Un cœur pur dans un pot de jade

Chapitre 66

“Someone built an underground palace, and someone is secretly pushing things forward... Do you know why they had to choose Mount Tai for the Fengshan ceremony?” Sun Qingshan asked the alien village chief who was far away in the underground cave.

The village chief wasn't entirely ignorant. Operating various strange instruments, he nodded and replied, "Because we escaped to Earth through a wormhole connecting to Sichuan, and the already out-of-control spaceship crashed near the wormhole..."

"You mean the vicinity of Chengdu when you say 'nearby'?" Sun Qingshan laughed. "Do you mean Mount Tai is near Chengdu?"

In short, Mount Tai has two undulating peaks, one high and one low. Underneath the pine trees on one of them lies a spaceship that aliens escaped control and crashed. The numerous imperial sacrifices and grand constructions throughout history were not only for building an underground palace at the foot of Sheshou Mountain, but more importantly, for using ancient techniques to repair the advanced alien spaceship.

“Shao Yanhe said…” Sun Qingshan looked down at the silent savage, “The savage said… the underground palace under Sheshou Mountain is not just a temporary refuge—the spaceship is buried under the main mountain range of Mount Tai, but this underground palace is the core that provides the spaceship with energy. Only by connecting this place to the spaceship can the spaceship be truly activated…”

“We’re already moving,” the village chief replied. “Can’t you feel it? We can now imagine ourselves as… a pangolin moving through the bottom of the mountain?”

“So how are we going to seal the rift?” Sun Qingshan asked. “You don’t mean to let two rifts from different times and spaces eliminate each other, that would be even riskier than killing me!”

Before the village chief could answer, someone else had already raised a question.

"I understand," said Empress Xiao. "You mean that there are two leaders of the Green Mountain Alliance here. The new one comes from a thousand years in the future. She says she has come to save us, which means that all of us who existed a thousand years ago will die here."

“That’s right,” Sun Qingshan replied. No one had introduced her to anyone here yet, so she had no idea who this elegant but impoverished old lady was.

“That’s right,” the old woman said. “A thousand years from now, the people of my Great Liao will still live on for millennia—come on,” the old woman stretched out her hand, pointing at Sun Qingshan—“Kill her!!”

"What?!" Many people exclaimed in surprise. Many had already begun to regret their earlier belief that Sun Qingshan was doomed to die.

Sun Qingshan never imagined that, despite coming to save people, someone would try to kill her again after they had already ganged up on her and wiped her out!

"Empress Dowager..." Palace Master Chen Gang hesitated, bowing his head as he said, "If we kill her, everyone here will probably..."

"I am the Empress Dowager of Liao," the Empress Dowager said, shaking her sleeves. "I must make the best plans for my subjects. If she does not die, it will be a calamity for all Liao people in the world!"

“That is not true,” said the Song emperor. “She is a calamity for everyone in the world, not because you Khitans are any different—the lives of my Great Song citizens are also human lives, but the same mistake has already been made once, killing Sun Qingshan, and the calamity cannot be stopped—”

"That's because you're afraid of death!" Empress Dowager Xiao sneered. "You think I don't understand what they're implying? This Sun Qingshan returned here to save herself, not the world. If she fails, she'll just be dead, but to outsiders, it won't just be a mountain collapsing, it will be the whole world!"

"But as the ancients said..." Emperor Zhenzong of Song still wanted to argue.

"Put away your Confucian doctrines!" Empress Dowager Xiao roared. "Where are the Hall Master of Chen Gang Palace and the Left and Right Protectors? Go—kill Sun Qingshan!!"

Sun Qingshan was speechless.

Everything can only be done once, not twice. This time, everyone in the Central Plains martial arts world swears to protect their martial arts alliance leader with their lives.

It wasn't that the Song people were more afraid of death than the Liao people; it was just that they thought their great ancestors had taught them to have foresight. They had managed to avoid a calamity this time, but the rift would still exist a thousand years later. What would happen next? Wouldn't they die again?

The fight came and went quickly, and the situation was soon brought under control by Daoist Fang Ning and the people of Liangshan Village. The Liao side did not go all out, and only a few people were injured. At this time, Xu Yi, the divine physician, stepped forward to treat the wounded of both sides.

Xiao Mao'er gritted her teeth and stopped Xu Yi, asking seriously, "If my aunt insists on killing Sun Qingshan, this time—would you stand up to protect her?"

This question arises because after the first death, it wasn't just Shao Yanhe who was lifeless; Xiao Mao'er's beloved Physician Xu also became sullen. She poured all her heart into this man, but he was lost and bewildered by the death of another woman. When that woman arrived like a fairy, the first one to approach her wasn't Shao Yanhe—it was Xu Yi!

He didn't have any earth-shattering reaction. Whether it was after the death of the Green Mountain Alliance Leader or when a second one appeared soon after, Xu Yi was always just an observer who couldn't get to the front row. He felt lost after the death, but when they met again, his eyes shone brightly.

Xiao Mao'er saw all of this, because she remembered the scene when this divine doctor blocked her way in the street, just like when he looked at the reappeared Sun Qingshan, he was overjoyed and gratified.

“All I know,” the healer replied, “is that the kindness she has shown me is something I could never repay, even in ten lifetimes.”

"What about Xiao Chenchen?" Xiao Mao'er asked. "Isn't Xiao Chenchen the person you like?"

“It’s Xiao Chenchen,” Xu Yi reminded Xiao Mao’er—not Xiao Mao’er.

"If you could die in someone else's place—" Xiao Mao'er asked one last question, "would you rather die in place of Sun Qingshan?!"

"yes."

After answering, the divine physician turned around, and behind him stood the white-haired, blue-faced Xitian Tianjian.

"Senior?" Xu Yi looked directly into the other person's eyes with a scrutinizing gaze, and suddenly felt a tightness in his heart.

"Come with me." The mysterious Xitian Tianjian led Xu Yi away from the crowd, turned around, and handed Xu Yi a palm-sized metal object.

“If it’s absolutely necessary,” Xi Tianjian said in a deep voice, “you can press the red button in the middle to take her away.”

Xu Yi sidestepped, first blocking Xi Tiantian's hand, then reached out and took the object in his hand. He then looked up at the other person, put the object away, and didn't ask a single question.

When Xu Yi turned around, the situation changed again.

The Empress Dowager of Liao, holding a three-foot-long sword, approached Sun Qingshan without fear, surrounded by a crowd.

"I am the Empress Dowager of the Liao Dynasty," Empress Dowager Xiao said, "a descendant of Xiao Dilu, the founding prime minister of the Liao Dynasty—"

“We know all that, of course,” Yan Tuliu interrupted her. “But even if you are the Empress Dowager, in this critical moment, if you insist on going your own way—don’t blame us for taking advantage of your misfortune!”

Empress Dowager Xiao did not stop walking, and snorted coldly, "But you do not know that the Liao people are willing to pay any price to protect the Liao Dynasty!"

As he spoke, he leaped forward and thrust out his sword—Sun Qingshan suddenly stood up, only to find his vision blurred and the sword strike impossible to dodge.

In the critical moment, Empress Xiao paid no attention to the attacks from others and only wanted to stab Sun Qingshan. Sun Qingshan knew to dodge, but he still tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. The long sword stopped an inch between her eyebrows - someone had grasped the blade.

A clear, water-like liquid flowed from the blade, and Empress Xiao's mouth gushed blood as she collapsed to the ground.

Like Sun Qingshan, Empress Xiao died with a knife in her heart, the hilt of which was held in Yan Chaohong's hand.

Yan Chaohong sheathed his sword fiercely. As an assassin, this was the first time he had killed someone so swiftly. Even if no one stood in front of Sun Qingshan to block the sword for her, Empress Xiao would not have been able to pierce through her with her sword, because she had already stopped breathing before that.

Perhaps everyone present was more or less wary of the Liao Empress Dowager's status and power, but Yan Chaohong didn't care. What he cared about was this second, unmissable opportunity. He couldn't let Sun Qingshan die a second time!

"Wild man!" Sun Qingshan immediately went to check on the wild man's hand. The wound had already healed on its own, and the wild man's hand lay limply on the ground, showing no further reaction.

“Wild man—” Sun Qingshan shook him, lowered his head to kiss him, wanting to take this rare opportunity to add another thrill and wake him up.

In a daze, the savage felt as if he had been forcibly kissed. It was not that he did not remember the taste; in fact, as a newly formed species, his senses were more acute. So he raised his head and bit down slightly, his lips and teeth instantly filled with the sweetness of human blood.

Sun Qingshan winced in pain, pulled his head back, and pried open the savage's mouth to examine his newly grown sharp teeth. The savage, however, gently pursed his lips and licked the tips of the teeth with his tongue, seemingly still wanting more.

A trickle of blood flowed from Sun Qingshan's lips. Seeing this, the wild man hesitantly raised his hand and finally wiped away the blood.

"Did you recognize me?" Sun Qingshan asked him.

The savage turned his head away.

"Am I not Sun Qingshan?!" Sun Qingshan was furious. "Fine, fine, I'm not going to bother with you anymore!" Sun Qingshan pretended to push him away.

The savage lowered his head, a dim light flickering in his eyes, and his fingers, unnoticed by anyone, gently hooked the hem of Sun Qingshan's clothes.

"Alien, did you revive me?" Sun Qingshan turned around to ask about the progress, but when he turned around, he saw a group of menacing people glaring at him—with Empress Xiao dead, even the last vestiges of harmony could not be maintained here, and fighting broke out again.

Yan Chaohong protected Sun Qingshan, who was tightly clutching the wild man in his hand. He asked Yan Chaohong, "What's your relationship with me?"

Yan Chaohong turned around and glared at her: "Aren't you done with your amnesia yet?"

"Don't pretend I don't know anything—I just want to ask you, are you Yan Chaohong or Xu Xiaoming?" She added, "Actually, I know everything. Shao Yanhe told me everything."

Yan Chaohong's face changed instantly, and she said coldly, "Then you should know that no matter what, I, Xiao Honghong, will always be there to protect Sun Qingshan from harm—so next time you see only one person standing in front of you, don't ask such a stupid question, or you'll make people laugh their heads off!"

Sun Qingshan, far from finding it amusing, suddenly felt a pang of resentment: Was this me, the Sun Qingshan, or the Sun Qingshan lying there pretending to be dead?! If she was me, then why were there two of me all of a sudden? The person who could make Yan Chaohong shield her from a sword was someone who had truly shared many experiences with her, not this prematurely arrived Sun Qingshan. Therefore, even the savage who had suffered setbacks was unwilling to approach and acknowledge him…

Sun Qingshan has always been a highly individualistic person. She doesn't usually show it, but from the very beginning, after hearing Shao Yanhe explain everything, she was already consciously or unconsciously jealous of her other self. Because of her death, a man was able to live for a thousand years, but when that man found her, he only asked her to go back in time to revive her?!

Why, even with herself by her side, did her thoughts revolve around the life and death of another Sun Qingshan? She was indeed not a bookish person, but she was genuinely shocked by Shao Yanhe, which was why she cared so much—just like when she held the savage, she was always thinking about how that person was a thousand years later. She remembered his name, instead of pretentiously calling him Shao the Savage, but that person liked to hear it, liked to reminisce, liked to look at her and think of someone else… but that person was no longer her…

Therefore, as a woman, when the time came, even Sun Qingshan herself was jealous.

ending

As the spacetime rift itself, Sun Qingshan's time was rapidly rewinding as the rift disappeared.

She saw many scenes that she thought she knew but had never seen before... In reality, the savage was a very stupid person.

In Qianfeng County, Tai'an, after nightfall, he secretly drew small circles on her hand, then used a brush to paint over the base of Sun Qingshan's left ring finger, laughing hysterically, "Are we married now?" he asked, "Can we have a little Qingshan now?"

He poked small holes in all of Sun Qingshan's Durex pills, but dared not throw them away, fearing that Sun Qingshan would kill him with a knife and that it would affect his pregnancy.

When Xiao Qingshan died, he waited at the door of the guest room and watched the doctor carry a basin of bloody water out. A small handkerchief on the side of the basin fell into the bloody water. He reached out to retrieve it, but his legs went weak and he knelt on the ground... When he got to Shao Qingyou's bedside, he spread the small handkerchief on the side of the bed and threatened a person who was living a life worse than death: "Look, my Xiao Qingshan is dead. You can't die, or I'll die too."

"What about Daqingshan?" Shao Qingyou challenged him.

"Kneel on me," he said to Hong Liuya. The two waited for a long time, one kneeling and the other sitting, until Sun Qingshan pushed open the door and entered—"Adulterous couple!!"

He raised his fist. "If only I had known!"

When he first devised the scheme to force Sun Qingshan to return home, Sun Qingshan winked at him through the crack in the door. He held up his copy of "XX Divine Skill," with his most treasured "Absolutely No Rules" tucked under the cover... He glanced down at each rule, "Absolutely No Fake Smiles"—he lowered the book, gave Sun Qingshan a fake smile by the door, and Sun Qingshan said 'yes,' beaming with delight. He quickly raised the book again, his eyes flashing with malice as he looked at the words "Fake Smiles" on the back.

The Nangong family was placed under house arrest. Sun Qingshan didn't go to pick him up for three whole days. When Sun Qingshan finally arrived, he was circling the paper window and calling "Sun ah ah..." Sun Qingshan kicked the door and fell on him. He called "Sun Qingshan," but Sun Qingshan heard it as "woo woo woo" and asked him, "Are you alright?" He was so ashamed that he bit his tongue on the spot and never spoke again.

Sun Qingshan bumped into him on the first day in the Savage Valley. He was holding her while she slept, his expression tender and serene, looking like a beggar, his eyes filled with tears, and he seemed very content.

After he closed his eyes, Sun Qingshan slowly walked up to him.

“Wild man…” Sun Qingshan squatted down, gently rubbing his beard with her fingertips. “Wild man, you must remember…” She leaned in to kiss his dirty cheek, unable to bear the grime no matter how dirty it was. His lips were deeply parted, his breathing even, neither snoring nor drooling. He had a slightly sour smell about him, which Sun Qingshan had once found unbearable, but now, she truly couldn’t bear it…

"Wild Man, I'm leaving..." she feigned nonchalance, "But you won't be too sad, because for you, everything about me and you never existed... You might dream of me, but you'll forget it quickly... So when you wake up, you'll only be Shao Yanhe... No Sun Qingshan, no Wild Man, no hatred for your father's murder, no resentment for your mother's death... But even in your dreams, I hope you remember a little bit... I love you... Only if you remember me, I..."

Sun Qingshan felt a lump in her throat, suppressing a sob, and leaned in to kiss his lips, but his full beard prickled her lips uncomfortably. "...What's the use of saying more..." She slipped her tongue into his mouth. "...Goodbye, savage..."