Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 135 - Inheritance (2)

No one knew how much time had passed before the golden tide gradually receded, and the feeling of fullness began to slow down.

As the last trace of writing left her sea of consciousness, Zanxing opened her eyes.

Fairy Qinghua stood in place, her expression still calm, but there was a hint of weariness in her eyes.

“The ‘Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff’ in the martial arts hall is incomplete. Now, the staff technique in your sea of consciousness is the true ‘Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff,'” Fairy Qinghua said softly. “In the future, I hope you will diligently practice this staff technique. When the heavenly tribulation descends, protect the peace of the human world.”

Zanxing looked at the woman in front of her, and after a moment of silence, she said, “Fairy, you still don’t know my name, do you?”

From entering the painting until now, Fairy Qinghua had never asked her name. Perhaps it was because identity didn’t matter in the case of inheritance, but Zanxing felt it was due to the proud nature of the celestial maiden.

“Fairy, you didn’t ask anything before starting the inheritance,” she said. “Aren’t you afraid of passing it to the wrong person?”

“I am not,” Fairy Qinghua shook her head. “Your entry into the secret realm and reaching this place is destined by fate. Just like this realm within the painting, only you could enter, no one else.”

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a sound from the darkness. Someone rushed in and appeared in front of Zanxing in a flash. Gu Baiying turned to Zanxing, furrowing her brows, and said, “Yang Zanxing, are you still alive?”

Zanxing looked at Fairy Qinghua, “Didn’t you say that no one but me could enter the painting?”

A trace of surprise flashed in Fairy Qinghua’s beautiful eyes. She said, “How is that possible? This painting contains my spiritual consciousness. Unless chosen by the Biyi Blossom, no one should be able to…”

“Merely a simple restriction, easily broken with a gentle push,” Gu Baiying impatiently interrupted her, his silver spear pointing forward. “Why all these tricks? Who are you?”

Fairy Qinghua was stunned, her gaze fixed on Gu Baiying.

Zanxing quietly took a step back.

In the painted realm of void and chaos, only two figures stood facing each other. The woman, with flowing black hair and skirts fluttering like the shimmer of a pearl, exuded a stunning beauty. Before her stood a handsome young man like a sharp spear, upright, proud, and full of vigor. What struck most was their clear eyes, like sparkling springs, bright and clear, with a hint of starlight.

It was indeed strikingly similar.

Gu Baiying fell silent.

Unconsciously, he had already lowered his embroidered bone spear, staring at the person before him with a gaze filled with disbelief and suspicion.

Fairy Qinghua spoke, “Baiying…”

Gu Baiying suddenly turned his head, fixing his gaze on Zanxing, who was pretending to be dead. “Yang Zanxing, what are you up to? How could there be illusions here?” He then turned coldly to Fairy Qinghua. “Just a trick of the demon race, don’t think I’ll believe you!”

Despite his words, he didn’t raise his spear against her as before. Zanxing could even sense a hint of uncertainty in the depths of the young man’s eyes.

Encountering each other here was probably unexpected for both of them.

Zanxing carefully chose her words, “I don’t think this is an illusion, Senior Uncle. This is Fairy Qinghua’s spiritual consciousness. I just received her inheritance…”

The occasion of a mother and son recognizing each other was not something an outsider like her should witness. Yet, at this moment, she couldn’t leave the painting, and Zanxing had no choice but to stand firm.

Gu Baiying turned to look at Fairy Qinghua, who stared back at him. Suddenly, she smiled. Zanxing had only seen Qinghua’s smile in the painted realm, under the Biyi Blossom Tree. Now, her gentle smile seemed to bring spring and starlight.

She reached out, and the green bell around Gu Baiying’s waist flew into her palm.

The Jie Xin Bell would only bind with its true owner; others could not control it. Now that she held the Jie Xin Bell, it confirmed she was indeed the real Fairy Qinghua.

Fairy Qinghua held the green bell in her hand, her gaze tinged with nostalgia. After a moment, she flicked her finger, and the bell flew back to Gu Baiying’s waist. She looked at him and smiled faintly, “You’ve grown up, Baiying.”

Gu Baiying looked at her.

Though the young man struggled to maintain his composure, the tips of his fingers holding the silver spear trembled slightly. After a long while, he spoke with a strained voice, “Spiritual consciousness… Are you no longer here?”

Fairy Qinghua had disappeared for over a decade, and no one in the entire cultivation world knew of her whereabouts. Countless speculated she had long since perished, a belief Gu Baiying also held, yet in his heart, there lingered a glimmer of hope. And now, discovering a trace of his mother’s spiritual consciousness in a painting hidden in this secret realm… The real Fairy Qinghua might truly be gone.

Fairy Qinghua sighed softly.

Gu Baiying slowly clenched his fists, lowering his head. After a moment, he raised his eyes to meet hers and said, “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

The young man’s gaze was calm. “Why did you leave without a word back then? How did your spirit consciousness end up in the secret realm of Li’er Country? And who painted the picture in the thatched hut… Was it my father?”

Zanxing sighed inwardly. No matter how carefree Gu Baiying appeared in the sect, deep down, there had probably never been a moment when he didn’t question his own origins. Ziluo was right; this young man cared deeply about his closest family.

He asked calmly, but Fairy Qinghua’s gaze turned sorrowful. She looked deeply, deeply at Gu Baiying as if lost in a distant memory. After a long pause, she spoke softly, “Your eyes resemble his so much, Baiying.”

“Gu Caiyu is your father,” she said.

“Back then, I accidentally wandered into this place in the secret realm of Li’er Country while searching for a spirit herb. This place had restrictions and magical artifacts left by a great master. Only by defeating the spiritual consciousness left by that master could one obtain the magical technique, break the restrictions, and leave.” Her voice in the painting was gentle and soothing, as if telling a long tale.

“I met your father here, Gu Caiyu.”

Fairy Qinghua looked at Gu Baiying, as if seeing the shadow of someone from her memories through him. A faint smile slowly spread across her lips as she continued, “He was a wandering cultivator, without a sect or martial siblings, of average cultivation. When he first arrived here, he narrowly escaped being crushed by falling rocks.”

Fairy Qinghua grew up in the Taiyan Sect, at a time when the sect was flourishing. As the pride of the heavens, praised since childhood, she naturally looked down on this wandering cultivator who seemed superficial and had modest cultivation.

So when he first arrived, she had no hope that Gu Caiyu could be of any help. Even if Gu Caiyu tried to please her, the final result was always being met with a cold shoulder.

Fairy Qinghua looked down on Gu Caiyu, but he never took her disdain to heart. She had never seen Gu Caiyu practice cultivation. He was always more interested in trivial matters. He even built a thatched hut in the wilderness as if he had decided to settle down there.

He would always say, “Fairy, it’s all up to you whether we can leave or not. You must focus on your cultivation.”

Fairy Qinghua couldn’t be bothered to respond to him. Every day, she would spar with the spiritual consciousness left by the great master, often getting injured. Gu Caiyu would silently gather nearby herbs that could be used, throw them in front of her, and then run off, leaving Fairy Qinghua simultaneously amused and annoyed.

The days in the secret realm were dull and boring, but thanks to Gu Caiyu, she occasionally found some joy in this monotonous life. She watched Gu Caiyu raise chicken in the secret realm, naming it Bai Qie Ji. Sometimes he would fetch water nearby, and he cooked daily, somehow managing to make different flavors from the same wild vegetables and fruits.

Fairy Qinghua thought to herself: In the sect, there would never be someone so leisurely. As for someone who would bother to catch insects to feed chickens, they could never ascend to immortality in this lifetime.

As time passed day by day, it eventually rained, and she moved into that thatched hut. When the Biyi Blossom Tree bloomed, she and Gu Caiyu would sit beneath it and talk. They even witnessed a spectacle created by illusion, turned into fireworks…

The power of time was formidable. It could make two unrelated people live under the same roof and make a female cultivator who looked down upon another silently accept him as a friend.

At that time, Fairy Qinghua only considered him as a friend.

Gu Baiying asked, “So, in the end, did you break through the restrictions here and leave with him?”

Since Gu Caiyu had modest cultivation, it was only Fairy Qinghua who could defeat the spiritual consciousness left by that great master.

Fairy Qinghua chuckled as if recalling something amusing. She said, “At first, I thought the same.”

In the secret realm, Gu Caiyu never cared to spend any effort on cultivation, so the task of breaking through the restrictions fell solely on Fairy Qinghua. She practiced swordsmanship daily back then—she used a sword at that time. Gu Caiyu would lazily sit aside with Bai Qie Ji, casually giving advice, “Oh, Fairy, your last strike was too forceful. Be gentler, don’t scare the chickens.”

“Are your footwork patterns a bit messy? Fairy, you’re too impatient. We have plenty of time, no need to rush.”

He rambled on like this, and Fairy Qinghua dismissed most of it as nonsense. However, occasionally, he would accidentally hit upon something useful, pointing out flaws and gaps in her techniques. And so, as she continued her practice, one day she successfully opened the restrictions near the stone mountain.

Even then, Fairy Qinghua never doubted anything was amiss. She collected the great master’s techniques and artifacts, intending to give some to Gu Caiyu, but he waved her off casually, “No need, it’s no use to me. You keep them for yourself. Good things shouldn’t be wasted.”

He declined, and Fairy Qinghua couldn’t insist. They were two people who had met by chance in the secret realm, formed a slight bond during their journey, and then went their separate ways without much chance of meeting again. Such was the nature of human connections—there was no need for regret or forceful attempts to keep them.

“I always thought Gu Caiyu was a wandering cultivator with low cultivation. Later, I discovered that his cultivation had already reached the late stage of Mahayana, just awaiting tribulation to ascend to immortality.”

Fairy Qinghua lowered her gaze. “He was a genius rarely seen in the cultivation world in a hundred years.”