in front of me but no longer loved me, I was unwilling to accept it, and I couldn't let go. On that day at Gufeng Mountain, I even had the most terrible and despicable thought. I thought, if you were really dead, if you had never come back to life, then Xueqi and I could have lived happily ever after..."
Zhang Xiaofan shook his head and smiled bitterly, continuing, "I was too selfish, too cowardly, too despicable. I wanted too much, and I was destined to get nothing. Biyao, thank you for dispelling my inner demons. At this moment, I truly feel completely liberated..."
His voice faded, and his figure grew fainter and fainter until he disappeared like scattered dust.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and the memories in Biyao's mind shattered like an iceberg, bursting forth with countless fragmented and chaotic images. She remembered the day they first met, when she tricked him out of the precious medicinal herbs he was selling with counterfeit silver. He chased after her all the way, dumbfounded, shouting, "How could you trick me with a stone!"
At the time, she just thought this person was stupid, and she argued with a smile, "The money has been received and counted in person. I am not responsible for anything afterward! You didn't see it clearly, so who can you blame!"
If life were only as beautiful as our first meeting, why would the autumn wind bring sorrow to the painted fan? So easily does the heart of a loved one change, yet people say it's the heart of the loved one that is fickle.
It turns out that back then, it wasn't him who failed to see clearly, but herself.
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