Chapter 7: Star and Lotus (Part 7) He is the star in the sky, and she is the earth...
When Lian Qiang woke up the next day, Chi Xingji was about to go out.
"Awake?" He took a step back. Lian Qiang was startled, seeing the completely unfamiliar room before her.
"Where is this?" Lian Qiang sat on the edge of the bed. She could only recall that Chi Xingji found her last night and carried her on his back. She had no memory of what happened after that.
"I brought you back to the hotel in the city." Chi Xingji approached her and looked at her with his eyes slightly lowered. "I checked. The demonic energy in your body has been suppressed again, just like before. It's not easy to be discovered for the time being. Are you feeling unwell?"
Lian Qiang shook her head. Every time the demonic energy in her body erupted, it would enter a stable trough. During this period, she would feel more comfortable, but only relatively better.
Chi Xingji sat on the edge of the bed with her and put his hand on her wrist. Cool spiritual power flowed in from then on, making Lian Qiang shudder. Fortunately, her body was already familiar with Chi Xingji's spiritual power, and the evil spirit subsided temporarily, so the examination was completed smoothly.
Seeing that Lian Qiang was in good shape, Chi Xingji put down his hand and hesitantly suggested, "...I have a match this afternoon, my first match of the tournament. Do you want to go and see it?"
If what happened yesterday had not happened, Lian Qiang would not hesitate and would have agreed directly, but the scene of yesterday was right in front of her. She wanted to agree, but she didn't dare to.
"No," Lian Qiang rolled her eyes and declined with a smile, "I heard that every time there's a Heavenly Dao Conference, the surrounding markets are bustling. It's a once-in-a-century opportunity, so I don't want to miss it."
Chi Xingji listened, but didn't get angry. He just nodded and said, "Okay."
Lian Qiang declined his invitation, feeling somewhat guilty, and quickly changed the subject: "By the way, when did I fall asleep yesterday? I slept so soundly and refreshed."
She pretended to stretch. Chi Xingji stared at her quietly. She almost thought she had done something, but then he said, "On the way back."
"On the way back..." Lian Qiang always felt that she had forgotten something, but she suddenly remembered that there was one thing that was far more important than anything else.
"How is your injury?" Although she firmly believed that she did not hit him hard, the injury was on Chi Xingji after all, so she did not dare to be careless.
Chi Xingji shook his head to indicate that he was fine, but Lian Qiang didn't believe him: "Let me see."
His injury was on his shoulder. Lian Qiang asked him to open his collar a little, but Chi Xingji was unwilling. The two of them pushed each other back and forth. Lian Qiang got angry and slapped his hand away, acting fiercely: "Why are you moving? Let me see!"
Perhaps it was the sound of her patting Chi Xingji that was too crisp, or perhaps it was her tone that was fierce enough, but the moment she said that, both of them were stunned. Lian Qiang felt something was wrong and wanted to withdraw her hand, but unexpectedly, Chi Xingji also lowered his hand and turned his face slightly to the other side.
"...You see." He moved his lips and uttered these words.
With permission, Lian Qiang's courage grew stronger. She tried to pick at his collar. As Chi Xingji had said, the wound was not big. It had already scabbed over after just one day. Even so, the dark wound was still very conspicuous on his white jade-like skin.
...How painful it must be. No matter how high your cultivation level is, you are still a flesh and blood body.
Lian Qiang reached out to touch him, and seeing that Chi Xingji didn't cry out in pain, she breathed a sigh of relief. When she looked up, she saw that he pursed his lips unnaturally, and her breath could be sprayed on Chi Xingji's collarbone. A small image of her could be reflected in Chi Xingji's eyes. Only then did she realize how close and ambiguous their current posture was.
Even though they had done something very intimate, Lian Qiang felt a flush on her face and quickly took two steps back.
"It's good that you're okay, it's good that you're okay." She said these two words dryly, and the two of them fell silent again.
There was no point in continuing the stalemate, so Lian Qiang finally broke the silence: "...It's getting late, isn't it time for you to leave?"
Chi Xingji followed her lead and stood up, walking to the door. Lian Qiang watched him walk all the way. He pushed the door open, opened it once, and turned to look at her. Lian Qiang was caught staring at him.
"You really... don't want to go with me?"
This wing room was on the second floor. The sunlight that filtered through the window was just right, but it was limited to a small, square patch, making the surroundings seem even darker. As the door opened, the noise and light from the outside world suddenly flooded in. Chi Xingji stood in the sunlight, as if he didn't belong in this cramped and gloomy world.
"Well," Lian Qiang smiled at him without any reluctance, "Why are you asking a second time? I won't go. You should go quickly, and be careful not to be late."
Chi Xingji left. Lian Qiang relaxed suddenly, slumped into the soft quilt, and covered her eyes with the back of her hand.
How could she not be willing? She was very willing. Chi Xingji even asked her twice. It was the first match, a crucial match. How could she be absent?
But how could she go? Perhaps many people had memorized her face from yesterday. Even Qiang's lips trembled with sorrow. She dropped her hands and stared blankly at the ceiling. She couldn't keep him here for selfish reasons, nor could she openly appear side by side with him.
Lian Qiang lay silently for a while and then sat up.
She really wanted to see... Chi Xingji said that her demonic energy was already difficult to detect, so if she was careful, could she blend into the crowd? Even if she was discovered, Chi Xingji was not by her side, so she would not be dragged down.
The more she thought about it, the brighter the light in Lian Qiang's eyes became. She quickly got to work, took out her long-unused rouge and powder, and retouched her eyebrows and eyes. She also took off a cloak that could conceal her face.
Standing in front of the door, she calmed herself down and pushed it open.
Fortunately, many cultivators had eccentric personalities, so her attire wasn't too noticeable. Following the direction of the largest crowd, Lian Qiang successfully found the competition venue.
Coincidentally, she had just found an empty seat on the outskirts and sat down when Chi Xingji was already at the head of the stage.
He rarely appears in public, but that doesn't mean no one knows him.
Many years ago, the Wuji Sword Sect became famous again for accepting a disciple who was born with sword bones.
In just a dozen years, Chi Xingji advanced through the Qi training, foundation building, golden elixir, and Nascent Soul stages at an unstoppable speed, successfully replacing the name "natural sword bone" that everyone was talking about with his own name.
From then on, Chi Xingji was born with sword bones, and the one who was not born with sword bones was Chi Xingji.
Now, he officially stood before the crowd, already a mighty being in the Spiritual Transformation Realm. Looking back through the ages, how many such individuals had there been? And without exception, they had all successfully ascended to the Immortal Realm, becoming the unattainable existence of all cultivators.
Everyone predicted that Chi Xingji would be one of them, and even Qiang was no exception, or rather, she believed it more than anyone else.
Lian Qiang watched Chi Xingji from afar. It had been a long time since she had seen Chi Xingji wield a sword properly. Thinking back carefully, they had only trained together for the first six months of their training, when Chi Xingji's amazing talent had yet to be fully utilized.
In a flash, decades passed. The dignified and steady Sword Master before him looked like the youthful boy he once was, and they were surprisingly similar.
Lian Qiang was lost in her memories when she heard whispers around her. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw two middle-aged male cultivators. Their voices were not loud, but just loud enough for her to hear without much effort.
"Have you heard about what happened yesterday?" "It was about Chi Xingji and a demon cultivator?" "What demon cultivator? She was just a human woman..." "I heard she was involved with Chi Xingji, and it was unclear. Is that true?" "I saw it with my own eyes, it's true!" "You said Chi Xingji was fine, he could have any woman he wanted, why would he get involved with someone who was almost possessed by a demon..."
Lian Qiang's face turned pale. Even in the sunlight, she still felt as if she was falling into an icy cave.
"Don't you know? He's married. I heard it was his childhood sweetheart from before he joined the Wuji Sword Sect. But she hasn't appeared in public for a long time. I don't know if she's dead or alive..."
She is still alive and even sitting next to you.
"She might be dead. That woman must be of average talent, right? How could an immortal king who is about to ascend to heaven have such a wife who has endured hardships together? It would be so embarrassing if everyone knew about it!"
It's true that she's not talented, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's a true wife. Lian Qiang knew very well that she had been dragging Chi Xingji down all these years and had never shared any hardships with him.
Strictly speaking, what Chi Xingji achieved today was entirely due to himself, and he also relied somewhat on the help of Wuji Sword Sect and Xi Wenji.
Lian Qiang wanted them to quiet down, but she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to come up with a decent retort.
Just at this moment, the game was about to start, and everyone's attention was drawn to it, and they stopped chatting.
Chi Xingji's Tongbei Sword was named by Xi Wenji, saying it matched his temperament and was meant to help him understand sadness and joy and attain enlightenment soon. Chi Xingji had lived up to his expectations.
Chi Xingji wore a pale robe today, a pale aura shimmering like snow. Despite being the center of so much attention and discussion, he remained unfazed, his features resolute and handsome. Even the Celestial Lords would likely only match his appearance.
"Please give me your guidance." Chi Xingji stood there, exuding an imposing presence. His opponent swallowed before fighting, then stuttered in reply, "Please, please give me your guidance."
The outcome was decided quickly. Lian Qiang only had time to see a flash of sword light before Chi Xingji pointed his sword directly at the opponent's heart.
"Thank you." He put away his sword at the right moment, clasped his fists in a salute, and stopped just enough to avoid embarrassing his opponent. His opponent, having lost, graciously admitted his defeat and walked off the stage without hesitation.
He had just defeated his enemy with a single blow of his sword. Many people, noticing the magic of his strike, cheered in applause.
Lian Qiang's realm was not high enough to understand, but she knew that Chi Xingji won beautifully.
She subconsciously covered her chest, feeling as if something was about to burst out, full but not heart-pounding. When her gaze shifted again to Chi Xingji, who was standing like a mountain on the stage, Lian Qiang realized it.
It turned out to be a natural sense of pride in Chi Xingji.
He deserved to live under the admiration of the crowd, surrounded by applause, standing with those chosen by heaven, not with the "demon cultivators" that others hated... Even if Lian Qiang hadn't been half-demonized, the distance between them was like an insurmountable chasm.
Chi Xingji was on the other side, Lian Qiang on this side. He couldn't get over, and she couldn't get over even if she spent her entire life there. He was a star in the sky, and she was a lotus on the ground, trampled into the mud by people. No matter how hard she grew, she could never reach the sky.
Chi Xingji on the stage noticed a long gaze. He turned his head to look, but there was no one there.
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