A dream of spring mountains, shrouded in dust for twenty years, remained unshaken until death...
Outside Tianyan Mountain, at dusk, a light rain fell, and the misty rain, like a veil of smoke, lingered over the verdant mountains.
A cool mountain breeze, carrying refreshing moisture, brushed aside the thin bamboo blinds on the window, letting the first spring rain fall on the face of a young girl who was resting on a wooden table by the window.
On the wooden table, against the wall, stood an old, rustic three-tiered tea rack. Beside the tea rack were several stacks of old books, two stacks of new paper, and a calligraphy brush with a mix of old and new pieces.
At the very edge, there was a small red clay stove with a long-spouted pot sitting on it. The fire in the stove was blazing and the hot water in the pot was boiling vigorously.
Spring rain is light and chilly, mountain breeze is refreshingly cool, and the stove fire is gently warm.
The sky grew increasingly dark and gloomy, with no sign of good weather. The rain gradually intensified, swirling across the sky like silver fluff.
A drop of rain was blown into the curtain by the whistling mountain wind, and gently landed on the girl's lightly closed right eye, bringing with it a slight coolness.
With her long eyelashes glistening with water droplets, Yan Huanyue slowly opened her eyes.
Seemingly still struggling to recover from the excruciating pain deep within her soul, resentment and regret, like a ferocious black mist, instantly filled her eyes, tightly gripping her eyeballs and mind.
It's getting tighter and tighter...
She kept widening her eyes, which were now bloodshot, and suddenly dug her fingertips into the wooden table under her arm.
In her immense pain, she clenched her fists tightly, and with a sudden jerk, countless splinters of wood flew everywhere.
Only two large holes, torn apart by the claws, remain on the surface of the large case, with ten finger grooves and one empty space in the middle.
Blood streamed down her hand, which was gripping the sharp wood shavings. Finally, she raised her neck, her veins bulging, and screamed hysterically, "Ah!"
Gu Yuxiao, who was taking a short rest in the study next to the teahouse, listening to the rain in the cool weather, suddenly sat up with a shiver.
Suppressing his racing heartbeat, he angrily climbed out of the small couch, pushed open the window, and shouted at the teahouse hidden in the bamboo grove not far away:
"Yan Huanyue, what are you yelling about!"
The shouting stopped abruptly. He composed himself, which had almost been startled out of his wits by the shout, and was about to lie down and continue to listen to the rustling bamboo rain as he drifted off to sleep.
Then, after a door opened, a figure in a misty pink dress rushed out from the bamboo path.
Gu Yuxiao saw that her face was full of panic, and there was sweat or rain on her forehead, which meandered down her cheeks. Her hands were covered with white wood chips, and blood was dripping from her fingertips.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her gaze cold and sharp as knives. She stared at him blankly for a moment before calling out in a daze, "Senior Brother Gu..."
Gu Yuxiao was startled by her gaze. He wondered what this young lady had done in the teahouse to get herself into such a state, and couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
Yan Huanyue has average talent and is a low-level cultivator with five spiritual roots. She was brought into the Tianyan Sect at birth and is still an outer disciple who failed to pass the trial exam and become an apprentice. She is only studying in the outer sect's Zhijing Hall.
Elder Feng Hua, the head of the Zhijing Hall, is Gu Yuxiao's master. Therefore, Gu Yuxiao usually helps manage the cultivation and miscellaneous affairs of the outer disciples.
Today, Yan Huanyue got into a fight with her fellow disciple Xue Jingnian in front of the disciples' residence.
Xue Jingnian, a formally apprenticed inner disciple, was instead severely beaten by this outer disciple. As a result, several disciples who were on good terms with Xue Jingnian came over to denounce her.
It was Xue Jingnian's fault for being so talkative, insisting on commenting on how much Yan Huanyue's marriage to Yu Zhao had dragged Yu Zhao down. This made the usually well-behaved girl hold back her sobs, her teeth clenched so tightly that she looked like she wanted to tear Xue Jingnian apart.
Gu Yuxiao was always easygoing and didn't investigate the punishment. He gave Xue Jingnian a bottle of medicine and sent them all away.
He brought Yan Huanyue to the teahouse and comforted her for a few moments, then left her to her own devices, wondering why she had suddenly run out like this.
He looked at the blood-stained white sawdust, then immediately got up, jumped out of the window, grabbed her shoulder, and swiftly pulled her into the teahouse.
As soon as Gu Yuxiao entered the teahouse, he caught a glimpse of two snow-white wood shavings floating on his master's most beloved black lacquered table.
He turned his head to look more closely and saw that white dust that had not yet fallen was still hanging in the air above the two huge holes.
Gu Yuxiao hissed and pulled Yan Huanyue over, examining the ten finger marks on the large table as they walked, which looked like a "death struggle." He clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Junior Sister Yan, you've really done something good. You had a fight with Junior Brother Yu, and when you came back you destroyed the wooden table my master made by hand. You'll be in for a beating..."
"When did your cultivation become so powerful? A thick slab of Li Yun wood is impervious to swords and spears, and immune to water and fire. You just carved it out like that? Did you use some kind of life-sustaining water?"
He then pressed her down onto the wooden chair behind the large table, used hand seals to dry the rainwater off her body, and removed the splinters from her hands.
Then, he leisurely went to the wooden shelf to get the medicine. "I'm telling you, why bother? You're going to cause trouble for Junior Brother Yu's mission in Linjiang this time, aren't you? Junior Brother Xue wasn't wrong, so why did you hit him?"
Yan Huanyue watched Gu Yuxiao's back as he picked out medicine by the wooden shelf, then looked down at her own hands.
A tingling, numb pain coursed through her hands, and the wind and rain outside the bamboo curtain were chilly, making her shiver.
She clenched her hands tightly, the pressure on her wounds intensifying the pain, yet this intense pain also gave rise to boundless ecstasy within her.
Everything is real...
"Reach out your hand."
Her dark eyes flickered slightly as she came to her senses and slowly opened her ten fingers.
The sound of wind and rain filled my ears, and a cool breeze touched my palms.
When Yu Zhao shattered her soul, she thought she was about to vanish into nothingness in this humiliating way...
Cold tears fell silently onto her sleeve.
Seeing her like this, Gu Yuxiao assumed that she knew she was wrong, and his initial anger subsided somewhat.
He put away the medicine bottle, first extinguished the fire in the small stove on the table, and carefully poured boiling water to make a pot of hot tea.
He poured tea into cups, picked one for himself, and then offered one to Yan Huanyue, somewhat awkwardly offering words of comfort:
"Your cultivation level is indeed too low. Going to Linjiang with you will only make you a good target for beatings. Junior Brother Yu will have to protect you, so how can you focus on exorcising demons? Don't be angry. There will definitely be new bamboo shoots after today's rain. Tomorrow, let's go to the back mountain to pick some new bamboo shoots to make chicken and bamboo shoot soup, shall we?"
Yan Huanyue did not respond, but she couldn't help but recall her wedding night in her previous life, when Tan Guiyi suddenly appeared and tearfully accused the two of them.
Only then did she realize that this seemingly ordinary fellow Daoist, whom Yu Zhao had mentioned, had already confessed his feelings to him, and the two had secretly pledged their lives to each other. Yu Zhao had also promised Tan Guiyi that he would marry her after breaking off the engagement.
On their wedding night, Yu Zhao chased after Tan Guiyi, and she followed, but was blocked by Yu Zhao's barrier in the dark snow forest of deep winter.
In that snowy forest, she was not only dragged and torn apart by a suddenly enraged monster, but also met Fu Yinhuan, who often followed Tan Guiyi.
Fu Yinhuan appeared to be a respectable and upright person, but it was unknown when she had embarked on the path of evil cultivation. She used her pure spirit body as fertile soil, digging countless bloody holes in her body to plant, harvest, and replant medicinal seeds and deformed species one by one for three whole years.
During those three years, she could feel the medicinal seed growing countless fine roots in her flesh and blood, constantly penetrating deep into her flesh and blood, drilling into the bone crevices, and absorbing pure spiritual energy.
Later, the pain became somewhat numb...
Although she had saved Fu Yinhuan once, she was not familiar with Fu Yinhuan. She hated Fu Yinhuan to the extreme for her viciousness, wickedness, and ingratitude.
However, she always believed that she and Yu Zhao were at least fellow disciples. As a descendant of a noble family and a disciple of the Tianyan Sect, Yu Zhao must have been unable to find her, which was why he did not come to rescue her.
She no longer hoped to be rescued. Her body was riddled with holes, her spiritual sea, spiritual veins, and all her vital energy were completely depleted. All she wanted was for someone to come and kill her so that she could die as soon as possible and be free from her suffering.
Looking back now, it was truly naive and foolish.
He only learned before he died that she had been imprisoned in Yunjing City all along. Given the Yu family's influence in Yunjing, finding her would have been incredibly easy if they truly wanted to.
According to the conversation between Yu Zhao and his family on the day he received the body, he never reported the real reason for her disappearance to his sect.
It is said that since she left her master's sect and encountered wealth and prosperity, she has become increasingly fond of pleasure, and everyone can attest to this.
Dissatisfied with the fact that the wedding banquet did not use the best food and wine, dissatisfied with the three-courtyard mansion prepared for her and her husband by the Yu family, dissatisfied with the relatives' laughter and commotion during the wedding night, and dissatisfied with Tan Guiyi's congratulatory visit, she ran away from the wedding in a fit of anger that very night. When she was found, she had already died in the mouth of a monster in the deep forest.
In the eyes of the world, Yu Zhao, who was so devoted and responsible, had waited for her for three years before finally deciding to marry Tan Guiyi.
Look, this is pretty much how the Yu family imagines someone of her lowly birth and cultivation level.
Vulgar, snobbish, and despicable.
After receiving her body, Yu Zhao not only failed to properly bury her, but also felt that since she was already dead, she should make the best use of her.
He dismembered her, removed her heart, crushed her inner core, and threw each piece into the immortal cauldron to refine it into a elixir to save Tan Guiyi.
When Yu Zhao presented her with the tripod, he kept saying that such a kind-hearted person would not mind using her corpse to help others. He thanked Yan Huanyue on behalf of Tan Guiyi.
He was full of gratitude towards her, but when he realized that her soul had not yet dissipated, to prevent anyone from sensing this wisp of her spirit and revealing the truth, he shattered her soul with a single palm strike without hesitation...
Yan Huanyue's tears gradually stopped flowing, her eyes filled with a cold glint. She lowered her head even further, biting her lower lip tightly to prevent Gu Yuxiao from noticing something was wrong if she sneered out.
As Gu Yuxiao sipped his tea, he tapped the wooden table with his fingers and sighed, "It's such a pity that such fine Li Yun wood is being wasted... When Master returns, you'll be punished without a doubt. Take advantage of this time and eat something good."
After saying that, he put down his teacup, waved his sleeve, and stretched as he walked towards the door, saying listlessly, "Practicing early in the morning is such a waste of time; this light rain is perfect for a short rest."
He walked through the bamboo grove in a few steps, without getting wet in the rain, then slipped back into the house through the window and fell asleep immediately.
Yan Huanyue sat alone for a long time, then stretched out her hand, which had just been coated with ointment, and picked up the cup of hot tea.
The teacup was thin and burned her fingertips, which had the most wounds, causing a dense, stinging pain. However, she seemed oblivious, only looking down at the tea soup with its swirling steam.
The self that, due to poor cultivation, still had a crimson protective spirit mark between its brows, passed through the years that had been wasted for various reasons, and quietly gazed at her.
Although it is unknown whether all of that was just a fleeting dream in the misty rain of an empty mountain, or a cycle of past lives that was gradually traversed, the pain of being torn apart by demonic beasts, the growth of spiritual herbs, and the shattering of the soul cannot be faked.
She looked at herself in the dark golden tea soup, a small outer disciple, an orphan without parents. At this time, she was still a naive person full of dreams and not focused on cultivation.
Alas, for twenty years I remained hidden in the dust, only to see my true self after death.
A note from the author:
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