Chapter 2163: Cloud and Moon in Mist (Part 2)
"Is this response satisfactory to the Abyss Divine Son?"
Her words were like ice tempered with frost, piercingly cold as if to penetrate flesh and stab the soul itself, crushing his disguise and demolishing his mental defenses with the most cutting language.
But... she still could not catch any ripple in his eyes.
She had been so cold, so distant, so ruthlessly sarcastic... and her sword still pressed against his vulnerable throat.
Why were his eyes still so warm, so warm that they seemed to shine directly into the depths of her soul?
Something within her seemed to be silently melting.
She warned herself repeatedly, restrained herself repeatedly, but in just an instant, that unprecedented stirring of the heart and soul struck again... like a hidden instinct deep within the soul, suddenly awakened, impossible to understand, and even more impossible to stop.
She had awoken in the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom, and her earliest memory of the world was of Shen Wuyanye.
She had long been accustomed to cold silence and oppression, but her life was not without warmth... Shen Wuyouluan and Shen Wumingque, her two aunts, always treated her with gentleness, both out of affection for her and because it was in their nature.
As she journeyed through this world, she gradually discovered her own uniqueness. Her five senses seemed to possess an extraordinary acuity, and her eyes seemed to be able to directly see into people's hearts, "seeing" emotions that others could not perceive.
But... she had never seen eyes like Yun Che's.
She never knew that a pair of eyes could intertwine such complex, such dense emotions...
Like the recovery of something lost after life-and-death separation, like a lonely star in the cold night finally crashing into a warm galaxy, like a millennium-sealed ancient mirror suddenly reflecting a familiar face...
The emotions surging in the depths of his eyes were too thick, too dense—as if they could not dissolve the bone-carving longing of the loss, nor contain the trembling ecstasy of the reunion.
Ever since they had met in this gray forbidden domain, he had been staring at her like this, his black eyes deep as an ink abyss, yet brilliantly bright as if hiding two undying sparks. In those sparks were cautious probing, as if afraid that everything before him was but a mirage; there was dazed loss, as if he had not yet recovered from a long-lasting soul-wound and obsession.
And there was also a lingering tenderness that refused to let go even if it cost mountains and seas...
Who... is he...
Who... am I...
"Qingyue, you don't need to test me anymore. I am the one in this world you least need to test or guard against, because I... will never be able to hurt you again."
His voice remained as gentle as the wind, his gaze tightly entangled with her, as if trying to bind her silhouette firmly in his soul with his sight.
As his words fell, he suddenly covered his chest with his hand and coughed violently. Each cough brought out large sprays of blood.
The sword tip at his throat immediately withdrew several inches back... Her movement preceded her thoughts, as if it were an unconscious instinct.
Several streams of profound energy slowly flowed over Yun Che's body, finally stabilizing his injuries somewhat. Shen Wuyi stared fixedly, her words still cold and sarcastic: "So you too are afraid of death."
"Afraid, of course I am."
Yun Che struggled to regulate his breathing. His voice was hoarse and weak from the severe injuries, every word seemingly squeezed out through his teeth, but it was so clear, so resolute.
"I am probably the most afraid of death in this world. Because if I die... and one day you recover your memories, your heart would break with grief. And even more so because if I die, my homeland... our homeland... will forever fall into an unpredictable and irresistible abyss of calamity."
His eyes reflected a hazy, soft light, and also emitted a resolute determination from the deepest part of his soul.
Shen Wuyi's lips moved slightly... but she could not continue with her soul-piercing words.
"Qingyue, I know that Shen Wuyanye ordered you to kill me. The reason to kill me is that above the Eden Cloud Summit, I stabbed at the scar of her being wronged by someone. And this place is undoubtedly the best place to kill me... You don't need to admit or deny it. The current me poses no threat to you; I don't even have the ability to escape. I only beg you to give me some time to finish what I have to say."
Shen Wuyi did not move or speak, only stared coldly... But at least she did not refuse, nor did she leave.
Yun Che's breathing stabilized slightly. He took a light breath and spoke slowly:
"I am not Meng Jianyuan. Yun Che is my true name, and you are named Xia Qingyue. We were married at the age of sixteen in Liu Yun City... This world does not have Liu Yun City, because it exists in our homeland."
Shen Wuyi: "..."
"You said you are a selfish and cold person. I think this self-perceived coldness of yours might be because your body and soul are both rejecting this world."
Like a small stone dropping into a pond, this sentence seemed to cause a fleeting ripple in Shen Wuyi's gaze.
"I understand this feeling of rejection toward the world. And this rejection is precisely because we do not belong to this world. Our homeland is the 'Eternal Pure Land' that the people of this world have longed for for generations and are about to step into."
Any words spoken by Yun Che to any person of the Abyss would undoubtedly be shocking to the world, word by word.
Shen Wuyi's expression did not change, nor did she interrupt him. She just stared coldly, listening.
"Our homeland has no Yuan Chen, but it has countless green trees and blooming flowers, countless races and worlds both large and small. The colors of the world and the number of living beings far surpass the Abyss by who knows how many times. However, the loss of heaven and earth's spiritual energy has prevented the profound practitioners of our homeland from breaking through the Divine Lord Realm."
"Once people from the Abyss set foot there, all living beings of our homeland will become lambs for the slaughter. The fragile laws of heaven and earth will also give birth to countless disasters because they cannot bear the power of Demigods and True Gods."
"That is also the reason I came to this world."
As he spoke every sentence, every word, he looked directly into Shen Wuyi's gaze, all his emotions reflected without reservation in the ripples of his eyes.
Shen Wuyi spoke indifferently: "You want to say that you want to stop the Pure Land and the Divine Kingdoms from entering the Eternal Pure Land?"
"Yes."
"With just you?"
"Yes, with just me." He responded without hesitation, without fear: "What kind of existence are the Abyss Emperor and the Four Great Divine Officials? Even below the Pure Land, among the Six Divine Kingdoms, there are countless strong who could annihilate me into residue with a flick of their finger. And I, a mere Divine Lord Realm, must, within no more than forty-plus years, prevent the next opening of the Void-Breaking Array."
"Absurd and laughable, right?"
Any Abyss profound practitioner hearing this would find it absurd and laughable. But Shen Wuyi, who had only spoken coldly and sarcastically before, did not use this to utter piercing words.
"So, I had to use any means necessary... donning one guise after another, step by step integrating into this world. I approached Hua Caili with dirty means, became Meng Jianyuan with despicable methods... to shatter the alliance of Dreamweaving, Heaven-Breaking, and Senluo Kingdoms, and even planted hidden threads of enmity."
He laid out his most important schemes in this world so bluntly before Shen Wuyi.
The cold moon in Shen Wuyi's eyes grew even deeper and more frozen. No one knew what she was thinking at that moment.
"Qingyue..."
This call was very, very soft, as if from a distant dream. He gently narrowed his eyes, a faint smile on his lips: "You have lost your past, so you cannot understand how overjoyed I am, how grateful to the heavens I am, to see you again."
"In the countless dreams I wove myself, I fantasized countless times: if you could reappear in my life, I would spare no effort to make it up to you, even if I had to use any means, I would thoroughly knead your life into mine... But now we meet again, yet it is in another world, beneath such a heavy fate."
He opened his eyes again, all tenderness and lingering affection covered beneath an endlessly clear, endlessly profound gaze:
"How can the weight of romantic love compare to even a hair of the homeland in peril... Qingyue, I, who owe you so much, now most need your help."
"Our homeland is not their 'Eternal Pure Land,' but our own Eternal Pure Land. I am the emperor of the 'Eternal Pure Land.'"
"And you are the empress of the 'Eternal Pure Land.'"
Having spoken so many words at once, Yun Che's breathing became somewhat disordered. He silently suppressed his injuries, his face already pale as paper, but he showed not a trace of the weakness that severe injuries should bring... because this world did not allow him even a moment of weakness.
"Are you done?"
Her voice was still bone-piercing: "A very nice story. So absurd that even the so-called scribblers of the mortal world could not fabricate it in their madness. However... being this absurd, I am actually somewhat inclined to believe it."
She narrowed her eyes, her gaze like the perennial snow of an endless snowfield—exquisite and pure, but utterly without warmth: "Suppose what you say is true: a foreign-world emperor, a pretender impersonating a Divine Kingdom's Divine Son, a shadow causing chaos among the three Divine Kingdoms... yet you reveal all these secrets so unreservedly to a Divine Maiden of a Divine Kingdom?"
"Even if my former self was indeed the 'Xia Qingyue' you speak of, the current me is a most pure Shen Wuyi, the current Divine Maiden of the Eternal Night Divine Kingdom. The Xia Qingyue you speak of has not left even a trace of existence in my life and cognition."
"With just one word from me, all your hopes and schemes will be exposed to the world and vanish into smoke. This foreign-world emperor you speak of—is he not too naive, too foolish?"
"Naive and foolish to this degree, yet worthy of bearing the fate of a world?"
Gurk!
A sweet, fishy taste surged up in Yun Che's throat, but he forced it down, only a few long trails of blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. Yet his eyes remained as clear as ever, like distant stars that never go out in the dark night.
"My answer has already been given to you... because you are Xia Qingyue. That Xia Qingyue who was gravely wounded by fate, yet left all her gentleness and goodwill to the world, and took pain and death upon herself."
Shen Wuyi: "..."
"The disguise you have put on can no longer deceive me. And I will never again hesitate or doubt you."
Yun Che slowly raised his hand. Where his palm pointed, the surrounding Yuan Chen, as if responding to a summons, slowly gathered and spiraled into a faint, grayish air current.
Shen Wuyi's beautiful eyes narrowed, and for the first time, a rather intense expression of emotion appeared on her jade-like face.
"You can also influence Yuan Chen, right?"
He said softly: "This is the proof that our fates are connected."
She stared fixedly at the Yuan Chen in Yun Che's palm, seeming to fall into a brief trance.
But immediately, her gaze returned to cold, and she suddenly said: "Answer me one question."
"Alright." Yun Che's voice and gaze both softened at the same time.
She said coldly: "You say I am your wife, and that we were married as early as sixteen. Then why..."
"Am I still a virgin!"
"..."
This question, this "flaw," Yun Che found himself momentarily at a loss for how to answer.
"Hmph!"
Yun Che's brief silence earned him a cold snort from Shen Wuyi. She was about to speak again when she heard Yun Che lower his eyes slightly, uttering a soft chant from his mouth:
"Prostrate before the intermingling of heaven and earth, from which all things transform and mature; the proper union of man and woman, establishing the order of heaven and earth. Now, in the Cang Feng Kingdom, Liu Yun City, the Xiao family's fifth branch, their only son Che, aged sixteen, of upright character and gentle nature, bearing the pure reputation of the family line, containing the elegant demeanor of unrefined jade; the Xia family's beloved daughter Qingyue, aged sixteen, with a countenance like crystal reflecting the moon, pure and transcendent, skilled in feminine virtues, possessing the refined grace of an orchid."
Shen Wuyi: "...?"
His soft chant continued, each word penetrating directly into the depths of Shen Wuyi's soul:
"Recall that when Qingyue was young and weak, on the verge of death, Lord Xiao saved her at the cost of his own life; Lord Xia wept blood and swore an oath, thus forging this eternal bond. Now, in writing this marriage contract, with the ancestral tablets of the clan as witness, and with Xuan Crystal contracts as proof, we certify the union of Xiao Che and Xia Qingyue as husband and wife."
"May the two henceforth walk hand in hand, journey together on the profound path: in prosperity, share and enjoy; in poverty, stay and not abandon; in danger, live and die together; in peace, harmonize like zither and harp. Guard each other for life, jointly witness the long and vast Dao; never leave nor forsake, eternally bathe in the spiritual blessings of heaven and earth."
"Respectfully establish this document, to proclaim faith and observance."
Yun Che's hand touched his lip, his fingertip stained with red blood, then pressed heavily onto the unstained sleeve of his cuff. When he lifted it, there was a deep, complete fingerprint.
Rip!
The piece of sleeve bearing the fingerprint was torn off by him, gently pushed toward the stunned Shen Wuyi.
She unconsciously raised her hand and caught that torn sleeve between her fingers, feeling a faint residual warmth from his palm.
"What are... you doing?"
Seeing that she did not discard the torn sleeve, he seemed to smile with satisfaction: "After I lost you, I once witnessed your past memories. The final scene you gave yourself was only a bright red wedding dress, and..."
"That marriage contract carefully hidden in your waist sash."
Just then, a cry full of panic and anger suddenly rang out:
"Brother Yun! Shen Wuyi... Stop!!"
The girl's rebuke had barely sounded when an extremely dazzling sword light pierced through the darkness, splitting space, carrying boundless fury straight toward Shen Wuyi's back.
— End of Chapter —