This was why He Liansheng’s destined sword was named Taoyuan.
Why the first spell he learned was Peach Blossom Blooming.
In the river of time, Xing Shuishui saw He Liansheng’s past lives and present life. All his memories gazed back at her. Strong emotions enveloped her completely.
Her hand barely touched the mirror’s surface when the Spirit Mirror shattered with a crack. Tears instantly fell, hot and painful, quickly reddening the tip of her nose.
Human eyes are strange – sometimes they can contain all the beautiful mountains and rivers of the world, yet sometimes they seem so narrow they can only hold one person.
Xing Shuishui quietly watched He Liansheng. The wind blades of the Twelve Earth Demon Formation hadn’t subsided. The cold wind in the formation whipped up the young man’s high-tied hair, his vermillion headband like blood.
She remembered that year in Qingzhou, seeing him standing with his sword among countless demon corpses, filled with lone courage.
She didn’t know when he started liking her, nor could she remember when he discovered she was a spirit.
The bracelet on her wrist was too hot. Xing Shuishui opened her mouth to speak.
He Liansheng pressed the wound on his chest, his smile deepening: “That’s why that year in Qingzhou, when you disappeared somewhere, my chest suddenly hurt so much. I was so afraid of losing you.”
He lowered his head, staring at her intently: “I was confused before, why a little peach spirit could make me go to such lengths. Now I understand why the Path of No Emotions shattered, why I was so afraid of you getting hurt back then.”
“It turns out I’ve liked you since hundreds of years ago.”
Xing Shuishui froze, supporting his body: “Stop talking! Save your strength to get out of here. You’re so badly injured and still worried about these things!”
Blood flowed down between the young man’s fingers. He was in terrible condition, yet the death gates in this formation kept changing every moment.
He Liansheng gave a low laugh, bending down to kiss her forehead with unexpected gentleness, messing up her hair by her temples.
He paid no mind to it, saying: “Shuishui, you are the sword spirit of the Taoyuan Sword. The Taoyuan Sword may break, but you cannot be harmed. As long as you live, what does it matter if I live or die?”
Xing Shuishui clutched his clothes tightly, softly scolding: “You fool! Always talking about dying… without even asking if I agree. Your family gave you the character ‘Sheng’ (life) in your name hoping you would live, not die. He Liansheng, me too! I like you. So I want you to live and keep seeing me – not die for me. Dying for love is admirable, but living for love is even greater…”
Xing Shuishui stared at the young man’s reddening eyes, muttering: “Let me tell you. I won’t be a widow!”
“If you die here today, I’ll run off with another man tomorrow! I’ll marry someone else in front of your grave. You’ve liked me for so many years. Now that I’m finally yours, are you willing to let go?”
She turned her head away. Her own eyes had reddened.
The young man said: “I’m not willing.”
He Liansheng gently stroked her cheek, saying domineeringly: “If you dare run off with another man, I’ll kill him. Scatter his ashes to the wind.”
Who else in this world would run away with you when young, or die for love while still mortal? If they couldn’t do these things, they had no right to compete with him for her.
Xing Shuishui asked softly: “What about me then? Would you want to kill me?”
He Liansheng wiped away the tears from the corner of her eye. Xing Shuishui glanced sideways to see the young man lean close to her ear, saying quietly: “No. I don’t want you to die… I just want to lock you away.”
It felt as if something scraped across her heart.
Xing Shuishui froze for a moment, then took his blood-covered hand, looking at him determinedly: “Then let’s get out together.”
She gritted her teeth and got up from the ground, as if returning to that night when the Guan family was destroyed. The Lifire broke through the soul oath, replaced by the sound of her core shattering like an avalanche, pain spreading throughout her body.
Fire filled the sky, almost turning it completely red.
The young woman’s powers scattered. She took out her red and white knife to support herself, untied the red hair ribbon from her head, tying one end to her own ring finger and the other to the young man’s ring finger.
The bright red hair ribbon connected their fingers, intertwining together, like declaring a vow: never to part.
She wiped away her tears and looked at him: “He Liansheng, you’re not afraid of death. Neither am I. I want to take you home with me!”
“I want to take you to Jiangsu, I want to take you to eat Dingding candy, we still have so many things we haven’t done together, we must, must get out together.”
The young woman spoke through tears of many beautiful things, like an untouchable dream.
He Liansheng froze, his voice low and hoarse as he held her hand and said: “Alright.”
Xing Shuishui had thought before, since she had already given him the source flame of Lifire, if He Liansheng were to die in this formation today, she would use her life to ensure he made it out alive no matter what.
But later she saw He Liansheng’s past lives and present life in the Spirit Mirror. She knew of his grief and waiting after her death. The young man was willing to die for love, and also willing to face death for love.
So—
Why must many stories end with one dead and one alive, rather than two people fighting their way out together?
He Liansheng was a genius, but wasn’t she one too? She had killed Guan Yinzi, guarded the manor for a hundred years, fought with Du Dizhu for a hundred years, and returned with only a few hundred years of cultivation.
If they had endured a hundred years of frost, why couldn’t they break through this deadly situation? Understanding this, she grabbed the young man’s hand firmly, telling him determinedly — this time, you’re not alone. You have me.
He Liansheng, let’s fight our way out gloriously together!
Guan Wushan, whose throat was gripped by Du Dizhu, had never been docile for a moment, coldly watching the two of them.
Seeing Xing Shuishui willing to shatter her core to break the soul oath, Guan Wushan reached toward his dantian position, violently tearing it open. Blood flowed down his arm, emitting an eerie red light.
Li Guanhang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looking up and crying out: “Not good! Du Dizhu, kill him quickly — this dog is going to sacrifice himself to the formation!! He’s closing the only exit!!”
Li Guanyu raised his sword to block the wind blades in the formation, protecting his brother. Blue light from his fingertips shot toward the formation. He couldn’t be careless: “Guanhang, focus.”
Lifire almost instantly engulfed Guan Wushan’s hand.
Du Dizhu coldly stared at Guan Wushan, also withdrawing his dragon bone claw. The snap of breaking neck was crisp, Guan Wushan’s head separated from his body. Blood sprayed across the Twelve Earth Demon Formation.
The young man closed his eyes, two lines of bloody tears flowing down, remembering what he had said to that little fox hundreds of years ago.
— “If I die in the end, remember to pour three bowls of wine on my grave every year.”
Unfortunately, the person who heard his promise had gone one step ahead.
All the heroic aspirations in his heart instantly turned to dust, leaving only deep grief.
His core burst from his body, merging into the formation. The entire formation began to shake, and thus the only exit in the Twelve Earth Demon Formation turned into a death gate! There was no way out.
The surroundings instantly darkened, blood energy entangled, as if in the eighteenth layer of hell.
Du Dizhu took a wind blade hit, cursing Guan Wushan’s eighteen generations of ancestors: “Told you two brats not to come, but you had to rush into the formation!! Now look what’s happened! None of us can get out! Just making trouble here, your old father waiting at the formation entrance must be crying now.”
Li Guanhang snorted: “Stop being so negative! Who says we can’t get out?”
He pointed at the white-robed young man in the mist: “With He Liansheng here, even death gates must become exits! He’s our Lingshan’s number one genius, I believe in him!”
Du Dizhu sneered: “What’s so special about He Liansheng? Just a young pup! Genius? Xue Jiuling killed Guan Yinzi before he was even born. If you haven’t heard of Guan Yinzi’s deeds, have your old father burn some of his stories for you every year after you die.”
Li Guanhang drew his spirit bow, aiming at the wind blade rushing toward Du Dizhu, quickly releasing the string.
The wind blade scattered, Du Dizhu was stunned.
Li Guanhang shot several more arrows at nearby wind blades, angry: “Stop chattering, let’s break the formation. How old are you now, you’ve lived long enough but I haven’t. Anyway, from the moment I stepped on this path of cultivation, my master told me never to give up no matter what I encounter, especially when I need to save my friend.”
The dragon bone blade was drawn, mirror shards surrounding the blade reflected the blood on its tip.
The man tilted his neck, a fierce grin showing through his split teeth: “Then let’s get serious. Let’s see if these twelve death gates can stop me, Du Dizhu of Wuxiang Mountain, Xue Jiuling the Master of Lifire, and He Liansheng the First of the Sword Path!”
Li Guanhang asked: “What about me and my sister?”
Du Dizhu gave him a look, bluntly: “Get lost — you still need more practice!”
Boom—
Fire light broke through the blocking wind blades, quickly shredded by sword intent!
A young man and woman supporting each other emerged from the mist, stepping through blood as they came. Everyone’s gazes focused on them with varying degrees of shock.
He Liansheng’s sword was like a falling star in the long night, blood continuously dripping from his white robe hem.
His face was composed, his pace unhurried, always holding onto the little peach spirit who gripped his arm guard with determined eyes, her clothes stained with blood, pale face covered in blood stains.
The mist dispersed, replaced by spreading Lifire.
Seeing Xing Shuishui’s shattered core, Du Dizhu understood, exclaiming in surprise: “You were willing to shatter your core to forcefully break the soul oath?”
Xing Shuishui calmly said: “Having a core or not doesn’t affect my use of Lifire. The urgent matter is to break through these twelve death gates and get out of this evil formation.”
Du Dizhu sighed slightly: “Without a core you can’t even use basic spells, how can you talk about breaking the formation? Here’s what we’ll do, I’ll lend you my core to use, keeping a thousand years of power for mirror techniques. You all better break this death formation quickly for me.”
Before Xing Shuishui could react, she saw a black spirit core fly out from his dantian position and merge into her abdomen.
Her wounds quickly healed, her awareness reached unprecedented heights – this was the abundant inner power brought by a ten-thousand-year spirit core.
She secretly marveled for a moment, bowing with a smile: “Then I thank Mountain Lord Du for his care. I’ll return it after using it.”
Du Dizhu spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva: “Stop being so sarcastic, I just don’t want to die alongside you love birds!
I’ll take these two brats to deal with these troublesome wind blades, you go ahead. Let those outside see who rules this world now!”
Li Guanhang had held back for a long time: “Who are you calling brats?”
Du Dizhu laughed loudly: “With this master pointing out techniques for you, hurry back and thank your Li family ancestors!”
Li Guanyu walked up to Xing Shuishui and He Liansheng, quietly throwing the broken Taoyuan Sword to He Liansheng, saying calmly: “Lian, Shuishui, I believe in you. Don’t worry, just keep going forward, leave what’s behind to us.”
The Taoyuan Sword fragments began to heat up as soon as they touched the blood in He Liansheng’s hand.
The young man closed his eyes.
The broken sword carrying fragments of light in the mist actually pieced itself back together! He raised his hand to grasp it, and the Taoyuan Sword flew into his hand.
Xing Shuishui looked up, saying softly: “Let’s go.”
He Liansheng gripped her hand tightly.
The red ribbon wound around their fingers as they walked hand in hand into the twelve death gates. Old friends part to finally stay together, no regrets for love in the mortal world.
At the moment of parting, Li Guanyu still gripped the puppet strings, couldn’t help calling out: “Shuishui—”
Li Guanhang held back tears in his eyes, consoling: “Sister, don’t be sad, we also need to focus on dealing with these wind blades.”
Du Dizhu’s black hair flying, raised his fist, giving a look that said ‘you better come out alive to see me’.
Xing Shuishui gripping her knife, smiled at Li Guanyu and the others behind her: “Don’t be sad, we’ll definitely come back. We’ll all survive!”
The wind in the death gates was strong, her skirts floating, bright as the dancing sun, still living especially brilliantly in this cruel world.
He Liansheng’s gaze followed her all the way, hand gripping the Taoyuan Sword as he stood beside her. She curved her brows and eyes, from then on the paths were filled with warm spring.
The twelve death gates also opened their bloody maws to swallow the two of them.
Leave a Reply