Chapter 98

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Chapter 98: I Just Don't

After returning from the Grand Master's house, Princess Shunde sat in the main hall all night. She did not bother cleaning her bloody face, or fixing her messy wet hair.

When Zhu Ling came and saw her, he panicked and quickly walked over to her chair. He reached out a hand to touch her face, but stopped in mid air.

He wanted to withdraw his hand, but Shunde grabbed it and pressed her cheek into his palm.

She rubbed her face against his hand, smearing blood all over it.

"Princess… your injury..."

"Zhu Ling, I wasn't able to kill the master."

"The Grand Master…?"

"He didn't punish me. He just drained me of all my power." She pressed her face a little tighter into Zhu Ling's palm. "Identity, dignity, power, life… he gave me everything. Zhu Ling, aside from this face, he wants nothing from me, and I have nothing now..." Her eyes were open, but her gaze was empty.

"My scars are still here after all this time, how much longer will he remain patient? One month, two months? A year? Two years? Once he gives up, I will become a piece of garbage that he can just casually throw away. What is the difference between me and those peasants out there?"

A trace of madness flashed across her eyes. "How about I punish him by taking my own life? He wants this face so much, if I take it away, he will suffer."

"Princess..." Zhu Ling was appalled. "Princess, don't give up yet. I came to tell you that Lin Haoqing has returned."

"Lin Haoqing?" Princess Shunde smiled contemptuously. "He still dares to come back? Zhu Ling, why didn't you just kill him?"

"Lin Haoqing said he can help the princess."

"Help me? What could he help me with?"

"Kill the Grand Master."

Her body stiffened. After a moment of silence, she said, "Bring him to me."

...

On top of the seabed, Changyi had created a giant bubble to keep water away.

Ji Yunhe slept with the sea lingzhi for a whole night. When she woke up, she saw him lying quietly next to her.

His black robe and silver hair were spread out around him, and the blue glow from the lingzhi was the same color as his eyes. Ji Yunhe felt as if she were in a dream, private, calm and enchanting. The occasional bubbles swirling by made everything even more magical.

Staring at the beautiful face in front of her, she did not know if this was real or a fantasy.

Ji Yunhe eyed the outline of his brows in admiration, and found their situation rather amusing.

They both thought she was dead. Who could have guessed that she would be reborn, and they would get to see each other again...

She raised her hand and traced her finger down the bridge of his nose. He opened his eyes.

The light of the sea lingzhi glowed on both of their faces.

"Changyi." Ji Yunhe opened her mouth first, but after calling his name, she did not know what else to say. Too much had happened between them and she could not sort through all her emotions.

"How are you?" Changyi asked. "Do you still feel any discomfort?"

Only now did Ji Yunhe remember why she had been brought here. She shook her head and touched the sea lingzhi on the bedrock. "This place is magical, it seems to have dispelled all the burning heat inside my body."

"This lingzhi is why this sea has no storms and remains frozen all year round."

"Why?" Ji Yunhe laughed. "Could it be that these things grow by consuming heat?"

Changyi was captivated by the smile on her face.

He had suspected Aji was her, but because Ji Yunhe's body was still under the lake, he thought he was wrong. Now looking at her talking and laughing in front of him, so full of life, Changyi found it hard to believe that she was real.

The past few months now felt like one long dream.

"What's wrong?" seeing that Changyi did not answer, Ji Yunhe asked.

He collected his thoughts but answered her previous question, "Sea lingzhi can be considered as consuming heat for life. That is why it can cure the fire inside you. But now with the recurrence, it is difficult to eliminate with a single plant. You will need to recuperate here for a few days."

"I remember you telling me not to use my power, and I was careful about it too… I don't understand how my dream…" The dream she had in the wooden hut flashed through her mind.

She now remembered and knew the woman who spoke to her in the dream was Ning Xiyu, the one who had taught the Grand Master. But…

Ji Yunhe frowned, "... Too many things in my head... I can't remember why I used my power in the dream." She looked at Changyi apologetically. "I am sorry for the trouble."

Changyi sat up and said, "It's no trouble."

Compared to her being dead and her body burned by lava, this current situation was so much more preferable.

Ji Yunhe fell silent again. If she remembered correctly, she had never told Changyi the truth about her betrayal...

The only people who knew were Lin Haoqing, Princess Shunde, and people from the Grand Master's house. Another person who knew was the monk determined to make Changyi forget about her, Kongming.

None of them would run over to Changyi and tell him this useless stuff after her death.

So that made Changyi's actions right now very intriguing. Come to think of it, the way he treated her even before she remembered everything...

"Changyi..." she finally asked him, "why did you say you don't hate me?"

Her question was too direct. In this confined space, Changyi could not avoid it.

"I just don't," he said. "There is no reason."

His answer was also very direct. Ji Yunhe was baffled and sat up too. "I betrayed you."

"Mhm."

"Stabbed you."

"Yes."

"I pushed you off a cliff, the monk said you almost died. You spent six years in the north, planning and fighting just to get back at me."

"That's right."

"..." She was silent for a moment. "And you are saying you don't hate me?" The eyes staring at Changyi slowly began to quiver in the darkness. She lowered her head and did not know what else to say. "Changyi, are you stupid?"

This big-tailed fish... after so many trials and tribulations over the years, he was still so kind and sincere.

"Why are you so good?" Ji Yunhe asked him. "How do you still have such a kind heart? This way..." She looked down at his hands that had been injured by his own magic dealing with the lava. They were covered in cuts and scratches.

She gently held his hands and tears fell. "People will bully you..."

For the first time, Changyi saw her cry. And it seemed as if she was crying for him.

But he did not feel he was as good as she said, nor was he that kind… He had come so close to losing himself. When he finally turned around, it was not because of the good in him, but because Ji Yunhe had come back.

Even though he had not known it was her and she had forgotten their past, she still pulled him back.

Changyi wiped away the tears on her face. "I'm very powerful," he said. "Remember, you were once beaten by me too."

Speaking of this matter, Ji Yunhe broke into laughter. "Only you can make beating a woman sound so justified."

The corners of his lips also curled up.

After so many years, at the bottom of the sea far away from the human world, they finally looked at each other with a smile.

...

Inside the palace, Lin Haoqing was led into a side hall by the servant. "Valley Master, please wait here, the princess will arrive shortly." The servant then bowed respectfully and left. Lin Haoqing sat down and quietly took a sip of tea.

He looked at the cup in his hand and sneered sarcastically. The tea in the palace was still amazingly good even during these tough times.

A red shadow approached from the back of the hall. Lin Haoqing stood up to salute her, but she said, "Forget the formalities. Tell me why you are here, and why I shouldn't behead you right now."

Lin Haoqing straightened up his body and looked at Princess Shunde directly. The horrible scars were still visible behind her veil.

"Princess, I have come to relieve you of your biggest burden."

"Burden? You know what burdens me?"

"The Grand Master's house, the Grand Master."

Princess Shunde leaned back on her seat. "The Grand Master is my master, yet you say he is my burden? You should be killed just for this comment."

Lin Haoqing smiled. "If not a burden but a mountain to lean on, then why did the princess feel a need to absorb the power of so many demon masters in recent days?"

"You have eyes in my palace? Valley Master Lin, your hands have stretched very far."

"It's only for self protection. The demon master tribe has been struggling to survive under the Grand Master's control for decades. Is it not the same for the court?"

Princess Shunde went silent.

"The princess thirsts for power, and I am risking my life returning to the capital to make you an offer."

"Go on."

"Refining humans into demons."

Shunde narrowed her eyes. "Ji Yunhe?" she snorted. "She is already dead, and you still dare to offer this method to me?"

"Ji Yunhe did not die from this refining process, but from years of torture."

Shunde hissed bitterly, "Her death was too merciful."

Lin Haoqing ignored her and continued, "The pills that turned her into a demon were developed by my father. Since the frost poison only affected those with a double pulse, he created this method in order to help us gain immunity. It's just a pity that he died before completing his work. I continued my father's research and it's very close to succeeding. I am just missing one thing."

"What?"

"The production process of a few frost poison components."

"I see," Princess Shunde laughed. "So that's why you asked me for some frost poison when I ordered you to go north. You said it was to help you gain better control over your men, turns out you had other plans."

"Different times, princess. I was deceitful then, but now, we share a common enemy. Why not join forces?"

Princess Shunde was deep in thought for a long time. "Three days," she said. "If you can't figure it out, I will give you to the Grand Master."

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