"You must understand that the dead cannot be brought back to life, and the will of Heaven cannot be defied. To save the Gu family head is to defy the heavens. Therefore, we need to borrow the power of the Heavenly Dao. You cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness, which is the orthodox path of the Heavenly Dao. You must be willing to offer yourself up, otherwise I will not be able to break the Heavenly Ladder and sever the connection between the Heavenly Dao and this world."
Xu Yi nodded gently, holding the soul lamp in her arms. "Master, I understand. I am willing to offer it up."
"Thirty thousand years of spiritual energy will be used as medicine. Severing the Heavenly Ladder will incur Heaven's wrath, and the Heavenly Dao will reclaim the spiritual energy of this world. I will gather this thirty thousand years of spiritual energy beforehand and infuse it into the Soul-Nourishing Lamp. My intention is to save people, and I cannot harm others for the sake of Patriarch Gu. Therefore, I need your ten thousand years of cultivation to nourish the spiritual treasures of this world. Are you willing?"
“I am willing.” Xu Yi gripped the soul lamp in her arms tightly. It was just ten thousand years of cultivation. She could cultivate again if she lost her cultivation. But without Miss Gu, what use was her cultivation? What use was it to seek the Heavenly Dao and become a god?
"As I said before, the dead cannot be brought back to life. The last thing I will do is send you back to the time when the Gu family head was still alive. You will accept a soul contract with her and establish a heavenly marriage contract. Using this as an opportunity, you will share life and death with the Gu family head. Are you willing?"
Xu Yi's heart trembled, and she gritted her teeth to force herself to utter the word "willing".
Sixteen thousand years ago.
Before the war between immortals and demons even began, the position of leader of the Loose Cultivator Alliance fell to the Gu family. The Gu family patriarch took over the seal of leadership with great pride.
In the grand competition of all sects, Xu Yi, a rising star disciple of the Cangyun Sect, stood out.
A century-long entanglement.
A joke has spread throughout the cultivation world.
The Gu family patriarch's heart was stolen by a young sword cultivator from the Cangyun Sect who practiced the ruthless path.
A note from the author:
Xu Yi doesn't remember anything before her rebirth. The only people who know about this are her master, her second senior sister, and a mysterious person who hasn't appeared yet, because the three of them orchestrated this whole thing.
Therefore, Xu Yi was unaware of her first life and her entanglement with the Gu family head through countless lifetimes.
What she knew was that one day, she saw the head of the Gu family from afar, a person who felt both strange and familiar to her. In just one glance, her heart suddenly started pounding, and she fell in love at first sight.
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 21:07:41 and 22:35:32 on February 5, 2022!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Jin Yiming (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter Seventy-Five
After Gu Yueyue finished talking with Yin Yu, she continued watching the live stream after Yin Yu left.
It's clear that Xu Yi is very enthusiastic about this kind of thing; only she and Zhao Yuan are truly dedicated.
I imagine them huddled together, discussing things in hushed tones.
Zhao Yuan: "There are seven rooms in total: bedrooms, study, storage room, and kitchen. All in all, there are thirteen rooms in total. Apart from the slightly strange layout, there's nothing else unusual."
"Besides these three people, have you seen anyone else?"
Zhao Yuan shook his head. "Besides the three of them, it's just the four of us. There's no one else."
Zhao Yuan then added, "In the backyard kitchen, I saw a kitten stealing food. I just don't know if the kitten was arranged by the production team or if it just wandered in by accident."
"I'll try to get more information out of them. You try to catch that cat so we can verify it."
Xu Yi pondered for a moment, then finally made the decision.
Zhao Yuan was somewhat puzzled. What could finding a cat prove?
Although he didn't understand, fortunately, in those few short hours, he and Xu Yi had developed an unspoken understanding, and he was quite obedient to Xu Yi's instructions.
Chen Sha and Han Muzhou remained seated. Chen Sha, being more sentimental, was preoccupied with those tragic and frightening stories.
Han Muzhou, however, remained expressionless, looking calm and indifferent as he gazed at the food before him.
"Can we eat these?" Han Muzhou asked the woman from Yuejia's family in a surprising way.
The woman walked over, her smile still warm and friendly, her words radiating enthusiasm.
"Little girl, are you hungry? The bride and groom haven't returned yet, wait a little longer."
The woman left for a short while, and Xu Yi secretly followed her. She saw her go to the kitchen and take out two white steamed buns from the altar where the Kitchen God was worshipped.
Han Muzhou sat in the courtyard, staring blankly at the dishes in front of him that looked pretty good.
The woman came over and placed the steamed buns in her hand in front of her, the two buns stacked together.
The woman smiled and said, "Are you hungry? Eat something first to fill your stomach."
Han Muzhou felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the incense ash falling onto the steamed bun.
"No, I'm not hungry," she waved her hands repeatedly.
Xu Yi casually walked out from the corner and sat down next to Han Muzhou as if she knew nothing.
"Can we eat this steamed bun?" Xu Yi asked the woman.
The woman paused for a moment, then nodded with a somewhat forced smile, "Eat if you're hungry."
Xu Yi picked one up.
Han Muzhou frowned as he looked at the incense ash on the surface, and instinctively reached out to grab Xu Yi's wrist to stop her.
"No, that's unhygienic."
Xu Yi held the steamed bun in her hand, not noticing anything different. She tried to break it apart with both hands, but the woman stopped her.
"It's all cold now. Look at the mess I've made. Here, I'll replace the steamed buns with yours."
The woman snatched the steamed bun from Xu Yi's hand and quickly left with her belongings.
Now that things had come to this point, Han Muzhou could tell that something was wrong.
As they watched the woman disappear into the distance, the three of them reunited, and Xu Yi said, "You should go and see. What we need to determine now is whether our enemy in this story's script is feudal superstition, a human trafficking gang, or perhaps a ghost or deity that exists within this story's script."
Han Muzhou understood. Chen Sha was a little afraid of such superstitious things, but because of her profession, even if she was afraid, she had to muster up the courage to go to work.
Chen Sha sighed silently to herself, but put on a serious expression. "Xiao Xu, you stay here and wait for Teacher Zhao to come back. Also, keep an eye on the gate for us. If anything happens later, we can escape."
Xu Yi nodded slightly.
Chen Sha: "Zhouzhou and I will go check if there are any ghost or spirit legends here, and see if we can find any supporting evidence."
"good."
Once the three had determined their search direction, they quickly dispersed.
After watching their meeting and discussions on her phone, Gu Yueyue had some ideas in mind.
Looking at her sprained leg, Gu Yueyue took out her phone and called Yin Yu.
Under Yin Yu's persuasion, Gu Yueyue reluctantly made a phone call to the accompanying doctor.
The doctor came over again and examined the injury.
"Huh." The doctor sighed softly, startling Yin Yu, who was standing nearby watching. "What happened? Are you alright? It doesn't look serious anymore!"
The doctor smiled and told her to relax, "It's nothing, nothing serious. I'm just wondering how you recovered so quickly."
"No problem. You can get down and walk around, as long as you don't run or jump." The doctor said, pressing on her hand. Gu Yueyue didn't react. "That's strange. How did you recover so quickly? What medicine did you take?"
Gu Yueyue found it even more surprising than the doctor.
"It was the medicine you prescribed; I only applied that." Gu Yueyue said, then her face flushed slightly as she remembered that Xu Yi had helped her apply it.
Once Yin Yu learned that there were no further problems, she asked the doctor to leave.
After the doctor left, she grabbed Gu Yueyue's cheeks with her uncontrollable claws.
"Do you know how incredibly stupid you are, acting like a lovesick young girl right now?"
Gu Yueyue broke free from Yin Yu's clutches, returned the phone to her, and slowly paced around for a few moments.
"Everything's fine now. Can I go do my quest?"
Yin Yu was both amused and exasperated by her impatient and eager manner.
"I've never seen you this enthusiastic at work before. Why are you acting like you're on steroids today? Is this enthusiasm directed at me or at Xiao Xu?"
Gu Yueyue couldn't answer, her face flushed as she avoided Yin Yu's teasing gaze, and muttered angrily, "Do you still want to help me or not?"
"Help! Even the iron tree is blooming, how can I not help?" Yin Yu added some water to her thermos and handed it to her, as if she were sending a child to kindergarten. "Let's go. I'll take you there and see how that little guy is doing."
When the two arrived at the entrance of the Yue family's courtyard, Han Muzhou was also outside, looking around the courtyard wall.
"Zhouzhou."
Yin Yu called out to her.
Han Muzhou quickly turned around to look at them, his expression showing confusion.
Gu Yueyue then noticed that Han Muzhou's behavior was somewhat strange. She kept a certain distance from everyone. Before, her mind was in turmoil, so she didn't notice this.
She subconsciously glanced at Han Muzhou's pocket, but perhaps because it was so well disguised, she didn't notice anything unusual.
“Professor Yin, Professor Gu.”
Yin Yu walked over with a smile and naturally took Han Muzhou's arm.
The moment she was pulled, Han Muzhou tensed up. Her stiffness might not be visible off-camera, but Gu Yueyue, who was very sensitive to these subtle movements, noticed it immediately.
That's terrifying. How much control must one have to scare a perfectly healthy child like that?
Gu Yueyue couldn't think about it too much; she just felt a chill run down her spine. If it were her, she definitely wouldn't be able to tolerate such a partner.
Han Muzhou awkwardly tried to pull her arm away, but she underestimated how clingy Yin Yu was. The more she struggled, the more excited Yin Yu became.
"Why are you out alone? Where's Xu Yi?"
Yin Yu asked her.
Perhaps his attention was diverted, Han Muzhou stopped what he was doing and said, "Something's happened. It seems like a ghost marriage is taking place here. Xu Yi asked us to investigate something. After I came out, the door suddenly closed."
"No matter how much I knock on the door, no one answers. The wall is too high, I'm trying to figure out if I can climb over it to take a look." Han Muzhou said, stretching out his other arm and pointing to a big tree outside the yard. "I want to try climbing up, but there's no guarantee of safety, I'm a little worried."
Then she led the two of them to the tree.
Gu Yueyue looked the tree over and said, "It is a bit tall, and the trunk is straight and thick, making it difficult to get a foothold. Climbing the tree would be a bit dangerous."
Yin Yu also said, "It's not easy to climb. There's a distance between the tree and the courtyard wall, so it's not easy to get across."
Even though it was a game arranged by the production team, Gu Yueyue was still worried about Xu Yi's situation.
Gu Yueyue: "I'll go to the village and see if I can borrow a ladder."