IVYSCP - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Where was Ah Xi?!
The shock jolted Ling Qingyue fully awake. She searched through her Spiritual Platform, even returned her consciousness to her flesh and made a circuit of the wooden cabin.
"Ah Xi?"
Ling Qingyue turned in place. This was unexpected. She had not been prepared for it.
Inside this body, there was no trace of Ah Xi's soul. So where was Ah Xi?
She had never sensed any response from Ah Xi, but she had always assumed that her own presence had forced Ah Xi's soul to retreat and shrink into a corner of the Spiritual Platform.
Yet now there was no sign of Ah Xi's soul at all…
Could it be that Ah Xi had already died before she took over this body?
Ling Qingyue slowly steadied herself, and immediately after, a despicable thought surfaced:
If Ah Xi was already dead, then maybe she could keep this body and stay by Pei Si's side.
"Pa—!"
A sharp, searing pain spread across her cheek. Ling Qingyue grimaced, disgusted and sickened by her own thought just now.
"Even if Ah Xi is gone, you cannot do this."
She drew a deep breath, set her wooden-carving body upright, and formed a hand seal with both hands. Gathering her right fingers together, she touched her forehead. A crimson Spiritual Energy slowly coalesced at her fingertips.
Concealed from sight, Pei Si watched from the side, her eyes heavy. She observed every movement, her expression icy.
She had not known when the soul inside this body had been replaced. No wonder the hands bore no sword calluses yet wielded a blade with such skill. No wonder she suddenly possessed cultivation and Spiritual Energy.
"Soul out!"
Ling Qingyue let out a low cry. The soul within the Spiritual Platform answered the call, slowly moving along the Spiritual Energy to separate from the body.
The instant the dark-red soul manifested, Ling Qingyue's fingers abruptly trembled. A rush of metallic sweetness rose in her throat. Bewildered, she opened her eyes and forced out more power.
A violent tearing pain radiated from her soul. Gasping for breath, Ling Qingyue's strength gave out completely. Her vision went black and she toppled sideways. In the blur, a flash of white seemed to appear before her eyes. The white figure flickered twice and arrived in front of her, a palm cradling her face.
Pei Si stared at the unconscious person in disbelief. Just now, when the soul and body had been separating, she had seen clearly the appearance of that soul.
How was this possible…
"Ling Qingyue…?" Pei Si's breathing fell into total disarray. Her gaze shifted and landed on the wooden carving on the ground. The carving's features were identical to the soul she had just seen.
"Ling Qingyue… you are Ling Qingyue?!"
Pei Si rose to her feet and stepped back twice. The hand braced against the wooden table gripped tight.
A soul's appearance could not be disguised; that was unmistakably Ling Qingyue. But how could it be Ling Qingyue? After the Immortal-Demon War a hundred years ago, her soul lamp had been extinguished. Her own master, the Shangtianqiong Sect Leader at the time, had personally confirmed it.
Was she not dead? And why was her soul inside Ah Xi's body?
If it were anyone else, Pei Si would have wondered whether that person had taken possession of Ah Xi. But if it was Ling Qingyue, that was absolutely impossible. Ling Qingyue would never do such a thing.
Threads of blood crept into her eyes. Pei Si suddenly let out a low laugh that sounded equal parts joy and helplessness.
She looked again at the person collapsed on the floor, crouched down, and touched her fingertip to the space between her brows.
Pure-white Divine Sense stepped directly into the Spiritual Platform. This Spiritual Platform was grey and lightless, appearing thoroughly dilapidated. Immediately, Pei Si spotted the dark-red soul within, frail and in pain.
The Spiritual Platform offered some resistance to the intrusive Divine Sense, but to Pei Si it was negligible.
"Ling Qingyue." She called toward the soul.
That wisp of a soul seemed only now to register that an outsider's Divine Sense had entered the Spiritual Platform. It raised its head and glared fiercely, looking as if it might lunge and bite at any second.
It was indeed Ling Qingyue.
Because of the backlash from forcing the soul separation just now, her soul was suffering. Fearing further disturbance, Pei Si withdrew her Divine Sense and exited the Spiritual Platform.
Gathering the person into her arms, Pei Si looked down and saw the red mole beside her ear. She pursed her lips lightly.
Back in the bedroom, she laid her on the bed and raised a hand to place a Formation designed to calm the spirit and nourish the soul.
A pale-gold Formation operated soundlessly. Pei Si stood by the bed, gazing down.
Since she was not dead, why had she chosen this exact moment to appear? To appear just when she had already used Emotion Transference to set her down, to forget her.
Ling Qingyue, you are my fated tribulation, aren't you.
"Your name is Ah Xi."
Amid a vast expanse of white, Ling Qingyue saw a woman tap a child once on the forehead and tell her her name.
The child, muddled and innocent, echoed her words: "Ah Xi."
After that, the two figures slowly faded. The streets and alleys of Linshui Town gradually emerged before her. Ling Qingyue watched the woman lead a slightly older Ah Xi through the town.
Instinctively, Ling Qingyue felt that the woman was not Ah Xi's mother, only someone looking after her.
Ah Xi studied and learned to read, practiced wood carving, and grew little by little. The woman was always beside her.
Ling Qingyue could not see the woman's face clearly, only felt an extraordinary sense of familiar closeness.
"Ah Xi, I am leaving." The woman tapped Ah Xi's forehead once again.
After that, it seemed Ah Xi forgot that person existed. Even the people of Linshui Town forgot that someone had raised Ah Xi.
Not long after, Ah Xi rescued Pei Si from the water and married her.
Ling Qingyue saw Pei Si in her wedding dress, even more beautiful and stunning than she had imagined.
That evening, Ah Xi drank wine and fainted into a stupor. Pei Si wiped her hands and face clean, then went to the study.
Ling Qingyue fixed her gaze tightly on the person lying in bed with reddened cheeks. Her own consciousness had awakened inside Ah Xi's body that very night.
Suddenly, the drunken, unconscious Ah Xi opened her eyes. Black-red patterns slowly emerged from her forehead and spread downward, covering half her face and crawling deep to her neck before vanishing beneath her collar.
Ling Qingyue's breath caught. "…That is!?"
Demonic Markings!
The Demonic Markings appeared only briefly, vanishing completely almost in the span of a single breath. Ah Xi sank back into a faint.
Some time later, a knock came at the door.
A buzzing filled Ling Qingyue's head. She had heard that same knock just before her consciousness had first cleared.
So after the Demonic Markings receded, she had entered Ah Xi's body.
But now she possessed Ah Xi's memories, from childhood onward. Except that holding someone else's memories did not create true empathy and did not stir much emotion.
So… she was Ah Xi?! That was why the Spiritual Platform contained only her own soul, and not Ah Xi's.
The moment she realized this, Ling Qingyue abruptly opened her eyes and sat upright. In the next instant, the soul backlash struck, making her grimace in pain.
She rubbed her brow and looked down. What met her eyes was a clean set of inner garments carrying a faint, cool fragrance.
She remembered fainting in the wooden cabin. Had Pei Si brought her back?
Ling Qingyue pinched the collar between her fingers, lifted it, and ducked her head to cover her nose.
This one seemed to belong to Pei Si.
Her ears burned. Ling Qingyue blinked, then guiltily dropped her hand, as if she had not just been sniffing the collar.
Beside her ear came the soft rustle of turning pages. Ling Qingyue's body went rigid. She turned her head and only then noticed Pei Si sitting right there.
Her gaze travelled downward.
In Pei Si's hands was the Personal Biography of Ling Qingyue.
"Awake?"
Pei Si lifted her eyes to look at her. An unreadable smile curled at her lips.
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