My Arch-Nemesis Cried and Begged Me Not to Die 65

Chapter 65: This time, it’s my turn to find you.

In the hidden space, the lotus spirit glanced at the fellow beside him who was finally feeling a little satisfied, his expression somewhat disbelieving.

“He can actually realize on his own that there’s something wrong with his memory… and he can even see you without any external force…”

Liao Chen cast his gaze at him. The lotus spirit murmured, “This is completely illogical… are we encountering a real hiding?”

“How is it that smelling you is right, but seeing me is illogical?”

“…” The lotus spirit was silent for a moment. “I am just a flower, hidden along with you. You are the main culprit. Of course it’s illogical to see you.”

He was clearly thinking of the situation when he himself had been hidden before, and found it a little difficult to accept Liao Chen’s luck at this moment.

Liao Chen, for a rare moment, was willing to comfort another. “Cheer up. He is Yan Jingyu, after all.”

There seemed to be a hint of pride and showing off in these words. The lotus spirit was silent for a while again, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “I know!”

“The reason why hiding can hide us is because most humans use their own brains to remember everything. But Yan Jingyu is different. He can see the objective past through the Heavenly Mandate. With this law, his brain simply cannot deceive itself like others, which is why he can discover on his own that something is missing from his memory.”

“Are you scolding me?”

“…An existence.” The lotus spirit corrected his words, then stroked his chin. “But hiding itself is also one of the laws of the Heavenly Dao. Even if he can see the past through the Heavenly Mandate Eyes, he shouldn’t be able to see you… could it be because your human body has merged with his?”

He immediately said, “If that’s the case, then after he ascends to immortality, even if he can realize the existence of this law of hiding, everything about you in his physical body will also be completely destroyed under the divine tribulation. At that time, he should not be able to see you.”

Liao Chen frowned. “You can’t stand to see me do well, can you?”

“This is a reasonable speculation!” The lotus spirit pointed upwards. “Don’t you forget, the thirty-six rules still want him to die. Will they just watch him ascend to immortality so smoothly?”

“The Heavenly Mandate rune has already merged with his bloodline…”

“But there is also reincarnation among the rules. If the rule of reincarnation acts, they can keep him trapped at the moment of immortal ascension forever.”

Liao Chen stared at him without blinking. “Reincarnation?”

“Of course.” The lotus spirit pointed to his own nose. “I told you, I once connected with the Heavenly Dao. I was the first person to break the laws of the Heavenly Dao. Among the rules, there is cause and effect, reincarnation, hiding, sequence, time, heavenly punishment, annihilation, immortality, contract, mystery, prophecy, silence… Even if we can’t completely break all the laws, as long as everyone gets even a little bit of energy, it will be a devastating blow to the mortals below. The laws of the Heavenly Dao can be broken through other laws, but the rules that are manipulated by people are very difficult to break…”

“Last time I went to save Yan Qi, they just used the divine tribulation…”

“The divine tribulation is just the most basic punishment set by the rules using the Heavenly Dao. But that is simply a drop in the bucket of the Heavenly Dao’s power. The divine tribulation is the most insignificant authority in their hands… They dare not use the rules to deal with mortals without authorization, because they are afraid of the backlash from the Heavenly Dao. But you said, that is Yan Jingyu.”

Liao Chen looked at Yan Jingyu again. The other was currently looking at something in his own room, his expression appearing somewhat reminiscent.

The space around him lit up silently again.

He had already realized that every time Yan Jingyu’s thoughts were on other things and he didn’t pay attention to him, this hidden space would regain its brief brightness.

He stood at the door and looked at the other. Yan Jingyu’s fingers gently stroked the desk and chair he had once used.

Even after so many years, his room still remained the same. Qin Zhongyou clearly did not live in this room, but it was kept very clean.

Yan Jingyu’s gaze passed through time and saw Qin Zhongyou walking through this place.

He was always very patiently wiping every inch of the room with a cloth with his own hands. The fact that this place was spotless was all because of Qin Zhongyou’s personal care.

He saw him gently dip the handkerchief in water, wring it dry, and carefully wipe the windowsill. He personally tidied the small couch that he had loved to lie on in his youth. Clearly, no one had lived there for a long time, but he would still often change the pillows with different patterns.

He saw Qin Zhongyou sitting carefully in the courtyard, changing the new sword tassel for Du Fang’s scabbard, even though the one he had taken off was still very new.

Qin Zhongyou had always lived in a side room, often standing at the door and looking out, standing for a long time, as if he were waiting for the master to return.

Yan Jingyu sighed. As he turned, he was suddenly stunned again. The man in black appeared again, but this time, he saw the direction of his blood-stained fingers. On the side of a door, four words were written neatly in red: Do not ascend to immortality.

These things flashed by.

Yan Jingyu strode over, and everything disappeared before his eyes again.

Liao Chen’s space plunged into darkness.

Every time Yan Jingyu’s gaze or thoughts were on him, his world would once again plunge into darkness.

The lotus spirit came to him. “You, you won’t let him ascend to immortality… are you crazy?! If he doesn’t ascend to immortality, he will never discover that we are hidden, and we will never be able to get out!”

Liao Chen shook the bloodstains from his hands. In this space, he couldn’t even use his spiritual energy.

“I told him, it was to remind him that there is danger in immortal ascension.” His tone was calm. “How could he be the kind of person who would casually listen to whatever others say?”

But these few words would definitely make him wary.

Yan Jingyu’s fingers brushed past the words that had disappeared with the other. His fingers could not feel any liquid residue, but when he took his fingers down, a faint smell of blood was rubbed on his fingertips.

…Yan Jingyu held his breath slightly. He did not look up again.

Instead, he turned and calmly returned to the desk and sat down.

He’s warning me… Although that person had once had eyes full of hatred for him, although Yan Jingyu had guessed that that person was his arch-nemesis, at this moment, he believed the other without reservation.

He looked at his own fingers again.

The rust-like red seeped into his fingerprints and slowly disappeared. Yan Jingyu frowned.

Do not ascend to immortality… he knows some things. He knows that there is danger in immortal ascension.

“Wen Renying.” He spoke. Wen Renying immediately popped out. Yan Jingyu cleaned the faint red from his hands and said calmly, “I remember you told me… my father was a cautious person.”

“Of course!” Wen Renying said, “Back then, when little Zhongyou’s mother, little A-Rui, was attempting immortal ascension, your father told her to make more preparations. He had your mother, and also you. If he wasn’t completely prepared, it would be impossible for him to attempt immortal ascension… After all, he could have ascended to immortality before you were even born. Didn’t he only really set off when you had reached the peak of the Taiqing Realm?”

Yan Jingyu looked at the door again. It was clean, with nothing on it.

“When Aunt Qin went to attempt immortal ascension, Zhongyou was only five years old.” Yan Jingyu’s expression was dazed. “She and Zhongyou’s father were also deeply in love… she had also entered the peak of the Taiqing Realm early on. She must have also made full preparations…”

But both of them had failed.

“My enemy is not the Zuoqiu family.” Yan Jingyu said in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the ground. In that instant, it seemed as if an unknown force had enveloped him. Wen Renying said cautiously, “What do you mean by this…”

“The only thing that can break a law-grade artifact is another law of the same level. The reason your Heavenly Mandate Eyes couldn’t see clearly was because…”

“Rumble—!”

A scene suddenly flashed through his mind. He was standing on the roof, and the sound of heavenly thunder rumbled in his ears, like ten thousand beasts stampeding. Someone was saying something to him. At that time, he clearly hadn’t heard anything, but at this moment, that voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

“You can’t hear these words now, but it doesn’t matter. After you ascend to immortality, all the hidden authority will become ineffective. You will remember everything I said.”

“Yan Qi, above the rules, there is someone…”

Hidden—!

It’s hidden.

He had merged with the laws of the Heavenly Mandate. Although he had not yet ascended to immortality, he already possessed an immortal quality, which was why he could remember these words.

That person had reminded him long ago, but he had never been able to hear it…

And also…

—”What you said just now, law-grade artifact… what does that mean?”

—”That is an artifact that can only be controlled after possessing an immortal quality. It is bound to the laws. But to say that the Heavenly Mandate Eyes are an artifact, it’s better to say that the laws have been personified through your eyes. The reason you can cultivate so quickly is because the Heavenly Dao has chosen you.” The person he couldn’t see seemed to turn to him. “You were born with an immortal quality. You are a child of the laws.”

“Your Heavenly Mandate Eyes should be able to see through everything.” That voice’s tone was calm. “As you…”

The voice he couldn’t hear that day resounded clearly in his mind: “As your status gets higher and higher, your Heavenly Mandate Eyes will not only be able to see through the past and the future, but you will also be able to stir the long river of fate with a single thought, move the tributaries of fate, and even alternate and exchange them. Your highest status may be that of the Lord of Fate…”

“If you find that your Heavenly Mandate Eyes cannot be used, then it must be that someone else has used another law to hide your authority.”

Yan Jingyu’s expression was always calm, but his scalp was tingling. An unknown anger moved his eye sockets, moved his nasal cavity. He trembled silently. In Wen Renying’s worried gaze, he sat down heavily on the couch.

So that’s how it is…

No wonder my Heavenly Mandate Eyes couldn’t see anything. No wonder I clearly used a Heavenly Mandate art to divine and clearly came to the conclusion that my father would succeed in his immortal ascension, but in the end, it turned out like that.

—”The Heavenly Mandate Eyes are no ordinary artifact, but you have abused them for a long time. Did you often hear back then that someone told you not to always spy on fate, that sooner or later you would be punished by heaven.”

—”I am the one sent by the Heavenly Dao to punish you. You have spied on fate wantonly, and you have long since been targeted by fate. To say that your entire clan was killed by me, it’s better to say that you brought it upon yourself!”

—”The annihilation of your entire clan was a heavenly punishment!!!”

The voices of Zuoqiu Han and Ruan Qingwan sounded in his ears at the same time. Yan Jingyu slowly stroked his clothes and walked out.

His footsteps trod over every inch of the Yan estate. From the long river of fate, he looked at the laughter and joy of his old friends. A long time was layered on the space at this moment. They were still laughing in the courtyard just now, and the next moment, they were killed with a single sword in another part of the courtyard.

Yan Jingyu constantly used his Heavenly Mandate Eyes, his figure frequently appearing in every place.

His father, his mother, and all his senior brothers and sisters, those outer sect disciples, should have been alive…

For more than a hundred years, he had been wrapped up in the two words “heavenly punishment.” He had always thought that it was really “heavenly punishment”… Although he didn’t understand, when he thought of the laws of the Heavenly Dao and its natural operation, perhaps he was just a part of this nature.

But it turned out that it was still a person who was causing trouble.

He came to his father’s courtyard and remembered the night before his father’s immortal ascension, when the two of them sat in the courtyard and drank together. He watched himself and his father talking and laughing, imagining his father’s future after his immortal ascension. He suddenly saw himself turn his head and glance at a certain place…

Yan Jingyu quickly chased his own line of sight and looked over there.

Of course, he remembered that night. In fact, it wasn’t just that night. He remembered that for a period of time, something seemed to be constantly hitting the space near him. Every so often, it would hit once. He didn’t know what it was, but because the intervals were sometimes a few days, and sometimes in the middle of the night, he didn’t pay it any mind.

But now, he could clearly see the air vibrating violently. He heard the roaring of the divine tribulation.

Time layered again in his Heavenly Mandate Eyes. This time, he heard the sound of repeated impacts, each time accompanied by thunder.

“Don’t let your father ascend to immortality—”

Yan Jingyu’s pupils contracted. He suddenly moved his body, chasing the sound of the impact, and began to quickly shuttle through the various parts of the Yan estate.

He saw himself sleeping in the night, and that voice said, “Yan Qi—!”

He saw himself drinking with Qin Zhongyou, and that person said, “Yan Qi—!”

He saw himself looking up at the sky with his mother, fantasizing about his father’s return after his immortal ascension, and that person said, “Yan Qi—”

He saw his father fail his immortal ascension, kneeling in the ancestral hall, lost in thought, and that voice was still saying, “Yan Qi…”

He saw that most unforgettable night, when he fought with a person, and in an instant, he took off the mask on the other’s face. He saw that face clearly and quickly reacted. “You are not Liao Chen—!”

Beside him, there was still a sound of impact.

Yan Jingyu trembled slightly, his breathing ragged. He once again chased the sound of the impact and flashed around in the Yan estate.

Liao Chen, it’s Liao Chen. The Demon Lord’s head disciple is Liao Chen. The one who provoked him is Liao Chen. The one who overturned his table and chased him to fight is Liao Chen. The one who gave him demonic energy regardless of the consequences so he could take revenge with his own hands is Liao Chen. The one who took him to the Demon Realm to search for spiritual medicines to save him is Liao Chen. The one who imprisoned a million cultivators to bring him a message is Liao Chen. The one who introduced Qi Mufang to him as his apprentice is Liao Chen. The one who crippled Ming Zelin is Liao Chen. The one who made the world a mess is Liao Chen…

Wen Renying held onto his shoulder, looking at his flustered and anxious expression, and said softly, “Little A-Yu…”

Yan Jingyu’s figure stopped beside a cliff.

He stared blankly at himself from more than a hundred years ago, seriously injured and on the verge of death, and also at Ruan Qingwan, who was standing in front of him, wearing a mask.

The sound of the impact suddenly stopped in front of him. He heard that voice again, but it was not just urgent, but also filled with a hatred as if he were biting his teeth to pieces. “Ruan Qingwan… Ruan Qingwan—!!!”

“Pfft—!”

Yan Jingyu’s gaze went to the sky. He still couldn’t realize what was happening here.

He stood there blankly, until a crack suddenly appeared in the place where it had been hit. After this crack, the sound of rumbling thunder came.

Accompanied by layers of sound, as if it were coming from high up in the sky.

“He’s demonized…”

“Aren’t beasts just like this?”

“The phoenix clan is the hardest to kill!”

“Bang, bang, bang—”

“Whoosh—”

The cracked place shattered with a sound.

Yan Jingyu’s eyes widened. He looked at the illusory figure that was slowly crawling out from inside.

He saw him, covered in blood, his divine appearance wretched.

“Yan Jingyu…”

“I’ve come to save you again.”

“You think you can save him like this?!”

“Naive!!”

“With us here, you can forget about touching him!”

…

Yan Jingyu stood in place, watching his body half-suspended in the air, watching the skin on his back begin to liquefy under the pressure of the divine tribulation, watching his face covered in blood and his wounds ferocious.

He subconsciously reached out his hand…

Liao Chen, it’s Liao Chen.

The one who saved him back then was Liao Chen.

The one who saved him later was Liao Chen.

Now, Yan Jingyu has finally returned… but Liao Chen has disappeared.

He watched as the other’s figure, the moment it clasped hands with his past self, turned from illusory to real, and then quickly turned into a ball of invisible air.

That was the time-space tunnel. The hidden rules had hidden the long river of history, had hidden everything in everyone’s memory. But it had not hidden the Liao Chen in the time-space tunnel.

Yan Jingyu’s Heavenly Mandate Eyes still could not capture the other’s figure. In objective reality, in history, every Liao Chen had become an invisible existence. His name had been replaced by others, and all his actions had also disappeared.

But in that instant, in Yan Jingyu’s memory, countless figures of Liao Chen appeared.

His memory slowly solidified all the disappeared other.

He was no longer an invisible existence, but in his memory, he had returned to all his original appearances.

“So that’s how it is…”

So you cried that day because you had really tried all the methods. I thought you had only tried to go back in time, but I never thought that you had really returned. You accompanied me for one hundred and thirty-three years. The one who saved me has always been you, the one who accompanied me has always been you…

You finally saved me…

…So this is the price for you saving me.

If I didn’t have the Heavenly Mandate Eyes, I would also be like everyone else, using my own memory to reshape everything…

Yan Jingyu turned around, letting the Liao Chen of one hundred and thirty-three years ago carry his wounded self away.

They walked in opposite directions.

This time, it’s my turn to find you.