Chapter 143: Chapter 86: The Girl with Snow Sleeves and a Red Skirt



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Sitting in the hotel room, with a damp world outside the window, the sound of water pouring from the dome formed into splashing miniature waterfalls, washing over the underground streets and buildings.

Hexia embraced the large spider, listening to the rain outside the window, then turned her gaze toward the small memory card on the desk beside her, which she had found and bought yesterday with Feng Jianxue in an old movie store in Jielou City.

After agreeing to help the young girl search for Chenxiang Street, the two of them visited many places, continuing their search for a way to enter the Underground Core Zone, and then at dusk when they temporarily parted, Feng Jianxue had purchased this card for the girl in an old shop.

Stored inside was the celebratory scene of the "Streaming Fire Festival" from twenty years ago.

"Why look for this?" Hexia asked Feng Jianxue with puzzlement at the time.

Although he wanted to state some other reasons, under Hexia's gaze, he eventually decided to reveal some truth.

"Hexia, don't you think that the sword-dancing girl who performed twenty years ago looks really similar to you?" he asked, and after saying that, he handed the memory card to Hexia with a mysteriously.

"This card can be viewed in immersive mode as well as played like a normal video, but I still recommend you experience it immersively."

After saying that, he waved goodbye, his departure somewhat more carefree compared to his enthusiastic approach earlier.

Latter, Hexia found an immersive theater, rented a private room, and inserted the card. Then, the Phantom Mist Crystal slowly filled the room and took her back to the "Streaming Fire Festival" from twenty years earlier.

("The Poems, Bin Feng, July": "In July fire flows, in September clothes bestowed."

The location of Mars at dusk in May of the Xia calendar is overhead, while in July it starts moving westward from its zenith. It often refers to the time when the seventh month of the lunar calendar hints at summer's retreat and the approaching autumn.)

"Mom was so beautiful when she was young," Hexia even felt that she might have been more attractive than Temisia at 17, probably due to a difference in their style of dress.

Her long black hair, silky as satin, was swept up and then coiled into a bun, with a hairpin adorned with beaded flowers on one side and a red-feathered ornament on the other. Under the sunshine, the gems on the hair ornament twinkled subtly, the bright, changing layers of red complementing the jet-black hair, adding exceptional beauty.

When the circumambulation ended, the procession stopped in front of a towering building, where a high platform had already been constructed.

Nearly a hundred swordmaids stepped forward, entering both sides of the palanquin to protect it, then two of them carefully assisted the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress out.

Slowly, the bell atop the high building began to toll, and the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress walked step by step toward the high platform. Approaching the platform, a swordmaid stepped out from behind her, knelt to the side, and presented an ancient sword she was cradling in her arms.

The girl slowly drew the sword, its blade shining like autumn waters, bright and clear.

At the celebration's site, surrounded by hundreds of thousands, a hush fell over the crowd as they strained to see that peerlessly graceful girl. Then, the sound of a zither gently began to play, and within the high building, musicians sat on every level in solemn readiness, each holding an instrument, be it zither, flute, harp, pipa, or drum.

After a soft prelude, a distant and majestic melody of strings and bamboo instruments started to play, and the atmosphere gradually intensified. Meanwhile, the girl on the platform slowly began to move.

Her sword dance was slow but seamless, with no hint of awkwardness. Her wide sleeves fluttered gently against the sky, as if even the air had stilled at that moment.

Although it was greatly different from what she remembered, Hexia still recognized it as the swordsmanship her mother had taught her. But at this moment, her mother's executions bore a contrasting charm, marked by a generous and splendid elegance, even giving off the faint illusion of influencing the flow of magic power around the stage.

As the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress danced with her sword, the atmosphere at the site became more and more animated, her body seemingly lighter and lighter, until she gently 'floated' upward.

Indeed, without wings or employing any extra transcendent abilities, the girl lightly touched the ground and her figure leapt up effortlessly, resembling the scene of a Flying Immortal in a mural. It was changes in the environment on the high platform that made this possible; at that moment, if a feather were to fall from above, it too would spin slowly, floating instead of falling.

Her form was elegant as if a cinnabar phoenix were spreading its wings, her sleeves fluttering and sword light dazzling. As she danced and brandished her sword, the tips of her toes gradually touched the air, carrying her figure aloft amidst the high buildings, like a phoenix stretching its wings, or a redfish swimming.

At last, the music slowly came to a stop, and the girl also gently descended from the air, standing in place, her fingertips casually trailing along the sword's blade, and her gaze emerging slowly from behind her sleeves, revealing a dreamlike and splendid beauty.