Chapter 119 Half-human, half-demon:
The girl in front of the door left without a word, causing the palace master's brows to furrow even more as he put down his teacup.
With a soft thud, Xi Congshuang turned around and said, "Thank you for your concern, Mother. I'm fine."
Her words were cut off, and for a palace master to dwell on such a trivial matter would only make her seem narrow-minded.
Therefore, the palace master said helplessly, "This child is difficult to teach and his temperament is far inferior to Su Ying's. If you are willing to help him, you might as well let Lan Hui teach him instead, so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries."
"Mother, look at me, I've been recuperating for so many years, is there any improvement?" Xi Congshuang shook her head. "This chronic illness of so many years can't be cured in just a few days of rest. Perhaps it will never be fully cured."
"While you can still move around, you should talk to the younger generation more and feel their vitality."
The palace master sighed again.
Xi Congshuang brushed the matter aside with a few words, and then said, "Mother has come out of seclusion, and I am not able to personally welcome her. I am truly unfilial. I wonder how well Mother has been in health during these years of seclusion?"
"She's out of danger," the palace master replied. "Don't worry."
After a brief conversation, the Palace Master prepared to leave, and Xi Congshuang got up to see him off.
Standing at the gate, the palace master looked at the young woman with her eyes blindfolded by a white silk ribbon. She looked seventy percent like him, but their fates were completely different.
As the unparalleled master of the Immortal Palace, he should have been the successor to the young master, but due to his blindness and shattered spiritual palace, he was forced to live in seclusion in the Immortal Pavilion, which was truly regrettable.
The palace master said, "You used to be unwilling to see me, but now that you've come to your senses and are willing to see me, that's a good thing."
Xi Congshuang lowered her head silently, seemingly heartbroken.
With another sigh, the palace master rode away on a crane.
The wind whipped by the crane's wings ruffled Xi Congshuang's hair on her face. After standing there for a while, she turned and left, walking towards the back woods.
“Tell me everything you saw,” Xi Congshuang said.
The red apple temporarily acted as Xi Congshuang's eyes, observing the palace master for a while.
It was also amazed that the palace master's silhouette riding a crane was exactly like the immortals it had imagined, a celestial being descending from the heavens.
Not only did the Palace Master think that Xi Congshuang looked seven-tenths like herself, but even Red Apple thought so.
Although I don't quite understand why Xi Congshuang wanted it to look at everyone who appeared for the first time and then repeat their expressions and actions to her for a hundred years.
But she has always been so vigilant, so it's understandable that she would make such a request.
Lan Hui was like this, as was Yu Se, with the only exception being Su Wenxin, who appeared suddenly.
"...I'm done talking. Is there a problem?" Red Apple asked casually.
Xi Congshuang: "No, she gives me the same feeling as my mother."
After a brief malfunction, the red apple suddenly said, "The Palace Mistress was originally your mother."
Xi Congshuang was silent for a moment: "...I was talking about the mother of the original world."
Red Apple was certain: "Indeed, it's all your mother's fault."
The flapping wings stopped abruptly, and Red Apple exclaimed in terror, "I didn't swear, why are you punishing me, main system?"
After struggling for a while, Red Apple logged off cursing, leaving Xi Congshuang alone on the road to the back forest.
I feel like I'm acting weird today.
The person stopped in the middle of the road raised their hand, palm facing themselves, fingers constantly closing and clenching into a fist, giving the impression that something was about to burst forth.
Unable to understand or see anything, Xi Congshuang suppressed the agitation in her heart and the restless spiritual energy within her body, and looked up.
Someone is walking over.
The person who came was Su Wenxin. She saw that Xi Congshuang had been standing there for a long time, staring at her palm. Although she couldn't be sure whether Xi Congshuang had seen it or not, she couldn't help but come over herself before Xi Congshuang could move.
He stopped in front of Xi Congshuang, looked up at her, and asked, "What are you doing?"
Xi Congshuang opened her fair palm in front of her and asked, "Did you see anything?"
Anyone who sees this hand would think it belongs to a pampered person; it's delicate, fair, and has long, slender joints, suggesting that the person must have never been exposed to the elements to have such a hand.
But Su Wenxin knew that Xi Congshuang's life could not be described as pampered. The place where she lived was more like an exquisitely decorated birdcage, keeping this white bird trapped inside.
Because she had witnessed firsthand just how powerful Xi Congshuang's hands were, capable of fighting against thousands of troops, and that was after she was injured; in her prime, they would have been even more formidable.
Su Wenxin glanced at it, then glanced at it again: "It's very beautiful."
"What?" Xi Congshuang thought she had misheard.
"...I mean, it's normal, there's no difference from before." Su Wenxin caught a glimpse of Yu Se's back as she continued hacking away at the tree, and quickly corrected herself.
Yu Se, as simple as an old farmer, wiped his sweat with a silk handkerchief, took a sip of water, and continued chopping. He hadn't finished his task for the day and didn't have time to see what the young master and Su Wenxin were talking about.
Some people, however, felt guilty and kept looking behind them. Seeing Yu Se's increasingly desperate chopping, throwing down his wood-chopping knife and yelling to the sky, they secretly felt relieved.
"Aaaaaah, heavens! Why is the Unfixed Tree so hard?!"
The screams of despair reached them, but the two did not respond.
Firstly, for Xi Congshuang, cutting down the Wuding tree was just a matter of moving her fingers. Secondly, Su Wenxin had already cut it down and overcome the difficulty, so there was nothing to fear.
So everyone remained calm.
“It’s normal…” Xi Congshuang withdrew her hand. As soon as she thought that, the restless feeling disappeared, as if it was all just her imagination.
Unable to trace the source of the restlessness, Xi Congshuang stopped thinking about it and was pulled by her sleeve to look at the unsettled wood that Su Wenxin had lit.
Although it was only a small piece the size of a palm, it was a huge encouragement for someone who had tried for several days without being able to burn their oily skin.
However, to burn it completely, you must continuously use spiritual fire to burn it until it is completely burned before you can move on to the next chapter of the cultivation method.
Su Wenxin did nothing but burn wood during the day and meditate at night, becoming increasingly clear-headed and single-minded.
If Yu Se hadn't witnessed the transformation firsthand, she would have found it hard to believe that this person was the same unruly Su family girl from back then, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for her preconceived notions.
This sense of guilt also extends to the young master.
Not to mention Yu Se, Lan Hui was the same way. Every time she went down, she would report to the Palace Master about the Young Palace Master. Her junior sisters were also changed by her and were no longer afraid of the Young Palace Master like a tiger.
With Yu Se as a living example, it's hard for the junior sisters not to believe it.
The more this was the case, the more the Palace Master sighed: "What good is it if one's mind is restored but one has no cultivation?"
Upon hearing this, Lan Hui's smile faded, and her expression turned somber.
What happens on earth, heaven does not know.
All that is known is that the effects of the new cultivation method on Su Wenxin are visible to the naked eye. Her fragile foundation has become much more solid, and her spiritual mansion has accumulated a rich and watery spiritual power, just waiting for the day when she can refine it into a golden core.
At that time, Su Wenxin will be a true Golden Core cultivator.
Xi Congshuang released her hand from probing her spiritual power: "Not bad, you've improved a lot. Breaking through the barrier and forming a golden core is just around the corner."
Su Wenxin's eyes lit up: "I will definitely cultivate diligently."
From feeling angry whenever she heard Xi Congshuang speak to feeling happy whenever she heard Xi Congshuang speak, in just two short months, a dependence appeared in her eyes that she herself was unaware of.
Although cultivators in the late Foundation Establishment stage are on the verge of reaching the Golden Core stage, countless cultivators in the world are blocked from reaching the Golden Core stage, and cannot achieve it even after a lifetime of effort.
Foundation Establishment is merely formally stepping into the threshold of cultivation; it's nothing special at all.
Xi Congshuang's sleeve was being grabbed and shaken, and one could imagine how happy the person was. This also infected her, and a smile appeared on her lips. She did not forget to remind her: "Don't be hasty. You were able to establish your foundation before purely because of the protection of your Heavenly Spiritual Root. If you continue like that, it is not impossible to reach the Golden Core stage, but it will be as difficult as climbing to the Nascent Soul stage."
No wonder Xi Congshuang kept saying that we should change our cultivation method and start over. So that's why. After hearing her advice, he repeatedly promised that he would definitely do it.
*
The night was as still as water, and the world was silent.
Inside the main hall, the slender figure resting on the jade bed suddenly moved. Without opening her eyes, she sat up abruptly, formed hand seals, and used her spiritual power to suppress the restlessness deep within her body.
Several days later, that feeling returned. This time, she knew without looking that it wasn't a hallucination; something inside her was indeed about to burst forth.
The seated figure emitted a faint, icy blue light, resisting the restlessness within its body.
To suppress the fierce agitation within her body, she could only use more spiritual power to do so. Before long, the spiritual energy in the hall was drained by Xi Congshuang, and the effect began to spread outwards until all the spiritual energy in the Immortal Pavilion was drained.
Even so, it is still insufficient.
The depleted spiritual energy and the excruciating pain in her spiritual realm frantically reminded her not to resist, but to accept it all.
It seemed as if a voice was speaking in Xi Congshuang's ear.
"This is your true self, why resist..."
"Suppressing your emotions is too painful, so why not release them all and return to your peak..."
"Stop suppressing it, let go, I'll help you kill those people who are pointing fingers."
If a second person were present, they would see that Xi Congshuang's icy blue spiritual power was stained with blood red, the almost blackish red gradually rising and wrapping around her like spider silk.
A red mark appeared faintly on Xi Congshuang's forehead, growing redder over time until the complete magic mark appeared on her forehead.
A deep crimson line, a mysterious and dangerous magic hairpin.
This is the real reason why no one in the Immortal Pavilion serves the young palace master who cannot see her. If the red mark between her eyebrows were seen, it would cause a huge uproar.
Despite being a cultivator, albeit one who nearly went mad with demonic possession, he possessed a demonic mark on his forehead, a mark inherent to demons.
"Look, your body is accepting it, so why are you resisting?"
"Wouldn't it be better to relax a bit?"
"Those who look down on you deserve to die..."
"No one wants you to live. The Flying Immortal Palace, where you grew up, all see you as a viper. These people all deserve to die..."
At this moment, Xi Congshuang realized that the voice speaking in her ear was exactly the same as hers, but it was not her speaking, nor was it her true thought.
It was her inner demons that were bewitching her, taking advantage of her vulnerability, and trying to lure Xi Congshuang into complete descent into evil.
The inner demon then said, "You've drained the spiritual energy from the Immortal Pavilion. Aren't you afraid of being discovered?"
"...!"
The words startled her awake. The person who had been suppressing her emotions with her eyes closed stirred. She got out of bed and stepped barefoot onto the cold floor. Instead of heading towards the door, she went to the window.
A few steps later, she disappeared into the main hall.
The spiritual energy of the Immortal Pavilion began to slowly recover.
Deep in the mountains and forests, the bright moon hangs high, its cold, clear light reflected on the cold spring.
The calm water was suddenly shattered by a person who took off his loose robe and stepped into the water, stirring up the clear water and making it ripple like broken silver.
This beautiful scenery is purely for the blind, and unfortunately, the person bathing in the moonlight in the middle of the cold spring is blind.
She was soaked in the cold spring, with only her shoulders exposed. Her wet clothes clung to her shoulders, and her long, snow-white hair was no exception, sticking wetly to her shoulders, back, and the sides of her face.
The red earrings on her ears resembled vibrant cinnabar moles, with the dangling gemstones swaying slightly.
This spring water can purify the mind and dispel inner demons. Xi Congshuang stood quietly in the center. The white silk covering her eyes had disappeared at some point. She closed her eyes and entered a meditative state, like an ice sculpture.
She was truly an ice sculpture; her eyebrows and eyes were covered in frost, and her white eyelashes were adorned with white frost, making it impossible to tell who was whiter.
"Who?" Xi Congshuang opened her eyes and looked into the depths of the cold spring.
In her haste, she forgot to check her surroundings and stood in the middle of the cold spring for who knows how long, letting people stare at her.
The sound of water splashing made the voyeur try to run away, but Xi Congshuang couldn't let him leave so easily.
Affected by the raging spiritual power, she became completely blind, and there was nothing in front of her. Without the white silk, she could not even see the ball of light to identify the person who came.
At this moment, she was not very rational; out of her cultivator's instinct, she wanted to kill any living creatures that were moving around nearby.
Even if the white silk ribbon were still there, she wouldn't be in the mood to examine it closely; her heart was filled with nothing but rage at being spied on.
A moon-white silk ribbon flew out from the sleeve and plunged into the dark depths, wrapping around the person and dragging them towards the cold spring. With a splash, the person fell into the water and coughed as they choked on it.
"Cough cough cough! It's me cough cough cough cough..."
"Who?" Xi Congshuang instinctively followed the direction of the voice.
In a state of chaotic consciousness, no one dares to expect any warmth from someone whose mind is in turmoil.
Su Wenxin didn't dare to speak either. She wanted to speak, but she had to raise her hand to cover her mouth and cough incessantly.
"What are you doing here?" As if remembering who the speaker was, Xi Congshuang, seemingly oblivious to pain, used her spiritual power to lift the person up by wrapping her waist with silk.
This is not a sentimental attempt to regain reason.
Xi Congshuang raised her hand, grabbed Su Wenxin's collar, and pulled her closer: "Why are you here?"
The white silk ribbon before her eyes had vanished, and her dark green eyes, now clearly visible to the girl, reflected her own face. Yet, her own eyes were unfocused, filled with emptiness, anger, and murderous intent.
This time, when they made eye contact, Su Wenxin didn't feel like she was being looked at.
Su Wenxin said in a hoarse voice, "I shower here every day. I'm late today, what brings you here..."
Her voice suddenly went silent, and by the bright moonlight, Su Wenxin could see a red mark on Xi Congshuang's forehead.
"..."
Reputable sects have many secret manuals that are not allowed to be viewed by independent cultivators and are only for the study of their disciples.
However, some consensuses are not only known to those in prestigious schools, but are universally acknowledged.
That is, demons are born with a demonic mark between their eyebrows, and the older the bloodline, the darker the color, while demon cultivators do not have it.
However, Xi Congshuang was clearly a cultivator with spiritual power rather than demonic power. Demonic cultivators and demons are worlds apart. Although both use demonic power to cultivate, demons are born with it, while demonic cultivators acquire it later.
If Xi Congshuang has gone mad from her cultivation... she should still be a demonic cultivator, so how could she possess a demonic hairpin...?
Su Wenxin dared not think too deeply, her gaze fixed directly on the red mark on her forehead.
With her vital points so clearly exposed, it was hard for Xi Congshuang not to notice. Her face, wet from the cold spring, was pale and translucent, and the words she spoke were even more chilling.
With her free hand touching her brow, Xi Congshuang asked, "What did you see?"
Su Wenxin was extremely shocked and involuntarily stammered, "Demon... Demon Dian..."
“Mo Dian.” A hint of deep red seemed to flash in her dark green eyes, extremely dangerous, but her tone became even gentler: “Now that you know, go out and tell on me that the young master of Feixian Palace is actually half-human and half-demon. Many immortal sects will be willing to worship you, and you will have a better life than you have now, and you will be free.”
Are you going to report me?
Su Wenxin felt a chill run down her spine.
But she said, "No..."
Xi Congshuang repeated, "No?" Her expression clearly showed disbelief.
The incessant whispers in her ear were disturbing her mind, making her extremely annoyed. She tried to shake her head to dispel the sounds.
The person holding Su Wenxin gritted his teeth and said, "Shut up!"
Su Wenxin, who was about to speak, shut her mouth. Then she realized that Xi Congshuang wasn't telling her to shut up, but rather was talking to something she couldn't see.
It's true that cultivators can use spiritual artifacts to communicate with spirits, but the current situation has nothing to do with spiritual communication, leaving only the most unlikely possibility—a demon in one's heart.
Realizing that the young palace master she had spent several months with was half-human and half-demon, she thought about many things, but never about reporting him.
She was raised by a bird demon and didn't have the deep hatred that righteous cultivators felt for those who were not of their kind, so she didn't think Xi Congshuang was that scary.
It's laughable, considering she's a person, she has absolutely no awareness of the importance of cultivating oneself.
Not only did she not tell anyone, she also said to Xi Congshuang, "I swear to God, I will not tell anyone what I saw tonight, or may I be struck by lightning and suffer the consequences..."
"Shut up." Xi Congshuang recognized Su Wenxin's voice amidst the noise and interrupted her.
The distant rumble of thunder signaled the success of the oath.
She said it was too late; the oath of Heaven had already been established.
The Way of Heaven is just, treating all things as straw dogs, and does not deny the authenticity of a vow simply because it was made to a half-human, half-demon.
As the thunder roared, Xi Congshuang felt the intense pain from her spiritual abode again. Her inner demons subsided, and she gained the upper hand in the struggle for reason.
Her senses returned to reality. Su Wenxin's hand was on her wrist, gripping her tightly, making her feel a little pain. The spring water beneath her kept washing over her body, and her heartbeat seemed to quicken with the ripples.
With a splash, the person soaking in the icy spring water stirred, their soaked clothes clinging to their body, revealing their form.
The soaking wet man didn't care at all. He let go of the collar and used the silk to wrap around Su Wenxin's waist as they walked towards the shore, where clothes were still scattered.
Su Wenxin was placed on the shore. She adjusted her posture and looked back. Xi Congshuang continued walking back to the center of the cold spring with her back to her.
"go back."
After a moment of silence, the person who spoke again spoke in a much gentler voice, just like Xi Congshuang normally: "Go back and rest, don't worry about me."
If you tell her to go back, she definitely won't listen.
Su Wenxin seemed not to hear what Xi Congshuang said, sitting still and demonstrating how disobedient she was before being taken to the Flying Immortal Palace.
After staring at the person in the spring for a while, Su Wenxin grew bolder and bolder. She picked up the scattered clothes, folded them neatly with her eyes narrowed, as she was not yet at the level where she could directly look at the magic array on the magic robe.
After wandering around, she found the white blindfold hanging in the bushes. It was still clean, rolled up, and placed on her clothes.
Throughout the entire process, the person immersed in the icy spring water stood quietly in the center without uttering a word.
Then she couldn't think of anything else she could do.
Then let's start cultivating.
The people on the shore gradually grew tired and could no longer maintain their meditative posture. They changed to hugging their knees and waiting, resting their chins on their knees and gazing longingly at the center of the cold spring.
The water was so cold. She had a fire elemental root and could use her spiritual power to keep warm, while Xi Congshuang couldn't use her spiritual power and could only tough it out with her body.
As night deepened and dawn approached, the people on the shore had changed positions several times, curling up to sleep on one side.
Finally, there was movement in the spring. A person with frost on their brow walked towards the shore, keeping the noise to a minimum.
Barefoot, she stepped onto the grassy bank, dried her wet clothes and long hair with her spiritual power, and then groped her way to where she had thrown away her clothes, putting them on one by one.
Layers upon layers of clothing were worn, tightly covering the area below the neck. The next item picked up was a three-finger-wide strip of white silk.
Blindfolded and tied behind the back of the head, the last one picked up was Su Wenxin, who was curled up asleep.
The person who had been tense all night was now sleeping soundly, and was picked up by Xi Congshuang and prepared to return to the Immortal Pavilion.
The sensation of movement startled the sleeping person awake. Unaware that she was being held in someone's arms, Su Wenxin was still groggy and vaguely saw Xi Congshuang's face.
Her forehead was as white and clean as ever; the red marks from last night seemed like a fleeting dream.
"Young Palace Master...?"
"Um."
Are you feeling better?
"Much better."
"But you feel so cold to the touch, let me warm you up."
After she finished speaking, she raised her hand and put her arm around Xi Congshuang's neck, pressing her body closer to her chest.
If she were still awake, she would have heard Xi Congshuang chuckle and say, "Who's this kind of thoughtful?"
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Look at you, you're already used to being taken home [doge emoji]
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