A Reflection of This Life, a World Left Behind

In truth, the world is frequently filled with all manners of unpredictable circumstances. It is just like believing someone has departed from your side forever, when in reality, they have been silently guarding you every single second.

Zi Qingyan had never truly left. Instead, she had simply taken up residence in a secluded inn located in the city’s outskirts.

She had been quietly watching Lin Lan’s every single move from the shadows. She had originally intended to simply watch over him until he peacefully lived out the remainder of his days. Yet, she had never expected the judgment of the Heavenly Dao to descend with such terrifying speed.

When Lin Lan beheld Zi Qingyan once more, she was no longer the celestial fairy of his memory.

Her upper body barely managed to maintain a human form, yet even then, her flesh was heavily covered in patches of withered, bark-like plant skin. Her lower body, however, had entirely transformed into a mass of complex, deeply intertwined roots.

“Sister Zi…” Lin Lan called out in a soft, trembling whisper.

Zi Qingyan opened her eyes. Upon seeing Lin Lan standing right before her, she frantically reached up to shield her face. “Do not look at me! Get out of here, quickly!”

Lin Lan’s lips quivered slightly. Although Bailu had already given him a fair warning on their way over—revealing that neither he nor Zi Qingyan were actual human beings—confronted with this reality, Lin Lan still hesitated for a fleeting breath.

“I am hideous right now, am I not?” Zi Qingyan said with a trace of self-deprecation.

Suddenly, Lin Lan strode forward. Before Zi Qingyan could even register his movement, she was pulled tightly into his embrace.

“What are you doing…?”

Zi Qingyan panicked. One had to understand that many sections of her plant-like skin were lined with sharp thorns. Although the clothing people wore nowadays wasn’t particularly thin, given the absolute force of Lin Lan’s fierce embrace, there was no way it could possibly be comfortable for him.

“Sister Zi, how could you ever be hideous?”

Lin Lan could indeed feel the sharp stabs of pain as the thorns pierced into his flesh, but he simply didn’t know how else to restore her shattered sense of security. Rather than exhausting his mind searching for empty words of comfort, this single, desperate embrace was infinitely more reassuring.

After all, even when no one else dares to approach you, I will still be here to hold you close.

“Sister Zi, you… you promised me.”

“Promised…” Zi Qingyan’s nose twitched, her voice cracking. “You currently hold a position of immense prestige and status, while I am reduced to such an ugly state…”

“It does not matter, I do not care!” Lin Lan’s declaration was unflinching.

“But I am a monster… a demon from the race your human kind loathes above all else…”

“It does not matter, I do not care!”

It was the exact same response, Lin Lan’s voice never wavering for a single second. Zi Qingyan parted her lips, seemingly wanting to voice further protests, but this time Lin Lan didn’t wait for her to finish.

“No matter what you are, I do not care. The only thing I care about is whether you are willing to marry me and become my wife.”

Zi Qingyan fell completely silent.

Lin Lan gently pried her delicate hands away from her face, locking his gaze onto features that could absolutely no longer be considered beautiful by any conventional metric. “Sister Zi, are you willing?”

Tears welled in Zi Qingyan’s eyes as she smiled and nodded her head.

Outside the inn room, Bailu listened to the unfolding exchange in absolute silence. Gripped firmly within her palm was a pitch-black medicinal sphere.

This was her demon core.

Zi Qingyan’s actions had already fundamentally defied the mandate of heaven. If there was any hope left of rescuing her sister from the brink of destruction, the only path forward was… a life for a life.

“The Grand Champion has returned! The Grand Champion has returned!”

The primary courtyard of the Lin family estate was exceptionally lively today. Master Lin, who was already heavily bedridden with a terminal illness, had dragged himself out of bed and struggled to sit upright in the main reception hall. Every member of the household was meticulously dressed, their eyes glued to the entrance gates.

“Father, your son has returned,” Lin Lan said, offering a formal bow of respect to Master Lin. He then extended his hand, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Zi Qingyan stepped forward as well, offering a formal bow alongside him.

“Your son begs for Father’s blessing and fulfillment,” Lin Lan stated respectfully.

Master Lin gazed at Lin Lan, his eyes brimming with boundless gratification, yet a lingering trace of profound regret still remained hidden within his eyes.

“Your marriage… I grant it my blessing…”

Zi Qingyan’s fingers idly brushed against her teacup; the freshly brewed tea had already gone completely cold.

Seated directly opposite her were a thoroughly drowsy Hua Qianluo and Luo Xiaoxi, who was propping up her chin with both hands, listening to the tale with absolute fascination. In truth, listening to someone else’s life story as though it were a mere piece of entertainment could be deeply off-putting to some, but for some inexplicable reason, Zi Qingyan couldn’t bring herself to feel any resentment toward this young girl.

She constantly felt that this teenager, whom she had never met before today, carried an aura of shared misfortune that mirrored her own.

“Alright, brat, if you’re tired go to bed. Don’t you have a movie date with that foolish dragon tomorrow afternoon?” Qianluo checked the clock; it was already midnight.

“Mmh, I’m not sleepy at all! Besides, the time Sister Long and I agreed on is in the afternoon,” Xiaoxi pouted. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Mama Qianluo was desperately trying to manufacture an excuse to kick her out.

“Since that’s the case, why don’t you head over to the back courtyard right now and help me transcribe some texts?”

“Uh… actually, I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep now!” The mere mention of transcribing texts caused Xiaoxi to instantly chicken out. Clutching the massive plush pillow Miaoming had gifted her, she bolted back to her bedroom in a flash.

Qianluo watched Xiaoxi’s retreating, panicked silhouette, shaking her head with a soft chuckle. “That wretched brat…”

“The bond between you two is truly wonderful,” Zi Qingyan remarked, letting out a wistful sigh. “I imagine even biological mothers and daughters wouldn’t share a connection deeper than yours.”

“I suppose that counts as praise in a rather peculiar category,” Qianluo replied, picking up her empty teacup to pour herself a fresh serving.

Right around dusk, just as Qianluo was instructing Xiaoxi to close up the flower shop for the day, Zi Qingyan had arrived. According to her own words, she had come to seek guidance on the Dao.

“It is a fine tale,” Qianluo said, taking a slow sip of her tea. “However, there is still one particular detail that leaves me immensely curious.”

“Please, speak your mind.” Zi Qingyan cast a bewildered look at her.

“The specific esoteric method you utilized to seal the soul and prolong a life… who exactly taught it to you?” Qianluo’s gaze suddenly turned incredibly sharp, scanning Zi Qingyan’s features with intense scrutiny. “That technique has been entirely lost to the world for nearly a millennium. A High Demon with less than five hundred years of cultivation base like yourself should have absolutely no knowledge of it.”

Zi Qingyan froze, her brows instantly knitting together. “I do not know,” she stated honestly. “The knowledge simply manifested inside my mind out of nowhere, as if it had always been there. I have absolutely no recollection of where or how I acquired it.”

Qianluo scrutinized her expression intently for a long moment, confirming that Zi Qingyan was indeed telling the absolute truth. She proceeded to press with a few more distinct questions, but Zi Qingyan’s responses remained consistently identical.

She truly had no clue.

“Then this matter… possesses a rather profound hidden agenda.” Qianluo let out a sudden, low chuckle that sent a shiver straight down Zi Qingyan’s spine.

Just a moment ago, she had asked Zi Qingyan why she had chosen to come to Baijiang City, and the response she received was once again a blank ‘I don’t know.’ One had to realize that Lin Lan’s ancestral family lineage did not reside anywhere near Baijiang City.

To possess the terrifying capability to quietly alter the memories of a High Demon—and to do so within Baijiang City, a place that originally harbored virtually no spiritual entities or monsters—the number of individuals possessing such profound strength could be counted on a single hand.

“Celestial Master, then I…” Zi Qingyan noted the peculiar shift in Qianluo’s expression, prompting her to inquire with immense caution.

“Rest assured, I shall do everything within my power to assist you both,” Qianluo smiled reassuringly.

In truth, her mind was currently drifting toward a completely different matter.

A certain ancient Dragon King stubbornly forbade his own daughter from walking the exact same self-destructive path he once trod, yet he himself remained thoroughly hopelessly mired in his own illusions.

Such a father truly deserved to be suspected of maintaining a rather massive double standard.