Chapter 572: Our Hearts Have Finally Joined as One

Yueshi carried the wedding gift forward with steady steps.

Senior Sister Lin of Seeking Immortals Temple, who was presiding over the wedding ceremony, could not help a flicker of hesitation crossing her face.

Mainly because this visitor had clearly not come with good intentions, and for a moment she was unsure what to do, uncertain whether she ought to accept the gift on behalf of Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng but in the end, Senior Sister Lin saw the temple master give a slight nod, and so she stepped forward slowly, reaching out to lift the red cloth covering the gift.

The instant the red cloth was lifted, everyone present could not help but frown at once.

Senior Sister Lin's face turned even paler.

Beneath the red cloth were three human heads, arranged neatly on the tray.

"These are the sect masters of Zhenjiu Sect, Huangsha Sect, and Huoquan Sect, respectively."

Tushan Jingci spoke slowly, introducing their identities in an even tone.

"Back when young master Xiao abandoned the Buddhist path for the Daoist one, I left Cloud Village not long after as well."

"However, the border region between the demon race's territory and the Western Region truly is too remote, and news from there is scarce. After I left, I no longer kept track of Four Void Temple."

"But three years ago, I happened to learn that not long after I left, these three great sects, Zhenjiu, Huangsha, and Huoquan, had actually attempted to use the innocent common people within a hundred li of Four Void Temple as sacrifices, to refine magical artifacts, reducing the area for a hundred li around Four Void Temple to scorched earth."

"I sought out those three sect masters, and they confessed to their crime without denial."

"Since they had done wrong, they ought to pay the price for their actions. I took their heads myself, and now, taking this opportunity, I offer this as my wedding gift to young master Xiao. I hope you will not think it unworthy."

The moment Tushan Jingci finished speaking, Xiao Mo's brow furrowed slightly, his gaze falling upon those three heads.

Xiao Mo understood full well in his heart that these three demon cultivators were nothing more than scapegoats offered up by Tushan Meng.

As for the true hand behind that tragedy at Four Void Temple, Jingci surely had no idea.

After all, Jingci was, in the end, a sentimental person at heart. She had lived in Cloud Village for a good long while, and those villagers had treated her kindly.

Tushan Meng knew well that if Jingci ever learned the truth of who was truly behind it all, she would likely come to harbor deep resentment toward her and so, Tushan Meng had extracted herself entirely and cleanly from the matter of Four Void Temple, having made thorough preparations beforehand as well.

No matter how far Jingci pursued the investigation, the trail would only ever lead back to those three demon cultivators.

"My thanks for your thoughtful gesture, miss. I accept this gift of yours." Xiao Mo accepted the gift without so much as a change in his expression.

"There is more." Tushan Jingci gave a light wave of her hand.

The next moment, Tushan Kankan stepped forward gracefully, carrying another gift.

The red cloth was once again slowly lifted, revealing beneath it a neatly folded piece of white paper, and an antique red wooden box.

Senior Sister Lin hesitated for a brief moment, but still reached out to pick up the white paper.

Written on the white paper, in an elegant, refined hand, was a poem.

She took a deep breath, and slowly read it aloud:

"Having tasted every parting sorrow the world holds, I did not expect, upon returning, to find the fallen blossoms scattered so. Beneath the flowers we gaze at one another, wordless, while the green-shuttered spring fades with the sky into dusk."

"When at last I confide my longing beneath the lamp, one thread of new joy tangles with a thousand threads of old sorrow. Nothing in this world can be kept forever, the rosy face departs the mirror, the blossom departs the tree."

Senior Sister Lin read through the poem word by word, and though her tone remained even, she could not disguise the desolate, mournful quality woven through the verses.

Within Seeking Immortals Temple, any cultivator with some grounding in literature could not help feeling a jolt in their hearts, sighing, "What truly remarkable literary talent..."

And just as everyone was still absorbed in the lingering resonance of those verses, Senior Sister Lin had already reached out and gently opened the wooden box.

The very instant the lid was lifted, a vast, scorching demonic aura surged out like an erupting volcano, pressing down so heavily that quite a few cultivators of lesser cultivation present could hardly breathe.

"This is..."

The human cultivators could not help rising to their feet, craning their necks, straining to look into that wooden box.

There, within the box, lay quietly a demon core, black as ink.

The demon core was of an extraordinarily high grade, its aura vast and overwhelming, at the very least equivalent to a peak Ascension realm cultivator, and perhaps even just a single step away from that legendary, long-lost third realm beyond!

"A Yuezhuo demon core!"

Someone quickly recognized it! Eyes suddenly blazed with intense heat!

"That poem was given to me, long ago, by a man, and it was also his final testament. This demon core was among his remains." Tushan Jingci said quietly, looking at Xiao Mo, her voice not loud, yet reaching clearly into the ears of everyone present.

"Back during the demon race's civil war, so that others would recognize our engagement, he went alone to the battlefield to fight the enemy, hoping to achieve some great accomplishment, so that he might return in glory and marry me properly."

"And the one thing I have regretted most in this life is that I agreed to let him go..."

As she spoke, a flicker of desolation and deep self-reproach passed quietly through Tushan Jingci's eyes.

"In the end, I never waited for his return... I only ever received these two things. Today, I offer them both to young master Xiao as well."

Xiao Mo looked at the two gifts in silence, saying nothing.

"There is more." Tushan Jingci continued, without waiting for Xiao Mo to speak.

Tushan Doudou stepped forward at the signal.

Senior Sister Lin lifted the red cloth covering the gift for the third time.

It was a bracelet.

A wooden bracelet, meticulously carved, its whole surface glowing with a faint, warm luster, looking as though it had just been freshly made, without the slightest trace of drying or cracking.

The reason this wooden bracelet had been preserved in such perfect condition was entirely because it had been coated with a layer of "Frost Congealing Liquid."

"Frost Congealing Liquid" was extremely precious, normally used only for the maintenance and repair of near-immortal weapons yet now, it had been used on a wooden bracelet as ordinary as could be, which seemed, in truth, a rather wasteful extravagance.

"This wooden bracelet was given to me by a little boy, on my sixth birthday."

Tushan Jingci's voice once again drifted slowly through the temple.

"Back then, he was nothing more than a servant boy, unable to earn even a few silver coins in a month."

"He took every coin he had saved, bought a fine piece of dragon nanmu wood, and with his own hands, polished and carved it into this bracelet, and gave it to me."

"And today..." Tushan Jingci paused briefly, her voice growing colder still, "I give it to young master Xiao."

At last, Tushan Doudou stepped forward.

Everyone understood that this must be the final gift Tushan Jingci intended to give.

Tushan Jingci personally took the wooden tray from her, holding it in her own hands, a faint smile rising at the corners of her lips. "This final gift, would young master Xiao like to open it himself?"

Looking at the wooden tray covered with red cloth, Xiao Mo took a step forward, walking slowly ahead.

Gui Junmeng's small hand, hidden beneath her red sleeve, reached out to gently grasp Xiao Mo's sleeve, her fair, delicate fingertips paling slightly, her expression filled with worry.

Xiao Mo gently patted the back of her hand, signaling that she need not worry, then continued walking forward.

Xiao Mo came to stand before Tushan Jingci, reached out, and personally lifted away the red cloth.

Beneath the red cloth was, surprisingly, nothing more than an unremarkable piece of wood, looking no different at all from ordinary timber!

"Xiao Mo, quick, get back!"

The moment Tushan Xinhua caught sight of that piece of wood, her expression changed drastically, and she cried out loudly but it was already too late.

That piece of wood suddenly generated an enormous pulling force, as though it meant to swallow up everything around it entirely.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci vanished together from within the temple.

Only that piece of wood remained, floating quietly in midair, radiating a faint, ghostly glow.

"Xiao Mo..."

Gui Junmeng's heart clenched, and she hurried toward that piece of wood but an invisible barrier had formed around the wood, sealing her off completely, so that she could not approach it in the slightest.

"Junmeng, step back."

Gui Ning's voice came from among the seated elders.

"You cannot break through it. This piece of wood is one of the Tushan clan's three great treasures, called the 'Realm Wood.' It was crafted from the finest essence of the Jianmu tree and the Moon Spirit Tree, combined with all manner of natural treasures from across the world, forged over countless ages."

"Within it lies a small world that can be shaped according to one's will. At your current cultivation level, you cannot shake it in the slightest."

He rose slowly to his feet, smoothed his sleeves, and walked over to stand before the floating piece of wood. "This old man will give it a try."

Gui Ning took a deep breath, pressed his palm against the Realm Wood, and channeled a deep, powerful spiritual energy into it like a surging tide but the next moment, his hand slowly dropped away, his expression complicated.

Daoist Master Yun Xi and Tushan Xinhua exchanged a glance, and stepped forward in turn as well but after a moment, they too found their brows furrowing tightly, and in the end, they both withdrew their hands, pressing their lips together.

"Mother, is there nothing to be done..." Gui Junmeng's voice trembled faintly. This was the first time she had ever felt so anxious and afraid.

"That child Jingci... has already refined the Realm Wood with her own power. Not only that, she has altered its very nature."

Tushan Xinhua turned her head slowly, glancing at her daughter, shaking her head gently, her voice full of helplessness.

"If we force it open, the Realm Wood will destroy itself, and Xiao Mo and Jingci, trapped within it, will be reduced to ash and scattered dust along with it."

Having said this, Tushan Xinhua raised her head, her gaze complicated as she looked at the quietly floating Realm Wood, gripping her sleeve tightly. "Foolish child, don't do anything foolish."

As his vision blurred and swam, Xiao Mo's consciousness gradually grew clear once more.

When he finally made out the scene before him, his brow could not help furrowing.

He was no longer within Seeking Immortals Temple, but standing instead in the rear courtyard of the original Tushan manor.

The sky was pitch black, deep in the night.

A little girl sat properly before a pond, holding a fishing rod, her small face full of worry.

The little girl could not see him, for this was nothing more than the trace of a memory...

"Fish, little fish, why won't you bite yet?" the little girl muttered, murmuring to herself at the still surface of the water, a note of grievance in her voice.

And at that very moment, a little boy emerged from around the corner of the courtyard.

Xiao Mo remembered now.

It was this very night, the night Jingci had faced that sudden assassination attempt.

Sure enough, the next instant, a dark shadow leapt out from the shadows, murderous intent radiating from it, lunging straight for the little girl and the little boy, without a moment's hesitation, threw himself at the girl, helping her dodge that deadly flying sword, and the two of them together tumbled into the icy pond water.

At this moment, everyone froze in place, this small world holding perfectly still, as though caught in time.

"Do you remember this night?"

Tushan Jingci's voice, cold and touched with sorrow, drifted slowly into Xiao Mo's ears.

She paused, as though speaking to herself, or perhaps asking him.

"No... how could you possibly remember..."

Tushan Jingci walked toward Xiao Mo, step by step, a faint smile on her face, and yet that smile looked so desolate, as though it held within it an unspeakable bitterness.

"But I remember..." her voice trembled softly, "this night, I could never forget it, not as long as I live."

She stopped, raising her eyes to look at him, her gaze reflecting the image of the little boy throwing himself at the little girl.

"Because it was you... who saved me..."

As she spoke, thread after thread of fine red string emerged quietly from the deep night, coiling around Xiao Mo's hands and feet like spirit serpents.

Xiao Mo tried to struggle against it, but this small world suppressed his cultivation level utterly, not to mention that Tushan Jingci had always been a full major realm above him to begin with.

Xiao Mo, in this moment, was like a puppet on strings, able only to submit to her will, unable to move.

Tushan Jingci walked slowly to stand before Xiao Mo, reached out her arms, and pulled him tightly into her embrace.

Her soft form pressed tightly against his body, her head buried deep against his chest.

The woman wished she could meld herself entirely into him, fuse with him completely, never to be parted again.

"Xiao Mo... I like you."

Tushan Jingci's voice was low, soft, and trembling, each word falling clearly into Xiao Mo's ears.

"You are the first person I have ever liked in this life, and you will be the last as well."

She raised her head slightly, her gaze hazy and obsessive, her tone gentle to the point of near madness. "No matter what you have done to me, I will still like you, I will still forgive you... but Xiao Mo, I cannot stand by and watch you marry someone else."

"You are mine!"

"You were before, you are now, and you will be forever!"

Her fingers gently traced over Xiao Mo's cheek, as though caressing some extremely precious treasure, afraid that the slightest slip of her hand might shatter it.

"But Xiao Mo... how can I possibly lock you in place?"

"What must I do... for you to stay by my side forever?"

In her palm, a short sword, a foot and a half in length, slowly materialized.

Along the blade's edge, a cold, pale moonlight gleamed.

Suddenly, the short sword plunged into Xiao Mo's back with terrible force.

The blade, carrying the moonlight of that night long ago, tore through his flesh and blood, pierced through his chest, and drove on through her own chest as well.

Blood welled up silently, staining their red wedding garments a deeper, more intense crimson, before trickling down along the blade's edge to drip onto the ground.

The woman smiled faintly, that smile still just as beautiful, just as moving, and yet it seemed somehow broken as well, carrying a heartbreaking madness.

She raised her head slowly within Xiao Mo's embrace, crimson blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, that blood as vivid as the wedding garment she wore, intense and searing to the eye.

She reached out her small hand, gently touching the blood welling from Xiao Mo's chest.

Within her lovely fox eyes, a faint darkness swirled, thick with obsession and tenderness.

"Xiao Mo... look..."

Her lips curved upward, that smile as pure as it had been when she was a little girl, all those years ago.

"Our hearts have finally joined as one."