northernbook Chapter 573 Family
Chapter 573 Family
Fu Lingchen accompanied Zhen Yao on the way back to the Xianlan Sect's guest quarters. For a moment, neither of them spoke. This scene of walking together had appeared countless times in their memories.
Once, during the entrance examination of the Xianlan Sect, she, only eleven years old, and he, only thirteen years old, climbed the sect's stone steps side by side, full of hope...
During the years of their growth, the two were almost inseparable, cultivating together, attending classes together, and sparring with each other...
In times of crisis, the two supported each other and faced challenges together, never abandoning one another...
Scenes from the past flashed before their eyes. They never imagined that one day they would be like this, so close yet separated by thousands of miles, unable to get closer anymore.
"...Zhen Yao, I was wrong to you back then. I have no objection to how you take revenge on me, but I don't want you to punish me by marrying Zhu Zhi. You need to think carefully about your marriage..." Fu Lingchen stopped and turned to look at Zhen Yao.
Zhen Yao looked up at Fu Lingchen and suddenly smiled slightly: "Fu Lingchen, I've noticed that after all these years, you've become so narcissistic..."
“Zhen Yao…” Fu Lingchen thought the person in front of him was just being stubborn.
The other person said, "Back then, your entire family was wiped out. How did you manage to decide to pretend to elope with that demoness?"
"...What I did back then did hurt you..."
“Fu Lingchen, I’m not bringing this up to make you apologize to me over and over again. While I don’t agree with your choice back then, I understand your desire to avenge your family…”
Zhen Yao interrupted him, saying calmly, "So I hope you understand that the reason I married Zhu Zhi is the same as your thinking back then. We are both doing it for the sake of our families. The Zhen family needs to form an alliance with the Zhu family through marriage, and rely on the Zhu family's power to maintain our current status and avoid being swallowed up by other families. Just like the decision you made back then to avenge your family, this is our responsibility..."
Fu Lingchen's expression changed slightly, and the words of persuasion he wanted to say stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered.
Zhen Yao lowered her eyes, hiding the tears welling up, and when she looked up again, there was only a relieved smile in her eyes: "Fu Lingchen, you don't need to feel guilty. There's no question of who owes whom between us. It's just that our fate has run its course, and we probably won't have the chance to meet again..."
As she spoke, she took off the bracelet-like magical artifact from her wrist and returned it to Fu Lingchen: "This is the magical artifact that you entrusted to Fellow Daoist Pei to give me. Now I'm returning it to you."
“Zhen Yao… I once promised you that I would forge a magical artifact that was uniquely yours. You don’t need to return it…”
Even though he had been avoiding her all along, when she finally did what he wanted, he felt a tightness in his chest, as if he couldn't breathe, which was unbearable.
"No need, 'it' doesn't belong to me alone after all..."
Zhen Yao smiled and shook her head, "You want to start over, and I want to start over too..."
As she spoke, she noticed a figure hidden behind a pillar not far away. Her smile faded slightly as she said, "...Fu Lingchen, I will marry Zhu Zhi and then live out my life well. Goodbye."
After speaking, he turned and left without further hesitation.
The moment Zhen Yao turned around, Fu Lingchen's fingers twitched unconsciously, but in the end he did not try to stop her.
He could sense that the person in front of him was truly going to let him go completely!
Isn't this exactly what he wanted? He should be happy, but an uncontrollable bitterness welled up in his heart.
His eyes reddened slightly as he watched her resolute departure. For some reason, he recalled the image of a small, round-faced girl skipping down the mountain, waving to him with a bright smile, saying, "Fu Lingchen, I'm going home now. Goodbye!"
That small figure and the back view before her overlapped at that moment, but from this day forward, she would never return to his side...
When Zhen Yao returned to the guest courtyard, the disciples of the Xianlan Sect had already packed their belongings, and the two elders were also in the courtyard. A junior brother stepped forward and asked, "Senior Sister Zhen, you're back? Senior Brother Zhu came looking for you when he saw you weren't there. Didn't you run into him?"
Zhen Yao thought of the figure hiding behind the pillar, and a cold smile appeared on her lips. However, this was also her purpose. She wanted Zhu Zhi to hear those words and let him know that she had completely given up on Fu Lingchen, so that she could survive better in the Zhu family in the future.
"Maybe we missed it..." As he was speaking, Zhu Zhi walked into the courtyard, and he rarely showed Zhen Yao such a kind expression.
“Once we return to the Immortal Lan Sect, we’ll find an opportunity to go back to our families. Our marriage should be finalized by now…” Zhu Zhi said tentatively, while looking Zhen Yao up and down.
Zhen Yao's expression was perfectly natural: "It's fine with you making the decision. I was just about to go home to visit the Ancestor anyway..."
Seeing this, Zhu Zhi smiled smugly and took the hand of the person next to him...
……
Two days later, the Yunshan Sect members also set off on their own. Pei Yun and Fu Lingchen rode the Vermilion Bird puppet to the Divine Realm City...
Pei Yun was still hesitant about whether to tell Fu Lingchen about Zhen Yao's secret request for her to deliver the spiritual medicine. She asked curiously, "What did you and Zhen Yao say before you left the Extreme Sword Sect that day?"
Fu Lingchen paused, then said casually, "I wanted to advise her not to marry someone like Zhu Zhi, but she rationally told me that she was marrying Zhu Zhi because the Zhen family needed to form an alliance with the Zhu family. She said that she had enjoyed the family's resources for so many years, and naturally she had to protect the family's interests and shoulder her responsibilities..."
"...So Fellow Daoist Zhen's decision wasn't for personal reasons, but because her family married Zhu Zhi..."
Upon hearing Fu Lingchen's words, Pei Yun swallowed back the words she was about to say.
Seeing that Fu Lingchen was in a bad mood, Pei Yun didn't mention Zhen Yao again. The two sat in separate corners and began their respective cultivation...
More than half a month later, as they approached the City of Gods, Pei Yun released his divine sense to investigate the surrounding situation.
Upon closer inspection, they discovered that they were currently above a dense forest. There weren't many demonic beasts below, and their cultivation levels weren't high either. Some bird demons foolishly flew towards the Vermilion Bird puppet, only to be repelled by an invisible protective shield before they could even get close...
"……Why?"
Pei Yun looked down at the dense forest below, intending to explore for any medicinal herbs to gather, when several figures appeared in her line of sight without warning—
"Brother, they've caught up!"
A disheveled young man was seen carrying a seven or eight-year-old girl as he fled through the dense forest. His outer garment was torn and stained with blood, and he was breathing rapidly with his spiritual energy scattered, clearly indicating that he had suffered a serious injury.
Three men followed closely behind the two, their faces filled with menacing intent as they glared fiercely at the young man and the little girl ahead.
"I must obtain the Blood Jade Cicada. This treasure can transform one's being, purify one's spiritual root, and refine it. My spiritual root will improve, and my cultivation will break through..."
The young man who seemed to be the leader of the three had his eyes shining, as if he already considered the treasure as his own.
"Brother! Give him the treasure, as long as he lets us go..." The little girl's eyes were filled with tears, both afraid of the enemy coming after them and worried about her brother.
The young man holding her remained unwavering, his expression resolute, his steps never faltering.
"The Blood Jade Cicada can cure your illness and even allow you to cultivate and become a cultivator. I risked my life to obtain it in the secret realm, and I would never give it to anyone else..."
As they chased and fled, the distance between them kept closing. Just as they were about to escape the dense forest, the brother and sister were caught up by the three men and surrounded.
"You can't escape my grasp no matter how hard you try!"
"Hand over the Blood Jade Cicada, and our young master might spare your lives..."
"Young Master, he's a formation master! Be careful of his formations!"
The three men held their magical weapons, poised to attack, but the man referred to as "Young Master" laughed smugly.
"So what if he's a formation master? We destroyed his formation plate before. If he's so capable, let him take it out again. Besides, even if he could take out the formation plate again, could he still set up a formation in an instant?!"
"You can try!"
The next second, the young man, holding the girl in one arm, took out an array plate from his storage artifact with the other. The moment he activated the array plate, several dazzling white lights shot out from it, transforming into several sharp sword beams that shot towards the three of them.
Meanwhile, the young man found a flaw in the three men's positioning and fled in a deserted direction...
The young master had clearly learned his lesson before, so he was more cautious this time. He avoided the formation's attacks and used all his strength to slash at the young man's back.
At this moment, the young man was also at his last gasp. He felt the murderous aura rapidly approaching from behind, and death was imminent. He tightly hugged his sister in his arms, his face filled with despair.
However, an unexpected event occurred the next moment: a golden sword light descended from the sky, easily dispelling the deadly attack in an instant...