Chapter 285: Legacy Painting

The woman in the painting and the woman outside the painting looked at each other with a smile.

Yi Danjun looked at it for a few times, but only acted as if she hadn't seen it. Fang Xitian didn't pester her either, and the two chatted about painting techniques as usual before going down the mountain to say goodbye.

But the feelings did indeed heat up from here.

The next day, this painting was submitted to the Qiyun Merchant Alliance. Yi Danjun looked at the painting for a while, or perhaps not wanting her portrait to be sold to others, she left a note on the entry form after accepting it: "Retained, not for sale."

In the days that followed, Fang Xitian submitted paintings to the Qiyun Merchant Alliance as usual, always interspersed with one or two portraits of the woman, while Yi Danjun seemed to have a tacit understanding, leaving them all and not issuing them.

This tacit interaction lasted for a month. Finally, on the day of White Dew in the Xinyou year, Fang Xitian invited the woman again to enjoy the autumn colors that had just dyed the mountains. During this outing, this pair of lovers finally became a couple.

With this time as the boundary, the letters that followed gradually overflowed with tenderness and honey. Their mutual trust spilled out of the paper, and the topics they discussed became deeper and deeper. However, the frequency of submitting letters decreased, presumably because more words had been said in their meetings.

Those situations of meeting for outings were also occasionally reflected in the ink. They often went out together to find scenery and paint. From the autumn of the Xinyou year, every season that followed, Fang Xitian would paint a "Made for Danjun" for the woman.

Yi Danjun never tired of teaching the man how to cultivate a reputation, teaching him not to sell or gift his paintings full of spiritual energy casually, but in the year or so of letter-writing time, it could be seen that the man had no improvement at all.

Fortunately, the woman never got angry either. Both of them had gentle tempers and sincere feelings. No matter from which aspect they looked, they were a true pair of immortal lovers.

Such beauty lasted for about nine months. By July of the Ren Zi year, Li Piaoqing began to feel the first bit of wrongness.

At this time, the feelings between the two had been brewed very deeply. The word "heart-to-heart" was precisely annotated for this. Those knowing smiles between a word or two always appeared in the letters of mutual response.

Li Piaoqing was very sure that their feelings had not had any problems. She could deeply feel the emotions in the text. The man's language was always thick and sincere, occasionally revealing a child-like spiritual energy; the woman's feelings were also equally sincere, but, in the ink of this month, the sensitive young girl began to read some lingering hesitation.

It was as if... she sometimes doubted that she was not close enough to the man, couldn't help but indulge in enjoying this relationship, and sometimes felt that it was enough.

This emotion became more intense as it went on, and Li Piaoqing gradually realized that the latter was becoming more dominant. She even began to feel that Yi Danjun's hesitation and wandering were not appearing suddenly, but from the beginning of the two's mutual affection, the woman's mood seemed to have been covered in a layer of fog.

Finally, more than half a year later, this thin fog became so thick that it blocked her throat and lungs.

The time was November 2nd of the Ren Zi year. Yi Danjun suddenly sent a farewell letter to Fang Xitian.

Li Piaoqing recognized this date. When she was at Bixiao Pavilion, Fang Xitian submitted twelve sets of paintings to the Qiyun Merchant Alliance as betrothal gifts. The date left behind was exactly "Chilong Ren Zi November 1st."

Perhaps it was this betrothal gift that made Yi Danjun make a choice. Li Piaoqing could imagine the man's bewildered helplessness after seeing the letter. For the next ten days, the two had no further correspondence. The man's reaction at that time did not leave the slightest trace in this box thirty years later.

Li Piaoqing found the reason for this abrupt emotional change in the booklet in the box.

There were two booklets in the box, both were the woman's daily notes. The contents had different focuses, but it was not so much that they had clear classification purposes as it was because the places where they were placed were different.

One seemed to be placed in the bedroom, where Yi Danjun recorded her daily thoughts and affairs. Li Piaoqing found a line of old ink left by Yi Danjun on November 2nd in this one.

——"The Great Sacrifice said, my heart poison has been planted."

After this sentence, Yi Danjun was locked in this courtyard, isolated from all contact with outsiders.

Li Piaoqing looked at it for a while and opened the other booklet again.

This booklet seemed to be placed in a quiet room for Daoism and Buddhism.

The ink left on it was mysterious and deep. It was not martial principles, nor was it sword path. A large number of strange terms and directions made the young girl frown the first time she opened it, but at this time, those obscure sentences resonated in the first booklet.

This was Yi Danjun's notes on studying this so-called "heart poison" in the quiet room. After reaching a certain standard, she seemed to have changed from a person who could live freely into something waiting to be used.

Li Piaoqing looked at it with serious brows and slowly flipped to the last page, and then her fingers stiffened, and her eyes brightened suddenly.

It was no longer those chaotic thoughts that only the original owner could understand. On November 30th of the Ren Zi year, on this page, Yi Danjun carefully copied the process of the "Proclamation" that someone else had submitted to her the next day.

Very short:

"December 1st.

Noon, prepare the array of Yuke,

Dusk, perform the ceremony of sacrificing to the immortals.

Night, enter the purple bamboo forest, face and listen to the Proclamation God Child."

And what truly made the young girl's body cold was a detailed reminder note below this.

"The God Child has no consciousness. After entering the forest, do not speak or talk, close your eyes tightly, let it swallow, wait for it to eat at least fifteen catties of flesh and bone, then open your eyes and face it. Within three breaths, you will enter the divine realm and can candle the heart poison."

"."

Li Piaoqing was stunned and silent.

For a long time, a breath was exhaled from her lungs. Li Piaoqing didn't look at the four words "let it swallow" again, lowered her eyes, and gently closed the booklet.

She didn't understand what "candle sword" and "heart poison" had to do with this ceremony for a while, but it didn't affect the cold chill that rose around her body.

——The thing Yi Danjun was forced to face thirty years ago was a terrifying evil thing named 【Listening to the Proclamation God Child】. No matter what they wanted her to do to it... it was clearly at the cost of her life.

After Yi Danjun went, it was of course impossible for her to return.

Did Yi Danjun not succeed back then? Therefore, thirty years later, Miss Yi Chengxin must do it again?

Or regardless of success or failure, every thirty years... Li Piaoqing's mind popped up the image of the gentle and elegant young girl being torn limb from limb by some unknown evil thing. For a moment, goosebumps rose in patches.

She stood quietly for a while, lowered her head, and was just about to put the booklet back, but suddenly paused again.

Under all the books and letters, a piece of paper clearly torn from a booklet lay at the bottom of the box, pressed very flat by thirty years of time.

There were two kinds of ink on it. One was elegant, which was Yi Danjun's ink; the other was straight but childish, which was the first time Li Piaoqing had seen it.

She was stunned for a while and suddenly understood why this box had such a "childish" burial, and also understood how Yi Danjun and Fang Xitian were able to communicate again.

But at the same time, a cold chill also slowly rose from the deepest part of her heart.

"Sister, you and Fang Xitian brother go." The childish handwriting.

"You are stupid, if I leave, it will be the sister's turn." Yi Danjun replied.

"No need for sister, I can go."

"It seems you are really stupid, you are a Proclamation Guardian, not a Proclamation Child—don't pass it on! Go to sleep quickly."

"Then I'll ask the Great Sacrifice tomorrow if it can be changed."

This note was passed over again through a hole in the wall, but Yi Danjun pressed it down and didn't reply again.

Until a long time later, the next paragraph of childish words appeared again.

"Sister, Fang Xitian is dead. I don't know if he saw you. They want to burn everything in your room. I hid the letters and paintings in the box. If you can come back one day, you can see them."

Li Piaoqing looked at this note without moving. For a long time, she slowly moved her gaze to the last rolled scroll.

In fact, Li Piaoqing had seen it long ago. Its name was written vertically on the head of the scroll, so she hadn't been in a hurry to open it.

It was exactly that "Ren Zi Winter Made for Danjun."

Anyway, she couldn't see Yi Danjun again. A portrait of a woman was of course not as important as letters and booklets.

But at this time, Li Piaoqing picked it up and unfolded it slowly. In the clear and white snowy scenery, a woman of about twenty was supporting her chin and smiling. She had a beautiful and gentle appearance, and a clear red dot on her forehead.

It was exactly the woman standing in the middle of "New Year's Eve Night Record of Wine."

"."

Li Piaoqing couldn't say a word.

————

Xiangzhou City.

Pei Ye walked on the street alone, turning over all the matters about the Qiyun Merchant Alliance in his mind.

They had clearly caught up with a turbulent period. After forty or fifty years of lurking, the Huan Si Lou or Zhu Shi Sect behind Qiyun were clearly advancing their schemes.

The secret map of the Zhu Shi Sect, the Heart Amber of the Huan Si Lou—the two sides had completed a collusion here at Qiyun. Was there another greater conspiracy brewing?

The young girl told him everything about the back pavilion of Qiyun, and that place was clearly only related to the merchant alliance itself.

Just as the Yi family hid deeper secrets in the ancient residence rather than Bixiao Pavilion, Pei Ye believed that this "Mr. Zhang" also had a secret pavilion belonging to the Huan Si Lou.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 286 =====

Or perhaps, regardless of success or failure, every thirty years, the image of that gentle and elegant young girl from Li Piaoqing's mind being dismembered and eaten alive by some unknown evil entity would surface, causing goosebumps to rise in waves.

She stood quietly for a while, lowered her head, and was just about to put the booklet in her hand back when she suddenly paused again.

Beneath all the books and letters, there was a piece of paper clearly torn from a notebook lying at the bottom of the box, pressed very flat by thirty years of time.

There were two types of ink on it; one was elegant, the handwriting of Yi Danjun; the other was straight but childish, which Li Piaoqing was seeing for the first time.

She was stunned for a while, then suddenly understood why this box had such a "childish" burial, and also understood how Yi Danjun and Xi Xi Fang Tian had been able to communicate again.

But at the same time, a cold chill slowly welled up from the deepest part of her heart.

"Sister, you and Brother Xi Xi Fang Tian should go." The childish handwriting.

"You're silly. If I leave, it will be the younger sister's turn," Yi Danjun replied.

"No need for the younger sister, I can go."

"Looks like you really are silly. You are a Zhao Shou, not a Zhao Zi—don't pass it on! Go to sleep quickly."

"Then I will ask the Great Sacrifice tomorrow if it can be changed."

This note was passed over again through the hole in the wall, but Yi Danjun pressed it down and did not reply again.

It was not until a long time later that the next segment of childish writing appeared again.

"Sister, Xi Xi Fang Tian is dead. I don't know if he met you. They are going to take everything in your room to be burned. I hid the letters and paintings in the box. If you can come back one day, you will be able to see them."

Li Piaoqing stared at this note without moving. After a long while, she slowly shifted her gaze to the last rolled-up scroll.

In fact, Li Piaoqing had seen it long ago; its name was written vertically at the head of the scroll, so she had not been in a hurry to open it.

It was precisely that painting which had already appeared in the young girl's field of vision several times: "Made for Danjun in the Winter of the Ren Zi Year."

In any case, it was impossible for her to see Yi Danjun again; a portrait of a woman was certainly not as important as the letters and the notebook.

But at this moment, Li Piaoqing picked it up and slowly unfolded it. In the clear, white snowy landscape, a woman of about twenty was resting her chin on her hand and smiling. Her appearance was beautiful and gentle, and there was a clear red vermilion dot in the center of her forehead.

It was precisely the woman standing in the middle in "Recording Wine on New Year's Eve."

"."

Li Piaoqing could not say a single word.

————

Xiangzhou City.

Pei Ye walked alone on the street, his mind turning over everything regarding the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce.

They had clearly caught up with a turbulent period. After thirty or fifty years of lurking, the Huan Si Lou or Zhu Shi Sect behind Qiyun were clearly advancing their schemes.

The secret map of the Zhu Shi Sect and the Heart Amber of the Huan Si Lou—the two sides had completed a collusion here at Qiyun. Was an even greater conspiracy brewing?

The young girl had told him everything about the rear pavilion of Qiyun; that place was clearly only related to the chamber of commerce itself.

Just as the Yi family hid deeper secrets in their old mansion rather than the Bixiao Pavilion, Pei Ye believed that this "Mr. Zhang" also had a secret pavilion belonging to the Huan Si Lou.

(End of chapter)