Jingling—

  The chain rubbed against the stone path, emitting an ear-piercing sound.

  The oncoming person was a woman with a gaunt face. She was wet, with water dripping from the corners of her clothes as if she had been dragged out of the river. With her hair disheveled, she looked like a female ghost.

  On her side, Fang Ling was holding her arm and walking slowly.

  “These two people……”

  Black Lotus said in low voice in the awareness sea. Su Li narrowed her eyes.

  It was Mei Ruohan and Fang Ling. They both were acquaintances for Su Li.

  Su Li watched them in silence, waited for them both to approach, and passed over her.

  “Senior Sister Apprentice, I am afraid that you haven’t see the sun for many years. The sun is shining today, and it is nice. Master has ordered me to take you to get you tidy. You should cherish this opportunity.”

  Fang Ling spoke gently. Many female disciples dressing like maids followed them and held red clothes, phoenix coronet, and embroidered rosy cape.

  A faint flash flickered over Su Li’s eyes. She turned around and followed the last maid in the line, like an invisible person mixed into the group.

  A few moments later, the crowd arrived at a magnificent hall. Su Li raised her head and saw the palace plaque. It read “Lingyu Palace”.

  She curled her mouth slightly. This palace on the Mount of Holy Girl was once called “Linli Palace”.

  As the maids entered the hall, a cold pneuma came over, which Su Li still felt familiar with.

  Fang Ling had helped the withered woman sit down in front of a dresser, and the maids stood surrounding them.

  “Senior Sister Apprentice, this palace was originally yours. If you did not choose this path back then……”

  Fang Ling kept rambling. Before she finished her words, Mei Ruohan, who had been expressionless, hissed finally, “Enough.”

  Hearing that, Fang Ling did not get angry. She just waved her hand and said, “Put down the stuff and go out now. I will personally bath and dress Senior Sister Apprentice up.”

  The leading maid hesitated for a second and then put down the tray in her hand and led all the maids left.

  After everyone left, the smile on Fang Ling’s face disappeared and she deployed a Sound-proof Matrix. However, she could not see that Su Li had been sitting next to the dresser all the time and observing them.

  “Senior Sister Apprentice, this is the last chance. Brother Luo’s identity will be exposed soon. If you don’t seize it, you will stay in the icy dungeon for the rest of your life. And Brother Luo’s efforts would be also in vain!”

  Mei Ruohan looked dully at the withered face in the mirror, and asked in a cold tone, “How much bribes did you receive from Luo Yichen?”

  Fang Ling was slightly stunned. Tears gradually emerged in her eyes. She bit her lips and restrained her sobs, “Senior Sister Apprentice, a thousand years have passed. Why are you still holding the grudge? I know that you care about Brother Luo and everyone in Linli Building, don’t you?”

  Mei Ruohan laughed sadly, “Linli Building? I was not me and he was not him. The only sincere person, Su Li, was killed by me. You tell me why I’m holding the grudge? You…… still call me Senior Sister Apprentice? Then I ask you, which Fang Ling are you? ……Which one?”

  Fang Ling held her breath for a while and felt bitter. After a long time, she took a deep breath and said gently, “I don’t know, but I know that the senior sister apprentice in Qingshui Circle has gone. You are the real Mei Ruohan and there is no need to feel guilty for that evil thought. Now, you must survive! You won’t hang in there if you continue to stay in the icy dungeon!”

  Fang Ling wiped her tears, “That’s all I have to say. Think about it, Senior Sister Apprentice.”

  \r \r \r

  Then, she turned and left the palace, leaving Mei Ruohan sitting alone in front of the dresser in a daze.

  Just then, a light flashed in front of the dresser and Su Li showed herself. In order to make Mei Ruohan recognize her, she even used the All Spirits Tactics and changed her face into the appearance of her previous life.

  Mei Ruohan wasn’t surprised to see her. She just smiled and murmured, “It is nothing good to think too much but see the illusions. Tell me, what you will hate me for this time!”

  “Hate?”

  Su Li spoke softly in a serious tone, “For what?”

  Self-mockery emerged in Mei Ruohan’s eyes, “You changed tricks this time. Is it your turn to ask me? Then let me tell you. You hate me for destroying your life ring and your cultivation. Every time you showed up, you bled from the seven orifices of your head and wanted so much to eat my flesh and drink my blood or see me turn to ashes and never reincarnate!”

  Speaking of this, Mei Ruohan suddenly opened her hands and laughed hoarsely, “Come on! I am right here. Li, take my life now. I am willing to give it to you no matter how cruelly you will punish me. It is all my sins!!!”

  Fang Ling stood in front of the hall door. Listening to the voice coming from inside, her sight flickered, but there were no tears.

  Beside her, the lead maid stared at her quietly and heard whispers from other maids now and then, “The last generation of holy girl is getting mad again. She muses to herself, cries, and laughs. This has happened countless times.”

  “Get used to it. I heard that the last holy girl even married a good man. I’m jealous of that.”

  “Silence!”

  The leading maid’s voice rose slightly and covered all the whispers. Then she bowed towards Fang Ling respectfully and led all the maids to retreat to a more distant place.

  Inside the hall, Su Li kept looking at Mei Ruohan without blinking.

  Until Mei Ruohan felt a little weird, she suddenly laughed softly, “Ruohan, you are wrong. I don’t hate you at all.”

  !!

  Mei Ruohan shivered and incredulously looked at Su Li who was right in front of her. Her lips were trembling and she opened her mouth several times but could not make a sound.

  Finally, she suddenly remembered something. She straightened her body suddenly up and reached out her cold hands to touch Su Li.

  However, Su Li dodged.

  “Flop!”

  A stool toppled over inside the hall, but Fang Ling stayed outside the door and did not go in.

  Mei Ruohan lay on the ground, propping up her body. She raised her head and looked at the familiar figure squatting in front of her. She said with a hoarse voice, “Are you real……”

  “True is false, false is true. You have been punishing yourself for a thousand years, but still haven’t figured it out. How could I figure it out?”

  Su Li’s tone was gentle, as in Muyang Girl’s School back then. She spoke so calmly that every word sounded very convincing.

  Mei Ruohan’s eyes were filled with tears, and she was unable to speak. Strong sense of guilt and remorse spread in the air slowly.

  “I really don’t blame you. As your original soul-body dissipated, you became Mei Ruohan at that moment. There are lots of things or people I hate, including Yuxu Sect. It selfishly used me as a tool and discarded me after using. I hate the manipulator behind the curtain, who manipulated my life and made my death worthless. I hate the nature more, which did not allow me to be born, but turned a blind eye to let me mess up the world!”

  “Despite my unwillingness and despair, I still feel a glimmer of warmth from you back then. I’m very glad to see that you are still alive.”

  “Live well, Ruohan……”

  As the last words were spoken, Su Li vanished, as if she never appeared.

  Mei Ruohan was in a daze for a long time and burst into a rage of tears. ……

  In a village at the foot of the Jiuzhou Mountain Range, Su Li looked relaxed. She held a stick of sugar-coated haws in her hand and walked through the busy night market.

  It seemed that she came back to the temple fair in Dasu Town overnight and she became simple and innocent again.

  But Su Li knew that there was no way back.

  “Little Su Li, it was obvious that you didn’t have to show up just now. Why? Do you still have goodwill for them? Those who stayed with you in the Reincarnation Mirror got the most luck.”

  Su Li ate a sugar-coated haw, and a sweet and sour taste spread out in her mouth.

  She closed her eyes contentedly and said to herself with a smile, “It’s been a long time since I ate it last time. It tastes delicious.”

  “Su Li, you haven’t answered my question yet!”

  Black Lotus’s face was full of annoyance, and he almost lost his temper. Was he invisible? Why did Su Li ignore him all the time?

  “You’d better not guess my thoughts in the future! It’s exhausting.”

  After the words, Su Li quickly crossed the busy street and ran to the lantern show.

  Black Lotus looked tired and grumbled secretly, “You are more than two thousand years old, but you hopped and skipped just like a young girl. Do you think you are still young?”

  Of course, he never dared to say this loud.

  A month later, Su Li returned to Ni Sect. Only Hua Yan knew that.

  Two months had passed since Su Yang and Su Mu came to Ni Sect.

  “How did they two behave?”

  Su Li threw a storage ring to Hua Yan, “I have collected some spiritual flowers and herbs on the way back. They look quite good. You can put them into the Hualing Pool, and it will be good for your cultivation.”

  Hua Yan rolled her eyes snappishly, “You risked your life to go to Yuxu Sect, and still remembered to bring back flowers and herbs. How dare you are!”

  Although her words sounded bad, Hua Yan was happy inside. She replied seriously, “The talents of those two are as good as Yan Ziye’s. According to my observation in the last two months, Yan Ziye seemed to have known them before.”

  “There are just a few holy sects. It’s very normal that there are exchanges between disciples of holy sects.” Su Li smiled and continued to ask, “Is there anything else?”

  Hua Yan shook her head, “Nothing else. Ni Sect has been managed by Su Yuanhai and it’s peaceful. The disciples in our sect would meet others from outside due to some monster-killing tasks. Besides that, there is no battle. However, as for Su Yuanhai……”

  Su Li frowned, “What about him?”

  “He has had a tough time recently. The sixth branch of Su Family is competing for a spiritual stone mine with him. They have been fighting intensely. The other branches of Su Family are turning a blind eye and haven’t intervened.”

  “What about the second branch?”

  Su Li thought of Su Dieyin who was extremely kind to her before. Although the disciples from the second branch were still in the nightmare belly and did not go back, Su Dieyin should not turn hostile based on her temperament.

  Hua Yan sighed, “She would like to intervene, but the third, fourth and fifth branches have teamed up to put pressure on her, so she was unable to meddle. It is unclear why the head of the sixth branch wants the spiritual stone mine besides the special location. It produces just low-grade spiritual stones. Reasonably speaking, they should turn their noses up at it.”

  “Special location?” Su Li discerned something wrong and asked, “Where is the spiritual stone mine located?”

  Hua Yan took a deep breath and spoke in a solemn tone, “It’s in the Black Stone Forest!”