The smell of medicine wafted outside the house. To make the scene more realistic, Huixiang had been brewing medicine in the courtyard for several days to make the act look authentic.
When Huixiang came in carrying a bowl of medicine, Shi Luoyi was leaning by the window, looking at the red plum blossoms in the courtyard.
The red plum flowers were in full bloom, vibrant and proud on the branches.
Following her gaze, Huixiang asked, "Miss, are you admiring the plum blossoms? Winter in Mingyou Mountain is indeed different from our Buye Mountain. I've heard that many poets in the mortal realm adore these flowers, eagerly competing to compose verses on it. Do you also like plum blossoms?"
"I don't like them," Shi Luoyi disdainfully replied. "Blooming in the cold weather, standing alone on the branch holding its fragrance, so cold and stubborn. And once the warmth arrives, it turns into spring mud, all exhausted and silly."
Much like her past self who gritted her teeth to swallow bitterness, enduring all hardships, yet ultimately perished alone in a dilapidated temple. How miserable; What's there to praise about such a tragic fate?
Huixiang couldn't help but want to laugh. Although Shi Luoyi claimed not to like them, she was clearly indignant about the flower's fate.
Huixiang remembered the news she had heard from the spirit sisters this morning - Wei Changyuan had returned to the mountain today, and Bian Qingxuan had gone to the mountain gate early in the morning to welcome him.
She couldn't help feeling anxious for Shi Luoyi.
Her miss had been engaged to Wei Changyuan since childhood and grew up together like childhood sweethearts. Huixiang knew very well how much Shi Luoyi liked him.
Huixiang recalled decades ago when Princess Wanjing fell seriously ill. Daojun tried to save her, taking her to various immortal mountains to seek treatment, but to no avail. On the day when the princess died, the young lady seemed to have a feeling and understood that her mother would never come back, and refused to leave the Nanyue Palace with the people Daojun had sent to pick her up.
She was just a child at that time, and was crying in her palace late at night, wanting to find her mother. The maidservants barely managed to get her to fall asleep, but she would be frightened awake by nightmares again.
At that time, Wei Changyuan was just a young boy, gifted with innate sword talent since birth. Hearing that Xiao Luoyi had lost her mother, he descended from Mingyou Immortal Mountain every night, telling bedtime stories to his young fiancée.
His speech was not nimble, and the stories were not particularly interesting. However, he would hug her in his arms and clumsily coax her to sleep.
At the time, Xiao Luoyi didn't appreciate his feelings. Having lost her mother, she would often hide away to cry, trying to break free from the young boy's restraints to find her parents.
Before long, Shi Luoyi went missing. Everyone knew Daojun was not in the palace at this time as he tried to save his beloved wife. There were many demons who coveted Shi Luoyi's flesh and blood, leaving everyone anxious and worried. The entire Nanyue Palace was in a state of urgency.
Torches were lit around the palace as they searched every place Shi Luoyi frequented, but her figure was nowhere to be found.
It was Wei Changyuan who found her.
A small young cultivator, carrying an even smaller child, walked down the mountain step by step.
Years later, Huixiang could still vaguely remember the shock she felt at that moment.
Wei Changyuan was covered in mud and blood, his sword hanging from his waist. One hand was fractured, but with the other, he firmly protected the person on his back, preventing her from jolting. The shiny little face of the girl on his back was dirty, but she was sleeping peacefully.
It was the first time Wei Changyuan killed a vicious beast. For Shi Luoyi's sake, his Qinghong sword saw blood when he was still a boy. He grew up because of her, and became sharper because of her.
Wei Changyuan carried Luoyi a long way, bringing her home. Xiao Luoyi's eyelashes were wet with tears, her tender young arms clutching possessively at his neck as if grasping a life-saving straw.
Huixiang remembered that from that night onwards, the young miss never had nightmares again.
At that time, Huixiang thought they could be together for life.
Lost in reminiscence, Huixiang suddenly raised her eyes and saw a slender figure in the courtyard. She thought she was mistaken, but when she came to her senses, she realized that the person coming was indeed Wei Changyuan. The exceptional young man, carrying a long sword, walked past the plum blossom tree and came to Shi Luoyi.
Huixiang was surprised for a moment and quickly bowed, "Young master Wei."
Wei Changyuan glanced at her, politely nodded, and greeted her in return, "Miss Huixiang."
Huixiang saw his cold expression as he stared at Shi Luoyi. Though worried, she knew she should give them privacy.
"Miss, young master, I'll take my leave first."
Wei Changyuan grabbed Shi Luoyi's wrist, his voice was filled with anger, "Why are you pretending to be sick and deceiving people?"
He recalled his unease when he came, which turned into anger upon seeing her unharmed. Does she find this amusing?
Standing by the window, Shi Luoyi raised her face to look at him.
Her small face was pale, but her expression was calm. When Wei Changyuan entered the courtyard, she had already seen him, but she didn't use any concealment techniques to play tricks. She never wanted to deceive him.
Therefore, with Wei Changyuan's cultivation at the late Nascent Soul stage, he naturally saw at a glance that her injuries were almost healed.
However, the Wei Changyuan in Shi Luoyi's eyes was not as clear as Huixiang remembered. Sixty years of time separated her from him, countless regrets, and the love and hatred she pursued for life.
The day she reincarnated, when she suddenly saw Wei Changyuan in the snow, she couldn't control her emotions well. In recent days after returning to the sect, her inner demons had not acted up for the second time and were not severe. Under the influence of her cultivation method, she could forcibly suppress them.
Seeing many familiar faces again and realizing that Huixiang and Han Shu were still alive, Shi Luoyi felt that the love and hatred between her and Wei Changyuan were nothing compared to the vastness of life and death.
When Wei Changyuan saw her looking at him in silence, disappointment filled his heart, and he spoke coldly, "You pretended to be sick just to mislead others about the junior sister! Luoyi, haven't you learned your lesson in these years? Have you ever thought about how you would live with yourself after spreading such a lie, and how your fellow disciples will look at you!"
"Pretending to be sick for my junior sister?" Shi Luoyi suddenly felt like laughing. She looked at the young man before her for a long time before saying, "Senior Brother Changyuan, it's been a long time since I called you that way. Over these years, you've always been like this... just because she questioned me. I almost forgot what we were like at the beginning.”
Wei Changyuan was originally angry but seeing the girl sitting by the window looking at him with desolation and coldness, he didn’t know why but he was reminded of the fallen sword tassel.
"I'm not trying to frame my junior sister." Shi Luoyi smiled self-mockingly. “I don't like her, but I’ve always had my own dignity. I’ve practiced diligently not to surpass Bian Qingxuan, but because I did not want others to criticize my father for teaching his daughter poorly. I took on sect missions alone not because I was reckless or competitive, but because nobody liked me and no one wanted to go with me. As for fighting with Bian Qingxuan, it was because she picked the flower my mother had planted back then. If not for her deliberately provoking me, I would not have spared her a second glance.”
The snow-covered ground reflected the red plum blossoms, and the wind blew in through the window, carrying the winter chill making one shiver all over.
Shi Luoyi then asked, "As for pretending to be sick, Senior Brother Changyuan, I've reached such a state. If I don't protect myself, who else can protect me? You? Senior Brother Changyuan, look, I've told you everything. Do you believe me, or do you believe in Bian Qingxuan?"
Seeing him remain silent for a long time, Shi Luoyi understood his answer. Their connection had ended since the spirit jade in the Wei family changed hands. If it weren't for the second outbreak of her inner demons, they might have had no further ties anymore. In her previous life, she shouldn't have expected Wei Changyuan to save her and relieve her inner demons. Hoping for his repentance was even less hopeful than finding rare treasures to suppress the inner demons.
Wei Changyuan clenched his lips, instinctively feeling that Shi Luoyi was making excuses. The scene from the mountain pass in the early morning came to his mind, where Bian Qingxuan tearfully asked him to go see Senior Sister Shi Luoyi.
That kind of weakness makes people pity her.
He also thought back on the past few years. In the beginning, he was not unwilling to protect her. However, after Daojun's fall, Shi Luoyi began confronting fellow disciples at every turn, especially against junior sister Bian Qingxuan.
Holding an unyielding spirit, she practiced hard and did her sect mission regardless of dissuasion. When angered, she would harshly scold or even resort to violence against the junior sister. Meanwhile, Bian Qingxuan never retorted or fought back but Shi Luoyi was full of resentment and unwilling to repent.
In these situations, as a disciple of the Enforcement Hall of Mingyu Mountain, he sometimes had to handle matters impartially. However, Shi Luoyi would always leave in anger, just like a few days ago when she disregarded sect rules and ran down the mountain gate.
If what he saw was all false, then what was real?
Yet another faint voice in his heart and the fallen sword tassel, prevented him from speaking out easily.
Seeing him remain silent, Shi Luoyi withdrew her wrist from his grasp and pointed outside, "You can leave. With my father in deep slumber, the matter between us has also never been finalized. Once I retrieve the token from that year, we can annul our engagement."
Wei Changyuan frowned.
In his heart, he was hesitating, but she brought up the matter of annulling their engagement again. These years, whenever she was unhappy, Shi Luoyi always liked to use this to threaten him.
Wei Changyuan said coldly: "Luoyi, It's not that I don't believe you. I know you're upset because of Daojun's slumber. But don't deliberately say such things just because you are angry with me."
Angry?
Shi Luoyi thought, no, in the past it was out of anger and also hope that you would change and I could change too, but not this time. This time there is no turning back for me, and neither do you.
She looked at Wei Changyuan, at the person she had deeply liked in her youth. Shi Luoyi felt a bit trance-like. When truly letting go of what she had pursued her whole life, her heart couldn't help but feel empty.
As the Buddha said, sever and let go.
She had chased after this person all her life, it was only when she was at death's door in the ruined temple that she suddenly had an epiphany.
The only thing she could be grateful for was the Qiankun bag that Wei Changyuan left behind for her, which over the long years erased the hatred in her heart, allowing her to slowly remember his good qualities instead.
Wei Changyuan wasn't a bad person. It was he who accompanied her through childhood's bitter times, and over these many years he protected Buye Mountain's reputation with his still somewhat immature shoulders.
The problem between them was simply a lack of trust. Even if there was no chance of being together, just as Wei Changyuan would rather betray the sect and let her go and can't see her dying, Shi Luoyi also never wished Wei Changyuan ill.
While love was gone, righteousness remained—they were still family.
She also remembered that after she fell on the demonic path, Wei Changyuan did not end up with Bian Qingxuan. Was it because of her? Did she become an obstacle in his heart? Before dying, she also heard that Wei Changyuan was gravely injured and lost his cultivation for Bian Qingxuan…
Senior Brother Changyuan, she thought, if you truly like her that much, then I'll fulfill you this time.
And the tolerance he showed her in their youth, she would also soon repay him in full at the right moment,slowly severing these ties of gratitude bit by bit.
Huixiang did not know what happened between Shi Luoyi and Wei Changyuan that day, but seeing Shi Luoyi behaving normally and cultivating actively, she felt happy inside. It seems that the misunderstanding between Miss and Young Master has been resolved.
After two days, Shi Luoyi announced that she was going to attend the morning class.
Huixiang worriedly said: "To go now? Won't the Sect Master come up with other ways to deal with Miss? Also I don't know what Bian Qingxuan has done but these past days everyone in the sect has been saying that Miss is pretending to be ill on purpose. She is deliberately trying to tarnish your reputation."
Shi Luoyi analyzed with her: "Disciples are easily misled by rumors, but the elders of the sect won't be. Initially avoiding morning class wasn't to gain fellow disciples' sympathy, but to get the elders' attention, like Elder Han Shu.
She continued, "Father and the Sect Master founded the Hengwu Sect together, and most of the elders had deep ties with him. As long as they know I'm not a selfish and vicious waste, and I let them realize that I am in a bad situation, they will pay more attention, and then the Sect Master won't dare to act recklessly."
"As for what my fellow disciples think about me," Shi Luoyi raised her face and said with a hint of youthful recklessness, "Who cares!"
"She had toiled bitterly, feeling resentful her whole life for a group of people who didn't like her; it shouldn't have been this way."
Huixiang smiled, "If Daojun were here, he would surely be pleased with your changes."
Shi Luoyi said, "Back then, it was me who couldn't think straight, but I have untangled my thoughts now.
Not only did she gain a broader perspective, she also wanted to restore the reputation of Buye Immortal Mountain.
That late Foundation Establishment disciple, what's his name, Zhang Xiangyang, right. Let's start with him.
In the past he was able to seriously injure her with just his Foundation Establishment cultivation. Shi Luoyi was at a loss to explain it and even doubted herself at that time. Everyone said the Buye Mountain was nothing special, and the elders were also quite disappointed in her.
So this time, let her see what's so strange about Zhang Xiangyang. Would it be her losing and falling in a sorry state again, or would it be him crying in pain.