After rebirth, the eldest sister voluntarily abdicated and gave way to the wise.

Chapter 535 Bamboo and Herbs

Immortal Venerable Qingzhi is right. She gets everything too easily and doesn't understand the meaning of "cherishing" at all, which is why she loses everything so easily.

A lack of willpower, an unstable temperament, arrogance, and complacency!

She couldn't go on living just because she was betrayed by her self-righteous "relatives, friends, and teachers," and she's been plagued by inner demons ever since.

She was weak and timid; apart from the halo brought by her talent, she was utterly useless.

It wasn't that she hadn't experienced enough hardships in her past and present lives, but rather that she wanted too much.

The path to immortality is paved with three pillars, and in the end, only one person passes by.

She should understand this cruel truth.

Just not now.

Not now.

That's right, she just couldn't bear to part with them, she just wanted to get so many things, she just couldn't erase those people and those things from her heart.

This was her tribulation, and she accepted it.

She endured all the grudges, love affairs, and infatuations.

If the sea of ​​suffering is truly boundless, she can only willingly sink into this vast ocean.

She is a person, isn't she?

As human beings, we experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and are subject to cause and effect and past karma.

With her skirt trailing on the ground, the figure knelt down, bowing deeply. Suppressing all the grievances from her past and present lives, she pleaded with Immortal Venerable Qingzhi: "This disciple knows that in the eyes of the sect leader I am lowly and untrainable, unfit to be the sect's personal disciple. I have come here after being punished, and I have only one shameless request of the sect leader. I hope you will grant it."

The avatar of Immortal Venerable Qingzhi sat high in the Mingtang Hall, looking down at the girl who was prostrate on the ground. His eyes were like snow, without any ripples.

It wasn't said to be good, nor was it said to be bad.

Jiang Li had a shallow understanding of Immortal Venerable Qingzhi, having followed him for many years, and she knew the meaning behind his silence at this moment.

She continued, "Sect Leader, is my master really not coming back? There's absolutely nothing we can do..."

"Yes." This time, Qingzhi spoke.

Decisive and indifferent, without any hesitation or ambiguity.

Jiang Liqian would rather he give her a broken hope.

Suppressing the hidden pain in her heart, she blinked the tears welling up in her eyes again and asked, "Lian... can Shui Lian'er's heart be found again?"

So much time has passed, and the disciples sent out to search for Lianlianxin have still not returned with any news. She has been afraid to think about this matter. Countless times, she has thought of disregarding everything and going down the mountain herself to find the most precious thing she left behind.

She held back everything.

She feared that her impulsive actions might once again harm the people she cherished.

Her voice lingered in the vast hall for a long time, but no one answered.

Jiang Li closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath of the cold air in the wind.

"When I was being punished, I encountered a fifth-order water beast at the edge of the desolate forest. There were no treasures or rare spiritual plants in that cave, which was quite a coincidence."

Jiang Li lowered her eyes, her voice calm but trembling slightly: "This disciple no longer believes in 'coincidences'."

There are no coincidences in this world, only inevitabilities.

-

As Jiang Liqian emerged from Linglong Pavilion, she still appeared somewhat dazed.

Having received permission, she was about to leave Linglongxuan when she suddenly saw a painting of a beautiful woman amidst peach blossoms on one of the walls.

She had seen this painting before. In her past life, every time she followed Qingzhi into Linglong Pavilion, she would see a solitary scroll hanging upside down on the wall, as if it were a secret that could not be easily revealed.

She had wondered if she had carelessly hung the scroll upside down and wanted to hang it back up, but considering that it belonged to her master and should not be touched, she never bothered with it.

Later, when the master-disciple relationship ended, she inadvertently saw the front of the painting—the peach blossoms were in full bloom, their branches shimmering with golden light, yet they could not conceal the radiant beauty of the girl beneath them, nor could they hide the striking and alluring cinnabar mark on the forehead of the boy gazing up from beneath the blossoms.

She had only caught a glimpse of it briefly and quickly forgot about it, but she never expected to see it again today. Moreover, she remembered seeing a similar painting when she was punished and sent to the Miscellaneous Service Peak, and when he lured her into becoming his disciple in a dream.

She always felt that the boy's features under the peach tree were very familiar, almost exactly like the young Qingzhi Immortal Venerable—except for that one red mole between his brows, a cinnabar mark of compassion and purity that was breathtaking.

Jiang Liqian shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore; whoever was in the painting was none of her business.

Moreover, the matter of becoming a disciple in her dream was deliberately induced by Immortal Venerable Qingzhi while her memories were sealed, so it doesn't count. She also doesn't believe that the dignified sect leader of Tianqian Sect would reveal such a disgraceful matter.

She had more important things to do than to think about these random things.

Jiang Liqian stood outside Linglong Pavilion for a while, then summoned the Shitian Sword. In the other party's unusually excited state, she sighed and flew back to the courtyard of the Miscellaneous Service Peak.

The courtyard where she lived on Zayi Peak had not been cleaned for a long time. Withered yellow leaves piled up layer by layer from the dusty swamp, like a decaying fairy abode. Only the smoke and human presence were gone, leaving behind only the moss on the stones, the bamboo door in the rain, and the desolate past in the dim and hazy mist.

Jiang Liqian lifted her foot and stepped on it, the sound of "crack, crack" under her feet was crisp and pleasant, yet also carried a sense of loneliness etched by the passage of time.

After a few steps, I walked to the front of the main hall. The door was already open, and someone was sitting under the eaves making tea. The white tea smoke, along with the damp rain, seeped into my dry eyes.

Jiang Liqian paused for a moment, then forced a bitter smile: "Brother Tingfeng, how have you been?"

The young master in the courtyard was as beautiful as a jade orchid, as graceful as an orchid in a secluded valley. He wore a light blue robe, as elegant as bamboo swaying in the wind.

He looked up at her through the wisps of white mist, his eyes forever imbued with the gentle warmth of tea and bamboo fragrance.

Hearing her call him "Brother Tingfeng," Ruyu's fingertips paused, and he pushed a cup of tea to the opposite side.

"Sit down, Qianqian."

"Freshly brewed Ruixinling tea."

Jiang Li took a deep breath and walked over with slightly stiff steps.

If, in the last incident at the Sword Peak Forbidden Ground, she thought that staying away from him in her previous life and not disturbing him would be the best way to repay him, she could no longer deceive herself now.

If Brother Tingfeng didn't have the same memories of his past life as her, he wouldn't have left the bamboo forest and played house with a mere disciple.

She didn't want her affairs to involve him, but he still took the initiative to come to her.

"Brother Tingfeng, when did you..."

Tingfeng took out a plain handkerchief, folded it neatly and squarely, and placed it beside her hand, indicating that she should use the handkerchief to wipe the tea that had accidentally gotten on her hands. His voice was gentle and calm, like a babbling brook: "Bamboo is a plant, but plants have no heart. Those without a heart do not have a soul, but their memories do not die."

"Qianqian, I will never forget you, it's just that you have too many concerns."

Jiang Liqian was silent.

After a long silence, she lowered her head and asked, "Brother Tingfeng, do you think I'll survive this time?"