Chapter 456 - 227: Chu Xuan’s Resolve (2)
...
The entrance to the Langhuan Grotto Heaven is located beneath a smooth cliff face within a towering, mystical snow mountain.
Chu Xuan revisits the old location, but his face is somewhat pale. The familiar scene before him stirs up many unpleasant memories.
In those days, he knelt here under the ice-covered cliff, pleading, begging, and sobbing to his master. But Ji Mingyu’s heartlessness made him feel to this day that it was utterly cruel...
When he originally left the mountain, Chu Xuan repeatedly looked around, wanting to remember this place. He said to himself: I will return, someday I will come back!
Later, as he gradually uncovered the truth, he utterly dismissed this idea, never expecting to have a day to return.
Ji Mingyu was originally in the Grotto Heaven, full of anticipation, waiting for him. She even combed her long hair in front of a mirror, but when she suddenly saw Chu Xuan in this state, her heart thumped, "Oh no."
Little Xue anxiously added, "Don’t let him stand outside foolishly! Quickly let him come in."
So Ji Mingyu immediately emerged from the cliff, gracefully descending. She was still so cool and beautiful, like a Frost Snow Goddess descended to the mortal world.
"Chu Xuan, shall we speak inside?" She earnestly extended her right hand to him.
Yet Chu Xuan shook his head, emerging from his memories. He said solemnly, "I want to switch my cultivation to the ’Celestial Water Returning Ruins Technique,’ but I’ve always been indecisive in my heart."
"I previously asked for Su Mengqing’s and Little Xue’s opinions, ultimately dismissing the idea."
"But now, it’s different. I have a pressing need to improve my strength. Only then can I protect the people around me, to ensure they no longer get hurt."
"The reason I came to see you here was initially to ask for your opinion."
"But just now, I’ve already made up my mind. That wisp of celestial energy, I’ve long returned to you. This cultivation technique, I should have returned to you as well. I just couldn’t convert after forming the Golden Core upon discovering the truth earlier."
"Now recalling the ’Celestial Water Returning Ruins Technique’ seems like destiny. So it’s time to make a clean break."
Ji Mingyu didn’t even have a chance to say a word before hearing a devastating piece of news. The joy, anticipation, and anxiety in her heart instantly vanished, as if she had suddenly fallen into the eighteen layers of hell.
Tears immediately fell from her eyes, "No, Chu Xuan, don’t..."
She humbly stepped forward, attempting to hold his hand, to keep him, to change his mind.
But Chu Xuan stepped back. He looked at Ji Mingyu with calm eyes, "Back here, you personally abolished my cultivation and said words of extreme cruelty to me."
"But I never thought that it was just a play you performed."
"Perhaps this is retribution. You hoped that I could love only you, hence conducting such irrational behavior."
"The fault was not just on you, but also on me."
"In the end, I cannot become the perfect lover in your heart. So, Ming Yu, please don’t come looking for me anymore. We really aren’t meant for each other."
"No, please! I’m begging you." Ji Mingyu completely lost her past arrogance. She wept bitterly, kneeling in front of Chu Xuan and clinging tightly to his hand.
"I was wrong, I really was wrong. Please don’t be willful, alright? You still need to ascend to immortality; you cannot switch to demonic cultivation."
Chu Xuan shook his head, "I am not acting out of impulse. I have long decided within my heart, only lacking someone to push me."
"If I can’t protect the people beside me, there’s no point in cultivating to become an immortal."
Having said that, he pried Ji Mingyu’s fingers off one by one, turned around, and walked down the mountain step by step.
"Chu Xuan, come back! Don’t leave me..."
Ming Yu still knelt in the vast wind and snow, weeping until she was a tear-stained figure, much like the man who once knelt here years before. No matter how much she cried, pleaded, or shouted, that person never looked back.
The wind and snow in the Land of the Far North roared incessantly.
Tears fell onto the ground, freezing into hard ice, soon covered by new snowflakes.
...
Little Xue, witnessing this scene, felt a pang in her heart, as if the sky had collapsed and all hope was lost.
Honestly, the mistress did nothing wrong today. Yet neither of them expected how wrong the meeting place would be, granting Chu Xuan the chance to relive his most painful memory.
Had Ji Mingyu taken the initiative to meet Chu Xuan at the Crystal Palace, truth be told, his decision had already been made; the outcome likely wouldn’t have changed.
But at least it wouldn’t have been so tragic, instead solidifying Chu Xuan’s resolve to "never forgive."
Ji Mingyu collapsed to the ground, staring blankly in the direction Chu Xuan departed, her whole spirit seemingly drained, her eyes empty, with tears endlessly flowing down.
After a long while, she stood up with a rueful smile, "I promised you, if you could not ascend to the celestial realm then I won’t either, staying in this mortal world with you..."
"I absolutely, absolutely won’t give up on you."
...
Before long, Chu Xuan returned to the Crystal Palace with such speed that Qingqing felt it unreal, had the talk finished so quickly? She thought at least half a day would have passed.
However, upon seeing Chu Xuan’s utterly emotionless eyes, she sensed his mood was very low and wisely refrained from asking questions, quietly staying by his side.
Chu Xuan closed his eyes, sat cross-legged at the center of the Crystal Palace, his mind a complete mess.
He forced himself to focus on the specifics of switching cultivation techniques, compelled himself to delve into training, so as to forget the persistent echoes of cries and pleadings as if they had never dissipated.
When I, in such despair, begged her then, did she ever feel heartache as I do now? Did she feel even a tinge of regret at that time?
Chu Xuan didn’t know. He could only try to do things that would not leave him with regret.
At this moment, he felt the little snow weasel crawl into his embrace, settling into a comfortable position, as if to comfort him or simply to get closer to him.
Chu Xuan didn’t give it much thought, nor did he shoo it away. He merely gradually adjusted his mindset, organized his thoughts, and began to perform the "substitution" technique within the ’Celestial Water Returning Ruins Technique’.
This step forward, there was no turning back. Abandoning it halfway through, the strands of indelible "Returning Ruins Magical Power" would become his greatest vulnerability and perhaps his death sentence.
Although as long as Chu Xuan gradually matured, Shangguan Yu was like a decayed bone in a tomb compared to him; he absolutely wouldn’t allow a formidable rival like Tian Xie several hundred years to gradually mature, making this step imperative.
Not to mention that a few hundred years later, the extent of natural disasters’ spread could be unknowably vast. Even for Jiang Yiyi’s sake, Chu Xuan ought to grow stronger quickly, at least reaching the Seventh Realm to be considered qualified at all.
On the other side, Ji Mingyu, curling up in the ice and snow, her face still streaked with undried tears, but her expression was rarely peaceful, as if taking a nap in the arms of the one she loved.
...
Chu Xuan embarked on this seclusion, and it lasted straight for three years.
At first, he still had awareness, instructing Qingqing not to wait here tirelessly, suggesting she returns to the Demon Sect for a while.
But Qingqing refused, saying she would act as his Guardian and train alongside him in this place.
Eventually, Chu Xuan entered a deep meditative state, becoming entirely oblivious to all external happenings.
Substitution involves cunning methods, switching secretly, using the "Returning Ruins Power" to slowly replace the original magical power, cultivation, Dao foundation, and essence, bit by bit.
Chu Xuan spent three full years replacing piece by piece the Yu Jing Dao foundation he painstakingly cultivated, yet whether observed from the outside or introspectively, his Dao foundation and magical power remained unchanged.
The last obstacle preventing Chu Xuan from complete transformation was just that final wisp, namely that celestial energy.
This was not easy to replace, but fortunately, during his three-day meditation in the Returning Ruins Grotto, he had secretly extracted a wisp of primordial essence from the Returning Ruins, prepared specifically for this day.
At this moment, that wisp, residing in Chu Xuan’s body for a long time, waiting for its chance, entered the Nascent Soul’s mouth, forcing the Qianming Celestial Energy to exit.
Instantly, Chu Xuan’s entire being emitted waves of dark, eerie radiance, with the entire Crystal Palace forming a fearsome vortex centered on him, seemingly devouring everything around it!
Spiritual water, silver fish, coral, seaweed, sand, shells, Qingqing, and Little Xue—all were uncontrollably swept in, the two latter faces aghast!
Fortunately, at that moment, Chu Xuan opened a pair of deep, dark eyes, and all went quiet completely.
The Returning Ruins Substitution was accomplished in one fell swoop.