Chapter 42#
Picking Flowers#
Hearing Li Guanghan’s words, Yin Yuheng raised his eyes in slight surprise, seeing the other man’s almost humble posture.
Once, Yin Yuheng had also gazed at Li Guanghan. Upon the high platform, the Penglai Sword Sovereign of the Transformation Stage stood with his sword. Yin Yuheng looked at him and felt as if he saw a vast expanse of wind and snow.
Exalted and aloof, heartless and cold.
Such a heartless person was the one he had devoted himself to for many years. Unfortunately, no matter how much he gave, all he got in return was hypocrisy when he was tricked into giving his heart’s blood. When he was tired and disappointed and turned to leave, the other person suddenly refused to let go, putting on an act of deep affection and righteousness.
Yin Yuheng curled his lips, feeling both sorrowful and ridiculous.
“No need,” Yin Yuheng said, lowering his eyes.
He was afraid A-Yan would find it disgusting.
Yin Yuheng didn’t say this out loud, but Li Guanghan understood.
Li Guanghan felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His throat felt sweet with blood, and he almost coughed it up. Yin Yuheng loathed him to such an extent that he didn’t even have the right to try to compensate or protect him.
But even with his dignity trampled underfoot, Li Guanghan couldn’t say a single word in defense.
“Yuheng, you can’t bleed anymore…” Li Guanghan pleaded in a low voice, “It will worsen your injuries.”
“It’s fine,” Yin Yuheng said indifferently.
Li Guanghan opened his mouth and stood there in a daze.
Yin Yuheng sighed softly. Before turning to leave, he suddenly said softly, “If you truly like someone, how can it be just because of the grace of a single sword strike?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but in Li Guanghan’s ears, it sounded like a drumbeat.
It wasn’t until Yin Yuheng disappeared that Li Guanghan arched his back, letting out an unbearable muffled groan and low panting. In front of Yin Yuheng, he had desperately suppressed the demonic energy in his body, and his internal organs felt like they were being torn apart. The surrounding little Daoist boys had already avoided him from a distance, leaving him to go crazy alone.
Yuheng… his Yuheng.
Yin Yuheng had once admired him, not only because he had mistaken him for his savior, but also because in Yin Yuheng’s heart, he was a teacher who cared about the common people and had superb swordsmanship. If he had been willing to be even a little gentle to Yuheng during those five years and hadn’t treated him so cruelly, would things be different now?
A expression that looked like both crying and laughing appeared on Li Guanghan’s cold face. He tried to stand straight, his mind full of chaotic thoughts: Yuheng finds him disgusting and refuses to use the Underworld Flower he picked. But what about Yuheng’s body? He had to find a way…
Li Guanghan stumbled along aimlessly. Occasionally, he looked up and saw the high and unfathomable sky.
Heaven’s will has always been hard to question. In his life, perhaps he had never transcended this ridiculous fate.
*
After Yin Yuheng settled everything, he prepared to head to the Demon Realm.
Yin Yuheng had once represented the Li Dynasty on a mission to the Demon Realm. Considering etiquette and pomp, the journey took a full three months. Now that it was an emergency, neither Lu Yan nor the court situation allowed him to delay for so long.
Yin Yuheng finally chose the Star-Plucking Platform.
The Star-Plucking Platform was a forbidden area of the Imperial City and the center of the Great Array. The spiritual energy spreading from the heart of the array not only covered the entire Chaoge but even connected with the spiritual veins of the mortal world. Through this formation, one could reach most places in the world—thousands of miles away in an instant.
However, the Great Array of the Star-Plucking Platform could only determine the general direction. Where exactly one would be sent after the formation was activated was a risky matter. Unless it was a last resort, Yin Yuheng wouldn’t choose this method.
Yin Yuheng stood in the center of the Star-Plucking Platform without much hesitation. He glanced indifferently at the mountains and rivers carved on the ground and walked towards the position of the Ghost River.
The scenery before him changed instantly. Gloomy black clouds covered the fields, and a damp chill clung to his skin. It was a familiar feeling, just like when he had fetched the Underworld Flower for Li Guanghan ten years ago. It seemed he was lucky this time; this place was not far from the Ghost River. Yin Yuheng looked up and walked towards the direction where the cold wind was blowing.
The surroundings were deserted, and even vegetation was scarce. Everyone knew that the Ghost River was a dangerous place where life was cut off, and even the Demon Tribe rarely came. But Yin Yuheng didn’t hesitate or falter. He walked against the wind, his black hair flying.
A faint, shrill crying sound echoed in Yin Yuheng’s ears. Legend had it that it was the crying of millions of unwilling vengeful ghosts in the Ghost River. The cold wind blew in gusts, and white frost covered Yin Yuheng’s fingertips exposed outside his clothes.
Cold…
This was a strange, eerie cold. No matter how thick the clothes were, it was useless. The chill seeped into his very bones.
Perhaps because his body was weaker than before after giving his heart’s blood, Yin Yuheng felt it was even colder than the last time he came. His steps gradually became unsteady, and he walked with difficulty. He had to stop, pressing his chest. The golden feather transmitted warmth, melting the white frost on his fingertips.
Yin Yuheng smiled and continued forward, finally seeing the Ghost River.
The deep, bottomless river was eerily calm. White lotus buds were half-open, floating in the water not far from the shore. Yin Yuheng stepped into the river water, and his lips immediately turned deathly pale from the cold.
In his sea of consciousness, Little White was panicking. Along the way, it had been trying to persuade Yin Yuheng to turn back. Now that Yin Yuheng had stepped into the water without hesitation, it finally couldn’t help but start crying.
“Brother Heng, there’s no plot constraint, why do you have to do this?” Little White said sadly, “I remember you used to hate Lu Yan.”
He hated him so much that he had murderous intent when they first met.
When did everything start to change?
Stepping into the Ghost River for Lu Yan, and even obsessively refusing to let Li Guanghan do it for him.
Yin Yuheng once gave his heart’s blood for Zhu Anning, perhaps forced by the plot; but this time, picking the Underworld Flower was sincere.
Yin Yuheng smiled weakly and reached out to hold the small white flower bud in the water. The thorns on the stem pierced both his hands, and blood immediately spread in the water, turning into a faint red. Having absorbed the blood, the Underworld Flower slowly opened its petals and bloomed.
“Little White, I understand what cold is now,” Yin Yuheng said with lowered eyes, “It’s not the water that’s cold.”
Yin Yuheng recalled the many years in the past when he walked alone in the darkness. He had relatives, and they loved him, but they couldn’t stop his fate. The plot restricted his life, and the malice of the world rushed towards him. He was like someone standing before a precipice, with countless invisible hands pushing him towards the bottomless abyss. After every bit of pain, he would find that there was an even deeper and more tragic darkness ahead.
Until he met Lu Yan.
There was fire on Lu Yan.
He was a traveler about to freeze to death on the vast snowy plains. Getting a little heat, he wanted to get closer at all costs, even if he was burned.
Yin Yuheng exerted force, and the underwater stem finally broke. He put the Underworld Flower into a jade box. His hands were already covered in blood, and blood was still flowing down continuously. He forced himself to the shore and sat powerless by the riverside.
The parts submerged in water had almost lost all sensation; he could no longer walk.
“Brother Heng, is Lu Yan worth it?” Little White murmured, “He’s good to you now, but who knows about the future? He might kill you in the end.”
The wind passed over the wilderness. Yin Yuheng sat on the silent riverbank, his white clothes trailing on the ground, soaking into a water stain. He laughed softly: “I don’t know about the future.”
“But if I don’t even have the courage to believe, how pathetic would I be?”
Little White was speechless for a while.
Finally, it said, “I understand. No matter what decision you make, I will accompany you.”
Little White wanted to say something else, but suddenly paused, its tone becoming surprised.
“Brother Heng, someone is coming! It seems to be… it’s Xue Ciling!”
Xue Ciling, a name both strange and familiar.
Yin Yuheng was about to apply some medicine to the wound on his hand, but froze upon hearing this: “Xue Ciling?”
He remembered this person whom he had almost forgotten.
In the plot, “Yin Yuheng” encountered a total of four scum gongs. Besides Lu Yan, Li Guanghan, and Shen Liyuan, there was one more, which was the Demon Tribe’s Xue Ciling.
Yin Yuheng narrowed his eyes: “Is there this part in the original plot?”
“No,” Little White said with difficulty, “In the original plot, you didn’t come to the Ghost River a second time to pick the Underworld Flower.”
Little White knew that Brother Heng was always more interested in the parts not in the plot. It thought Yin Yuheng would be interested in dealing with Xue Ciling, but Yin Yuheng frowned and said something Little White didn’t expect: “Since it’s not a necessary plot point, then let’s ignore it.”
Yin Yuheng thought that he was still in a hurry to go back and find Lu Yan, and had no mood to waste time on other people.
Yin Yuheng glanced at the wound on his palm and decided to leave it alone for now. He stood up, slightly adjusted his clothes, and turned back to see a black-clothed person standing in the distance.
The other person wore a neat high ponytail, and a pair of bright eyes were gazing at him.
Yin Yuheng was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt that the other’s features actually bore a few resemblances to Lu Yan. Coupled with that set of black clothes, it actually made him dazed for a split second.
The next moment, Yin Yuheng gave the other a gentle smile, took a step back, and his figure suddenly disappeared from the spot.
……
Xue Ciling stood stunned on the spot for a long while.
He had noticed the figure on the riverbank from a long distance away just now. The moment he saw him, he stopped in his tracks.
In the gloomy sky, that person in white seemed to have gathered all the bright colors between heaven and earth. When Xue Ciling saw his profile, he held his breath. While he was dazed, the other person noticed his gaze, slightly turned his head, and smiled at him.
With just a single glance, a single look, Xue Ciling actually felt as if a spring breeze had brushed past these desolate banks of the Ghost River.
After a long while, Xue Ciling came back to his senses, looking at the empty riverbank and sighing softly.
……
Yin Yuheng returned to the Star-Plucking Platform.
Those who leave through the Great Array of the Star-Plucking Platform can return through it within a day, provided they pay a certain price.
Yin Yuheng stood in the center of the Great Array, thinking that this price might be a bit heavy.
… His entire body was drained of spiritual energy, and the wound in his heart’s meridian flared up again. In comparison, the wound on his palm didn’t seem so unbearable anymore.
Yin Yuheng suppressed the urge to cough up blood and stumbled out of the Star-Plucking Platform. The palace servants guarding outside surrounded him in panic. Someone helped him into a carriage, someone hurriedly called for an imperial physician, and someone wrapped him in a thin quilt. Yin Yuheng was half-faint and half-awake, listening to the noisy sounds and trying hard to open his eyes.
“Return to the East Palace,” Yin Yuheng said intermittently, “Refine the medicine.”
*
Learning that Yin Yuheng had returned to Chaoge, before Li Guanghan could feel a bit relieved, he heard that Yin Yuheng’s old injury had flared up again.
When he heard this news, Li Guanghan was deducing Zhu Anning’s location.
He wouldn’t let anyone who had hurt Yuheng go. At the thought of Zhu Anning, Li Guanghan felt a surge of hatred. How could the person who had brought Yuheng to his current state not pay the price?