Ch34 – In death, longing endures

Translator: Abo Dammen

Jing Liansheng continued, “After I received the gift, I had to depart in haste. There were too many miscellaneous matters to deal with, and I ended up leaving the box to one side and forgetting about it. When I arrived in Fuqu County, the phenomenon of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons occurred. I had to conceal my whereabouts and lie low within the city. Unexpectedly, the wind chime hidden inside the box Ci Ying gave me rang out. At the moment when the yin energy was at its peak, the chime sounded, and the hundred demons immediately detected my presence.” 

Bai Qing was struck dumb with alarm. “How could that happen? Wasn’t there a silencing talisman pasted on the outside of the wind chime?”

Jing Liansheng’s brows knit tightly as he stared at Bai Qing. “How do you know there was a silencing talisman on the wind chime?”

Bai Qing froze, then stammered, “…Ah, I guessed. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the wind chime have made any noise along the journey?” As he spoke, he snuck a glance at Jing Liansheng, his heart fluttering with unease, afraid some flaw would be seen through.

Jing Liansheng said gravely, “The power of the silencing talisman doesn’t last forever. Fuqu County’s yin energy was excessively heavy, and the wind chime itself was an object that draws ghosts. So when the moment of extreme yin arrived, the talisman broke and the chime rang.” 

“So that’s how it was…” Bai Qing smacked his own forehead. Right. He’d never expected that Jing Liansheng wouldn’t even look at the box, delaying everything until he entered Fuqu County during the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. Much less had he imagined that the yin energy there would be so dense, resonating so violently with the wind chime!

Bai Qing asked worriedly, “Then… weren’t you in grave danger at the time?”

“Alone, I would have been fine. But with the need to protect the civilians in the city, I fought my way in and out seven times in the dead of night. It was inevitable that I suffered some injuries,” Jing Liansheng replied.

Bai Qing fell silent, guilt welling up in his heart. “This… was also Ci Ying’s lack of foresight.” 

Jing Liansheng seemed to recall something else. “During the battle, the wind chime shattered. When I saw the fragments, I discovered there were characters engraved inside the chime.”

Bai Qing’s old face instantly flushed red. “What… what was engraved?”

With a solemn expression, Jing Liansheng slowly said, “A single character, ‘Death,’ stained with blood.”

Bai Qing’s old face went pale. 

Bro, that wasn’t just a single character. It was a line of poetry.

My wind chime was engraved with ‘In life, I shall surely return,’ and yours read ‘In death, may we forever long for each other.’… But after the fight, the chime broke, leaving only the bloody character for ‘Death.’

This misunderstanding… has truly become monumental…

Bai Qing swayed slightly, as if struck by a heavy blow. Yet, he persisted, unwilling to give up. “The other wind chime you received recently… did you notice any characters inside when you got it?” 

As he spoke, Bai Qing held a sliver of hope that Jing Liansheng might have seen the message of longing. However, Jing Liansheng frowned and said, “That wind chime was severely rusted, making it truly difficult to discern anything.”

Hearing this, the hope in Bai Qing’s eyes instantly vanished, replaced by an inexplicable sense of loss. Could this truly be fate? Is the Saint destined not to fall in love?

Bai Qing frowned. “I think it’s possible Ci Ying didn’t necessarily intend to harm you. It might have been a misunderstanding, or perhaps someone else framed him?”

Hearing Bai Qing’s apparent indignation, Jing Liansheng felt a subtle, delicate sensation. “What leads you to such a conclusion?” 

“Well…” Bai Qing found it difficult to continue, so he shifted the topic. “In your eyes, since Ci Ying is a hypocrite harboring ill intentions and whose words don’t match his deeds, why do you still want to resurrect him? Merely to duel with him?”

Just how strong is your competitive spirit? Even a pit bull would meow in awe upon seeing you.

Hearing this, Jing Liansheng’s gaze suddenly solidified, scrutinizing Bai Qing. “When did I ever say I wanted to resurrect him?”

“Ah?” Now it was Bai Qing’s turn to be shocked. “Didn’t you just say you’d tell Ci Ying ‘draw your sword’? If he isn’t resurrected, how can you challenge him to draw his sword?” 

Jing Liansheng replied, “Your question was, ‘If Ci Ying were alive before you right now, what would you say to him?’ My answer naturally was ‘Draw your sword.’ But I never said I wished to use the Ancient Lotus to resurrect him.”

Bai Qing was momentarily speechless. “Ah, right, you never did say that…”

Upon careful recollection, Bai Qing realized Jing Liansheng had indeed never explicitly stated a desire to use the Ancient Lotus’s wish to resurrect Ci Ying. His own assumption stemmed entirely from the conversation he overheard in the tomb chamber after crossing over.

Back then, Ying Zhili, in a tone reminiscent of the serpent in Eden, spoke of how pitiable Ci Ying was for sacrificing himself, not entering the cycle of reincarnation, and that only a wish upon the Ancient Lotus could save him. 

And Jing Liansheng’s reaction…

Now that he thought about it, it was rather thought-provoking and profound. Jing Liansheng accepted the wish opportunity yielded by the Jing family, but he indeed never directly stated he wished to resurrect Ci Ying.

However…

Bai Qing immediately recalled another doubt. “Then why did you say you wanted to keep his magical tool to facilitate a duel with him?” 

Jing Liansheng’s eyes remained calm as he countered, “What’s the issue?”

Bai Qing said, “Of course there’s an issue! If you don’t resurrect him, how can you duel?”

Jing Liansheng’s response was profound. “Is Ci Ying dead?”

Hearing this, Bai Qing’s eyes showed bewilderment, and he shook his head. “This… I’m not clear either.” 

He truly wasn’t sure, as he lacked the relevant memories.

Jing Liansheng spoke slowly. “Ying Zhili told me that Ci Ying ‘sacrificed’ himself, that he ‘did not enter reincarnation,’ that he ‘sleeps eternally in darkness.’ His wording was deliberately ambiguous, which fits his style perfectly. The more vague and noncommittal he is, the more I suspect something is off.”

Bai Qing listened with a muddled expression, his brows tightly furrowed.

“Ying Zhili’s words always carry a sense of guidance, but he never gives straight answers,” Jing Liansheng continued calmly. “Most of what he says is reliable, seven parts truth, three parts falsehood. You have to interpret his words against the grain. My guess is that Ci Ying isn’t truly dead. Rather, because of his self-sacrifice, he became something beyond the cycle of reincarnation, perhaps a lingering spirit, wandering somewhere.” 

For a moment, Bai Qing was stunned. How could this man be razor-sharp one second and hopelessly obtuse the next? He was practically there.

Jing Liansheng went on, “If that’s the case, then I believe we’re fated to meet again. And when that day comes, I will fight him in an unreserved life-and-death duel.”

Bai Qing felt a chill crawl up his spine. “A life-and-death duel?!”

“A life-and-death duel,” Jing Liansheng repeated, peerless resolve flashing in his eyes. “One lives. The other dies.” 

Bai Qing: …Buddy, if what you’re after is ‘one lives, the other dies,’ then honestly, we’ve basically already achieved that.

He sighed inwardly, utterly unable to understand why Jing Liansheng was so obsessively set on a life-and-death showdown with him. His gaze swept over Jing Liansheng’s calm face, searching for some clue, but found nothing.

For now, Bai Qing set aside the thought of revealing his identity. At first, he’d been eager to confess because he’d mistakenly believed Jing Liansheng wanted to resurrect him. He thought that if he revealed himself, Jing Liansheng might abandon the wish on the Ancient Lotus and everything would resolve neatly. But now that he knew Jing Liansheng harbored no such intention, the urgency was gone. Worse still, revealing himself under these circumstances would likely lead straight to that life-and-death duel. Who could possibly withstand that?

Bai Qing smiled bitterly to himself and shook his head. 

“So,” he murmured, almost to himself, “you’re not in such a hurry to find him either?”

Jing Liansheng nodded. “‘If fate wills it, you’ll meet across a thousand miles. But if not, you may meet and still not recognize each other.’ If destiny brings us together that day, we’ll meet naturally. If there’s no fate between us, it’s better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes, without forcing it.”

“Yes,” Bai Qing echoed softly, the corner of his mouth lifting into something that looked like a smile, tinged with bitterness. “‘Better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes than to cling together in desperation’…”

Jing Liansheng noticed something amiss. “You seem unhappy.” 

Bai Qing startled, then quickly explained, “No—no, I just… I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

“Surprised?” Jing Liansheng asked. “About what?”

Bai Qing cleared his throat and answered casually, “Surprised that even Ying Zhili can miscalculate sometimes. He thought he could make you wish to resurrect Ci Ying, but you didn’t take the bait at all.”

“Even a god can’t plan for everything,” Jing Liansheng replied, pausing briefly, his expression unchanged. “Let alone a human. Besides, as long as I’m willing to make a wish on the Ancient Lotus, his objective is achieved. Why would he care what I wish for?” 

Bai Qing froze. “His objective… was just to make you make a wish?”

In truth, Bai Qing had vaguely sensed that Ying Zhili’s constant troublemaking wasn’t merely a hobby, it served another purpose. As fragments of memory returned, a guess formed in his mind. Ying Zhili had said that nothing in the world mattered more than offering to the Ancient Lotus. And the old Saint Child had said that only Ying Zhili knew how to nourish it.

So the correct way to nourish the Ancient Lotus was… dragging people in to make wishes? Stirring up trouble wasn’t a pastime, it was his job. He had KPIs for it. No wonder he’d been at it so diligently for millennia. It was a real century-old brand of his.

Inciting chaos to fertilize the flower. Damn it. Suddenly, it all felt disturbingly logical. 

“Since you understand his intentions…” Bai Qing carefully studied Jing Liansheng. “…will you still go along with him?”

“I don’t intend to go along with his wishes,” Jing Liansheng said firmly. “I only intend to follow my own.”

Bai Qing frowned deeply, doubt written all over his face. “Then what exactly is your wish?”

“I don’t wish to answer that,” Jing Liansheng said, looking at him steadily. “If you weren’t my friend, I’d use a very impolite method to make you shut up and stop asking.” 

Bai Qing was taken aback, then smiled faintly. “But… I am your friend already, aren’t I? Don’t I get special privileges?”

“Yes,” Jing Liansheng sighed softly. A trace of rare distress flickered across his usually ice-sculpted calm face. “That’s why I’m considering what relatively friendly method to use to make you shut up.”

Bai Qing: …Thanks. That’s already very friendly.

Compared to when we first met, when you were ready to twist my head off at the slightest disagreement, you’re basically a model of politeness now, you dead guy. 

Thinking that, Bai Qing’s heart unexpectedly felt sweet, without a trace of regret.

After learning that his past conflict with Jing Liansheng was born entirely of misunderstanding, Bai Qing had felt briefly shaken and sad. But now, that sadness was washed away. As for the idea that “Jing Liansheng had a white moonlight named Ci Ying in his heart,” Bai Qing’s feelings had always been complicated.

At first, jealousy surged like a tide, nearly drowning him. Later, when he suspected he himself might be Ci Ying, he didn’t dare feel delighted. Instead, he calmed down and began to doubt himself—was Ci Ying really Jing Liansheng’s white moonlight?

Now that he knew it had all been a misunderstanding, he didn’t feel disappointed at all. Rather, it was as if a heavy stone had been lifted from his chest, leaving him light and unburdened. 

Perhaps, deep down, he had always known that he had never truly held Jing Liansheng’s special affection, and now it was simply confirmed.

So it never existed. So be it.

Bai Qing smiled faintly. Maybe this was better.

If he’d received Jing Liansheng’s love without even having his memories, he would have found that far more regretful, like sleeping through an awards ceremony. 

Now, step by step, drawing closer to Jing Liansheng, letting him see him change from an insignificant person into a close friend, or even something more, wasn’t that a happier thing?