The person inside the grand array… was Song Qing.
Yan Zhu could not manage to clear her thoughts. Catching only a brief, even breath, she ran toward the place where the crowd was densest.
She did this without much logic; there was merely a voice in her heart continuously urging her to move, as if a great disaster would occur if she were even a single step too late.
Ever since that furious roar, the previously noisy “small chess pieces” had all silenced themselves, surrounding the perimeter of the array without uttering a single word.
They stood according to a certain pattern, leaving distance between each other so that their own power could also serve as a part of the grand array to help suppress the person at the center.
However, standing this way conveniently made things easier for Yan Zhu, who had hurried over. She ran all the way through the sea of people, reaching the foremost position without expending much effort. Upon clearly seeing the person at the eye of the array, Yan Zhu opened her eyes wide in astonishment.
The person inside the grand array was Song Qing.
Although she had envisioned such a scenario beforehand, actually witnessing it made it hard to believe.
The magic array shone with brilliant golden light. Innumerable thick iron chains formed from spiritual power were tightly bound around the young woman at the center of the array, restricting her so that it was difficult to move an inch. Above, thousands of magical instruments floated suspended in mid-air, overflowing with murderous intent.
The air seemed to have solidified, pressing down from all directions and squeezing people to the point of breathlessness.
The immense coercion of a higher-level cultivator poured downward, making every bone in the body feel as though it were being fiercely crushed by a heavy object. Song Wenqing’s hand holding the sword trembled slightly, and she half-knelt on the ground in a disheveled state. She had mobilized nearly all of her spiritual power just to support her body and keep from collapsing.
Yet, it was extremely strenuous.
Her consciousness was growing increasingly hazy.
Barring any accidents, she should die here today.
Bearing the infamy of harming her fellow sect members, being stigmatized as a demonic cultivator, and then, dying.
Song Wenqing lowered her head, her messy dark hair concealing the expression in her eyes, with the upper half of her face also plunged into shadow.
“Crunch, crunch…”
Faint sounds leaked from between her clenched teeth.
As if her pride had been crushed to pieces, Song Wenqing bent her stubbornly straight spine and suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Bright red stained a small patch of the ground, the fishy scent washing past the tip of her nose.
Viscid blood wound its way down the corners of her mouth, pouring out wildly and unstoppably.
Song Wenqing coughed lightly, her long eyelashes trembling helplessly.
It hurts so much.
Her internal organs were fiercely squeezed together by external forces, and her bones even seemed to have shifted out of place; merely breathing could pull at a dense, lingering pain.
She raised her head slightly, her gaze piercing through the clouds to look toward the distant flying peak, whose outline was only faintly visible amidst the white mist.
The person who called her a “rebellious disciple” was right there at that moment.
However, he would not make a move personally.
The person who would come should be…
A streak of white figure fluttered down extremely quickly from the peak. Someone came riding a sword, hair fluttering slightly and robes flying.
“Senior Brother!”
“Senior Brother has come!”
“It’s the Eldest Senior Brother!”
“Eldest Senior Brother!”
“Eldest Senior Brother has arrived!”
…
Cries of exclamation rose in waves from the crowd.
The spirit sword flew across the ocean of sect disciples beside the grand array and steadily stopped before her.
The newcomer wore sect attire, wore a simple jade crown on his head, and had simple garments. Yet, he possessed an exceptionally good appearance rarely seen in the realm of cultivation. Merely standing casually in a certain spot could attract countless overt and covert gazes from those around him.
At this moment, the young man stood in the center of the magic array, and the gazes of countless disciples converged upon him.
He was naturally born with upturned corners of the mouth, looking as though he harbored a hint of a smile on his lips. Therefore, even though he was frowning at the moment, he did not look particularly worried.
“Junior Sister…”
The young man looked down at the young woman before him, the second half of his sentence transforming into a sigh.
“Why go so far… What is the point of going this far…”
The surroundings fell silent, and everyone held their breath, gazing at the two people in the center of the magic array.
“Junior Sister, does it hurt?”
He asked, pity flowing between his brows, his voice as gentle as coaxing a young child to sleep.
The young woman merely lowered her head, giving no response whatsoever.
Nor did he grow annoyed; a hint of a smile even appeared at the corners of his lips.
“It’s alright,” the young man said.
“You’ll be able to die in a moment.”
“Once you’re dead, it won’t hurt anymore.”
His tone remained gentle, yet it made one’s bones turn chillingly cold.
Yan Zhu, acting as an onlooker, felt her heart tremble; she could not help but look at the young woman in the center of the array.
Song Qing was still lowering her head, as if she had not heard a thing.
Afterward, she saw that man lean over, turning his cheek to press close to her.
Entering her field of vision, this scene caused Yan Zhu’s heart to sharply contract. Immediately abandoning all else, she stepped forward and ran directly over without a second thought.
“It’s better if you die anyway. With a kind of person like you, once you’re dead, everyone will feel happy.”
Yan Zhu could not hear these words; she only saw the young man’s mouth moving slightly as he spoke to Song Qing.
And upon hearing this, the young woman raised her head.
Yan Zhu was extremely certain that she glanced toward her direction.
The speed was fast, but that gaze was still keenly captured by her.
What was she trying to do?
Before the thought had even fully formed, the other person provided her with the answer.
“Song, !”
The rest of her words were abruptly cut off.
That man widened his eyes, looking in disbelief at the Junior Sister before him.
Just a moment ago, she had still been tightly trapped on the ground by the grand array, her complexion as pale as if she would weakly die in the next second.
Song Wenqing, you, !
“Mo Nanyi” could not utter a complete sentence. His lips were tightly covered by the other person, and no matter how hard he exerted force, he could only emit meaningless notes.
“Or rather, Senior Brother, you, ”
An incomparably brilliant smile bloomed on the young woman’s face, matching the nearly dried bloodstains at the corners of her lips, making her look extremely enchanting.
Song Wenqing fiercely thrust the sword body forward a few more inches, her hand gripping the hilt forcefully stirring inside the man’s abdomen before her.
“Go and die.”
She said softly.
Crack,
The surroundings completely “shattered,” and a blinding white light erupted.
Before losing consciousness, Yan Zhu met those familiar amber-colored eyes.
When she woke up once more, she had no idea how much time had passed.
What met her eyes was a patch of lush green; vines wound disorderly across the top of the cave and hung down along the edges following the terrain.
Yan Zhu’s gaze shifted to a statue embedded in a section of the stone wall. Sculpted there was a woman, lowering her gaze with a trace of anger between her brows.
The stone statue was extremely tall, almost reaching the top of the cave ceiling with its head and treading upon the ground with its feet.
Neither did the carved woman look like a bodhisattva; she wore gorgeous clothing and intricate headwear, holding a whip in one hand and cradling an imperial jade seal in the other. Her entire demeanor was solemn and dignified, making one unable to help feeling a sense of submission in their heart.
Whether due to enduring the passage of time for too long, many parts of the stone statue were damaged. Yan Zhu clearly saw that one side of the “woman’s” cheek had a sizable crack, resembling an un-wiped tear stain.
Vines grew wrapped around the stone statue, and the emerald leaves nearly swallowed the entire wall.
Yan Zhu stared blankly, letting her mind wander for a while, until she suddenly remembered something and abruptly sat up straight.
Coincidentally, she met those amber-colored eyes once more.
She did not miss the panic that flashed through them.
The other person seemed to have been watching her for a long time.
Yan Zhu deduced. The thought only lingered briefly in her mind for a few seconds, and due to the owner’s indifference, it quickly vanished without a trace.
“Awake?”
Looking at the “grown-up version” of Song Qing before her, Yan Zhu felt a sense of displacement in time and space, leaving her at a loss. She was stunned, answering only after quite a while.
“Mn.”
Song Wenqing secretly let out a breath of relief, struggling to maintain the icy persona she previously used when interacting with the other person.
“Let’s go out then.”
It seemed somewhat difficult.
Song Wenqing imperceptibly furrowed her brows, while secretly using her gaze to monitor Yan Zhu’s movements as she walked straight toward the cave exit.
Yan Zhu rubbed her chaotic head, supported herself against the wall to stand up, and closely followed her out of the cave.
At the very moment when her final step was about to step out, she turned back to look behind her on a whim.
Far away, she locked eyes with a pair of beautiful eyes looking back at her.
As if anticipating it long ago, the stone statue curved its lips and smiled at her.
Like a cat whose fur had been ruffled, Yan Zhu nearly jumped up on the spot, though fortunately reason returned in time and her exclamation was bitten back tightly into her mouth.
Cold sweat soaked her back; Yan Zhu slowly turned her neck to look ahead, walking out with stiff limbs.
Unwarm sunlight spilled over her body, and the sky was a sheet of azure blue.
With a pale complexion, Yan Zhu stared straight at the stones by her feet. After waking up, her thoughts were already a complete mess, and after experiencing this, her brain turned into complete paste.
It wasn’t until a slight pain came from her forehead that her consciousness was recalled, granting her a moment of clarity.
A small shadow cast over her body, and a cool fragrance drilled into her nose.
Yan Zhu slowly raised her head, gazing into a warm ocean of colors reflecting herself.
“…S-sorry, I didn’t notice…”
Her words didn’t even sound like they were spoken from her own mouth.
Yan Zhu blankly stared at the small patch of red on the young woman’s fair chin, belatedly realizing that this was the disaster she had just caused while distracted.
“…Do you want me to blow on it for you?”
Blow on it, and the hurt flies away.
The common saying frequently spoken by her family elders in her previous life echoed in her mind, and the words slipped straight out of her mouth.
The air fell silent for two seconds.
Barely pacifying her inner self, finally emerging from the terror of being frightened by the stone statue, Yan Zhu fell into an even greater panic after reacting to the foolish words she had just uttered…
“Cough…” The other person didn’t seem to expect her to blurt out such earth-shattering remarks either, coughing lightly with some awkwardness, “There’s no need.”
For a moment, Yan Zhu felt even more embarrassed.
She really wanted to dig a hole and bury herself!
However…
It seemed… she didn’t even need to dig a hole?
Looking at the deep pit several hundred feet wide not far away, Yan Zhu fell into deep thought.
Song Wenqing was unaware of her thoughts; she was still immersed in the potency of the phrase “Do you want me to blow on it for you?”, her steadfast Dao heart nearly growing unstable.
It was like coaxing a young child.
Thinking for a long time, she arrived at this conclusion.
She couldn’t help but tilt her head slightly to glance at the person beside her, complex and indistinguishable emotions rising within her heart.
, Was she still treating me like a child?
A trace of embarrassment and annoyance surfaced on Song Wenqing’s face.
After extricating herself from the dreamscape, she remembered everything that had happened inside crystal clear.
In fact, during the third “dreamscape,” when she was trapped in the sect’s grand array, her true consciousness had already awakened. Otherwise, there would not have been the subsequent act of drawing her sword to kill “Mo Nanyi.”
Yan Zhu had been behind her at that time.
Song Wenqing knew this, which was why the moment the word “Song” slipped from her Senior Brother’s mouth, she reached out and tightly covered the other’s mouth and nose.
In front of Yan Zhu, she could only be Song Qing.
At least, for now, she could only be.
Song Wenqing’s dormant pupils fluctuated slightly, as she realized that something was quietly changing in secret.
“Yan Zhu.”
She earnestly recited this name in her heart, chewing and swallowing it finely, wanting to taste a slightly different flavor.