A dream within a dream, seeing a body outside the body
Night fell like a vast black silk ribbon, gently spreading across the heavens and earth, while the bright moon hung silently in the boundless night sky, generously showering down its silvery light. The cool moonlight draped everything in a dreamlike veil.
In the courtyard with its gray walls and black tiles, a white jade table and several stone benches are placed in the waterside pavilion. Bathed in moonlight, the table and benches gleam with a cool, ethereal glow, as if covered in frost. The pond beside the pavilion ripples, the moonlight shattering into countless shimmering fragments on its surface. Occasionally, fireflies flit among the willow trees beside the pond, their twinkling lights reflecting the moonlight, creating a dreamlike, hazy, and beautiful scene.
Lin Shi sat on a round stone bench in the waterside pavilion, leaning casually against the stone table. One arm rested on the table, while the other hand cupped her chin, her gaze calmly fixed ahead. Her features were exquisite, her face more ethereal and beautiful than the moonlight, yet her thick, dark eyebrows and deep-set eyes also gave her a striking, spirited air. Truly, "A beauty seen under the moon grows more beautiful the more you look!"
Directly in front of Lin Shi stood a tall, elegant male cultivator, gazing down at her. But this time, her dream overlapped; she didn't see Lian Zheng, but Wen Zhao'an, whom she hadn't seen for many years. He was now a Nascent Soul cultivator. He wore a pure white robe, which fluttered slightly in the breeze, giving him an ethereal and exceptionally handsome appearance.
The two stared at each other in silence for a long time.
Lin Shi spoke first: "Wen Zhaoan, it's been many years. I didn't expect your cultivation to have reached the Integration Stage again."
“Yes, it’s been a long time!” Wen Zhaoan replied. Seeing that Lin Shi had spoken first and her expression was calm, he took a few steps and sat down on the stone bench next to her. The two were not too close, but only separated by a stone bench, sitting opposite each other.
Looking at Wen Zhao'an's familiar features, Lin Shi asked directly, "Where is Lian Zheng?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Wen Zhaoan was stunned for a moment, but after he finished, he smiled slightly. As he smiled, Lian Zheng's figure separated from his body and transformed back into his original form, sitting on the stone bench between him and Lin Shi.
Lin Shi stared intently at Lian Zheng and Wen Zhao'an, who were so close together, and was somewhat surprised to find that if the two closed their eyes at the same time, their face shapes and other features were so alike that they looked like twins. One had phoenix eyes, and the other had peach blossom eyes; one had a relatively gentle personality, and the other had a relatively strong personality, which made people overlook their other similarities.
Lin Shi shifted from her chin-resting posture to a straight, upright seated position. She couldn't help but sigh, then addressed the two before her: "I don't agree with the rule that overlapping dreams automatically lead to becoming Daoist partners. Wen Zhao'an, I can give Li Fei'ni an external body, allowing her to contain her lingering emotions from past lives, to rebuild her physical form, and to be with you again. I cannot accept Lian Zheng reverting to his external body, becoming your possession, merging into your soul, and becoming a memory and reincarnation of yours! This is my thought, and I'd like to hear your thoughts as well."
Lian Zheng glanced at Lin Shi with a complicated expression, then turned his gaze to Wen Zhao'an without saying a word.
Wen Zhaoan then said seriously, "Lin Shi, if you give Fei Ni an outer body, it will not affect your ascension to the Middle Heaven Realm, but Fei Ni will inevitably have to go through dozens or even hundreds of reincarnations before she can become a cultivator again and obtain the opportunity to ascend. So many reincarnations are too painful, and I cannot accept Fei Ni suffering so many more lifetimes."
Lin Shi raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "You like Li Feini? You like her to this extent? I didn't realize your feelings for each other were so deep when I looked at your memories before. You two weren't exactly mutually in love when you were alive."
Wen Zhao'an's gaze was complicated. He sighed and said helplessly, "Lin Shi, you are the reincarnation of Fei Ni. I have loved you deeply from beginning to end. We have been together through hundreds of reincarnations and have never truly been separated. Moreover, if I don't merge with Lian Zheng, I won't be able to ascend to the Middle Heaven Realm. I will also need to reincarnate with Fei Ni for dozens or even hundreds of more lifetimes."
Lin Shi rubbed his forehead and said weakly, "Wen Zhao'an, a person or a cultivator is not the same person after they are reincarnated!"
Wen Zhaoan disagreed. He answered seriously, word by word, "I know that the reincarnation is not the same person as the previous life. But you and I have signed a Daoist soul contract for all eternity. You and I have never been separated. You and I have complete memories of each life. You and I are bound together in each life. This bond cannot be severed."
Lin Shi couldn't help but cross her arms: "Wen Zhao'an, but I don't like you in this life. I only like Lian Zheng. If you, as the main body, allow Lian Zheng to merge into your soul, we can only part ways. Or you can let Lian Zheng be the main body, and you, as an external body, merge into his soul. I don't accept any other choice! Even if you and I fight, you can't beat me. Lian Zheng and I are evenly matched in cultivation. In one or two battles, it will be difficult to determine a winner in the short term!"
Wen Zhao'an looked at Lin Shi with a heartbroken expression. He remained silent for a while before saying, "...Lin Shi, I can consider becoming Lian Zheng's incarnation and merging into his soul. But we've been through hundreds of lifetimes together, don't you have any feelings for me at all?"
Lin Shi raised an eyebrow: "What kind of feelings do you want? In my first past life, I must have been a fool to sign a soul contract with that Mahayana stage male cultivator, a contract to be soulmates for all eternity, and to be willing to suffer through hundreds of reincarnations with your past life. I'm not a fool! I would never do something so stupid again because of love!"
Wen Zhaoan frowned: "Lin Shi, cause and effect are cyclical and predetermined, and everything has its own cycle. The life in which we signed the Daoist soul contract for all eternity was the cause, and our reincarnation into this life is also a process of cause and effect. The cause and effect between us cannot be easily severed. In the hundreds of lifetimes we have been reincarnated, you have shot and killed me for the sake of your country at least twenty times, and I have never held a grudge against you."
Lin Shi couldn't help but raise her voice, arguing without backing down, "That's not wrong! Even if time were to rewind, I would still shoot those who threaten my country for the sake of my family and country, whether they are my husband or someone else. Why don't you say that in at least fifty of your hundreds of reincarnations, you took concubines?"
Wen Zhaoan retorted, "Then you have never compromised in any of your lives. In my past lives, whenever you took a concubine, you either chose to commit suicide early, remarry, or find a male lover to take revenge on me. You have been about the same fierce temperament in every life. Whatever grudges you had, you basically settled them in that life. In all the past lives where you died before me, I followed you in death for love."
Hearing this, Lin Shi couldn't help but laugh. After laughing, she said seriously, "Then your temperament is pretty much the same in every life. Even in the case of Zheng, you deliberately pretended to be gentle. You weren't born with a gentle personality. In this life, you used love to prove your Dao and then used the Dao to prove your Dao, but I didn't. Even if I reincarnate a hundred times, I can't become someone who is only obsessed with love. I just gave you three choices, and I will only accept one of them. Anyway, after ascending to the Central Heaven Realm, whether it's a Daoist soul contract for all lifetimes or a regular Daoist soul contract for one lifetime, it will all become invalid."
After Lin Shi finished speaking, Lian Zheng and Wen Zhaoan could only look at her helplessly.
After that, the three fell silent. Lin Shi and the other two sat at the stone table, staring at each other, locked in a battle of patience and spiritual power, neither willing to yield. It wasn't until dawn approached and cracks began to appear in the dream that the stalemate began to ease.
After a long stalemate, Wen Zhaoan finally covered his forehead, frowned, and made the final decision, becoming the one who compromised. He ultimately chose to become an alternate body. In front of Lin Shi, he allowed his body to transform back into the form of a celestial being, and then his soul merged with Lian Zheng's soul, becoming a past life and a memory of Lian Zheng.
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