"Your Majesty, you've finally arrived! This humble Taoist has been waiting for you for a long time!" The man, whose back was to the door, suddenly spoke without turning his head.
Guan Zhiyue was startled. She was a soul, so how could this person see her? Besides, she wasn't the empress, okay? Your empress had died long ago.
Guan Zhiyue tentatively asked, "Can you see me?"
The man still didn't turn around, but an unknown wind blew in from outside, making his long silver hair flutter, which made Guan Zhiyue somewhat mesmerized.
“I am a Taoist priest, and I practice Taoist magic, so naturally I can see you.”
"Oh! I should address you as Miss Guan."
Guan Zhiyue was eager to see who this person was. Judging from his tone of voice, he wasn't an old man. His voice was deep and charming, so he must be a handsome man.
"You know me?" Guan Zhiyue asked tentatively as she moved toward the man.
The man suddenly turned around, making Guan Zhiyue, who was still moving, nervous and scared, and she stood still, afraid to move.
He had a fair and radiant face, a pair of dark and bright almond-shaped eyes, a rosy and delicate mouth, a streamlined jawline, a sharp and straight nose, and a typical oval face. He also had silver hair, a dark purple Taoist robe, and a feather fan in his hand that was the same as Zhuge Liang's fan.
"Are you a woman?"
Shan Liuxian originally wanted to say, "I am Shan Liuxian," but suddenly he heard Guan Zhiyue say, "You are a woman," which made him stumble.
"I am a man, a real man."
Guan Zhiyue walked up to him, sat cross-legged directly opposite him, and said with a touch of arrogance, "You're so beautiful, I thought you were a woman!"
"I'm warning you, don't say I'm good-looking. If you say I'm good-looking again, I'll make sure you can't go back into your body and you'll wander around like a lost soul."
Guan Zhiyue pouted and said, "Light some incense for me, I'm hungry."
Zenryo Sen: "..."
"What kind of sound are you playing here? Why did I follow you here?" That's the question Guan Zhiyue wanted to know.
While lighting three sticks of incense for Guan Zhiyue, Shan Liuxian said, "Soul Summoning Technique."
"Oh! You deliberately lured me here?"
Shan Liuxian gave a faint "hmm" and looked at Guan Zhiyue in front of her, saying, "So this is what you actually look like."
"What? You know me?"
Shan Liuxian looked at Guan Zhiyue in the modern world. She weighed about 80 pounds, with long legs, a slim waist, and big, wavy hair. She had an enviable golden ratio. However, her appearance was exactly the same as Guan Zhiyue, who was lying in the cold palace. Perhaps this was fate!
Guan Zhiyue took big gulps of the three fragrant incense sticks in front of her, and looked at Shan Liuxian with some greed. She felt so good, how come there were handsome men everywhere!
"How did you know me?" Guan Zhiyue suddenly asked such a silly question.
"I am a Taoist priest, what do you say?"
"Oh! You really do have some skills; you're not the kind of person who pretends to be blind to scam money."
Zenryo Sen: "..."
Can I go back?
"Modern times? Impossible. If you want to go back to the Cold Palace, I can help you."
"Fine then. Going back would just mean being confined to some small, isolated place. Since you know I'm a modern person and that I particularly cherish freedom, why are you still trying to persuade me to go back to the Cold Palace?"
Shanliuxian looked at Guan Zhiyue in front of her and said, "If you don't go back, there won't be a suitable host for you here."
"I originally thought Miss Guan was an extraordinary woman who could carve out her own niche, but now it seems she is just an ordinary woman from an ordinary family in the capital. I have misjudged her."
Guan Zhiyue looked up from the incense she was inhaling and said slowly, "It's finished. Light me another one."
Seonryu-seon: "..."
Shan Liuxian glanced down at the incense burner on the table, then took three sticks of incense from the bookshelf next to her, lit them for Guan Zhiyue from the candle beside her, and put them into the small incense burner on the table.
“You see, if you don’t return to your host body, you can only eat these fragrant offerings, and you will not be able to taste the delicacies of this world.”
Guan Zhiyue swallowed hard, looking at the Taoist priest in front of her, and really wanted to reach out and touch him. Not only did she think about it, she also did it. She reached out and touched Shan Liuxian's cheek. Shan Liuxian did not dodge and let her hand touch him.
Guan Zhiyue's hand passed right through Shan Liuxian's cheek, and unable to touch her, she withdrew her hand somewhat reluctantly.
"See? You can't touch anything you like, so going back to the host body is the best choice for you."
"Since you're here, make the best of it; that's an unchanging law of the world!"
“I know that Miss Guan longs for freedom, for the mountains and rivers, for the vastness of the world, for the boundless place. But if Miss Guan continues to fall into such depravity, she will surely be destined to spend her whole life regretting it in that cold palace.”
Guan Zhiyue coldly laughed after hearing Shan Liuxian's words: "You stinking Taoist, do you think I didn't want to? Do you think I wanted to come to your lousy place? I was living a good life in the modern world, why did you have to bring me to this wretched place? What's here? This is an era where men are superior to women, an era where men are the rulers. How could I, alone, shake this world? You really overestimate me!"
"What if I were to say that Miss Guan has this ability?"
Guan Zhiyue looked at Shan Liuxian and said incredulously, "As expected of a stinky Taoist priest, spouting nonsense. Do you know that you will be punished by heaven for saying such things? Look how immoral you are!"
Zenryo Sen: "..."
"Fine! Then you can go and be a wandering ghost. I thought Miss Guan was someone who wouldn't back down, but now it seems I misjudged her."
“This is a place where imperial power reigns supreme. If I rebel, it’s not a pity if I die alone, I still have my entire family!” Guan Zhiyue suddenly said this, which made Shan Liuxian laugh.
"Now that Miss Guan has adapted to life here, why not take a gamble on this original owner's body and family?"
"You know perfectly well that this is a place where imperial power reigns supreme, so why do you repeatedly make me take these risks? What are you up to, you stinking Taoist priest?"
"What ulterior motives could I possibly have? I simply wish to help Miss Guan escape that cold, desolate palace."
"Then tell me, how do we get out?"
Shanliuxian waved his feather fan and chuckled softly, "Miss Guan is quite capable, so why ask me? As long as Miss Guan returns to her host body, she will naturally have a solution."
"Why do you want me to return to the original owner's body?"
"You liked the original owner of this body?"
Seonryu-seon: "..."
“Miss Guan, your words are truly astonishing! I am a monk, and severing all emotions and desires is the rule of us practitioners.”
Guan Zhiyue looked at Shan Liuxian speechlessly. She thought that being a wandering ghost was not a long-term solution. She still needed a physical body. In the end, she listened to Shan Liuxian's advice and returned to the Cold Palace. She would then find a way to move from the Cold Palace to the outside.
"Okay, I promise you, but..."
"I have never met Miss Guan, nor did I know that she had passed away."
Guan Zhiyue pointed at Shan Liuxian and nodded in satisfaction when she saw that he was very sensible.
"Let's go! This humble Taoist priest will take Miss Guan back!"
And so the man and his soul began to wander through the tall and silent palace.
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