Chapter 78: The Gate (Part 1)

Lu You met Xie Yuzhen under a Buildinging tree in the outskirts.
She had rushed over after receiving a summons and, seeing his devilish form fully revealed, realized he had taken down the Soul Lock.
She had thought he would hand it over to her before returning to Penglai, but Xie Yuzhen said, “I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?” Lu You replied.
The boy was surrounded by thorns, dark clouds swirling around him, his blood-red eyes looking down with an air of innocence: “Is there another life before this one?”
Lu You was taken aback, as if struck by lightning.

Her understanding of “second chances” felt like restarting a game. It was impossible to explain why characters in the second round retained memories from the first; it was nearly inconceivable.
“You guessed right.” Xie Yuzhen observed her expression, a smile curling at the corner of his lips. “When we first met, you said we were friends before.”
He asked, “Tell me, was that the truth?”
“No,” Lu You answered.
Xie Yuzhen looked at her in surprise.

The girl in white beneath the tree looked at him with a hint of grievance. “We… we are husband and wife.”
These words evoked a wave of bittersweet emotions. After a hundred years of companionship, Xie Yuzhen had been attentive to her, even if some of it was just pretense.
“I healed your wounds, made mooncakes, celebrated birthdays, flew kites, and we gazed at the starry sea and lanterns together…”
These were all things she had done while pursuing the demon king.

Xie Yuzhen froze, not hearing the embellished words that had manipulated his heart.
This time, she spoke the truth.
So, was her approach to him in this life driven by a desire to seek out the love of their past lives? Did he remember Lu You’s voice and the pain in his heart because of their separation in the previous life?
That pain had now grown somewhat blurry.
Xie Yuzhen calmly said, “I don’t remember.”

This boy, with a face full of emotion, seemed indifferent and unaware of his conscience. He had no recollection of what she said, nor would he be moved by another’s love. To say nothing of trying to control him; that would only provoke his ire.

Lu You said, “You really can’t remember anything at all? Back then, you were the demon king, wanting to marry me as your demon queen. For our wedding, you built a demon palace and personally chose a bridal gown adorned with gold and jade for me…”
As she spoke halfway, she felt a tightness in her chest. In the past, she would have cried like a delicate orchid in the rain, like a startled rabbit. This time, she couldn’t hold back, tears streaming down her face, feeling utterly ungraceful.
Her goodwill was erased in an instant; it turned out she wasn’t devoid of emotions.
Xie Yuzhen’s favorability toward her must have plummeted, right?
But Xie Yuzhen reached out to wipe away her tears, his touch as gentle as in the past. “Is that so?”
Surprisingly, his favorability actually increased by a point.

Lu You, tearfully lifting her head to look at Xie Yuzhen, felt a warmth as if a drowning person had been pulled back to safety.
Xie Yuzhen said, “I seem to remember a little.”
He closed his eyes, and that segment of memory about the wedding suddenly filled with details, but it was not in the demon palace, nor was there any trace of luxurious clothing.
Before him stood a wooden house conjured by magic, with a hastily carved wooden tablet on the table. The bridal attire was blood-red, and tears formed like wax on the red candles.
The bride wore a disciple’s robe, her head covered with a gauzy veil, skipping joyfully, not resembling a newlywed.

She was quite loud, but given the sweet scent of her primal yin, he could just barely endure it.
“Your hands are so cold.” He rubbed her icy hand. “Are you nervous?”
He turned his face, peering through the thin veil to see Xu Qianyu’s flushed cheeks.
Her eyes sparkled like precious jewels, her lashes fluttering incessantly. “Of course, who isn’t nervous at their first wedding?”

…
Xie Yuzhen remained expressionless.
Xu Qianyu had lied to him.
The young lady had liked him. He and the young lady had been married.

---

During the day, Xu Qianyu compared the treasure map to dig out her own chest of valuables from the flower garden and brought it to the Lianxiangfang.
Not seeing Li Xuexiang, she inquired about her recent situation. The madam said she had desperately become pregnant with a client’s child. That wealthy merchant had few heirs, so he had redeemed her and moved her to a small courtyard.
The Gu Po had just cooled off when she worshipped another deity—reportedly a child-conceiving golden immortal, whose incense offerings were unending daily, praying for a male child to make her a concubine.
Xu Qianyu remained silent.

“Hey, you, a virtuous woman, why do you care about them so much?” The madam was puzzled. “They’re not humans; they’re just objects.”
Xu Qianyu glared at her. “I think you’re the one who’s most inhuman.”
The madam was momentarily taken aback, then smiled knowingly. “Yes, I’m not human anymore. Wasn’t I the same kind of object when I was young?”
Xu Qianyu felt it shouldn’t be this way, but she had no retort, feeling frustrated as she got up to leave.

From the chest of gold and silver, she took one ingot of gold and one of silver, pushing the rest toward Linglong and Xuanji. “You two can take these to redeem yourselves.”
The two were astonished, kneeling in front of Xu Qianyu in unison.
Linglong said, “But, Fairy, you’re giving too much.”

Xuanji said, “Yes, we are like the willow branches; we are not courtesans and are not worth this much money.”
However, Xu Qianyu did not take back the remaining amount: “Then let’s redeem those sisters who have a good relationship with you as well.”

Linglong and Xuanji, seeing her gloomy expression, were afraid she would regret it in a few days, so they pulled her to smile apologetically: “We’ll call them over to express our gratitude; the fairy can meet them.”

“Not going to see them.”
“Why not?”

Xu Qianyu thought for a moment and said, “I only need to know the two of you. If I meet more and see those who can’t be redeemed, I would feel guilty.”
Linglong and Xuanji exchanged glances, both confused, and when they turned back, Xu Qianyu had already left.

Outside, dusk was settling in, the sky ablaze with sunset colors, and the clouds looked like they were set ablaze across half the horizon.
Xu Qianyu exchanged the silver for four guans, holding it in her hand, wandering up and down the street in the flower district, searching everywhere.

When she reached the entrance of the Fanghua Building, Xu Qianyu finally saw the tall grass target. The boy selling cicadas noticed her, his eyes widening as he approached her.
“Finally found you,” Xu Qianyu said, directly putting the four guans into his bowl and stuffing a gold ingot into his arms, covering it with his cloth shirt. Then she grabbed the grass target and said, “Sell me all these bugs.”

The boy watched her as she took down all the cicadas and stuffed them into her bag, his face reddening, “No! Can’t sell these for that much money.”
Xu Qianyu replied, “You gave me the butterfly; that butterfly was expensive.”
The boy said, “But I didn’t catch it.”
“Yes, you did,” Xu Qianyu replied mysteriously. “It was in that lump of mud. When I was inside its belly, I saw a ball that had a butterfly in it. I cut off the ball with a knife, smashed it, and caught it.”

The boy looked at her suspiciously, with an expression that seemed to say, “I’m just a street kid; don’t think you can trick me.”
“Fine, if you don’t believe me, forget it.” Xu Qianyu grew impatient and turned to leave when the boy suddenly grabbed her sleeve: “I got the butterfly.”

He struggled to pull out the four guans and held the bowl out to her, shaking it, trying to drop the copper coins down.
Xu Qianyu’s gaze focused, her fingertips picking up a silver chain from the bowl, which looked like a longevity lock worn by babies.
The pendant hanging below was rusty but shaped like a butterfly, with ancient runes painted on both sides. The moment she picked it up, the lock glowed white.
At that moment, the lotus flower imprint in front of her flickered: the soul-restraining lock had been obtained.

Xu Qianyu’s eyes widened; she never expected to find the soul-restraining lock here. She hurriedly hung it around her neck and asked the boy, “Where did you get this?”
The boy innocently replied, “A brother in black clothes gave it to me. He told me to wait for you here, and if I saw you, to give it to you.”
Black clothes, Xie Yuzhen…
Xu Qianyu thought for a moment and realized how he could transform into Guo Yi without revealing demonic energy—he relied on the soul-restraining lock to suppress it.

Then she recalled the day Liu Yi’an blocked the ceremonial cart; Xie Yuzhen had hidden his traces and followed closely behind. The soul lock in her bride price was actually taken by him.
But if Xie Yuzhen had taken it, why would he willingly return it?
Xu Qianyu touched the boy’s eyes, ears, and mouth, checking to see if he was missing any limbs or had residual demonic energy. The more she thought about it, the more puzzled she became: “Did he just give it to you for free?”

She then realized that this child, naive and unaware of danger, dared to catch the beak phoenix butterfly, which made her a bit frightened: “Did you exchange anything with him?”

“Yes.”
“What?”
“The wedding money you gave me when you were the bride.” The boy thought for a moment and said, “This brother asked me for that piece of wedding money. I didn’t give it to him. He said he could exchange it for the butterfly.”

*
Inside the Guo residence.
Guo Yi, having just recovered from a serious illness, was speaking to Shen Suwei: “Elder brother, you don’t need to exhaust yourself. If it breaks, just ask someone to replace it with a new one.”
Shen Suwei stood by the window, using a hand gesture to repair the previously broken window frame. A few days ago, he had just restored the broken table, brushes, ink, paper, and screens, and upon hearing this, he said, “It was my battle that caused the damage, so I naturally have to help you restore it.”

Guo Yi clasped his hands: “Elder brother, your battles are all for the safety of the house. My family has some savings; this little damage is nothing.”
Shen Suwei’s expression did not change; he had his own principles and wouldn’t be swayed by a few words. He pushed open the window and quickly sketched a new layout for the courtyard on paper. The original courtyard gathered spirits but was shaded, making it easy to attract monsters and spirits.

He handed the revised layout to Guo Yi: “This is a different matter.”
Guo Yi took the paper, secretly admiring the rigorous style of the Penglai disciples, but after sitting for a while, he found it hard to speak: “Elder brother, for now, we should resolve the marriage between myself and Mingtang.”

“I was originally interested in Qinghe but had no intention toward her younger sister. Since Mingtang is also a fairy, it’s impossible for us to continue together, so we…”
Guo Yi had been harmed by the gu worms and then possessed by a demon king, forced into marrying Zhao Mingtang. The real Zhao Mingtang had passed away, which was akin to adding a deceased wife.

He feared that Zhao Qinghe would return and misunderstand. He also wanted to marry other girls in the future but worried they would refuse him upon hearing that he was a second husband.

He wondered if there was a way for the cultivators to erase this marriage.
Shen Suwei said, “You and Mingtang’s marriage certificate was created by us. It will naturally disappear once we leave. But you have the ‘three letters’ at the Zhao family; at that time, just have Mingtang go with you to retrieve it. Mrs. Zhao will surely not stop her.”
Guo Yi was overjoyed and thanked him, just in time to see Xu Qianyu entering the courtyard, so he went to discuss it with her.

Xu Qianyu was quite troubled by Xie Yuzhen, but after walking for a while, she had already come to terms: that soul-restraining lock was originally part of her bride price. If Xie Yuzhen had not taken it away, she would have gotten it long ago. Now it was just being returned to her, which was only right.

Thinking this way, her steps quickened and her chin lifted. Guo Yi entrusted her with this, so she naturally agreed. They planned to return to the Zhao family early the next morning to settle the matter quickly.

According to the election rules, as long as one disciple obtained the soul-restraining lock, the “gate” would open. The gate was actually a special exit formed by a magic circle, and returning with the soul-restraining lock (Soul Lock) through that gate would count as a winner, concluding the trial.

She obtained the Soul Lock; the “door” should be opening. She initially wanted to take Yu Chu along, but she couldn’t find her anywhere and had no idea where Yu Chu had gone to diligently slay demons, so she had to give up.
There was another reason Xu Qianyu wanted to find Yu Chu.

With the Soul Lock hanging around her neck, her heart raced, filled with both joy and anxiety. She wished the door would open immediately, so she could secure her first position and feel at ease.
But she still needed to keep it for a few more days, which made her a bit restless; she wanted to share her feelings with someone.

She initially considered hinting at it to her senior brother, but the system said, “I advise you not to tell anyone.”
“Why not?”
“From the novels I’ve read, whenever the protagonist gets some treasure and mentions it, it usually brings bad luck. Just hold off for two days; let’s keep a low profile and make a fortune.”
Xu Qianyu felt what it said made sense. What if she told her senior brother and then couldn’t keep it a secret? That would be embarrassing.

But thinking about entering the inner door soon made her excited, and she couldn’t suppress her feelings. She carefully groomed herself in the pavilion, changed into a new dress, and patiently applied some rouge before going to have dinner with Shen Suwei.
She planned to treat this meal as a celebration.
As Shen Suwei watched her climb in through the window, she bent down playfully and arranged a row of grass-crafted cicadas, grasshoppers, and dragonflies under his window. “What are these?”
Xu Qianyu turned with a smirk, “They’re all bugs.”

As she smiled, her fingers pinched the hem of her dress, showing a hint of hesitation as if she had something to hide from him, yet her eyes sparkled brightly, unmistakably revealing her excitement.
Shen Suwei guessed that she had likely obtained the Soul Lock.
But after seeing her drink five cups of wine and tumble into his arms while still keeping tight-lipped, he felt something subtle in his heart.

He suddenly remembered the ruler-shaped treasure sword. After he became Guo Heng, she tucked it away and never showed it to him again.
That was a sword meant for someone else.

Xu Qianyu was just someone familiar to him within their realm. She had friends within the sect, closer relationships, and things that were inconvenient to mention, which was entirely reasonable.

He was pushed against the window by Xu Qianyu, and she was completely unguarded with her mother and “sister.” With just a little prompting, he could hear her speak freely. But he didn’t.
After drinking five cups today, Shen Suwei felt a bit too much; his eyes were bright yet unfocused.

He felt a surge of suppressed emotions rising within him, and his fingers slipped into his sleeve, quietly stroking the red silk tied around his wrist as if trying to calm his mind.