Chapter 37#
State of Mind#
The two of them stood under a single umbrella. Lu Yan could see the smile on Yin Yuheng’s face, along with the coldness and scrutiny deep within his gaze.
The heavy rain separated them from the rest of the world. At this moment, Lu Yan suddenly felt very close to Yin Yuheng.
“Lu Yan, I’ve said before, I’m not as good as you imagine,” Yin Yuheng’s smile gradually faded, “I’m actually…”
He wanted to say, I’m actually not as gentle and kind as you think; that arrow I shot at you back then was a deliberate calculation on my part. But just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a faint crying sound, very thin and light.
Yin Yuheng frowned: “Is there a child crying?”
He looked left and right and grabbed Lu Yan’s wrist: “This way.”
Lu Yan held the umbrella over his head: “Be careful, the ground is slippery.”
Turning a street corner, a small figure was huddled under the eaves. It was a little girl of eight or nine years old, covered in mud and crying very sorrowfully.
Before Lu Yan could speak, Yin Yuheng had already sighed, knelt down halfway, and said softly: “Little sister, why are you here alone?”
The little girl timidly raised her head and took a look at Yin Yuheng. Perhaps because Yin Yuheng was too good-looking and his voice was so gentle, the little girl sniffled and began to speak.
“It rained, I, I got lost and can’t find my aunt… wuwu, I’ll never run around blindly again…”
“Aunt?” Yin Yuheng wiped the mud from the little girl’s face, “Where is your home?”
The little girl hugged her legs and said in a small voice: “In the charity house in Baining Lane…”
Yin Yuheng was stunned for a moment, his brow and eyes softening even further: “Alright, brother knows. Brother will take you home.”
Yin Yuheng reached out his hand to the little girl, but she hesitated and sobbed: “Aunt said I can’t go with strangers… bad people will catch children and sell them…”
Yin Yuheng burst into laughter: “Do you think brother looks like a bad person?”
“…No.” The little girl shook her head seriously. She timidly wanted to touch Yin Yuheng’s hand but saw his clean palm. She looked at the mud on her fingertips and hurriedly withdrew her hand, wanting to wipe it on her clothes, but her hand was caught.
Yin Yuheng gripped her hand and said with a light smile: “Let’s go. Brother’s health isn’t good, I can’t carry you—otherwise, how about letting this brother next to me carry you back?”
Lu Yan held the umbrella with one hand and, hearing Yin Yuheng’s words, extended his arm.
The little girl shook her head and struggled to stand up: “I can walk. Aunt says I’m very strong and don’t need anyone to carry me.”
Yin Yuheng pulled her under the umbrella and smiled: “Is that so? Just how strong are you?”
The little girl stopped crying and said proudly: “I can understand cultivation books! Aunt says I have cultivation talent; as long as I work hard, I can definitely become very strong in the future!”
“Cultivation talent?” Yin Yuheng looked at her, his eyes curving slightly, “Truly impressive.”
The little girl puffed out her small chest.
Lu Yan held the umbrella for the big and small ones, and upon hearing this, said gently: “Cultivation isn’t easy; work hard.”
“I know,” the little girl said with a serious expression, “Aunt says we are all children no one wants; fortunately, His Highness the Crown Prince is here, so we have the chance to cultivate. So we must work very hard!”
Lu Yan was slightly startled and turned to look at Yin Yuheng.
Yin Yuheng was also stunned: “His Highness the Crown Prince?”
The little girl nodded vigorously: “His Highness the Crown Prince is exceptionally amazing. Aunt says he established the twelve charity houses in Chaoge, so children like us without parents have a home and can see cultivation books. Before the Immortal-Promotion Decree, those books weren’t shown to us!”
“Aunt also led us to set up a longevity plaque for His Highness the Crown Prince, saying it can bless him with safety and peace, and His Highness will also bless us,” the little girl said, then suddenly smiled bashfully. “I just got lost and was very scared, so I silently recited ‘His Highness the Crown Prince bless me’ in my heart.”
Yin Yuheng coughed lightly. Lu Yan looked at him with a smile in his eyes, leaned slightly closer to him, and lowered his voice: “Charity houses? Immortal-Promotion Decree?”
“…”
“His Highness the Crown Prince will bless you,” Yin Yuheng ignored Lu Yan and raised his hand to rub the little girl’s hair, his voice soft and slow. “He will protect many people.”
The little girl nodded vigorously and added: “Many people will also protect him!”
While Yin Yuheng was in a daze, the little girl pointed her hand at the tiled house ahead: “Big brother, I’ve arrived! Aunt is there too!”
A woman was standing under the tiled roof, looking around anxiously.
Yin Yuheng let go: “Go on.”
The little girl ran a few steps happily, then suddenly stopped and turned back to Yin Yuheng’s side.
Yin Yuheng was somewhat puzzled: “You…”
“Thank you, big brother,” the little girl’s eyes were bright, and she stood on tiptoe and whispered, “You are also a very good person, as good as His Highness the Crown Prince! You must be healthy and live to be a hundred… a thousand years old! Ten thousand years old!”
Yin Yuheng slowly blinked his eyes.
After finishing, the little girl hurriedly turned around and ran toward the tiled house. She happily threw herself into the woman’s arms: “Aunt! I’ll never run around blindly again. A big brother just brought me back…”
The woman hugged her with surprise and looked up, but saw only the empty street.
While the woman was puzzled, the little girl ran into the room. In the very center was a longevity plaque. The little girl carefully washed her hands and cherishedly wiped it.
She lowered her head, closed her eyes, and said in her heart: “I accidentally got lost today, fortunately a big brother brought me back. I hope His Highness the Crown Prince is safe and peaceful, and the big brother should also be healthy. I will work hard so that in the future I can be like His Highness and the big brother, helping many people!”
The little girl made her small wish. Invisible power of vows silently merged into the unceasingly turning Heavenly Dao. In this city, and even in the entire Li Dynasty, how many people in this rainy day were softly reciting the name of His Highness the Crown Prince?
The rain around them had become very, very light; in a short while, the dark clouds would dissipate. The puddles on the bluestone road reflected the willow branches by the roadside, and a damp wind brushed against their cheeks. Soon, people would return to the streets, and Chaoge City would regain its former liveliness.
*
The rain stopped. When Yin Yuheng and Lu Yan returned to the Eastern Palace, they put away the umbrella.
Yin Yuheng’s steps were light, and Lu Yan looked at him with a smile: “His Highness the Crown Prince is in a very good mood?”
Yin Yuheng stood in the courtyard, leisurely gazing at the plantains and green bamboo washed extremely green by the rain.
“Finding that what I’ve done has meaning naturally makes me very happy.” Yin Yuheng gave a frank smile. “I am, after all, the Crown Prince of the Li Dynasty. There is more to life than just romance and sentiment… I can help many people, and it won’t be in vain for me to have come to this world.”
He suddenly turned his head, his gaze exceptionally bright as he looked at Lu Yan.
“A-Yan, I know you’ve been worried about me.”
“Actually, you don’t need to be so worried… I know what I’m doing and I know where I’m going. I know I’ll encounter many things I’m unwilling to do, and perhaps I’ll get hurt… but I will never give up, and I will never drift with the current or submit to fate. If fate treads me into the valley, I will step on fate to climb out.”
“I have my responsibilities, and I will keep going.”
Yin Yuheng’s voice was clear as the wind blew his robes. The sky after the rain was as clear as green jade. The youth stood in the light of the sky with a faint smile on his face.
At this moment, Lu Yan suddenly felt the surge of spiritual power around them and a marvelous Dao resonance. He was somewhat surprised: “A sign of breaking through a realm? It should be that your cultivation has improved, but your spiritual platform is clearly…”
“The spiritual platform is damaged, but the state of mind has arrived. And…”
“I’ll tell you a secret. Although I learn the sword, the Dao I cultivate is not the Dao of the Sword.”
Yin Yuheng chuckled.
“I am of the Li Dynasty imperial family. At the age of seven, I ascended the Star-Plucking Terrace and observed the dynasty’s providence to enter the Dao.”
“—As long as the human race is not extinguished, my Dao will not be destroyed.”
Amidst Lu Yan’s dazed gaze, Yin Yuheng looked up and met the boundless long sky.
… …
Yuanming Pavilion was still a place of magnificent splendor.
“You’re asking me where there are Azure Dragon Branches?” Shen Fengxiu poured himself a cup of tea and took a look at Li Guanghan before him. “Azure Dragon Branches can regulate spiritual veins and nourish the spiritual platform; they are extremely rare and hard to find.”
“As long as they can be found, Sect Master Shen only needs to state the price.” Li Guanghan was expressionless.
“Looking for them for your little disciple again?” Shen Fengxiu said mockingly.
Li Guanghan’s face fell, his gaze slightly sharp: “…Looking for them for Yuheng.”
The hand with which Shen Fengxiu held his teacup paused. He slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze full of amusement and mockery.
“So Lord State Preceptor still remembers he has an eldest disciple.”
Li Guanghan closed his eyes: “You only need to tell me where there are Azure Dragon Branches.”
Shen Fengxiu gave a cold laugh: “Five years ago, there was news of an Azure Dragon Branch in Lizhou. I remember Lord State Preceptor was traveling the world back then and seemed to have been to Lizhou as well?”
“I have; I indeed heard about the Azure Dragon Branch there,” Li Guanghan said in a deep voice. “It was just that I was close to a breakthrough at the time and it wasn’t convenient to draw my sword, so I didn’t go looking for it.”
“Then finding an Azure Dragon Branch now is probably not easy.” Shen Fengxiu put down his teacup, his voice indifferent, as if even a few more words were bothersome. “I will keep an eye out.”
Li Guanghan nodded and got up to leave. Just before he stepped out the door, he suddenly heard Shen Fengxiu’s mocking voice from behind: “Lord State Preceptor, do you regret it now?”
Li Guanghan’s steps paused slightly; he said nothing and continued walking out the door.
Do you regret it?
He once thought he wouldn’t regret it…
But now, he found it was far more than just regret.
Li Guanghan pursed his lips and looked down at his wrist.
The Azure Dragon Branch couldn’t be found in a short time… yet Yuheng’s injury couldn’t be delayed any longer.
He no longer hesitated, took out his sword, and made a cut on his left wrist. The flesh split open instantly, and blood surged out, dripping down his fingers.
Does it hurt?
…Back then, when he was pierced in the heart and blood was taken, Yin Yuheng was far more in pain than he was now.
Li Guanghan’s face was tense, and he didn’t make a sound.
It was a mistake he had made, destined to be returned one by one. All the pain, he had to endure. What right did he have to cry out in pain?
*
In Yuanming Pavilion, Shen Fengxiu watched Li Guanghan’s departing figure, let out a sneer, and thought that if it weren’t for Yuheng, who would be willing to deal with you.
With a sigh, Shen Fengxiu nonetheless began to prepare to inquire about news of the Azure Dragon Branch.
Just as he was about to give the instructions, he suddenly thought of something—something he had just overlooked.
“The Azure Dragon Branch appeared in Lizhou five years ago… Li Guanghan passed by but didn’t take it because he was close to a breakthrough and it wasn’t convenient to draw his sword…”
Shen Fengxiu’s gaze darkened slightly.
He was on good terms with Yin Yuheng and had heard the other talk about being saved by Li Guanghan back then, and also knew that this was the origin of the other’s wholehearted infatuation. If he remembered correctly, it was precisely five years ago, in Lizhou…
But back then Li Guanghan couldn’t draw his sword; how could he save anyone?
Shen Fengxiu was silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up and instructed: “Prepare a visiting card; I am going to the palace tomorrow.”