After the Great Dao died

Chapter 23 Childhood Sweethearts

Chen Lingxi waited for Wang Kong in Liujie Alley.

He climbed onto a rooftop and looked towards a house in the distance.

The house was old, with moss growing on the walls and weeds growing between the tiles. The gate was crooked, and the red paint on the door had long since peeled off, leaving only the wood grain cracked in various ways.

Chen Ling's eyes were filled with longing.

The reason he always took this Willow Street alley when going to the government office was not because the alley was closer than other places.

Because Chen's father had entered officialdom in his early years and served as the deputy judge of the Yuanjiang Prefecture, the Chen family rented a place there at that time.

The alley was small, with only eight or nine households. The Chen family lived at the end of the alley, next to the Xi family, and across the street was the Zhao family.

Three households share a well, and the well water is very sweet.

He lived here until he was five years old.

Although he was young at the time, he remembered many things in that alley very clearly—he also remembered that he always played and frolicked with the little girl of the Xi family. The girl was a year younger than him, and she was beautiful and delicate. She followed him around all day calling him "Brother Lingxi".

In spring, the two of them would squat in the corner and count ants; in summer, they would wade barefoot on the bluestone slabs; in autumn, they would collect a full bag of sycamore seeds; and in winter, they would huddle together to watch the snow.

Once, while climbing a tree to raid a bird's nest, he slid down a branch, tearing his trouser leg and scraping off a piece of skin from his knee, with beads of blood gushing out.

The youngest daughter of the Xi family turned pale with fright. She tore off her own handkerchief to wrap his wound, but after she finished, she felt wronged and burst into tears.

Later, when Chen's father was promoted to the capital, the family left Liujie Lane.

The day we moved was the third day of the third lunar month. The willow trees at the entrance of the alley had just sprouted new buds, and fluffy willow catkins filled the street.

The youngest daughter of the Xi family stood at her own door, holding a willow branch in her hand, her eyes red, but she did not cry.

He glanced back once, then climbed into the carriage and never went back.

Later, the Xi family rose to prominence and made a name for themselves by presenting a treasure. As a result, Xi's father was demoted to Luyang to serve as the prefect. The two families also became good friends for many years and corresponded frequently.

Until Chen Lingxi was seventeen years old, there were even rumors in the capital that the Chen and Xi families were going to be united by marriage.

This is of course nonsense, because Chen Lingxi has not seen the Xi family's youngest daughter since she was five years old.

He only remembered that her name was Xi Yu.

My mother even joked that the name was good, and that Lingxi would become our daughter-in-law in the future.

Later, the Chen family suffered a great tragedy, with the entire family executed. Only a few young men under the age of twenty who had achieved official rank were forced into slavery.

After much wandering, Chen Lingxi returned to Yuanjiang Prefecture, only to learn that shortly after they left Liujie Lane in Yuanjiang Prefecture, a plague had broken out in Liujie Lane, killing hundreds of people.

I heard that the person who died had black spots all over his body, a persistent high fever, and died within three to five days.

The government sent a coroner to investigate, but after investigating, they could not find the cause and only said it was an epidemic.

This once bustling street has been abandoned. Some people, not believing in the superstition, moved in because of the cheap rent, but they often died of illness within a year.

As more and more people died, no one dared to approach anymore—the matter was too eerie, and the people of Yuanjiang assumed that a malevolent spirit had taken up residence in the street. They would shake their heads and click their tongues at the mention of it, and would take a detour.

Chen Lingxi was not afraid.

Every time he went to report to the government, he would bring Liu Changle to this place, which could be considered a visit to an old haunt.

Strangely enough, the two of them came many times and never contracted any disease. Liu Changle once joked that it was probably because the poison in their bodies was too strong, and even evil spirits disliked them.

Chen Lingxi smiled, but in her heart she had a vague feeling that this was not the case.

He was no longer the child he once was. Over the past two years, he had experienced much hardship and had a clear understanding of the dangers of the world.

But for him, this Willow Street always held an inexplicable warmth, as if the dead and scattered people had left behind something unseen here.

He squinted at the dilapidated old house, where half of the roof of the Chen family's house had collapsed, revealing charred beams.

He glanced at the neighboring house again—the Xi family originally rented this place, and the willow tree in the courtyard was lush and verdant, standing at least nine zhang tall, with a trunk diameter of about two chi.

"Um?"

Chen Lingxi suddenly felt something was off.

"I came and went in a hurry before, and never looked at it carefully."

Looking at it now... this willow tree is really too strange.

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow.

This willow tree was planted by him and Xi Yu, the youngest daughter of the Xi family.

That day was the day of the Awakening of Insects. An old man selling flowers at the alley entrance gave him a willow branch, saying that he had broken it off by the river and that it would grow if he stuck it in the soil. He excitedly ran home, found an empty spot in the Xi family's courtyard, dug a hole with a stick, and was about to plant it when the Xi family's youngest daughter ran over and insisted on planting it with him.

The two of them, one holding the willow branch and the other adding soil, then poured in a small bucket of well water.

He still remembered how clumsy Xi's youngest daughter was when she was watering the plants, spilling half a bucket of water onto her own skirt, which made her stomp her feet in anger.

It has only been fourteen or fifteen years since then.

Chen Lingxi found the willow tree strange because no matter how fast a willow tree grows, it shouldn't be nine zhang tall and two chi thick.

An ordinary willow tree is only about the thickness of a bowl after ten years, and it is already very old when it grows to the thickness of a waist after twenty years.

The plant in front of me is not old at all; on the contrary, its branches and leaves are lush and green, so green that it seems to drip with emerald.

"How can a willow tree grow so thick and strong?"

A sense of doubt arose in his heart, and he jumped over several courtyard walls.

He approached the willow tree, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently stroked its rough bark.

The bark was cool, and the coolness seeped into his palm, traveling upwards along his veins, as if something was probing his secrets.

In an instant, Chen Lingxi suddenly sensed something, feeling a mysterious power spreading in his palm.

The power was extremely faint and subtle, almost imperceptible, like smoke or mist, lingering between his fingers, neither intimate nor repulsive.

He paused slightly, as if sensing something, and opened the shrine.

[Complete Enlightenment Divine Power: Energy Replenishment Progress 52%]!

Chen Lingxi frowned immediately, greatly surprised!

Over four days, under the [Six Qi True Method] breathing technique, Chen Ling's progress in replenishing his spiritual energy through cleansing and awakening his divine powers jumped to 4.3%.

Progress is extremely slow.

But now... just because he touched this willow tree, the progress of replenishing his vital energy with the Chujue Divine Power has actually increased so much.

"What's so strange about this willow tree?"

Chen Ling withdrew his hand and stood there pondering for a moment.

"Send a wisp of spiritual energy in?"

He tried to slowly activate the spiritual energy in his dantian, wanting to send a wisp into the willow tree to investigate.

As soon as the spiritual energy flowed into his palm, he hesitated again.

"There are too many strange things in this world. It is unwise to rashly transfer spiritual energy. If there is any danger, the loss will outweigh the gain."

He had learned this in his past life—don't be overly curious about things you don't understand.

He is currently only at the second level of Qi cultivation and knows very little. If he rashly uses his spiritual Qi to investigate and accidentally touches something he shouldn't, the consequences will be far beyond what he can bear.

After much deliberation, he finally withdrew his hand.

Let it go.

"This willow tree has always been in the alley. It's not too late to investigate it again when we can activate the Immortal Willow next time."

Chen Lingxi climbed over the courtyard wall, stood at the base of the wall to conceal her movements, and continued to wait.

At this moment, the void shifted!

On a mountaintop a thousand miles away, the sea of ​​clouds surged like waves, and the glow of the sunset dyed the clouds a pale gold.

On the mountaintop stands a pine tree, beneath which lies a blue stone, upon which sits a young woman cross-legged.

She was extremely beautiful, with eyebrows like distant mountains, eyes like autumn water, and a face so white it was almost transparent, as if a piece of fine mutton fat jade had been soaked in moonlight.

At this moment, her eyes were closed, her breathing was deep and long, and she was practicing her exercises.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes.

Those eyes were calm and still, like a stagnant pool.

She glanced down at the back of her right hand, where a faint willow-leaf-shaped mark was faintly visible, and it was slightly warm.

She frowned almost imperceptibly, as if sensing something from the willow tree.

She raised her right hand, her index finger and thumb lightly touching, as if about to flick her fingers.

The movement suddenly stopped halfway through.

Her brows relaxed, a faint look of surprise flashed in her eyes, then returned to calm.

That surprise lasted only a moment before she completely erased it, as if it had never existed.

"Chen Lingxi?"

She was talking to herself, her voice very soft.

The name lingered on her tongue for a moment.

She naturally remembered him—Liujie Lane, the bluestone steps, her childhood playmate.

What happened next? News came from the capital that the Zhong family had angered the emperor, and the Chen family was implicated, with the entire family executed and their only son made a government slave.

She shook her head slightly after hearing this, and never thought of him again.

But at this moment, Xi Yu's eyes were calm and expressionless, and her movements suddenly stopped.

She slowly lowered her right hand, letting the willow leaf mark on the back of her hand gradually fade until it disappeared.

She shook her head and said, "He's trapped in a cage, already just another ordinary person... why waste the remaining power of the [Immortal Willow]?"

This statement was made in an extremely calm manner, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with him or her, without any contempt, regret, or even pity.

Now we have taken different paths, embarking on the path of immortality, no longer ordinary people.

I'll just forget about it.

She no longer snaps her fingers.

The mountain breeze rustled through the pines, lifting a strand of her hair at her temple, and she closed her eyes in meditation.

"The immortal willow, which holds a dead dragon in its mouth, has been nourished by drops of blood for three thousand years. One day, a heavenly eye will grow on its branch, piercing through the mysteries of life and death in the universe."

The four lines of verse echoed in her ears once more, each word distinct, their lingering sound resonating long afterward.

"After a year of seclusion starting today, I can... ascend the tower again."

Then, she closed her eyes again.

Only the sound of the pine trees remained on the mountaintop.

Just then, Chen Lingxi, thousands of miles away, finally received the arrival of the person.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he silently slid back several steps, using a clump of withered grass in the corner of the wall to conceal himself. Then, with a light touch of his toes against the base of the wall, he leaped onto the roof like a night cat.

The tiles on the eaves sank slightly under his foot, but without making a sound.

The Concealing Edge Technique flowed silently within his body, his vital energy and blood not leaking out in the slightest. His body pressed against the roof ridge, like a blot of ink melting into the shadows of the roof tiles, leaving no trace to be found!

The Concealing Edge Technique is indeed profound and effective.

At the alley entrance, Wang Kong, still dressed in the same manner, strode over with a gloomy expression.