Chapter 86 Do you want to go to the Tongxuan Secret Realm? You're not allowed to go.
Zhong Chengjian led her northward, passing through many cities and dense forests, until they reached a cliff.
"Where is the village?" The surrounding mountains are like sword-cut peaks, with clouds and mist swirling between them, and birdsong and insect chirping below. It is a place rarely visited by humans.
The sword beneath his feet suddenly changed direction and climbed up the cliff face. Ling Shu's body jolted abruptly, and he cried out. A short while later, the sword stopped at the break in the cliff and changed direction again, becoming parallel to the ground.
"Here?" Before the words were finished, ripples appeared on the cliff face in front of them, and the cave opened wide. Zhong Chengjian flew in with Ling Shu with a "whoosh".
Upon entering the cave, a wide-open space suddenly appears, with a main road leading directly to a village. From afar, one can see the three characters "Taoyao Village" engraved on a stone tablet at the village entrance.
Ling Shu dismounted her sword, her eyes filled with wonder. The Zhongcheng sword returned to its normal size, and the scabbard emerged from the jade bead on the tassel, slipping onto the blade and floating peacefully to Ling Shu's right. Ling Shu found it intriguing and wondered if the jade bead was a storage bead. She didn't take it, but the hilt of the sword tapped her hand.
This meant she needed to take the sword, but she still didn't.
"Is this a storage bead?"
The sword swayed up and down slightly.
"Not bad, not bad."
The sword tapped her hand again, and Ling Shu smiled, her expression revealing weariness that turned into a bitter smile as she reached out and grasped the sword.
Ling Shu led her slowly into the village.
The villagers moving about the village were all incomplete human forms; some had animal heads, some had human faces and animal bodies, and some had completely animal bodies. They all wore human clothes and walked upright. This place is...
The land inhabited by the demon race.
Wang Lifu chased after her, shouting that he wanted to kill her, but when she was about to kill him, he risked his life to save her. Wasn't Wang Lifu supposed to be completely separate from demons for the rest of his life? Why does this Peach Blossom Village exist?
In the mysterious realm of Tongxuan, her mother's words, "She wanted to protect you," came true.
Why?
Suddenly, a man carrying a sword, a monk, barged in. The villagers looked at each other, quite wary.
A woman in red walked out of the crowd. She maintained her human form, with a slender figure, a willow waist, a peach-like face, and a naturally gentle smile.
“Aunt Tao.” Ling Shu had seen her when she was a child. She was her mother Wen Ji’s junior sister, named Tao Song, whose original form was a peach tree.
As soon as Tao Song arrived, she sensed a familiar sword aura, vast and majestic like a mountain, yet concealing its sharpness within, especially effective against demons. She immediately recognized the sharp sword hidden in its sheath as Wang Lifu's personal sword, which he always carried with him.
Tao Song smiled and said, "Little Ling Shu, you still recognize me."
When Tao Song confirmed the visitor's identity, the villagers happily came to greet her, seemingly unsurprised by her arrival.
"The Demon King's daughter has arrived!"
"Ling Shu is here!"
Tao Song smiled gently: "From now on, this will be your home."
——
Holding the lifeless "Ling Shu," Zhuang Jinfu walked step by step toward Qingxi Mountain.
His face looked like withered, rotten wood.
The sword formation that filled the sky has receded.
The beings in Heaven are not inherently evil; they are, after all, benevolent, righteous, wise, and trustworthy deities. They know that Ling Shu's journey is to seek justice for her master, and that Ling Shu, together with Zhuang Jinfu, saved more than 200,000 people during the natural disaster. Therefore, all that she has done must be forgiven.
They killed the wrong person.
Zhuang Jinfu had no one to reason with.
People need faith, not superstition. They shouldn't be superstitious about any deity, nor should they believe in a savior. People should believe in their own strength.
Shu'er, you're wrong.
Don't risk your life to protect my reputation.
Laicheng was already a ruin. The first earthquake affected the area, and the residents of Laicheng ran out of their homes early in the morning. Some of them were lucky enough to escape. People dug through the ruins, searching for buried survivors.
A fishy, foul odor filled the air.
The city gate and walls were cracked and half of them collapsed. A woman in white, covered in dust, walked out from under the city gate, holding a girl whose limbs were weak and who was obviously dead.
The woman walked unsteadily, as if she were shuffling along the ground. Her fine embroidered shoes scraped against the rough earth, producing a long, mournful "chacha" sound, just like the many other bereaved people present.
“That is…” One of the people stopped digging and looked back.
Another person chimed in, "Immortal Venerable!"
Those who survived the ordeal were overjoyed to see her; last night, everyone felt the powerful force pulling them out of the abyss of fear.
Zhuang Jinfu stared blankly at the person who had called her. She stopped, and a sudden gust of wind blew, ruffling her hair and sending strands of black hair flying across her face. She hugged the person in her arms tighter, using her sleeve to shield herself from the wind, and looked at the person in her arms with a dazed expression, saying, "Shu'er, are you cold?"
The person in his arms did not respond.
Gu Wan was helping to dig out survivors not far away when she saw Zhuang Jinfu. She walked over and heard Zhuang Jinfu say repeatedly, "It's not cold anymore... it's not cold anymore..."
Gu Wan approached and saw clearly the blood-stained face in her arms; it was young and tender, but no longer vibrant.
Gu Wan felt a lump in her throat, and after standing beside her for a long time, she finally managed to say, "Please accept my condolences."
"I will take you back to Qingxi Mountain."
“No. She likes going down the mountain.” Ling Shu had been making a fuss about going down the mountain, but Zhuang Jinfu wouldn’t allow it. He had to scare her until she was scared enough to say she would stay on Shangqing Mountain before he would stop.
"Alright, whatever you want." Gu Wan helped her to sit down under the shed where the disaster victims were being housed, and then ordered some people to keep an eye on her.
Zhuang Jinfu sat embracing the "corpse" for an entire day, without eating or drinking a drop of water.
As darkness fell, Gu Wan stopped working and came over with two steamed buns in a bowl. "Eat something. You almost exhausted your cultivation saving the day, and you don't even have the strength to fly back to Qingxi Mountain on your sword. Your body is now almost like that of an ordinary person. Eat something. The deceased is gone, please accept my condolences."
Zhuang Jinfu remained motionless.
Gu Wan put down her bowl and reached out to hug the person in her arms, but Zhuang Jinfu tried frantically to snatch her back.
"Zhuang Jinfu!" Gu Wan didn't want to stir up her emotions any further, but she couldn't let her continue down this path, nor could she let her repeat her past mistakes. "You are a revered immortal, how can you let yourself become like this?"
"Ling Shu risked her life to achieve this good result, and you look so dejected, you've let her down and betrayed all her efforts for you. How can you face her sincere heart and love for you?"
Gu Wan snatched it with a little force, and Zhuang Jinfu couldn't overpower her; "Ling Shu" slipped from his grasp.
Zhuang Jinfu's eyes were bloodshot: "Give it back to me!"
She got up to grab it, but Gu Wan dodged to the side. Zhuang Jinfu missed her target and fell to the ground. She struggled to get up again, but after grabbing it twice and failing, she tried to draw her sword to force him to surrender. Gu Wan knocked the sword to the ground with a palm strike, held "Ling Shu" in one hand, and pressed Zhuang Jinfu down into a chair with the other.
"What did I say back then? Don't follow my old path, don't follow my old path! Where did you hear me?"
Zhuang Jinfu tried her best but couldn't pry Gu Wan's hand off her shoulder. She reached out and grabbed only a corner of the "Ling Shu" dress that had been ripped by a sword. With a strong tug, the corner tore off with a ripping sound. Zhuang Jinfu gripped the piece of clothing tightly and grabbed upwards, grabbing Gu Wan's lower skirt.
Tears streamed down my face: "Give her to me...give her to me..."
"She's dead. You need to pull yourself together! Don't be so stubborn." As someone who had been through it all, Gu Wan had especially hoped that someone could scold her awake and pull her out of her lost state of mind, instead of letting her continue to be deluded.
"I love her, give me back my lover."
Gu Wan was taken aback, her agitation subsided, and she took Zhuang Jinfu's hand to feel his pulse, asking, "Where is your ruthless path?"
His pulse was disordered, his magical power in his dantian was lost, and his spiritual energy was in complete chaos.
Zhuang Jinfu ruthlessly revealed the truth.
Gu Wan immediately pushed a stream of immortal power into her dantian, condensed it in her palm, and injected it into Zhuang Jinfu's body to give her a breath and clear the chaotic spiritual energy. After a while, Gu Wan breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, you did not become a fallen immortal."
"If you become a fallen immortal, Ling Shu will not find peace even in the afterlife."
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Jinfu's eyes lit up. The underworld? Yes, those who die in the Shangqing Realm all enter the Tongxuan Secret Realm.
Gu Wan had anticipated this: "Do you want to go to the Tongxuan Secret Realm? You're not allowed to go."
Zhuang Jinfu remained silent.
Gu Wan added, "If you abandon everything in the mortal world and go down to Tongxuan, you'll truly become a fallen immortal."
Zhuang Jinfu's mind jolted. Ling Shu feared most that she would become a fallen immortal, and she didn't want to become one. Suddenly, Zhuang Jinfu gave up struggling, gripped the hem of Ling Shu's clothes tightly, and said slowly, "I won't go."
Gu Wan suspected that she was cheating, so she sent a message to Tongxuan, issuing an order prohibiting Zhuang Jinfu from entering Tongxuan, before she felt relieved and released her hand from her shoulder.
Zhuang Jinfu stopped trying to snatch Ling Shu and slowly stood up: "Don't worry, I won't go. Shu'er is most afraid that I will become a fallen immortal. I will definitely live well."
After saying that, she picked up the sword. Gu Wan thought she was going to fight, so she made a defensive move. Seeing that the sword was properly sheathed, she was relieved and stopped her move.
"Give me back Ling Shu."
Gu Wan refused, instead creating a low-temperature mustard tube, casting a preservative spell inside, and saying politely, "I need to make sure you won't continue to sink into depravity before I can return her body to you. Please forgive my rudeness."
Zhuang Jinfu smiled helplessly: "Alright."
She took a shovel out of her storage space. Gu Wan asked uncertainly, "What are you going to do?" Was she going to hit me on the head to vent my disrespect for her earlier?
"Save people." She looked at the ruins.
——
The villagers of Taoyao Village treated Lingshu to a good meal, all of which were ordinary, home-style dishes. Compared to Haigu's culinary skills, they were far inferior, and Lingshu couldn't help but miss Haigu.
Hai Gu would probably cry her heart out if she knew she was dead.
When I think of Hai Gu, I think of Wang Lifu. How could he survive when he fought against so many heavenly soldiers and generals all by himself?
I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, I can't help you anymore.
Then I thought of that person from Qingxi Mountain.
Zhuang Jinfu...would he be heartbroken to know she was dead?
Nonsense, Master would definitely be heartbroken by his disciple's death.
Ling Shu dared not hope for any other kind of affection. According to Zhuang Jinfu's answer, she must have had someone she cared about for many years before she cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness, and it was certain that she had developed mortal feelings, that is, she had someone she liked.
It wasn't me.
No wonder all my attempts to seduce and befriend her were useless.
It turns out that this unattainable beauty already had someone she loved.
Three years later.
"Lingshu! Come down! Aunt Tao needs to talk to you." Shuzhu called to Lingshu, who was fast asleep in the tree.
Ling Shu removed the leaves from her face and lazily opened her eyes a crack: "What is it?"
Shuzhu lowered her voice and whispered, "I heard you can go down the mountain now."
"Going down the mountain?!" Ling Shu sat up with a jolt, but she was so excited that she lost her balance and fell off the tree trunk.
Shuzhu hurriedly said, "Hey, hey, be careful!"
Just as Ling Shu was about to fall face-first to the ground, she swiftly grabbed a vine like a monkey. The muscles in her arms were well-defined, and her grip on the vine was strong. Her long legs clung steadily to the top, and she swayed back and forth between the trees.
"Can I really get down the mountain?"
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