“What’s strange?” Chu Weiliang communicated with it through divine consciousness.
“Wen the Blind could have cleaved that fish in two with one sword strike just now—why did he hold back at the last moment?”
“How would I know?”
“Don’t you feel like there’s something about Chi Qianqiu that resonates and harmonizes with you?”
Chu Weiliang carefully recalled. Ever since she was captured, she had been constantly tormented. Now, reminded by the Shape-shifting Demon, she did feel there might be something to it. Otherwise, how could she have guessed the name so accurately at the critical moment? But… as she was held in Wen Shubai’s palm, a bolder thought suddenly occurred to her.
“Instead, I feel like there’s something about that fish that resembles Wen the Blind even more?”
The Shape-shifting Demon fell silent: I think so too, but that thing… I dare not speak of it…
Chi Qianqiu’s water screen Barrier was completely shattered. Qin Buji led Wen Mian inside. “Thanks to Little Junior Sister and A Liang being in sync, we managed to arrive in time.”
Wen Mian was overjoyed to see the small wooden doll in her father’s hand. She spread her little hands and rushed over. “Mother! Mian’er wants Mother!”
Wen Shubai bent down and handed the wooden doll to his daughter, speaking gently, “She’s injured. Hold her carefully.”
“Mm!” Wen Mian then cradled Chu Weiliang most preciously in her palms, stroking her repeatedly as if comforting a wounded little bird.
Thus, the red marks on Chu Weiliang’s wrists from being bound by Chi Qianqiu’s red threads actually vanished at a visible rate.
Chu Weiliang: ???
This child has seventh-level healing abilities?
Having retrieved the lost person, Wen Shubai prepared to leave. As he passed by Fang Jixue, the latter called out to stop him.
“Sword Sovereign, please wait.”
Fang Jixue, hands clasped behind his back, turned around. “Might I have a word with her?”
Wen Shubai, clutching Chu Weiliang, was reluctant to hand her over. However, keeping her hidden would only make him appear petty. “Very well,” he replied, his tone lightly lilting. He tossed the small wooden doll, which landed and transformed into a young girl with two hair buns. Then, taking Wen Mian’s hand, he walked a few steps away to give them privacy.
At this moment, the Chu Weiliang in Fang Jixue’s eyes appeared much thinner and more fragile than during the final days of her previous life. Her face held a touch more innocence and naivety, while her brows and eyes had lost some of their former brilliance and sharpness. She rather resembled her bewildered self at fifteen or sixteen.
She still looked at him with her head tilted, just as in the past.
Fang Jixue’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. Slowly, he rolled the beads in his sleeve one by one. After a long while, he finally spoke in a heavy tone, “A Liang…”
Reunited across lifetimes, a thousand years’ worth of words swelled within him, yet he didn’t know where to begin. In the end, only her name escaped his lips.
Yet, Chu Weiliang did not respond.
She stood there, clean and docile, with a faint, elusive smile, watching him and waiting for him to continue.
Once, she had crouched on the ground, covered in blood, lifting this same face in agony as she cried “Master,” trying to touch the hem of his robe with her fingertips, begging him to protect her, to save her, to believe her.
What she received in return was his Azurefall Sword, piercing straight down through the crown of her head.
Receiving no response, Fang Jixue’s typically impassive face stirred for the first time. The hidden turmoil in his eyes surged violently as he forcibly suppressed the choking pain in his throat.
He raised his hand, wanting to touch her face.
Since their reunion beneath the Demon Suppression Tower, he had been constantly trying to confirm: Was this A Liang real? Who exactly was she? Was it truly her?
Each time, she would tilt her head slightly, gazing at him with a faint smile, just like when she was a child, obediently waiting for the occasional favor bestowed when her Master lowered his gaze.
“A Liang…”
Fang Jixue called her name again, his chest tightening as he took a deep, silent breath. His fingertips trembled slightly, yearning to touch the smooth, cool warmth of his memories.
Yet, at the very last moment, Chu Weiliang gently turned her face away, avoiding his hand, and laughed:
“Who are you?”
Then, her pure smile suddenly sharpened with aggression, like a vengeful spirit crawling out of hell, dazzling yet deadly.
She returned those three words spoken beneath the Demon Suppression Tower to him intact, exactly as they were.
After that, she turned briskly and skipped back to Wen Shubai’s side.
Leaving Fang Jixue’s hand still suspended in mid-air, unsure how to withdraw it.
“Master, I’m here. Let’s go.”
Chu Weiliang familiarly clung to Wen Shubai’s arm. “Master, you’re old and blind—let me support you, alright?”
Wen Shubai: …
Do you have to ruin everyone else’s satisfaction?
“Finished talking with him?” he asked knowingly, irritation in his tone.
“What is there to say? I don’t even know him,” Chu Weiliang muttered.
Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but beneath the roaring waterfall, it clearly reached Fang Jixue’s ears.
He remained silent, his gaze slowly darkening like an abyss as he watched the retreating figures.
First, Chu Weiliang holding onto Wen Shubai’s arm.
Wen Shubai pushing her away in annoyance.
Then her sticking to him again like glue.
Finally, Wen Mian, unable to bear it any longer, squeezed between them, a small hand pulling each of them.
In the end, the three of them, tugging and pulling at each other, disappeared into the morning light without a care for decorum.
Fang Jixue turned back to look in the direction Chi Qianqiu had fled, his gaze filled with hatred, finding no outlet. He shook his neck in a sickly manner.
A Liang, A Liang, A Liang!
Give me back my A Liang!!!
That night, everyone was too restless to sleep much.
Wen Shubai took advantage of the quiet at dawn to rest for an hour or two.
But before long, he was awakened again.
The fish pond in the corner of the courtyard was being noisily disturbed.
Chu Weiliang, with her wooden body, didn’t need much sleep. After lulling Wen Mian to sleep, she found a sword and was there spearing fish.
“Dead fish! Rotten fish! Stinky fish! Next time I see you, I’ll scrape off your scales and burn you to ashes over a fire!”
She never liked fish to begin with, and now, because of Chi Qianqiu, she hated all fish in the world.
Wen Shubai, annoyed by the noise, lazily draped in his moon-white silk sleeping robe, his long hair cascading past his waist and hips, stood with arms crossed, leaning against the vermilion lacquered pillar by the door. The silk gauze covered his eyes as he slightly lowered his head.
Others couldn’t see his eyes, making it hard to guess his emotions.
Disciples often said their grandmaster was unfathomable, but they couldn’t hear what he was cursing in his heart:
How did I not know she was this idle and noisy before?
Did I get the wrong person?
The Chu Weiliang in his memory spoke very little, and when she did, it never strayed far from Fang Jixue.
Her wretched temperament was cold and hard to please, always thinking about killing her husband.
Even the only time she took initiative in intimacy was to deceive him out of his Demonic Glass Soul…
And as for him?
Love? It wasn’t love. What he coveted was merely a Cauldron, a body.
Hate? It wasn’t much hatred either. After all, she had already died once, leaving not even a trace behind.
“With your current cultivation level, you still wouldn’t gain any advantage if you encountered that fish again.”
Chu Weiliang stood in the water, her skirt hitched up, her hair splashed with droplets as she enthusiastically focused on spearing fish, responding casually:
“So, Master should teach me then.”
Wen Shubai: “A mere remnant soul, no matter how much you train, won’t amount to much. You should focus on gathering your scattered souls and find a way to rebuild your physical form – only then can it be considered true rebirth.”
Hurry up and collect more soul fragments so you can remember where the Demonic Glass Soul went!
Chu Weiliang’s hand paused, and she looked up seriously: “I’ve been thinking the same. But back then at the Sin Cleansing Platform, I left myself a backup plan – I sent my dispersed souls away along with nine little demons. Only by finding them can I truly be reborn.”
Wen Shubai was silent for a moment before saying: “I heard… back then, you fell into demonhood in a single moment?”