His movements are skillful and smooth, but there is a hint of awkwardness in the details.

Compared to his recklessness in the cave, this time he was patient enough and paid more attention to her.

She was dazed in the night, looking at the swaying shadows of the trees outside the window, and couldn't help wondering how he could learn everything so quickly.

Did he really practice in another world for the past two hundred years? They asked if Heart Sword had no lust. What was wrong with him?

Later, her throat became hoarse and she reached out to get some water. He held her down and whispered, "I'll do it."

As he said this, he went to get some water, bent down, and fed her the water while he was doing the exercises. She couldn't help but start to wonder, they were both swordsmen, but she was still in her twenties, so why did she feel so different? Was his way of practicing the Sword of the Heart different from hers? Was his physical condition too good?

She couldn't help but feel a little regretful, as her golden elixir was intact now. If she were outside the painting, she could practice the dual cultivation technique and make further progress.

The two of them tormented the whole night. To be more precise, it was Xie Changji who tormented unilaterally. Hua Xiangwan went through several stages of "happy - cooperation - bargaining - lying down completely" and began to understand that all men are the same.

It is useless to cultivate the sword of conscience.

She didn't fall asleep until she could vaguely see the daylight. Before falling asleep, Xie Changji wanted to hug her, but she immediately held his hand and said in a hoarse voice, "Go to sleep. You are still young. Don't bother yourself."

Xie Changji paused for a moment, then said, "I just hugged you."

"You've repeated this three times!"

Xie Changji: "..."

He didn't say anything. After a while, Hua Xiangwan fell asleep. Xie Changji watched the morning light fall in and land on her face. He smiled, reached out his hands and held her in his arms, saying softly, "This time it's real."

The two of them slept until noon, and when they went out, they found that Hu Mian and Qin Xinsheng had returned.

They cooked lunch, and just as Hua Xiangwan and Xie Changji woke up, Hu Mian saw that they were awake and called them, "Hey, you're awake, come and try my cooking."

Hua Xiangwan was a little surprised to hear that it was Hu Mian who did it. She sat down with Xie Changji, looked at the table of dishes and a bowl of noodles with vegetables, and raised her eyebrows: "You cooked this noodles, right?"

"It's fine as long as there's something to eat. Why are you so picky?"

Hu Mian scooped some noodles from the big bowl into the small bowl, slammed it on the table, and pointed at Hua Xiangwan: "Come, eat."

Hua Xiangwan had never eaten food cooked by Hu Mian before, so she took a bite with the intention of giving it a try.

She thought that nothing would go wrong with the bowl of noodles, so she took a bite without any precautions. However, the moment it entered her mouth, a bitter and salty taste with a slight pungent spiciness rushed straight to her head. Hua Xiangwan swallowed it out, coughed rapidly, and pointed at the table: "Water..."

Xie Changji quickly brought the water and fed it to her.

Hu Mian looked unhappy at her reaction. When Hua Xiangwan finally recovered, she coughed and blushed, and asked excitedly, "Tell me the truth, did you poison me?"

"I didn't. Is it that bad?"

Hu Mian didn't understand, so he took the noodles out, glanced at Qin Xinsheng who had a calm expression beside him, stuffed the noodles into his mouth and muttered, "Xinsheng ate a lot... cough cough cough..."

Before she finished speaking, she started coughing rapidly.

Qin Xiansheng seemed to have expected this, and he patted her back and fed her water smoothly. After Hu Mian came to his senses, he raised his head, looked at Qin Xiansheng with tears in his eyes, and held Qin Xiansheng's hand: "Xiansheng, you have suffered!"

Qin Xiansheng looked indifferent and just said, "It's okay."

"There's also me," Hua Xiangwan reminded Hu Mian, "I'm also the one who suffers!"

"You are not important." Hu Mian turned around and looked at her, "You are not within my focus."

Hua Xiangwan's heart choked when she heard this. Xie Changji added more rice to her, picked out a safe range, pointed out the dishes made by Qin Xiansheng, and told Hua Xiangwan: "You can just eat the dishes here."

After the four of them finished their meal, Hu Mian pulled Hua Xiangwan aside to discuss their plans. He told Hua Xiangwan where he was going: "I don't want too many people in the palace to know that I lost my eyes. People in the palace are protective of others and will definitely have opinions about Xin Sheng. I plan to get two colored glass beads to make artificial eyes. I will go back when people outside can't see them."

"Glass beads are hard to come by," Hua Xiangwan wondered, "where did you get the materials?"

"Yi Chen gave it to me when he left," Hu Mian took out two glass beads from his sleeves and sighed, "Yi Chen's status is too low and his qualifications are too poor. If he was not a slave bought by A Wan, the palace mistress would probably agree to his marriage with A Wan, and it would not have been delayed until A Wan went to Yunlai to like that guy named Xie. What was the name of that guy named Xie..."

Hu Mian frowned, somewhat puzzled: "This is strange, I went to Yunlai to see that boy last year, how come I forgot his name and face the moment I turned around..."

Hearing this, Hua Xiangwan paused for a moment, and she suddenly realized that Hu Mian had met Xie Changji in the past.

Just like Shen Yichen.

But the strange thing is that Shen Yichen remembered Xie Changji, but now Hu Mian doesn't remember him.

After thinking about the difference between the two, the only explanation is that Hu Mian is a real soul entering the painting, while Shen Yichen is just a person who keeps evolving in the painting.

Will this also affect the memory of Xie Changji?

Hua Xiangwan couldn't figure it out, so she decided to wait until the scroll was out before asking for clarification.

"But fortunately," Hu Mian said to himself, "I have seen that boy. He is a top seedling. I am afraid that the Heavenly Sword Sect will not be willing to let him go. But if I can practice with him every night, it will be of great benefit. It is not long before he becomes the youngest tribulation-crossing cultivator in the Western Territory."

Hu Mian was getting happier as he spoke: "Then our He Huan Palace will have another cultivator who is transcending the tribulation. When the Palace Master ascends to heaven in the future, we will still be the number one sect in the Western Territory."

Hua Xiangwan listened to the words in the picture and smiled silently.

Hu Mian then realized that Hua Xiangwan had been silent, and turned to look at her: "Why aren't you talking? Where are you going to take your 'brother' next?"

"You stay here. I have nowhere else to go," Hua Xiangwan raised the cup, "so I'll accompany you."

"Okay," Hu Mian said happily, and put his hand on her shoulder. "We sisters can live a fairy-like life here together, and let Xie Changji cook more."

Hu Mian whispered, "He cooks better than Xun Sheng."

"knew."

Hua Xiangwan glanced at her.

After deciding on the next schedule with Hu Mian, Hua Xiangwan went back and informed Xie Changji. Xie Changji just nodded and said, "I'll follow your arrangements."

The four of them settled down in Duanchang Village. Hu Mian had nothing to do, so he started brewing wine with Hua Xiangwan.

"I'm brewing some wine now and burying it. By the time Xinsheng and I get engaged, the wine will probably be almost ready."

Hua Xiangwan looked at Hu Mian's eyes full of gentle wine for a long time before she responded softly, "Hmm."

After Hu Mian brewed good wine, Qin Xinsheng took her to the nearby mountain to worship his mother. They buried the wine in front of his mother's grave, and Qin Xinsheng took Hu Mian down the mountain.

That night, the four of them ate, drank, and chatted, and Qin Xiansheng talked about his mother.

"She is a mortal."

He talked about her.

"She was originally a villager in Duanchang Village. Later, she was sold by her family and became a slave in the Wulong Sect. Later, she met that beast. He became immoral after drinking and made my mother pregnant with me."

Qin Xinsheng said in a low voice: "Wugu Sect pays attention to bloodline. They firmly believe that only the best bloodline can give birth to the best children. They can't let a mortal give birth to a child. My mother knew about it and took me away. I grew up in Duanchang Village when I was a child. My mother had no husband. She gave birth to a child out of wedlock. The villagers looked down on her. The children often beat me. I don't know how I realized the existence of spiritual power. Once a man wanted to bully my mother. I was nine at that time. ” Qin Xiansheng gestured, “I killed him. My mother was afraid that something might happen to me, so she took me away from this place overnight. Later, she realized that I was of cultivator blood and was destined to practice Taoism. She went through a lot of trouble and found a casual cultivator, asking him to accept me as his disciple. That was my master. In fact, he could only reach the foundation building stage at most in his life. Seeing that I had three spiritual roots, he took me in. But I had already reached the foundation building stage at the age of 18, and he didn’t have much to teach me, so he asked me to go to the nearby sects to have a look.”

Hua Xiangwan listened to Qin Xinsheng's words, holding her head up and eating peanuts: "What happened next?"

"The largest sect here is the Wugu Sect. I went to see them and happened to encounter their sect competition. This was my first time seeing a competition between a large sect."

At the age of eighteen, he looked at the winners from afar in the crowd, who were admiring, envious and cheering him on. He suddenly developed an endless yearning for such a world.

"When I came back, I told my mother. She was not in good health at the time and she was very sad when she heard what I said."

"At that time, I had been trying hard to enter the Wulong Sect. She tried to stop me, but she couldn't. When she finally left, she told me that I was the son of a cultivator of the Wulong Sect, and that I should have stepped into the door of cultivation. The life I saw that day was the life I should have. But my mother repeatedly warned me that cultivators and mortals have different bloodlines and that there is a huge difference between them, so she asked me not to recognize my relatives. But I didn't listen. I wanted to find my father as much as possible and told him my identity. I thought there was no difference, but when he heard that my mother was a mortal, he immediately had someone beat me out. He said that letting a bastard like me survive was a great favor from him. I asked him why I was a bastard when I was born to a mortal. He said that it was because the sons of mortals could never reach great heights."

Qin Xiansheng sneered: "I was born humble. Even if I can cultivate to overcome the tribulation by myself, the Wu Gu Sect will still look down on me."

"So, you want to take revenge on them." Hua Xiangwan understood, "and your means of revenge is to become the top person in Wu Gu Sect. They say you are despicable, so you want to make this most despicable person the real ruler of Wu Gu Sect?"

“That’s what I thought in the past.”

Qin Xiansheng smiled and glanced at Hu Mian who was dozing off beside him, with a hint of tenderness in his eyes.

“But now, I have a home.”

When you don't have a home, you will cling to the sense of belonging that you imagined when you were young.

Qin Xinsheng seemed to be a little drunk, with a smile on his face. He looked at Hu Mian beside him and said slowly: "She doesn't think that mortal blood is despicable, nor does she think that I am lowly. In the future, I will follow her back to Hui Huan Palace, we will get married and have children, and then I will go back to the past and say goodbye completely."

Hua Xiangwan listened, she stared at Qin Xiansheng's expression, and could not see any falsehood in it.

After waiting for a while, she turned around and told Xie Changji: "He is drunk, help him back to his room."

Xie Changji nodded, and the two of them sent Hu Mian and Qin Xinsheng back to their rooms. Walking back down the corridor, the cold wind blew, and Xie Changji held her hand.

Hua Xiangwan noticed that he seemed to be in a daze and couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about?"

"I was wondering," Xie Changji turned around and looked at her, "Will we have children in the future?"

Hua Xiangwan was stunned, and saw that Xie Changji seemed to be thinking about these questions seriously: "Also, will it be painful to give birth to a child? Will the child be difficult to raise? Can I be a good father with my temper?"

He held her hand and walked slowly along the corridor, as if he was really going to be a father soon.

"you……"

Hua Xiangwan listened to him and wanted to tell him that he was overthinking the issue.

But when she looked back and saw the light in his eyes, she suddenly realized that he was actually very happy when he said this.

He has always been introverted, and it is extremely difficult for him to have such an expression.

She suddenly felt speechless, thinking that this was just an illusion, why should she ruin this moment of joy?

Seeing that she didn't say anything, he looked up at her: "Me what?"

"Oh, I just thought," Hua Xiangwan coughed lightly, "you would be a good father."

“We’re going to have kids?”

He suppressed the emotions in his eyes, which were filled with the warm light from the falling lights.

Hua Xiangwan didn't dare look him in the face. She turned her head away and coughed softly, "Maybe."

The moment he heard this, he suddenly came up to her and held her in his arms.

The night was a little cold, and the wind blew over. He lowered his voice and said, "Wanwan."

He said, “I am very happy.”

No matter whether it was true or false, even if she was lying to her, he felt very happy that she was willing to coax him.

That night before going to bed, they did it many times.

It rained in the middle of the night. Hua Xiangwan lay on the window, watching the rain falling with him, hitting the peach blossoms in full bloom in the yard. He hugged her, sucked her earlobe, and asked her breathlessly if she was cold. She suddenly thought the rain scene outside was very beautiful.

She is not cold at all.

She calmly looked at the peach blossoms falling all over the courtyard outside.

Closing your eyes is a summer and autumn.

The four of them had lived in Duanchang Village for more than half a year, and Hua Xiangwan had almost forgotten what she was there for.

By late October, Hu Mian had finally created eyes that were exactly the same as those of ordinary people. When she and Qin Xiansheng put them on, they could not tell the difference at all.

But she wanted to stay for a while longer, so she didn't even mention returning to the palace. However, within a few days, she received a message from Hehuan Palace.

On the day they received the message, Hua Xiangwan and Xie Changji went to the mountains to cut some bamboo and came back, intending to build a shed for growing flowers in the yard. As soon as they came in, they saw Hu Mian with a frown on his face and a bad look on his face.

Hua Xiangwan felt something was wrong and walked over to him: "What's wrong?"

Hu Mian pursed her lips, put down the letter, and said, "We have to go back to the palace."

Hua Xiangwan was stunned. Hu Mian raised his head and looked at Hua Xiangwan with a heavy expression: "Yi Chen... is gone."

Hearing this, Hua Xiangwan stood still.

After a long while, she calmed down and tried to pretend to be late autumn: "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Hu Mian shook his head and said, "It seems that Yunlai was responsible. Ah Wan asked someone to send his body back first and put it in the palace for storage. She herself stayed there and said she would come back after sealing the ghost spirit."

Hu Mian said with a worried look on his face: "No one can contact her now. The palace master asked me to go back first. If that doesn't work, I will go to Yunlai to pick her up. But if something happens to her..."

Hu Mian held the sound transmission jade token in his hand, seeming a little afraid: "I'm afraid... I can't help much."

Hua Xiangwan understood what Hu Mian meant. If it was just a matter of martial arts, let alone Hehuan Palace, there would probably not be many young people in the Western Territory who could match her.

She sighed and soothed Hu Mian: "Senior Sister, don't think too much, go back first."

"What about you?"

Hu Mian looked up, Hua Xiangwan hesitated for a moment, then said: "I will go back with you too."

"good."

Hu Mian nodded: "Go pack your things and leave tomorrow."

After the two of them had discussed it, they went back to pack their things.

Hua Xiangwan entered the house, and Xie Changji followed in and asked, "What do you want to pack?"

Hua Xiangwan didn't speak.

Wanqiu's status in Hehuan Palace is too low, and she has almost no contact with subsequent events. She needs to return to her own status to facilitate subsequent actions.

She calculated the time and realized that she should have returned from Yunlai by now and would be back in Hehuan Palace in a few days.

She thought for a moment and took out the retrospective mirror from her bag.

In the mirror is a painting by Hu Mian. The people in the painting are moving around, and one can vaguely see that her painting is automatically evolving into new scenes based on their actions.

Hua Xiangwan held the tracing mirror, closed his eyes and felt it for a moment, then he felt the spiritual power flowing. He turned to Xie Changji and said, "I have to return to my own identity."

"Hua Xiangwan's identity?"

Xie Changji understood immediately, and Hua Xiangwan nodded: "Yes, I should be at Dingli Sea now. Take this sound transmission talisman and go to Dingli Sea."

Hua Xiangwan quickly wrote a note and handed it to Xie Changji: "Come find me after I get ashore."

"good."

Xie Changji took the note. Hua Xiangwan looked at him, feeling a little confused: "But Hu Mian has seen you before. How are you going to follow me back to Huan Palace then..."

"You can use the retrospective mirror to change your identity at will."

Xie Changji reminded her and walked forward. Hua Xiangwan didn't understand what he was saying. She saw spiritual power condensed from his fingertips. He raised his hand and tapped on the retro-viewing mirror, gently erasing the little figure of "Xie Changji" on the screen.

"Then why can't we use the retrospective mirror to change others?"

The figure of "Xie Changji" on the screen was erased. Xie Changji felt the spiritual power pulsating at his fingertips and looked up at her: "I am not originally a person here, am I?"

Hua Xiangwan frowned when she heard this. She thought for a moment and nodded, "Go out and try it later. If Hu Mian doesn't recognize you, you can use this identity to find me. If she does, we can make up another identity then."

"good."

Xie Changji responded, Hua Xiangwan took out the mirror and closed his eyes: "I'm going."

As she spoke, countless fragments of the entire scene appeared before her eyes. She saw a small man in the sea, lying on a sword, drifting on the sea.

She immediately flew towards the scene, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a huge wave coming towards her.

Her whole body was in pain, and when she saw the waves, she quickly used a water-saving technique to suppress them.

When she came back from Yunlai, she was a pure swordsman who had only learned the basics of magic. She suffered a lot when she passed through the Dingli Sea.

Although she is still in the body that she just sacrificed as a "clone", the spell is still engraved in her mind.

She took a breath and used a beast-control technique. Soon, a shark appeared below. Hua Xiangwan looked down at the shark and waved, "Come here."

The shark was very obedient and lifted her out of the water. She patted the shark on the head and said, "Go to the West."

The shark changed direction and swam towards the west as she said. Hua Xiangwan sat cross-legged on the shark, used her spiritual sense to detect the location, and sent a message to Xie Changji: "It's safe now, come find me quickly and bring some food."

Xie Changji packed up his things, looked back at "Wanqiu" who appeared on the bed when Hua Xiangwan disappeared, put on his hat, and walked out with his bag on his back.

When I reached the door, I heard a loud call from behind: "Hey!"

Xie Changji turned around and saw Hu Mian and Qin Xinsheng standing on the corridor, looking at him warily: "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"

Xie Changji paused for a moment, and then he realized that all the previous memories of "Seventeen-year-old Xie Changji" had disappeared from the minds of Hu Mian and others.

He nodded towards Hu Mian and said softly, "I was looking for someone, but I went to the wrong place. Sorry."

Having said that, he turned and left.

As soon as he walked out onto the street, he received a message from Hua Xiangwan and immediately drew his sword and rushed towards Dingli Sea.

He thought about the feeling of touching the retroscope just now.

The tracing mirror is sensitive to him, and he can also control it. In other words, not only Hua Xiangwan can choose her own identity, but he can too.

Perhaps, the Xie Changji who didn’t remember anything before and had never seen Hua Xiangwan at the age of seventeen——

It is the identity he chooses.

Hua Xiangwan always emphasizes to him that he will remember nothing after he goes out. In Hua Xiangwan's cognition, he is an entrant into the painting of this world, which means that people who enter the painting will not have memories. However, both Hua Xiangwan and he can manipulate the retrospective mirror, which means that when he goes out, he will also have memories of the current painting.

Thinking of this, Xie Changji's eyes softened a lot. He raised his eyes and looked forward, speeding up to Dingli Sea.

Hua Xiangwan sat on the shark, fishing and chatting with Xie Changji all the way. After three days, they finally reached the shore.

Two hundred years ago, she was washed ashore covered in wounds and was unconscious for an unknown period of time before waking up. Her jade token of voice transmission was lost in the sea. She could only try her best to crawl back to Hehuan Palace by herself. As soon as she reached the palace gate, she fainted.

Now she was already prepared in the painting. She jumped off the shark and as soon as she got ashore she saw Xie Changji waiting for her on the shore.

Xie Changji looked at her. The white dress she was wearing was the one she wore when he last saw her two hundred years ago. Now it was tattered and she looked dusty after being exposed to the wind and sun.

Hua Xiangwan saw him and raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Hey, you came so early?"

Xie Changji didn't say anything. He lowered his eyes and suppressed the sadness and fear in his heart.

He walked up to her, raised his hand and held her cracked hand, looked down at the scars, and said hoarsely: "I pulled you."

Hua Xiangwan was a little confused: "Ah?"

Xie Changji didn't say anything. He just looked at the bloody hand of the person in front of him.

He didn't dare tell her that in the past two hundred years, when she fell down in the illusion countless times in this white dress, he wanted to hold her back.

But not once did it succeed.

Until this moment, he finally caught her.

"Go directly to Huan Palace?"

He suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and looked up at her.

Hua Xiangwan smiled and said, "Okay."

Xie Changji saw the wounds on her body and knew that they were left by the sealed ghost spirit, but he did not ask any more questions. He just pulled her over and used his spiritual power to surround her body. After she felt better, he took the cakes he bought on the road, handed them to Hua Xiangwan, and summoned the flying sword: "Let's go."

Thank you for the long-lasting sword. Hua Xiangwan sat cross-legged behind the sword and ate a snack.

After several days of marching, they finally arrived at the gate of Hehuan Palace. The two were quite far apart, and they saw two monks with Hehuan flower prints on their clothes coming towards Xie Changji with swords, blocking his way.

One of the two monks looked older, while the other was still a teenager and looked a little shy.

"My fellow Taoist," the older monk said, his words were polite but very firm, "In the territory of the Hehuan Sect, non-disciples of this sect are not allowed to wield swords. If you are coming to visit me, please take off your sword before entering the palace."

Hearing this, Xie Changji remained motionless. His expression was calm, and he only said, "I am from Hehuan Palace."

"People from Hehuan Palace?" Both monks were a little confused. Hua Xiangwan, with her back to Xie Changji, sat cross-legged on his shoulders and finally spoke.

"Lingdong Lingbei," Hua Xiangwan turned around, revealing her dusty face, "I don't even recognize you?"

Seeing Hua Xiangwan, Lingdong and Lingbei were stunned. After a moment, Lingdong's eyes widened and he hurriedly asked, "Young Master?!"

"I'm back at the palace."

Hua Xiangwan stood up with the help of Xie Changji: "Notify the palace to open the city gates."

"Yes, then this one..."

Lingdong turned to look at Xie Changji. Without waiting for Hua Xiangwan to speak, Xie Changji spoke: "I came back with Young Master Hua to get married."

"ah?!!"

Lingdong and Lingbei cried out in shock at the same time, and Hua Xiangwan also turned around instantly.

Xie Changji said calmly, "I am Xie Changji, a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Please report."