Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

Wang Ji paused and turned his head slightly, his hair falling down as he moved, hiding his expression at the moment.

The fire was so bright that it made the shadows even darker.

"..."

There was a moment of silence, and then he slowly took a step forward.

Suddenly, a suppressed sob came to his ears. Wang Ji paused, his fingers trembled slightly, and he slowly exhaled the foul air.

"I said the wrong thing."

In the end, he returned to Nangong Huaxue, squatted down, and carefully wiped the tears from her face.

Nangong Huaxue didn't say anything, but lowered her head, held his wrist, and shook her head slowly.

"I——" Wang Ji wanted to say something.

"you shut up."

Wang Ji closed his mouth and said no more.

The wall of fire gradually disappeared as time passed, but the scorching temperature refused to subside.

Wang Ji observed her expression and saw that she had calmed down a little. He said carefully: "...I won't cause trouble for them today. Don't worry, we will do it tomorrow..."

Nangong Huaxue gently let go and wiped away the tears from her face.

"Shut up."

Wang Ji didn't like others talking to him in such a commanding tone, but at this moment, he was just stunned for a moment, took her feelings into consideration, and obediently shut his mouth.

Nangong Huaxue sniffed and said calmly, "Don't leave today, just stay in the palace."

Wang Ji was stunned: "I——"

"I'll listen to you. We'll talk tomorrow." Nangong Huaxue lowered her eyes and didn't look at him straight in the eye. "You will take a day off tomorrow and stay in the palace. Don't ask why. You will know when the time comes."

Wang Ji loosened his fingers slightly and lowered his eyes: "...I know."

After Wang Ji left, the temperature around him finally dropped and returned to its previous coolness.

Nangong Huaxue still kept her head down, looking at her palms, without saying a word.

Slowly, water drops fell into the palm of the hand, leaving a shallow wet mark.

Then, tears fell drop by drop, gathered in the palm of his hand, and a small puddle appeared.

Nangong Huaxue suddenly lowered her head, covered her eyes, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Thinking back to Wang Ji's words, my heart felt like it was being slowly cut by a not very sharp knife, causing severe pain every time.

For some reason, she suddenly felt sorry for Wang Ji.

She felt sorry for him.

This pity came without warning, and she couldn't tell what it was about him that touched her heart, but she just suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

Nangong Huaxue couldn't tell what made her feel sorry for him, but her emotions were so overwhelming that they burst out before she could stop them.

The communication ring suddenly emitted light. Nangong Huaxue took a look and saw that it was Qin Xiao, so she answered the call.

"Mo Hanyu is fine, you can rest assured - what's wrong with you?"

Qin Xiao was rubbing his hair with sleepy eyes, obviously he had just woken up. After seeing her red eyes, he suddenly woke up and asked with a frown.

“——That bastard…” Nangong Huaxue herself didn’t know why there was so much grievance hidden in her voice. She repeated the incident intermittently, still unable to stop sobbing, “I don’t know why, I just feel so uncomfortable…”

Qin Xiao's eyes were a little complicated after hearing this, but he was not very good at comforting people: "I will go with Qing Yi tomorrow, is that okay?"

Nangong Huaxue was stunned when she heard this: "Are you... ready to talk to him?"

"Yes." Qin Xiao nodded, "Since he already knows... you might as well be honest. Besides, you really haven't had much contact with Mo Ze, so you can't vouch for him."

Nangong Huaxue was a little worried: "But you——"

"Don't we still have you?" Qin Xiao smiled comfortingly, "Besides, the location is in the palace. Even if the result is not as expected, we can still leave safely, right?"

"Of course." Nangong Huaxue could still afford this guarantee.

"See you tomorrow then." Qin Xiao said gently, "Don't cry anymore."

"Ah."

Nangong Huaxue's uneasy heart gradually calmed down and she revealed a half smile.

"Go to rest early."

……

Wang Ji walked quietly in the palace garden, looked at the calm lake in the distance, and slowly stopped.

...That's too out of control.

Wang Ji stared at the blooming green lotus in front of him and stroked it with his fingers. The translucent petals trembled slightly and drops of water fell.

Tens of thousands of flowers and plants are planted throughout the royal garden, ensuring that there are flowers in bloom in every season. The fragrance of the flowers is not strong, but ethereal and subtle, which makes people calm down unconsciously.

Wang Ji closed his eyes slightly and sighed.

He heard the sound of flapping wings at a very high frequency. He turned his head slightly and saw a bee of unknown species that was larger than his head hovering behind him, staring at him with its round eyes.

Wang Ji was stunned for a moment, as if he had not expected that such a creature would suddenly appear in the garden.

"…Did Xiao give it to her?"

Wang Ji vaguely remembered that the intelligence mentioned a bee, and its appearance matched. He remembered that the bee was called...

"...Xiao Mi?"

Wang Ji's expression was somewhat complicated.

Who came up with this name?

Glancing at the tail needle that was as sharp as a scimitar, Wang Ji slowly stretched out his hand.

The little honey rolled its eyes, did not resist, slowly landed on the hand, and folded its wings.

Wang Ji touched it twice tentatively, and when he saw no reaction, he relaxed again.

My attention shifted away from the bee. I stood in the crimson pavilion, gazing at the quiet and lonely cold pond. My thoughts couldn't help but wander again, this time following the water of the pond, all the way back to many years ago.

At that time, his father was still alive, and as the only child of his parents, he had been the focus of attention since he was a child.

As the head of the family and a favorite of the emperor, his father had to do many things personally. And he had been following his father in his work since he could remember.

I still remember that a family far away in the border colluded with other countries and often passed on internal information about Yuhua to neighboring countries. They should be executed for their crimes.

This was the first time he had seen a murder.

The blood-red sunset seemed to burn the earth, the strong smell of rust lingered at the tip of the nose, and the baby in the cradle was beheaded before he could learn to speak, and blood splattered all over the ground.

He watched quietly on the roof until no one was left alive. Then his father wiped the blood from his hands and said to him, "Go."

This year, he was five years old.

He was going to be the head of the family, his father told him.

As I spoke, my mother, who was sitting nearby, chuckled.

He looked over and saw that his mother, who was obviously so dignified and gorgeous, had a smile on her face that was so ironic, as if it was stabbing something like a sharp knife.

He could see that the relationship between his father and mother was not good.

Every time my father tried to get close to my mother, he would be rejected by her cold eyes. My mother always looked at him with cold and sarcastic eyes, as if she was watching a joke.

"Isn't this the son you've been dreaming about? I've already given him to you, so why are you pretending to be so?"

One night, he passed by his parents' room and heard his mother say this.

Is it because of him?

The young Wang Ji at that time could not understand the complex emotions involved. He just felt that the fault was his. If it weren't for him, the relationship between his parents might have been much easier.

But he couldn't die, so he wanted to know how to make his parents happy.

"You have to grow up quickly, Wang Ji." His father said to him earnestly, "You must become the head of the family."

He thought his parents were weird. His father would spend a lot of time with him, but it wasn't to maintain their father-son relationship, it was more like conveying something.

His father never smiled at him. Most of the time, he was serious and his tone was always commanding, telling him what he should and should not do.

His father did his best to stuff everything into him, regardless of whether he could digest it or not.

Unlike his father, his mother did not care about his growth and even showed annoyance when he tried to share his ideas with her.

"Instead of spending your time like this, you might as well think about how to be a qualified head of the family." The mother laughed sarcastically.

His parents could not provide him with enough emotions, and he had seen the darkness and bloodiness of human nature since he was a child. The child's body could not digest so much negative information, so he could only paralyze his perception defensively.

Suppressing his emotions became what he was best at.

Even after his attributes were awakened, his life did not change much, except that he added a task called cultivation in the middle of the night.

He couldn't understand why his parents gave birth to him when their relationship was so strained, nor did he understand why his father behaved so strangely. He wanted to satisfy his parents, so that he would be happier, but he didn't know how to do it, so he could only try his best to complete every task his father issued.

That day, he followed his father to the palace as usual, and should have stood outside the hall waiting as usual.

"As I remember, you are about the same age as Huaxue. Go and chat with her." The emperor waved his hand, obviously trying to get rid of him.

Melting snow?

Wang Ji thought for a moment and knew the identity.

The emperor's only daughter and heir to the throne.

The emperor is not in good health and urgently needs a qualified heir to take over the position, but I heard that this prince's performance is disappointing, and he has a strange temperament and is difficult to deal with.

Following the guards' instructions, I came to the garden, but was told that she was hiding. If I wanted to find her, I couldn't use special means such as attributes. I was also reminded that she was around the cold pond in the flower garden.

Before they even met, Wang Ji was certain that she was definitely a very troublesome child.

She couldn't help feeling a little annoyed when she thought about what her father said about doing something for her in the future.

But the king's order was hard to disobey, so Wang Ji and the guards started searching and after several turns they finally found it at the back of the pavilion.

He was shocked when he found her. The little girl was clinging to the round pillar. She looked only four or five years old. She was standing on the uncovered area with the toes of her shoes close to the edge. She would fall into the water if she was not careful.

Even in such a dangerous situation, she actually planned to jump to the bridge opposite - the bridge was at least three meters away from the pavilion.

"and many more--"

His heart skipped a beat and he quickly tried to stop him.

The girl was startled by his shout and her feet slipped and she was about to fall face down into the water. Fortunately, Wang Ji grabbed her wrist at the critical moment.

"Who are you?" The girl asked angrily, still in shock.

Wang Ji was in no mood to deal with her anger. He carefully pulled her back into the pavilion and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure that she was safe.

The girl was obviously not satisfied with his answer. Just as she was about to say something, it suddenly started to rain heavily.

It rained heavily without any warning. The rain curtain covered everything outside the pavilion, making everything blurry.

The thunder roared and the girl was startled and seemed a little scared.

Wang Ji couldn't understand her fear, he just looked outside and knew that he couldn't leave in the short term.

“…I’m sorry.” The girl knew she had caused trouble. She scratched her head, took out her communication bracelet, and shouted, “Don’t look for me. Come back when the rain stops.”

It really surprised him that this girl knew how to be considerate to her subordinates.

The girl seemed a little annoyed after saying this. She scratched her hair, messing up her carefully combed hairstyle, and then looked at him gloomily.

"……What are you doing here?"

"Your Majesty asked me to come find you." Wang Ji replied with a smile.

Unexpectedly, she frowned: "Why are you laughing?"

Wang Ji:?

Before Wang Ji had time to think about the meaning of her words, he heard it again.

"What a fake smile."

Wang Ji was stunned. It was the first time someone said his smile was fake.

Maybe it was because they were of similar age, which always made people relax their guard. The girl looked at the rain for a while and then took the initiative to chat.

"How old are you?"

"Nine years old."

"Ah? So your attribute has awakened?"

"Yes."

"what is it?"

"…It's a shadow attribute."

Wang Ji's heartbeat suddenly quickened when he faced the girl's sparkling eyes.

His attributes weren't very pleasing, and even his mother gave him a look of disgust when she saw his true attributes during awakening.

He didn't want to see the girl have the same expression as her mother.

"What exactly is that?" The girl insisted, and was determined to find out. "I remember that the shadow department seems to have a specific true body, right?"

"...Yes." Wang Ji had no choice but to nod and say, "Mine...is a spider."

After that, the sound of his heart beating was so loud that it made him a little nervous.

He lowered his eyelids, avoiding the girl's eyes, and was even a little afraid to see her expression at this moment.

Unexpectedly, the girl was just stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Really? Let me see."

Wang Ji was stunned, and looked up to meet her bright and curious eyes: "Are you sure?"

"Of course." The girl didn't understand why he asked that.

Wang Ji stopped talking and slowly stretched out his hand. A shadow appeared at his fingertips and slowly condensed into a ball, forming a slender shadow spider.

The shadow spider stood lightly on the fingertips and raised one of its front paws to touch the girl's outstretched fingertips.

"Wow, so cute." The girl was very surprised. "This is the first time I have seen such a thing."

As he said this, he found nothing.

"It's just a shadow after all." Wang Ji smiled helplessly, his mind slightly moved. The shadow spider melted into the shadow, slid towards the girl, and appeared in her hand.

"Wow." The girl seemed to really like it and her eyes narrowed with laughter.

Wang Ji looked at the girl who was overjoyed. He was infected by her cheerful smile and the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose up as he chuckled.

He didn't have much experience in communicating with people his own age, but more with their parents. Suddenly, when he came into contact with a child who was a few years younger than him, he couldn't help but relax and his eyes softened.

The atmosphere warmed up and was no longer as cold as before.

The girl chatted with him for a long time, and she seemed to have no worries, shaking her head. This made Wang Ji envious.

"Have you had any troubles recently?" Wang Ji asked suddenly, remembering other people's comments about her.

"Troubled?" The girl was stunned, thought seriously for a while, and scratched her head, "I don't know if this counts... I just keep having a nightmare."

"Nightmare?"

What kind of trouble is this?

As if seeing the confusion on Wang Ji's face, the girl quickly added.

"It's just... I always have a strange dream. In the dream... there is a strange person, I don't know if he is a human... He is so pitiful, his palms are nailed to the rack, his body is covered in blood... His eyes are gone, black holes..."

Lingchi? Wang Ji knew about this punishment and wondered why she had such a dream.

"Although he has no eyes, he always looks at me...just looks at me...as if he wants to say something, but when he opens his mouth, there is nothing in it. He is so pitiful..." the girl said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Wang Ji had never seen a girl cry before, and was at a loss. He had to rack his brains to think of a solution: "Then... do you want to see him in your dream next time and ask him why he is like this?"

The girl wiped her tears, her eyes were still red, but she was listening to him carefully.

"If he appears frequently in your dreams, he must be doing something. Next time you see him, you can ask him what he is going to do and what he wants to say." Wang Ji knew that this was a useless idea, as he might have forgotten everything in his dreams. But when he saw that the girl had stopped crying, he insisted on finishing what he said.

"Well... I'll try?" The girl wiped her eyes and seemed to follow his advice.

Wang Ji breathed a sigh of relief: "Yeah."