Chapter 299

The fourth heart-candle brightened suddenly, and the raging, brilliant flame violently drove back the darkness.

But the state of mind did not fade away.

At this moment, "Li Piaocing" was the fusion of four candle-swords. This state of mind could no longer hurt her, and her true consciousness was slowly waking up.

But a cold sword blade had already pierced through her chest.

Li Piaocing turned her head slowly in astonishment. Shen Yao looked at her with a cold expression, her long sword held in her hand.

Li Piaocing gasped for air, and pitch-black flames were already overflowing from the place where the sword entered her chest.

Memories had already begun to awaken in her mind, and the scripture of the heart-poison candle-sword art was already in her soul. In the collision between reality and the environment, Li Piaocing fell into complete bewilderment.

She did not know how to break this heart-poison. She had clearly firmed her belief, yet the state of mind fell into deeper darkness instead. For a moment, the heart-candle that had just been lit developed cracks again.

Was what she chose heart-poison? But how could that be?!

The world was collapsing and falling. The heart-candle that had just been supported was once again stained by black flames. In such a breakdown where she was completely unaware of the cause, Li Piaocing looked breathlessly and helplessly at Shen Yao's sword eroding heavier and heavier black flames in her chest.

Even in her own state of mind, how could Senior Sister Shen Yao—

Li Piaocing froze abruptly in place.

She stared straight at Shen Yao's eyes, and four cold eyes met.

"Yi—Cheng—Xin—" Li Piaocing gritted her teeth and gripped the sword blade in her chest, staring fixedly at the person before her.

Entering the Spirit.

The next moment, Shen Yao's appearance faded, and the young girl revealed her ghostly, cold true face.

"Only noticing now, isn't it a bit late—"

Yi Chengxin froze abruptly.

Li Piaocing stared straight at her eyes.

From just now, these eyes had not moved away from her eyes, as if two sharp swords wanting to pierce into her eyes and pass through.

Now, it had truly pierced in.

Li Piaocing had never thought she could use this third-realm heart-candle art, until she discovered that 【Chunshou】 could still be used in the heart-refining trial.

It was not a stepping stone for practicing "Transmitting the Heart-Candle," but the end point of practicing "Transmitting the Heart-Candle," and it was merely to use it better.

This supernatural ability the black cat lent her... possessed a status beyond imagination.

Entering the Spirit.

Right in her own heart-refining, she cast her spirit and drilled into Yi Chengxin's heart-candle.

When she came to her senses, she was already in the ancient Yi family residence.

It was still night.

Li Piaocing was already familiar with the furnishings here, and familiar with the silence here. And now, it was snowing heavily, with white blankets draped everywhere. Amidst this white, the interspersed red lanterns and spring couplets actually brought a few points of joy to this quiet, ancient residence.

And the majestic yet tragic sound of the wind came from nowhere; it pierced straight into her ears, as if shrouding the entire residence, the entire mountain, and the entire world.

Li Piaocing had not yet cultivated the heart-candle, and she had not enjoyed the "guidance of the 'candle-sword'" mentioned in the scripture; she could only rely on herself to find the heart-poison of this young girl.

It was still the empty darkness. Li Piaocing walked slowly toward the backyard. The urgent, majestic sound of the wind became louder and louder, but closer still, sounds of playful chatter came over.

After passing the main room, she stopped her steps. The scene in the backyard made her lose her composure for a moment, suspecting that she had entered abrupt fragments.

But in the end, she hadn't; this warm picture was happening so realistically in the backyard of the Yi residence.

There were four people in total.

On the stone table surrounded by snow, a chessboard was set. A youth and a woman were placing pieces there. The youth had a handsome face, one hand supporting his chin, the other pointing at the chessboard, smiling and saying something to the woman opposite. The woman opposite, however, was covering her ears with both hands, smiling and shaking her head repeatedly, the cinnabar on her forehead fresh, red, and beautiful.

Li Piaocing recognized these two.

Yi Danjun, Yi Nandai.

Beside them, the tree behind the stone stool had become a silver flower. A woman of forty or fifty with gentle features sat under the tree looking at them with a smile, sewing a red cotton coat in her hands.

And beside this warm chess game, Li Piaocing saw that young girl with cold bones.

She was wrapping her arms around her sister's neck from behind, leaning out and pointing at the chess game continuously.

This was a very ordinary and warm picture, but seeing it here made Li Piaocing stunned for a while.

Then she remembered the line of text on the sacrificial altar.

"【Child of the Edict】: Yi Chengxin"

"【Candle-Sword】: Taiyi"

"【Heart-Poison】: Affection, 'Record of Wine on New Year's Eve'."

This was New Year's Eve.

Li Piaocing looked up at the falling snowflakes and stepped inside.

Several pairs of eyes immediately fell upon her, revealing smiles.

"Mr. Xifang!" Yi Chengxin called out with a laugh first, "My sister has been waiting for you for a long time!"

Yi Danjun immediately turned her head and glared.

On the other side, Yi Nandai and Yang Zhaoren also stood up to greet her.

Li Piaocing lifted her white hem, greeted them one by one, took out paper and pen from her painting box, and spread them on the table that had been prepared early.

"Danjun invited me to paint a picture for your family. It's a pity the night is deep and the snow is thick; I almost missed the hour."

"Ah, Danjun, this child, should have said so earlier and let Nandai go pick you up."

"No harm, no harm! I like to exercise my legs and feet."

"..."

"Then, shall we start painting?" After some laughter and pleasantries, Li Piaocing stood before the canvas and pointed for the four of them to stand in position.

"I'll go call Dad!" Yi Chengxin ran to the back of the courtyard.

After a while, the tragic sound of the wind suddenly stopped, and a man carrying a long spear walked into the courtyard.

Only then did Li Piaocing realize with a grip of her heart that the wind sound that seemed to shroud the entire mountain just now was actually brought about by this person's spear.

Everyone's face in the courtyard was very clear, except for this person, who was somewhat blurry. He stood shirtless with his spear horizontal behind the four of them, not saying a word.

Li Piaocing remembered the appearance of this painting.

Yi Danjun stood in the center, smiling beautifully and gently, the cinnabar on her forehead reflecting the snow color. She looked over with a smile, holding the hand of the youth who had just played chess with her left hand, and holding Yi Chengxin with her right hand. Both of their cotton coats were so thick they looked like little rice dumplings.

The woman was in the layer behind, her face somewhat pale and weak, hiding behind the painting with a faint smile, revealing only a small part of her body.

The tall father was further behind, the only person in the entire painting who was not smiling. His face was solemn, steam rising from his two arms, and the silver long spear cut across the entire painting horizontally.

Li Piaocing lowered her head and finished the painting with her brush, raised her brows, and beckoned lightly: "The painting is done. Would you like to see it?"

Yi Chengxin was stunned for a moment, pointing at herself: "... Me?"

Li Piaocing nodded with a smile.

The young girl immediately jumped and ran over.

"Let me see!" She stood before the painting.

The surrounding scene suddenly dimmed.

The wind was still and the snow stopped, and the figures no longer moved. In the dimness, only two young girls stood before a painting.

Yi Chengxin looked at the painting with an expressionless face, her pupils beginning to be dyed with thick, pitch-black.

What the brush depicted was a hell.

Half of Yi Danjun's body was torn and gnawed away, cold blood dripping from her pale face, and her only remaining eye was filled with tears of tragic hatred.

Yi Nandai was stiff and withered like wood; the youth's spiritual energy had dissipated from him, his face was green and white, his body cold, and he had become a zombie, listening only to the orders of the spell-caster.

Yang Zhaoren's gentleness and smiles had now turned into expressionless, ghostly coldness. Scales covered her face, and the half of her body that had been hidden was now painted out completely by the young girl—countless cold, scaly tentacles stretched out from under her robes.

They pierced through Yi Duanzhi's chest, crushing a warm, bright red heart into bloody pulp.

Large patches of blood and ghostly blue were spread across this painting, while Yi Chengxin in the painting had golden vertical pupils, looking at all of this with a cold, indifferent smile from the side.

"The gentle Big Sister was harmed in her young life; until the Second Brother who protected Big Sister and Little Sister became a puppet who only knew how to obey; Father originally had the brightest future, but was strangled to death in this coffin; as for your mother, she died in the transmission of the Edict after giving birth to you... Have you really seen this culprit?" Li Piaocing looked coldly at the young girl beside her. "She is just your pitiful imagination."

Li Piaocing picked up the brush and inscribed the five characters "Record of Wine on New Year's Eve" on the scroll.

(End of chapter)