Chapter 73 Divine Marrow

“Exchange? What would you exchange it with?”

Su Su heard the chill in the man’s voice. She couldn’t see his expression, so she could only say, “How about the Qinghong Immortal Technique? I truly…… really need the Longevity Flower. My eye really hurts.”

The Qinghong Immortal Technique was the world’s best sword technique. A single slash could cut into mountains and split water. Once the sword boundary was complete, it could even kill immortals and eliminate devils.

The Qinghong Technique was also the best accomplishment that Su Su had gained after cultivating immortality for one hundred years. Now, she just wanted to trade it to see the world again.

“Painful? Qinghong Immortal Technique?”

He seemed to coldly sneer, half mockingly, and drew back his sleeve.

Tantai Jin didn’t say whether he agreed to it or not and disappeared into the darkness.

How funny. This was the first time he’d ever seen Su Su beg him, but unfortunately, the conditions offered weren’t satisfactory.

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From the gods it had seen, to legends about some of the great demons.

Speaking thus far, Curved Jade finally realized that Su Su’s eyes had been wide open the entire time. She blinked, and a drop of blood flowed down from her left eye that held the World Topping Flower.

Curved Jade’s voice was suddenly stuck.

It didn’t ask whether she was afraid, but instead, it asked, “Do you hate them?”

Them. Tantai Jin, Ye Bing Shang, and even Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin’s death had stopped her from taking the initiative to deal with Ye Bing Shang, and caused her to fall into passivity. Finally, now both Curved Jade and Su Su knew that it was Ye Bing Shang’s scheme.

The whole world thought that the Hidden Dragon Guards were in Su Su’s hands, and she had reached a deadend.

Su Su kept silent. Curved Jade thought she wouldn’t reply, but unexpectedly, she moved her lips.

“Hate.”

Curved Jade heard her say.

“When I was locked up alone in the Secret Chamber of Chaos, I even thought about how I could most make them suffer.” She whispered, “Ye Bing Shang wants to be Empress, and wants a man’s loyal love, I want her to fail. Tantai Jin wants power, and so he did this to me. I hope to see him fall into dust. Xiao Lin…… I shouldn’t hate him, but I do… feel uncomfortable inside.”

“I think about their ends over and over again so that I can be less afraid. I rejoined my finger and tried to eat a few more mouthfuls of food just to see that day.”

It rained on the night of the seventh month.

The cold palace was dark and deathly silent, and it was empty except for Su Su.

She struggled to clean her tired body, there was only cold well water in the cold palace. Su Su hadn’t fallen asleep since she’d come back. The corner of her eye no longer bled, and the World Toppling Flower stayed quietly in her eye.

Curved Jade followed her unfocused gaze.

A young bamboo was blown down by the wind in the night.

*****

In the early morning of the next day, the Longevity Flower bloomed.

Tantai Jin looked at it for a long time, then picked up the box and went out. Just when he stepped out of the door of the palace hall, he saw Ye Bing Shang, who was festively dressed.

Wei Xi whispered, “Today is Madame’s birthday, and Madame has been standing here waiting for Your Majesty since before dawn.”

Sure enough, Ye Bing Shang’s eyes were full of light and expectation.

Tantai Jin suddenly remembered that he had promised to have dinner with her and her mother.

He paused his steps and put the Longevity Flower in his sleeve, then said, “Let’s go.”

A light surprise bloomed on Ye Bing Shang’s face, as if Tantai Jin still remembering their appointment was something that made her very happy.

Aunt Yun didn’t live in the palace, so the two left the palace in a carriage.

Ye Bing Shang hesitated for a moment, and then gently said, “Your Majesty, this concubine has been wanting to ask, grandmother…… how is she doing?”

The marketplace was noisy. The young emperor closed his eyes and answered her coldly, “Dead.”

Ye Bing Shang lightly inhaled, then lowered her eyes which were filled with a little sadness.

Tantai Jin suddenly remembered that the young girl in the cold palace hadn’t asked him this question, and he wondered if she was too afraid to hear the answer.

The two stopped at a quiet and secluded place.

Aunt Yun had heard early in the morning that Tantai Jin was coming, so she hurriedly carried her son to wait at the door, bowing respectfully.

Ye Bing Shang helped her mother up. She turned her head and found that His Majesty’s gaze had fallen on her younger brother.

“What’s your name?” Tantai Jin asked.

Ye Bing Shang looked at her younger brother. Fourth Young Master Ye was eight years old this year. Perhaps he had experienced some things in these past two years, he had lost his domineering childhood temperament, and his face had also matured a little. 

Her younger brother didn’t look like her, but rather looked a little like…… Third Sister.

Fourth Young Master Ye was a little afraid of Tantai Jin. He cowered and stammered, “Yun Feichen¹飞尘 also means flying dust LOLOLOL but it probably means something better from an idiom which I don’t know.”

Tantai Jin faintly averted his gaze, seeming to have just asked casually.

Food was prepared in advance in the courtyard. The eunuchs who came along tried and tested the food one by one, and only then did everyone start to eat.

This meal made Aunt Yun tremble with fear. Looking at the handsome and outstanding little tyrant, she couldn’t help but complain about how her daughter had brought him here. Aunt Yun’s feelings for Tantai Jin were complicated. In the past, everyone could bully him, but now, when she saw him, she could only dare to breathe lightly. 

After that uneasy meal, Aunt Yun had a chance to speak with Ye Bing Shang alone.

“Shang’er, you must work hard. I heard that you are the only woman in His Majesty’s harem. The earlier you’re pregnant with a royal son, the more stable your position will be.”

Ye Bing Shang’s expression was complicated. To her own mother, she had nothing to hide, “To this day, His Majesty hasn’t touched me.”

Aunt Yun’s eyes widened.

“T-this, how is this possible? Everyone is saying that His Majesty favors you very much.”

Ye Bing Shang coldly laughed. Remembering where His Majesty went last night, she closed her eyes and forbearingly said, “Mum, the future is long²来日方长 (láirì fāng cháng) – an idiom; there will be ample time for that later; We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

On the way back to the palace, ice-blue arrows suddenly broke through the air.

The Night Shadow Guards were sharp-eyed and agile enough to block most of them, but one was still shot into the carriage. Ye Bing Shang blocked herself in front of Tantai Jin without thinking, “Your Majesty, be careful!”

The arrow pierced deep into her shoulder.

Tantai Jin frowned and helped her, “Bing Shang?”

Blood flowed from the corner of her lips, and Ye Bing Shang’s body twitched in pain.

A large number of ambushers suddenly appeared, and the corners of Tantai Jin’s mouth curved into a cold smile, “Seeking death.”

The tiger demon that was hiding in the shadows leapt out, instantly enlarging, and attacking the ambushers.

Not long after, Nian Baiyu came to report, “Your Majesty, there was a total of eighty-three people, all of whom were Hidden Dragon Guards, and all of them committed suicide by taking poison.”

Tantai Jin’s eyes flickered. He glanced at the seriously injured Ye Bing Shang and his heart had a ominous premonition.

“Go back to the palace!”

Sure enough, when he arrived at the palace gate, Nian Muning hurriedly greeted him and said in a solemn voice, “Your Majesty, the cold palace was attacked and the Hidden Dragon Guards came to rescue someone.”

“Where is she!”

“Under the weak water arrows, more than three hundred Hidden Dragon Guards died and a few escaped. Third Miss Ye is still in the cold palace, the Hidden Dragon Guards failed to rescue her.”

Tantai Jin’s gaze turned icy cold as he carried the badly injured Ye Bing Shang, “Call the imperial physician.”

“Madame is badly injured and lost too much blood. This…… I’m afraid she’ll need a miracle drug, otherwise, her body will definitely be vulnerable to a relapse in the future.”

The youth in black was silent for a long time, then he suddenly laughed mockingly.

“I wonder, will the Longevity Flower work?”

*****

Su Su knew what had happened outside.

As early as when the weak water arrows were fired, she had already guessed everything. She sat on the threshold and listened to Curved Jade sullenly say, “Now even if you’re in the right, you can’t explain yourself clearly.”

With so many Hidden Dragon Guards using their lives to rescue her, no one could believe that they weren’t in Su Su’s hands.

The summer wind blew, brushing the hem of the young girl’s dark brown clothes.

Su Su felt extremely worried. Tantai Jin already hated her, and hated when she betrayed or tried to escape him the most.

Now, from his perspective, she was once again trying to escape.

Will he still give me the Longevity Flower? I’m afraid Tantai Jin wishes that I will be blind and imprisoned by him for the rest of my life, and on every fifteenth, I’ll gasp and cry underneath him.

Su Su wanted to wait for him, in order to not die in darkness at the end of her life, she was willing to properly explain to Tantai Jin about the Hidden Dragon Guards.

She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there. In Su Su’s world, there was no difference between day and night.

It was so long that the little palace maid who delivered her meals came, but Tantai Jin still didn’t come.

Seeing that Su Su was still looking outside, the palace maid put down the bowls and chopsticks and discontentedly said, “You obviously can’t see, what’s there to look at? I don’t know what kind of luck I’ve got to have to be sent here to bring you food. Today is Madam Zhaohua’s birthday. His Majesty has granted amnesty to the world, but I’m the only one who has to come to this lousy place. Hey, I’m talking to you, what’s with your reaction?”

In the palace, it was customary to flatter the high and step on the low³扒高踩低 (págāocǎidī) – an idiom; flattering one’s superiors and trampling on one’s juniors; toadying and bullying. Tantai Jin came last night, but no one knew. Su Su was in the cold palace, so people in the palace naturally looked down on her. The palace maid looked at the indifferent Su Su angrily. The emaciated young girl looked pale and fragile, and her eyes were out of focus. A noble person of the past had been reduced to such a state, which made one’s hearts grow with infinite pleasure and ill intention. Seeing her fair and delicate skin, the palace maid raised her hand to pinch Su Su.

A little wooden sword pierced into the palace maid’s palm.

The palace maid screamed and fell to the ground.

“You…… you!”

Su Su tightly clenched the little wooden sword in her hand, and the palace maid glanced at Su Su uneasily. She originally assumed that she was a blind girl who was easy to bully, she didn’t expect her to be a tough one who wouldn’t be pushed around.

The palace maid climbed up and stared at Su Su angrily, “Do you really think that you can still fly up the branch⁴飞上枝头变凤凰 (Fēi shàngzhī tóu biàn fènghuáng) – full idiom: flying up the branch to become the phoenix; climbing up high and become someone of high status?! Let me tell you, everyone in the palace knows who His Majesty’s beloved is, and even the Longevity Flower sent by Shicha was casually given to Madame Zhaohua as her birthday gift! Who do you think you are? Just wait to die of old age here!”

After speaking, she ran away in a huff.

“The Longevity Flower is gone,” Su Su muttered.

Thinking about her having to endure the pain of backlash from the World Toppling Flower all day and all night, and that her world was filled with darkness, Curved Jade felt like a knife was being twisted in its heart.

Like a child who had lost everything, the expectation on Su Su’s face was gradually annihilated.

Curved Jade didn’t know how to comfort her, but it saw Su Su stand up.

She looked towards the setting sun on the horizon.

Curved Jade couldn’t help but say, “In the heart of the young Devil God, it must be you that he loves! Su Su, we both know that this is Ye Bing Shang’s plot.”

Su Su couldn’t hear it and whispered, “It was my fault. I was actually stupid enough to beg him.”

She covered her eye, and blood flowed from her palm. Curved Jade heard her say, “I can’t believe my heart momentarily wavered.”

Her voice was very soft, and as soon as the summer wind blew, it dissipated in the night.

Curved Jade knew that it didn’t hear wrong.

Su Su had hesitated before. When she received that red veil, she turned back to look at it, and at that moment, the young girl’s eyes had contained a hint of confliction that even she herself didn’t realize.

People weren’t grass and trees, who could be heartless.

She was born as a spiritual fetus, and never dared to forget why she had come. She’d seen all the beings of the Three Realms struggling under the claws of demons and devils, the North Sea dry up, the Southern Mountain collapse, and the mortal world swarmed with starving refugees⁵哀鸿遍野 (āihóng-biànyě) – lit. plaintive whine of geese (idiom).

Curved Jade was also faintly aware of it, so it felt uneasy.

The moment the nine divine nails were formed, it was afraid that Su Su wouldn’t be able to do it. But fortunately, she didn’t recklessly ignore the common people and pushed the nails into the heart of the youth in black.

She didn’t dare to fall in love.

The mission had failed, but there was one benefit—— Su Su thought of one last way.

A way to use the six divine nails that had been nailed in.

Su Su finally didn’t have to kill Tantai Jin, but…… he left her in the dark forever and shattered her last wish with his own hands.

Su Su stood up, and Curved Jade heard her say——

“I heard that it doesn’t snow in winter in the Zhou Kingdom. So when it’s yin day yin hour⁶yin energy is the strongest at this special date and time, let’s leave. Curved Jade, are you afraid?”

Curved Jade was slightly stunned, then said, “Curved Jade isn’t afraid.”

It understood what Su Su was going to do.

She wanted to leave him forever, leave this place that trapped her, and leave the mortal realm from five hundred years in the past.

During the heavenly thunder in the Fleeting Life Wisdom, Ming Ye wanted to exchange his divine marrow with Sang Jiu. On the day of yin day yin hour, such a heavenly thunder could be drawn again.

She would use the World Toppling Flower to create a fake divine marrow, imbed it into her immortal soul, and then, using the Curved Jade of the Ninth Heavens as a medium, transform it into a real divine marrow.

Exchanging the divine marrow with the evil bone.

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Edited by: Gaze