Chapter 1382 - 753: Pixiu (Double - ) (2)
Chen Yi’s gaze flickered, and he immediately understood the crucial point: "Using the Slaughter Qi to cover the auspicious breath? That’s quite a method."
"Indeed." Master Linghui nodded, "The Killing Sword is fierce, and can effectively confuse Heaven’s secrets, diluting the overly conspicuous fortune light. The Chen Family spared no effort in this regard."
She changed her tone and sighed:
"However, while magic reaches a foot high, the Dao reaches five feet beyond. Even with such concealment, in the end, it was... seen through."
Upon hearing this, Chen Yi’s thoughts raced, pondering her words:
"Discovered by the Heavenly Family of Western Jin?"
"Exactly." Master Linghui’s remaining spirit became more substantial, as if this memory was deeply imprinted on her. "The Western Jin Royal Family, possessing the Astronomical Bureau, conscripted extraordinary individuals from all over, eventually detected some clues, and the current Empress intervened personally, issuing a decree and using the Emperor’s Seal to directly arrange a marriage for the Chen Family, designating this girl as the Crown Prince Consort."
Her voice carried an indescribable complexity:
"The intention behind this could not be more obvious; they aim to bind the reincarnated Pixiu’s limitless fortune to their royal family and closely tie it with the nation’s destiny! This heavenly favor was grand and dignified, and even such an influential family as the Chen Family from Western Jin could not defy, only able to... accept that marriage proposal."
Chen Yi hugged his arms, pulling at the corner of his mouth with a hint of coldness and said:
"But ultimately, this marriage never happened."
On hearing this, Master Linghui, surprisingly, exhibited a trace of a smile and said:
"Naturally, it didn’t happen.
Seeing the inevitability, the Chen Family Head played a risky move, secretly instructing and cleverly utilizing the girl’s deeply unreasonable fortune to create an inside and outside collusion, fabricating her inability to cope with the pressure and her elopement in secret.
This matter was almost... natural and effortless.
No matter how the Director of the Western Jin Astronomical Bureau deduced Heaven’s secrets and calculated cause and effect, the final conclusion would always be that this girl’s fortune was too overwhelming, her fate too peculiar for the Royal Family to forcibly hold her; her escape was deemed Heaven’s Will, rather than human intervention. Otherwise, with the girl’s limited Taoism and naive nature back then, how could she, alone, have escaped through the tightly secured borders of Western Jin and the Royal Family’s surveillance undetected?"
Upon hearing this, even with the lack of detailed perilous intricacies, Chen Yi understood the general course of events. This explains why Miss Donggong wanted him to kill the Western Jin Crown Prince; despite her naive and carefree nature, with such fortune, she could subtly sense where danger lies.
Actually, Miss Donggong is quite kind-hearted. If it were himself, he might have wanted to wipe out the entire family.
A commoner without sin bears the sin of possessing a treasure.
Since that’s the case, whoever dares to covet, he will kill them.
Chen Yi halted his steps, repeatedly examining the auspicious Pixiu beast, although not a fortune-controller, its appearance was inexplicably somewhat cute.
At first sight, the Pixiu indeed brought surprise, but upon brief thought compared to other known girls, while its origins are unusual, it’s not extraordinarily so, thus Chen Yi didn’t have an excessive reaction to the auspicious sign.
He pondered for a while and slowly asked: "This is probably just a stopgap measure."
Master Linghui glanced at him, somewhat surprised, but still slightly nodded and said: "Indeed."
Chen Yi lowered his gaze, meaningfully saying: "To untie the bell, the bell must be tied by someone."
.........
Chen Yi’s gathered spiritual light silently retrieved from Donggong Ruoshu’s brow, slowly opening his eyes, with the exotic images still lingering in his gaze, yet his face returned to normal.
Almost simultaneously, Donggong Ruoshu’s long lashes fluttered a few times and leisurely awakened.
Her eyes were still hazy, instinctively raising her hand to rub her eyes, giving a small yawn, her voice laced with thick sleepiness, mumbling indistinctly:
"Hmm... so sleepy... Chen Yi, I seem to have... taken a nap..."
She said this, still swaying her somewhat heavy head like a lazy cat, trying to dispel the pervasive drowsiness.
Slightly more awake, she immediately remembered the important matter, forced herself to ask energetically:
"How is it? Did you find anything inside me... Are there any impurities?"
Chen Yi looked at her appearance of being completely unaware of her origins, feeling temporarily helpless.
Pixiu naturally wards off evil, how could there be impurities entering inside?
He shook his head calmly and said: "No, I’ve carefully checked, your Heart Lake is very clean, there’s nothing abnormal."
"Huh? Nothing at all..."
Donggong Ruoshu heard this, her face showing disappointment, her small mouth pouted slightly, and her head drooped down.
But this little disappointment came quickly and went away just as quickly. She soon lifted her head again, grabbed Chen Yi’s sleeve, and asked:
"About what was said before... what if I don’t want to be a human anymore?"
Chen Yi’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
He couldn’t help but think to himself, this stupid girl was never human to begin with.
But it was impossible to say this, otherwise this stupid girl would expose herself completely.
He had to sigh, reach out to rub the top of her head, and in a coaxing tone said:
"What’s good about being a ghost? Without me, you’d be blown away by the wind and melted by the sun, you wouldn’t even get a hot meal, so just be a human honestly."
"It’s precisely because of you that I want to be a ghost," said Donggong Ruoshu matter-of-factly.
.........
"It’s precisely because of you that I want to be a ghost."
If some ordinary naive Jianghu youth heard such words, they would probably risk their lives, feeling they must go through fire and water.
As if giving up their own life was the only way to be worthy of the woman’s accidental heartfelt words from back then.
The Jianghu is a turbulent tide, the lives of young men too easily disregarded, and a woman’s true words too rare. The rarity makes it precious, therefore a true word can send many to their deaths.
Yet, a woman can say many sincere words in her lifetime, sometimes one incense stick’s time ago it was heartfelt, the next moment, it’s insincere.
But even realizing in the end that it’s insincere, when a young man dies for it, he will still stand firm and say he has no regrets.
Chen Yi wasn’t such a fool; a life is his own, even if it was to be exchanged, it must be worth it. If he hadn’t truly experienced Zhou Yitang, marrying her and securing a lifetime commitment in his past life, he would never have dared to ascend and repair the heavens, so aside from the times when he was obsessed with appearances, he had very little of a youthful spirit.
So when he heard Donggong Ruoshu’s words, Chen Yi was touched, but that was all,
However, he also teasingly said, "How many people will go to their deaths for you if you say that outside?"
The stupid girl tilted her head like she was retorting, "That’s why I’m telling it to you."
Chen Yi was quite helpless about this, not taking it to heart too much, nor ignoring it entirely.
Afterward, more than ten days passed.
Chen Yi once told Yin Weiyin that at least they should wait until the New Year was over before considering going to Western Jin, and during this period, his mind was not wandering elsewhere; mostly he would play with Yue’er, accompany the Prince in handling affairs of state, and be affectionate with Zhu E, sometimes sleeping with Miss Lin, who was still as reticent as ever. Dual cultivation became sparse, and his Great Yin was rarely neither jealous nor envious, allowing her to learn patience after letting her cultivate immortality.
As the New Year approached, although the days were calm and uneventful, affairs became increasingly busy.
Ever since receiving the adviser’s impeachment, Qin Qingluo began pushing Chen Yi to do his real job at the Stop War Department, as if wanting to drive him out of the Prince Mansion, making him run here and there. Yet every night, a lamp would always be left for him in the bedroom.
During these days, the Princess seemed more greedy than ever.
Chen Yi could naturally withstand it, but even so, he still felt slightly fatigued each morning.
One day upon returning from official duties, the setting sun cast its glow, horse hooves tapping out a clear rhythm on the streets of Dragon Tail City, clattering as Chen Yi held the reins, riding at a leisurely pace.
The sunset’s afterglow painted the rooftops in a warm golden hue, shops on either side of the street had already hung up red lanterns, though not lit yet, their continuous red already infused the air with festivity. The air smelled of savory boiled cured meats and steamed sticky rice cakes. Children wearing newly padded cotton coats chased and played at the mouth of the alley.
At that moment, from deep within the alley ahead came a crisp "pop" sound, followed by the triumphant laughter of a few children and the sound of running footsteps scattering.
A familiar smoke with the scent of saltpeter wafted through the air.
They were firecrackers.
Some impatient child couldn’t hold back and secretly set off the firecrackers intended for New Year.
Chen Yi pulled the horse to a stop, watching the group of children running away, along with a few remnants of red paper scraps left on the ground, he became momentarily lost in thought.
In the sound of firecrackers, another year passes...
The New Year was approaching.