Chapter 76 Great Fissure In The Ground (12)

The illusion demon was dead and the congregated demons all scattered, leaping and stumbling away in all directions.

The yin-yang fissure-less Jingyang Slope looked like it had just strained all of the demonicness with a filter. The mountain’s crisp greenery, the light greens of the trees and the deep blues of the skies above all turned a few shades lighter. Normalcy returned to the skies and the earth.

The twittering of small birds flowed down the slopes; a dragonfly rested on the latticework of the window. The sounds all started to layer on top of one another, causing one’s ears to feel irritated.

The thin and light canopy cover was slightly lifted and a barely discernible scent of soap floated in the air.

When he awoke, the canopy softly rubbed against his face.

He was in the Li residence, the room he had previously lived in before. His clothes had been changed and his wounds were also wrapped up. There was also a remarkably perfect thin quilt closely wrapped around him.

There was a period of rustling, the sound of cloth against cloth.

He turned his head over to look for the source of the sounds. The wet cloth sticking to his forehead slid aside and fell to the pillow.

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“Eh?” She walked to the side of the pillow and picked up the wet rag. However, she wasn’t in a hurry to place it back in its place. On the contrary, she reached out to feel his forehead for a few moments.

After a long moment, as if feeling that her hand wasn’t accurate enough, she pulled her face towards him while lowering her body.

The instant her warm and soft lips touched his forehead, the youth immediately stiffened and all the blood in his body rushed to the top of his head.

“You’re not burning anymore.” She let out a sigh of relief and rapidly got up to leave the room. She returned carrying a new basin of water and placed it on the table.

Without thinking, she lowered her eyes for a moment to find a pair of dark pupils staring intently at her, and it nearly caused her to jump from fright.

“….You’re awake?”

The youth sat up and his tied up hair slid to the edge of his cheek. It took him a second before he replied, “Mhm.”

Miaomiao stared at him blankly for a long time before she raised her porcelain-like fingers and pointed at her own head, then she spoke in a serious tone: “Next time, pay more attention. If your fever burns too long it’ll burn your brain until it becomes useless.”

“…..” Mu Sheng looked over at her, his long lashes trembling slightly as he did so.

“Do you know how to pay attention?” Light seemed to suffuse the young girl’s eyes. Her cheeks were flushed with vitality, just like a piece of fruit covered in frost. Upon seeing that he wasn’t saying anything, she used force to slap the basin and spoke in a fierce voice, “I brought water to help you lower your temperature.”

Then she looked at him again and grumbled internally that iron could not turn into steel, “Rain doesn’t count.”

“…..” Mu Sheng lowered his eyes and the last image imprinted into the brain was the scene of her half-leaning into his chest, looking like she was on the verge of death….

He immediately raised his eyes: “Your wounds….”

Ling Miaomiao’s face was full of irritation, “I’m fine, it was all just skin wounds anyways. But you—-”

She was too lazy to say any more. This guy stacked new wounds on top of his old ones while enduring it all. All of these ailments brewed within him and with his mental and physical attributes stretched to the extreme, when he passed out, he was unconscious for an entire three days.

His way of living was basically challenging the limits of the human body. He had to change. Starting from the top.

“You said in the past that demon attacks don’t leave any scars on your body….” Miaomiao glanced over at his shoulder, “I’m afraid this time was an exception. This wound is too heavy, I’m guessing it’ll leave behind a scar.”

He calmly listened to her speak without a single change to his expression. It was clear that he really didn’t care.

“But you also shouldn’t be too sorrowful.” However she still earnestly consoled him, “You may have not heard this before but there’s a phrase that goes like this: Scars are a man’s medals.”

“….”

“Just treat it like a medal of honor.” She smiled at her own thoughts.

Her smile was just like a cat’s, full of arrogance and pride as she raised her front paw. Her hair glimmered gold under the sunlight and her eyes were bright. The entire room was filled with a dazzling brilliance.

Mu Sheng turned his head away and spoke in somewhat of a shaky voice, “Why aren’t you going to go look for your Brother Liu?”

Ling Miaomiao was momentarily stunned. When she recovered from her shock of hearing such an awkward sounding sentence, she laughed, “Brother Liu and Sister Mu are in the anteroom.”

Sunlight streamed in through the window, sprinkling all over the room. The red plum flowers in the vases had been swapped for white chrysanthemums. Pure and fragile, the white flowers standing in a row, slowly waved along with the wind.

Everyone silently sat at their positions and the room was so calm that the sweet chirping and singsong voices of the birds outside the window were clearly audible.

Liu Fuyi’s serious wounds had only started to heal so his face was still rather pale, “Brother Li, I’m sorry for your loss.”

There were giant eye bags beneath Li Zhun’s eyes as he sat into his chair in a rather wan manner. He stared blankly at the ground as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down without making a single sound.

The funeral ceremony for the young, young lady of the Li residence. The coffin didn’t even reach up to the knees of the adults. The servant boy had already cried piteously for three days, now everyone had been numbed to it.

“There is a time when flowers bloom. There is also a time when flowers fall down to the earth. We humans have no way to influence them.” Mu Yao’s voice was clear and crisp as it echoed slightly. It almost sounded like a sigh as she spoke, then turned her head to the side.

On the ground sat a woman with a lithe and slender body. Her bright red skirt was splayed out on the ground. Her chest was bountiful and a white flower petal was pinned to her lapel.

Madam Shi sat on the ground. Above her slender neck were her sharp jaw and eye-catchingly beautiful red lips. Further above was her tall nose bridge topped by a delicate tip. The lashes covering adorning her eyes were thick and long, glimmering under the sunlight as they moved about.

This face was one worthy of toppling all living things.

“Miss Mu, I didn’t lie to you.” Her faintly sweet and mellow voice filled the air. “My family truly lives at Lingqiu, ranked tenth amongst the families there. My maiden family’s name is Fei and I used to be called Madam Fei Shi. The Fei family is a family of foxes and we rarely go out into the world. For many generations we have lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests so amongst demons, we have one of the least amount of demonic qi.

Her exquisitely slender fingers slowly moved up to touch her own face, “You all can probably not even imagine that there would be a fox demon living with a face like this right?”

Li Zhun moved his gaze over to her beautiful face, his expression becoming extremely complicated.

“From a young age, I’ve traveled the world. I secretly ran away to roam the lands.”

The young fox had wandered around, stumbled everywhere before finally finding herself in the picturesque and drizzly Jiangnan.

“The Li Residence in Jiangnan was spectacularly lavish. There were 99 different types of flowers planted in the courtyard and on top of that, there was a young boy that looked just like a porcelain doll…. I could not bear to leave so I secretly dug a fox hole in the courtyard and lived there.”

Mu Yao then asked, “Everything you said to me were things you saw with your own eyes.”

Madam Shi smiled sorrowfully. That young merchant had been arrogant from a young age. He had grown up in an extremely wealthy family, was distinguished, accomplished and elegant. He had no worries nor cares. No matter who he saw he could smile happily towards. When he was young, he loved to climb all over and pluck fresh petals from flowers. At the same time, he would wink his way through all the neighbor’s young daughters. After he grew up, he became extremely focused and treated his first wife, Madam Fang, with great love and concern.

That kind of liveliness —- was what made one human.

“I…. I loved him for a long time. However I also knew that humans and demons were vastly different. I watched him grow up, get married and become a father. His relationship with his wife was harmonious and he had beautiful children. It should’ve been the best end of the story for him.”

Unfortunately, life was full of unexpected turns and twists. As if it didn’t want Li Zhun to live a harmonious and smooth life, the heavens took away Madam Fang’s life. She struggled to barely leave behind a baby girl, but even then, she suffered from illness.

Li Zhun nearly aged a decade that night.

“I saw that Ah Zhun was left all by himself…. Sitting all alone in the courtyard at night, he looked withered up as he hugged Chuchu. All day and night, he could not bear to release her as if he feared that she would die prematurely. He completely spent all of the family’s money in search of a way to cure her. However, I knew that Chuchu did not have long to live.”

In that pitch black night, everything had become silent. The wet nurse had also fallen into a nap, and the young child, not even one year of age, suddenly had her illness flare up. In longer than a minute, her face had turned dark purple and she could not breath at all.

She saw this all with her own eyes and she felt like there was a fire lit beneath her heart. Then, borrowing the power of the third geng of the moon (23:00 – 01:00), she managed to force herself to turn into a human. Only then was she able to pick up the freezing cold body of the young child, carrying her around to look for a doctor.

“I walked through an entire street of doctors and they all told me that there was no way to save her. The child was already dead. If I had come any later, the body would’ve already started hardening….”

Madam Shi’s long lashes lowered and her beautiful lips started to open, “I understood, Chuchu was dead. Ah Zhun was certainly going to be absolutely grief-stricken. How could I bear to let him feel bad — So I thought of something. There was a secret art in my Fei family that allowed one to summon the souls of those who’ve died. It could basically bring someone back to life. However, I was still too young and my powers were too weak so I could not use it.”

“So then… you went and found the illusion demon?”

“My elder sisters in my clan pointed her to me. Saying that the illusion demon had been born from the earth so she was extremely powerful. She had a great amount of power, all I had to do was pay the price.”

She laughed mockingly at herself: “After a few nights of rushing to Jingyang Slope, I begged the illusion demon to meet me but how could I have known that as soon as she saw me, she was extremely displeased to see me.”

The illusion demon was naturally going to be displeased with her.

She had been born of the earth. She could do anything she wanted. However, the heavens had also limited her powers — she had no real body. She could not shift into a human shape. Even a small little fox whose cultivation was far from satisfactory could shift into a human form. Thus, she was extremely jealous.

“She agreed to lend me her powers. However, she had two conditions. The first of which was to head towards the old Xingshang Temple in Chang’an and collect the corpses of the dead. She wanted me to send them to Jingyang Slope as food for her.” She tilted her head over with a bit of doubt, “I asked her in the past and she said that this was the remuneration the last person to borrow her powers owed to her.”

Mu Yao nodded. Back then when Tao Ying had implored countless patrons to no effect, he could only turn to demonic methods. He could only use the lives of his disciples and himself as the price to get the illusion demon to bestow demonic powers into the two teeth of Tao Yu. Only then could he turn a fake Sarira into a source of demonic strength.

Since the illusion demon had no way to shift her form, she also had no way to leave Jingyang Slope. The bodies and corpses of the disciples had all been brought over by Madam Shi.

“The second condition….” She paused for a moment before sneering: “The illusion demon fancied this face of mine.”

Li Zhun choked for a moment: “You….”

“Actually, to me my appearance never really mattered much.” Madam Shi raised her head to look at the roof beams. “If it could exchange for Chuchu’s life, I would just let her take it.”

“After I gave my face to the illusion demon, I could only go out and look for a new one. After walking for a long period of time along the mountain, I found a carp spirit that had just died. So, I turned its carapace into what you all see now.”

She continued while laughing, “I pretended to be a female doctor but in reality I had summoned her soul with a forbidden spell and saved Chuchu. However, the price of using this forbidden spell was extremely great, I had to give a drop of my heart blood to the one affected by the spell every day. Thus, I could only take on the title of female doctor to live temporarily at the Li residence, using my identity to cook medicine everyday for Chuchu.”

Li Zhun tightly pursed his lips, the light of desolation flickered dimly in his eyes. He seemed to have returned to his memories — There was a scar on her chest. He had asked her before but she had only said that it was a wound from when she was young….

Madam Shi looked at her own long and slender fingers.

Destiny. It was not something people could clearly define. When she had been devastatingly beautiful, she might not have gained Li Zhun’s sincere care. However, once she donned the comical and hard-to-look-at face of the carp spirit and faced the mocking laughter and pointing fingers, Li Zhun was moved by the kind and attentive manner in which she cared after Chuchu for so many days without asking for anything.

With his love, no matter how many people mocked her or made fun of her, it was all ephemeral.

“When I found out I could become Ah Zhun’s closest confidante and stay close to him, become his wife even, I swore on that day that I would love him with my life. His family would become my family. His daughter would also become my blood and flesh. When I became the female head of the family, everything in the household had to be done neatly and orderly. As long as I was there, I could ensure another day of Chuchu’s life.”

“However, my powers were far from enough to maintain such a long soul summoning spell. Thus, I could only trick Ah Zhun…. And get him to move the residence to Jingyang Slope.”

“However you didn’t know that the illusion demon had no way to put on your face. She was basically throwing a fit in anger when she placed her eyes upon the body of a young girl whose soul was only partly attached to her body. Then, nefarious thoughts sprouted from her mind.”

She had slowly turned the young girl rescued by a forbidden spell into someone that was no longer Chuchu.

Just like how a turtle dove takes the nest of a magpie, everything had flipped around silently. However, the happily newly wed couple felt nothing. They even thought that everything was perfect and that good days were ahead.

Li Zhun stood up and walked step by step to Madam Shi’s front. He crouched down. His eyes sparkled like dark gems as he looked at her face with grief, “For things that were destined to be lost, there is no way to ever keep…. Why did you go so far….”

Madam Shi smiled slightly, grief filling the depths of her eyes, “If you wanted to keep it, I would give up my life to help you keep it.”

“Preposterous.” Li Zhun laughed in a cold tone. Suddenly he rose up and turned around.

“Ah Zhun.” Madam Shi called out for him, her fingers caressed the white petal on her lapel. Her eyes were empty and void, “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve done nothing to apologize to me.” His expression was also somewhat empty.

The person before him had actually known him from 20 years ago.

She had wasted half of her life, even putting it on the line, to help create a fantasy for him.

As for him, he had lived within all this time without knowing a single thing. They had been married for five years and he didn’t know her true colors at all.

“Ah Zhun….” Madam Shi called out again, her lashes hanging low. She considered for a long time before calling out, seemingly turning all the love she could possibly muster into a single, bitter sigh, “These past five years as your wife, I can say that each and every day has been the happiest of my life.”

Li Zhun did not utter a word as he silently stood there with his hands clenched into fists.

“I’m very sorry that I deceived you.” She let out a long sigh, her gaze empty as she looked into the distance. Then, as if absolving herself, “I had too much expectations and dreamt too wonderfully. In the end, upon waking up humans and demons are just too different. Even though you and I are married, the gulf between us is still so wide….”

“Who said the gulf between us is wide?”

Li Zhun suddenly spun around and interrupted her words. His eyes were red, “When we got married, you said that you’d stay with me for a lifetime. Are you breaking your oath now?”

Madam Shi’s beautiful face suddenly lost its colors as two sparkling drops rolled down her face and stained her brightly colored lapel.

He reached out and pinched her chin with his hand. His face was lowered to stare at hers. His expression was complicated to say the least. His lips trembled but he could not feel it.

He was choking with emotions.

He felt like he had a thousand words to say but in the end, he could only say a single sentence: “Since we didn’t know each other in the past, from this day onwards, let us get to know one another again.”

“Shall we…. Madam Fei Shi?”

Author’s Note:

The crisscrossing branches of a great tree had been pulled down by someone. The bright red fruits hanging from the branches swayed along with the movement, trembling with a quiet rustle. A small hand reached out and managed to pick one with great difficulty.

The branch was too tough and despite how much he bent it, it didn’t break. Beads of sweat appeared on his back as his body lost balance.

“Ah—-” Suddenly, the area below his feet was empty and he lost his center of balance. The world seemed to spin at that moment.

After spinning around in the air he crumbled into a pile on the ground. There was a burning pain coming from his hands and knees and the morning dew adorning the soft grass tickled his face.

He flipped around and his steamed bun of a face was fuming. He stared at the sky, at the beautiful red fruit hanging so enticingly on the branch, as if it was trying to mock him.

“Aiya, young master—-” The wet nurse ran out and caused a great fuss as she rubbed his arms and legs. She asked in a sobbing tone, “Young master, did you break anything?”

He blinked his eyes at her and shook his head.

His trousers were rolled up and a layer of the skin on his knee had been scraped off. The bright red wounds were shocking to the eyes and the wet nurse sucked in a cold gasp of air, “Young master—-”

“Shhhh.” He pushed away her robust arm and carefully thought for a moment, “Don’t tell father and mother.”

The wet nurse wiped away her tears and then choked on her sobs, “Alright alright, don’t climb anymore trees alright? It’s too dangerous….”

He grinned widely at her and pointed at the tree, “Younger Sister Fang wants that red fruit.”

That younger sister’s body was very frail and weak. She could only sit in her window and stare out at the world outside. He helped her pick a few flowers to place in a vase, just so she could see them more clearly.

“She said that she was just joking, you really ah…” The eyes of the young boy in front of her were just like a pair of sparkling dark gemstones. They were innocent and pure, she could not bear to scold him anymore. “How about I go get you some medicine to apply on your wounds?”

“Mhm.”

The wet nurse had only just left when he felt something touching his leg. As soon as he lowered his head to take a look, there was a fluffy brown ball next to his leg currently holding onto his leg.

He let it pull his leg, rolling onto his side to let it take a look.

The little thing raised its head, revealing its fluffy face inlaid with a pair of beautiful, glimmering eyes. Its brows raised up and showed him the branch of vibrant red fruit in its sharp mouth.

He testily reached out to pull on the branch.

“…. Are you giving these fruits to me?”

As if it could understand human language, it released its hold on the branch and let him smoothly take the branch away. At the same time, when it let go, it licked its sharp little teeth.

He played a bit with the fruit in his hands before, admiring them greatly, “Thank you.”

The soft, fluffy little thing watched the jubilant human. He felt tempted to reach out and pat its head but it suddenly took a step back and its big fluffy tail brushed back and forth several times. It caused a soft rustling sound amongst the dried leaves. It stood at a distance to him, watching him with its head tilted to the side. It nearly felt its bright eyes were trying to convey something to him.

“Ah….. then I won’t touch you.” He retrieved his hand in disappointment. Then, he thought for a bit before turning onto his side to study its face with great focus, “Wait a bit for me ok?”

Its eyes became even brighter as he spoke, its soft ears moving animatedly. Smoothly, it laid down on the ground and stared at him without moving its gaze at all.

He ran out from the bushes and ran for almost ten minutes before returning all panting and heaving for breath. There was a big bundle of wildflowers of every color in his hand when he returned. He sat cross-legged beside the fluffball. He lowered his head as he clumsily crafted together a flower garland. He pinched and pulled so much that the flowers all wilted and his nose was covered with sweat.

“Alright—-” He gingerly placed the multicolored flower garland on its head. Soon after, he reached out to grab its soft, fluffy ears.

Its body suddenly shook as it raised its head to look at him.

“So beautiful.” The little boy laid on the grass with his hands cupping his face as he stared into its eyes. His eyes were filled with warmth and innocence. “This flower garland is for you, little sister fox.”

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TLN: Honestly this chapter made me cry while translating it. lolol. I’ve never read Twilight but I’m still gonna say that this was a better love story than Twilight hahaha. Yes, anyways how are y’all doing? I hope it’s busy busy with learning and bettering yourself and not procrastinating 🙂 I’m also starting out on this journey to better myself and I’m saying this here to give myself more pressure to stay on this path. I hope you all do as well.

Anyways, feel free to join the discord and discuss stuff with us~ we don’t bite… unless it’s Liltato, she may be a bit too hungry sometimes at night lolol 🙂