My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion

"Secondly,"

he paused slightly, his tone carrying the solemnity of delivering a decree,

"it’s to deliver a message to you on behalf of someone.

Since you’ve achieved the Second Rank and attained the position of Ming Venerable, you now have...the ability to meddle in celestial affairs. In some games, you already have the qualification to make your move."

"Celestial affairs?" Chen Yi sneered, unabashedly mocking, "What if I don’t want to meddle?"

He had no ambition for this, nor liked being bound, always wanting to live his life well and protect his small family, avoiding trouble at all costs.

If it weren’t for Zhou Yitang in his previous life, he certainly wouldn’t have attempted to repair the heavens.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Qi didn’t show any anger at Chen Yi’s taunts.

The smile on his face faded, and his expression turned particularly complex, saying:

"They will force you to meddle."

Chen Yi felt a chill in his heart and pressed further, "Who?"

Qi withdrew his gaze from the sky and looked back at Chen Yi, slowly uttering two words. The sound wasn’t loud, but it seemed to carry the weight of the entire world:

"God."

After speaking, he said nothing more. He nodded slightly towards Chen Yi, his figure in a blue-grey scholar’s robe retreating, blending like ink into water, quickly fading into the swirling incense smoke and bustling crowd, eventually disappearing without a trace.

As if he truly came just to deliver a single message.

Qi came and went quickly, as unexpected in his arrival as he was in his departure.

Chen Yi felt instantly bored, thinking there would be a head-on confrontation, shook his head, and sarcastically spoke to himself, "Tsk, doesn’t even give me a chance to show off."

"Daddy... what does ’show off’ mean?"

Chen Yi was stunned, turning to meet Qin Yue’s blinking eyes. Afraid of leading the child astray, he kissed Qin Yue’s little face and gently said, "It means to show garlic, Daddy misspoke."

"...What does it mean to show garlic?"

"Uh... it means running around with a garlic clove."

"...Yue’er doesn’t understand."

"You’ll understand in the future."

Saying this, Chen Yi turned his head, thought for a moment, then asked the nearby Daoist child for some sticks of incense, lighting them with a fire striker.

Fragrant clouds rose and fell like tides. An elderly woman, trembling, raised the incense above her head, murmuring her deceased husband’s name, praying he would no longer suffer hunger or cold; a middle-aged man, with a heavy expression, deeply kowtowed after placing his incense, seemingly comforting his early-deceased parents; and a young woman, with tears at the corners of her eyes, burned incense for the child lost before ever being born.

The air was filled with the scent of sandalwood and burning paper money.

Chen Yi couldn’t help but feel touched.

He held the lit three sticks of incense in his hand, blue smoke curling upward, thought for a moment, then bent down and handed three small sticks of incense to Qin Yue, helping her light them carefully.

"Yue’er, hold them carefully."

The little one found the smoking sticks quite novel, clumsily grasping them like the surrounding adults, finding it fun and instinctively waving them, the sparks tracing bright red trajectories in the air.

"Don’t wave them," Chen Yi gently grasped her small hand, softly stopping her, "These... are for Grandma."

"Grandma?" Qin Yue looked up, glancing left and right, "Where’s Grandma? Yue’er doesn’t see Grandma."

Looking at her innocent expression, Chen Yi’s heart softened, and he patiently explained with a smile, "Grandma is Daddy’s mother, like you are Mommy’s daughter."

"Oh..." Qin Yue nodded her little head in understanding, finding the relationship a bit complex, but she caught the main point and immediately asked curiously, "Where is Grandma then? Yue’er wants to see Grandma!"

Chen Yi gently stroked his daughter’s head, speaking even softer, "Grandma isn’t here, which is why we’re offering incense."

He paused, guiding Qin Yue’s small hand, firmly placing the three small sticks of incense into the enormous incense burner before them, watching as the blue smoke rose with countless other prayers, mingling in the clouds hovering above the temple hall.

.........

Time unknowingly flowed. During the day the Daoist temple had been bustling with people, but as night deepened, it finally returned to silence. Moonlight streamed through the high windows, casting a cool glow in the Three Pure Ones Hall, illuminating the empty sanctuary.

The crowd of worshippers had dispersed not long ago, leaving only the lingering scent of incense throughout the hall, with the giant beams and polished floor covered in a thin layer of ash.

The little Taoist boy on night watch leaned against the column outside the hall, holding a broom, his head nodding repeatedly as he couldn’t help but yawn continuously.

In this half-awake, half-asleep state, he seemed to sense something flickering before him, as if a figure appeared, silently stepping into the Three Pure Ones Hall.

The scholar-dressed man who had disappeared in front of Chen Yi earlier, now returned.

He stood quietly in the center of the vast hall, with the moonlight stretching his blue-grey silhouette long.

He raised his head, his gaze calm yet filled with authority and sharpness, looking straight at the Three Pure Ones statue, which seemed even more mysterious under the dim light.

His gaze was not akin to the usual awe and prayer of incense customers, but rather... like an examination, even an inquiry.

He spoke, as if talking to himself, yet also questioning the clay-painted golden statue:

"Were you listening in on the conversation during the day?"

The hall offered no response.

Only the moonlight flowed silently, incense ash lay quietly spread, and the Dharma Aspect of the Three Pure Ones maintained its compassionate downward gaze, overseeing the mortal world in silence.

This didn’t seem to surprise him. He let out a cold laugh, echoing slightly in the empty hall, with a tint of self-mockery and defiance.

"If you were listening, so be it." His tone was indifferent, "I was merely... passing on a message from my father."

After saying this, he was silent for a moment. The barely concealed cold and fierce aura around him seemed to dissipate quietly with the words, and the cold smile gradually withdrew, replaced by a weariness as if spanning thousands of years.

He slightly tilted his head back, looking as if through the hall’s ceiling, gazing at the boundless world outside the window, eventually, turning into a long and heavy sigh.

No one understood better than him the precarious state the Heavenly Dao had reached today, describing it as riddled with holes and full of flaws would not suffice.

... Otherwise, how could even a glimmer of hope be entrusted to Chen Yi, who at the time was merely a Third Rank?

In those years, he had killed his mother to repair the heavens, gaining a moment of respite. However, with the passage of thousands of years, no matter how much it was mended, how could this world return to its original state? It was merely robbing Peter to pay Paul, growing weaker with each repair, drawing ever closer to the end.

"Damage the surplus to make up for the deficiency... but how much surplus is left in this world..." Qi murmured to himself with self-deprecation, then sighed, saying: "Child is unfilial, mother... have you been well these years?"

The massive incense burner in the hall was filled with incense sticks and thick ash from the worshippers of the day. As he contemplated, he turned his head inadvertently.

He stood frozen in place.

Qi looked at the incense burner, only to find that at some point, the three sticks of incense he had offered were extinguished.

While the incense offered by Chen Yi still trailed wisps of smoke.

...............

...............

Chen Yi and his party of four boarded the carriage, embarking on the journey back to the Prince Mansion.

The carriage swayed slightly along the road, outside the window the lights of thousands of homes gradually brightened, and on street corners and alleyways, the embers left from burning paper money hadn’t been completely extinguished yet.

The journey was uneventful, with no further disturbances.

Perhaps playing during the day had exhausted too much of her energy. Not long after boarding, Qin Yue, who was nestled in Chen Yi’s arms, began nodding off, finally resting her head against his chest. Her breathing became steady and long, as she sank into a deep sleep once more.

Qin Qingluo sat opposite, her gaze mostly focused on the passing night scenery outside the window but occasionally glanced at her sleeping daughter and the man holding her, Chen Yi. Yet, she remained silent throughout.

Other than the brief encounter with Qi, there were no twists and turns during this journey, which left Chen Yi somewhat surprised that his family, the Great Yin, truly refrained from causing any trouble this time.

No schemes, no long-hidden intents, not even a conflict with Qin Qingluo occurred.

This instead made Chen Yi feel a bit unaccustomed. He couldn’t help but recall the early morning scene in the carriage when she turned her head to look out the window, the cold side profile faintly revealing... a hint of grievance.

At that time, he only thought it was her embarrassment from her thoughts being exposed, or the frustration from her failed calculation.

Unconsciously, Chen Yi gently combed through his daughter’s soft hair with his fingers, pondering to himself: Could it be that his unreserved suspicion that morning truly hurt her feelings? Or was it his family’s retreat to advance in the battle of subtlety?

When it came to Yin Weiyin, he always had to guard against her, yet after doing so, he sometimes felt he was being overly harsh.

Chen Yi couldn’t help but ponder silently.

The carriage continued to roll smoothly onwards, returning steadily to the Prince of Annan’s mansion.