Chapter 368 - Seventh Day of the Seventh Month (1/2)

“Fuxi Zither’s soul, Evernight!” Evernight’s cool-headed declaration startled everyone present. They finally understood why Xiao Chen was able to play the Fuxi Zither. It turned out that he possessed its soul. Meanwhile, Xiao Chen was even more shocked. Had Evernight regained all of her memories…?

Xiao Xiangyu shook his head with a pale face. “No! Impossible! Stop trying to scare us! How could he possess Fuxi Zither’s soul? Impossible…”

The Song Spirit beside him, Miao Ruyin, was shaking from fear. Evernight stared coldly at her. “How dare you play accomplice in a crime as a Song Spirit! What are you waiting for? Excuse yourself!”

“Yes…” Miao Ruyin replied timidly and gradually disappeared. Xiao Xiangyu was alarmed. “Miao Ruyin, return!” However, the Song Spirit was already gone.

Evernight glanced at the One-legged Ox Demon crawling on the floor. “You too!”

The One-legged Ox Demon vanished without even daring to breathe. His great fear of Evernight was likely because Heavenly Emperor Fuxi once tamed the first One-legged Ox Demon in the Archean eon. On the other hand, Miao Ruyin’s fear originated from the fact that they were both zither’s souls.

“One-legged Ox Demon! You can’t go!” Xiao Xiangyu couldn’t help turning from fright after seeing his trump card disappearing. His body began to tremble. An Imperial Spirit Commander who lost his General of Soul was as good as trash. Even though his cultivation was in the Nascent Soul Realm, his lack of actual battle experience meant that he might not necessarily win against highly-experienced Core Forming Realm cultivators.

Evernight turned around to look at Xiao Chen. “Kid, I’ll leave the rest to you,” he said and then vanished into thin air.

Upon seeing Xiao Xiangyu’s General of Soul disappearing, Qi Heng and Dead Wood knew that the tide was turning in their favor. They turned into two sword radiance and flew over without a second thought. Xiao Xiangyu’s face had turned so white that he resembled a dead man. He tried casting a spell to make his escape, but Xiao Chen flew into action and stopped in front of him.

“Without a General of Soul, you’re not worth being called trash!”

“Thump!” Before Xiao Xiangyu could react, he found himself flung back more than eighty feet away. Never mind that he was weaker than Xiao Chen, he was not the latter’s match even if he had Nirvana Realm cultivation.

He was so terrified that he was shaking all over. Hastily casting some kind of a spell, he transformed into a red radiance and fled. Xiao Chen didn’t bother chasing after him. He tore off the mask on his face and walked up to Huangfu Xin’er. “Xin’er, how are your injuries? Let me help you circulate your energy and mend your wounds.”

Huangfu Xin’er turned her head, ignoring him. Gui Feng joined them and said, “Madam, please listen to me…” She glared at him. “Shut up! Who’s your Madam?”

Xiao Chen coughed. “General, please return for now.”

“Yes, my lord. Please excuse me!”

The Koo-chee beast blinked its large eyes. “Koo-chee, koo-chee…”

Some distance away, the rest of the cultivators had already left the Falling Flowers Valley. Chu Lingjiao had already taken advantage of the chaos to escape. Huangfu Xin’er turned pale before suddenly fainting. Xiao Chen hastily held her up. Ziyun’er said, “Master, let me handle her wounds.”

Xiao Chen sighed and then nodded. It wasn’t convenient for him to bandage her wounds. Ziyun’er finished tending to Huangfu Xin’er’s injuries at noon but the latter was still unconscious. She covered Huangfu Xin’er with a thick quilt so she wouldn’t catch a cold.

Xiao Chen watched over Huangfu Xin’er the entire evening. Not even when the bright moon hung high in the sky did he leave her bedside. She had yet to wake up once and would sometimes talk in her sleep.

“Brother Xiao Chen… When I grow up, I’ll definitely marry you…”

“Don’t be afraid, Brother Xiao Chen. Even if you can’t perform martial arts, I can protect you in the future…”

Listening to the conversations they shared as children turned the rim of Xiao Chen’s eyes red. Tears brimming in his eyes, he said with a smile, “Silly Xin’er…”

Suddenly, his face paled and a violent pain emerged from his heart. The Heartless Curse was flaring up again. Qingluan and Ziyun’er immediately ran in after hearing the commotion inside. Qingluan said, “Help Master out of here!”

Ziyun’er, who had been worrying about this all along, didn’t even think twice before supporting him out of the room by the arm. It took a long time before the intense pain began to fade. Xiao Chen’s face was already drenched in sweat by then.

“Is there… Is there no way for this curse to be broken…” Ziyun’er stared at his deathly pale face, her voice a little choked.

Xiao Chen shook his head with a smile. “It’s alright. Once I enter the true Nirvana Realm, I can undo it myself…”

Ziyun’er’s voice remained tearful-sounding. “I heard that you said you could remove the curse after entering the Core Forming Realm, and then the Nascent Soul Realm. Now you’re telling me…”

Xiao Chen shook his head, smiling. “It’s alright. Don’t worry about me. Help me watch over her. I want some alone time.”

“Then, please excuse me…”

With the breeze caressing his skin, Xiao Chen walked toward a precipice overgrown with bamboo and sat down there. He stared at lonesome moon against a backdrop of stars and slowly sank into contemplation. After basking in the cold wind for a while, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He smiled. “I have wronged a great many people in half of my lifetime, yet it’s like I’m living in a dream. My conscience remains clear.”

“Things are often out of our control. What happened in the past are no more scattered flowers and dreams. Like the lonesome stars, they are untouchable. Hope, like the dim moon, disappears in an instant and leaves no trace behind.” Evernight walked up to him and sat beside him. She looked at him and added, “Kid, what do you plan to do next?”

Xiao Chen didn’t reply. Only after some time did he turn his head to look at her. “Evernight, you remembered your memories a long time ago, didn’t you? What happened back then? What about my Master? Where is she?”