Nie Yinzhi rubbed the corner of her eye that had been touched, "Brother Meng, I remember you once said that this was Senior Sister's cave dwelling, weren't we not allowed to enter?"
Meng Jin uncomfortably coughed, his expression gloomy, "Today is Senior Sister's death anniversary, I am going in to clean up her old residence."
"Can I go in to pay respects to Senior Sister?" Nie Yinzhi's long eyelashes lifted, her eyes swirling with light, almost matching the image in her memory. Meng Jin was momentarily dazed, only to hear her continue, "I have joined Master's school, but haven't properly paid respects to Senior Sister yet. Now that I think about it, I feel ashamed."
Meng Jin snapped out of his daze. Nie Yinzhi had been in the school for five years and had shown no interest in this Linfeng, why would she suddenly want to go in today?
"Your intentions are enough, Sister. I believe Senior Sister Lingling will be able to feel your sincerity."
He finished speaking without waiting for Nie Yinzhi to say more, his attitude unusually assertive, "Sister, you have just recovered from a serious injury, you need to rest more. I will take you back to Pill-Forming Peak."
Nie Yinzhi glanced at the faintly visible palace corridor hidden under the thick fog, and then at Meng Jin's expression. Brother Meng was clearly nervous, the more he feared her going in, the more she wanted to go in.
"I don't want to, I want to go in and have a look." Nie Yinzhi was just curious about the nearby area, the snippets of information in the barrage would not make her doubt her Master and Brother. But testing their attitude was always the right thing to do.
Meng Jin frowned, raised his hand to block her, "Sister, don't make a fuss, it won't be good if Master is alarmed."
"What if he is alarmed?" Nie Yinzhi was not intimidated at all, her feet glowing with spiritual energy. She swept past Meng Jin, rushing into the thick fog like the wind, her confident voice carried by the wind, "Brother Meng sneaked in, why can't I? Is there something in Senior Sister's old residence that I can't see?"
Meng Jin leaped after her, his long sword flying out from his sleeve, his voice stern, "Sister Nie, your behavior here will only disturb the deceased."
The bright yellow sword light pierced the thick fog, like a beam of intense sunlight, stopping Nie Yinzhi in her tracks. Meng Jin's tall figure arrived shortly after, holding his long sword in front of her, "Sister, let's go back."
"Brother, you know my temper, the more you don't want me to do something, the more I want to do it." Nie Yinzhi raised her eyebrows and smiled, exuding a spoiled arrogance.
Her expression bore no resemblance to the person from the past, Meng Jin felt annoyed deep down, "I can accommodate you in any other matter, but I will never allow you to disrespect Senior Sister."
Nie Yinzhi also cooled her face, unable to understand, "I just want to pay respects to Senior Sister, how is that disrespect?"
Meng Jin closed his mouth and refused to back down.
【Good guy, the love-struck second male lead is so cool! He's the one who gouged out the eyes of the wicked female lead for Lingling.】
【A substitute will always be a substitute, no matter how similar she looks, she can never become the moonlight in the heart, Sang Dog, come and copy your homework!】
【Here we go, the female lead is about to realize that she's a substitute, she's about to turn evil!】
["Can't you stop spoiling it? It's so annoying. The supporting female character isn't evil now. It's bad enough that she's used as a substitute, but she's also being exploited for her golden core and eyes. It's like she's been cursed for eight generations. I can't bear to watch anymore."]
["Don't worry, the supporting female character is definitely evil. Wait till you see how she tortures the female protagonist later on, then you'll know that taking her core and eyes is letting her off easy."]
["It's all clichés. If she doesn't turn evil, the actions of the male lead and the second male lead wouldn't make sense."]
["Please get your facts straight. It's not because the male lead and the second male lead took her eyes that she turned evil. She's inherently evil and brought this upon herself."]
["Haven't Sang Dog and Meng Jin treated her well these past five years? Even if she's not willing to be used as a substitute, she shouldn't vent her anger on the female lead."]
["How stupid. Doesn't Bright Sky Peak have prohibitions? Even if they don't stop her, she can't get in, right?"]
Nie Yinzhi silently read the floating subtitles. Just when Meng Jin thought she would back down, her lips slightly parted, "Ruyi."
As her voice fell, a sword light whistled from the horizon, striking the prohibition of Bright Sky Peak with a ground-shaking impact.
Meng Jin was furious, "You!"
Usually, although Nie Yinzhi had a bit of a proud personality, she knew her limits. Meng Jin was completely unprepared for her straightforward and brutal action, almost speechless with anger. The Zhuoyang Sword instantly rose from the ground, suppressing the Ruyi Sword under its bright yellow light.
His voice trailed off, and he abruptly turned towards Bright Sky Peak. The dignified Immortal actually lost his composure, almost falling from mid-air. Sang Wumian formed a seal to lift the prohibition, his slender fingers trembling slightly. He had to attempt it twice before succeeding.
Bright Sky Peak had been sealed for ten years. The day the prohibition was lifted, the lush greenery and the beautiful palace were once again revealed to the world.
Sang Wumian didn't pay any attention to the others. As soon as the prohibition was lifted, he turned into a streak of white light and shot into the palace on Bright Sky Peak. Meng Jin followed closely behind, and Nie Yinzhi, without any hesitation, also followed.
Bright Sky Peak was filled with blooming flowers, the branches and leaves were neatly trimmed. There was incense burning in the palace, and a small cat was lying on a cushion in the corridor. It didn't look like a place that had been uninhabited for ten years.
A single candle was burning in the palace, warm as the rising sun.
"Master, it's the soul lamp! Elder sister's soul lamp has been rekindled, does that mean she..." Meng Jin couldn't believe it to such an extent that he even cut his own hand to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He opened his hand to catch his own falling blood, and looked up again.
That faint starlight was still there.
Oh, as the comments suggested, the eldest sister has indeed returned.
Nie Yinzhi stood to one side, like an outsider, watching her frosty master emotionally stirred for the first time.
Meng Jin was as excited as a dog.
The Ruyi Sword in Nie Yinzhi's hand suddenly began to tremble, the sword humming incessantly. The sword qi, sharing the same origin as her, rampaged through her meridians, struggling to break free from her.
The Ruyi Sword flew out of her hand. Without a second thought, Nie Yinzhi quickly formed a seal with her fingers. The Soul Binding Formation overflowed from her palm, trapping the Ruyi Sword in mid-air.
The Ruyi Sword emitted a dazzling light, the sword's hum intensified. Nie Yinzhi's already bloodless cheeks turned as white as paper, only her blood-stained lips were strikingly red.
"Yin, the Ruyi Sword belongs to Xiao Ling," Sang Wumian said.
Nie Yinzhi gritted her teeth, she had guessed it, "Then why did you give it to me in the first place?"
At this moment, Sang Wumian had no patience to explain to her. Regardless of the backlash she would face from the sword qi, he broke the Soul Binding Formation with a flick of his finger. The Ruyi Sword broke free and rushed towards the sky, heading unhesitatingly towards its former owner.
Two figures followed closely behind it, not sparing her a single glance.
The barrage of comments whizzed past, leaving only a few stragglers at the end.
【The female lead is here! Seeing the dog running so fast to greet the female goose, I choose to forgive him】
【Sang Wumian, hurry up and see the miserable state of the female goose, see how she crawled out of the abyss while you were looking for a substitute】
【Wuwuwu my Lingling is finally coming back, back to her paradise in her heart】
【Coming back to find someone else has replaced her, the female lead is really pitiful.】
【She has lost a lot of blood, she needs to eat more meat to recover when she gets back】
Nie Yinzhi's hands were full of blood from the backlash of the sword qi, dripping from her fingertips. She stood alone in the courtyard, exchanging glances with the cat hiding under the table.
She walked to the portrait in the room. The woman in the painting was dressed in the uniform of the Cloud Scripture Sect, holding a long sword. The picture showed the icy snow beneath the sword testing platform, but her sparkling eyes seemed filled with the scenery of spring, with a tiny tear mole below her eye.
Nie Yinzhi drew a circular arc in front of her, conjuring a bright bronze mirror out of thin air, and compared herself to it back and forth.
The person in the mirror had snow-white skin and jet-black eyebrows and eyes. Her nose was delicate, lips red and teeth white. Her peach blossom eyes were upturned at the corners, with a small mole underneath.
"It really does look alike." Nie Yinzhi touched her own eyes, and also the tear mole in the same position, leaving a shocking red mark on her snow-white skin with her bloody fingertips.
Was she supposed to look like this originally?