Le Grand Jugement Divin Qing

Chapitre 36

"Even my sister couldn't stop this witchcraft, Yiting... you can't beat my sister, so how can you possibly defeat me?" Chao You shouted this desperately, then fell silent. The blood-red fog thickened, and upon closer inspection, one could see that it was composed of countless strands of blood. The ends of these strands were connected to Chao You's entire body. The blood fog gradually enveloped Chao You, binding him into a crimson cocoon. Finally, it completely obscured his figure.

With a cold snort, Chen Yiting's gaze sharpened as he looked at the blood cocoon: "That fox was driven mad by its thousand-year-old memories, which is why it used witchcraft recklessly. If it were twenty years ago, it would be hard to say who was stronger between me and Jing Ling, but now, hmph!"

A biting wind blew into the room, tossing everything that could move about. Chen Yiting's long gown billowed in the wind.

Yuba and Asakusa had long since retreated to the courtyard.

She was shielded behind Asakusa, her eyes filled with bloodlust.

This scene is so familiar... so familiar...

She pressed her throbbing temples with her palms, her face extremely pale. The rain was still falling. She found the unconscious Feng Qi along the outer edge of the courtyard, squatted down, and slapped his cheeks hard.

The pain woke Feng Qi from the darkness.

He moved his neck, looked around, and couldn't help but groan, "The fourth time?"

Yu Ye asked in a low, hoarse voice, "What did you find out?"

“Some past events.” Feng Qi tilted his head, thought for a moment, and asked her, “You have a deep relationship with this Chen Yiting?”

"He is the person I respect most."

"Oh, I see." Feng Qi smiled wryly, "He has been helping Chao You all along."

“I know.” Yu Ye’s bright eyes dimmed. “But he is my father.”

"He said he was your father, and you believed him?" Feng Qiqi asked. "Are you someone who trusts people so easily?"

Yu Ye stood up and smiled faintly: "I believe him, no reason needed. It's the bond of blood."

“You guys… are truly pathetic.” Feng Qi struggled to sit up as well, his gaze falling upon the room. He saw the blood cocoon growing larger and larger, as if something inside was about to break free, swaying in the air.

Chapter Nineteen: Jing Ling

Chapter Nineteen

"Yiting, you'll always be by my side to support me, right?"

"I will oppose wrong decisions, but I will not stop them."

"I want to break off our engagement."

"For that stupid fox you mentioned?"

"It's that stupid fox!"

"I object! But... the engagement is dissolved."

"Yiting, I still like you the most!"

The word "like" is ridiculous.

He found it unbelievable that he would suddenly recall things from many years ago. Those conversations seemed etched into every crease of his brain, invisible on ordinary days, only appearing at inexplicable moments. He loathed memories; if one indulged in reminiscence, one would ignore reality, which was not what he wanted.

Twenty years.

For the first twenty years of his life, his life was filled with that flamboyant figure. For the second twenty years of his life, his memories were still of that resolute figure.

Twenty years ago, Zhicheng was hot and humid. The sky hung low, and even without the blazing sun, it still made people feel hot all over. It was like being placed in a steamer; even the air you breathed was unbearably humid and hot.

Chen Yiting wanders through the alleys at the very bottom of the city.

A side road branching off from the main mountain path leads into an inconspicuous alleyway, descending a series of stone steps paved with large and small bluestone slabs. After traversing a dozen or so slabs, a small courtyard comes into view. The path in the middle is still paved with bluestone slabs, but much smoother than the previous steps. On both sides are single-story houses of varying heights. Some have a separate entrance; crossing the threshold reveals a courtyard house consisting of a two-story wooden building on three sides. Others are newly built brick and wood single-story houses, with their gates right by the roadside and a ditch running downwards in front of them.

Chen Yiting glanced at the fallen leaves floating in the ditch, and involuntarily stopped in his tracks, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"why are you laughing?"

Chen Yiting looked up, slightly raised his hand towards Jing Ling, who was leaning against the second floor, and chuckled, "Laughing at you." As he spoke, he casually walked up the wooden stairs and gently put his arm around Jing Ling's waist. Jing Ling was dressed lightly; her short-sleeved shirt was casually knotted, revealing her flat stomach, her skirt was lifted to her thighs, and her long, seaweed-like hair was loosely tied in a bun. Even so, she was still covered in sweat. When Chen Yiting held her, she slapped his hand in annoyance, "Let go, it's so hot."

Chen Yiting obediently let go of her hand, but took the opportunity to gently kiss the corner of her mouth: "To help you cool down." His lips were as cool as water, and every inch of her skin covered by them felt comfortable and expanded.

They grew up together, their understanding unspoken, a deep connection that transcended words. Jing Ling, though a water-elemental witch, was more sensitive to heat than anyone else. As children, when they were tired from competitions, they would snuggle together. She loved to hold his hand tightly, laughing heartily, and say, "Hey, Yi Ting, you'll always be with me, forever and ever."

Kiss dotted Jingling's skin, and she laughed wildly, leaning back against the wooden railing on the second floor. Clouds of varying shades fell into her eyes, and she squinted slightly, removing the hairpin that was askew in her hair, letting her thick black hair sway down the railing.

This is their game, a game they started when they were fifteen. When they entangle together, the sky and earth seem to boil. Countless bubbles rise in the air, then burst, and a gentle drizzle falls.

She looked into his eyes, which were hazy and empty.

Suddenly, she pushed him away, leaped onto the railing without warning, and then ran barefoot on the roof.

Her seaweed-like hair rose and fell, and her long skirt billowed in the air like a blooming sunflower.

Chen Yiting carefully straightened his clothes, button by button, smoothing out the wrinkles. He had just heard her call a name, a name he had never heard before.

Lan Ye.

Jing Ling offered no explanation for her desertion that time. She had her own worries, about the fox she kept mentioning. Lan Ye's name was brought up again and again in their conversation.

So, Chen Yiting learned that the fox, entirely white except for a tuft of black fur on its forehead, was named Lan Ye; Lan Ye possessed a secret space where it was cool all year round, perfect for sleeping; Lan Ye was searching everywhere for a witch named Xi Xue; Lan Ye appeared lazy and carefree, but was actually an out-of-place obsessive...

Chen Yiting found the fox named Lan Ye a bit annoying, but didn't take it to heart. It was just a fox, an animal. He even suggested that Jing Ling keep the fox as a pet, only to be kicked away by Jing Ling.

Until that day, everything changed.

That day, as usual, they sat on the highest tower in Zhicheng to patrol.

Jing Ling's eyes swept unfocusedly over the crowd below; though her head remained on her shoulder, her mind was elsewhere.

He shrugged and smiled, saying, "Ling, you seem to have something on your mind."

She then came to her senses and looked at him, her sharply defined features scrunched up: "Yiting, if a shrine maiden is reincarnated, will she still be a shrine maiden?"

“Not necessarily,” he pressed his finger against her furrowed brow, “If you haven’t been a priestess enough in this life, will you have to be one in the next?”

She fell silent, remaining so for a long time.

At that time, they sat atop the city's high-rise buildings, looking down upon the masses.

A humid summer breeze blew gently by. He pulled her head close and touched her forehead to his: "Hmm? Why are you spacing out again?"

Lost in her own thoughts, she ignored him, her eyes fixed intently on the houses rising and falling in the distance. He knew that was the look of deep thought on her face.

"Yiting, you'll always be by my side to support me, right?"

"I will oppose a wrong decision, but I won't stop it." Without hesitation, she replied, "I want to break off our engagement." Yiting was taken aback. Break off the engagement? He then remembered that their engagement had been arranged by the elders since childhood. They grew up together, lived together, and even shared their forbidden fruit—it was so natural that he had almost forgotten that bond. He smiled gently again: "For that stupid fox you mentioned?"

A feeling of guilt welled up and was quickly suppressed. Jing Ling smiled and nodded, "It's that stupid fox!" She felt her head being gently touched. Looking up, she saw him smiling forlornly, "I object! But the engagement is dissolved."

Jingling happily opened her arms and gave Yiting a big hug: "Yiting, I still like you the most!"

Liking is not the same as loving.

Liking cannot replace love.

Once love appears, liking becomes nothing.

Chen Yiting smiled quietly, his hand gently resting on her back. The intense heat transmitted through her cotton tank top to his palm. A sudden emptiness filled her heart; words from her memories echoed repeatedly, stirring countless reverberations.

On a summer night when they were fifteen, their fingers intertwined, she chuckled softly in his ear, and his kisses were as gentle as feathers. The wind was strong and fierce, and rain mingled with thunder and lightning. The entire city was washed clean by this thunderstorm.

He remembered her face, her head held high with pride, her eyes shining, as she said, "Yiting, you know, right? I like you the most."

He kissed her lips, his eyelashes brushing against her cheek, and she gave a muffled "hmm."

She said she loved him the most, but she also said that if he met his true love in the future, she would let go and bless him; if she were in his shoes, she would do the same. Now, she says she has finally met him and is asking him for her freedom. But he will never tell her that he met her nineteen years ago, never.

Within half a month, Chen Yiting encountered that man five times.

He was a handsome man with finely arched eyebrows, elegant phoenix eyes, and long, glossy black hair tied with a dark green hair tie, reaching down to his waist. He stayed close to Chen Yiting, keeping a respectful distance and watching him intently.

The man's first words to him were, "Are you Xixue?" His tone was somewhere between a statement and a question, carrying a hint of hesitation and uncertainty. And so, Chen Yiting knew that this man was Lan Ye, the fox.

They went to have tea.

Inside the teahouse, an old man was singing opera in a low, guttural voice. Chen Yiting held a cup of hot tea, ignoring Lan Ye's indifference. Lan Ye said, "You have the scent of Xi Xue on you. You are Xi Xue." This time, he used a statement of fact. Chen Yiting gently blew on the tea, raising an eyebrow slightly: "I know what you are..."

Lan Ye was stunned.

He felt as if he had returned to three hundred years ago, to that woman in white, her expression indifferent, who said to him, "I know what kind of thing you are."

Chen Yiting then asked, "What do you want?"

"I've been looking for you..."

Why are you looking for me?

"Xixue promised me that we would always be together."

"That was what Xi Xue promised, not what I promised. You should go back to wherever you want," Chen Yiting said softly with a gentle smile.

Lan Ye fell silent. He reached out and grabbed Chen Yiting's hand, staring at him stubbornly.

Chen Yiting withdrew his hand in disgust, about to utter some reprimanding words, when suddenly a piercing pain spread throughout his body. The surrounding scenery spun rapidly like a top. The scene changed, and the world transformed in just a few seconds. When he could see the things in front of him again, he was three hundred years in the past.

He saw a woman in white and a fox that had transformed into a human.

They traveled from city to city, using witchcraft to uncover unknown calamities and then striving to prevent them. The woman's exquisite face always carried a weariness and indifference. He knew she was Xi Xue, the legendary genius water-based witch.

They arrived in Zhicheng and then stayed there.

Xi Xue's critically ill father stopped her in her tracks. He saw joy in her eyes for the first time, and she said to the man on the sickbed, "Father, you haven't changed at all, you're exactly the same as I remember." The frail man placed his hand on the back of her hand, smiling but saying nothing.

She began searching everywhere for a way to cure her father.

Finally, she found a solution in an ancient book: a forbidden spell that used virgin blood to nourish the body. He witnessed her first argument with Lan Ye; he called her foolish, and she told him to get lost. Lan Ye truly left, wandering alone from city to city.

She stayed by her father's side every day, feeding him with her own blood, the ancient and mysterious incantations echoing softly in the still of the night. Her father's health gradually improved, and Chen Yiting found her contented smile jarring. She didn't see the greedy gaze of her half-brother lurking in the shadows while she lay unconscious from blood loss; she didn't see the weak compromise hidden behind her father's kind smile.

A third-rate Taoist priest used magic to trap her.

When she awoke, she saw countless thin red ropes binding her limbs, and her blood was slowly flowing out with them. Her half-brother argued that she possessed a demonic aura and was using sorcery to bewitch people. She didn't struggle, but only looked at her father hiding behind her brother. His eyes held unshed tears and fear. He thought she hadn't seen him, but she had.

She sighed sadly, and when she looked up again, all she saw was a gray sky. Her blood was added to the dye used to make cloth, resulting in fabrics with vibrant, long-lasting colors.

Chen Yiting thought there was no one more foolish than Xi Xue. Even with so much blood loss, how could she possibly be unable to break free from that third-rate restraint? Yet the truth was that she silently allowed her "family" to draw blood to stain the cloth, day and night. Sixteen days passed, and her face grew paler and paler, the sarcastic smile on her lips becoming more and more pronounced.

That night, she saw Lan Ye again. His handsome figure was hidden in the dark shadows of the trees. He said to her, "How did you end up like this? That person is dying. Do you want to see him one last time?"

She finally saw her father again. During the sixteen days she was trapped, this man she called father had never appeared before her. In those short sixteen days, he had become haggard, increasingly thin, his skin an unhealthy, sallow yellow. She could hear his coughing even from outside. He was pleading with his son: "Please let your sister come see me, okay?"

"Father! Why don't you understand?" Her brother paced back and forth in the room. "That woman isn't your daughter! Your daughter fell into the Yangtze River and died more than ten years ago!"

"Son, I'm dying, and you won't even let me see you one last time?"

"Father! I let you see her, have you forgotten? Three months ago, you were on your last breath, wasn't it me who let her in to see you? But that woman, she knows witchcraft, she's a sorceress. If others find out that we have a sorceress in our family, they'll treat us like monsters! Do you want your son, your grandson, to be treated like monsters, hated by everyone?"