Chapter 18 "What is sincerity? With me..."
Don't be afraid.
In her dazed state, Meng Chiwan seemed to hear nothing at all, yet it was as if she heard the echoes of countless souls trembling.
Those eyes slowly cleared.
The familiar bed curtains were there again.
She sat up and looked at the empty seed bag. Something seemed to sink heavily into her heart, the feeling of falling so clear.
"Chi Wan, you're awake? The nightmare should be over." The familiar Wen Qingyin voice came from beside him, but this time, he didn't call her "Miss" anymore, but called her by the name that no one had called her for a long time.
Chi Wan.
She looked up and met those willow-leaf-shaped eyes. The watery light in those eyes made her vaguely see a small boat in the middle of the lake, gentle and moist.
He always seemed to have this calm and gentle demeanor.
At this moment, he was holding a long sword, the tip of which was pointed at the boy who had pierced the seed bag. The boy's sword had broken in two; one piece lay on the ground, while the other was still in his hand, but it no longer posed any threat.
“Chi Wan, I put some effort into that seed bag, and he just ruined it like that. I’m still a little upset. So, how about we make him pay a price?” Yun Xianqing spoke slowly, his gentle smile returning to his face, his voice still soft.
Before Meng Chiwan could speak, he added, "Besides, he ruined your clothes, which made me very angry."
The boy had indeed torn her clothes, but fortunately Yun Xianqing appeared in time.
What surprised her even more was that Yun Xianqing, who always appeared gentle and refined like a gentleman, would actually use the word "very".
Looking at the boy again, he still looked dazed, but his eyes were red and swollen. It was unknown what his dream was like.
Meng Chiwan was certainly not the kind of person to repay evil with kindness, so she immediately said to Yun Xianqing, "Why don't you also loosen his belt?"
After saying that, she smiled, as if she could also understand how absurd her words were.
She tried her best not to show any disappointment, but her tone of voice inevitably carried some sadness, and her expression revealed a forced composure.
Although she wasn't the type to repay evil with kindness, she certainly wouldn't resort to violence so easily. Yun Xianqing probably wouldn't go so far as to kill someone either.
"Does Chi Wan really want to see him?" Yun Xianqing's movements remained unchanged, her words carrying a smile, seemingly joking, but with a hint of something unsettling in her tone.
Although she had started the conversation herself, she didn't know how to respond for a moment.
She glanced at the boy again, and when he seemed about to react, she said, "Why am I looking at this kind of person? It would be better to make him spit out what I want. After all, they are disciples of the Immortal Alliance, righteous disciples."
She emphasized the last few words, emphasizing each one as if reminding someone of something.
"The young lady has a good plan." The boy finally came to his senses, the redness at the corners of his eyes gradually fading. He glanced at the calmly placed bell on his wrist. "But in any case, I have achieved my goal for this trip."
"Therefore, I can satisfy you, young lady. You know nothing about this, right?"
"I don't know anything." Meng Chiwan slowly pushed the pillow towards the bed, intending to cover the book that Lin Yudong had mentioned, and said calmly.
"Then why don't you let me see your sincerity?" The young man lowered his eyes to look at the sword in front of him, and then his gaze met Yun Xianqing's face, a strange feeling flashing through his mind.
This face, in theory, doesn't match that person's.
The next instant, he opened his eyes wide and dodged, watching as the long sword transformed into a stream of water that wrapped around his neck. The blade formed by the water stream tore through his flesh, causing him to lose all his strength!
The spiritual energy within his body surged, yet it could not condense!
"What sincerity?" Yun Xianqing spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice soft, yet like a sharp blade formed from flowing water, tightening little by little.
He scoffed, "What's sincerity? Is it as useful as my sword?"
Meng Chiwan stared wide-eyed, thinking to herself, "Why didn't they use this trick sooner?!"
As if hearing her thoughts, Yun Xianqing chuckled and said, "Taking advantage of someone in distress is not the act of a gentleman, but I am quite annoyed right now. You can say what you want now, before his senior brother wakes up from his illusion."
"Okay." Meng Chiwan relaxed and smiled at Yun Xianqing.
Then she said to the boy, "Why don't you answer a few questions for me first?"
She reached out to pick up the book by the bed, but the pages turned into gas the moment they touched her and entered her body.
In an instant, she felt a cleansing of her soul and suddenly understood how Lin Yudong, as a spirit, wrote the book.
It turned out that it wasn't a book at all, but a fragment of her soul. She had woven all her memories into the pages that her soul had become.
In an instant, countless images flashed through her mind.
Then she asked the young man, "Are you truly a disciple of the Immortal Alliance?"
The boy gritted his teeth and remained silent, as more blood oozed from his neck, several bright red streams meandering down his neck.
But Meng Chiwan didn't seem to intend to wait for his answer: "Lingjiang Palace. Is this the place?"
She didn't miss a single word he said, scrutinizing his reaction. Seeing his furrowed brows and pupils, she said almost decisively, "You come from Lingjiang Palace."
Then she softened her tone and asked Yun Xianqing, "Does the Immortal Lord know where this is?"
Yun Xianqing paused for a moment, then shook his head.
Meng Chiwan then looked away and asked the boy, "Do you know where Lin Shuchun went?"
The boy clenched his teeth tightly, unable to speak or move his head; the slightest deviation would cause his neck to separate from his body.
"You know that, right?" Meng Chiwan asked again, her gaze intense.
"Who is Lin Shuchun? I don't know." The boy spoke with difficulty, his eyes constantly glancing at his senior brother who was standing blankly to the side, hoping that he would come to his senses soon.
"You came here on your master's orders, so all of this is related to the so-called Lingjiang Palace, right?"
She spoke again, a glimmer of inspiration rising in her mind.
“Immortal Lord. I am just a mortal woman who only wanted to seek a connection with the immortals. That ghost said she could help me cultivate immortality, so I kept some things from her. I had no interest in the things that you and she cared about, but since you have treated me this way, I have no choice but to protect myself now.”
Finally, she said, her words tinged with melancholy, her face showing an innocent expression.
"I hate trouble the most, so as long as the Immortal Lord lets me go and pretends that none of this happened, we can part ways amicably."
If she were to kill a celestial lord here, she would truly be saying goodbye to her peaceful life.
“Okay. I can pretend nothing happened.” The boy, still glancing in his senior’s direction, spoke without hesitation upon hearing this.
“But I can’t fully trust you. Why don’t you let me see your sincerity?” Her beaming smile was somewhat irritating to the young man.
"...What do you want?" he asked after a few moments of silence, seemingly helpless, his words tinged with a hint of gritted teeth.
“The Immortal Lord previously said that I have a predestined affinity with immortality and could help me cultivate immortality…” she said casually.
“It’s in the storage bag. The entire storage bag…you can take it all…” The boy gritted his teeth, then let out a long sigh, as if resigned to his fate, and took out the storage bag.
Meng Chiwan chuckled, took the package, and opened it to check the contents. Then she said, her voice tinged with delight, "Not only the contents, but the storage bag can stay too, after all… you punctured my seed bag…"
The boy closed his eyes briefly: "...Okay."
"Alright then. Does the Immortal Lord know of any spells that can make you keep your promise? After all, my life can't withstand the Immortal Lord's teasing." She slowly raised her eyes, leaned closer to the boy, and said each word carefully.
“…I don’t know,” the boy said.
She pulled a book from the table and read it aloud: "Those who have entered into this vow must never break it, life after life; those who break it..."
The boy's eyes widened, then he said, "You want to nail a contract mark into me?! You dare to do that?!"
"How am I not worthy? Not only do you want it nailed, but you have to nail it yourself."
As she was speaking with a smile, she suddenly caught a glimpse of another boy standing to the side.
The boy's eyes were becoming clearer, and he began to form hand seals!
But the next moment, her heart sank again.
Because the water sword had somehow wrapped around the boy's neck; it didn't look like a sword, but rather like a piece of silk.
In an instant, she relaxed and met Yun Xianqing's eyes. Yun Xianqing still had that gentle and mild appearance, but he gripped the sword in his hand tightly without the slightest tremor.
"Go ahead and nail it," she said with a smile. "You two nail each other."
After a while, the boys were filled with resentment. Their gazes towards Meng Chiwan were more venomous than those of ancient ghosts.
But the next moment, they all painfully looked away, wincing in pain.
The reason was simple: the contract that Meng Chiwan had them nail to their heads stipulated that they must never harbor any ill will towards Meng Chiwan and Yun Xianqing.
For some reason, the two seemed to look a little strange when they heard Yun Xianqing's name, but then their expressions disappeared in the next moment, leaving her with no way to question them.
Yun Xianqing, standing to the side, remained as calm as a stagnant pool.
Meng Chiwan wasn't afraid of the boys playing tricks when signing the contract. Because her last line of defense wasn't even in this one.
She took out a bottle from a hidden compartment containing something the boys knew all too well, then opened the cap and gave each boy a small amount.
“Listen to the wine of delusion. The Immortal Lord hasn’t forgotten it, has he?” she said lightly.
The boy, however, was listless. He opened his mouth but said nothing; he couldn't scold him, but he didn't want to praise him either.
The seal they affixed was real. It was originally fake, but for some reason, his senior brother affixed a real one for him, so... he couldn't possibly be at a disadvantage.
"You killed the ghosts here, you've never seen me, and you don't remember what happened here, right?"
Meng Chiwan sorted through the storage bag, speaking slowly and deliberately.
The boys' eyes gradually became hazy, and then they collapsed.
A note from the author:
Hello, hello, hello~ (making a phone call [pill])
I'll continue updating every other day! I promise, every other day, not every two days! [Crying emoji]
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