Chongyu flew to Tantai Jin's side and whispered, "I want to discuss something with you."
"Speak."
"Don't tell anyone that I'm a Divine Artifact. If word gets out, many people will come to fight over me." As he said this, Chongyu's tone carried a mix of pride and deliberately exaggerated melancholy. "Of course, in exchange, I won't reveal that you possess the God Slaying Crossbow. How about that?"
Tantai Jin curled his lips coldly. "Fine."
Chongyu advised in a childlike voice, "Don't use the God Slaying Crossbow anymore. Unlike me, it's not a good thing. If you lose your mind, you might fall into the demonic path."
The group walked back into the valley.
Chongyu explained, "This is where the Goddess Chuhuang once lived. All these years, our master's Divine Sense has lingered here."
As Su Su entered, she felt a gentle breeze caress her face.
A few small spirit birds carried bamboo baskets in their beaks and placed them in Su Su's arms.
Seeing several bright red spirit fruits inside, Chongyu exclaimed, "Su Su, Su Su, try them quickly! These spirit fruits can only be found from ancient times—they're very beneficial for Cultivation!"
Only after speaking did it remember to glance warily at Tantai Jin, afraid he might kill for treasure.
Tantai Jin didn't even lift his eyelids, paying no attention.
Everything in the valley was illusory, merely scenes painted by their master. Only these spirit fruits were real. Chongyu thought wistfully, if their master were alive, how dearly she would cherish this precious daughter.
He wondered how the Goddess Chuhuang was faring.
Su Su settled in the valley, which was imbued with the Demon King's Divine Sense. Whether it was the gentle breeze or the bright moon, everything was tinged with a soft warmth.
As Chongyu had said, she grew rapidly, almost a year older each day.
At this rate, in just over ten days, once Su Su's Soul was fully nourished, they could leave the Thousand-Mile Painting.
Tantai Jin still didn't know how to face her.
It should have been a sharp confrontation, filled with intense love and hatred, but Su Su had fallen into the Wang Land within the Past Mirror and temporarily lost her memories.
Leaving him alone, remembering everything from the past, unsure how to handle himself.
When Su Su played with the Chongyu Qin, he watched them from afar—neither joining nor speaking to her. His brow was dark and cold, his thoughts unknown.
Perhaps even he didn't understand whether he dwelled more on the happy memories from five hundred years ago or the Soul Extinguishing Nails embedded in his heart, aching day and night.
Having seen Tantai Jin use the God Slaying Crossbow, Su Su was somewhat afraid of him and didn't approach him voluntarily.
Tantai Jin would sometimes disappear. Chongyu told Su Su that Wang demons had been sneaking in recently, and Tantai Jin had silently eliminated them all.
Su Su then understood he was protecting them.
Until one night, under the bright moon hanging high in the sky, she ran to his side. Su Su had already grown taller than his waist, appearing about fourteen or fifteen years old. She looked up and asked, "Why do you often watch me?"
"I don't," he replied, his eyes drooping with a gloomy impatience. "You think too highly of yourself."
Su Su clasped her hands behind her back and said earnestly, "Alright. Chongyu says we can leave in a few days. I want to talk to you."
Tantai Jin asked, "About what?"
The girl's eyes curved into a smile, but she quickly turned serious again. "About how to protect you. I promised you, remember? You mustn't use the God Slaying Crossbow anymore—it's too dangerous. Once you use it, I won't be able to protect you. I can't fight off so many people."Tantai Jin lifted his eyes.
Su Su said, "Also, do you have a home? If you return home later, where should I go to find you?"
Tantai Jin replied, "No."
Su Su thought for a moment, seemingly uncertain if she herself had a home, then smiled and said, "I learned an immortal technique from Chongyu called the Memory Trace Seal. I'll draw one on your palm and one on mine. That way, even if we get separated while out, I can find you and bring you home."
With that, she took his hand and traced an intricate spell mark on it.
The seal flashed with a golden light before fading beneath Tantai Jin's skin. He gazed at the mark, a sudden ache of tenderness stirring in his heart.
"Have you been learning this these past few days?"
The girl nodded earnestly.
Bathed in the valley's bright moonlight, the weight of their painful past seemed to scatter in the wind. There was no hatred in her eyes, just as when she had first stumbled into his embrace.
Impulse struck in an instant—before he realized it, he had already pulled her into his arms. And he spoke the words he hadn't dared utter in five hundred years, his voice rough with emotion: "Can we... start over?"
It wasn't hatred. It was love.
An enduring affection, the bitterness born from longing for what he couldn't have—she was the only one in this world who could unravel his heart so completely.
Tantai Jin held her tightly, breathing in the scent of Epiphyllum on her, his heart melting into pure tenderness.
For the first time, he realized how utterly helpless he was before her. The slightest kindness from her made him cast everything aside and return to her side.
With just one of her smiles, the scars of all these years began slowly healing.
He forgot the pain of the Soul Extinguishing Nails, no longer dwelling on why she had appeared by his side five centuries ago.
He only wondered... if they could begin anew.
This time, without Xiao Lin and Ye Bingshang, without the heroic spirits of the Ye family, without the enmity between nations and clans.
Could she always look at him with the same softness in her eyes?
The youth's embrace carried the crisp fragrance of pine and cypress. Su Su's eyes reflected the bright moon, so close now. This person who had always watched her from afar was finally showing his vulnerable side.
She didn't understand the sorrow in his heart, nor how much resolve it had taken for him to speak these words that he considered shameful.
Someone who had always repaid every slight found himself one day pleading—could they forget everything and start over?
At that moment, she simply thought it was like reconciling after a quarrel between friends, and she answered brightly, "Alright, let's start over."
The youth held her tighter, and she felt scalding teardrops fall against her neck.
"Don't look up," he whispered hoarsely by her ear, his eyes red-rimmed.
The valley moonlight flowed like gentle water, the stream murmuring softly.
Even someone naive about worldly matters could most directly sense another's love and hatred. Su Su knew—this person loved her.
She reached out and gently circled her arms around his waist.
Chongyu was the first to notice the change in them. As a Divine Artifact forged from love to protect, it had considerable insight in matters of the heart.
The most obvious manifestation was how the perpetually gloomy and aloof youth now carried warmth in his eyes. When morning dew still clung to the branches, he took several immortal herbs from his Universe Bag and crafted them into a sugar pill in the kitchen.
Chongyu stared in astonishment at his skilled movements.
Having lived so long, this was the first time it learned that immortal herbs could be made into sugar pills—and so seamlessly at that."Is this... Fragrant Herb, Soul-Protecting Flower, and Immortal Buddha Fruit?"
Tantai Jin said, "Mm."
Chongyu examined them one by one, realizing each was a rare spiritual herb that would require at least life-threatening dangers to obtain.
And now, all of these had been made into colorful candy pills.
Chongyu naturally recognized treasures from the Secret Realm, but unfortunately, with its master gone, whoever obtained these items could only consider it fate.
"You know how to cook?"
Tantai Jin said lightly, "I know a bit of everything."
As a child in the Zhou Kingdom palace, when he was starving, he could only raid swallow nests. When he was too young, he had to eat them raw. From the moment he could run, the first thing he learned was cooking.
When his clothes tore and no one mended them, he learned embroidery from the palace maids. Later, he was secretly mocked for a long time.
It took him years to realize that few men in the world knew these skills. Even poor men didn't embroider like women, let alone a prince of a kingdom.
He couldn't feel shame, and he never understood what they were laughing about.
Too many people wanted him dead, and he did all this just to survive.
Besides receiving the spirit fruits left by her father these past few days, Su Su found several candy pills by her pillow when the sun rose today.
The candy pills tasted wonderful. She chewed them happily and ran outside.
Just then, Tantai Jin walked in carrying a wooden sword.
For the first time in many days, she saw him wearing white robes. Su Su felt her eyes light up.
When he wore black, he appeared stern and cold, exuding an unapproachable aloofness. But she never imagined he could look this handsome in white.
The young man stood tall and graceful, like the bright moon atop a branch, peerless in the world.
The coldness faded, and now he looked like a pure, clean cultivator.
This was also Tantai Jin's first time wearing white. Even after joining the Carefree Sect, he had maintained his old habit of wearing dark-colored clothing.
But this morning, the konghou suggested he try white. After all, white was the predominant color in the cultivation world - spotless and pure, unchanged from ancient times to the present.
Tantai Jin ignored Chongyu.
Chongyu chattered away persuasively, "Just try it! Su Su will like it. You wear black all day - people might think you're a ghost cultivator who never changes clothes!"
Though his expression remained cold, Tantai Jin felt somewhat uneasy inside, unconsciously observing the girl's reaction.
Ready to change out of this conspicuous color unsuitable for hiding and survival if she so much as frowned, the girl ran to his side. Her eyes sparkled like they held stars. Bold and straightforward by nature, she didn't hesitate with compliments.
"Tantai Jin, you look really handsome!"
The corners of his pressed lips lifted slightly.
As the day of departure approached, Chongyu transformed into a small blue konghou pendant hanging around Su Su's neck.
It said cheerfully, "When we leave this time, it'll coincide with the closing of the Cangyuan Secret Realm. I'll send you out of the Thousand-Mile Scroll, and you'll also leave the Cangyuan Secret Realm. Wonderful! I, Chongyu, am finally entering the world!"
Full of infinite longing for the outside world, Chongyu's mood infected Su Su, making her quite happy too.
Beside them, the smile in Tantai Jin's eyes faded slightly.
Remembering something, Chongyu told Tantai Jin, "Don't forget the oath!"
They had both sworn by their inner demons not to speak of anything within the Thousand-Mile Scroll. Whether about Tantai Jin's God Slaying Crossbow or Chongyu's origins, both would remain silent.This was also the wish of Chongyu's master. The ancient Demon King hoped his daughter would be born as a pure immortal body, with a fresh and beautiful life, unbound by the grudges of the previous generation.
Su Su gradually approached the appearance of her grown-up self.
As the scroll before them began to fade, Tantai Jin suddenly felt a surge of panic. Amid Su Su and Chongyu's cheerful laughter, he abruptly grasped her hand.
"I won't lose you, right?"
Su Su clasped his hand in return and nodded. "Chongyu says I'll be very powerful once I leave. I'll protect you!" During these past few days of demon attacks, it had been Tantai Jin protecting her and Chongyu. Even if just to repay his kindness, she wanted to protect him too.
A faint smile touched his eyes. "Alright, I believe you."
Just before the scroll completely faded, Tantai Jin suddenly whispered, "Su Su."
"Hmm?"
"Five hundred years ago... I'm sorry." His voice was hoarse. "And... I don't hate you, I..."
Before he could finish, brightness suddenly surrounded them, and they emerged from the Cangyuan Secret Realm.
The Chongyu zither flashed, and Su Su opened her eyes.
Her soul had stabilized, and the Path of Ruthlessness in her Spiritual Platform glowed with a smooth radiance. With the destruction of the thousand-mile scroll, all her memories from within it had vanished.
Her thoughts paused briefly, then she glared furiously at the white-robed youth before her.
The last scene in her memory was of this person injuring her junior brother and causing her to fall from a cliff.
Many people crowded around. "Su Su."
"Fairy Li, are you alright..."
Su Su struck Tantai Jin with her palm, endless Karmic Fire blazing from her hand as it landed on the youth's shoulder.
His dark eyes watched her, the smile in them slowly fading. For some reason, he didn't dodge.
Tantai Jin fell to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Cang Hai rushed over in shock, quickly helping him up. "Junior brother, are you alright, junior brother?"
Tantai Jin clenched his fist, blood dripping to the ground. The Memory Seal in his palm burned with intense heat. In his ears, someone's voice echoed—Let's start over. When I grow up, I'll protect you properly.
How could he be alright? Beneath his heart, the pain was so severe it felt like dying, senior brother.
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