Chapter 26 He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Late..."
Meng Chiwan turned around, a gentle breeze lifting the ends of her hair. Her eyes were bewildered, her heart filled with confusion, wondering who in this world would say such things to her.
But the voice also sounded somewhat familiar to her.
A voice she knew all too well suddenly seemed to echo in her mind: "Sister Chi Wan."
The people from before, the people she thought would never return, have come back under these circumstances.
But as the years passed, his way of addressing her changed from "sister" to "Chi Wan".
Zhong Huai. The man who once shared her plight and tried to pull her ashore several times.
Yun Xianqing raised her eyes, her hand still holding the magic seal, and sent it out to track the archer. Then her gaze shifted from Chi Wan's face to Zhong Huai's face.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Chi Wan, who is he?"
Meng Chiwan stared blankly at Zhong Huai, as if all the years of her past had melted into warm water and seeped into her heart.
For the first time ever, she didn't answer Yun Xianqing immediately, but instead said to the young man playing the zither, "You're still alive."
Although he had changed a lot since then, she could still recognize him at a glance.
Yun Xianqing unconsciously frowned.
Then the person slowly descended from the sky to Meng Chiwan's side, still smiling, but after looking her over, he couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache: "Chiwan is not doing well."
Meng Chiwan lowered her head. Hearing him say this, she suddenly remembered when her parents had just passed away. Zhong Huai, who was also starving and cold, was willing to share his meager hot soup, white porridge, and steamed buns with her and do the mountain of chores that her aunt had assigned her.
At that time, he also said, "Chi Wan is not doing well."
So he desperately wanted to make her life better, to protect her, to guard her, and to take the beatings and scoldings for her. He suffered and toiled for her.
But everything ended when she was ten.
That was the third year after my parents passed away.
One day, someone pulled a body out of the river. Everyone said it was Zhong Huai, but only she, the neighbor's younger sister, refused to believe it.
She always believed that her brother Zhonghuai had gone to a better place.
It turned out she wasn't wrong. Zhong Huai was still alive; he seemed to be doing well.
She wanted to say something, but then she saw Yun Xianqing draw his water sword and bind a young man.
The water sword brought the boy to Meng Chiwan's side.
Now was no time for reminiscing. Meng Chiwan nodded to Zhong Huai and then asked, "Who are you, and why are you treating me like this?"
"I have nothing to say to the demons!" the young man sneered, his snorts radiating disdain.
"Demons?" Meng Chiwan was taken aback for a moment, then pointed to herself, "Are you talking about me?"
"The demonic energy on you is so heavy... are you still trying to deny it?" the boy said disdainfully, but then seemed to lose confidence, "Your body..."
"Do I really have demonic energy on me?" Meng Chiwan asked again incredulously when she saw his reaction.
"...There was some just now." The boy paused for a moment, seemingly sensing it carefully, before reverting to his disdainful expression. "Your demon race's technique for concealing demonic energy is becoming increasingly sophisticated."
Meng Chiwan could no longer sit still. Could it be that the seal on the Heart of the Demon had loosened?
As she was still hesitating, she heard Zhong Huai say from the side, "Junior brother, do you recognize me?"
"Senior Brother Zhonghuai, why did you save this witch?" the boy asked.
"Do you really think she's a witch? Have you tested her with the Demon-Stabilizing Needle?" Zhong Huai asked unhurriedly.
"...No. It's just that she definitely emitted demonic energy just now, especially... the sword in her hand," the boy said.
"Perhaps you're mistaken. I was there just now, but I didn't sense any demonic energy. If you don't believe me, why don't you use the Demon-Stabilizing Needle to probe it now?" Zhong Huai pondered for a moment, then said kindly.
The young man hesitated for a moment, seemingly lacking confidence, and then said, "Then let's take the test."
Zhong Huai then gestured for Yun Xianqing to release the boy, but Yun Xianqing refused to meet his gaze until Meng Chiwan told him to release the boy. Only then did he release the boy.
Zhong Huai and the boy simultaneously took out a compass-like object, their fingertips radiating spiritual energy as they began to cast a spell.
When Meng Chiwan first saw this so-called Demon-Stabilizing Needle, she didn't know what kind of power it had or whether it could really detect all demonic energy.
As the divination disc spun, she began to feel uneasy, fearing that the results might actually indicate something sinister.
The wind howled and cranes cried. Everything around seemed to fall silent.
Yun Xianqing suddenly took her hand, as if trying to comfort her and tell her that everything was alright. But before she could do anything, she heard a voice.
Someone patted the boy on the shoulder and asked, "What are you doing, junior brother?"
The boy frowned, then turned around and stopped moving.
At the same time, Meng Chiwan also turned around.
A familiar face came into view, or perhaps not so much familiar, but rather one I had met twice before.
The first time they met, when she saved Yun Xianqing, the boy stopped her at the foot of the mountain and asked her why she wanted to go up the mountain.
In the second scene, when she was disciplining Ma Jianshan, the boy helped Ma Jianshan up and then sealed the demonic heart within her.
Yes. That face was indeed Lin Ruyuan. The vermilion tattoo on his forehead even seemed to glow in the night. And the slightly older boy following behind him at a leisurely pace was Lin Jinsheng.
When Lin Jinsheng saw Meng Chiwan, he showed no expression and even ignored everyone else, only addressing Zhong Huai as "Senior Brother" first.
Only after Zhong Huai nodded and smiled in response, calling him "Junior Brother," did Lin Jinsheng turn to look at Meng Chiwan: "Sister, it's been a long time. How have you been?"
Meng Chiwan automatically translated these words into her mind: "How is the state of the Demonic Heart? Is the seal still secure? Has anyone discovered it?"
She now wants to say: Everything is fine, but now your junior brother may have discovered that the Demonic Heart has become entangled with me.
"Junior brother, did you really see demonic energy on this girl?" Lin Ruyuan stood shoulder to shoulder with the young man, then turned his head to ask.
"really."
"How did Junior Brother complete his mission?" Lin Jinsheng asked.
"...The target of the mission has run away."
"With your mediocre skills, you've managed to bully a defenseless girl," Lin Ruyuan laughed.
"So weak you can't even kill a chicken? Senior brother, take another good look." The young man sneered.
Lin Ruyuan remained silent for a moment, then suddenly asked Meng Chiwan, "Sister... how has your cultivation improved so quickly?"
What he really wanted to ask was, what exactly did he study to improve so quickly?!
So... he's about to form his core?!
"The opportunity has come, there's nothing I can do about it." Meng Chiwan shrugged. In truth, she had never known whether her cultivation had progressed quickly enough, but since he had said that, she knew the answer in her heart.
"..." Lin Ruyuan was speechless for a moment, but fortunately he had a strong ability to regulate himself and soon spoke again, "Let's test it. I also want to see if my sister has any demonic energy."
Hearing him say that, Meng Chiwan suddenly felt relieved.
It seems it won't be detected.
There's just something strange about it.
Why could this young man see the demonic energy on her body, especially the dense demonic energy he mentioned above Jinglan?
The dharma disc rotated again above her head and then pressed down heavily on her. She felt a slight sting in her heart, but did not show any abnormality.
Fortunately, the Dharma disc passed through her without causing any abnormalities.
The magic disc stopped, then dissipated into particles, and the boy fell silent.
This result was beyond his expectations.
"Junior brother, have you lost your mind looking for mission targets?" Lin Ruyuan laughed, the tattoo on his forehead looking even brighter, and he mocked the boy mercilessly.
The boy frowned, glanced at Meng Chiwan, still somewhat incredulous, yet the Demon-Stabilizing Needle had indeed failed to detect any demonic energy.
Then someone gently patted her shoulder. She turned her head, and the fallen leaves landed silently. Looking up, she saw Zhong Huai smiling gently, as if to comfort her.
A strange feeling welled up in Meng Chiwan's heart, but she quickly dismissed it.
The young man seemed somewhat reluctant, but in front of his senior brothers, he had no choice but to lower his eyes and say, "I misunderstood you, young lady, and almost caused a great mistake. Please forgive me."
Out of consideration for Zhong Huai, Lin Jinsheng, and Lin Ruyuan, Meng Chiwan decided not to pursue the matter further and waved her hand, smiling as she forgave the boy.
In fact, the young man might not have guessed wrong. She does indeed possess the Heart of Demonic Thought, but whether the Heart of Demonic Thought has generated demonic energy is something she cannot say for sure right now.
At least she didn't sense anything unusual.
May everything go smoothly, and may this peace last for a hundred years. She felt uneasy all the while, but there was nothing else she could do but pray in her heart.
The Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist began to heat up. She lowered her hand, feeling lost and confused.
The hand that Yun Xianqing held was warm, but for some reason, she couldn't feel safe at all; that sense of unease always lingered in her heart.
Why?
Was she afraid he would leave, afraid she couldn't keep him?
Or was she more afraid that there might actually be some kind of demonic energy within her? That made her unable to put her mind at ease no matter what?
"Chi Wan. Is there anything you want to buy? Or are you hungry? Shall I take you to eat?"
At this moment, Zhong Huai broke her reverie and brought her back to the present situation. His voice was gentle as he put away his zither and looked at her with a smile.
Meng Chiwan wanted to reply that there was nothing she wanted to buy and she wasn't very hungry, but she felt her hand being gently pinched.
Then she turned her head and saw that Yun Xianqing's smile seemed to have faded a bit, and there seemed to be some inexplicable meaning in his dark eyes. She wanted to see more clearly, and then she heard him speak. His tone was gentle, but it also seemed to have a strange firmness: "But Chi Wan, you haven't told me who he is yet. Besides, if you are hungry, how can you ask a stranger to take you to eat?"
I don't know if it's just my imagination, but he seemed to emphasize the word "outsider" particularly.
Meng Chiwan then realized that she hadn't really paid attention to Yun Xianqing since earlier. He seemed to have asked her something, but she had unconsciously ignored it at the time.
She felt a pang of guilt.
Author's note: Lin Ruyuan and Lin Jinsheng appeared in chapters four through six.
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