Qin Jianglan wore black robes. He was in a wasteland, surrounded by endless yellow sand with almost no living creatures.
He thought that without living creatures, there wouldn’t be so many lives that needed to consume his life force.
Qin Jianglan’s cultivation had now reached the late Nascent Soul stage. The realm that had taken over a thousand years to cross before was now shortened to ten years. Many doubts remained unsolved. He was constantly vigilant, cultivating while continuously recalling past events and recording what happened in his previous life on jade slips, bamboo slips, white paper…
But he discovered that many things were still gradually being forgotten, and the writing recorded on jade slips, bamboo slips, and white paper would also disappear together. As if nothing had ever been written on them…
How did he come to know Su Zhuyi?
He had forgotten.
But he hadn’t forgotten – he loved her.
The renewed stirring of the Zhuxin Curse filled him with anxious unease. He had to leave here. He must leave here as soon as possible. He wanted to go to her side. He feared she would be hurt, and he feared forgetting even more. Each time he activated Tianya, Qin Jianglan’s divine sense was greatly consumed. He feared that the loss of divine sense would accelerate his forgetting, so he hadn’t attempted to make contact after his divine sense recovered previously. But now, with the Zhuxin Curse stirring again, he truly couldn’t bear it anymore.
“Soon.” Qin Jianglan answered.
Su Zhuyi held the jade disc while lying face down on the bed. It hadn’t hurt before, but now, hearing Qin Jianglan’s voice, she suddenly felt her back burning with pain, making her softly groan.
Qin Jianglan’s voice immediately came from the other side: “What’s wrong? Does it hurt?”
The Zhuxin Curse had just activated – she must have been injured. He wondered how severe it was.
“Yes, it hurts so much.” She was lying face down, speaking lazily, her voice becoming somewhat soft and seductive. It was as if she had returned to six hundred years ago, when she lay boneless and soft on the bed, wrapped in a thin veil, moaning toward the sword cultivator meditating on the other side: “Hey, Old Dog Qin, my old ailment is acting up. It hurts. Come massage my shoulders.”
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he wouldn’t pay her any attention.
The remaining time was when it hurt – because back then her injuries were too severe, her meridians severed, her bones crushed. With severed meridians completely unable to contain spiritual energy, and without spiritual energy, injuries that could normally heal easily became like incurable diseases. The agony of broken bones reconstructing – she couldn’t even remember how she had endured it.
Probably because she had never been willing to give up, and because someone had always stayed by her side, reluctant to let her die.
Her thoughts drifted far away for a moment. Hearing Qin Jianglan’s voice again, Su Zhuyi instantly returned to the present. She heard Qin Jianglan ask, “Where does it hurt?”
His voice carried a tone of concern that would never have been present in that falsely serious voice from before.
Back then, Qin Jianglan spoke like chanting sutras, his tone calm and unruffled.
Su Zhuyi’s eyes narrowed. She was lying face down, and her swollen chest was already feeling somewhat uncomfortable from the pressure. She casually pulled over a pillow to prop herself up, then said with a frivolous tone: “My chest hurts. Will you come rub it for me?”
She used to be able to speak provocative words in front of Qin Jianglan with ease, but unexpectedly, when these words came out, her face turned red.
The other side fell silent, and the atmosphere grew slightly tense.
Just then, Little Skull came over: “Big sister, you’re in pain. I’ll rub it for you.”
Looking at that bony hand extending toward her, Su Zhuyi’s seductively smiling expression immediately froze. She pressed one hand against Little Skull’s skull and said, “Go play somewhere else.”
At the same moment, a soft laugh came from the jade disc.
That laugh was gentle and indulgent, like a feather brushing across her skin, stirring ripples in her heart.
“Wait for me to come over, and I’ll rub it for you.”
Su Zhuyi’s slightly flushed cheeks instantly became burning hot. She never would have imagined that the noble and aloof Old Dog Qin would become like this…
Her brow furrowed, and with one sentence, she shattered all the ambiguity: “Hey, Old Dog Qin, have you been possessed by some dirty thing?!”