Chapter 178: Under the Cliff (Part 2)
After dealing with the monsters along the way, Qiao Wan continued forward with Pei Chunzheng on her back.
The sky was getting darker and who knows how many more monsters were ahead, not to mention carrying an injured person on her back, continuing forward wasn't very realistic.
They had to find a place to rest first.
Pei Chunzheng had no objections to Qiao Wan's suggestion.
Fortunately, after walking and resting with Pei Chunzheng on her back, they finally found a cave.
As Qiao Wan stepped into the cave, she looked around.
The cave was a bit damp, and water was still dripping from the rocky walls.
She managed to find a slightly drier spot and gently placed Pei Chunzheng on the ground.
Qiao Wan said, "Wait here."
After a while, she returned with a bundle of firewood.
"Let's light a fire," she said.
Pei Chunzheng calmly took out a talisman and began to chant and perform some gestures.
With a whoosh, the flames leaped up, illuminating the cave and filling it with warmth.
In this situation, the tense atmosphere seemed to disappear instantly.
Qiao Wan found a place to sit and let out a sigh of relief.
Through the bright flames, the young man's face seemed to glow with a warm light, becoming softer.
The young man lowered his gaze and asked in a hesitant voice, "Why did you save me?"
Why?
Qiao Wan paused for a moment and scratched her head.
Actually, she didn't expect herself to save him so calmly either.
Did she hate Pei Chunzheng?
Did she feel betrayed by him, her emotions and youth wasted?
Well, not really.
There was a chance for them to be alone, and her emotions were relatively calm.
As Qiao Wan looked at the bright flames, she pondered for a while and organized her thoughts.
Since they were all grown-ups, it would be better to speak openly about anything.
"To be honest, I was really... upset when you treated me poorly before."
After all, it was her first love.
"But..." Qiao Wan paused, picked up some scattered twigs from the ground, and scratched them a few times. "It's all in the past. There wasn't much resentment to begin with."
So there's no deep-seated grudge?
After hearing these words, Pei Chunzheng fell silent for a moment without saying anything.
In this situation, Qiao Wan suddenly thought of Miaofa.
She could remain so calm now thanks to her senior, who had patiently comforted her when she was a heartbroken young girl.
Back then, the senior had told her that experiencing various loves and hates is a necessary lesson in life, like stepping away from worldly attachments and gaining enlightenment in Buddhist teachings. As for cultivators like her, they need to attain the path of enlightenment.
The person who looks down on others and doesn't get their hands dirty can never become a real buddha or immortal.
Coming from the ordinary world, having a sudden realization, and ultimately transcending the ordinary world, becoming pure and unburdened, this is the path of cultivating immortality.
"The so-called cultivation of immortality is actually cultivating the heart. Whether it's the heart of the Dao or the heart of the Buddha, once it is achieved, even if one falls during the journey to ascension, as long as the state of mind is pure and unburdened, one can still reach their own supreme buddha land."
This is completely different from what Master had told her before.
Qiao Wan, her face still stained with tears and snot, was stunned.
It turns out that one can become an immortal or buddha without ascension.
Once the heart of the buddha is achieved, one will reach nirvana.
Putting her thoughts aside, Qiao Wan collected her thoughts and calmly looked at Pei Chunzheng.
She didn't want to waste her time on these things anymore.
Life is as fragile as morning dew, and the will of the heavens is vast.
Life is fleeting, but compared to her previous life, she has so much more time in this life to do meaningful things.
She still has friends!
Qiao Wan's eyes sparkled.
She had something she wanted to pursue!
But the most important reason could also be that, after all the fighting and venting, it was enough.
"It's getting late," Qiao Wan dropped the small twig in her hand, stood up, hesitated for a moment, "Rest well."
Pei Chunzheng silently closed his eyes.
What's even more difficult to bear than love and hate is indifference.
Leaning against the rock wall in despair, the young man tightly pursed his lips.
In the instant he closed his eyes, he seemed to see... blood.
He didn't have the same open-mindedness as Qiao Wan.
He was a demon, a pure demon, with exceptional talent, but no matter how outstanding he was, it couldn't make his parents look at him more.
His mother loved his father almost to the point of madness, with only his father in her eyes. As for his father, he had multiple wives and mistresses, and he didn't even acknowledge her existence, let alone the existence of his own son.
That day seemed to be a snowy night...
Pei Chunzheng thought absentmindedly.
The lantern at home was shaken by the snow and wind, leaking a warm yellow light all over the place.
After finishing his sword practice, he came back a bit early and specifically bought a bracelet for his mother on his way back.
Even if he was a pure demon, he still hoped his father and mother could look at him more.
His mother was his everything.
In his vague childhood memories, she had once held him, her eyes and brows gentle like rippling spring water.
As he stepped over the threshold, he calmly ignored the mockery of his stepbrothers and anxiously gripped the bracelet in his hand.
At that time, he didn't know what he would see.
What he saw was his father, devouring his mother.
As a pure demon, his father gained power by consuming others of his kind.
His mother grew old and feeble, her mind becoming confused, and his father grew tired of her. In a fit of rage, he ate her.
Blood flowed all the way to the door, leaving behind only a broken hairpin in the pool of blood, along with the hand that had once gently patted his back and put him to sleep.
Now thinking back, he was very calm at that time. Taking advantage of his father's distraction, he stabbed him in the chest expressionlessly with a sword.
Then, he swallowed his father.
After eating his father, his cultivation soared.
He stumbled out of the courtyard, devouring anyone he saw, not sparing a single one.
Sitting on the ground, with no expression on his face, he consumed his stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister.
Within a day, he formed a pill.
Half a step to Nascent Soul.
The warm blood fell onto the snowy ground and quickly turned into ice.
Pei Chunzheng knelt on the ground, expressionless, as he finished eating his entire family.
In that instant, he even thought about devouring Qiao Wan.
He finally understood, and regretted it.
He...liked her.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he...unexpectedly fell in love with her.
Falling in love with someone so different from Mu Xiaoxiao...his substitute.
He would never let go.
In the long night, Qiao Wan decided to enter a deep meditative state.
Even after swallowing the Immaculate True Crystal, there were no changes in his dantian.
Qiao Wan no longer went to see Pei Chunzheng and began to focus wholeheartedly on facing the Immaculate True Crystal in her belly.
She could feel that the Immaculate True Crystal had not completely transformed. A large cluster of spiritual energy was piled up in her belly, yet to be fully absorbed. So she started to slowly and gradually "gnaw" at it.
After gnawing for a while, she finally gnawed off a sharp corner.
Just at that moment, her wrist suddenly tightened!
Pei Chunzheng ?!
Qiao Wan opened her eyes abruptly, her true energy still flowing inside her. If she made the wrong move, her efforts would be wasted.
Being mindful of the true energy circulating in her body, Qiao Wan froze and held back from resisting.
Suddenly, everything went black in front of her.
Pei Chunzheng covered her eyes.
The young man lowered his gaze and approached her lips.
He wouldn't give up.
His lips moved to just above her neck.
This mark.
His fingertips grazed over this vivid red mark. Pei Chunzheng held onto the girl's sturdy waist and his cold lips slowly descended onto her neck.
