“Mi Jia… Mi Jia!”
In the middle of the night, I was awakened by his voice. When I opened my eyes, I found that his brows were furrowed, but his eyes were closed. He was actually talking in his sleep. Even if I were lying next to him, would he have such a nightmare?
But there was a huge gap between us, which was drawn by his mother empress with the lives of my mother and sister, and we were destined to be apart.
When you ascend to heaven, I will look for your mother empress and avenge this blood feud that must be avenged… I am afraid this trip will be a one-way trip. Even if I am lucky enough to survive, I will not choose to live either. I don’t want to let you down, nor do I want to suffer inner torment every day for the rest of my life… I should have died fourteen years ago.
Living for fourteen more years and seeing you again is my greatest blessing in this life, but it is your misfortune.
I reached out my hand, trying to smooth his brows, but he suddenly opened his eyes. Before I could retract my hand, he grabbed my wrist. He panted, as if awakened from a nightmare, stared at me for a long time with distracted eyes, got up from the bed, and took something out from under the bed.
Seeing that it was a pair of jade-white leg cuffs, I shook my head and shrank back, but he grabbed my ankles and forcibly cuffed me. He held me in his arms and stroked my leg cuffs, and then he calmed down: “I had a nightmare. I dreamed that you disappeared again. Don’t blame me, alright?”
I closed my eyes and held back my tears: “Why do you insist on this? Is it interesting?”
“Even if I force you, what can you do?” Nalin hugged me tightly and smiled, stroking the jade cuffs on my ankle with his fingers. “For three years, I also wore it.”
My heart ached, and I looked down at his ankles. He was wearing a pair of pure gold anklets, and I couldn’t see if there were any scars or not.
“It’s your mother empress…”
“Yes, she cuffed me herself. In order to force me to concentrate on my cultivation, she locked me in this tower and didn’t allow anyone to get close to me. At first, I almost went crazy here because of you, but then day after day, year after year, I slowly figured it out. I was born like this, and I’m in this position. Becoming a god is my only way out. Now that you and I have been dual-cultured together, I have more courage to walk this path.”
I couldn’t help asking, “When you become a god, what will be the first thing you do?”
He was silent for a moment: “Make up for the mistakes made by my mother empress.”
I curled up my fingers and tried my best to keep my tone calm: “She treated you like this, don’t you hate her?”
“Hate… I can’t hate her.” His voice became very soft. “When I was very young and still in Tianzhu, she was in a difficult situation, but she took good care of me. When we escaped from Tianzhu, she didn’t abandon me. I can’t forget it at that time. Mother Empress, although hateful, is also a pitiful person. I want to help her.”
I gritted my teeth and nodded.
Nalin, you love her deeply, just like I love my mother.
“By the way, where is your mother? Did she recover from her illness after drinking my blood? Is she doing well now?”
I couldn’t breathe, so I forced a smile and said, “She is fine. Thanks to… you… she is in good health.”
“That’s good. After I ascend, I will accompany you to see her.” He whispered in my ear.
I took a deep breath: “Nalin, you will become a god in the future, and you will have your own mission. I am a mortal, and I also have a mortal’s life.”
“How can you still be a mortal after dual-cultivated with me?” His voice sank. He held my wrist, turned it over, and pressed his thumb on my pulse. I saw a faint glow under my skin.
“This is…” I opened my eyes wide.
“Spiritual vein.” He kissed my ear, “Even if Mother Empress wants to refuse you to be my goddess consort, it’s also impossible. Your physique is just right for practicing with me… We are a perfect match.”
After that, he lowered his head and covered my lips again. The smell of blood filled my teeth. I realized he was feeding me blood. I was startled and turned my head away. He pinched my chin and said, “Swallow it.”
I started coughing: “What are you doing? Why are you feeding me your blood?”
“Drink more, and you will be immune to all diseases, immortal, and stay with me forever.”
He pinched my chin open with force, and his tongue tip invaded my mouth.
I coughed so hard that tears streamed down my face. I scratched his hand, but it was no use. It was not until I finally swallowed his blood and my breathing calmed down that the hand covering my chin slowly loosened.
With his thumb, he gently scraped the blood from the corner of my lips. He picked me up again, made me sit cross-legged on him, and started a new round of assault. It was dark, and I don’t know how many positions we changed. Several days and nights passed, and we were entangled and never separated. I don’t know when I fainted. When I woke up, my whole body was hot, my blood seemed to be boiling, and my chest and abdomen were in great pain.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Nalin holding my wrist, looking nervous.
My pulse spread to my forearm, and there were faint red lines spreading.
“How could this be? Why would you suffer backlash even if you practice dual cultivation with me? Why is feeding blood useless?”
My throat swelled and churned, and I vomited a mouthful of blood.
The purple-red color was the blood he fed me.
“Mi Jia, wait for me. I’m going to find the Mother Empress to save you!” He picked me up, pulled off the colorful banner and wrapped me up, and rushed out of the hall. At this moment, a loud shout came from outside: “Shengzun is here!”
I was shocked — could I finally meet that female demon? Was she here to have me paint for her, or was she here to look for Nalin? The stone door was pushed open. I covered my mouth, shrank my head, and buried my face in his chest, leaving only one eye exposed, peeking out. On the bridge outside the tower, two rows of priests were kneeling in unison, and in the middle stood a slender figure in the morning glow, wearing a gorgeous dress with dark purple embroidered with gold, her long white hair fluttering in the wind, her face peerless, younger than fourteen years ago, and she looked only in her early twenties. At first glance, she was extraordinary and otherworldly, just like a goddess from heaven.
But her sacred path is covered with piles of corpses.
“Nalin, my dear son.” She smiled, “Mother Empress heard that you personally selected a goddess consort, so I wanted to come and see what kind of woman could move a stubborn person like you.”
Nalin tightened his hand on the back of my neck and said, “The goddess consort I chose is not a woman, but he and I have practiced dual cultivation, and his spiritual veins have been awakened. Didn’t Mother Empress always hope that I would have a consort to help me break through the barrier of ascension? He is the right person.”
“Oh? Have you practiced dual cultivation with him?”
The female demon’s smile froze slightly, and she looked at Nalin, then her gaze fell on me.
I knew I had a scar on my face, and fourteen years had passed. It was unlikely that she would recognize me at first glance as the child who jumped off the cliff to escape fourteen years ago, but I still felt a pang of anxiety.
Filled with hatred and fear, I couldn’t stop coughing, and blood oozed from between my fingers.
Nalin’s breathing slowed down, he grabbed my hand covering my mouth, and turned my wrist upwards: “But he has suffered a backlash for some reason, and it’s useless for me to feed him blood.” He gritted his teeth and spoke with difficulty, “Please… Mother, save him.”
I raised my eyelids and saw the female demon looking down at my wrist, her slender eyebrows slightly raised: “This is the evil result of your action of acting first and reporting later. Hasn’t Mother warned you many times that you must be extra cautious when practicing my teachings? If you make a mistake, you will easily go astray and suffer backlash. You are already a body close to a god, with tremendous spiritual power in your body. If you don’t know how to control yourself, how can an ordinary person like him bear it?”
These words were said so bluntly that a blush immediately spread across Nalin’s neck and ears.
He lowered his head, obviously feeling ashamed: “Yes, Son knows I was wrong. Please… Mother, please save him. If you can cure him and let him be with Son, Son will do whatever you want me to do in the future.” After a pause, he continued, “But if you don’t save him, please forgive Son for being unfilial.”
“Are you threatening Mother?”
“I dare not.”
After a period of silence, the female demon actually chuckled.
“Mother Empress can save him, but there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“Since you have practiced dual-cultivated with him, the final breakthrough is just around the corner. If you go into seclusion for three days, you will surely ascend to heaven. After three days, you will marry your goddess consort in your divine body. Mother Empress will hold a grand wedding ceremony for you guys, announcing it to the sun and the moon so that the whole world can celebrate it. What do you think?”
Ascension, right before my eyes?
I looked up at Nalin’s face, feeling both happy and sad.
I stroked his cheek: “Nalin, listen to your Mother Empress and go into seclusion. I’m scared and I don’t want to die. Let your Mother Empress save me. As long as I can survive, I promise to be with you and be your goddess consort, alright? I’ll wait for you to marry me with your divine body.”
He was startled, then looked down at me.
I looked into his blue eyes, and I wished I could look at them for ten thousand years.
“Alright.” He hugged me tightly, very excited. When he looked at the female demon, his eyes were still a little hesitant. “Mother Empress, if anything happens to him, even if it means turning the world upside down, I will not hesitate.”
The female demon stopped smiling and said, “Mother Empress will do my best. Three days later, you will be a god. Even if Mother Empress’s ability is limited and I cannot save him, you have divine power, so are you still worried you can’t save him?”
Nalin looked at me, and I nodded. Only then did his eyes calm down.
He carried me all the way to the front of the majestic holy temple before Nalin was willing to let me go. When I followed the red-robed priest and the female demon into the door, I heard his voice coming from behind: “Mi Jia!”
The door slowly closed in front of me. I raised the corners of my lips and stared at his face through the gradually closing gap in the door. It was deeply imprinted in my mind.
In this last look, you must remember the way I smile.
