One life
Supported by A Qiu's true energy, Xie Lang remained calm amidst the illusions and said, "The first thing the Great Yan Dynasty did upon its founding was to invite the head of the Gongye family and the former Grand Secretary to the palace to bless the new dynasty and all the people of the world together with the Junior Tutor at the Golden Water Pavilion. At that time, the Gongye family's thousand-gold incense burned for three days and three nights to deliver the dead and save them. However, it seems that the effect is not significant. The palace still needs a true shaman with profound cultivation to serve as the Grand Diviner, to avert the calamities of war and pray for peace for the country."
Remembering something, A Qiu immediately seized the opportunity to say, "The young lady Bai we invited to treat His Majesty is indeed a highly skilled person; she is perfectly suited for this position..."
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly gasped in surprise.
All because Xie Lang suddenly forcefully broke free from her hand, stood atop the illusion of the sea of fire with piercing eyes, his gaze gradually changing, turning as red as blood.
He stared fixedly ahead, and said in a hoarse voice, "Why have you summoned me?"
A-Qiu had no choice but to let go and leap away from him, knowing that his other side had been catalyzed and awakened under the summoning of Qi-Luo's illusionary ritual.
Qi Luo's calm and gentle chanting rang out at just the right moment, carrying her natural talent for comforting and calming people's hearts.
"Like morning dew, the days gone by are many. The road of life is so long, and the suffering along the way is endless. Why doesn't Your Majesty join us and return together?"
The voice was seductive and magnetic, speaking in a gentle, flowing manner, yet it was directed solely at Xie Lang.
As a sorcerer, Qi Luo rarely used the art of mental manipulation to control others, as this technique of seizing another's will was forbidden and would inevitably have a backlash. But at this moment, she felt that she was deeply entangled with two generations of courts, repeatedly intervening in the fates of two emperors and interfering in the lives and deaths of others. According to the precepts of the Zhuyou sect, she had committed a grave mistake that was difficult to undo.
Realizing this, she decided to sacrifice herself to purify the resentment, injustice, and obsessive thoughts arising from killing and grievances in the Heavenly Prison, to remove some of the resentment from Jianzhang Palace, and to sever the external influences that caused Xie Lang to worry and ponder deeply. However, she did not expect to summon the repressed and hidden self within Xie Lang as well. Therefore, she decisively decided to take it with her and exorcise it as well.
Xie Lang murmured, "Like morning dew, the days gone by are many, like morning dew, the days gone by are many!" His eyes, which were originally sharp and fierce, gradually became confused.
A thought flashed through A Qiu's mind, and he suddenly remembered a poem, which he recited on the spot: "Life is less than a hundred years, yet worries are as long as a thousand. The days are short and the nights are long, so why not light a candle and wander around?"
This is a poem she heard Yanxiu recite when she dreamt of her years ago. Now, in this moment, moved by her feelings, she recited it aloud.
Upon hearing this music, Xie Lang, who was in a daze, was struck dumb as if by lightning. His face turned as white as paper, and he said in a trembling voice, "Ah Xiu, is that you? Have you come to take me away?"
He took a step forward and stared straight into the void.
Qi Luo's voice became even softer, seemingly real yet ethereal, with a touch of mystery, as she softly said, "Yes, I've come to pick you up. Come with me."
Her goal was simply to have Xie Lang's self detach from his body and follow her into this karmic fire ritual, so that he would be completely dissolved from then on.
Tears of blood welled up in Xie Lang's eyes again, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Fine, I'll go with you. You have no idea how lonely I've been all these years." He suddenly let out a howl like a wolf, followed by a mournful cry like an owl.
Qi Luo remained silent and continued chanting, seemingly waiting quietly for him to make a decision.
Just when A Qiu thought this crazed self was about to leave his body, he suddenly clutched his head, then trembled all over, raised his head and roared hoarsely, "No! I won't allow you to go!"
Startled by his roar, A Qiu was speechless. Instinctively, she drew her sword to defend herself from a sudden attack. But then she realized: even if he attacked, could she possibly kill this Emperor of Dayan with her sword?
At first, she thought that Xie Lang's words, "I won't let you go," meant that he was not allowing Yanxiu, whom he saw in his illusion, to leave.
But when she saw Xie Lang raise his head, she was instantly stunned.
Xie Lang's face changed rapidly, alternating between pale and flushed. Simultaneously, his pupils also changed color continuously, sometimes blood red, sometimes returning to normal.
He first let out a shrill, beast-like howl: "No, I want to go with her. I can't bear it any longer. All these years, day and night, my body has been burning, my heart has been consumed by poison. I've tried everything, but I still can't forget her face! I can't go on living!"
The next instant, he immediately clutched his head, as if enduring immense pain, and said calmly and resolutely, "No, even if it hurts, you must stay with me! Even if it hurts ten times more, I don't want to lose you, because you carry all my memories and emotions, the most intense and splendid moments of my life!"
The beast-like howl replied, "No, I was finally released. I don't want to be locked up by you all alone anymore. Living in this world is too painful. Please let me go."
The lucid Xie Lang shouted, "Even so, you must stay with me! Without you, I can find no meaning in living in this world!"
A Qiu was dumbfounded, and only then did she realize that even the clear-headed and rational Xie Lang could not accept the result of his other side completely disappearing.
Because that side not only embodies his darkness, confusion, and madness, but also his unspoken and repressed emotions that drove him to madness. It was also the source of all the passion and hope in his life, the most intense days of his existence. Even those days and nights of unrequited love, those dark thoughts born of jealousy, were once-in-a-lifetime moments of deep affection and brilliance in his life.
If this part were removed, he would no longer feel, no longer feel pain, and no longer love, but would be nothing more than an empty, walking corpse existing in the world. Even someone as rational and self-disciplined as Xie Lang himself would find it difficult to accept living like this.
Even if the only way to feel alive is through endless heartache, it's better than having a heart like a desert, where you can no longer feel any excitement.
He refused to let go of his obsession, preferring to live with it for the rest of his life. Because without this obsession, he would have no reason to live in this world.
Qi Luo, unable to do anything else, gently comforted her again, "Only by letting go of the past can you start anew. You can welcome new people into your life, and you will have new encounters..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Xie Lang interrupted her with a roar. He screamed, his voice filled with anguish, "No! Flowers may bloom again, but youth never returns! In this life, I can never start over!"
With his earth-shattering roar, the illusion before A Qiu's eyes suddenly receded like a tide, revealing once again the tightly closed gates of the Heavenly Prison, still in the darkness.
Qi Luo's ritual of offering spirits continued, but Xie Lang, through his strong will and intense desire to escape, broke free.
Qi Luo's spell to bind spirits shattered into countless fragments, like strands of silver, drifting and scattering around him. They were originally under Qi Luo's control, but when Xie Lang forcibly broke free from Qi Luo's restraints, these spells turned into fragments and wandered around like ownerless ghosts. However, they discovered that A Qiu was still alive and instantly rushed to entangle him.
Before A Qiu could react, he felt countless invisible, chilling energies invade his chest, and instantly his throat felt as if it were being squeezed by a hand, rendering him unable to make a sound.
Her mind was filled with a sense of overwhelming chaos, as if a thousand troops were surging through it.
Countless voices whispered in her ears.
"Do you have secrets too?" "Do you have a part of yourself you can't face?" "Come on, let us help you find them." "Maybe what we find will scare even yourself!"
Her mind went blank, and all her strength seemed to be drained, leaving her unable to resist.
Countless snowflakes seemed to be dancing and swirling before my eyes, and the view was of a vast expanse of white snow-covered mountains and plains.
This is the snow-covered plain behind Lanling Hall. It is the beginning of her conscious life.
A whispered voice said, "No, not here." "We need to go further back."
Aqiu suddenly covered her head and cried out, "No!"
We can't go any further.
Her memory is forever frozen in this moment.
Since then, she has been heartless and devoid of emotion; nothing can stir her emotions anymore, and her heart remains as detached and calm as ice and snow.
Apart from Gu Yi. But even Gu Yi was a past she couldn't think about deeply, and dared not delve into.
The whispers grew louder and louder.
"I can't open it!" "Try again?" "What kind of talisman is this? It's sealed so tightly!" "Even stronger than a high shaman's spell?" "Yes!"
A-Qiu was in a daze, but she felt that something in her mind was loosening.
The concentric flower mark between her eyebrows, due to her anxiety, had turned a deep crimson, almost blood-red.
What exactly were they talking about?
It felt as if something was being peeled away layer by layer.
Behind the glaciers and snowfields, the walls are peeling and mottled from years of wear. She touches them with her hand, and dust, brick fragments and stones fall off in a flurry, and the brick and stone structure of the memory palace begins to loosen.
She heard them say "that incantation".
A sweet and beautiful female voice, tinged with melancholy, whispered in her ear:
"Don't love anyone, or you'll be heartbroken."
Her heart suddenly trembled, all because of that voice. So familiar, so...like a voice from another world. It was a voice she had heard a thousand times in her dreams.
You can admire someone, like someone, but you can't love them.
Previously, all she knew was that the owner of the voice was named Ah Xiu, a girl about her age.
Now she knows that the owner of that voice is Empress Xining, Shangguan Yanxiu.
But why would Empress Wen of the Great Huan Dynasty, Shangguan Yanxiu, cast such a "curse" on her?
A life without the ability to love, without knowing how to love, is nothing more than Xie Lang, sitting high on the throne, enduring eternal loneliness and self-torture.
But the woman named Yanxiu provided the answer in her next sentence.
"You will automatically erase all memories related to love. This is the only way you can ensure that you can survive strongly in this broken world."
Even without love.
So, what is love, Yanxiu?
Was love the promise that Aunt Lingying tried to fulfill for you with her whole life? Her calligraphy flowed like dragons and snakes, her old vows etched in gold. Because of your early death, those years spent in Qiwu Palace, threading needles and laughing through the long nights, became a wound she could never escape.
Love is the song that Master sang on the Yan Ge stage, and the painting of the white silk dancer that he painted casually on countless nights, even though he was doing his best for you.
They say you eloped, but in the end, did you go with him?
Obviously not. You died in the fifth year of the last emperor's reign, and your master retired from the martial world, wandering the world in sorrow, spending his life with only his solitary flute for company.
Perhaps you are right.
The only outcome of love is a broken heart.
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