The master weaves cotton.
Inside the dark room, the light was dim.
Several red ropes were strung together with yellow talismans and laid out beneath the jade top, which was carved with all things in the world. The top-grade spiritual treasures such as divine herbs, five-colored spiritual stones, and jade spring water placed at the edge of the magic array were refined to their finest essence and applied to the body of the young man on the True Spirit Snow Jade Altar beneath the jade top.
Pei Xuanzhi sat cross-legged, his eyes lightly closed, with several jade coins arranged in front of him. He remained completely still, even his breathing was extremely shallow, and he looked as detached, peaceful and serene as snow on a plain.
However, blood slowly dripped from the corner of his lips, soaking a large area of his snow-white robe, inexplicably breaking the peace and tranquility, and adding a touch of ghostly eeriness.
A drop of blood seeped from the corner of his lips, tracing the previous trail of blood down to his pale chin, where it slid silently down...
Pei Xuanzhi slowly opened his eyes, indifferently surveying the dark room he was in. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he expressionlessly collected all six jade coins.
A yellow talisman flew out from his sleeve, swirled around him a few times, and carried a wisp of breeze, washing away the bloodstains from his clothes.
Being impatient for quick results will inevitably lead to trouble.
He swallowed several powerful souls within jade coins in one night. At this moment, the lingering thoughts of the powerful souls within his soul could not be completely eliminated, and various forces were tearing each other apart, making the situation turbulent and difficult to calm.
Blood began to seep from the corner of his lips again.
He could sense a lingering resentment frantically devouring everything within his soul.
As more and more blood gushed from the corner of his lips, the battle between the lingering resentment and the other powerful souls grew increasingly fierce. Fragments of the past, like shimmering light reflected on snow, gradually became clear in his heart.
Youzhou, Lu Family, Chang'an, Going North, Natural Barrier, Crying Spirit Blade, Master, Xuanjiang, All Lands Under Heaven, Tianyan Sect, Father, Thousand-Year-Old Son...
And... Yan Huanyue...
Memory is the best needleworker, weaving the two versions of him together with swift, skillful stitches, perfectly and flawlessly...
He hid his memories in the jade coin, knowing that he would guess this possibility, and that it was only a matter of time before he regained his memories.
However, after his soul merged with the body and devoured all the strong remnants of the souls within those jade coins, before he could even secretly celebrate the great increase in his soul power, he immediately recalled which moonlit night he had spent alone by the Lake of No Fall.
He lowered his eyes, looking at the bloodstains spreading across his clothes, wiping the blood from his lips with a plain handkerchief while trying his best to recall.
He was not in good health. When he first arrived at Tianyan Sect, he would sometimes get tired after walking for a long time and had to borrow a wheelchair to help him walk. Therefore, he rarely went out at night.
He had only passed by Lake Buzhui a few times during the day. The water there was cold and damp, and the lake was also guarded by a icy spiritual vein. He would never go there at night unless absolutely necessary.
The truth is, he never went to Lake Buzhui at night, let alone under the moonlight.
She was just trying to fool the demon fairy...
Pei Xuanzhi lay supine on the jade platform, covered in blood. The fervent, magma-like passion in his heart was doused with a bucket of cold water, which spewed out even hotter white smoke with a "splash".
What's wrong with a wife using her husband as an excuse to fob off a rude and frivolous man? It only shows that she is intelligent and calm.
That's enough...
Why assume she's making excuses? Perhaps she really did see someone by the lake on a moonlit night and thought it was him, which is why she remembered him for so long.
Even though it's someone else, she thinks it's him in her heart, and she wants to see him. So, does it really matter who that person is?
A slight smile appeared on his blood-stained lips.
That's the answer. Only she knows about this past event, so whatever she says goes, and no one can question her, not even herself.
Pei Xuanzhi lay quietly on the jade platform, looking at the magic array in the sky. All the turmoil within his soul completely subsided.
Then endless loneliness and longing, like a thick haze, pressed down on him, trying to drown him and make it hard for him to breathe.
He pulled out the weakened yellow talisman from his sleeve, lay down on the jade platform, looked up at it, and hesitated for a long time.
Listening to the dripping of the water clock in the corner of the dark room, estimating that dawn was approaching, he gently flicked a drop of blood onto it.
The yellow talisman instantly glowed with a blood-red aura.
At dawn, Yan Huanyue had only just opened her eyes a short while ago and was lying in bed planning her route to leave Tingnan that day.
Because she dreamt that he was in the snowfield with his lips turned white from the cold, she began to think about finding the legendary cold-repelling pearl.
She had previously inquired about the Cold-Repelling Pearl. This item was originally refined from the fire of the bitterly cold icy sea in the far north, and was already rare and seldom circulated. Furthermore, since the far north is now largely occupied by demons, she had not received any definite news about anyone buying or selling this item.
Perhaps the only way to get him is to sail north to the outside of the demon territory and find the Ice Sea Fire to refine one and give it to him. With the support of the northern formation, unless the formation is weakened, there are not many people who go to the far north.
Now that the Great Xia Dynasty is coming to an end, if he were to emerge from seclusion in the cold autumn or winter, he would be better off and wouldn't have to adapt poorly and catch a cold.
Then wait until the task is completed. If the initiation ceremony is held in October as usual, I might have time to go.
The treasure pouch hidden in her sleeve twitched slightly.
Her divine sense probed inside, retrieved the talisman with weakened spiritual power, and exclaimed in surprise, "You..."
Blood dripped from the corner of Pei Xuanzhi's lips, but he looked at Huang Fu with an air of nonchalance and said in a hoarse voice, "Sister Huanyue, it's been so long... Do you still remember me?"
He had hidden it in the jade coin for a long time; it had truly been a long time since he had seen her.
Yan Huanyue stood up, holding the talisman, and joked, "Unfortunately, my memory is bad, I forgot. Who are you?"
After a moment of silence on the other end of the talisman, Pei Xuanzhi heard her soft, suppressed laughter and felt a surge of satisfaction welling up inside him, as if a boat oar was rapidly churning and stirring wildly in the sea of his heart.
Anything related to her, or even just thinking about her, would inexplicably bring him joy, especially when she was laughing and joking with him like this.
Originally, he was tricked into forcibly consuming the remaining powerful soul and regaining his memories, which caused him severe injuries. After learning the truth, he still felt a lot of grievances, but now he couldn't remember any of them.
Although his body was severely injured by the backlash from the divine soul, his divine soul became stronger. Wasn't this due to her encouragement? Otherwise, how would he know that he could swallow so many powerful and remnant souls with profound cultivation?
He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his lips, and couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips before saying softly, "Sister, you really have a bad memory. My surname is Pei, and my given name is Xuanzhi. I was the husband you agreed to marry back then, but because I am weak and of low status, I have been unable to accompany you during this time, and I am feeling uneasy."
Yan Huanyue couldn't help but chuckle at his calm and collected words, saying, "Oh, so it's Xuanzhi. I remember now, you have your own difficulties too. Don't worry about it. This talisman's spiritual power is waning. What urgent matter do you have to discuss..."
He said calmly, "We haven't seen each other for a long time, and it's important that we chat."
Yan Huanyue estimated that the talisman didn't have a long lifespan, so she went along with his wishes and didn't force him. She chatted with him casually, asking, "Are you feeling better now?"
Pei Xuanzhi gave a soft "hmm," a trickle of blood appearing at the corner of his lips. He had wanted to say a lot, but now he couldn't think of a single word. He simply followed her lead and asked, "And you?"
Yan Huanyue said, "My birth in Tingnan went fairly smoothly."
Does "smoothly" mean that he was seriously injured, cut open his own abdomen, and then fell into a sea of corpses?
Pei Xuanzhi listened to the dripping of the water clock and the sound of his blood dripping onto the ground from the jade platform. He paused for a moment, then asked, "Are you alright?"
Yan Huanyue replied subconsciously, "It was just a minor injury, it's already healed."
How could this talisman last so long? Yan Huanyue was somewhat puzzled.
Pei Xuanzhi continued, "I had no idea you were injured. I will be coming out of seclusion soon..."
Yan Huanyue's smile vanished instantly, and she frowned, saying, "The sect leader hasn't spoken, so don't try to make me think about all our efforts going to be for nothing. Didn't we agree on this before?"
Yan Huanyue spoke with a hint of guilt, explaining that when he learned that the seclusion period was too long and he refused to go into seclusion, the sect leader had placed a spell on him so that he could not move.
She was just telling this boy, who was unable to speak or move and was powerless to change his situation, to go into seclusion and recuperate. It wasn't exactly something they had planned together.
Pei Xuanzhi gently wiped the blood from his lips with his long, white fingers, then lightly wiped his reddened eyes with the cool back of his hand, and sneered:
"You took advantage of my complete lack of memory, refusing to even give me a few more communication talismans. The time you tried to coax me is already in the past. Do you expect me to throw a bone at a dog and let it gnaw on it for the rest of its life?"
Yan Huanyue was slightly taken aback, thinking that she was referring to the time she kissed him when he was unable to move.
It was because she saw him, his eyes red with anger but unable to move, that she felt an inexplicable urge to kiss him.
She kissed him only to satisfy a fleeting selfish urge, and didn't seem to have time to think about anything to comfort him. So that's what he thought.
Also, I only gave him one communication talisman because I was afraid he would be distracted.
Speaking of which... why isn't this talisman going out? Why is this guy so infuriating today? She held the talisman and said in a low voice, "You little rascal, your seclusion is your own business, not for my sake. You can't even endure this little bit of loneliness for your life, and now you're coming to me to play dumb?"
Pei Xuanzhi stared blankly at the talisman. Something reflected the candlelight and trickled from the corner of his eye into his hair. He held the talisman and lowered his head in the dim light. "I want to see you. I want to see you right now."
Looking at the crimson cinnabar on the yellow talisman, Yan Huanyue couldn't help but picture his image in her mind, and whispered:
"If you don't properly go into seclusion and recuperate, the sect leader won't easily give up and release you. Even if I really want to see you then, there won't be any way... This talisman... it's a bit strange."
strangeness?
certainly.
He burned his blood just to hear a few words from her. Such a behavior would be considered foolish, stupid, and irrational by anyone else. How could he let her know about it?
Suddenly, a ball of fire rose from the yellow talisman in her palm. Yan Huanyue thought to herself that the talisman's unusually long lifespan was not outrageous after all, so she quickly used a spell to throw the ball of fire into the air.
In the blink of an eye, the yellow talisman carrying the communication symbol turned into black ash and fell to the ground.
Pei Xuanzhi gently cupped the burning fire talisman in his palm. The searing pain and overwhelming joy spread through his limbs and bones. Tears dripped onto the fire, hissing and rising in a wisp of eerie smoke.
He was certain that what he had just experienced was not a dream, and thus he felt a profound and real pleasure amidst the pain. He decided to carefully preserve this precious talisman ash.
If she doesn't acknowledge it decades or centuries later, it can be used as proof that she once wanted to see him.
The kitten lay on the roof beam, watching the candle flame flicker, sometimes almost gone, sometimes burning brightly.
Seemingly bored, it flicked its tail and began to fiddle with the smoky blue cloud curtain hanging from the roof beam. In no time, the neat cloud curtain was a mess.
Messages kept coming in, and Pei Hanzhou hadn't slept for several nights, which was the norm for him since he became the head of Tianyan Sect.
Recently, he has been keeping watch over the small hall where he can check on his son's recovery progress at any time, with the female demon still seriously injured and unconscious. He has also set up barriers to separate himself and the female demon.
He stayed alone within a barrier. If he did not leave the barrier, outsiders could not see him, but he could see everything inside and outside the small hall and sense the spiritual energy fluctuations throughout the entire Tianyan Mountain.
It was a turbulent time, and too many secrets were reported to him. Even the fact that Yun Xuanchen was not dead could only be examined in detail today, so he no longer paid any attention to the mischievous cat on the beam.
Yun Xuanchen is not dead. He has cultivated a strange infant and nourished a corpse with demonic blood. His schemes are undoubtedly grand, and the extent of his influence is unknown...
External threats are endless, and internal strife is frequent. Few humans possess innate spiritual roots, and even fewer can become cultivators. In earlier years, a large number of them died in battles across the natural barrier. Now, both internally and externally, everyone wants to bleed and devour the human race. If the human race falls, the demon race will surely be next.
Based on previous discussions with Sect Leader Wen and others, the idea of bringing in disciples of the Xuanjiang lineage, whose cultivation level doesn't need to be high, to participate in the grand plan now seems risky, but it could increase the strength of both the human and demon races, so it's not entirely out of the question...
He wrote on the densely written paper: "If the survival of our clan is of utmost importance, the Xuanjiang lineage is like a hiltless blade; wielding it will inevitably lead to self-inflicted harm. We must bind them with law; if they harbor any disloyalty, they must be eliminated swiftly... Yun Xuanchen, a former retainer of Wei Zhao, secretly uses human flesh and demonic blood to refine a strange demon..."
He paused, then continued writing: "Although their actions are different, they seem to have the intention to invade this world. They should be swiftly suppressed, their hidden dangers investigated, and they executed."
Suddenly, a faint blue light emanated from a small magic array on his desk. He stopped writing, made a hand seal, and gently wiped the blue light, which then transformed into a line of words: "The Crown Prince of the Demon Palace is dead. A month of mourning has passed. His mission to break the array in the south has been put on hold. His six sons are fighting amongst themselves, and the outcome is uncertain."
The blue light formed characters and disappeared in the blink of an eye; this was just one of the messages from the demon race that he received every day.
External chaos and internal strife are intertwined. In order to survive, external chaos never ceases, leaving no time to govern the internal affairs. As a result, internal strife will rise and fall even more frequently. This is true both inside and outside the natural barrier. That is why the human race has the Patrol Bureau to govern the internal affairs.
He replied with only a few words using his spiritual power: "Understood, proceed according to plan."
The four golden characters, along with the paper on which he wrote them, sank into the small magic circle and disappeared.
He finally had a moment to spare, rubbed his temples, and looked up at the candles of the connecting magic array. The flames were extremely weak, and his heart sank.
In an instant, the flames suddenly blazed brightly again, leaping and surging.
He got up and stepped out of the barrier, watching the small flames flicker and gradually burn steadily, and felt slightly relieved.
The kitten leaped down from the beam, nearly kicking the candle. He flicked his hand, caught it, and expressionlessly walked into another barrier, tossing it onto the injured woman on the bed.
"Now that you're awake, isn't it uncomfortable to pretend to be asleep?"
The woman's eyes were lightly closed, her whole being like a bright pearl with scratches. Her pale lips smiled slightly, "It's just a false sleep. It's worth a few taels of silver to lie on Master Pei's bed for a while. I was just happy about this, but you've brought it up. It really makes me feel embarrassed."
The kitten plunged its head into her heart. The woman slowly opened her eyes, her gaze misty with tears. Even the several fine cuts on her face suddenly became eerily beautiful.
Pei Hanzhou asked calmly, "Master of the Weaving Silk Order, why were you in that jade coffin in the secret realm?"
Mei Yao Zhixu sat up, lifted her sleeve to look at the several fine knife wounds on her snow-white arm, and couldn't help but smile and say, "Sect Leader Pei, your words are strange. I originally went to attend Hengyu's mother's funeral, but I ran into your son and was seriously injured and unconscious until today. Why don't you ask your good son, but come to ask me?"
"He has amnesia."
Zhixu's eyes flickered slightly, and she shook her hand. "Then I've lost my memory too. In short, it's just about a son seriously injuring his mother and then using a jade coffin to put his mother, who was still breathing, into the coffin before she was even fully recovered. Do you really want to know so much about it? Aren't you just making things harder for yourself?"
Pei Hanzhou said calmly, "He doesn't know you at all, and his cultivation level is not high enough to hurt you."
Zhixu shrugged and said, "Who knows? Maybe I just liked it, so I seriously injured myself and am now lying in a coffin waiting to die. You disturbed my peace, so I'm spreading rumors and slandering your son. Anyway, I'm awake now and have to go about my business. Goodbye."
Pei Hanzhou tossed her a few bottles of medicine and said, "Your injury is almost healed. I have other things to do, so you'll have to stay here by yourself for a while."
Zhixu keenly sensed something and asked, "What do you mean?"
Pei Hanzhou turned around and said with his hands behind his back, "The demon race has sent word that Consort Hengyu Chen has passed away following the late Empress Dowager. If you go back, being skinned alive would be the least of your worries."
Zhixu sat on the bed in silence for a while, then sneered, grabbed the medicine bowl from beside the bed, and smashed it away, shouting, "The Ten Thousand Demon Token is still in my hands! Do they think they can devour my troops like this? What a joke!"
Pei Hanzhou had his back to her. The medicine bowl shattered on the ground before it even reached him. He calmly said, "We intend to choose the Xuanjiang lineage to fight against the demon race. Demon immortals do not need to reveal their true forms. If the Lord intends to use the Ten Thousand Demon Token, we can temporarily provide protection."
Zhixu squinted slightly as she looked at his back. "After Hengyu ascended the throne, his efforts to exterminate demons were all talk and no action. He has always wanted to stay in one corner and reap the benefits of the conflict between humans and demons. So you and Wenjian set your sights on the Ten Thousand Demon Order?"
"No." Pei Hanzhou said calmly, "It is not impossible for our clan to kill the demons in the short term. We are just cooperating with the demon race to ensure that future actions are foolproof. As for how you are entangled internally, that is your business. We will not interfere. There are also those in the demon race who have a long-term vision. For example, your clan participated in resolving the disaster in Tingnan and also brought the intentions of several reclusive great demons."
Zhixu sneered, "You won't intervene? I took pity on you back then, and now that I've fallen into your hands, why didn't you kill me to avenge myself?"
"Pei Hanzhou, you truly have the ability to endure what ordinary people cannot. Do Wen Jian and the others know that the succubus from back then was me?"
Pei Hanzhou said indifferently, "If you want the whole world to know, I can also spread your name cards far and wide."
Zhixu laughed loudly: "Look at you, I have a family and a home, and you want to make things difficult for me. However, the demon race is a 'reflection of the gods' that came out of nowhere to invade this place, and is naturally the primary enemy threatening the survival of the demon race. Hengyu and that thing... no wonder the Ten Thousand Demon Order refuses to recognize him, there have long been demons who dislike him."
.
Two days after Yan Huanyue left Tingnan, news of a Xuanjiang disciple carrying a paper effigy of a demon immortal participating in the coffin-carrying ceremony at the Sanyang Valley in Tingnan had already reached her destination.
Everyone said this was a signal to recruit people from the Xuanjiang sect to participate in the extermination of demons.
Yan Huanyue knew without guessing that she was referring to Lu Shenchu.
Now that she had openly begun to mobilize the power of Xuanjiang, she gradually had a feeling that something was brewing and about to happen.
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