Reversed Fate in the 70s: Marrying the Factory Director rather than Rough Man

Chapter 268 Does It Hurt

Shen Ci was amused by his nervous demeanor. She reached out and affectionately pinched his tense cheek, laughing, “Brother Xiao, what could possibly happen to me? I’m perfectly fine!”

Xiao Lie shot an annoyed glare at Mo Cheng. Though blindfolded, Mo Cheng seemed to sense this unfriendly gaze and tilted his head slightly, revealing a hint of confusion.

Da Hua, watching from the side, burst into laughter. “This silly wolf has been worried about you all afternoon! He was so restless he didn’t even have the heart to gnaw on his favorite roasted chicken drumsticks. Hahaha!”

Mo Cheng, however, didn’t respond to this remark. He had caught onto more crucial information. His cool voice rang out again, filled with inquiry, “You just said… purification?”

Shen Ci sat down on the stool beside him and nodded casually. “Yep, it was just purified recently. Otherwise, how could anyone live here?”

“This place… can actually be purified?” The disbelief in Mo Cheng’s tone hadn’t entirely faded.

Shura Mountain was a place where accumulated resentment had settled. Its sinister energy was rooted deep within the Earth Vein, far beyond what ordinary purification techniques could resolve.

Shen Ci had been using serving chopsticks to pick some tender spirit mushrooms for his bowl. Hearing this, she looked up, blinked, and asked puzzledly, “Huh? Is it difficult? It’s just a matter of me performing a hand seal, isn’t it?”

Her tone was so matter-of-fact, as if she were merely commenting on the nice weather.

Mo Cheng: “…”

He fell silent again.

Seeing his rare speechless expression, Da Hua finally couldn’t hold back and slammed the table while laughing heartily. “Hahaha! This is the first time I’ve ever seen you, Brother Mo, make such an expression! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!”

“Ah, what’s the big deal!” After laughing her fill, Da Hua waved her hand, looking immensely proud. “For our A-Ci, this is just a trivial matter! She’s the once-in-an-era Heavenly Dao Blood Source Physique. Remember when you were in the lower realm, suffering from Demonic Qi attacking your heart, beyond any divine help? If not for our A-Ci making a decisive move and extracting her heart’s blood essence for you… Mmmph! Mmmph!”

“Da—Hua—!!”

Da Hua’s words were abruptly cut off. Shen Ci had somehow rushed over and was frantically covering her mouth, whispering fiercely, “Can even glutinous rice not shut your mouth?”

But both Xiao Lie and Mo Cheng froze completely the moment they heard the words “heart’s blood essence.”

Especially Mo Cheng.

His hand holding the chopsticks turned white at the knuckles. He turned toward Da Hua’s direction, his voice hoarse as he demanded word by word:

“What did you say?”

It was as if he hadn’t heard clearly, or couldn’t comprehend, as he repeated, “What heart’s blood essence?”

Shen Ci shot a fierce glare at the trouble-making Da Hua. She quickly removed her hand, turned around, and shielded Da Hua, putting on a soothing smile as she tried to smooth things over. “It’s nothing, nothing! Brother Mo, don’t listen to Hua Hua’s nonsense. She loves to exaggerate. It wasn’t that serious at all…”

But Mo Cheng seemed completely deaf to her explanation.

He closed his eyes, his brows tightly furrowed beneath the plain silk blindfold. Those three lightly spoken words were like a rusty key, violently thrust into the frozen fog of his deepest memories!

Countless fragmented images, sounds, sensations… surged forth like a bursting dam, uncontrollably intertwining—

“Brother Mo! Let’s go home…” A young, clear voice called out across a battlefield drenched in blood.

“Wow, Brother Mo, you look absolutely, incredibly, amazingly handsome in this outfit!” The young girl cupped her face, her eyes shining like stars.

“Brother Mo…”

“Brother Mo…”

Call after call—sometimes dependent, sometimes joyful, sometimes worried—drifted from the distant shores of memory, pounding heavily against the icy walls of his heart.

In his chest, an unfamiliar, intense ache and sharp pain surged, as if something long buried was desperately struggling to break through the surface.

Instinctively, he raised his hand and pressed it firmly against his forehead, his entire aura becoming somewhat unsteady.

“Brother Mo!” Seeing him like this, Shen Ci’s smile instantly vanished. She immediately stepped forward to support his arm. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Is it the injury from before…”

But Mo Cheng abruptly grabbed her wrist as she reached out to steady him.

His grip was so tight that Shen Ci was momentarily taken aback.

He looked at her, his voice stubborn and imposing: “What injury?”

“Tell me.”

Beside them, Xiao Lie’s eyes had also reddened slightly at some point. He looked at Shen Ci, his voice somewhat choked: “You… you… in the story you told me before, there was no… this part.”

Already frustrated and self-blaming over his inability to recall the past, learning that Shen Ci had concealed such a tragic part of it made his heart feel even more suffocated.

Seeing the two of them so insistent and emotionally charged, Shen Ci knew she could no longer keep it hidden. She sighed and conceded: “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you! But you have to promise me not to worry unnecessarily afterward. I’m really fine now, perfectly fine!”

As she spoke, she deliberately patted Xiao Lie’s bowed head in a lighthearted manner, trying to ease the tension.

Everyone sat down again, the steam from the hot pot continuing to rise in misty swirls. Shen Ci picked at the food in her bowl and began recounting the sealed past in as calm a tone as she could muster:

“Eight years ago, my cultivation was stuck at the Golden Core Great Perfection, unable to break through. I thought of traveling to the mortal world to seek an opportunity. It was then… that the Illusory Moon Sea secret realm, which opens only once every thousand years in the Cultivation World, was unveiled. Legend has it that at the bottom of the Illusory Moon Sea lies a supreme treasure called the Mirage Pearl…”

Her voice remained steady as she recounted the adventures, struggles, traps, and ultimately, Mo Cheng’s desperate situation—how he was poisoned by a strange demonic toxin to protect everyone, and how he would rather die than Fall into the Demonic Path.

Mo Cheng listened with his head lowered, his knuckles gradually tightening around his chopsticks. Unconsciously, his breathing grew heavier.

“…Brother Mo’s heart meridian was corroded by the demonic poison, beyond even a deity’s ability to save. And he firmly resisted turning to demonic cultivation. I had no choice…”

Shen Ci’s voice softened. “I could only… extract the blood from the tip of my heart and ask my master to assist with a secret technique, barely pulling him back from the brink of death. But…”

She paused, lifted her head, and a trace of loss flickered in her eyes: “Brother Mo’s injuries were too severe. He had to return to his original form immediately to stabilize his soul. So… before I even woke up, my master forcibly opened a void gate and sent the six of you… back to the Great Beginning, severing all karma. You would forget everything that happened in the lower realm.”

“After that… we were separated, until now.”

Having finished, she quietly lowered her gaze, unconsciously stirring the food in her bowl with her chopsticks. Eight years seemed to condense into those few short sentences.

An unknown length of time passed.

The steam from the hot pot gradually faded, leaving only the simmering broth bubbling softly with faint gurgles. The night breeze rustled through the spiritual plants in the courtyard, bringing a gentle, whispering sound.

Mo Cheng finally found his voice again, hoarse and strained. “You… how are you now?”

He didn’t ask how perilous it had been back then, nor did he inquire about the hardships of the process, because he knew exactly what drawing heart’s blood entailed.

“…Does it… still hurt?”