Volume Five: The Past Life of River Breath Chapter 150

When Jinli woke up once again, she realized a grave problem: the time she remained conscious was growing shorter and shorter. She would essentially wake up on the second day with absolutely no recollection of the events of the first, leaving her both terrified and bewildered.

Would there come a day when she fell asleep just like this and never woke up again?

True to her fears, the moment she sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and tried to stand in her shoes, her legs suddenly turned utterly weak, and she collapsed heavily to the floor.

It should not have been like this right after soaking in the medicinal springs. She immediately probed the depths of her divine core: it was hollow and feeble.

Only a wisp of ethereal immortal energy was barely keeping her afloat.

Her body was truly failing her more and more.

If this continued, would she perish before the Heavenly Lord's true face was even exposed?

She fell into deep contemplation.

Immediately afterward, the door was knocked upon once more.

"Come in."

She braced herself against the edge of the bed to sit up and saw the young man walking in with his hands clasped behind his back from beyond the gauze curtains. With a sullen face, he looked Jinli up and down before speaking, "The Goddess certainly hasn't been idle this past year."

What did that mean?

"What?"

The young man simply stood there, utterly sinister, as if he might reach out at any moment and choke the life out of her. "Can't you live without hooking up with men?" His words were merciless, dripping with intense contempt.

At that moment, Jinli truly realized that the tenderness of moments prior had merely been a dream of her own making.

With the dream shattered, the young man had changed as well; he was no longer that innocent youth.

Jinli lowered her gaze slightly. "Believe whatever you wish to believe."

Then she attempted to stand, but could not muster the slightest bit of strength. With strengthless feet, where could she possibly go?

"Do you know how many people have come to demand you of me these past few days?"

"What do you mean?"

What did it mean to demand her?

What on earth had happened outside?

Before she could finish her sentence, the young man ignored her entirely. He walked directly toward her, reached out to lightly pinch her chin, and forced her to look him in the eye. "Remember this: you are mine. I hope you have that much self-awareness." His gaze then turned murderous. "If anyone else ever comes to me demanding you, I will make sure that person regrets ever being born."

His eyes slowly drifted downward, tinged with a wicked, playful menace. "Even if I have to break your legs, I will never let you walk toward that person."

His words carried a threat, his gaze pitch-black, devoid of any light for Jinli to see.

So who was it?

"I will make you return every bit of the agony you inflicted upon me, a hundred, a thousandfold. I will make you beg for life..." He pressed close to her ear, his warm breath dangerously ambiguous, yet his words plunged one into an icy abyss. "...and unable to die."

Afterward, the young man left once more. Jinli only saw his departing silhouette, blurred to the extreme, beyond the gauze curtains.

"Pfft."

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted from her lips. Startled, Jinli stared at her plain white robes slowly stained with crimson, as a sudden wave of fear and dread washed over her.

As tears fell from her cheeks onto the back of her hands, Jinli realized she was crying.

In the freezing Northern Courtyard, she was left all alone, lying amidst white garments and red blood, letting tears blur her vision.

Lianchuan seemed to have plunged into winter all at once.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Jinli, who had always loved beauty, now wore only a simple ribbon in her hair, her silk-like locks cascading down her back, yet even a moon-white cloak could not stave off the biting cold.

She heard the sound of cicadas outside the window. Pushing the window open, she saw a clear lake amidst a sea of flowers, with pear blossoms drifting everywhere.

Clearly, the sunlight was so bright, but why was it still so cold?

So early summer had already arrived.

Ten days had passed already.

Yet Jinli was still freezing to the extreme.

Ever since that day's warning, she had not seen the young man again; she even had the illusion that she was the only one left in Lianchuan.

"Really now, with such fine weather, they have to make me deliver food. Isn't this just bullying me because I'm new?"

Hearing the voice, Jinli turned slightly. The door was shoved open with brute force, and a maidservant rudely dumped the food before slamming the door shut again. She heard the sound of the lock clicking from the outside.

She offered a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

So she had truly been forgotten.

Jinli did not eat; she basically vomited after every single bite and simply could not keep food down. Even the medicine delivered daily was poured into the flowerpots—the medicine was far too bitter, and she did not want to take it.

She wanted to go outside to bask in the sun and look at the lotus flowers.

I wonder how the lotus flowers are blooming this year?

Are they blooming just as splendidly as they did that day?

When she had nothing to do, she would idle away her time calculating the fortunes of the Four Seas and the Eight Desolations.

I wonder how the Holy Domain is faring?

Never once had she calculated her own fate. She did not dare, and besides, perhaps there was no need to calculate it at all.

For someone so hollow within, someone on the verge of vanishing, what fate was left to calculate?

She gently covered the already discolored blood vessels and meridians on her wrist.

Looking at herself in the Jade of Yao.

Pale as paper.

Was this the way the young man had chosen to exact his revenge on her all along?

She no longer had the strength even to think, so she returned to her bed and fell asleep.

Yet she had barely slept for half a quarter of an hour when she faintly heard the sound of frantic footsteps.

There were more than just one or two people running, their footsteps chaotic and disorganized.

Yet why were the sounds so faint, even though they were clearly right outside?

Thirty-three heavens beyond the mountains, the Soul-Spirit Grass.

She opened her eyes, recognized the bed curtains before her, and then slowly surveyed everything in the room.

The young man stood with his back to her, listening to someone kneeling before him. Seeing his clenched fists, he seemed to be in a foul mood.

That back of the young man...

It had appeared in her dreams countless times.

Yet no matter how she called out to him, he never turned around, only walking further and further away until he vanished completely.

Every night progressed from the joy of the dream to disappointment, and finally to the desolation of waking.

"A-Yuan."

She rasped out, hoping the young man would turn around this time.

The young man stirred, then turned. When he saw her, the chill in his eyes surfaced once more.

No, it was not him.

His gaze was never that cold.

The young man's heart dropped instantly. When he saw Jinli awake and gazing at him, the terror in his heart subsided quite a bit.

Only he knew how terrified he had been, staying awake night after night just to finish things early and return to see her.

Yet when he opened the door to find her lying motionless on the bed, he had panicked, grown terrified, and filled with regret.

He had summoned the medical immortals of the pavilion, but not a single one could wake her. At that moment, he had wanted nothing more than to kill those useless fools!

Yet seeing her look at him without the chill in her eyes having fully faded, the frantic and fearful emotions deep in his heart quietly settled.

Only he knew how terrified he was of losing her.