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Translator: Fate
Translation Checker: Silavin
This was a Fragment of Time that had been buried. It was lost in the River of Time and surrounded by nothing but darkness. The only way to find it was through sheer luck.
Chan Hongyi was uncertain if she would even be able to leave safely and return to the present era where she belonged.
Right now, the most important thing to her was to continue swimming along the River of Time with this Fragment of Time as her guide. To unearth the truth she desired.
While doing so, she did not return to that mountain peak. She merely stared at it from a distance. She was worried that she would lose herself in these wonderful memories of the past and forget about the reason why she ever came here. She feared she would willingly end up lost in the past.
Even though she had a steely resolve, she could not guarantee that she would not be affected by the past.
Time continued to flow, though the pace slowed down. It eventually even started reversing again.
Chan Hongyi seemed like a bystander looking at the scenes that happened during that time.
In the end, she was back at that familiar mountain.
At the base of the mountain, a young girl in red was timidly clutching the sleeve of a hazy figure from behind.
A crowd of bandits were kneeling in front of the young girl in red. Filled with terror, they were repeatedly begging for mercy.
“They destroyed your village and set your home on fire. Don’t you want to take revenge?” A gentle male voice rang out. It had some kind of mystical power that made the angry, resentful, and insecure young girl in red slowly calm down.
“I do,” she replied. Her voice was crisp and unwavering.
“Do it then. Get your revenge. They’re right in front of you. You can do anything you want to them.” The man’s voice remained soft and gentle. It was as if nothing in this world could get a rise out of him.
Chan Hongyi stood in the distance and watched everything. She saw the young girl in red using a long-bladed sword to kill all the bandits in front of her, one by one. She did not care about the blood that splattered across her face or clung to her clothes. Her eyes were filled with resentment and a thirst for vengeance.
At the time, she believed that it was this group of bandits who massacred her entire village, killing her parents and many other innocent villagers.
From that point onwards, her Master became the only family she had.
She never thought that she would one day discover a cruel truth.
Her Master had been the one who arranged for the bandits to wipe out the village.
It meant that her Master, the one she admired and respected, was her biggest enemy.
The moment she found out about this, she was overcome with agony. She could not believe it. She did not want to accept it.
She ran to her Master in tears and questioned him, but when her Master simply admitted to it nonchalantly. This was when she came to a sudden realisation.
It turned out that her Master had always been a cold and indifferent person who cared nothing of the pain and heartache she had to endure.
From that day onwards, Chan Hongyi realised that the world she thought she knew had collapsed. She thought she understood her Master well, but it turned out that she never knew the real him.
Upon seeing this scene again, Chan Hongyi had to look away. She could not squash the sorrow she felt.
“Is the so-called truth still that important?” She had to ask herself this question. She had seen a lot of things thus far, but she did not get the answer she wanted.
Instead, she returned to the mountain and saw the memories of a past she did not want to remember. It was as if a healed wound had been ripped open again.
Chan Hongyi stood in the distance. In the end, she chose to leave. She did not know what the truth she was after was, or whether or not it actually existed.
“Is it just something I thought existed? Does it not actually exist after all?” Chan Hongyi was like a lonely ghost wandering through the past. No one could see her.
She was as lonely as the young girl in red who had been left with nothing, with no one to rely on.
Following that, she came to the Nether and saw Tao Yao, who was still a tiny Demonling peach tree. At the time, Tao Yao was constantly bullied by the older Demons.
“Tao Yao used to be so meek and gentle, but even she has changed now. Yet, me alone…” Chan Hongyi muttered to herself as she travelled through time. The ripples cleared and she ended up arriving at a familiar village.
This was her birthplace. It was nestled between the mountain and the river. The streets were bustling with people. The houses remained tall and proud. It was a harmonious village.
The villagers worked when the sun rose and went home when the sun set.
The hazy faces slowly grew clearer. She could not recall their names, but she remembered these villagers.
She had been a carefree child back then. She did not know what cultivation was and only heard about Immortals who could fly in the sky from the stories her parents told her.
Alas, everything was destroyed on that fateful night. The bandits’ attack happened so suddenly. All of the villagers were killed, and everything was destroyed in a blazing fire.
All she wanted to know was why her Master did that. What was his reason? What was the purpose?
She did not care whether his explanation made sense or not. She could force herself to accept it as long as he gave one. Yet, she did not even get a simple explanation. Not even a lie.
Chan Hongyi let out a quiet sigh as she stared at everything before her. Time reversed once more until it was the year she was born.
“That’s…” Just then, Chan Hongyi narrowed her eyes. All traces of calmness vanished as she stared at the night sky.
A streak of red light shot by like a shooting star. It was unmissable against the darkness of the night.
The red light charged towards the village where she was born.
“Am I that streak of red light?” She sensed a familiar aura from the red light. It was her.
The moment the streak of red light fell, a baby’s cry rang out. She had been born.
“Why don’t I remember this?” Chan Hongyi’s brows were knitted tightly. She searched her memories and did not find any recollection of this. She never heard her parents mention something like that happening on the day she was born.
The startling streak of red light had illuminated half the village.
The dogs howled and many villagers rushed out to see what was going on.
No one expected such a strange and terrifying sight to happen when a baby was born.
Even her birth parents were terrified. They wanted to throw her away.
Many villagers called for her to be set on fire. They were convinced that the red light represented blood and was a sign of bad luck. They were certain the baby would bring calamity to the village.
Some even picked up rocks to throw at the infant girl, still wrapped in blankets.
Her parents even got their hands on a torch and attempted to set fire to their newborn daughter. Their faces were twisted with fury and malice.
“Red light falling from the sky… A sign of calamity…” It was Chan Hongyi’s first time seeing this. Her eyes were filled with shock.
She would never have believed this if she had not seen it for herself. She remembered her parents as honest and hardworking people. Why would they ever show such fury and malice? Why would the kind villagers be so cruel that they wanted to kill a newborn baby? All because a shocking streak of red light appeared when she was born?
They were nothing like the villagers she remembered.
“Is there something wrong with my memory? Or, is there something wrong with this Fragment of Time?”
Chan Hongyi was frowning hard as she tried to figure out what had gone wrong. Why were her memories so different from what she was seeing now?
“No. There’s nothing wrong with my memories or what I’m seeing now. The difference lies in the village I grew up in.” Soon, Chan Hongyi deduced the crux of the situation. There was nothing wrong with her memories or what she was seeing.
“Are these my real parents and the villagers I grew up with?” Chan Hongyi’s lips curved up mockingly. She did not know if she was mocking herself or the villagers.
The flames grew bigger, lighting up the twisted looks of anger and cruelty on the people’s faces.
The torches were lit and raised high, and the newborn infant girl who had not even opened her eyes was crying.
Yet, no one went over to tend to her. Even her birth parents wanted to burn her alive.
In this era, an infant girl born with an omen of bloodshed was not only a representation of bad luck, but she also represented calamity. One in which would be a huge burden to others.
Her Mother bore an expression of vicious resentment because she was a girl and seemed to be rebuking her for not being a son.
Her Father’s expression was also one of anger and indifference. He did not care that the surrounding villagers were throwing rocks at his baby daughter.
Chan Hongyi had gone back in time and saw what happened when she was born. She should have been furious, but instead, she was calm and unaffected.
It was as if she was simply observing everything as an uninvolved bystander.
In fact, she seemed to have relaxed a little. [Perhaps this is the truth I’ve been looking for?]
“What a bunch of fools.” A man’s voice rang out calmly amidst the village that was filled with barking dogs and blazing flames.
“M-Master…” Chan Hongyi’s voice trembled. It was her first time saying that word ever since she went back in time.
A massive silhouette shrouded in fog suddenly appeared in the village. He crouched down. There was an invisible barrier behind him that turned all the rocks to dust.
He picked up the baby girl who mysteriously stopped crying.
All the villagers were beside themselves with panic and terror. They thought they had seen a Demon and wanted to flee at once.
Alas, it felt as if their legs had been bolted to the ground. They could not move at all. Their eyes were filled with horror as they screamed in fear.
“You poor girl. You would’ve died from the fire and the rocks tonight if I hadn’t come across you by coincidence.”
It was hard to describe the emotions in his quiet voice.
Even though Chan Hongyi could not see the figure’s face, she could tell from the familiar voice that it was him, her Master.
Before this, she never knew that these things happened on the night she was born. She had no idea that her birth parents wanted to set her on fire right after she had been born into this world.
“Master…” Chan Hongyi was staring at him in a daze. Her heart was trembling. All kinds of emotions flooded her.
“It’s a shame I don’t know how to care for a child. Otherwise, I could take you back with me. To be born with such power coming out from between your brows… You must’ve been an extraordinary being in your past life.” As he spoke, a hazy glow enveloped the baby girl.
The wounds caused by rocks immediately healed up.
Throughout this entire process, the villagers were rooted to the spot. They witnessed everything with eyes wide with horror.
“Foolishness is no excuse. Even a Tiger doesn’t eat its cubs, let alone a Human.” Chan Hongyi watched as Gu Changge made these comments. He seemed inclined to take the villagers’ lives, but he did not.
Just then, an unexpected silhouette showed up.
Though the figure was blurry, there was no way to hide its brilliance. The figure’s long hair danced in the wind. Her eyes were clear as jade and as bright as the moon.
“The Grand Palace Master of the Immortal Palace…” Chan Hongyi recognised her, of course. She knew that Gu Changge addressed the woman as Qingyi and the two were close confidants.
She even asked Gu Changge about their relationship before.
However, every time she asked, he would simply say that they were good friends.
Chan Hongyi did not expect to see this familiar figure in her past, and especially not on the day of her birth.
“A Tiger won’t eat its cub, but the same can’t be said for Humans…” She seemed to nod in agreement. Her eyes fell on the infant girl. Then, she said with her mellifluous voice, “I can take her back to the Immortal Palace. She was born with such power and possesses a remarkable Physique too. I’m sure she will have a bright future ahead of her.”
“The Immortal Palace knows how to teach, but I’m not convinced they know how to raise a child.” Gu Changge shook his head and said calmly, “She should have a peaceful and carefree childhood here.”
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