IVYSCP - Chapter 109
Chapter 109
During an exorcism, Wang Changming encountered the demon race. Three Blood Demons forced her toward the Heavenly Gate. Badly wounded, she fled and reached the Mortal Realm, where by chance she found Yuelou Country.
Shi Yanchun rescued her and had her stay in a side hall of the palace.
Shi Du, who was supposed to return, did not. Shi Yanchun was disappointed for a while, but her attention soon turned to Wang Changming. She discovered that Wang Changming was also from the Immortal Realm. There was no awe, only wholehearted curiosity, because Wang Changming appeared to be around her age and carried herself with impeccable courtesy. Ever since her sister had left, she had devoted herself day and night to learning how to be a good ruler, never daring to slacken in the slightest. She had gathered a bellyful of words she wanted to tell her sister, but her sister never came back.
Wang Changming remained in Yuelou to recover from her injuries, so Shi Yanchun spoke those words to Wang Changming instead. Wang Changming was very patient, listening to string after string of talk and even giving responses.
At first, Shi Yanchun called her "Immortal Changming." As time passed and they grew closer, "Immortal Changming" became simply "Changming."
Shi Yanchun sprawled over the desk, resting her head on her folded hands and tilting it to watch the person beside her. She had no idea how long she had been watching. A gentle, loving smile lingered in her eyes as she murmured her name: "Changming…"
The person seated beside her kept her back straight, her posture impeccably composed. Even the long, dark hair that fell to her waist hung neatly without the slightest disorder. Only when she heard a certain someone call her name did her steady gaze shift slightly, and the fair rims of her ears, hidden among her hair, flushed crimson.
Wang Changming set down her brush and inclined her head politely toward Shi Yanchun. "What is it, Your Highness?"
Shi Yanchun frowned, displeased. She reached out and grasped the hand Wang Changming had placed on the desk. "There are no outsiders here. Why is Changming so distant with me?"
Wang Changming's fingers twitched. For an instant she made to pull back, but when she saw the pitiful, clear eyes before her, the motion froze.
Shi Yanchun curved her brows into a smile, taking advantage of the situation to slide her own fingers between the woman's, then held tight.
The tips of Wang Changming's ears were so red they might drip blood. She said quietly, "Your Highness, I cannot write my commentary like this."
Hearing this, Shi Yanchun leaned closer. "Then I will write it myself."
So saying, she released Wang Changming's hand. Wang Changming had just breathed a sigh of relief when Shi Yanchun pressed up against her, her left arm wrapping around Wang Changming's waist while her right hand covered Wang Changming's right hand, guiding her to hold the brush.
Their bodies pressed intimately together. Wang Changming's entire face went red. Head bowed, she no longer showed the slightest trace of the composure she once possessed when wielding her sword against enemies.
Stammering, she said, "Y-Your Highness, this is improper."
"Why is it improper?" Shi Yanchun rested her chin on Wang Changming's shoulder and asked beside her ear, entirely perplexed. "Have I offended the immortal?"
"I—I—I…" Wang Changming's lashes trembled. In the end, she could not get a single word out. Embraced and hand-guided, she wrote volume after volume of commentary.
Shi Yanchun's affection for Wang Changming was fervent and flagrant, absolutely obvious. Wang Changming saw it and knew it very clearly.
Again and again, she told Shi Yanchun that she could not give in to emotion.
"Why?" Once more, Shi Yanchun gazed at Wang Changming through a blur of tears. "Are you just making excuses because you don't like me? My sister never said immortals cannot feel emotion. If you don't like me, just say so outright. I won't cling pathetically."
Wang Changming reached out to wipe her tears away, brows furrowed tight.
One wept without pause; the other kept wiping at the tears.
Wang Changming stayed in Yuelou for the better part of a year. She saw Shi Yanchun assume the role of ruler before others, standing firm on her own, steady and dignified. She also saw how Shi Yanchun, only in her presence, acted coquettish, made mischief, and revealed a childish streak.
Her injuries had long since healed, yet she had never left.
Until one day, Wang Changming received a message from her sect. The demon race was in turmoil; she had no choice but to return to the Immortal Realm.
She took out an Image-Recording Pearl and sat in the courtyard for a long time. Then she recorded all her shared past with Shi Yanchun into the pearl.
"Yanchun, vanquishing yao and exorcising demons is the original heart of my cultivation and the foundation upon which I walk the Emotionless Path. But I cannot deny that you are, truly, the one person who has shaken me."
She promised Shi Yanchun that she would certainly return. Before leaving, she even left a strand of sword qi upon Shi Yanchun's person.
The Image-Recording Pearl upon the ginkgo tree was deliberately left there by Wang Changming. The pearls came as a pair; the other was in Wang Changming's possession. Since the pearls were linked, from the Immortal Realm, she could look through the pearl and see this side hall and see Shi Yanchun.
Not long after Wang Changming had left, a party of demons crossed the Heavenly Gate and located Yuelou. Their target was unmistakably clear: they were after Shi Yanchun.
What the Image-Recording Pearl documented was the demons charging straight into the royal city. By some unknown means, they had obtained a magical artifact and, tracking the aura and sword qi Wang Changming had left behind, locked onto this side hall and Shi Yanchun.
They took Shi Yanchun away. They did not slaughter every last soul in Yuelou. After the demons departed, it was another group who disguised themselves as demons to carry out the deed, bringing about Yuelou's annihilation.
The final record within the Image-Recording Pearl showed Lou Wudu returning to Yuelou, setting down a restraining barrier and using vines to encircle the entire kingdom.
When the recorded images faded, Ling Qingyue saw on Lou Wudu's face a shadowy malevolence and ferocity she had never witnessed before.
"Watch out!"
In the instant sword qi split the air, Pei Yin hooked an arm around Ling Qingyue's waist and dodged to the side.
A figure wielding a longsword appeared, overlapping with the phantom image of Lou Wudu from the Image-Recording Pearl. The two silhouettes were eerily alike.
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