Chapter 18: Hua Xiangwan's dream

                                       

When "Xie Wushuang" was used in the dream seal, Hua Xiangwan sensed it.

After all, it was hers, and she was far more familiar with these sword cultivators than anyone else.

She had originally planned to seek him out if Xie Wushuang didn't come by himself, but now that he was here, it was perfect timing.

So Hua Xiangwan constructed a dream of the Lantern Festival, waiting for him amid the crowds.

This was a dream scene she particularly enjoyed. She thought that these heart-questioning sword cultivators, having practiced since childhood, must harbor some beautiful yearning for the mortal world. Such a lively scene—he should like it too.

She carried the lantern over. Xie Changji held the disguised heart-questioning sword and looked down at the lantern in Hua Xiangwan's hand.

Hua Xiangwan laughed. "Take it."

Hearing this urging, Xie Changji finally raised his hand and hesitantly accepted the lantern.

"Now that you're here," Hua Xiangwan turned her back to him and walked down the long street, "let's go shopping together."

Xie Changji didn't speak. Hua Xiangwan led him through the crowded road.

In truth, he should give her the sword directly, test it—yes or no—and end this dream.

But looking at the woman's back, he couldn't bring himself to speak. He simply held the lamp and silently followed her.

Her dreams were very lively—all sorts of juggling acts and poetry contests. Hua Xiangwan walked and watched all the way. Eventually, they arrived at a small river.

She sat on a stone pier, gazed at the long street of lanterns across the way, and asked gently, "Xie Daojun fell into my dream. There must be a reason?"

Xie Changji didn't answer. He didn't want to respond too quickly.

Hua Xiangwan saw his silence and thought for a moment. "Could it be that you're here to say goodbye to me?"

The other party didn't echo.

Hua Xiangwan sighed. "Yes, when I marry Shen Xiuwen and return to the West, you and I will probably not see each other again. I said before that I would help you stabilize your mind with the Qingxin Bell, but you didn't want it, and now you don't have a chance."

Saying that, Hua Xiangwan felt a little worried. "But does your master know about your enchantment?"

Hearing Hua Xiangwan mention this, Xie Changji finally looked sideways. When Hua Xiangwan saw his calm expression, she nodded. "He shouldn't know. If he knew, he wouldn't ignore you......"

"He can't control it."

"Xie Wushuang" finally spoke. His tone was very light. Hua Xiangwan chuckled. "And what else can Qingheng Shangjun not control?"

Xie Changji didn't respond. Hua Xiangwan realized these words seemed a bit sharp and was about to apologize when she heard him speak. "He is also a human being."

"Ask the heart sword to cultivate to the great perfection of the tribulation," Hua Xiangwan turned her head to look at the river, with a touch of sigh. "He is not a person, he is the way of heaven."

"No one," Xie Changji was extremely stubborn in this matter, "can become the way of heaven."

The two fell silent. Hua Xiangwan smiled. "Yes, you should be more familiar with your master than me. Anyway, I haven't seen him, only heard of him."

"Haven't seen him," Xie Changji repeated, looking at her calmly. "Have you really never seen him?"

"Should I have seen him?"

Hua Xiangwan asked in return. Xie Changji was silent. Hua Xiangwan thought for a while. "Should I still have a lot of things I don't remember?"

When Xie Changji heard her ask, he understood that she knew what he meant.

He looked into her eyes and asked again, "You really don't know how to use a sword?"

Hua Xiangwan smiled. She stretched out her hand and said gently, "Daojun, can you lend me the sword?"

Xie Changji didn't speak. Hua Xiangwan took his silence as consent, reached out, and grasped the hilt of the long sword.

Just as Hua Xiangwan was about to draw her sword, Xie Changji suddenly pressed down on the blade with the lantern, stopping her from drawing it.

Xie Changji's hand trembled slightly. Hua Xiangwan raised her eyes. "Xie Daojun?"

There should be a result.

Xie Changji understood this. He struggled to raise his head and look into Hua Xiangwan's eyes. It took a long time before he let go of the hand that had been holding the blade under her questioning gaze.

Hua Xiangwan held the hilt of the sword and pulled hard.

The sword didn't move. She was stunned and looked up in confusion. "This is your natal sword?"

A sword cultivator's natal sword can only be drawn by themselves and the Dao companion with whom they've made a blood contract.

Xie Wushuang hadn't been holding this one before—she hadn't expected this to be his natal sword!

Xie Changji made no sound. He quietly watched Hua Xiangwan's hand on the hilt of the sword.

Hua Xiangwan felt embarrassed for a moment. She cursed softly and let go of the hilt, apologizing. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to bring your natal sword into the dream. I just wanted to show you—I can't use a sword."

Xie Changji didn't respond. He stared blankly at the sword hilt that Hua Xiangwan had held, trying to understand her words.

He looked up with difficulty and saw Hua Xiangwan stand up, pick up a stick that had fallen to the ground nearby, and flourish it like a sword in her hand.

The sword flower was quite pretty, but any sword learner could see that this sword style was clumsy. There was no strength in how she held the sword—it was completely just for show.

"When I was young, I also wanted to learn swordsmanship from my master, but I had no talent for kendo, so I only learned an empty shell. Later my hand was injured, and I gave up completely. You have always been stubborn that I can use a sword," Hua Xiangwan raised her eyes and laughed lightly, her eyes full of understanding. "It's because I'm like the girl who made you enchanted, right?"

Hearing this, "Xie Wushuang" finally reacted. He stared at Hua Xiangwan. Looking at his expression, Hua Xiangwan guessed, "She is also a person from Hehuan Palace? With a sword? She came to Yunlai back then and saw your master? Made a blood pact with you? And then abandoned you?"

Xie Changji didn't speak. Hua Xiangwan sighed and then figured out the situation.

This was also common in Hehuan Palace, but she hadn't expected that one day her own people would get into Xie Changji's apprentice's head.

She felt a bit of a headache, but as an elder, she still decided to persuade Xie Wushuang.

"I used the Heart Seal on you, which will quietly make people feel good about the spellcaster and transfer their past feelings for another person to the spellcaster. You look at me as if you were looking at her, finding clues in me and evidence that you like me."

Saying that, Hua Xiangwan felt a little apologetic. "I thought you knew long ago, but now it seems you're probably still affected by this seal. But you also saw it," Hua Xiangwan glanced at his sword, "I can't pull out your sword. I'm not the person you're looking for. As for that person......"

Hua Xiangwan hesitated and tentatively persuaded, "Since she is gone, you don't have to stay where you are. Asking the sword of the heart seeks the way of heaven—there should not be romantic entanglements. Just forget her."

"Can you forget?"

Xie Changji spoke abruptly. Hua Xiangwan didn't understand for a moment and looked up at Xie Changji. "If you sincerely like someone and promised to like them for the rest of your life, can you forget?"

Hearing this, Hua Xiangwan smiled.

"Of course I can forget."

Hua Xiangwan said freely and threw the stick into the river. "I once liked someone—liked him so much that I lost my life for him. But more than two hundred years have passed, and if I don't deliberately think of him, I don't remember him."

Hua Xiangwan turned her head to look at the lights on the other side, her tone gentle. "People will change. Back then I liked people like you—cold immortals. Now I like Shen Daojun, who is petty and gentle. If you can live a few more years, you can see through it. No one will like anyone for a lifetime. Since she abandoned you......"

"She didn't abandon me, and she won't forget me." Xie Changji suddenly spoke, interrupting Hua Xiangwan.

Hua Xiangwan was stunned for a moment. She turned her head to look at "Xie Wushuang" and saw him looking at the river, his tone very light. "She just went to the realm of rebirth."

"She said she would like me for the rest of her life." The white silk covering Xie Changji's eyes floated in the wind, and his voice was full of conviction. "It's different from you."

She said that as long as she lived, she would like Xie Changji.

She was not Wanwan. It was the enchantment that fascinated his mind—it was he who was too eager for her to come back to life and disturbed his own judgment.

Xie Changji put away the confusion in his heart. He didn't want to stay for another moment. He looked at Hua Xiangwan's surprised eyes, leaned over slightly, placed the lantern on the stone pier beside him, and said in a low voice, "I wish Young Master Hua and Shen Daojun love each other and grow old together. It's dawn," he straightened up, his tone very light. "It's time to wake up from the dream."

Saying that, Xie Changji turned around with his sword. Before him stretched a long road with no end—a dark place.

Hua Xiangwan was stunned on the stone pier for a moment. Then she realized what she had to do. She stood up and shouted, "Xie Daojun!"

Xie Changji paused and turned around. He saw Hua Xiangwan stand up. "I'll give you something."

Hua Xiangwan said, forming a seal with her hands. With a flip of her wrist, blue butterflies appeared out of thin air.

Xie Changji's eyes fell on these blue butterflies. Hua Xiangwan raised her hand and drew a circle, then lifted a glass lamp.

These blue butterflies flew into the glass lamp, like fireflies.

She stretched out her hand to him and handed him the butterflies. "This is called the dream butterfly. When you miss your deceased sweetheart in the future, you can touch it, and it will let you see the person you want to see the most."

Xie Changji didn't speak. He stared quietly at these dream butterflies.

Hua Xiangwan handed the lamp of dream butterflies to "Xie Wushuang." The two held the long pole of the glass lamp together. While he was stunned, she spoke, pouring spiritual power into her voice, casting a spell. "Xie Wushuang."

She called his name—the first step in casting the spell was to identify the target.

Hearing her call, the other party's expression became dazed. He looked up blankly. Hua Xiangwan held the lantern of the dream butterfly with him. The surrounding dreams became unstable because of her spiritual power. She spoke, and her words carried truth.

"You don't remember what happened in the Spirit Illusion Realm."

Xie Changji looked blankly at Hua Xiangwan. The surrounding dream collapsed. He watched the woman in front of him cast a spell, listened to her infuse spiritual power into each word, and clearly tell him, "You don't remember Yaoguang. You don't remember the late immortal master. You don't remember Taoyao. You don't remember the river god."

"You won't remember everything in the Spirit Illusion Realm."

The moment the sound fell, the dream beneath Xie Changji's feet suddenly shattered.

Xie Changji grabbed the lantern containing the dream butterfly and fell into the void. He watched her stand on a high place in a daze, looking at him calmly.

And Hua Xiangwan looked at the falling "Xie Wushuang" and breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

Resolve the last hidden danger, get married tomorrow, and she could return to the West with Shen Xiuwen and "that thing" with peace of mind.

Thinking of those people in the West, Hua Xiangwan slowly opened her eyes on the bed, a cold look in her eyes.

She raised her hand on the bed. A thin blade appeared on her fingertips, and she deftly flipped the cold blade with her fingertips to exercise the stitched meridians under her skin.

After just a moment of flipping, she lost her grip. The blade slashed through her fingertips, and blood dripped down her face.

Smelling the strange and familiar scent of blood on the side of her face, Hua Xiangwan's eyes darkened.

Wait until she returned to the West......

Sooner or later, she would get everything that belonged to her back.

"Young master," she thought, and Lingnan's happy call came from outside the door. "The wedding dress and phoenix crown are all made. Get up and try them on quickly."

Hearing this voice, Hua Xiangwan's fingertip wound healed instantly. She supported herself to get up and raised a smile. "Okay, I'll do it now."

---

After the dream shattered, the wind and snow suddenly increased in the realm of life and death.

Xie Changji opened his eyes suddenly, his breath slightly chaotic.

Lingxuzi hurriedly stepped forward and said anxiously, "How is it? Can she pull out the sword of questioning?"

Xie Changji didn't speak. He stared blankly at the ground.

Ling Xuzi frowned. "You talk! What's wrong with you?"

"She......" Xie Changji turned his head blankly and looked at Ling Xuzi in a daze. "She wants to change my memory."

Lingxuzi was also stunned for a moment. Then he realized something was wrong and hurriedly said, "Tell me what happened in the Spirit Illusion Realm again."

Xie Changji intuitively felt that something was wrong. He tried his best to recall everything in the Spirit Illusion Realm and spoke. "I fell into the Illusion Realm with her, and I recognized it when I entered. This is a memory constructed based on my memory. I saved Yaoguang with Wanwan back then......"

"Impossible," Ling Xuzi interrupted him, frowning. "This can't be your memory."

Xie Changji was stunned. Ling Xuzi raised his eyes to look at him. "Because you are unstable in spirit, I was worried that you would mistakenly enter the realm of misfortune, so I used a secret technique with the leader to cover your soul. When you enter the realm of misfortune, it can only spy on the memory of Wushuang, not yours, so that you can ensure that the realm has no effect on you. Didn't you notice?"

Ling Xuzi turned his head to look at him, quite strange. "Did you think that was your memory?"

"That......" Xie Changji restrained his emotions and asked cautiously. "How can I confirm whether the Spirit Illusion Realm was an illusion built based on Hua Xiangwan's memory or a memory of Wushuang?"

"Look at the identity." Kunxuzi answered seriously. "If the source of memory that constructs this secret realm is Hua Xiangwan, as soon as she enters the illusion, she will have the identity in her memory. If you enter her memory as Xie Wushuang, you are an outsider. Of course, if the source of memory is frost-free, then the situation is exactly the opposite."

Xie Changji was speechless. In an instant, everything in the Spirit Illusion Realm surged over.

After entering the secret realm, Yao Jinqiu first found Hua Xiangwan and called her "Evening Immortal Master." He was like an outsider, introduced to Yao Jinqiu by Hua Xiangwan, and Yao Jinqiu didn't know him at all.

Throughout the whole process, Yao Jinqiu was talking to Hua Xiangwan, and everything in the secret realm revolved around Hua Xiangwan.

It was not the secret realm built by his memory, nor was it Xie Wushuang's......

Xie Changji's heart beat fast. He clearly realized an almost impossible thing—

The secret realm he thought belonged to him, the memory of his encounter with Wanwan, was not his at all!

It was Hua Xiangwan's......

It was Hua Xiangwan's!

So she held the Qingxin Bell but was deeply trapped in the distress situation and couldn't extricate herself, yet he was able to calmly withdraw even though he was clearly mentally lost.

Because Hua Xiangwan was the person targeted by the disaster situation. All the memories came from Hua Xiangwan.

The moment he realized this, his breath became rapid.

If what has been said or done could be a coincidence;

If the taste was also a coincidence;

If her posture with the sword was also a coincidence;

Could that memory also be a coincidence owned by another person?

But if it was her, if she was really alive, then why couldn't she pull out the sword of questioning? Why couldn't he sense the soul lock lamp?

Why hadn't she appeared for two hundred years, leaving him alone in the realm of life and death?

The green pine had become a mountain full of peach blossoms. There were no demons in the world of life and death. She said she would like him for the rest of her life. Why didn't she come back?

Now that she was back, she was finally back—why didn't she say it?

She was in a predicament. Obviously, she needed a strong person to follow her back to the West. She knew that the first person in Yunlai, Qingheng Daojun, was him—Xie Changji. Why would she rather marry a Yuanying cultivator like Shen Xiuwen and refuse to say a word—that she had come back?

The scene of her holding a broken flag in her hand with the ground covered in blood flashed in his mind;

He thought of the mocking tone of the monks in the Western Realm;

He thought of the branch she danced with difficulty in the dream just now;

He remembered that many years ago, a disciple reported to him: "Shangjun, the western border defense is broken. One hundred thousand magical beasts have entered the country, besieging Hehuan Palace. Young Master Hua Xiangwan has led her disciples to guard the palace gate for a month. Her golden elixir is shattered, the sword is broken, and the flag is broken before reinforcements arrived. The elite of Hehuan Palace were almost wiped out in this battle, and other sects are eyeing it. Should the Heavenly Sword Sect need to ask?"

At that time, he had responded indifferently: "The reinforcements from the western border have arrived. The follow-up is all infighting, which has nothing to do with us, so there is no need to ask."

He was breathing rapidly, feeling something hit his heart.

She lost her teacher and friends. Her golden elixir was half shattered, and she was bullied by a group of young people. She had to go thousands of miles to ask others in a low voice.

But even at this time, she refused to have the slightest contact with him. She refused to admit that she was the person she was back then.

She said she never used a sword. She said she had never been to Yunlai. She lied to him that everything was because of the bewitching heart. She even planned to marry the rest of his disciples, coaxing him to say: "I wish Young Master Hua and Shen Daojun love and grow old together"......

She said she had forgotten, that she had liked many people, that she no longer liked him......

How could it be her?

How could it be her?

His breathing gradually became rapid. Because of the severe pain in his chest, he couldn't help but hunch slightly. Kun Xuzi next to him sensed something was wrong and supported him. "Changji, what's wrong?!"

"Uncle...... Do me a favor."

"What?"

Kun Xuzi didn't understand what else he had to do in this situation.

Xie Changji didn't speak. He seemed to have nothing to worry about. He couldn't see anything, his expression was scattered, and he said hoarsely, "Who else is left in the sect in Hehuan Palace?"

"Lingbei," Kun Xuzi was dazed. "What's wrong?"

"I want to see him."

He grabbed Kun Xuzi and raised his head. There was a little prayer in his red eyes. "Uncle, let me see him."

---

The night was a little cold. The dark clouds gathered high, and it seemed there would be a light rain.

But this did not affect Lingbei's interest. After he and Jiang Yiran discussed the details of tomorrow's wedding, he was happily walking to the guest house.

Halfway there, he heard a call. "Ling Left Envoy?"

When Lingbei heard this, he turned around and saw Kun Xuzi standing not far away, holding a duster in his hand, looking at him with a smile.

Ling Bei was stunned, then quickly saluted. "Elder Kun."

"Pardon the disturbance, Ling Left Envoy," Kun Xuzi smiled and came out of the shadows. "I have something to do—I want to ask you for a favor."

Hearing this, Ling Bei's heart turned.

Kun Xuzi and he had a huge disparity in status. What matter would make him go beyond Hua Xiangwan to find him directly?

He hesitated and spoke. "I don't know what Elder Kun needs the junior to do?"

"It's not a big deal. It's just that we will have a wedding tomorrow, and the sect wants to get to know Young Master Hua again. I want to invite Ling Left Envoy to chat."

"That's it." Ling Bei's heart was cold, and he smiled. "Then the junior will report to the young master. After all, it is related to the young master......"

"A small thing." Before he finished speaking, Kun Xuzi raised his hand and placed it on Ling Bei's shoulder. Ling Bei instantly felt that his whole body could not move. He froze in place, listening to Ling Xuzi speak kindly. "No need to trouble Young Master Hua."

Saying that, Kun Xuzi jumped up and down with Lingbei. After a while, he arrived at a room, opened the door and threw Lingbei in.

"Answer whatever you're asked," Kun Xuzi smiled. "Don't be nervous."

Lingbei rolled to the ground. After a while, he felt that his body was soft and he could move again.

He propped himself up and glanced around.

This was an extremely ordinary guest room. There was a screen in the middle, the lights behind the screen were bright, the doors and windows next to it were closed, and there were barriers around it.

He stood up, trying to find a way out, but as soon as he moved, he heard a voice.

He turned his head and saw a figure appear on the screen—tall and thin, wearing a jade crown, slowly walking towards the middle of the screen.

As he entered the house, the coercion was overwhelming. Ling Bei's body was not controlled at all, and he knelt down with a "plop."

This was the absolute conquest of the strong against the weak. Lingbei was already above the primordial infancy stage. To reach this point with coercion alone, it must be transformation into a god...... No! At least survive the calamity! At least you have to overcome the tribulation to do it!

How many strong people could there be in this world at this level?

Ling Bei knelt on the ground, sweating profusely.

The other party slowly sat down and stared at him through the screen.

"Junior...... The younger generation Lingbei...... Seen...... I have seen senior......"

Ling Bei said with extreme difficulty. After opening his mouth, he began to slowly adapt to this level of coercion.

The other party didn't speak. He seemed to be thinking about something.

Ling Bei didn't dare to make a sound, kneeling on the ground desperately thinking about the other party's intentions.

In the stalemate between the two, a blue butterfly flew through the screen, flew over, and stopped in front of Lingbei's eyes.

"This is a spell unique to your Hehuan Palace?"

The other party made a sound. Ling Bei was a little unsure of the other party's intentions and said in a trembling voice, "Yes."

"Every disciple will use this technique?"

Lingbei didn't dare to make a sound, thinking about how to lie.

But before he could speak, he heard the other party warn, "I know the answers to some questions. If you lie, I will search your soul directly."

These words made Ling Bei's face sink. The person behind the screen added, "I just want to know something that won't hurt the people of Hehuan Palace."

Ling Bei didn't speak. He gritted his teeth and changed his expression a few times. The person behind the screen seemed to lose patience and spoke calmly. "Speak."

The moment the sound fell, coercion came down. Ling Bei felt as if there was a mountain pressing on his neck. He couldn't support it. He staggered, quickly supported his body with his hands, and hurriedly said, "This is a secret technique. Only the palace master and the young palace master know this technique."

Hearing this, the people behind the screen were silent. Ling Bei felt apprehensive, trying to restrain his slightly chaotic breathing.

After a long time, the other party spoke again. His tone could not be read for joy or anger.

"How old are you?"

"More than two hundred and thirty."

"How long have you been in Hehuan Palace?"

"From birth to the present."

"Can Hua Xiangwan leave the Western Border?"

"I've never heard of it."

"In the first year of the Shangqing Dynasty, where was Hua Xiangwan?"

"I...... I don't know."

"What do you mean by not knowing?"

"At that time, the young master was wandering around......"

"When did she return to Hehuan Palace?"

"Half a month before the siege of Hehuan Palace......"

"The third year of the Shangqing Dynasty, November."

The other party determined the date.

Ling Bei was suspicious. This news wasn't important—he didn't understand what the other party was asking about.

After the other party muttered this time, it became quiet.

In the first year of the Shangqing Dynasty, he appeared in Yunlai in the evening.

In mid-October of the third year of the Shangqing Dynasty, the realm of life and death was broken, and the spirit was sealed with death in the evening.

In November, Hua Xiangwan returned to Hehuan Palace.

In mid-November, the Hehuan Palace was besieged. It took a month to hold out before receiving reinforcements.

The person behind the screen seemed to be controlling his emotions. After a while, he spoke again. "The soul lock lamp is something from Hehuan Palace?"

"Yes......"

"For Hua Xiangwan?"

Ling Bei did not dare to answer this question, but when the other party saw his silence, he affirmed, "All for Hua Xiangwan."

"This senior," Ling Bei heard this and probably understood what the other party was here for. He raised his head, quite excited. "The soul lock lamp is indeed owned by my young master, but now my young master can no longer control the soul lock lamp. If you are thinking of unlocking the spirit, you don't need to ask more."

"Why can't she control it?"

"Because," Ling Bei took a deep breath, "the young master's blood is no longer her own. The spiritual weapon is connected to the master's bloodline. The young master is not even her own—how can we talk about control?"

"Her blood......" The voice of the person behind the screen trembled a little. "Why is it not her own?"

"Hehuan Palace was besieged by the Warcraft back then," Lingbei broke the jar and said it with difficulty. "The young master not only broke half of her golden elixir and shattered her meridians but also was hit with hundreds of poisons. In order to save her life, she could only go to the blood pool to change her blood, once every ten years, and so on for two hundred years. Now...... Except for the essence and blood in her heart, there is not a drop of blood on her body that is her own."

"So," the man behind the screen had a hoarse voice, "she can't hold the sword anymore."

"Yes."

Lingbei's eyes were slightly red. "My young master was extremely talented back then. She had a bright future in swordsmanship and was one of the top sword cultivators in the Western Realm. After the first war in the third year of the Shangqing Dynasty, the young master's meridians spent ten years repairing and suturing. She couldn't even hold chopsticks at the beginning. Later she became a law cultivator, saying there was nothing to be unwilling about, but I saw the young master trying to practice swordsmanship in the backyard several times. Her hand holding the sword kept shaking—she couldn't do it at all."

"What about the natal sword?"

If the natal sword was there, even if she couldn't hold the sword, it would be better.

"The blood in her body has changed," Ling Bei suppressed his emotions. "The spiritual weapon does not recognize her, and the natal sword naturally does not recognize it."

A person even her own natal sword doesn't know......

Not to mention him?

Xie Changji sat behind the screen and closed his eyes gently.

"Then these two hundred years......" he said tiredly. "She never thought to come to the Heavenly Sword Sect to ask for help?"

"Senior joked," Lingbei smiled bitterly. "Hehuan Palace and the Heavenly Sword Sect are not relatives. Why would they help? If it weren't for the desperate situation this time, Hehuan Palace would not have rashly visited the Heavenly Sword Sect."

Not relatives and friends......

Hearing this, Xie Changji couldn't help but want to laugh.

Marriage, double cultivation, life and death promises—in the end, it was just "not relatives"?

After Ling Bei said this, he knew he had made a mistake. He knelt on the ground, waited for a while, and knelt respectfully. "Senior, the soul lock lamp really has nothing to do with my young master. If the senior is here for the spirit, please raise your hand and let go of my young master."

The person behind the screen did not speak.

It took a long time for him to speak. "I'm not here for the spirit."

Ling Bei looked up in a daze and saw him stand up and walk out. "I'm for her."

Saying that, he walked out slowly, just like when he came.

This time, Lingbei finally saw clearly that this person actually walked out directly through the wall.

Spirit!

Ling Bei finally reacted. The person behind the screen was not here in person at all. The other party just sent a spirit body, and the coercion could be so powerful!

This was not just a tribulation? He was afraid that it was already close to the way of heaven—only the ability to cross the tribulation to perfection!

And how many people were there in this world at this level?

Isn't there only one......

Ling Bei looked at the place where the other party left in a daze, and a name came to mind.

Xie Changji.

"Lingbei, you don't have to remember what happened tonight."

The other party spoke, and every word turned into a rune and floated into the room, directly into Ling Bei's mind.

Ling Bei's mind was instantly empty. He closed his eyes and fell directly to the side.

And the young man walked out of the room and stood on the corridor.

Kun Xuzi next to him saw him coming out and hurriedly greeted him.

"After asking, go back quickly. It is easy for something to happen in the realm of life and death in this situation. Even if you are a spiritual body, without the formation of the realm of death and life, your mind is easy to get lost."

"I'm still going to find her."

Xie Changji's voice was very low. He turned around and walked towards the corridor.

Kun Xuzi was stunned and chased after him. "Who are you looking for? Hua Xiangwan? She is now at the foot of the mountain, and your spiritual body can't go so far!"

Xie Changji did not reply and went straight forward. Kun Xuzi rushed to the front, raised his hand and used the magic circle to stop him. "Changji, what the hell are you doing?! Are you crazy?!"

"Uncle, send me to the Lingbei guest room and wait for me in the realm of life and death."

Xie Changji didn't listen to his advice. He lowered his head and walked out of the corridor.

It was raining continuously. He walked in the rain, his voice very low. He didn't know if he was telling it to himself or someone else.

"Since it's really her, since she's alive, then I—"

"I have to get a result."

Next

Historical Notes:

Sword Cultivation (剑修): In xianxia literature, sword cultivators are practitioners who specialize in the sword path. Their natal sword is spiritually bonded to them and can only be wielded by themselves or their Dao companion (cultivation partner with whom they've made a blood contract).

Heart-Questioning Sword (问心剑): A cultivation path that requires the practitioner to question their own heart and maintain absolute clarity of mind. Romantic entanglements are typically considered obstacles to achieving the highest levels of this path, which aims for unity with the Heavenly Dao.

Golden Elixir (金丹): A crucial stage in cultivation representing the condensation of spiritual energy within the cultivator's body. A shattered golden elixir represents catastrophic damage to one's cultivation foundation.

Cultivation Stages Mentioned:

• Yuanying (元婴): Nascent Soul stage
• Transformation into God (化神): Deity Transformation stage
• Tribulation Crossing (渡劫): The highest mortal stage before ascending
• Great Perfection (大圆满): The pinnacle of a cultivation stage

Blood Pool: A dangerous method of replacing one's blood, typically used as a last resort to save someone's life after severe poisoning or injury. However, it comes with severe consequences, including the loss of connection to one's spiritual weapons.

Dream Butterflies: A unique spell from Hehuan Palace that can create illusions of people the viewer wishes to see, used both as a gift and as a manipulation tool.

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