We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 572: At Last, Our Hearts Are Joined (2 in 1)

Yueshi held the wedding gift and walked steadily forward.

A few traces of hesitation appeared on the face of Senior Sister Lin, who was presiding over the wedding for Seeking Immortality Temple.

After all, the other party had plainly not come in kindness. For a moment, Senior Sister Lin could not decide whether she ought to accept this wedding gift on Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng’s behalf.

In the end, however, when Senior Sister Lin saw the Temple Master give a slight nod, she slowly stepped forward and reached out to lift the red cloth covering the gift.

The instant the red cloth was lifted, everyone present frowned at once.

Senior Sister Lin’s face turned even paler.

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

“They are the sect masters of the Zhenjiu Sect, the Yellow Sand Sect, and the Fire Hound Sect.”

Tushan Jingci spoke slowly, calmly introducing their identities.

“After Young Master abandoned Buddhism and entered the Daoist path, I also left Cloud Village soon afterward.”

“But the borderlands between the demon-race world and the Western Region truly were too remote. Almost no news reached that place, and after I left, I stopped paying attention to Sikong Temple.”

“Then, three years ago, I happened to learn that not long after I left, the Zhenjiu Sect, the Yellow Sand Sect, and the Fire Hound Sect had tried to use the innocent common people within a hundred li of Sikong Temple as sacrifices to refine a magic tool. Everything within that hundred-li radius of Sikong Temple was reduced to scorched earth.”

“I went to find those three sect masters. They admitted everything readily enough and confessed to their crimes.”

“Since they had done wrong, they ought to pay the price for what they had done. So I took their heads. Now, taking this opportunity, I present this wedding gift to Young Master Xiao. I hope Young Master will not disdain it.”

When Tushan Jingci finished speaking, Xiao Mo’s brows drew together faintly, and his gaze fell on the three heads.

Xiao Mo understood perfectly well that these three demon cultivators were nothing more than scapegoats chosen by Tushan Meng.

As for the true mastermind behind the tragedy at Sikong Temple, Jingci certainly would not know.

After all, Jingci still remembered old ties. She had lived in Cloud Village for quite some time, and the common people there had treated her well.

Tushan Meng knew that if Jingci learned that all of it had been her doing, Jingci would likely come to resent her.

Therefore, Tushan Meng had removed herself cleanly from the incident at Sikong Temple and made every possible preparation in advance.

No matter how Jingci investigated, the trail would ultimately point only to those three demon cultivators.

“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Miss. I will accept this wedding gift.” Xiao Mo accepted the gift without the slightest change in his expression.

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

The next moment, Tushan Kankan stepped forward gracefully with another gift in her hands.

The red cloth was slowly lifted again. Inside lay a neatly folded sheet of white paper and an ancient-looking red wooden box.

Senior Sister Lin hesitated for a moment, but still reached out and picked up the sheet of white paper.

Written on it was a poem in graceful, neatly formed script.

She took a deep breath and slowly read aloud:

“After tasting all the bitterness of parting beneath heaven, I never thought that when I returned, the flowers would have fallen so. Beneath the blossoms, we looked at each other without a word; beyond the green window, spring and sky together sank into dusk.”

“When I would tell my longing beneath the lamp—one thread of new joy, a thousand upon a thousand strands of old grief. Hardest of all in this world to keep: a youthful face leaving the mirror, flowers leaving the tree.”

Senior Sister Lin read the poem word by word. Her tone was even, yet it could not conceal the desolation and sorrow threaded through the lines.

Inside Seeking Immortality Temple, every cultivator with even a little literary grounding was inwardly startled and sighed, “What fine literary talent...”

And while everyone was still immersed in the lingering resonance of the poem, Senior Sister Lin had already reached out and gently opened the wooden box.

The instant the lid was lifted, a vast and scorching surge of demon qi erupted like a volcano, pressing down on many of the lower-realm cultivators present until they could scarcely breathe.

“This is...”

The human cultivators involuntarily rose to their feet one after another, craning their necks as they looked into the wooden box.

Inside the box lay an ink-black demon core.

The demon core was extremely high-grade, its aura vast and powerful. At the very least, it belonged to the perfected completion of the Ascension Realm. It even seemed only one step away from the legendary two lost realms!

“A Mandarin Duck demon core!”

Very quickly, someone recognized it, and that person’s eyes instantly burned hot.

“That poem was given to me by a man years ago. It was also his farewell letter. This demon core is what he left behind.”

Tushan Jingci quietly looked at Xiao Mo. Her voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

“During the demon race’s civil war, in order to have others acknowledge my marriage to him, he went alone to the battlefield to kill enemies. He wanted to win military merit, then return in glory to marry me.”

“And the thing I regret most in this life is that I agreed...”

As she spoke, a trace of desolation and deep self-reproach slipped quietly through Tushan Jingci’s eyes.

“In the end, I did not wait until he came back... I only waited until these two things came to me. Today, I give them to Young Master Xiao as well.”

Xiao Mo looked at those two wedding gifts and remained silent.

“There is more.” Tushan Jingci continued before Xiao Mo could speak.

Tushan Doudou stepped forward at once.

For the third time, Senior Sister Lin lifted the red cloth covering the gift—

It was a bracelet.

A wooden bracelet, carefully carved and polished. Its surface carried a faint, gentle luster, making it look as though it had only just been made. There was not the slightest sign of dryness or cracking.

The reason this wooden bracelet had been preserved so perfectly was entirely because a layer of Snow-Congealing Liquid had been applied to it.

Snow-Congealing Liquid was extremely precious and was usually used only to maintain and repair half-immortal weapons.

Yet now, it had been used on an ordinary wooden bracelet so plain it could not have been plainer. It truly seemed like a waste of precious treasure.

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

Tushan Jingci’s voice once again slowly spread through the Daoist temple.

“At that time, he was only a menial worker. He could not earn much silver in a month.”

“He spent every bit of silver he had saved to buy a fine piece of Dragon Nanmu wood. Then he polished and carved it with his own hands, made it into this wooden bracelet, and gave it to me.”

“And today...” Tushan Jingci paused slightly, her voice growing colder and clearer. “I give it to Young Master Xiao.”

Finally, Tushan Yiyi stepped forward.

Everyone knew that this should be the last wedding gift Tushan Jingci intended to present this time.

Tushan Jingci personally took the wooden tray and held it in her hands. A faint smile rose at the corners of her lips. “As for this final gift, would Young Master open it himself?”

Looking at the wooden tray covered with red cloth, Xiao Mo stepped forward and slowly walked toward it.

Gui Junmeng’s right hand, hidden beneath her red sleeve, gently tugged at Xiao Mo’s sleeve. Her fair fingertips had gone faintly white, and her expression was full of worry.

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

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

Beneath the red cloth was nothing but an utterly ordinary piece of wood. It looked no different from common timber.

“Xiao Mo... fall back!”

The instant Tushan Xinhua saw that piece of wood, her expression changed sharply, and she shouted aloud.

But it was already too late.

The piece of wood abruptly released a tremendous suction force, as if it meant to devour everything around it.

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

Only that piece of wood remained, floating quietly in midair, its entire body blooming with a faint, eerie glow.

“Xiao Mo...”

Gui Junmeng’s heart clenched, and she hurried toward the piece of wood.

But an invisible barrier had formed around it, firmly cutting her off outside. She could not get any closer.

“Junmeng, step back.”

Gui Ning’s voice came from the seats of honor.

“You cannot open it. This piece of wood is one of Tushan’s three great treasures. It is called the Worldwood, forged from the most essential parts of the World-Supporting Tree and the Moon God Tree, then supplemented with all manner of rare cultivation treasures over countless years.”

“Inside it is a small world that can transform according to the wielder’s will. With your current realm, you cannot shake it in the slightest.”

He slowly rose, smoothed his sleeve, and walked before the floating piece of wood. “Let this old man try.”

Gui Ning drew in a deep breath and placed his palm over the Worldwood. Dense spiritual power surged into it like a tide.

Yet in the next moment, his hand slowly fell, and his expression turned complicated.

Daoist Yunxi and Tushan Xinhua exchanged a glance, then walked forward one after another.

But after a while, both of them also knitted their brows tightly. In the end, they withdrew their hands at the same time and pressed their thin lips together.

“Mother, is there no way...” Gui Junmeng’s voice trembled faintly. This was the first time she had ever been so anxious and afraid.

“That child Jingci... has already refined the Worldwood. Not only that, she has also changed its nature.”

Tushan Xinhua slowly turned her head and looked at her daughter. She gently shook her head, her voice filled with helplessness.

“If we force it open, the Worldwood will destroy itself. And Xiao Mo and Jingci, who are trapped inside it... will be reduced to ashes along with it.”

When she finished speaking, Tushan Xinhua raised her head and looked at the quietly floating Worldwood with a complicated gaze, tightly clutching her sleeve. “Silly child, don’t do anything foolish...”

...

After his vision swam for a moment, Xiao Mo’s consciousness gradually cleared.

When he saw the scene before him, his brows could not help drawing together.

He was no longer inside Seeking Immortality Temple. Instead, he stood in the rear courtyard of the original Tushan residence.

The sky was deep black. It was midnight.

A little girl sat properly in front of the pond, holding a fishing rod in her hands, her small face full of worry.

The little girl could not see him, because this was only a memory’s afterimage...

“Little fish, little fish, why won’t you bite?” The little girl pouted and muttered to herself at the still water, her voice carrying a few traces of grievance.

And at that moment, a little boy walked out from around the corner of the courtyard.

Xiao Mo remembered.

It was this very night that Jingci had encountered that sudden assassination attempt.

Sure enough, in the next instant, a black shadow leapt out from the darkness, killing intent fierce as it lunged straight at the little girl.

The little boy almost did not hesitate. He threw himself toward the girl, helped her dodge that fatal flying sword, and the two of them fell together into the cold pond.

At this moment, everyone froze in place. The small world fixed itself there.

“Do you still remember this night?”

Tushan Jingci’s cool voice, carrying a trace of sorrow, slowly entered Xiao Mo’s ears.

She paused, as if speaking to herself, and as if asking him.

“No... how could you remember...”

Tushan Jingci walked toward Xiao Mo one step at a time. There was a faint smile on her face, yet that smile looked so desolate, as if it concealed endless bitterness.

“But I remember...” Her voice trembled softly. “I will never be able to forget this night.”

She stopped, lifted her eyes to look at him, and in her gaze was reflected the image of that little boy throwing himself toward that little girl.

“Because it was you... who saved me...”

As her words fell, slender red threads quietly emerged from the heavy night, wrapping around Xiao Mo’s hands and feet like spirit snakes.

Xiao Mo tried to struggle and resist, but this small world tightly suppressed his realm. To say nothing of the fact that Tushan Jingci was originally a full major realm above him.

At this moment, Xiao Mo was like a marionette. He could only let her control him. He could not move at all.

Tushan Jingci slowly walked up to Xiao Mo, stretched out her arms, and held him tightly in her embrace.

The soft swell of her chest pressed tightly against him. Her head was buried deep against his heart.

The woman seemed to wish she could knead her entire self into Xiao Mo’s body, merge with him, and never separate again.

“Xiao Mo... I like you.”

Tushan Jingci’s voice was low, soft, and trembling, entering Xiao Mo’s ears word by word.

“You are the first person I have ever loved in this life, and you are also the last.”

She raised her head slightly. Her gaze was hazy and obsessive, her voice gentle almost to the point of madness. “No matter what you have done to me, I like you. I will forgive you... but Xiao Mo, I cannot watch with my own eyes as you marry someone else.”

“You are mine!”

“You were before. You are now. You will be in the future!”

Her fingers gently brushed over Xiao Mo’s cheek, as if she were caressing an incomparably precious treasure, afraid it would shatter the instant she loosened her hold.

“But Xiao Mo... how can I bind you to me?”

“What should I do... so you will stay by my side forever?”

A short sword, one foot and five inches long, slowly appeared in her palm.

The blade shimmered with cool, bright moonlight.

Then, without warning, the short sword drove viciously into Xiao Mo from behind, straight through the place where his heart lay.

Carrying the moonlight of that night, the short sword tore through his flesh, pierced his chest, and then pierced her own chest as well.

Blood welled out soundlessly, dyeing the red wedding clothes on both of them even deeper, then dripping down the blade and pattering onto the ground.

The woman smiled faintly. That smile was still so beautiful, so moving, yet it seemed broken somehow, carrying a heartbreaking, obsessive madness.

In Xiao Mo’s arms, she slowly raised her head. Crimson blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, the color bright as the bridal gown she wore, rich and piercing to the eye.

She stretched out her small hand and gently touched the blood spilling from Xiao Mo’s chest.

A faint blackness rose in her beautiful fox eyes, filled with deep obsession and tenderness.

“Xiao Mo... look...”

The corners of her lips curved upward, and her smile was as pure as that little girl’s from years ago.

“Our hearts are finally joined.”