108 Agreement
◎Could this be considered keeping a mistress in a gilded cage? ◎
Ying Jianhua hadn't expected to be discovered so quickly. He tried to break free of his restraints, but he was no match for Huaizhou.
Ten years have passed. She has grown up, but he has become increasingly thin, with only a bare skeleton beneath his black robe.
Huai Zhou naturally noticed his change as well, and murmured with a frown, "You've lost weight."
Warm, soft palms covered his face, like melting a block of ice in the chill of spring, making him shiver slightly.
In that instant, he even felt an urge to cry, his eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
How long has it been since he last looked at her like this? Forget about hugging or holding hands, he hasn't even been able to look at her openly for years.
But Ying Jianhua understood that it was all his own choice, and he couldn't blame anyone else. So he held back the tears that were about to spill, lowered his eyes to try and hide them, and gently nudged her, reminding her, "You're drunk."
She shook her head, then nodded, clearly drunk but trying to get away with it. He was about to advise her to drink less, but Huai Zhou's next words left him speechless.
She glanced at him quickly before looking away, her voice muffled: "This time, however, I dreamt of you."
Don't people who miss each other meet in their dreams? Why is it that in ten years, she only dreamed of him this once?
Is it that she doesn't miss him enough? Or is it that the person she misses doesn't want to appear?
Huai Zhou preferred to believe the former, always thinking it was her own problem, thus avoiding the other possibility. However, now she didn't want to delve into the reasons behind it anymore; none of that mattered. What mattered was cherishing this hard-won moment.
She used her gaze instead of her fingers, gently tracing his jawline, the corners of his eyes, and his brow bone, as if she wanted to deeply imprint every change she had missed over the past ten years into her heart.
Because she didn't know if the dream would end abruptly, all she could do before it ended was to remember it with her eyes.
Ying Jianhua gave up struggling, sighed silently, and let her gaze "paint" him. He thought timidly, it's just a dream, it won't have any effect on her, right? After the dream ends, she will still be that brand new "Huaizhou", with no relation to Du Zhijin whatsoever.
What belongs to Huaizhou is a bright and open road. And on this road, there is not a single stone tablet inscribed with "Should See the Painting".
Therefore, all gods and Buddhas, please ignore this fleeting dream.
After a moment of silent staring, the lingering feeling of Nanke gradually dissipated, and Huaizhou's mind cleared up, his vision becoming clearer. He asked, "Will you disappear after dawn?"
After saying that, she tightened her grip on his hands, making it impossible for him to escape.
She showed through her actions that she had grown up and was no longer the child who couldn't even touch his departing figure. If she could do it all over again, she would never agree to his leaving without saying goodbye.
Her gaze was so intense that Ying Jianhua couldn't ignore it. He finally realized, belatedly, that he shouldn't have impulsively appeared before her.
Huai Zhou now possesses strength several times greater than his own, and is unwilling to accept defeat; he cannot simply leave as he pleases.
He panicked a little, worried that he really couldn't leave, and tried to play the emotional card to get by: "It's just a dream, and dreams always end."
"Is that so?" Her voice was unwavering, filled with an unyielding determination. "Then let's wait until the dream ends."
She wouldn't let go until then.
After ten years of honing his skills, the young man has shed his naivety and recklessness, learned to conceal his sharpness, and also knows how to reveal his fierceness.
Tonight, she is like a sword drawn from its sheath, determined not to give up until she achieves her goal.
Huai Zhou was even somewhat pleased. She thought, anyway, it was only a matter of time before it was confirmed whether it was a dream, and time was the last thing she lacked. She had waited all these years; couldn't she wait for a single sun?
She could wait, but Ying Jianhua couldn't. He had thought that Huaizhou was drunk, and even if she discovered it, it wouldn't matter; she would treat it as a dream and forget it when she woke up. But he never expected that she was more perceptive than he anticipated, which made him both gratified and apprehensive.
Having come this far, we must not give up now.
After thinking it through, he changed his previous deliberate avoidance and said, "...Let me go first, and I will come to see you again in the future."
Huai Zhou's eyes lit up immediately, but then she shook her head: "Words are no proof."
She'd already been fooled by him once; she wouldn't easily trust him again.
Ying Jianhua knew she would think this way, so she took off a jade pendant from her waist and handed it to her: "This is proof. It is very important to me. Unless I die, I will not let it be left out in the open."
Huai Zhou took the jade pendant and examined it curiously.
She had seen this jade pendant before; it was when the two of them lived in Liulijing, and Doctor Du never took it off. But in reality, the jade was of ordinary quality, the polishing was very rough, and the shape could only be barely discerned as the upper half of a certain character; it had no real value.
She could see how much he valued it, so after a moment's thought, she agreed: "Okay, I'll take this jade pendant."
"However, you still have to give me an explanation."
She even considered that if he dared to say "ten years," she would immediately tie him up and take him back.
Ying Jianhua let out a soft sigh and said, "For every hundred demons you eliminate, I will see you once."
Therefore, the seven demons that Zhang used to pave the way for her no longer exist, and the number of great demons in the world is gradually decreasing. If she wants to achieve her goal of perfect merit again, she can only rely on numbers to win.
But even if people kill a thousand or ten thousand monsters, they may not be able to achieve perfection. Fortunately, there is him. As long as he dies, Huaizhou will surely be able to ascend to the upper realm.
The reason for this doesn't need to be told to her.
As expected, Huai Zhou was very interested in the proposal and immediately agreed with him: "It's a deal!"
When she was seven, she could defeat ten demons in three days, and even in a hundred days, it would only take her thirty days. Compared to seeing one demon once every ten years, seeing one demon once a month was already a huge improvement.
————
So Huai Zhou stopped searching for his destined sword and started posting notices everywhere to exorcise demons, often single-handedly taking over all the "demons listed" in an entire town.
Gradually, other cultivators, having no demons to eliminate, saw their income plummet. Unwilling to speak directly with her, they turned to Danpa as a second choice, hoping she would take care of their disciples.
Danpa scoffed, rolled her eyes, and sent these people running away with their tails between their legs.
"A bunch of good-for-nothings! You dare to come to your grandma for help? My apprentices can take down as many bounty posters as they want! If you're so capable, why don't you take down dozens or hundreds of bounty posters yourself? Nobody's stopping you."
Even so, she was curious as to why Huai Zhou had taken down so many notices at once. She knew her apprentice well; like those guys from Dengxian Mountain, he regarded money as dirt and would never take down notices just to earn money. There must be another reason.
She decided to cut short her annual vacation with her family and went to the deep mountains of Wanze City to find Huaizhou, asking, "Are you short of money lately?"
Huai Zhou had just killed a tiger that had become a spirit. Upon hearing this, he didn't even turn his head. While skillfully dissecting the demon core, he replied, "No, I just wanted to practice."
Danpa didn't believe it. Judging from her movements as she dissected demon cores, she was clearly much more skilled than before they separated, indicating she'd been dissecting countless demon cores in the past month or two. Practice? If it were truly practice, she wouldn't even leave any demon cores behind! She'd shatter them all with a single sword strike.
She followed her apprentice for several days, and seeing that she was either exorcising demons or on her way to exorcise demons every day, she seemed very anxious. But every time she killed a demon, she carefully kept the demon core, not immediately exchanging it for a bounty, but saving it.
The more she looked, the stranger it seemed. Finally, after searching through all the ancient books, Danpa suddenly woke up!
Heavenly Venerable One! Could she have gone astray and is about to consume a demon core?!
Danpa knew that there were always people in this world who wanted to take shortcuts, instead of focusing on cultivating and improving their cultivation level in a down-to-earth manner. They only thought about crooked ways and hoped to achieve a permanent solution once and for all. Among them were those who took demon cores, but their end was often tragic. They either exploded and died or went into a state of demonic possession.
She immediately found Huaizhou and repeatedly warned him: "Tell your sister the truth, why are you collecting these demon cores?"
She only has one disciple! Back then, Sister Mu led her into the Dao, and now she is leading Huaizhou into the Dao. In the future, she is hoping that Huaizhou will take on another disciple so that their lineage can be passed down forever. It cannot end with the third generation!
Even more suspiciously, Huai Zhou's answers were vague, and he never clearly explained why he collected demon cores. Danpa sneered. The child has grown up and learned to lie, but it doesn't matter, she will investigate herself!
She never expected that the truth Huai Zhou was desperately trying to cover up was actually a man.
After collecting countless demon cores, Huai Zhou quietly left the inn on a dark and windy night. Dan Pa, who hadn't slept all night, immediately followed, vowing to make her disciple repent and retire from his life of crime.
Then she saw Huai Zhou knock on a door, carrying a sack full of demon cores, pacing back and forth while muttering to himself. Unfortunately, she was too far away for Danpa to see what he was saying.
A moment later, the door opened, and a man with snow-white hair walked out slowly, seemingly having difficulty walking. As soon as he came out, Huaizhou immediately stepped forward to support him, his manner extremely intimate.
Look at the commotion this has caused; it turns out it's not some crooked path, but rather the way of lovers.
Danpa awkwardly looked away and slunk away.
Huai Zhou was completely unaware that someone was following him, but Ying Jianhua noticed something amiss and, after a moment's thought, guessed that it was Danpa.
He knew that Danpa was Honghua, and he panicked, afraid of being recognized. He then discussed with Huaizhou, "I don't want to see anyone but you. From now on, you have to promise that it will only be you and me when we meet."
Huai Zhou agreed, "That's easy." He immediately began to purchase houses in various places.
It must be large, at least as large as a mansion in the capital; it must be quiet, undisturbed by humans or demons; and the scenery must be beautiful, as Doctor Du is fond of painting, so a setting nestled against mountains and beside water, with abundant flowers and lush green grass would be ideal...
After such a thorough investigation, the house she ultimately selected was naturally quite expensive. Fortunately, she had diligently exorcised demons over the years and had accumulated a considerable amount of savings, so buying as many houses as she wanted was not a problem.
One of the gardens was previously owned by a famous romantic scholar who built it in Jiangnan specifically to house his confidante. Upon hearing this description, Huai Zhou suddenly had an idea.
Would you say she's keeping a mistress in a gilded cage?
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