Chapter 109 Confrontation

Two days later, Yao Guang returned from her training in the mortal realm and shared many interesting stories with Su Su.

“I met an old acquaintance while I was in the mortal realm. Can you guess who it was?” Yao Guang winked at her.

The mortal realm? How could there be an old acquaintance there?

Su Su shook her head.

Yao Guang continued, “It was the East Wing Master’s former adopted daughter. If I remember correctly, her name is Cai Shuang. I saw her a few times in Penglai before, and her pretentious, frail demeanor was always so off-putting. Unexpectedly, when I encountered her in the mortal realm this time, she had lost her immortality and turned into a gradually aging mortal woman, sitting in a dilapidated temple, fighting with beggars over food.”

Su Su whispered, “You mean… Cai Shuang was sent back to the mortal realm?”

“Yes. Didn’t the East Wing Master used to be very protective of her? How could he be so cruel now?”

Su Su suddenly thought of the Purple Crystal Ruyi in her Qiankun pouch and recalled what Cai Shuang had said that day. She mentioned that Cang Jiumin had gone to seek the mermaids’ tears as a betrothal gift for her. Could it be that the tears weren’t meant for a betrothal…… but as part of a trade between Cang Jiumin and the East Wing Master, for refusing to marry Cai Shuang?

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Before Su Su could figure out what to do, a surge of devilish Qi erupted from the Abyss of Desolation in the mortal realm.

This situation, which concerned the Three Realms, drew the attention of every sect.

Cang Jiumin, who was now staying in Hengyang as Yue Fuya, would soon depart with Qu Xuanzi to the Abyss of Desolation. The Abyss was dangerous, and given Su Su’s current state, she couldn’t go with them.

After learning the news, Su Su slouched over the table, staring at a flock of chirping spirit birds outside the window.

Worried that she might get bored in the immortal hall, Cang Jiumin had somehow gathered all the spirit birds from Changze to flutter around outside. It was unclear how he managed it, but the spirit birds, who had lived their entire lives in Changze, seemed rather aggrieved.

Watching them, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

Later that night, when Cang Jiumin returned, Su Su said, “I have something I want to give you, but you’ll have to wait until I come back.”

Seeing her rushing out, Cang Jiumin was stunned. “Where are you going?”

She shook her head and replied, “I’ll be back before dawn, don’t leave until then.”

With that, she ran out the door and headed towards Changze Immortal Mountain.

She hadn’t returned to Changze in a long time, ever since her injury.

Su Su flew on her sword to a wutong tree and took out a red feather.

This was a feather that had fallen when her true form reached adulthood. Her father had told her to keep it well, as it might save her life one day.

Holding the feather, Su Su sat by the Heavenly Lake, focusing her energy to weave a sword tassel with threads condensed from spiritual Qi.

For the feather to be useful, she needed to infuse it with her own spiritual Qi.

It was already night at Changze Mountain. The sky was full of stars, and a gentle evening breeze was passing through. Su Su fought against the drowsiness caused by her damaged life soul, determined not to fall asleep.

She had never done anything for Cang Jiumin before, but this time was different. She suddenly felt the urge to do something for him. 

The best thing she had was this precious feather.

Many years later, outside the dreamland, Su Su would recall this scene. Back then, she hadn’t realized that, even after cultivating the Heartless Dao, her heart was still set on weaving her most precious phoenix feather¹spoiler alert into a sword tassel to protect him.

Before dawn, her body swayed.

By the time Cang Jiumin found her, she had already fallen asleep by the edge of the Heavenly Lake, tightly clutching the nearly finished sword tassel in her hands. The red feather glowed, rich with spiritual Qi. He stared at the unfinished tassel, his eyes cold and unreadable, and lifted her into his arms.

Cang Jiumin sneered lightly, “Do you really like him that much?”

He held her hand, keeping watch by her bedside until the first light of dawn. The people of Hengyang Sect were already waiting for him to depart. 

He kissed her on the lips. “I’m leaving.”

He had kept his promise to wait until dawn, but she didn’t wake up.

Before leaving, Cang Jiumin glanced back at the sword tassel in her palm and smiled mockingly. After all, it wasn’t for him.

Even though he was determined to pretend to be another person, when he saw her being so nice and deeply in love with that person, his heart still surged with overwhelming coldness.

Su Su didn’t wake up until dusk.

She rushed outside, only to find that the people of Hengyang had already departed. Looking down at the sword tassel in her palm, she sighed in frustration.

After a moment of thought, she hurriedly took out a small conch from her Qiankun pouch.

Unfortunately, the conch could only transmit her voice; she couldn’t hear anything from the other side.

“Dad, can you hear me? Is Cang… is Yue Fuya by your side?”

On the other end, Qu Xuanzi glanced at Cang Jiumin, who was resting with his eyes closed²闭目养神 (bìmù-yǎngshén) – an idiom; close one’s eyes and rest.

For the first time, Su Su felt a bit embarrassed as she spoke into the conch, “There were some things I didn’t get to say to him. If he’s there, could you hand the conch to him?”

Qu Xuanzi, ever perceptive, understood without needing further explanation. He placed the conch in Cang Jiumin’s hand.

Cang Jiumin, puzzled, frowned and looked at him, “Master?”

Qu Xuanzi smiled without saying a word and walked away, shaking his head.

The conch in Cang Jiumin’s hand emitted a soft white glow, and he heard her say, “There were some things I originally wanted to tell you, but I didn’t get the chance. I also didn’t finish the sword tassel in time to give to you. Please take care of yourself and return safely.” 

After a pause, she continued in a serious tone, “Once my life soul is fully repaired, shall we go on a journey together? In the vast Three Realms, there are mountains and rivers shrouded in flowing mist, and the dawns and dusks of the mortal realm. We’ve had many misunderstandings, and our first meeting wasn’t great, but from now on, I will treat you well.”

Cang Jiumin’s expression softened.

She…… will treat me well too?

He deliberately avoided thinking about the difference between himself and Yue Fuya, choosing to believe these words were meant for him.

Finally, Su Su said with a hint of a smile, “I placed more vanilla in the immortal hall. I’ve long known that you don’t dislike its scent.”

The conch flickered and fell silent.

Cang Jiumin froze. The mention of vanilla made his heart skip a beat. Vanilla…… what’s going on? Yue Fuya couldn’t go near vanilla……

Unless!

Cang Jiumin suddenly clenched the conch tightly. She knew who he was!

She knew who he really was, yet she still said those words. They weren’t meant for Yue Fuya, but for him.

He couldn’t describe his feelings at that moment. He had even resigned himself to slowly rotting away in lies, but then, in an unexpected twist of fate³峰回路转 (fēnghuí-lùzhuǎn) – the mountain road twists around each new peak (idiom); fig. an opportunity has come unexpectedly, Su Su told him that she had long recognized him as Cang Jiumin.

So all those times when she hugged him and kissed him, she had always known who he was.

Covering half his face with his hand, he let out a low laugh. 

All the bitterness and jealousy now turned into something sweet like honey. 

The sudden joy swept away his gloomy aura,  and the disciples of Hengyang Sect turned around in surprise. They saw their senior brother, who had left with a stern face in the morning, now smiling, looking incredibly happy.

Even when heading to a place like the Abyss of Desolation, he could be so joyful. As expected of the direct disciple of the Sect Master, he was truly admirable.

Cang Jiumin gripped the conch tightly. When he returned, he would shed this false facade and release the trapped Yue Fuya. He would admit his wrongs and personally seek forgiveness from Qu Xuanzi and Yue Fuya. He feared nothing— not the gazes of others, nor their gossip.

He felt a little regretful. That sword tassel had been meant for him from the start, but in the morning, consumed by jealousy, he hadn’t waited for her to wake up. Now, it was already too late to return to Hengyang.

He whispered, “Wait for me to come back.”

***** ⁴Prepare your heart and tissues

The Nightmare Devil stared in shock as the dream unfolded. It turned out that giving the Devil Lord a better identity, despite the twists and turns, still resulted in a beautiful dream.

What Tantai Jin lacked compared to others was merely a fair starting point. He was cunning and ruthless, but also determined and fearless. Though his methods had been underhanded at times, he had managed to turn a disastrous situation around in the end.

Seeing that the glass bead was about to shatter, the Nightmare Devil hurriedly flew to the two of them. “Devil Lord, wake up! Immortal Li, wake up!”

The power of the Mirage Pearl was insufficient. It was already difficult to maintain until now. A false reality, no matter how convincing, was still fake, and this dream was about to shatter.

Inside the glass bead, the scene froze.

The young girl in white sat atop Changze Mountain. The leaves of the wutong tree were dark red. She gazed in the direction of the Desolate Abyss, waiting for his return.

Meanwhile, the young man walked out of the pitch-black Abyss of Desolation, chatting and laughing with his senior brothers, holding a conch in his hand.

She had developed feelings for Cang Jiumin, yet in the end, they never met again.

The “lifetime” she spoke of, in the end, could only become a single drop of water, merging into his memory.

The God Slaying Crossbow sensed that its master was about to wake up and vibrated beside the two of them. It had already absorbed the other demonic creatures and had now become even more powerful.

Unfortunately, in this confined space, it couldn’t drink human blood or kill, so it had long felt stifled.

It was just waiting for Tantai Jin to wake up and bring it out to massacre.

The Nightmare Demon watched the two of them anxiously, thinking to itself,  Different routes lead to the same destination⁵殊途同归 (shūtú-tóngguī) – an idiom; all roads lead to Rome; all rivers flow to the sea; fig. different means of achieving the same end. My task is more or less complete, right? The Devil Lord s-shouldn’t hold a grudge against me for this.

Su Su opened her eyes.

She was in a daze for a moment, and when she came to her senses, she found herself in a narrow, pitch-black space, as if she were underground.

Chongyu lay quietly on her neck, and a cold embrace enveloped her, with devilish Qi surging around.

She suddenly sat up, staring at the Nightmare Demon in the corner, the God Slaying Crossbow beside her, and… the young man who also slowly sat up on the other side, silently looking at her.

His once white clothes were stained with blood, and his blood red eyes had returned to normal.

Tantai Jin…… Cang Jiumin……

Su Su’s breathing was chaotic as memories of the dream swirled in her mind— the young girl deliberately playing tricks, and the feeling of sourness and joy in her heart. She couldn’t help but press her hand against her head.

Fake, it’s all fake.

There was no such person as Cang Jiumin in this world. He was only Tantai Jin, born with an innate evil bone, the one who had controlled her, and gave up on her. Before they entered the dream, he’d already had the God Slaying Crossbow.

It turned out that no matter how the past was changed, some people were destined to walk in darkness from the moment they were born. Curved Jade had sacrificed itself just to stop him from reaching this point, but now he still walked this path.

Good and evil were never meant to coexist.

“Su Su.”

“Don’t touch me!” Su Su quickly stepped back. “You lied to me, you used the dream to deceive me.”

Tantai Jin’s faint smile faded. “Is that what you think?”

When he wasn’t smiling, his entire demeanor became dark and ominous, a stark contrast to the Cang Jiumin from the dream, who was born into a prestigious family.

The God Slaying Crossbow was in front of him. As he tilted his head slightly, he revealed a purity and sincerity that only the Cang Jiumin from the dream had possessed. “Listen to me. I remember what you said five hundred years ago— I won’t fall to the path of the devil. If you don’t like the God Slaying Crossbow, I’ll just seal it away forever. Didn’t you say that when I return, you would treat me well?”

His voice was soft as he murmured, “I’ll cultivate immortality properly and become a god in the future. I’m not lying to you. At the very least, don’t lie to me anymore.”

Su Su shook her head and said, “It was all fake.”

“Fake?” he asked coldly, then laughed, “Li Su Su, ask yourself. Don’t you know my feelings?”

He actually asked her, ‘Don’t you know my feelings?’

Su Su raised her eyes, her resentment now pouring out as she said, “All I know is that I once begged you desperately, but you still casually used the Eternal Flower⁶It used to be called Longevity (长生) Flower in the mortal realm arc, but somehow the author has now changed it to Eternal (永生). to please Ye Bing Shang. The winters in the mortal realm were so cold and dark, yet you still chose Ye Bing Shang. If I were not Li Su Su, my soul would have long dissipated. You told me yourself how much you liked her, that you would overturn the world for her, not caring that she was already married. Now you ask me if I know? I don’t know. How could I have known?”

“Even now,” she choked back a sob in her voice, “you’re still deceiving me. Tantai Jin, is everyone in the world just a pawn in your hand?”

When you liked Ye Bingchang, you used every trick in the book. When you said you liked me, you didn’t hesitate to create a fake illusion using the Nightmare Devil.

His dark eyes glistened with tears.

After a long time, with trembling lips, he tried to smile and said, “I know I was wrong, Su Su. But I have no other way.”

He had done everything he could. She once said she wanted him to become a god, to protect the world. So he crawled out of the Weeping Ghost River, and learned how to walk the righteous path at Xiaoyao Sect. He suppressed his despicable nature, and imitated others in revering his master, and showing respect to his fellow disciples.

If there had been any other way— if he had been born with a string of affection, had a mother to raise him, and could eat and dress warmly, he wouldn’t have ended up where he was today. If he had had the chance to be with her openly and honestly, why would he have resorted to deceiving himself with a fake dreamland? Why would he have stooped so low, willing to be someone else’s shadow, to become a mere tripod furnace for restoring her soul?

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Edited by: Gaze