Chapter 22 Reunion with the Tide, My Husband
This question didn't bother Cheng Xi for even a second.
He smiled gently and made a gesture as if to explain to Jiang Geyun.
Jiang Geyun did not give him that chance.
Based on her understanding of him, in that barely perceptible moment when his thoughts paused, she swiftly and decisively pushed him into the vortex!
The wind suddenly rose in her ears, behind her were the bright candlelight, the inky black sky, and the crimson plum blossoms. The downy fur on her cloak was stirred by the breeze. Everything was like an eternal painting, enough to be etched into anyone's eyes and even heart.
The girl's eyes, usually veiled by a thin mist, were now clear and bright, as if the clouds had parted after the rain. She said, "Farewell, my love."
She couldn't always rely on others for help while doing nothing herself; this was her gift to him for the trust and companionship they had shown each other during this perilous journey.
What will it be like when we meet again in Lianzhou?
Although I don't know if I can ever go back...
...
Just like the others who had left, Cheng Xi's figure also disappeared from the vortex in an instant.
Behind Jiang Geyun, the sound of Hua Biezhi clapping came from behind.
The man in red said, "What a touching scene! He said he would live and die with you, yet you still sent him away alone. Is this not true human affection?"
Perhaps because the person had just left, Jiang Geyun hadn't adjusted yet. She had a strange feeling that she hadn't successfully sent him away, and that he was still around.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Geyun suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and casually said, "It's alright. Our relationship hasn't reached that point. If it were someone I truly cared about, I would definitely want them to die with me."
The wind around them had calmed down considerably, but after Jiang Geyun said those words, it seemed to turn colder again for some reason.
Jiang Geyun felt a chill run down her spine from the wind, but thankfully Pei Xueyi had given her a cloak earlier, which she quickly wrapped back around herself.
Hua Biezhi seemed to both approve and be surprised, "Oh?"
Jiang Geyun said in a profound tone, "The first step in loving someone is that I don't want to be an independent, lonely person. If I were that kind of person, I would feel incomplete, wouldn't I?"
Hua Biezhi was stunned by these words and pondered in silence for a moment.
It's quite profound, isn't it? Jiang Geyun also thought so.
—After all, these words were said by Hegel.
Actually, she didn't quite understand it either, especially the later parts about "the resolution of contradictions" and "ethical unity"... Philosophers, terrifying indeed. But everyone's attention was so easily diverted; how could this trick work so well, like teasing a cat?
Seeing that Jiang Geyun was in a normal mood, Hua Biezhi snapped out of her reverie and said with a hint of annoyance, "You're so calm. You don't really think you can be rescued so easily, do you?"
Jiang Geyun did not answer, but pulled her cloak down to reveal her neck and pointed to the shackle mark on her neck.
Did you see that? It was Xuan Dujian who did it.
Although it's not exactly a good thing.
Hua Biezhi snorted and said, "Even if Xuan Dujian insists on taking Miss Jiang away, it won't be a short time. People who leave Plum Garden will have blurred memories of the manor. Even if the Night Watchers have resistance, it will still take some time for them to recall. In addition, the flow of time is different inside and outside the manor..."
Do you think you can survive this period of time unscathed?
Jiang Geyun shook her head and said frankly, "Since the manor lord has said so, it will definitely be difficult for you gentlemen to remember me."
Hua Biezhi felt she had won back a point, "Then..."
Jiang Geyun took out the Lingxi from her bosom and said, "It's a good thing I didn't return this to Pei Xuexiao. Forgetting me is easy, but losing this thing is probably not so easy to let go of, is it?"
Hua Biezhi stared at the object for a moment, her eyes deep and thoughtful.
Yao Ji wanted to step forward, but Hua Biezhi stopped her with her hand.
Jiang Geyun put Lingxi back into her bosom and said calmly, "Therefore, if the Master has any instructions, I'm afraid we'll have to act quickly."
The feigned coercion dissipated.
Hua Biezhi raised an eyebrow and said, "So you guessed my purpose. No wonder you were willing to stay."
...You actually guessed right! That's fantastic!
As if she had expected this, Jiang Geyun said calmly, "Given the manor lord's personality, he would rather use his own blood as a sacrifice than ask for mine. I suppose I am not well-liked by the mountain god, hence this inference."
Hua Biezhi was not one to hide anything, so she nodded directly and said, "Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that Miss Mu is suitable as a sacrifice. However, you are not suitable. I have something to ask of you if I can keep you here."
What Hua Biezhi didn't say was that this choice, which seemed to interfere with the fates of Jiang Geyun and Mu Jin, was actually Hua Biezhi deciding the direction of her own destiny.
When Jiang Geyun spoke just now, Hua Biezhi found that she did not resist this future, so she tacitly approved of everything that happened afterward. However, Hua Biezhi did not know whether this path would be good or bad in the end.
Jiang Geyun said, "Of course."
Hua Biezhi had anticipated Jiang Geyun's answer, and gave a light snort, saying, "Then..."
Jiang Geyun interrupted her, saying, "But Master, shouldn't we always reciprocate in our dealings with others?"
Hua Biezhi's smile faded. "Isn't letting you go a matter of reciprocity?"
Jiang Geyun said, "I can also refuse the manor lord's request and play a game of cat and mouse with the manor lord to see how efficient the Xuandu Supervisor is at rescuing people. In that case, I can 'leave this place' by myself, so how can it be considered a courtesy from the manor lord?"
Hua Biezhi approached Jiang Geyun with her arms crossed, scrutinizing her from head to toe for a long time. Jiang Geyun felt uneasy under her gaze, but she didn't forget to maintain a calm and faint smile on her face.
After a moment, Hua Biezhi said casually, "Alright, what do you want? Money? An official position? Or a longer life?"
Hua Biezhi was unmoved by this suspected "extortion," as if she were used to exchanging favors and could easily provide whatever Jiang Geyun wanted.
Jiang Geyun couldn't help but think of Pei Xueyi's attitude towards Lingxi, and her feelings became complicated. Sigh, the Celestial Dragons!
But more importantly, finally...
Jiang Geyun slowly exhaled, and the white mist in front of her quickly rose and dissipated. She asked, "Does the Master know about the 'Soul Summoning Ritual'?"
*
Like a long-lost soul suddenly returning to her body, or like a wandering consciousness returning after a daze, Mu Jin shivered and found herself in a small alley.
The surroundings were not unfamiliar, and she remembered how she got here, but that memory, which should have been from the previous second, seemed inexplicably distant and vague at this moment.
Looking at the sky, it seemed to be around dusk; it was gloomy and the surrounding fog had dissipated...
Huh, fog? Has she ever encountered fog before?
It's late at 5 PM, so when did she arrive here?
Her mind was in complete chaos. Mu Jin squatted down and hugged herself, lost in confusion.
Just then, a faint meow came from the sky.
Mu Jin looked up in surprise and exclaimed, "Qianjun, is that you?"
Upon hearing its own name, the initially faint, tentative meows gradually grew louder and became much more composed.
The next instant, a dark cloud covered in snow flashed in front of Mu Jin, landing precisely on the roof of some house and leaping right in front of her.
Mu Jin's squatting position made it easy for the kitten to jump in. Qian Jun adjusted slightly, snuggled into Mu Jin's arms, and licked his paws contentedly.
The sudden return of Qianjun, especially since Mu Jin found him herself rather than with the help of a servant, and given that Qianjun has always had a bad temper, was now willing to jump into her arms, Mu Jin was naturally very happy.
Just as she was smiling and about to pick up Qianjun, a wave of self-reproach and sorrow, of unknown origin, suddenly surged into her heart.
The excitement was instantly dissipated, like washing an inkstone in a lake. The inkstone enters the water, and the clear water changes color in an instant. The dark emotions are hard to control, surging and churning.
Unbeknownst to Mu Jin, her tears had already fallen onto the fur of the kitten in her arms, each drop like a pearl rolling down the kitten's soft white belly.
"Huh, why?"
Mu Jin stared blankly as tears rolled down Qian Jun's body. The kitten bristled in disgust, curled up and licked itself in a disgusted manner. Then, it looked up at its owner and stopped moving. In the end, it did not leave Mu Jin's embrace.
The girl in purple suddenly lowered her head, hugged the kitten in her arms tightly, and cried out in silent, intense pain, as if she had felt extremely wronged and extremely guilty.
In the deserted, desolate alley, only suppressed sobs and soft meows could be heard.
Night was falling.
*
The intense golden light dispelled the deep darkness, and Jiang Geyun breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn't know how to summon the so-called natal fire, so she could only try her best to "recite" the formation in the dark room.
In the dimly lit environment, with the outcome uncertain, the pain of losing one's spirit is even greater than the pain of losing blood.
Fortunately, the blood array was completed, and golden light emanated from it to every corner of the room, although the marks were drawn somewhat crookedly.
Conditions are tough, so hopefully all those gods and immortals will stop worrying about these things...
Jiang Geyun rubbed her temples, feeling as if her mind had been completely emptied, as if she had taken a calculus exam all day. She finally understood why Pei Xueyi had looked so pale back then.
It took Hua Biezhi a while to adjust to the golden light. She looked around, her gaze lingering on the blood array for a while. She never hid her emotions, and at this moment, her face was full of suspicion.
"It can be done..."
Before Hua Biezhi could even ask her question, Cheng Jiao's figure appeared in the center of the blood array, as if the air had been scorched and was being pushed back by the edges of a piece of paper.
Unlike her initial appearance when she went from being listless to lively, perhaps because this blood array used Jiang Geyun's blood from the very beginning, Cheng Jiao's demeanor was no different from when she was alive as soon as she appeared.
The floating girl, dressed in the same white robes as Jiang Geyun, opened her eyes from her daze and called out to Jiang Geyun in surprise and joy, "A-Yun!"
Only then did she begin to observe her surroundings, asking in bewilderment, "Why has the place changed? And why have the people changed? Wasn't Ge Sheng here before?"
Jiang Geyun casually wiped Shouzhuo clean, put it back in its sheath, stood up with a swaying gait, and replied wearily, "It's a long story... Your memories are actually connected?"
"What do you mean, 'connecting'..." Before she could finish speaking, Cheng Jiao frowned and said, "Ah Yun, you're injured, first... ah."
Cheng Jiao was about to make a move, but after floating a few steps, she found that her movement was limited to the blood array beneath her feet, and she could only stop.
Jiang Geyun pulled up a stool and sat down, calmly saying, "Suguang, you are already dead."
Cheng Jiao nodded and said, "Ayun, please apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Miss, could you please get some clean water?"
Hua Biezhi sat to the side, resting her chin on her uninjured hand, her tone full of schadenfreude. She said, "No."
Cheng Jiao, who was always kind to others, was shocked to find that there were people in the world who could so readily "turn a blind eye to someone's death."
Unlike Pei Xueyi at the time, Jiang Geyun's wounds showed no signs of healing after the blood array was completed.
She initially didn't want to get involved, but seeing Cheng Jiao's persistence, she had no choice but to turn around, pick up the clean cloth prepared on the table, and press it against the wound.
Perhaps due to blood loss, Jiang Geyun clearly felt the room become cold and damp this time. The golden light emanating from the blood array seemed somewhat weak, far less intense than it had been that day, and the feeling of being spied on never disappeared.
Pirated formations, as long as they work, I don't care about anything else.
Cheng Jiao recovered from her speechless shock. Seeing that Jiang Geyun had finally stopped the bleeding, her expression softened a little. She said, "Where were we? Ah, I'm dead."
Jiang Geyun said, "...Yes."
Before Jiang Geyun could ask, Cheng Jiao, still pondering, said, "I remember, when I was being chased by the Shadow, if I were killed by that thing, death wouldn't be pleasant. If I tried to escape, the effects would spread, which wouldn't be good either, so..."
So Cheng Jiao committed suicide.
Jiang Geyun understood her unspoken words, just as Hua Biezhi did.
Hua Biezhi sneered, "So what if it spreads? No wonder you became a ghost and there's not a trace of turbidity in you. If you had a little resentment, you could still turn into a ghost. You don't need to be summoned to appear. You're pathetic."
Jiang Geyun threw the unused white cloth onto Hua Biezhi, saying, "This ceremony is for me and Suguang to communicate, and has nothing to do with the manor lord."
Hua Biezhi grabbed the white cloth, about to make a sarcastic remark, but then noticed that the blood from her wound had seeped through the bandage. She stopped talking and went to tend to it.
Cheng Jiao glanced at the two of them, then looked back at Jiang Geyun. "It's worth it as long as A-Yun is alive. Are the others in the temple unharmed?"
Jiang Geyun sighed slightly, having anticipated Cheng Jiao's reaction, and said, "No, the Night Watchers arrived in time, and the Abbot has also found the source of the Shadow of Filth. The matter has been resolved."
Cheng Jiao smiled and said, "That's good."
Jiang Geyun said, "On that very day, I also saw your brother, Su Guang. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid he..."
Jiang Geyun originally wanted to comfort Cheng Jiao with the fact that no one was hurt, but unexpectedly, after hearing her words, Cheng Jiao repeated with a puzzled look, "My brother?"
A cold, damp wind seemed to be blowing into her neck, so Jiang Geyun wrapped her cloak tighter around herself.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Quiz: Why is the cat named Qianjun?
Hint: (Cat like) This is slander! This is slander!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
