Chapter 10 - You are really unlikeable in this lifetime (2/2)

My heart caught.

If I hadn’t seen the inscription beneath, I would’ve thought it was a portrait Moxi had painted for me and which had survived till now from our past life. “Drawn in the 10th year of Zhengwu, at Shili Pavilion, Liubo.”

Linking these matters together, it wasn’t difficult to guess that the person in this painting was Zhonghua’s master.

I couldn’t believe his master resembled me this much… thus that sense of betrayal from before quickly went away.

If the portrait was here, then… I was just about to reach out and touch the painting when a golden light gleamed and pushed me backward.

A force field.

The woman’s soul must have been locked in there. I gathered spiritual forces into my palm and then struck the force field. The golden light flickered twice before it disappeared. I joyfully brought the painting down. As expected, a white mass was found inside.

I’d seen many souls before but I’d never seen one so weak. If I had been a few days late, this thing would’ve completely died out. I recited an incantation that easily released the soul-locking spell. I placed her in my palm and gently breathed into her so that she would not dissipate on her way to the underworld.

Holding her, I jumped to the top of the tall tower and released her to the sky. She did not go, however. She lingered in the air as if she was trying to remain at Liubo for as long as she could.

“Go,” I told her. “Everything in this life has become a thing of the past. Even if it’s hard to let go, you cannot return.” I thought some more and said, “The ghosts in the underworld are very nice. Tell them you know Sansheng. They might be able to get you through the back door.”

The spirit hesitated a little, and then slowly drifted down. I stared after her while she floated toward Zhonghua’s residence.

The view was excellent from here. I looked to the distance where Zhonghua’s and Huyi’s fighting figures could be seen. Hu’yi was obviously at a disadvantage, but if he were desperate enough, Zhonghua wouldn’t have it easy either. Appearing to have been riled by the entanglement, Zhonghua drew his sword.

Hu’yi was about to dodge when, all of a sudden, he shook violently and did not avoid Zhonghua’s sword, letting the cold blade drill straight into his heart and through his chest.

I think I knew then what he saw. I also knew he must be smiling.

I waved to the two souls, sending them off to reincarnation. Together, they would see the cluster amaryllises and would perhaps even engrave their names on my stone.

From the Million-Story Tower, I stood watching them leave. When I turned my gaze,

I sensed a savage violence aiming at me. In the distance, Zhonghua was glaring ominously. I suddenly recalled the first thing he said to me when we met in this lifetime: “If you aren’t our kind, then you are different.”

If I thought about it, my mind was indeed a little ‘different’ from his in this life. First, I had destroyed his Thousand-Lock Pagoda and freed the wolf demon Hu’yi, leading to the attacking of Liubo by the demonic army. Now, I was freeing his master and allowing the master he loved to reincarnate with Hu’yi.

The Venerable Zhonghua must really despise me!

As I was giving him a smile, I abruptly caught a glimpse of a snake demon opening the cabin door not far from the plum forest. My heart shook with fear. Chang’an was still inside!

Without any time to think, I leapt and made a dash for the cabin. At the door, I saw Chang’an thrashing around in bed. Poking from his mouth was the tail of a small yellow snake, wagging creepily.

This type of snake demons loved children’s innards. They would shapeshift back to their original forms and crawl into children’s mouths until they had eaten all of their internal organs.

I took two steps forward, held down Chang’an, then grabbed his neck with one hand and the snake’s tail with the other. I struck the snake with forces of darkness and killed it right in Changan’s stomach, then slowly pulled it out from his mouth.

Out of the blue, chills ran down my spine as I heard a piercing sound ripping through my flesh.

I looked down at a sword that had impaled my stomach. Pain hadn’t made its way to my brain. Who would want to kill me? I curiously wanted to know.

I turned to look. Zhonghua was staring at me threateningly: “I won’ let you lay a hand on Liubo’s…” Mid-sentence, his pupils narrowed in on the small yellow snake in my hand.

Deadly silence filled the room. Only Changan’s vomiting sounded. He did not take long to vomit before he passed out.

“He looks so much like you did in the past that I didn’t have the heart to…” I began slipping to the floor; in my throat was a taste of pungent sweetness. “I’m not a demon.”

If it had been a mortal sword, then I wouldn’t feel anything even with a few more stabs. Sadly, Zhonghua’s sword was a blade that had been passed down from generation to generation of Liubo sect leaders. For a spiritual being from the underworld like me, it could be said to be my nemesis.

I felt my body slowly giving out and I finally couldn’t stop myself from gripping onto his sleeve. I grinned: “You are so unlikable in this lifetime, you know.”

Frozen, he gave me no reaction.

“But that day… my heart broke for you when you called for your master as you rested on my lap…”

Pain came, not only the pain from my wound, but also the burning sensation caused by the battling forces of darkness inside my body and of light from the sword. I tightly clenched his sleeve. Looking as though he had abruptly awakened from his trance, he picked me up and ran out. “There’s medicine in the main hall.”

It may have been an illusion, but I thought that the person carrying me was staggering in a way that was unlike his usual cold and staid appearance.

Why was this man so full of contradictions?

My vision gradually blurred.

010b

After the force field was broken, the snow in the plum forest slowly melted away along with the steadily withering red plums, bringing the courtyard into dreariness.

I squinted at his profile and mustered up a cheerful smile. “Do you know why I like this muted fragrance and pure white snow?” I was murmuring at this point; even I did not hear myself. But he paused and looked down at me, the emotions in his dark eyes rolling.

At that moment, I almost thought he had broken the imprisonment of Old Meng’s soup to remember everything from the past. Then, I lapsed into darkness and saw my old acquaintances again in my trance.

I heard myself saying for the last time: “Will you say my name just once?”

He remained unspeaking.

So it turned out he didn’t even know my name in this lifetime…