Illusion (V)

“I…” Meng Qi murmured again. Her brain was totally in chaos.

Dislike?

Of course not!

To her, Yun Qingyan was an existence like a god. He was the tall mountain that she could never reach. As long as she could follow behind his footsteps without dragging him down and aroused his displeasure, she was already very content. If she could be useful to him occasionally, she had nothing more to ask. So how could she be the one to dislike him?

Being able to see him day and night like this and returning to the past she thought she would never be able to return, Meng Qi was on the ninth cloud of happiness.

“Why are you crying?” Yun Qingyan murmured. His fingers slid down Meng Qi’s forehead and finally brushed her eyelashes gently. The girl’s long, thick eyelashes were wet, and there were crystal tears in her clear eyes.

Yun Qingyan wiped Meng Qi’s tears with his fingers: “Tell me, why are you crying?”

“Because…” Meng Qi looked at him, tears running down her cheeks. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since the last time she shed tears.

Meng Qi suddenly reached out and wiped away her tears. Her eyes were red. As she kept looking at the man in front of her, she slowly uttered, word by word: “Because I am about to wake up from the dream, so I cried.”

Yun Qingyan’s expression suddenly changed.

Meng Qi raised her eyes and looked around. Out of a sudden, the whole bamboo house began to turn into countless fragments, accompanied by a loud cracking sound. The fragments didn’t fall to the ground, but disappeared into nothingness. The bamboo house, bamboo table, pill cauldron, warm sunshine…and then the ‘Yun Qingyan’ sitting opposite Meng Qi. His expression was very weird, as if he was in the middle of smiling, but the smile seemed distorted.

“You…” Meng Qi stood up. The tears on her face had been wiped away. “Although Senior hasn’t acknowledged me and I still am not blessed with the opportunity to worship him as my Master, but I always regard him as my Master. He treats me very well, like a master and a father. Therefore, he is the person I respect the most in this world, and he…” Meng Qi paused. There was a rare coldness in her voice: “…will never do such a thing to me.”

The cracking sound became louder, and finally, the ‘Yun Qingyan’ in front of her also turned into countless fragments. Meng Qi watched the scene without emotion. Her eyes were still slightly red, but her gaze was full of indifference. Inside the storage space, the little white tiger’s eyes finally lit up with joy. He was very happy that Meng Qi managed to see through the illusion faster than his prediction. But at the same time, the girl’s words also made him dumbfounded.

She not only still called him ‘Senior’ behind his back, but also said such nonsense as ‘like a master and a father’…

Did he look so old? So much older than that Ji Wujiong?

Not only did she call him ‘Senior,’ she even wanted to worship him as her Master?

Tsk—

Since it was so, what would her reaction be once she knew his identity and remembered what she had done to him on their first meeting?

The little white tiger turned over, moved his paws under his jaw, closed his eyes again, and rested his mind.

…

“Meng Qi!” Before the illusion array completely dissipated, Meng Qi suddenly heard an anxious call.

“Ji Wujiong?” She quickly turned around and looked at the place where the voice came from. Not far behind her, there was Ji Wujiong, half-leaning, half-sitting against a boulder on a steep cliff. He seems to be injured. In addition to the three scars on his right face, there were several more wounds on his left cheek. His black robe was also torn in several places, and his hair looked a little messy.

“What happened with you?” Meng Qi quickly approached him.

“Don’t…” Ji Wujiong panted heavily, “Don’t come here!”

As soon as his voice fell, a surging amount of spiritual aura suddenly descended from the sky, surrounding Meng Qi’s whole body. This spiritual aura was too abundant, a bit like the medicinal aura that came upon her when she broke through into the fourth rank of medical cultivation. This aura was very thick and dense, so much that Ji Wujiong couldn’t even see Meng Qi’s figure from outside.

“It cannot be…” As Ji Wujiong stared at Meng Qi, he muttered to himself, “I’m almost dead here, but she…”

Ji Wujiong hadn’t finished yet, and the spiritual aura surrounding Meng Qi began to turn rapidly. It was painful. Meng Qi felt as if countless needles and knives were piercing all over her body. A large amount of spiritual aura quickly surged towards her spiritual sea, which had been idle for a long time. Although the aura was strong and powerful, it didn’t feel overwhelming at all.

After being filled with spiritual aura, Meng Qi’s spiritual sea quickly began to expand.

Could it be…

Meng Qi tried hard to stand firm, but suddenly a soft voice rang in her mind: “Young Daoist, relax.”

Meng Qi was startled. Although she didn’t know who this voice was, a subtle feeling in her heart told her that this voice wouldn’t deceive her. Meng Qi obediently relaxed her body. Her spiritual sea gradually expanded, gathering more and more spiritual aura.

At a certain moment, Meng Qi saw it. The incoming spiritual aura gradually condensed inside her spiritual sea, forming a huge white ball of light. More and more aura condensed into the ball of light, which was getting smaller and smaller. In the end, a bright light suddenly filled the space, and the ball finally turned into a small silver-white sphere, floating above the spiritual sea.

Strands of spiritual aura flowed out from the sphere and slowly poured into the spiritual sea below. The originally empty spiritual sea, which had expanded into ten times its previous size, gradually was filled with aura.

The aura that surrounded Meng Qi’s body had completely been absorbed. Meng Qi finally recovered her strength and stepped back on the ground with her feet. After being stunned for a moment, she plunged into her spiritual sea. Looking at the vast spiritual sea and the silver-white sphere floating on it, she subconsciously gasped in disbelief.

Did she…just form her Golden Core?

When Meng Qi returned to her senses, she was met with Ji Wujiong’s bewildered eyes.

“Congratulations, Meng Qi.” The young man sneered. “You are finally no longer a dead burden.”

Author’s Note:

Meng Qi: Master, did I do well?

Yun ‘Like a Master, Like a Father’ Qingyan: Although I am very pleased that Little Meng Qi saw through the fake so quickly, why do I feel heartbroken?