novelraw Chapter 481 - 252, Six harmony jade cicada, cycle of reincarnation wonder.
Chapter 481 - 252, Six harmony jade cicada, cycle of reincarnation wonder.
"Not buried in the Royal Mausoleum, but as an unnamed person in my Xu Family’s Ancestral Home..."
"Yunniang..."
Xu Xing sighed.
Treat the dead as you would the living.
No matter the dynasty or era, the rich and powerful have always been deeply concerned about their tombs, eager to gather all the world’s treasures within them for themselves to enjoy in the afterlife. Even those indifferent to fame and fortune would not treat their funerary arrangements so perfunctorily.
This held true even in the Cultivation World. Some powerful Cultivators, upon their passing, would want to bury rare treasures they had obtained in life as burial goods, so they wouldn’t feel lonely after death. Many Cultivators were keen on plundering the tombs of ancient cultivators to obtain precious Resources and advance their Cultivation.
The fact that Zhao Yunniang was not interred in the Royal Mausoleum, but instead buried as an unnamed person in the Xu Family Ancestral Home... Xu Xing understood this was her silent way of conveying something to him.
She was not one who loved extravagance and luxury. She sought no vanity after death; presumably, she was the same in life.
Her journey from a mere dancing girl to Empress Dowager Zhao, who held court from behind the curtain, was Xu Xing’s gift to Zhao Yunniang. But beneath the benefits lay the promise from their passionate vows of long ago.
"In the 21st year of Chongming, I was framed by Han Sui of Taipu Temple and became a death-row prisoner in Sky Prison, while you were a dancing girl in Han Taipu’s household..."
"In prison, I told you I would give you a good life after I got out..."
Xu Xing took out the paper horse, candles, prayer flag, and Money Stack he had bought on the road from his Storage Bag, then sat cross-legged before the tomb, reminiscing.
Old memories, one by one, emerged from the long-sealed recesses of his mind, as vivid as if they had happened only yesterday.
"Yunniang, let me tell you about my time in the Cultivation World. I know you wanted to ask before, but you were afraid of upsetting me, so you never brought it up..."
Xu Xing burned spirit money, his eyes filled with recollection. Images of his life after escaping Sky Prison and reuniting with Zhao Yunniang surfaced in his mind.
Although they had loved each other deeply, Zhao Yunniang’s gaze towards him always concealed a hint of fear.
When he was King Xing Tian, he knew well what Zhao Yunniang feared. A dancing girl who had endured a tumultuous first half of her life, she was terrified that these good days would slip away due to some misstep on her part.
Only when she grew old did Zhao Yunniang dare to show her anger towards him, even holding a sword to her own throat, swearing she would rather die than follow him in pursuit of the Immortal Path.
"In the blink of an eye, it is now the 216th year of Tiande. It has been two hundred and thirteen years since I embarked on the Immortal Path in the third year of Tiande..."
"I joined the Flying Feather Immortal Palace and met the former Emperor Song Dao, the Chief of the master-disciple lineage. Later, we became sworn enemies, and I killed him."
"Now, although I’ve made a name for myself in East Huangzhou, everyone still thinks I’m just a young Cultivator."
"But that will change soon..."
After saying this, Xu Xing took a jar of strong liquor from his sleeve and took several large gulps.
This time, he didn’t use his Magic Power to shield his body. After just a few mouthfuls of the potent liquor, he was instantly choked, coughing repeatedly as a searing pain tore through him.
Then, Xu Xing wiped the liquor from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve robe and continued to recount the various events that had occurred on his long path from the third year of Tiande to the 216th year. He recounted leaving his sect, killing enemies, hiding his identity, and fleeing.
However, when it came to his deepest secrets, he remained vigilant and did not reveal everything. Who knew if some great Cultivator was eavesdropping on him at this very moment? Some Divine Powers and secret arts of the Cultivation World were impossible to guard against. It was just like the last time when Chi Yuan had suddenly emerged from the Purple Ribbon Gold Seal using the Mirror Light Technique, nearly costing him his life.
Although Zhao Yunniang’s tomb was extremely well hidden, he could still easily locate it by leveraging powers in the Mortal World. With the means of the Flying Feather Immortal Palace, Xu Xing believed that if they truly wanted to find Zhao Yunniang’s tomb to target him, it wouldn’t take them long.
He finished recounting these matters one by one.
「It was already dawn the next day, the Golden Crow rising in the east.」
"Yunniang, in another world, there is a method called the Burial Immortal Land that can resurrect the dead. But that requires becoming an immortal..."
"I just don’t know if the flower that blooms would be you, or... just someone similar to you, not the real you..."
Xu Xing stood up, moved away the ashes of the burned Money Stack, and gazed at the tombstone. Although Shi Yuyan had once used this method to resurrect him, he was an exception. The death of his ’other-self’ in one lifetime did not affect the life of his ’True Self’. In other words, the Burial Immortal Land method was just a medium for him to enter the Emperor Jin World again. Whether it could truly resurrect the dead still remained to be proven.
"However, the Other Shore Ghost Spring, that Divine Power... perhaps it can show your past life, present life, and future life—all three lifetimes..."
Xu Xing waved his sleeve robe, and the grave mound responded. A Lacquer Wood Coffin, enveloped in his Magic Power, slowly emerged from the ground.
Although he didn’t wish to disturb the deceased’s repose, the situation was delicate; one wrong move could affect everything. In the near future, when he had a complete falling out with the Flying Feather Immortal Palace, Zhao Yunniang would become a target for his enemies to vent their hatred. He had to take precautions. This time, if Zhao Yunniang hadn’t chosen a different burial site before her death, thereby luckily evading their enemies’ retaliation, her remains might very well no longer exist in the mortal world.
As the coffin emerged, Xu Xing seized the moment to channel a wisp of her aura into his Other Shore Ghost Spring.
This Other Shore Ghost Spring, a Divine Power born from Yuan Xiu’s Life Spring and a Higanbana flower from the Underworld, was exceptionally mystical and could peer into the fates of others.