Discarding all distractions, Lin Nan closed the door and sat cross-legged on the couch. The formation diagram on the table flickered with a cold light in the candlelight.
She traced the formation’s core with careful strokes, silently reciting the heart of the array in her mind.
At this moment, every breath was part of her cultivation. The faint currents of Qi in her dantian twitched inch by inch along the meridians. She expanded her awareness in her mind’s sea to feel every subtle change.
Just as she was about to enter meditation, Lin Nan suddenly thought of something. She flipped over and deliberately retrieved the talisman that Shen Yuer had drawn for her.
“How thoughtful,”
Lin Nan held the protective charm, fingertips touching the warm cinnabar, and couldn’t help but recall the little girl’s shining eyes when she left, as if hiding a sweet osmanthus cake inside.
A strange metaphor, and Lin Nan laughed quietly to herself, teasing, “She says she came running because she dreamed of a noise, but she’s clearly just afraid of the dark.”
She placed the talisman beside her pillow, then turned toward the formation plate tucked in the corner.
This was the Gathering Spirit Array she had acquired. The edges of the jade were carved with intricate runes, said to condense the surrounding spiritual energy threefold.
Lin Nan crouched, fingertips brushing over the formation’s core. She pulled a vermilion brush from her sleeve, dipped it in the juice of the Return-spirit Herb, and carefully traced along the jade’s patterns.
Where the brush tip passed, the runes gradually glowed with a faint cyan light, faintly resonating with the golden flames of the Soul-locking Ring.
Monster Qi grew denser wherever the brush traced.
Light footsteps came from outside the cave but stopped at the stone door. Only a faint aura drifted inside, carrying the bittersweet scent of sandalwood and pine needles.
It must be Shu Ying.
Lin Nan loosened the hand seal she was holding.
She could imagine the scene outside: a woman in a blue-gray Daoist robe stood with her back to the stone door, fingers twisting prayer beads, black eyes gazing into the depths of the bamboo forest like a silent stone statue.
“Come in?” she asked silently but did not speak aloud.
The figure outside did not move either. After about half an incense stick’s time, the footsteps slowly retreated.
Lin Nan lowered her head and resumed drawing the talisman, but the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
When the formation was complete, she sat cross-legged in the center and took a deep breath.
The refreshing fragrance of the Return-spirit Herb filled her lungs with a faint sweetness and coolness, dispelling the remaining Monster Qi in her body.
She took out a Soul-calming Pill and placed it under her tongue. The cold medicinal taste instantly suppressed the unrest in her dantian. The incantation of the Summon Demon Art rolled over her tongue.
“With blood as the guide, with soul as the contract, summon the fate of eight lifetimes, temper my broken body…”
At the moment she bit her fingertip, the Soul-locking Ring suddenly heated up. Golden flames surged along her blood vessels toward her dantian.
In an instant, Lin Nan plunged back into the depths of her mind sea.
The entire world sank into infinite darkness, with only a single distant point of light.
She skillfully headed toward the light.
There.
The light orb formed from the fate of eight lifetimes hovered quietly. The moment Lin Nan touched it, it exploded into countless specks of light, like starlight piercing into every limb and bone.
Lin Nan trembled violently as fragmented images flashed through her mind.
In Changjing City, she knelt on the court floor dressed in prison clothes. Shu Ying’s dragon robe trailed on the ground. A memorial was thrown in front of her.
The Empress’s fingertips trembled, but her voice was cold as ice, “Teacher, I had high hopes for you. Is this your answer?”
“Your Majesty…”
She wanted to explain, but her throat was blocked by true Qi. She could only watch helplessly as the civil and military officials knelt one after another, each publicly condemning her, piling all sins and blood debts onto her head.
All because she had failed the southern patrol and lost to those powerful aristocratic clans.
And the emperor on high did not even give her the Imperial Sword of Authority.
Let alone trust.
“Ah!”
Pain exploded from her dantian. Lin Nan suddenly opened her eyes, golden light swirling in her jade irises.
She saw the Tiger Mark emerge on the back of her hand, sharp claws half an inch long springing from her fingertips. The other hand moved like an afterimage, leaving five white scratches on the ground. Two kinds of power collided violently within her, as if tearing her meridians apart.
“Soul-locking Ring!”
She clenched her wrist. The golden flames on the ring spun wildly, but when touching the golden light points, they calmed and even guided the fusion of the two forces.
The fierce power of the Tiger Demon and the swift grace of the Cat Shadow intertwined in her bloodline, eventually condensing into two phantom silhouettes circling behind her.
The tiger’s roar shook the cave, causing dust to fall, while the cat shadow moved so fast it was just a silver streak.
“Discipline, that’s the Tiger Demon… Flowing Shadow is the Spirit Cat…”
Lin Nan murmured. These two names seemed etched in her memory from birth.
She tried to summon power. The tiger phantom punched the stone wall, instantly cracking the bluestone like a spiderweb. The next moment, the cat phantom leapt onto her body. She sped across the ground, the wind whipping up scattered talisman papers but without disturbing the Blue-glazed Porcelain Bowl on the table.
At that moment, Lin Nan suddenly looked down toward her dantian.
For some reason, she always felt that when the Summon Demon Art called the Tiger Demon to possess her, it created a mysterious connection with someone.
In the stone chamber on Thoughtful Cliff, Shu Ying was gently wiping the Clothing Tomb with coarse cloth.
Cracks on the monument were embedded with dark red stains bloodstains from years ago. She wiped delicately, as if caressing a fragile treasure.
Suddenly, the prayer beads on her wrist snapped with a “pop,” scattering purple sandalwood beads across the floor. One rolled in front of the tomb and shattered on the spot.
She looked down and saw a drop of golden Blood Oath seeping from her fingertip, falling into the incense ash before the monument and dissipating like smoke.
Then, without warning, a vision flashed through her mind.
A white-haired girl stood beneath lightning, the Grand Preceptor held the Demon Slayer Long Blade high above her head. Yet her blue-green eyes were full of gentleness as she said to Shu Ying, “Xiaoying, the immortal’s touch seals our bond and grants us eternal life.”
“Teacher?”
Shu Ying panicked and stood up abruptly, her blue-gray Daoist robe sweeping over the scattered prayer beads.
She rushed out of the chamber, gazing toward Lin Nan’s cave. Her black eyes churned like stormy waves. She could sense it.
That aura was guiding her in that direction.
She instinctively formed a sword seal. Golden flames flickered at her fingertips, almost solidifying, but stopped the moment she stepped off the cliff.
What if it’s not?
What if this Lin Nan is only similar to that Lin Nan because of cultivating the Summon Demon Art?
What if this Lin Nan is merely the reincarnation of that Lin Nan?
What if she doesn’t even remember herself no hatred, let alone love?
What if…
The golden flames at Shu Ying’s fingertips flickered and suddenly dispersed.
She froze in place. A drop of golden Blood Oath quietly welled up and fell onto the grass at the cliff’s edge, instantly burning a small hole.
She looked at the cave deep in the bamboo forest. Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed her chest—something awakening, or perhaps something shattering.
Inside Lin Nan’s cave, the golden light points slowly retracted. The twin phantoms merged back into her body.
She gasped and opened her eyes. The Soul-locking Ring bore a fine crack. The golden flames dimmed slightly but became more refined, like strands of gold forged in fire.
She raised her hand. The Tiger Mark and Cat Shadow flashed briefly on her wrist. Monster Qi and true Qi circulated smoothly through her meridians with no obstruction.
The barrier of the eighth rank was broken.
Far away on Thoughtful Cliff, Shu Ying picked up the scattered prayer beads and restrung them.
She brushed away the shattered bead before the monument, leaving only a faint trace of sandalwood incense.
Gazing toward the bamboo forest, the emotions swirling in her black eyes finally settled, leaving only a silent prayer:
I have waited for you a long time.
This time, don’t let me lose you again.
Even if you are not you.
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