Volume 5: The Life of the River's Breath, Chapter 126
Her heart jolted. Could such a resurrection truly exist in this world?
Perhaps seeing the doubt in her eyes, the master of the sanctuary spoke. “Have you taken a liking to this one, honored guest?”
Who exactly were these people, that they could so casually barter life and death? To bring the dead back to life was to defy the laws of Heaven. Were they not afraid of heavenly retribution?
Jin Li pondered for a moment before asking, “Can someone whose soul has been completely scattered also be resurrected?”
The woman covered her mouth and laughed. “As long as you wish it, there is nothing we cannot do.”
Was that truly so? If she wished it, could it really be done?
Everything here was far too strange. Whether it was the demonfolk who lived here or the dealings conducted within this place, all of it was impossibly complicated.
“An ancient god once came here. I want to know what she bought.”
What had Tushan Yan purchased?
Within the Kunlun Mirror, Jin Li had seen Tushan Yan come to this Rebirth Sanctuary, but she could not see what transaction had taken place.
The woman’s expression paused for an instant, then blossomed into a broad smile. “So you came to inquire about one of our guests? Then you will have to offer a little more. You understand, the information of our guests is confidential and cannot be disclosed so easily.”
“What do you want?”
The woman propped up her chin delicately. A hint of allure gleamed in her eyes behind the mask. “Your cultivation.”
“How much?”
“Half.”
She curved her lips into a smile, her seductive gaze roaming over the veiled young woman before her. Then she continued, “But since fate has brought us together, I can give you a gift as well. How does that sound?”
She leaned close to the girl. Catching the faint scent of lotus on her, she instinctively held her breath, then smiled. “What a lovely fragrance. Are you from Lotus River?”
“No.” Jin Li denied it calmly.
The woman did not appear surprised. She returned to her seat, leaned back, and crossed her long legs. Her voice carried a bewitching undertone. “Well? Have you reached a decision?”
The girl’s slender fingers came to a sudden halt. She lifted her eyes. “Very well. It is a deal.”
Upon hearing this, the woman’s face lit up with delight. She rose and clapped her hands once more. The two child attendants emerged again, and a bright gleam flashed beneath the woman’s mask.
“A transaction has arrived.”
Through the thin veil, Jin Li looked at her. “The transaction is complete. The gift I want is the art of resurrection.”
The woman’s expression filled with surprise. She had clearly not expected the girl to ask for that. Her smile stiffened for a moment.
“Since our meeting is ordained by fate, I shall consider this a gesture of friendship.”
After the exchange of cultivation, Jin Li felt her body grow heavier by the moment. Even the strength in her hands had diminished considerably.
She drew a deep breath. The instant she stepped outside, she saw the woman leaning against the crimson railing, a smoke pipe in her hand. Beneath the lamplight, her long hair fell like a waterfall, while pale smoke drifted slowly from her thin lips. The golden mask made her look devastatingly demonic, like a ravenous fiend. She was especially skilled at ensnaring the soul.
The mingled scents of tobacco and burning incense reached Jin Li’s nose, making her cough repeatedly. So this was what it felt like to lose half one’s cultivation.
When the master of the sanctuary saw Jin Li, she casually drew the smoke pipe back with one hand, and it vanished.
She smiled. “You may not be accustomed to having lost your cultivation just yet.”
Then she spread her palm, and a scroll appeared within it. Runes sealed its surface. Without the incantation, the seal could not be opened. She continued, “The incantation is written upon it. Inside is the record of the transaction made by the Jade-Cen Emperor.”
With a playful expression, she clapped her hands. The child attendant brought out another brocade box, also locked with runes.
“This is the art of resurrection you seek.”
Jin Li swept out her sleeve and accepted it. Then she said in a low voice, “I hope today’s matter ends here. In the future, I do not wish to hear that you have any information about me.”
The woman leaned toward her. She was slightly taller than Jin Li, and as she drew close, Jin Li caught the scent of water-pipe smoke. Her brows knit faintly.
This woman was utterly different from the gentle figure she had shown moments before, as though she had become someone else entirely. Her red lips parted, and she murmured provocatively beside Jin Li’s ear, “What shall I do? I was beginning to like you.”
Jin Li stepped back, widening the distance between them. The woman noticed, yet showed no embarrassment. Instead, she returned to her graceful, gentle manner and smiled softly.
“That is how my Rebirth Sanctuary conducts its affairs. I will never disappoint you.”
Jin Li nodded. “Thank you.”
Just as she was about to leave, she turned back once more and gave the woman a long, penetrating look before departing.
The woman turned around, bracing both hands against the crimson railing as she watched the plain-robed woman’s retreating figure. Her red lips curved into a smile.
“Whether you escape or not, it is still a calamity.”
She conjured the smoke pipe again, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled. Then she raised a hand and touched her cold mask, letting out a muted laugh.
“Tushan Yan, someone must repay all that you have done.”
Her eyes darkened. She turned her head toward the figure emerging from behind the screen.
“What is this? A distinguished guest has arrived, yet you did not send word beforehand?”
“Shopkeeper Tushan, I trust you have been well.”
Yousu Wen wore a smile pure and harmless as snow, but her eyes were utterly cold.
After leaving the Illusory Dust, Jin Li came alone to Illusory River. With half her cultivation gone, her strength was steadily failing. She found a stone and sat down to rest, gazing at the boundless river before her, its surface calm and undisturbed.
Then she looked down at her palm. The lifeline there had shortened by half once again.
Yet her heart did not stir greatly. She merely thought that she truly had very little time left.
She opened her palm and conjured the scroll she had just obtained. Studying the runes upon it, she pressed two fingers together and recited the incantation. As the scroll loosened, the seal opened. She slowly unfolded it and began to read.
But the farther she read, the more horrified she became.
The case in which the Sea God had been falsely accused was connected to the Tushan clan.
The massacre of the merfolk in the Southern Sea was also related to her father.
When the two Emperors fell, Tushan Yan had once exchanged half her cultivation for the World-Destroying Lotus.
The World-Destroying Lotus...
The World-Destroying Lotus...
The World-Destroying Lotus that had appeared in Mountain-Banner City that night...
The World-Destroying Lotus should have been in Tushan Yan’s hands. Why, then, had it appeared in the hands of those men in black?
At that moment, Jin Li felt as though she could no longer hear any sound from the outside world.
A buzzing filled her ears.
The blood throughout her body seemed to freeze. Her eyes burned with dryness, and her hand began to tremble uncontrollably. The scroll slipped from her fingers and dissolved into wisps of cloud.
Tushan Yan had ties to the demonfolk.
Did the divine race know?
Then Tushan Yan’s death had not been caused by someone else at all. She had suffered the backlash of betraying the divine race?
Jin Li felt utterly powerless.
Powerless to change reality.
The mother she had always trusted and worshiped had actually colluded with the demonfolk...
Consumed by fury, she swung her hand and struck the tree beside her with tremendous force. Leaves scattered in every direction. With a sharp crack, the enormous tree toppled to the ground.
Her eyes were bloodshot. Her chest heaved violently with rage.
Perhaps because she had lost control, her gaze gradually darkened, and demonic energy began to devour her from within.
Suddenly, she fell to her knees and collapsed into the dirt. Her vision slowly blurred.
When Geng Yuan awoke once more, he thought he had already died. Yet when he saw the familiar window lattice and the green pine beyond it, his heart held no great emotion. Instead, he felt a trace of bitter self-mockery.
Why had he not died?
He had disappointed that person again. Once more, he had failed to die.
He moved faintly, trying to rise, but the wounds in his abdomen and chest pulled at his entire body. The pain nearly sent him into unconsciousness.
Both his hands were icy cold, the veins standing out sharply. He gripped the bedding tightly and gritted his teeth as he struggled to roll from the bed.
Such a simple act as sitting up had become unbearably difficult.
He fell to the floor and knocked over the candle stand beside him. The loud crash brought someone rushing in from outside.
“Junior Brother!”
Huai Xiu hurriedly set down what he was carrying and ran over to help the young man up.
The youth wore a spotless white inner robe. As Huai Xiu pulled him up, the loosely fastened collar came undone, revealing a broad, muscular chest. His black hair fell around his face, lending him a delicate, almost fragile beauty. His skin was pale, and with pain twisting through him, the veins at his brow stood out sharply. Cold sweat covered his forehead, while his crimson lips had turned frighteningly white.
The moment Huai Xiu touched him, the youth, eyes blood-red, shoved him away with all his strength and snarled in a low voice, “Get away!”
Why? Why had they brought him back?
Why force him to go on living like this, barely clinging to life?
Why?
Who did this person think he was? He was not that useless Huai Gui.
He was Geng Yuan.
He was Geng Zibie.
Geng Zibie, the man Jin Li hated to the bone.
His eyes were bloodshot, his expression twisted with violence. Blood seeped from the wound in his abdomen once more. He leaned heavily against the bed, his upper body bare and his legs limp. His hair was disordered, damp with sweat and tangled across his brow. Beneath it, his gaze was terrifyingly dark.
The man before them was arrogant, sinister, and dangerously fragile.
Huai Xiu had never seen his junior brother like this, and his heart trembled. It seemed that if he approached again, the youth might bite through his throat.
He was truly frightening.
Frightening enough to make Huai Xiu uneasy.
Even so, he carefully said, “Huai Gui, it is me. I am your senior brother.”
Unexpectedly, the youth’s face darkened further. In a deep voice, he said, “My name is not Huai Gui.”
Everything was over.
Huai Gui’s dream had ended long ago. Why should he continue to be called by that ridiculous name?
How laughable. Once, he had believed that so long as he seized real authority, she would remain by his side, and he would finally be worthy of standing beside her.
But what had happened?
She had driven a blade of fate-cutting straight into his heart.
After living once again, he had believed that if he followed the righteous path, did good deeds, saved the living world, and carried out the very things she had always done, perhaps things would change.
But what had happened?
She had still stabbed him, nearly taking his life.
Since she wanted his life so badly, then he would give it to her.
But why?
Why had he not died?
Why had they forced him to wake?
His heart was filled with boundless desolation and sorrow.
He had given her his entire heart, yet she had never wanted it. She had even trampled it into the dust, crushing it again and again beneath her feet.
His love meant so little to her.
Then why the hell should he continue worrying about her feelings?
The time had come. Those who deserved to be killed should be killed. The revenge he was owed should finally be paid in full.
His gaze slowly settled upon Huai Xiu before him.