Chapter 313: This Shore

Seeing Pei Ye took a deep, ragged breath, only then fully returning to the realm of reality, as if he could still feel that lofty, nine-heavens will descending upon him.

This place was truly just a dark, cold, and silent cavern, only terrifyingly vast. Seeing Pei Ye lightly flicked his sword blade; the metallic clang only echoed back to his ears after a distinct interval.

After confirming there was truly no danger in the surroundings, he turned to the young girl beside him who was watching him nervously; her hands had been clutching his arm tightly the entire time.

"Are you... alright?" Li Piaoqing asked, her voice somewhat hoarse; the scene she had just left still lingered in her mind.

"It's over," Seeing Pei Ye whispered. His mind still felt the sensation of being suppressed, but what was closer to its limit at this moment was his body. "I'm... fine."

"There's such a strong smell of blood on you."

"It's nothing." Seeing Pei Ye reached out and gripped the girl's icy hand. He was not putting on a brave front; rather, the girl's condition looked truly more critical. Her pale face was covered in fine beads of sweat, her entire being like an exquisite, half-shattered porcelain shell.

"What happened to you?" Seeing Pei Ye whispered. He had already seen her in this fragile state when he entered Yi Danjun's mind, but at the time, there had been no time to ask.

"I... I ignited the Fifth Poison," the girl breathed thinly, whispering, "but... I cannot break through it."

"What is it?" Seeing Pei Ye had heard her say that heart-poisons and candle-swords were mutually formed and mutually opposed.

"I don't know." The girl gave a weak smile; her lips were almost the same color as her cheeks. "I just remembered those days before..."

She bit her lower lip, her voice soft and aggrieved: "... when you didn't like me."

The youth's heart gave a tug, and he hurriedly wrapped his arms around her: "No, no, I didn't... I didn't dislike you..."

Li Piaoqing buried her head in his neck, let out a low, muffled "Mm," and went still, though her body was still trembling slightly.

But Seeing Pei Ye panicked for a moment, as if he knew what she was facing, and held her even tighter: "I'm right here."

"... Seeing Pei Ye, I always feel... that we will be separated," Li Piaoqing said, her eyes closed, her lashes trembling slightly, pained. "I suddenly realized that we seem incompatible in so many ways. Do you know? I—"

"That won't happen." Seeing Pei Ye interrupted her. He did not know what kind of confusion the girl was enduring inside, perhaps like the silt at the bottom of a clear river being churned up entirely. He tried his best to point out a clear path for her: "That is a delusion, Piaoqing. Don't you want us to be together?"

"... I do."

"I do too," the youth whispered.

The girl trembled slightly, her breathing seeming to steady. She did not speak again, her two brows furrowed and trembling slightly, the river in her heart seeming to churn violently.

After a long while, she suddenly hugged Seeing Pei Ye tightly again, closing her eyes with a hint of a sob: "I know, Seeing Pei Ye, but something... is always stopping me from choosing you. There is a voice... I can never hear clearly."

"Ignore it." Seeing Pei Ye gripped her hand tightly, giving her the support she needed without hesitation. "We are the real ones now, aren't we?"

"... Mm."

"Don't worry, I will always like you," Seeing Pei Ye whispered. "... You can keep confirming it with me."

The girl went quiet all at once.

"... I know." The tangible support of the youth beside her truly gave her strength. After a long while, Li Piaoqing pressed against his chest, whispering as if to herself: "I have already led Cuiyu through the crisis. Everything is very good now. Everyone is learning the *Jade Jade Sword Art*, and Tianshan stands behind us. I don't need to think too much..."

"That's right."

"... Mm." The girl closed her eyes, her body slowly calming down.

A bright light shone from the sky into the riverbed; it was the summer sun. This warmth flowed into the cold suffocation, and the thick fog that had blocked her heart began to dissipate.

The girl finally grasped this bright pole.

Feeling the breathing at his chest slowly steady, Seeing Pei Ye finally let out a breath, propped himself up with his sword, and slowly sat on the ground.

Li Piaoqing opened her eyes; the weakness in her body was still obvious, but the ease and spirit in her eyes were visible to the naked eye.

Only then did Seeing Pei Ye have time to carefully look back at everything in his own mind-spirit realm.

He returned to this dense forest and mirror lake; his connection with his body had been restored. The sensation of the Xianjun's will descending like the sky when he touched the beard had faded, but Seeing Pei Ye knew that above the azure void, His gaze would never leave him again.

The dragon shadow wandered here, having remained silent for a long time.

Seeing Pei Ye opened his eyes, his body sitting cross-legged on a high platform that had appeared out of nowhere. His palms had already left the long beard descending from the firmament. Seeing Pei Ye was determined never to touch it again, but now, even in his own mind-spirit realm, he could not leave this place.

The black dragon was right beside him. Seeing Pei Ye followed its gaze and looked along with it, his heart suddenly sinking heavily.

"It's... it's useless?" he whispered.

In his field of vision, the Quail-Head that enveloped his mind-spirit realm was like a bubble propping up the firmament. A more boundless, magnificent scroll of paintings covered it, and in just the short time he had been away, the bright and moist surface of the Quail-Head had already been pierced through. The thin membrane, wrapped in magnificent colors, was seeping from all four directions of heaven and earth into this mind-spirit realm.

Below the high platform, the purple bamboo shoots were like those meeting spring rain.

The black dragon was silent for a while before saying: "This is normal. The essence of this painting eroding the mind-spirit realm is also built upon the Quail-Head, only that within it is the will dissipated by the Dragon Lord. I think that when their 'Zaozi' faced this painting, they could not have completely shielded it either. The Quail-Head could only try its best to weaken this invasion, but for an individual, the mind-spirit realm is truly too fragile—when Yang Zhao was there in the later years, both his body and spirit must have already undergone alienation."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye looked at it.

"As for your current mind-spirit realm," the black dragon was quiet for another while, "first, let us break it down clearly by layers. This painting does not exist in reality; it is a painting of the mind and spirit. Its connection to reality is through the host."

Seeing Pei Ye nodded slowly.

"Yi Danjun established this path: Painting—Mind-Spirit Realm—Body—Reality. Thus, the painting invaded reality. The Purple Bamboo Forest is something that dissipated out this way," the black dragon said. "Now that we have used the Quail-Head to cut off the Painting—Mind-Spirit Realm link, we have temporarily turned the painting into something that can be carried."

"But the pressure of this process is borne entirely by you."

Seeing Pei Ye watched quietly: "But didn't Yang Zhao persist for thirty years under such pressure?"

"... Yes, but you are different," the black dragon whispered. "Because behind the painting, there is a higher layer: the Taiyi True Long Xianjun."

"..."

"You know, after the sealing of heaven and earth, He cannot descend into the human world except in extremely special circumstances," the black dragon continued. "But the sealing of heaven and earth only isolates Him enough; it is not a complete blockage. Therefore, when He cannot reach over, He extends a tentacle from the other side of the seal... and this path is established."

"..."

"You can regard this 'tentacle' as a kind of 'connection'," the black dragon whispered. "He cannot touch the human world precisely because the connection is not strong enough. The *Purple Bamboo Forest Dragon Immortal Secret Edict* is just such a strong connection."

"It still cannot guide the Xianjun's true intent to descend, but it can already receive the shadow of the will He dissipates, which is the loftiness we have always felt. The Edict-Listening Divine Child resides in this loftiness and can vaguely feel some projections of the Xianjun's true intent. This hazy revelation is the way the Candle-World Sect communicates with the Xianjun," the black dragon continued. "Therefore, you should understand that the Xianjun can exert influence on this painting, for example... by providing a tiny bit of support for its erosion."

"..."

A tiny bit of support was enough to shorten his life from thirty years to a visible end.

"Doing these things to the Edict-Child has no meaning, but if your mind and spirit are eroded by the painting... you know how strong the connection between this body of yours and Him is."

"I will die a step sooner."

"He does not know, or perhaps, He does not care."

The youth was quiet for a moment.

"Is there no benefit?" he suddenly smiled. "We've been busy for so long, is it just to welcome Him to descend?"

The black dragon looked at him, and its cold, green eyes rarely showed a hint of a smile.

Seeing Pei Ye blinked as he watched it.

"No," the black dragon said calmly.

"..."

"You can keep letting Him in, then kill and eat Him—three meals a day, a Master in three months, a Heavenly Tower in a year," the black dragon suggested. "Or if you're lonely, you can chat with Him; anyway, He is watching you day and night."

"Haha," Seeing Pei Ye gave a dry laugh to go along with its cold joke.

"... If you truly master this painting, it is equivalent to mastering that Purple Bamboo Secret Realm where truth and illusion merge and mind and matter become one," the black dragon retracted its gaze and became more serious. "Of course, many things can be done—but we dare not let it in at all right now. Let's solve the problem of you staying alive first."

As these words settled, the man and the dragon fell into silence again. They looked at this divine and dark sky, and could imagine that Ming Qitian's Heart-Severing would be of no use either.

But it was precisely under this pressure that felt like the overturning of heaven and earth that they suddenly widened their eyes slightly at the same time.

Because after this immortal painting fully unfolded in the youth's mind-spirit realm, another change that was equally breathtaking began to appear on this scene unexpectedly.

The winding path descending from the horizon had a tightly twisted knot when it reached near the top of Seeing Pei Ye's head. Seeing Pei Ye had originally thought it was just a shape, but now, a clear light bloomed from within it.

There were no words to describe the shock this scene gave the youth. Only then did he know that the two faint, dark blue lines extending to the sky on the upper right were not originally on the painting.

Those were not the patterns of the long beard; such irregular things were actually wounds and cracks.

They traced the winding trend of the long beard all the way back to the human world, and the further down they went, the more obvious they became; the further down, the denser they were. The magnificent dragon blood in these cracks was like a starry sky.

Until at its densest center, right above this tightly twisted knot, a small white sword was inserted there.

It was not made of gold or iron, and even jade seemed vulgar; it seemed to be a physical entity, yet as if cast from a piece of the sky, encompassing long winds, high snow, icy heavens, and pale clouds.

This was the source of the hundred-thousand-foot blood crack. The Xianjun's true body had extended a long beard like a canopy, which was pinned in the air by it like a snake. The porcelain-cracked, magnificent blue spread all the way to where it connected to the sky.

"..."

Seeing Pei Ye could not speak for a long time. Behind him, on the back of the ten-foot-high platform, what this small sword cast was a circular shadow, extremely regular and perfect, clearing away all purple bamboo and white mist.

Seeing Pei Ye did not see what was behind him, but he had already seen this complete scene at the edge of his mind-spirit realm—a small sword studded within a bright pearl, burning an abrupt hole in this divine and secluded scroll.

But this form did not last long. The long beard re-coiled, once again completely wrapping around this pearl-small sword, and Seeing Pei Ye's mind-spirit realm returned to deep, dark suppression.

"... What... is that?" Seeing Pei Ye was stunned for a while before suddenly waking up. "—Let's take it out!"

"It is no longer there," the black dragon said somewhat distractedly. "That was just an old shadow of what happened in the past."

"..."

————

When Seeing Pei Ye opened his eyes again, cool true Qi was being infused into his body. He turned his head and met the girl's worried eyes again.

"It's over," Seeing Pei Ye smiled at her. "There was some danger, but I've already found a way to solve it."

"Your injuries..."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye was silent for a moment, seeming somewhat hesitant, but he soon looked up at the girl and gave a somewhat mysterious, light smile. "I hit them; I'm not afraid of getting hurt."

"... Ah?" Li Piaoqing was stunned.

Seeing Pei Ye propped himself up with his sword and stood up; the heavy, shattering sensation in his body was truly shocking. He had been dealing with the problems of his mind and spirit, but in fact, his body had long since reached the brink of death.

Li Piaoqing hurriedly supported him: "What are you doing?"

Seeing Pei Ye cast his gaze forward. There, the Edict-Listening Divine Child's eerie corpse, having lost its will, lay on the ground. In the pitch-black darkness, the blood and wounds still emitted a dark blue fluorescent light.

Seeing Pei Ye shuffled over step by step and reached out to lightly press on its crown.

Li Piaoqing was stunned for a moment, but the youth had already reached out to grip her hand.

"Eat something," he said with a weak smile.

Before Li Piaoqing could recover from her daze, a scene that almost suffocated her appeared before her eyes.

Like solid ice thrown into a raging fire, like gold and iron melting into a stream of flame, the Edict-Listening Divine Child's entire body began to liquefy from the youth's palm. Scales, flesh, bones... all turned into a dark blue liquid like blood.

Then it all sank into Seeing Pei Ye's palm.

The youth devoured the monster, their roles as if reversed. There were no words to describe the emotions this eerie scene brought to the girl. Her pupils constricted, and her body almost began to tremble again.

As the waterfall-like dark blue surged into the youth's palm, his shattered body slowly straightened. His muscles and bones were reshaped, and the overflowing flesh was replenished. A body that had been heavily injured was rejuvenated in just a few breaths.

At this time, the Divine Child's corpse had mostly disappeared, but this suction had not stopped. The youth's momentum began to climb step by step until he suddenly crossed a certain threshold, and those magnificent flowing lights all sank into the youth's palm. Another kind of growth began to take place within the youth's body.

In the dark cavern, this eerie scene was truly like something immortal or ghostly, making one unable to help but imagine what kind of thing was hidden under the youth's human skin.

Li Piaoqing watched the person beside her with a tight throat, her pale lips whispering softly: "Pei... Seeing Pei Ye, what... what happened to you?"

She truly could not help but think whether the youth had been replaced by something during the process just now.

And the youth, having completed everything, just remained silent, leaving only an unmoving back.

After a long while, he slowly turned around, his expression cold as he gave a light smile to the girl beside him: "The next thing to be eaten... is you."

"..."

Li Piaoqing's tense body relaxed all at once. She pouted and smiled, pressed against him, stood on tiptoe, and held her smooth, white neck out to his mouth, her head tilted, her voice somewhat muffled: "Eat me then."

Seeing Pei Ye looked at the smooth, moist skin before him, and his throat truly moved, but his body felt hot in the face first. He pushed her away somewhat embarrassedly: "Stop messing around."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 314 =====