Living Up to You

Chapter 29

The next day, Cang Yu arrived as scheduled. When Ling Xi heard that, she breathed from relief and rushed to Red Cinnabar hall. Before, she entered the hall, she saw Qing Kui, Qing Lian and Qing Nian standing outside the door. Besides them, there was Hongluan and the ten stars of Hongluan.

“Where is master?”

While Ling Xi was asking, she wanted to rush into the hall, but was stopped by Hongluan, “High-tiered deity Donghua and priest Qing Yu are discussing important matters. Asking miss Ling Xi to please wait outside.”

Ling Xi was in a rush, but when she saw Qing Kui purse his lips at her helplessly and Qing Lian shook her head, she had to leave it be.

The sun shone into Red Cinnabar hall.

In the rising spiral of green, Cang Yu’s face was pale

The wrinkles on his forehead looked more prominent because he had gotten thinner. He held Qingxu staff, but his back was still crooked. He looked very tired.

High-tiered deity Donghua still rested in the couch and looked at him with a smile that was not yet a smile, “This deity didn’t expect that priest is such a sentimental person and would rather hurt yourself for the sake of your disciple…”

Cang Yu coughed twice before he slowly said, “It was because of this that Qing Yu was unable to personally come to Donghua Mountain to see high-tiered deity. Please forgive this humble one.”

When Cang Yu was only a small disciple of the immortal realm, high-tiered deity Donghua was already a well-known high-tiered deity. Therefore, even though he had become a supremo for more than a thousand years, he still respected high-tiered deity Donghua.

High-tiered deity Donghua chuckled, “Did you bring the other pair of the silver mirror?”

Cang Yu’s expression changed slightly and frowned. After a long while, he smiled bitterly, “High-tiered deity obviously knows that ever since the day the gods fell onto my Cangjia Mountain, that there had only been one silver mirror. These past few days, I tried my best to find the other pair of the silver mirror in the six realms, but haven’t found it. There is also no record in the ancient books.”

High-tiered deity Donghua spread out his hand, “Since that is the case, then, don’t blame me. This deity is powerless on Feng Shu’s matter.”

Cang Yu’s mouth twitched and hurriedly said, “Qing Yu had pondered about it for a while. Perhaps, one way will do.”

“Really?” High-tiered deity Donghua raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

Cang Yu was silent for another while and said in a low voice, “Using the fresh blood of the soul in the mirror as the attraction to offer to the person he cares about. Perhaps the soul in the mirror would be stirred up, forcing him to break out of the mirror.”

“Haha…” High-tiered deity Donghua laughed out loud. The corners of his eyes were full of color, “How can you get Feng Shu’s fresh blood? And who is the person he cares about?”

Cang Yu said in a deep voice, “High-tiered deity should’ve long seen that Ling Xi’s soul is actually incomplete.”

“That is right.” High-tiered deity Donghua’s brow raised slightly, “It is rare for you, the good master to be willing to lose your cultivation and blood to supplement her soul.”

Cang Yu shook his head and smiled bitterly, “It wasn’t me who was the initial one to supplement Ling Xi’s soul.”

He raised his head. His face showed that he had been through many ups and down and his expression was full of sorrow, “It took three years for Feng Shu to mend her three immortal parts and seven mortal parts. The one immortal part and four mortal parts hasn’t integrated yet in her own soul when a blow of mine…”

Cang Yu closed his eyes to conceal the remorse. After a long time, he had calmed down, he said, “I just spent some effort to let her three immortal parts and seven mortal parts merge as soon as possible.”

“This effort…has presumable damaged more than a thousand years of your cultivation, right?”

Cang Yu didn’t answer and continued to speak, “Therefore, Ling Xi’s blood contains Feng Shu’s blood. Feng Shu died for her, so naturally, she must be the one he cares about.”

High-tiered deity Donghua chuckled, “It took you a thousand year of cultivation to get the healthy and active Ling Xi of today. Seeing her quick growth after the battle in the netherworld and the Eastern Sea, you have the heart to…?”

“So, asking high-tiered deity to leave room for a leeway when you cast the spell.” Cang Yu knelt on the ground and bowed, “If this method is not successful, high-tiered deity must retrieve the spell in time. Qing Yu doesn’t want another disciple to lose her life because of a disciple.”

“This deity has also thought about the method you mentioned.” High-tiered deity Donghua yawned, “Unfortunately…Ling Xi’s immortal spirit is very powerful. I don’t want to be beaten to death by this immortal spirit while I am casting the spell and I also don’t want to let my Donghua Mountain’s tens of thousand years foundation to be ruined by this one person.”

The people who didn’t know about Nan Zhi’s existence naturally were puzzled about the disappearance of the evil spirits at the Eastern Sea. However, Cang Yu and high-tiered deity Donghua knew very well that no matter if it was Ling Xi or Qing Kui and Qing Lian who were still at the bottom of the sea at that moment and even with their two immortal spirits, it would be impossible for them to wipe the evil spirits from existence before they had escaped from the Eastern Sea.

It was proper and to be expected that an immortal spirit would protect its owner. However, with the immortal spirit being so powerful, it was truly unforeseen what he would to in a moment of right and evil.

“During the cast of the spell, Cang Yu and Cangjia’s disciple would restrain the immortal spirit without damaging a bit of Donghua!” Cang Yu said in a deep voice.

High-tiered deity Donghua smiled again. Glister flickered in his eyes, “Very well.”

—

Ling Xi and the others stood quietly outside of Red Cinnabar hall. Not long after, Cang Qu also came, but the door of the hall showed no sighs of opening.

“Ling Xi, come in.”

When she suddenly heard Cang Yu’s thick shout, Ling Xi quivered. After she exchanged a glance with everyone, she entered the hall.

There was only two people inside the hall. Cang Yu sat on the seat for guests. High-tiered deity Donghua lay lazily on the main seat. Ling Xi first paid her respects to master and then she greeted high-tiered deity Donghua, but she didn’t look directly at him and had her eyes lowered.

For a while, no one spoke. Ling Xi couldn’t hold it anymore and looked at Cang Yu. Seeing that he looked so old and weak, her heart palpitated.

Cang Yu coughed twice and told her what they had discussed just now.

Ling Xi didn’t get the situation yet when Nan Zhi coldly said to her, “No.”

“This will definitely not harm you.” Cang Yu couldn’t hear the conversation between Nan Zhi and Ling Xi in her heart and said sadly, “Even if Feng Shu can’t come back, this master would compensate your lost energy.”

At worst, he would replay her with another thousand year of cultivation.

“No!”

Nan Zhi still refused. Ling Xi said silently, “Keep quiet, Nan Zhi.”

“Are you willing?” Cang Yu asked her.

Ling Xi was about to answer when the Chinese rose in her hair began to stir.

The temperature inside Red Cinnabar hall suddenly fell as if a strong wind of the winter had blown in. Cang Yu naturally felt it and frowned. High-tiered deity Donghua just sat quietly and had a look that he would just watch a play.

“Nan Zhi! If…if you come out, I, I will ignore you!” Ling Xi panicked.

“Let him come out.” Cang Yu sighed as if he had heard what they were saying.

Ling Xi’s eyes flickered. It was apparent that she was hesitating.

“We won’t hurt him,” Cang Yu said.

Only now did Ling Xi call Nan Zhi to let him appear. The moment Nan Zhi appeared, he caught Ling Xi wrist and pulled her behind him. His eyes swept over Cang Yu and high-tiered deity Donghua like a dagger.

“Ling Xi, this master asks you once more. Are you willing?”

“I don’t agree,” Nan Zhi said coldly.

Cang Yu’s face sank, “As an immortal spirit, you should abide to your role and listen to what your owner has to say!”

No one knew where the sunlight in the hall had hidden itself. Inside the darkness was a murderous aura. Ling Xi tightly held Nan Zhi’s hand and pulled him back. At the same time, she knelt and said, “Ling Xi’s life had been given by eldest senior brother and eldest senior lost his life because of me. Using Ling Xi’s blood to save eldest senior brother is the right thing to do. Ling Xi has no right to say whether I am willing or not.”

Nan Zhi didn’t look at Ling Xi. The coldness of his whole body was unabated. One hand held Ling Xi’s hand and the other was clenched into a fist as if he was holding himself back very hard to be able to not speak and not take action.

“I only ask if you are willing.” Cang Yu swept once over Nan Zhi and then looked at Ling Xi.

Ling Xi raised her head and faced Nan Zhi. There was currying favor, pleading and unspoken emotions in that glance. However, after that glance, all the emotions turned calm and only firmness remained in her eyes.

“Most willing to do so.”

The hand that Nan Zhi used to hold Ling Xi trembled suddenly. He flicked away her hand in anger, turned and left. Ling Xi hurriedly got up and shouted, “Nan Zhi!”

Nan Zhi had already opened the door of Red Cinnabar hall.

The sunlight poured in, locking the dignified figure at the door.

Nan Zhi faced Ling Xi with his back. His back was firm and cold as if it was carved by a dagger. Also the coldness and the murderous aura of the blade seemed to have been left there. He turned around imposingly. The transparent light of the sunlight climbed on his pale cheeks, but it couldn’t get into his deep black eyes.

“Nan Zhi, I swear that we will leave after today.” Ling Xi said silently to him in her heart, “It’s the last time. Nan Zhi, listen to me.”

Nan Zhi didn’t react and only looked at Ling Xi. His eyes were dark and his lips were in a thin line. The next moment, he turned and left.

Ling Xi couldn’t read any of his emotions. She just looked at the back that was still cold under the sunlight. She felt her heart ache.

He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know what was right and what was evil. He didn’t know what was good and what was bad. He didn’t know what Cangjia Mountain was. He didn’t know what eldest senior brother represented. He also didn’t know what harboring guilt was. He did what she liked and didn’t touch what she didn’t like. Whoever who hurt her, he would hurt him ten times more. Whoever wanted her life, he would let him be wiped out of existence.

In his world, there had only been her.

The place where high-tiered deity Donghua went to cast the spell was on the top of the main peak of Donghua Mountain. Unlike the verdant and lush greenery of the entire Donghua Mountain, nothing grew on the peak and birds couldn’t be heard. There was only the sound of the wind that blew through the clothes.

There was a pagoda at the top of the peak. It had seven floors. It wasn’t high, but it looked very solemn. When Ling Xi went there, the sun had just climbed to the top of the tower. The black and white tiles gleamed under the sunlight and pierced her eyes, making them hurt.

Before entering the pagoda, Cang Yu patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t be afraid. Nothing will go wrong.”

Ling Xi nodded and calmly followed high-tiered deity Donghua into the pagoda. When the door of the pagoda was about to close, she suddenly turned back and said, “Master, if Nan Zhi come back, master has to be merciful.”

The heavy door of the pagoda closed and concealed the surprise and slightly trembling lips of Cang Yu.

Ling Xi didn’t know what this pagoda was used for, but the moment the pagoda door closed, she felt cold. So cold that it was bone piercing. The cold crawled across the skin and dived into the bottom of her heart. There was no light in the pagoda. There was only the burning of the candles. The light of the red candles rose higher, but it didn’t bring much warmth.

The red candles were in seven circles, leaving an empty space in the middle.

“Sit down.” As soon as they entered the pagoda, high-tiered deity Donghua miraculously stopped smiling. At this time, he only made Ling Xi sat in the open space among the candles.

Ling Xi did as he said. As soon as she sat down, she smelled a strange smell. It seemed to come from the candles.

At the same time, high-tiered deity Donghua gently tossed. The silver mirror hung in the air and began to rotate. However, this time, it didn’t bring in much wind. It just rotated gently and became the height of half a human.

Ling Xi’s heartbeat gradually accelerated. She looked at the silver mirror without blinking in hope to see Feng Shu’s figure like the last time. However, only the candlelight reflected in the smooth mirror. They were burning and jumping.

“Clear you mind, close your eyes, let the blood flow out,” High-tiered deity Donghua said quietly.

Ling Xi quickly took a deep breath and suppressed her heartbeat. She took out a dagger, gritted her teeth and cut her right wrist. Then, she closed her eyes and meditated.

The strange fragrance around her became stronger and stronger and even covered the smell of the blood on her hand. Ling Xi could clearly feel her blood flow out and could almost hear the sound of the slow flow. At the same time, she also noticed a force lift the blood from the ground.

Time passed slowly. The flow of the blood didn’t stop and seemed to become faster and faster. Ling Xi’s wrist also became more and more painful. Her body also seemed to be hollowed out and became lighter and lighter. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the piercing pain. She silently shouted eldest senior brother. Her head was filled with his face, his white clothes and his warm palm.

The first time he saved her was near the Eastern Sea. It was as if he fell down from the moon in his white clothes. The second time he saved her was at Cangjia’s water prison. Anger was burning in his eyes then. The third time he saved her was at Dimai Peak. He used his soul as a shield, causing his soul to scatter and disperse. He didn’t tire to teach her spells and showed her the blooming and falling of flowers. He asked her if she would always stay by his side…

Ling Xi’s memories were interrupted repeatedly by the sharp pain. Every muscle and bone in her body was shouting from pain. There seemed to be something gradually peeling from her body. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear the cracking sound of the separation of the flesh from the bones.

“Xi er…”

- Er: term of endearment

Ling Xi was overjoyed when she heard the familiar call. She didn’t expect that the next sentence would be… “Quickly escape.”

Quickly escape.

These two words tore off the last nerve that was barely supporting Ling Xi. She opened her eyes. Her eyes were filled with blood.

She saw the burning of the red candles with tears. She saw her blood floating in the air in a strange way. The silver light emitted from the silver mirror, but there was not even the shadow of Feng Shu inside the mirror. There was only the reflection of the fire and blood. Between the silver mirror and her was a long sword. The hilt was smooth and the blade sharp. Her blood spun around the long sword and disappeared in the sword body.

The peeling pain didn’t disappear. Ling Xi looked at high-tiered deity Donghua flabbergasted. She saw a cinnabar mole on his forehead that seemed to be emitting a bloody light. His lips kept chanting a spell and stopped when she looked at him. He suddenly opened his eyes. Fire seemed to be burning in his eyes.

The pain suddenly disappeared. Ling Xi wanted to ask what was going on, but she was unable to speak. She only saw high-tiered deity Donghua smile alluringly, “I have been discovered. Unfortunately…it is too late.”

After having said that, he began to chant a spell again. The pain started again. Ling Xi could clearly feel something leaving her body. It seemed to be like a part of her soul…

Right. It was a part her soul. One of her immortal part was being pulled away!

Ling Xi stared at that face that she never dared to look directly at. He didn’t close his eyes and met her gaze. There was a smile at the corner of his mouth while he chanted the spell. Such a familiar face, such a familiar smile. No matter how she endured, tears came out.

“Big brother…,” Ling Xi squeezed out these two words from her throat.

It was obviously the same face. Obviously he had spoiled her, obviously they relied on each other in the past. Why didn’t he remember her now? Why did he lie to her now? Why did he want to take her immortal part?

Ling Xi cried as she tried to resist, but she couldn’t even move a finger. The pain on her body worsened. The candles around her burned and crackled. The blood floating in the air became less and less. Blackness appeared in front of Ling Xi’s eyes. The sharp tinnitus in her ear almost pierced her eardrum. For a moment, she couldn’t think at all and only felt that her body was so light that it could be blown away by the wind in the next moment.

However, she was still in this world after all.

A cloud of white smoke hovered over her head. It looked like Chen Xi who she had seen at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. It floated and went to the long sword. Then, it disappeared into the sword body.

The power that bound Ling Xi suddenly disappeared. The blood in the air had long been sucked by the long sword. The candles returned to normal. All strength seemed to have been drained from Ling Xi. She collapsed on the ground.

High-tiered deity Donghua’s red clothes mopped the floor. He approached Ling Xi with a satisfied smile. He lowered his body. His five fingers touched her wrist. The flow of the blood stopped and the wound healed.

“Enough…?” Ling Xi sneered. She would never expect this person to be her big brother again.

High-tiered deity Donghua’s eyes curved, “Of course…not enough.”

Ling Xi gasped on the ground. She closed her eyes slightly and let him take advantage of her.

“However, since I have taken a part of your soul, I should compensate you with something.” Under the dim candlelight, high-tiered deity Donghua’s smile was very dazzling.

He gathered his five fingers and issued a spell. A faint white light appeared on his fingers. He blew it gently. The white light floated gently to Ling Xi and entered her forehead.

“The present this deity gave you. Keep it well.”

In the chaos, Ling Xi gradually lost her consciousness when she heard such a sentence.

The sky was blue and full of colorful clouds. The red round face of the sun slowly fell into the west. The radiant world was far away and quiet. On the hill facing the sunset, a woman pulled up her long sleeve, swept the stone behind her and sat down.

Ling Xi was once familiar with such a beautiful sunset, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before. Until she heard that a woman whisper quietly, “The sunset of Cangjia Mountain is the most beautiful among the six realms.”

Ling Xi suddenly realized, yes, this is the sunset of Cangjia Mountain. Senior brother Qing Kui had once said that the sunset of Cangjia Mountain was the most beautiful among the six realms.”

The woman continued to say, “I think, this is the last time that I will see the crimson sunset. A bit later, Nan Zhi will come pick me up. We will go to the peak of Cangjia Mountain to meet this yin month.”

Ling Xi thought that she heard it wrong. Nan Zhi?

“Nan Zhi is the man I love deeply. Once he was a deity, now he is a devil. Once he slept for ten thousand years. It was me who woke him up.”

Ling Xi wanted to step forward to see the woman’s face, but she found out that she couldn’t get close no matter what. It happened that the woman turned around and smiled slightly at her, “I’m a 397th generation disciple of Cangjia sect.”

At that moment, Ling Xi felt dizzy.

Cangjia’s disciple of the 397th generation. She also is. Also, every movement and smile and even the voice was no different from hers!

In the next moment, Ling Xi seemed to be alive in the woman’s body. They breathed together, looked at the world together, feeling what she (woman) was thinking in her heart and feeling the pain she was feeling in her heart.

She was taken away by Nan Zhi with the woman. She saw the ruined Cangjia Mountain with her. She smelled the blood of master, junior uncles, senior brothers and senior sisters with her. She heard Nan Zhi speak with her, “Today…you must die.”

At that moment, Ling Xi and that woman no longer distinguished from each other.

That sentence kept repeating in her heart…

Because I and the woman he loves looks exactly the same.

Because I and the woman he loves looks exactly the same.

Because I and the woman he loves looks exactly the same.

Because she and the woman he loves looked exactly the same, he guarded her soul and protected her body just to drive away her soul out of that body that didn’t belong to her and to summon the soul of the woman he loves back.

The woman that Nan Zhi loves is called Chen Xi, not Ling Xi.

She stood on the top of Cangjia Mountain. The wind was violent.

She looked greedily at Nan Zhi, wanting to take a few more looks. However, she couldn’t see his expression clearly. She saw in trance how Nan Zhi raised the sword. The sharp tip of the sword pierced her forehead. Blood covered her eyes, but she could still see her soul being scattered in the sky like the heavy snow falling in the winter.

Sorrow seeped in her heart, pain seeped into her bones.

It was not the piercing pain on her forehead, nor was it the pain of her blood flowing out or the pain of her soul being torn. It was the pain of every hope turned to dusts.

The woman who had spent three lifetimes with the man she (LX) loves and who was deeply rooted in his bones was not her.

The woman who was ingrained in the man she loves and who he had pledged his life to was not her.

“You looked somewhat familiar. It is actually a ten thousand year old skin…hahaha…

“Little Xi! You have finally came to see me!”

“Then, remember well. My name is Ming Sheng. We already know each other thirteen thousand years ago.”

“My name is Chen Xi. Your name is Ling Xi. You are the first person I saw in so many years. Keke… we are so fated!”

Those people’s voices kept circling in her head. Ling Xi felt dead in her heart. She didn’t want to listen anymore. Consciousness gradually faded, but cold cries were at the end of the darkness.

“Ling Xi.”

“Ling Xi.”

“Ling Xi.”

Who was calling her? So familiar, yet so full of despair.

Ling Xi suddenly woke up from the chaos. She opened her eyes. She saw the burning candles, the rotating sword and the mirror that reflected everything. In trance, she didn’t know where she was. The tears in her eyes seemed to be endless. The pain in her heart also hasn’t dissipated. She only saw the sunlight shine through the big door inside this dark place. Outside of the door the man in red and the man in black were fighting.

“Ling Xi.” The man in black met her eyes and shouted at her eagerly. He got away from the man in red and approached her quickly.

Ling Xi’s whole body froze.

There was blood on the ground outside of the door. There were a few people lying in the blood. From their figures, it could be seen that they were Qing Kui, Qing Lian and Qing Nian. Cang Yu was on the ground at a side and clutching his chest. There was blood on the corner of his mouth.

Nan Zhi who was running to Ling Xi had a murderous aura around him. His black clothes were stained with blood and there were a few blood stains at the corner of his eyes, making him appear particularly devilish.

Ling Xi seemed to see that scene again. The ruined Cangjia Mountain. The scarlet blood, the eerier bones, the cold tip of the sword, the scattered soul, the bone-piercing pain and that sentence, “Today, you must die.”

“Go away!” Ling Xi felt that her whole body felt the pain of being torn again. She backed away in horror and shouted, “I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to see you…”

Nan Zhi stopped. Disbelief appeared on his always expressionless face. He was in disbelief that he saw fear and…disgust in Ling Xi’s eyes.

“Ling Xi, it’s me. Nan Zhi,” Nan Zhi spoke cautiously.

When Ling Xi heard this name, she retreated faster. She didn’t feel pain when the candle fell on her hand. Tears fell from her eyes. She shook her head and said, “Go away. I don’t want to see you…I don’t want to see Nan Zhi.”

“Ling Xi…,” Nan Zhi’s voice suddenly turned hoarse, but he still tried to approach Ling Xi.

Ling Xi’s eyes were red and swollen. She kept retreating and cried, “I don’t want Nan Zhi anymore. I won’t want Nan Zhi ever again…I don’t want to see you ever again in this life…”

Nan Zhi froze and fell silent. He just stood there at the junction between the sunlight and the darkness. One side faced the sun. He was so pale that he appeared transparent. The other side was buried in the darkness. No expression could be seen.

Ling Xi slowly calmed down and gradually regained her consciousness.

At this time, a fiery red light beam hit Nan Zhi fast. In a blink of an eye, the man in black turned into a black Chinese rose and surrounded by a fiery red light. The next moment, the petals of the Chinese rose withered. Then, the red light surrounded the long sword in front of silver mirror. It went into the sword body. No traces were left.

Ling Xi’s eyes widened. With a “bang” her head completely awakened.

The sun outside of the pagoda was still brilliant. Cang Yu came over step by step with his crooked back.

The candlelight in the pagoda had gone dim. The smile of high-tiered deity Donghua was still dazzling under the candlelight.

A lantern rolled slowly on the ground. It was a paper lantern depicting a young girl with bright eyes. She leaned on a person’s shoulder and looked smilingly at the sea of lotuses. Soon, the lantern rolled to the red candles. The rising flame slowly engulfed the sea of lotuses and the two people who depended on each other.

Besides the lantern, a waist ornament also fell from the Chinese rose. The fine workmanship sculpted a small turtle perfectly. It lay quietly on the ground.

Ling Xi sat among the candles. She sat there blankly like this and stared motionless at the burning lantern.

Lantern.

Gone.

Chinese rose.

Gone.

Nan Zhi.

Gone.