20demayo Chapter 45 If we were to share a snowfall someday
Chapter 45 If we were to share a snowfall someday
Nine wondrous sacred fruits.
Its color is deep red.
Only the size of a thumb.
The aura it emitted caused the vegetation within a hundred feet to grow wildly.
Li Xian crushed the fruit, used the Fire-Refining Furnace to remove impurities, extracted three drops of amber-colored liquid, and sealed them in a jade bottle.
One drop enters the mouth.
The effect is immediate.
Zixia's life force has dried up.
Overnight, it was replenished with spiritual energy.
The purple Daoist aura of the innate Dao embryo transformed from a thread as fine as spider silk into a trickling stream, flowing gently through the sea of suffering.
The second drop.
The recovery speed has increased several times over.
Those depleted Dao embryonic origins.
It actually reformed under the catalysis of the Great Dao Laws of the Elixir of Immortality.
The third drop.
Zixia was enveloped in a light purple cocoon of light. Her Dao Embryo healed itself and entered the deepest level of repair. Her five internal organs and divine treasures reopened, her life spring was filled, her divine bridge was rebuilt, and her original source flowed back.
Li Xian put away the jade bottle and nodded in satisfaction.
'A single Nine-Mysterious Sacred Fruit possesses astonishing medicinal effects; it can restore the Dao Embryo's essence to 70%. With subsequent resources and gradual nurturing, it is hoped that it can return to its peak.'
As the original essence of the Dao embryo gradually recovers.
Zixia's memories also showed signs of revival, and she would often space out.
The initial signs are very subtle—
Zixia would suddenly stop eating and stare at the millet porridge in her bowl.
She would stand by the stream while washing clothes, letting the water flow through her fingers.
She would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, look around blankly, see the rough stone wall and the sleeping man beside her, and a moment of unfamiliarity would flash in her eyes.
Lei Ying was the first to notice.
"Sister-in-law, are you feeling unwell?"
Zixia shook her head and smiled:
"no."
The smile was faint.
It's like looking through a veil.
Li Xian observed this and made her own judgment.
'The memory is resurfacing, faster than expected.'
He didn't expose it.
……
The twenty-third day.
Zixia sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, holding the wildflowers that Lei Ying had given her.
The petals are purple.
She stared at the purple hue, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edges of the petals.
Suddenly, a majestic mountain gate flashed through my mind.
Auspicious purple clouds rise from the east, and the three hundred and sixty main peaks, like a myriad of mountains bowing in reverence, appear as if jade palaces and pavilions float in the sky. Someone calls out to her—
"Saintess".
Zixia suddenly gripped the flower branch tightly.
The flower stem broke off, and my hands were covered in sap.
……
That evening, Li Xian came out of the stone chamber and saw Zixia standing at the entrance of the village.
The twilight stretched her shadow long.
"Li Xian".
She did not call him "husband".
Li Xian paused slightly.
"Am I... the Holy Maiden of the Purple Mansion?"
The wind blew in from the valley, ruffling the stray hairs at her temples.
The voice wasn't loud, but every word trembled.
Li Xian remained silent.
Three breaths.
Five breaths.
Ten breaths.
Zixia turned around, her eyes red-rimmed and her lips pressed into a thin line.
That unwavering determination, once set on something, was now being used to force him to give an answer.
Li Xian looked into her eyes.
"Zixia".
"You are my wife."
"This is true now and in the future."
The voice was not loud, but the tone left no room for hesitation.
Zixia was stunned.
Before tears welled up in her eyes, she turned her face away and quickly walked back into the house.
The door closed.
Li Xian stood still, her gaze calm.
'Lie to her? No.'
"To state the facts, she is my wife now. As for the future... we'll see what happens in the future."
……
In the days that followed, Zixia changed.
It became quiet.
He was so quiet that he didn't seem like someone with amnesia.
It's more like someone who knows too much and doesn't know how to process it all.
During the day, he still helped with the stove and tended the fire, chatting and laughing with Lei Ying, and weaving grasshoppers for the stone doll.
He remained warm and hospitable to the villagers, and every few days he would bring eggs to Aunt Tiezhu. Zhang Wuye would praise "the virtuous and kind-hearted Lady Xian" to everyone he met.
The kindness of the crowd brought a smile back to her face.
But at night...
The smile will gradually fade away.
She lay on the bed, staring at the stone dome with her eyes open, her body stiff.
When Li Xian approached, she neither refused nor responded.
Like an empty shell.
Li Xian could detect subtle changes in her heart rate, breathing rhythm, and even skin temperature.
It was all rejection.
He stopped.
"Go to sleep."
Turn over and face away from her.
In the darkness, Zixia bit the corner of the blanket and curled up silently.
……
The thirty-first day.
Li Xian made a decision.
"Come for a walk with me."
Zixia looked up, her gaze vacant.
"Walk."
Li Xian tossed her a thick coat.
The bounty on the Purple Mansion Holy Land has been up for almost two months, so it's time to take Zixia on a little adventure.
Our first stop was Chibi Cliff.
The two sat atop the cliff watching the sunset.
The fiery clouds painted the sky a molten gold, and the sunlight fell on the side of the purple clouds, outlining a layer of soft velvet light.
The wind was strong, and her hair kept brushing against Li Xian's shoulders.
He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
The movements were so natural, as if they had been done a thousand times.
Zixia's body stiffened slightly.
Then, it slowly approached.
She rested her head on his shoulder and didn't say anything.
The sun sank behind the mountain ridge, and twilight descended.
"Has anyone ever taken you to see the sunset before?" Li Xian asked.
Zixia shook her head.
The Purple Mansion Holy Land has 360 main peaks, each with a stunning twilight view, but no one has ever accompanied her to see it.
The second stop was an unnamed hill deep in the pine forest.
Li Xian lit a campfire, and the two of them, wrapped in animal skins, waited for the sunrise.
In the coldest part of the early morning, Zixia snuggled into his arms while half asleep.
My hands and feet are cold.
Like a cat that's been freezing.
Li Xian wrapped the animal skin tighter.
The first rays of morning light pierced through the pine forest, scattering like shattered gold across the ground.
Zixia opened her eyes and saw the man's profile, which was gilded by the morning light.
"Is it pretty?"
Li Xian suddenly turned his head.
Zixia instinctively recognized him and her ears turned red.
"...The sun is beautiful."
"The sun, I asked?"
"..."
The third stop was an unexpected heavy snowfall.
When the two arrived at the desolate wilderness thousands of miles away from the Primordial Ancient Mine, the sky suddenly changed, and heavy snow fell.
Zixia stood in the snow and reached out to catch a snowflake.
Snowflakes fell on her hair and on her eyebrows.
In the blink of an eye, his hair turned white.
Li Xian looked at her.
He took off his outer robe and draped it over her shoulders.
"Let's go, there's a cave ahead."
Zixia looked down at the outer robe on her shoulder, then at the man in the snow who was only wearing a single layer of clothing.
She didn't leave.
Instead, she stood on tiptoe, unfolded her outer robe, and draped half of it over his shoulder.
The two shared a single garment and walked a long way in the swirling snow.
When you finish walking down that road.
Zixia's hand gripped his sleeve.
Li Xian didn't turn back, but she didn't shake him off either.
……
That night, inside the cave.
Zixia rested her head on his arm, her voice soft: "If one day I remember everything... will you still want me?"
"I said that."
"Whether now or in the future."
Zixia buried her face in his chest.
My eyelashes are wet.
……
She assumed he didn't know.
Li Xian knows everything.
Starting from the twenty-fifth day, Zixia's divine power fluctuations had returned to the Dao Palace realm.
The protective aura she unintentionally unleashed was purple—a unique Daoist charm of the Purple Mansion Scripture.
She would use her divine sense to perceive the movements within a ten-mile radius when she was alone, a skill she possessed.
Once, a demonic beast attacked the resource gathering team outside the stone village. Zixia "happened to pass by" and struck out with a palm, creating a purple seal that repelled the demonic beast—that palm strike subtly matched the application method of the Purple Mansion Great Handprint.
She remembered.
I remember everything.
She knew she was the Holy Maiden of the Purple Mansion.
She knew the Holy Land was looking for her.
She knew that the girl who gently called her sister-in-law, the simple and kind villagers, and everything about the "Fairy Maiden" were all built on a lie.
But she didn't say anything.
Avoid facing it.
Like an ostrich burying its head in the ground.
'She's running away,' Li Xian thought. 'Not running away from me, but from making a choice.'
'Choose to return to the Purple Palace and become a high and mighty saintess, or stay in the Stone Village and become the wife of a source gatherer.'
Two identities, two lives. She didn't want to give up either, so she dared not face either.
"She's proud and sensitive, unwilling to hurt others—a typical people-pleaser..."
There's no point in dragging it out.
Li Xian needs a trigger to confront herself.