Chapter 24: The Loquat Tree in the Courtyard, Planted by Gu Jiangming

Guanzhong.

After a brief moment of distraction.

Jiu Jiu curiously extended her jade-like, fair fingers and gently poked the little girl's face before her.

It was soft.

It was squishy.

"Mother, what are you doing?" she said, full of grievance.

Eh?

Is it real?

When the massive amount of memories descended into Jiu Jiu's mind, it did not significantly affect her behavioral habits.

Her mindset remained as it was before the Reincarnation succeeded, not influenced too deeply.

The difference was that she now possessed a memory that was hard to forget, and those scenes appeared in Jiu Jiu's heart as if she were there in person.

The three characters "Gu Jiangming" were already deeply etched in Jiu Jiu's heart.

But until now, Jiu Jiu had not realized that what happened within the Reincarnation had slowly changed reality.

When she touched Mingyue's little face, that real sensation, along with her daughter's somewhat disgusted gaze, made Jiu Jiu finally realize the meaning of the words that had echoed in her mind.

【Congratulations, you have successfully changed the history that once occurred.】

【And in order to respect personal rights, your physical state has been initialized; therefore, your daughter is currently only a spirit body, and only you can touch her.】

I... I changed history?

No!

How could it be me?

Jiu Jiu knew very clearly that in these hundreds of Reincarnations, her choice had always been to do her own things without change.

She had never thought, nor had she ever considered, doing anything more.

This time, the only accident was that she had met Gu Jiangming during the hundreds of Reincarnations.

Rather than saying Jiu Jiu changed reality, it would be better to say Gu Jiangming changed the course of events.

What's more... she saved him, and he also saved her.

And besides.

What exactly is changing history?

The world is still this world, the demons are still these demons, the cultivators are still these cultivators; nothing here has changed.

Is there anything unusual about this?

Only.

Jiu Jiu seemed to have thought of something, her eyes gazing toward Gu Mingyue.

That ancestral divinity, close at hand and clearly audible, was sensed by Jiu Jiu with absolute clarity.

Indeed, there were not many changes in this Heaven and Earth, except... except for the addition of a god who had long since vanished.

And Jiu Jiu could never have imagined that as Guhuoniao, a demon with an extremely noble lineage, their ancestor was actually the one recorded in myths and legends, whose traces had already disappeared for who knows how many years—【Jingwei】.

But what does "currently only a spirit body" mean?

Jiu Jiu took a deep breath, deciding to explore these matters in depth later.

"Let's go, let's go home."

Fallen leaves before the door.

Holding Mingyue's hand, Jiu Jiu pushed open the gate of a courtyard; no one had lived here for a long time.

In the courtyard stands a loquat tree, planted by Gu Jiangming's own hand in years past; now it has grown tall, its branches like a canopy.

In the overgrown courtyard, there was a stone table with an unfinished game of chess on it and a graying teacup.

Those sealed memories suddenly surged into her heart, and Jiu Jiu shed tears in spite of herself, something she did not even notice.

She seemed to see all the stories that had once taken place in this courtyard.

Yet now, the scenery remains, but the people are gone.

"Is this our home?" Mingyue asked curiously, "But it looks like no one has lived here for a long time."

"Yes, this is our home." Jiu Jiu walked into the room, moving inside with extreme familiarity.

Raising her hand, she unleashed the Shushan Sect's Sword Control Technique with practiced ease, and a precious sword resting on a rack in the center of the hall flew toward her.

Engraved on the sword's body were three characters—【Ting Shui Xuan】.

"Do you still remember your father's name?" Jiu Jiu bent down and asked Gu Mingyue in a low voice.

"Father?" Gu Mingyue touched her head, thought for a moment, and shook her head, saying, "I don't remember... Mingyue can't recall."

"Mingyue only remembers that, once upon a time... once upon a time there was a Shushan... there were many, many senior brothers there who loved Mingyue."

"They made many fun toys for Mingyue to play with."

"And there was someone... someone Mingyue was very familiar with, but Mingyue can't remember him."

"He was even better to Mingyue, and he would agree to everything Mingyue wanted."

"But Mingyue can't remember." Gu Mingyue suddenly stomped her feet, "No, he was so good to Mingyue, how could Mingyue have forgotten him?"

"Mingyue cannot forget him." As Gu Mingyue spoke, she became anxious herself, "But Mother, I seem to be unable to remember him; I've forgotten who he is."

The more anxious she became, the more she felt she shouldn't have forgotten this person, but the feeling of being unable to recall him made her clutch her head, a discomfort she couldn't put into words.

"I want to know who he is so, so much."

Seeing her daughter on the verge of tears, Jiu Jiu immediately picked her up to comfort her, gently patting her back, "Don't think about it; if you can't remember, then don't think about it."

"No—he... he is very important to Mingyue; if I can't remember him, then it's Mingyue's fault."

Just at this moment.

A cold, chilling voice rang out.

"Who—who exactly are you? To dare trespass into my master's residence, do you not wish to live anymore?"

A slim woman walked in, but upon seeing Jiu Jiu's face and the Gu Mingyue she was gently holding, she suddenly stopped.

"Young... Young Mistress."

This woman suddenly transformed into a paper doll, and it said with great joy: "You are still alive? Hahahahaha! You are still alive!"

"To be able to see you, I, the paper doll, am so happy."

It ran over and said: "Mistress, you begged our benefactor to let us out of the Hundred Demon Manual back then; such kindness is something I, the paper doll, will never forget."

"With the destruction of Shushan, I, the paper doll, thought you had all perished in the catastrophe; I never expected that you, Mistress, were still alive."

"This is truly wonderful." As the paper doll spoke, it came forward, "You are all safe and sound, but where is our benefactor?"

"Is he still alive?" the paper doll asked, "In order to repay the kindness and settle this karma, I, the paper doll, have kept watch here for a hundred years."

"Once our benefactor knows, he will at least have to thank me, the paper doll, a few times."

"He is dead," Jiu Jiu said calmly.

The paper doll had intended to say more, but upon hearing these words, its originally noisy voice fell silent in an instant.

"He... our benefactor... is he really dead? His Mana was so unfathomable, he... he... he is the person closest to the Dao today, can he also die?" The paper doll said with some disbelief: "You are lying to me, you must be lying to me."

"Why would I lie to you? I wish for him to be alive more than you do." Jiu Jiu clenched her fists; the dust-covered memories became increasingly profound, and she could feel that suffocating pain.

"So you have no need to lie to me, the paper doll." The paper doll slumped to the ground in low spirits, as if a wad of paper had shriveled up.

And Jiu Jiu asked again: "Then do you still remember his name?"

"His name?" Hearing this, the paper doll fell into an inexplicable contemplation, and at this moment, it realized with surprise that apart from remembering Shushan, apart from remembering the benefactor's wife, and apart from remembering that the benefactor had a daughter, it could not recall the benefactor's name.

It had clearly fought against him before, and it had clearly been very unconvinced about being imprisoned by him in the Hundred Demon Manual.

His name, it should have remembered very clearly, but apart from the things the benefactor had once done, his face and his name, the paper doll could no longer remember any of it.

"I can't remember, I can't remember." The paper doll retreated three steps in succession.

It had come to repay a debt of gratitude, and it clearly remembered every single thing the benefactor had done, but at this moment, its mind was a mass of fog.

At this moment, Jiu Jiu was quietly leaning against Gu Mingyue and whispered: "You must remember, your father's name is Gu Jiangming."

"Good child, do not forget again."

Jiu Jiu stroked Mingyue's head.

And Mingyue nodded vigorously, her eyes brightening slightly, "I won't forget again, my father's name is Gu Jiangming... is Gu Jiangming..."

"I must remember him."

"I must remember this name for a lifetime."

A thousand miles away.

"Do you recognize a person named Gu Jiangming?"

A person held a sword against the neck of a Daoist priest.

"Little Daoist... this little Daoist truly does not know any Gu Jiangming."

"Then do you know of Shushan?" she asked.

"I know it, isn't that the Shushan that was besieged by twelve groups of cultivators over a hundred years ago? In the end, those seniors were all kept there by the founding master of Shushan."

"Then why don't you know Gu Jiangming?" she asked in a cold voice.

"Why should I, this little Daoist, know Gu Jiangming?" the Daoist said in extreme distress.

"Because Gu Jiangming is the Dao Venerable of Shushan, and Shushan is the sect founded by Gu Jiangming; how can you not know?"

"I, this Daoist, really do not know," he wailed, "How would I know what the founding master of Shushan is called?"

Wang Qinghe narrowed her eyes slightly.

How is this possible?

Why does everyone know the things Gu Jiangming did, yet not know Gu Jiangming's name?

What kind of situation is this?

"From now on, you must remember: the founding master of Shushan is Gu Jiangming."

"Do not forget."

Begging for recommendation votes, begging for monthly tickets! I'm kowtowing!

(End of chapter)