Living Up to You

Chapter 28

From northern city to Donghua Mountain, Ling Xi traveled day and night without resting and spent three days to get there. The moment Nan Zhi unlocked her the seal that blocked her cultivation, she received countless of birds. They were from Qing Kui, Qing Lian and Qing Nian; all asking where she was.

She didn’t know what had happened at the Eastern Sea that day after she had taken out all the Soul-Suppressing pearls. Nan Zhi refused to say more and only said that he followed those evil spirits and saved her in time. Then, he took her away.

When they approached Donghua Mountain, Nan Zhi still turned into a Chinese rose and stayed in Ling Xi’s hair. She hasn’t arrived at the foot of the mountain yet when she happened to bump into Qing Kui and Qing Lian who had come to pick her up.

“Ah Chou!” Qing Kui hasn’t arrived yet when his voice arrived first. She didn’t expect that when he arrived, his eyes were actually red and he asked, “Are you alright? Are you alright?”

Qing Kui touched Ling Xi’s face with one hand and looked at her from top to bottom, “Juisheng said that you had been struck by the merfolk’s tail and that the evil spirits had sucked your yang energy. There was no news of you these few days. We though…we thought…”

“Little Ling Xi, little Ling Xi.” Qing Kui hasn’t finished yet when Juisheng said, “I want to see your Chinese rose. He is so powerful. I want to let him become my ma…”

Juisheng hasn’t finished yet when he was slapped by Qing Kui, “Shut up!”

As he spoke, he blocked Juisheng’s gourd mouth.

Ling Xi looked at Qing Lian who was behind Qing Kui. They smiled at each other.

“Senior brother Qing Kui, I’m fine.” Ling Xi smiled, “Let’s go. I have the Soul-Locking water and the Soul-Suppressing pearls. High-tiered deity Donghua said that the spiritual object of Cangjia Mountain was also needed. Did master let you bring it?”

Qing Kui frowned, “Master secluded himself and didn’t show up.”

“But junior uncle Cang Qu came. He is discussing this matter with high-tiered deity now. Let’s discuss this after we go up,” Qing Lian said.

—

When she went up Donghua Mountain, Ling Xi thought that the Four Immortals’ Association wasn’t over yet and that it just changed location.

The main hall of Donghua Mountain was called Red Cinnabar. Just as its name suggested, the whole hall was painted with red like the red clothes of high-tiered deity Donghua. Inside, four groups of people stood neatly in a row. Cangjia, Liyang, Juyu and Donghua’s; not one was missing. However, the one sitting in Cangjia’s main seat was Cang Qu.

Among the ten times that this junior uncle was mentioned, there would be nine times that it would be related to wine. Fortunately, he was deadly earnest today and didn’t seem to be drunk.

The three paid their respect to the supremos of every sect. Ling Xi eagerly wanted to hand high-tiered deity Donghua the Soul-Locking water and the Soul-Suppressing pearls, but someone was faster than her. Liyang’s supremo Zhuge Xu asked first, “Did Ling Xi get the Soul-Suppressing pearls?”

Ling Xi had received a beating from Zhuge Xu and knew his evil intentions behind his smile. She didn’t dare to neglect him and nodded, “Answering supremo Zhuge, Ling Xi got every one of the twenty-four Soul-Suppressing pearls.”

Zhuge Xu stroked his long beard, nodded and said leisurely, “That day I waited on the surface of the Eastern Sea. To clean up those evil spirits and vengeful ghosts, I waited for a few hours…I don’t know whether Ling Xi knows that we all came back empty-handed.”

Ling Xi was dumbfounded. After she had taken the Soul-Suppressing pearls, she had fainted. Naturally, she didn’t know what had happened afterwards. Zhuge Xu’s question was obviously not well-meaning. Ling Xi bit her lips and remained silent.

“I have long said…”

Qing Kui got angry and was stopped by Qing Lian. She said, “Supremo Zhuge, before senior brother Qing Kui had already explained to everyone. After Ling Xi took out the Soul-Suppressing pearls, she got rid of the evil spirits. Therefore, not one escaped from the Eastern Sea.”

“Haha…” Zhuge Xu laughed out loud. “A little girl that had only entered the immortal sect for six years and who hasn’t cultivated an immortal body yet, wiped tens of thousands evil spirits and vengeful ghosts from existence? Are you not afraid that this kind of lie would become the biggest joke of the six realms?!”

“Hah, it turned out that everyone came here today for a meeting of criticism!” Qing Kui ignored Qing Lian’s obstruction and sneered, “Criticizing how our Cangjia has a genius!”

Ling Xi had remained silent, but her heart was in a chaos. She recalled that Juisheng had just shouted that the Chinese rose was very powerful. Could it be that it was Nan Zhi who wiped those evil spirits and vengeful ghosts from existence?

Presumably, Qing Kui said that she was the one who got rid of those evil spirits in order to help her protect Nan Zhi.

“We are just curious and don’t have bad intentions…” Juyu’s supremo Yu Liuli said. Her appearance was also clear like glass. She stood up and said softly, “It is not difficult to subdue and suppress those evil spirits, but to wipe each one from existence….We only want to know how Ling Xi did it.”

- Liuli means colored glass

“She was able to turn the snow lotuses into dust, what else could she not do? Genius…she better not be some strange or devilish being!” Zhuge Xu sneered immediately.

“You!” Qing Kui was furious and almost rushed forward (to fight Zhuge Xu).

“Ling Xi didn’t subdue those evil spirits with my own ability,” Ling Xi suddenly said.

Qing Kui and Qing Lian were stunned. Yu Liuli looked earnestly at Ling Xi and waited for what she has to say next. Zhuge Xu had an expression that said he wanted to see how she would deny everything.

Ling Xi carefully pondered about the words that she wanted to say before she slowly spoke, “Ling Xi met a solitary ray of soul at the Eastern Sea. Because she was only a ray of soul, she hadn’t been completely suppressed by the Soul-Suppressing pearls. She had told me where the Soul-Suppressing pearls were and also teach me some spells to deal with the evil spirits. If everyone doesn’t believe it, you can go ask master to prove it. At that time, I used a spell that she taught me to contact master.”

Zhuge Xu obviously didn’t believe her, “If that solitary ray of soul had that ability, how would she only be a ray of soul and still be suppressed in the Eastern Sea?”

“Ling Xi also doesn’t know. She didn’t say from which sect she came from and from when on she was suppressed in the Eastern Sea. She only said that it had been a long time and she doesn’t remember anymore.” Ling Xi wasn’t good at lying. In the beginning, she didn’t dare to raise her head and speak with confidence. So, even when she spoke these truthful sentences, she felt a bit guilty.

“Then, why did you disappear for a few days? Where did you go these few days?” Zhuge Xu refused to let go easily.

Ling Xi was stumped for words for a moment. Then, she heard a familiar voice say, “Ling Xi is not your disciple. Does she have to report to you where she went?”

The red clothes of high-tiered deity Donghua merged in with the red color of the main hall. He also concealed his aura, making people hardly notice his existence.

When Zhuge Xu saw that the high-tiered deity was helping Ling Xi, he quickly shut up.

“These few days, all of you have been working hard between the Eastern Sea and Donghua Mountain. Even if this deity isn’t from Cangjia Mountain, but this deity is also very moved!” High-tiered deity Donghua sat on the main seat diagonally and swept across the crowd with a teasing smile. Finally, his gaze fell on Cang Qu. “They just want to see what the spiritual object of Cangjia is. Cang Qu, why don’t you show them? Lest they continue to be…noisy here.”

The tone of the last two words “noisy here” was suddenly lowered and the cold air was penetrating. Red Cinnabar hall was suddenly quiet but people’s hearts were alarmed.

Having heard that, Cang Qu stood up. The moment he moved, the wine fragrance lingered.

Ling Xi took a peek. In fact, she was also curious.

Everyone said that Cangjia was a spiritual place where sacred and evil beings coexisted. There was the entrance of the heaven realm above; there is the common boundary between the devils and the immortals beneath. There were many traces left by the god clan hidden in the mountain, but they were also disturbed all year round by the devil realm. To live or die was only a thin line between day and night. She hasn’t seen any god these few years that she had been at Cangjia Mountain, but she has experienced a few intrusions of the devil clan several times.

What would the spiritual object of this “spiritual place” be?

She didn’t know whether it was because she was too nervous that she suddenly wanted to hide the Chinese rose that was in her hair.

The smell of alcohol was lingering on Cang Qu, but he wasn’t drunk. He looked apologetic at everyone and said, “It is just a joke made by high-tiered deity. How could there be any spiritual object at Cangjia Mountain?”

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. They were in apparent disbelief. High-tiered deity Donghua declined to comment.

“You all know that Cangjia requested help from high-tiered deity this time to save our eldest disciple Feng Shu. Feng Shu’s soul is inside the silver mirror. Supremos should know that the silver mirror is an object of the gods and comes in a pair. One of the pair is to gather the souls and the other is to attract the souls. Feng Shu’s soul is now in the mirror of gathering the soul. To enable to soul to get out, naturally the other pair, attracting soul mirror, is also needed. If supremos don’t know, you can go back and read more ancient books or ask the elders of your sect.”

Cang Qu’s last words obviously contained disdain and ridicule, causing Zhuge Xu’s face to get flushed. Yu Liuli was calmer and quickly said, “We just want to see the attracting soul mirror.”

Cang Qu grinned, “I’m sorry, the attracting soul mirror is at senior brother’s. He hasn’t arrived at Donghua Mountain yet.”

Yu Liuli felt a bit awkward. Zhuge Xu glared at him.

“Everyone had worked hard for half a month. You should go back now to take care of the affairs of your sect,” High-tiered deity Donghua said leisurely. It was obvious that he was driving them out.

It had been indeed half a month from the Four Immortals’ Association to now, but Zhuge Xu and Yu Liuli didn’t really want to leave.

Let a soul that had almost been wiped from existence be reborn again?

Perhaps it could indeed be done with some immortal spells that had been lost. However, in the immortal realm of now, it was unheard and unseen!

However, it didn’t seem like high-tiered deity Donghua intended to give them the opportunity to gain “knowledge”. In a blink of the eye, he disappeared with Ling Xi from the Red Cinnabar hall.

It was night. The moon was like a picture and the sky was filled with stars.

Ling Xi’s nervousness and expectation had been diluted by the moonlight, leaving only anxiety and restlessness that made her sleepless.

She had thought that master would’ve prepared everything and only needed to wait for her to return for high tiered deity Donghua to cast the spell. However, she had already obtained the Soul-Locking water and the Soul-Suppressing pearls and even junior uncle Cang Qu had arrived, but master would arrive tomorrow.

It was inevitable to be disappointed and Ling Xi felt a bit uneasy when she recalled the pale face of Cang Yu the last time she saw him. She was afraid that something unforeseen would happen. What if master couldn’t arrive tomorrow? What if master couldn’t even arrive three days later?

Ling Xi comforted herself that that was impossible. Like her, master cared for eldest senior brother and hoped that eldest senior brother could revive. However, she still couldn’t fall asleep even though it had been three days and nights since she last rested.

The wind outside rustled as if fallen leaves were falling on the window. Ling Xi silently called Nan Zhi a few times. She wanted to ask him about the Eastern Sea, but he still didn’t respond her. In the later half of the night, when she was about to fall asleep, she heard the squeak of the door. The cold wind blowing in made her body cold.

Ling Xi sat up in shock. She saw that the door was open and asked, “Who is there?”

“Little Ling Xi, little Ling Xi!” A sharp, clear and childlike voice whispered, “It’s me.”

Ling Xi fixed her eyes on there and saw that Juisheng was spinning his gourd body towards her.

“Little Ling Xi…” Juisheng rubbed on Ling Xi’s body and said, “It wasn’t easy for me to come out. Show me your Chinese rose, alright, alright?”

Ling Xi patted her chest. She had been scared a bit just now.

“Juisheng, first tell me what had happened at the Eastern Sea alright?” She didn’t stay in the same place as Qing Kui and Qing Lian and Nan Zhi ignored her.

“Wow, you don’t know how powerful the Chinese rose was!” Speaking of the Eastern Sea, Juisheng was excited and his tone was full of admiration, “At that time, I and Xinyin were busy taking care of ourselves and watched how you were slapped by the tail of the merfolk! I was so anxious! At this time, the Chinese rose spit out black ink and the Eastern Sea turned black. The merfolk couldn’t see anything. They ran away! Tell me, how could I be so stupid and didn’t think of spitting ink?!”

“What happened afterwards? Who did you see clean up those evil spirits?” Ling Xi asked.

“Of course!” Juisheng repeatedly nodded with his gourd body. “When the ink was gone, the Chinese rose turned into a handsome man! Unfortunately, you have disappeared…We searched everywhere with him until we saw the evil spirits appear. Wow, at that time the Chinese rose was so cool! When he saw a ghost, he grabbed it and asked it where you were. When it didn’t saw, he squeezed it with one hand till it turned to dust! Afterwards, his movements were so fast that I couldn’t follow until when he carried you out. At that time, your hands were covered in blood and your face was very pale. I thought that there was no more hope for you! After the Chinese rose put you down, he began to clean up those evil spirits, shua, shua shua!”

Juisheng shook excitedly in the air, “I have never seen anyone with such a powerful skill before in my life. That is what is called handsome, confident and at ease! That is what is called valiant and formidable looking! That is what is called shake the world and the supernatural beings! That is why little Ling Xi, quickly call him out. I want to become his disciple!”

Juisheng’s words made Ling Xi a bit dumbfounded. She sat dazedly in the chair.

“Little Ling Xi…what is the matter?” Juisheng said uneasy, “Did, did I disturb your sleep?”

Ling Xi shook her head, “The Chinese rose is tired today. I will let him come out to see you another day, alright?”

Juisheng shook his body in disappointment, “Alright…then, I will go back first, otherwise that bastard Qing Kui will abuse me again!”

Ling Xi rubbed his head smilingly.

“Little Ling Xi, have a good rest!”

Juisheng flew away. Ling Xi stood up and walked out of the door.

She had long known that the evil spirits of the Eastern Sea had been cleaned up by Nan Zhi. However, she couldn’t be as excited as Juisheng. She felt that she should say something to Nan Zhi, but she didn’t know what she should say exactly.

He had only chopped a demon and got rid of the evil spirits at the bottom of the sea. Both of those things were not wrong.

Ling Xi had always felt that there was a part of Nan Zhi’s temperament that she couldn’t control. Even when she watched him grow up and got shape, she still didn’t know to what extent Nan Zhi’s cultivation had reached and how many things he still would do that would shock the immortal realm. Except for her, he was shockingly cold about everything else in this world. What if he stopped listening to her one day?

Thinking till here, Ling Xi felt like that there was a big rock on her heart making her unable to breath smoothly. She kept shouting in her heart, “Nan Zhi, Nan Zhi, Nan Zhi…”

Nan Zhi finally answered her and showed himself up. Ling Xi hugged him, “Nan Zhi, would…you no longer listen to me one day?”

Nan Zhi let Ling Xi hug him, but he didn’t respond.

“Would you?” Ling Xi looked up at him anxiously. The moonlight reflected clearly in her eyes and the petals of the jacaranda fell like meteor.

Nan Zhi stood under a jacaranda tree. His aura was cold. There nothing in his eyes except for the person in front of him. He suddenly leaned and gently kissed her eyes.

All the prosperous things couldn’t be compared to this pair of beautiful eyes.

Ling Xi closed her eyes. Her heart felt warmth and the warm touch of those lips made her feel very safe.

“Would you one day no longer be by my side?” Nan Zhi hugged her, leaned to her ear and asked softly.

Ling Xi suddenly relaxed and felt that her doubts were really funny. Nan Zhi is her immortal spirits and she is his owner. He couldn’t leave her and she wouldn’t abandon her. They would be together forever. How could he not listen to her? How could that be?”

“Hehe..”

The cool breeze brought a laughter.

In the tree-rich forest a girl’s nimble figure traversed through it and landed on the branch in front of Ling Xi. As she shook her legs, she tilted her head and said, “Hey, an immortal spirit and its owner can’t fall in love with each other.”

Ling Xi’s face suddenly reddened. She broke away from Nan Zhi’s embrace as if she was burned.

What…fall in love. What is this girl talking about?

The girl sitting on the branch was graceful, delicate and pretty. She seemed to have walked out of a painting and laughed, “Hehe, I saw it all. People who aren’t in love with each other wouldn’t be like this.”

The girl scooped up some fallen flowers and kissed them fiercely.

Ling Xi blushed. Her heartbeat was so quick that she was unable to speak, but Nan Zhi opened his mouth and said coldly, “Why are you here?”

The girl blew gently and the flowers fluttered and fell on the ground. She made a “ssshhh” sound and whispered, “I sneaked out. Don’t tell him that you saw me.”

While the girl talked, she jumped on one foot and jumped to another jacaranda tree.

Ling Xi was wondering how Nan Zhi would know this girl when she saw a red robe flicker in front of her eyes following by the girl’s bell-like laughter, “Catch me if you can, catch me if you can, hehe…”

“It’s his immortal spirit,” Nan Zhi answered Ling Xi’s question.

Ling Xi naturally know that the “he” that Nan Zhi mentioned was the red clothed high-tiered deity Donghua. She nodded. She indeed had heard senior brother Qing Kui mention that high-tiered deity Donghua has an immortal spirit and that it took three thousand years for it to cultivate a body. She didn’t expect that it was such a mischievous girl.

“How do you know her?” Ling Xi just asked this question when she felt that her question was a bit silly.

Nan Zhi had gone to high-tiered deity Donghua to let him help him (NZ) cultivate a body. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that he had seen his (D) immortal spirit.

Sure enough, Nan Zhi answered, “Seen her before.”

While he spoke, he took Ling Xi’s hand and wanted to go back. When Ling Xi thought about what the girl had just said, she panicked and retrieved her hand. She could sense that Nan Zhi turned his head, but she didn’t dare to look up at him. She felt that her face was burning and her heart beat so fast uncontrollable.

The brows on Nan Zhi’s jade like face frowned slightly. He wanted to grab her hand again, but Ling Xi dodged without hesitation.

Nan Zhi suddenly stepped forward, held her waist, leaned over and kissed her lips.

It was not the same as the kiss of just now that fell on her eyes and it was even more different from the soft kiss at the bottom of the River of Forgetfulness. This kiss was scorching, strong, pressing and reckless. Ling Xi’s mind went blank. She only felt a warmth spread from their lips to her whole body, making her whole body burn. She obviously had her eyes closed but she seemed to be able to see the peach blossom bloom in front of her eyes.

Fall in love.

Strange feelings surged like the dragonfly that touched the water lightly, rippled and came at her in circles.

- The dragonfly that touched the water lightly: superficial contact

Half a month ago, Nan Zhi had asked in the room not far away, what love was. At this moment, he hugged her and their lips were intertwined.

Is this…the feeling of falling in love?

Ling Xi felt that her whole body had softened as if she would melt into water the next moment. Her heartbeat was one faster than the other. It wasn’t from fear or panic, but it was a joyful throb.

If this was love…

Ling Xi put her hands on Nan Zhi’s neck and responded gently.

Nan Zhi’s body trembled slightly and then deepened the kiss as if he wished to blend his and Ling Xi’s body into one.

Ling Xi’s breathing was rapid and burning. A sigh suddenly flashed in her blank mind. She didn’t know who was whispering.

…She didn’t know when this love had been formed.