Water and fire in harmony
Startled, she turned around, only to find no one around, just the babbling of a stream winding around the stone forest and stretching into the distance.
She was suddenly startled to realize that the voice was actually coming from within her own heart.
She wiped away her tears and immediately asked, "Who are you? Why should I believe you?"
There was a hint of amusement in the other person's voice: "You don't have to believe me."
Ah Qiu had never been in such a passive and difficult situation before.
She was currently in the Ghost Valley Formation, a forbidden area of the sect. Who could be so brazen as to enter so openly? And who seemed to know so much about her and Gu Yi's affair?
Gu Yi's situation was incredibly difficult; he had defied fate by living so long in this world. A Qiu racked her brains, recalling all the classics she had read in Lanling Hall, but none offered a solution. How could an outsider explain it so casually?
But given her current state of mind, how could she possibly be willing to let Gu Yi die, as long as there was even the slightest hope?
The other person seemed to understand her dilemma and said calmly, "Whether you believe it or not, I will tell you the method. As for whether you do it or not, that is your own business."
A Qiu wanted to ask more questions, but the other party interrupted her, saying, "Logically speaking, given his condition, there's nothing that can be done. But you are the only person in the world who can save him. Because between your brows, there is a 'Heart-to-Heart Flower' Gu that connects your soul to his."
A Qiu suddenly raised her hand and touched the flower mark beneath her hair ornament between her eyebrows, saying incredulously, "This is the Heart-Connecting Flower Gu? Is it connected to his mind?"
She only knew that she had this mark between her eyebrows since childhood, and everyone in her sect thought it was just a birthmark. Her master, Wan Qiqing, was even more secretive about its origin, and when she entered the palace, he instructed her to be careful to cover it up and not let anyone unrelated see it.
Because of her high level of martial arts skills, ordinary people could not get close to her. That's why Wan Qiqing only told her to be careful. Otherwise, she might have needed to disguise herself.
Only today, when this person revealed it, did she realize that the mark between her brows was actually left by the Heart-to-Heart Flower Gu.
The Love Flower Gu has always been just a legend, originating from the witch clan. It is said that those who are infected with this Gu will be mutually in love and their hearts will never be separated, no matter where they are.
The voice continued, "However, this curse only works on those who are sentimental. He was a heartless person before, so he probably didn't use this curse to harm you."
Ren Aqiu racked her brains but couldn't figure out when Gu Yi had used the Heart-to-Heart Flower Gu on her. She also couldn't think of any reason why he would do such a thing.
But at this moment, she remembered something: it seemed that Gu Yi had intended to lift the flower between her eyebrows to see what was going on the first time he saw her, and on several subsequent occasions. But at the time... she mistakenly thought he had frivolous intentions.
The voice said, "There is only one kind of relationship in the world that can share all of the other person's physical and mental worries, joys and sorrows, karmic causes and conditions, including the essence, energy and lifespan of a person. I think you know what I am talking about."
A-Qiu, who had just been sobbing uncontrollably, was now extremely embarrassed and said, "I...I know what you're talking about. But..."
She looked at the unconscious Gu Yi, her heart filled with hesitation. If that were the case, even if she survived, it would likely be against his wishes.
The voice said matter-of-factly, "If he has no feelings for you, even with the Heart-to-Heart Flower Gu, this matter may not succeed. That is his destiny. If he has feelings for you, then it will be a natural progression, so what's wrong with that?"
A Qiu said, "He is upright and honest, and cares about the world. I'm afraid he can't accept living such a wretched life."
The voice said nonchalantly, "If that's the case, then we just won't tell him."
Ah Qiu was speechless again.
The voice said, "You only need to follow the call of the Heart-to-Heart Flower Gu, open your whole body and mind, and merge with him. Your martial arts are inherited from him, and your true energy is originally from the same source as his. You are a woman and he is a man, so you are born with a yin and yang distinction. From then on, yin reaches its extreme and yang is born, heaven and earth merge, and your body and destiny will be linked together. As long as you do not die, he will not die either."
The voice in my heart gradually faded away, saying, "Whether you do it or not is up to you. I have said all I have to say. I'm leaving now."
The light in the cave dimmed, and even the sound of water seemed distant.
Looking at Gu Yi, A Qiu suddenly remembered the promise Gu Yi had asked her to make in the secret room on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.
She said softly, "I've never been unwilling. What I've always been afraid of is that you're unwilling."
The concentric flower worm between her brows burned even hotter, as if calling to her to come closer to Gu Yi.
She first removed her own clothes, then Gu Yi's, until the two were completely naked, with nothing left to hide.
She finally saw the same concentric flower mark on his body as she did on hers.
In the very center of his heart, there was only a faint touch of vermilion, a five-petaled flame pattern. Perhaps, as the voice said, he was an unfeeling person, and the love flower had little effect on him.
The sound of water seems near yet far; the vastness and etherealness of heaven and earth.
She gently covered his body with her body, pressing her palms against his back again.
A faint but continuous stream of profound Yin energy emanated from her palm, entering his heart meridian in an attempt to tame the chaotic and surging true energy within his body.
When she kissed him, the wildly surging true energy seemed to find an outlet, immediately rushing in the same direction.
Gu Yi reacted immediately.
His arms immediately wrapped around her waist, just as he had done many times before.
But this time, the force was different from before.
He rolled over and pinned her beneath him, his voice hoarse as he asked, "What are you going to do?"
She looked up at him, and saw that his gray eyes were now as bright as stars, dazzling and illuminating her pure, childlike body.
She whispered, "Don't reject me. I... want it this way."
She knew very well that Gu Yi, with his grey eyes and silver hair, could never refuse her.
His eyes shone even brighter as he leaned down towards her, his long, snow-white hair cascading down, and his deep voice rang out: "Okay."
Sometimes, A-Qiu would wonder if he was lucid, or if he was as confused as she was.
She could sense the careful tenderness hidden in all his actions. Actually, this was not quite what she had previously imagined...
Even when Gu Yi was fully conscious, he had never been this gentle and patient with her before.
She even found herself helplessly drawn into that tenderness and pampering.
At the same time, she could feel his pulse beating, stronger and stronger with each beat.
His internal energy was continuously flowing into her meridians and returning to her dantian.
At the end of his exhaustion, a wisp of primordial yin quietly arose, gradually brightening and spreading throughout his meridians and acupoints.
The dead are the embodiment of life, and the living are the embodiment of death. Water and fire are in harmony, and the trigrams Kan and Li converge.
He won't die.
A Qiu straightened Gu Yi's clothes as he slept, but her hand paused involuntarily when she reached his chest.
The once crimson love mark on his chest had vanished without a trace.
A-Qiu subconsciously reached out to touch the mark on her forehead. If so, the mark on her forehead should have disappeared by now.
The voice resurfaced in her mind, saying, "No. The Heart-to-Heart Flower Gu has a natural tendency to merge into one. When... the host merges with it, the two marks usually fuse into the stronger one. Since his has disappeared, yours will most likely only become more prominent."
By this time, A Qiu was no longer surprised by the voice. When she heard the other person say that, she lifted her skirt and walked past the stream. She happened to lift the flower ornament and looked down at her reflection. After seeing the reflection, she was speechless.
The concentric flower pattern indeed became even more vivid and eye-catching, as beautiful as fire.
She lightly stamped her foot and said, "I really don't know how he ever thought of planting this." Then she put down the flower ornament to cover her brow and continued walking.
The voice said leisurely, "Twenty feet ahead, turn left and come to the main hall to see me."
A-Qiu turned to look at Gu Yi, and hesitated before asking, "Is he alright here?"
The voice replied, "He won't wake up for at least a day and a night after all this commotion. Don't worry."
Following the voice's instructions, A Qiu walked another twenty feet forward and then turned left.
Within this grotto-heaven stone wall, the passage is winding and secluded, seemingly endless, like a palace.
A huge, spacious, and bright stone chamber, seemingly carved by a master craftsman, came into view, with rays of sunlight streaming down from the ceiling.
The four walls are carved with a stone statue of Lao Tzu riding backwards on a green ox out of Hangu Pass, along with the five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching, all of which are ancient and distant, with a cloud-like appearance.
What shocked her most was that beneath the huge mural was a white stone bed. On the stone bed, a person sat cross-legged.
The light filtering through the dome focused entirely on the person, making it extremely bright. She couldn't make out the person's features, but her intuition told her that it must be a tall and imposing man.
The air also emitted strange fluctuations and a mysterious, tranquil atmosphere.
A-Qiu walked step by step toward the figure on the stone bed.
And the voice that had been answering her fell silent.
When A-Qiu was four or five steps away from the man, she stopped, knelt down, bowed three times, and then looked up at the man.
The man was dressed in a gray robe. Although he was meditating with his eyes closed, one could still see that he had a beautiful and fair face. His thin, red lips seemed to hold a faint smile, as if he had already seen through the illusions of this world, yet he still watched over the eternal solitude between birth and death.
A Qiu's voice was somewhat hoarse as he asked, "Is this your true appearance as a corpse, Sect Leader Li?"
She spoke these words to the voice within her heart. Guided by that voice to heal Gu Yi and arrive at this place to meet him, she vaguely guessed who this person was.
But it wasn't until she saw him sitting cross-legged on the stone bed in a meditative posture that she dared to believe that this was Li Wujiu, the reclusive sect leader who transcended the mortal world but ultimately entered the life-or-death struggle for Gu Yi.
The voice fell silent as she bowed, but when she asked that question, it immediately retorted with displeasure, "What remains? I'm not dead yet!"
He added, "If you don't believe me, you can touch me; I still have body temperature, a heartbeat, and I'm breathing."
Faced with the meditative state of such a senior master, and who could be considered her senior uncle or master aunt, A Qiu dared not make a move. She stammered, "...If you say he is not dead, then he is not dead. This disciple dares not disrespect your noble body, senior."
Hearing her strained tone, Li Wujiu said unhappily, "You never show Gu Yi this much respect."
From his tone, it seemed that A Qiu was determined to prove he was alive before she would be satisfied. If it were the person speaking to her, not her thoughts, he would probably want to touch her hand to prove that he was indeed alive. At this point, she was genuinely curious, after all, those who had passed the test of life and death were extremely rare, perhaps only one in several hundred years, let alone seeing one in person.
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