Chapter 24 - Parting Follows Reunion
"Your Ladyship, eh, do you really not need to intervene? Young Master Luo looks like he's in a lot of pain right now."
"You say this bit of pain is nothing to him… Truly too much! You can't just dismiss it because he can endure it!"
"I, on the other hand, know he will definitely be alright…"
Within Little Azure Peak, although no figure could be seen, Qingxuan's intermittent voice could be heard.
And inside the small cabin, Luo He was leaning back on that small bed, his eyes tightly closed. From time to time, cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
Just now, as he continued to try and refine the Demonic Seed, the Black Lotus, which had been quiet as if dormant, suddenly erupted violently.
It broke free from a series of restraints. It danced gracefully in his dantian, silently yet vastly spreading its branches and leaves.
As the Black Lotus bloomed, surging billows of demonic flame immediately shot out from it; in but an instant, it swept over his entire body.
Because of Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor's Immortal Imprint, the demonic flame had not yet encroached upon his spiritual platform, but other places were not so lucky.
If it could be said that when he had just swallowed the Black Lotus, the struggle between it and the malevolent qi was still one where both sides held something back;
then now, it was an all-out, thorough war and extermination.
The malevolent qi and demonic flame mixed, spreading everywhere along his already fragmented meridians.
Yin-cold and heart-scorching sensations attacked each other, letting Luo He profoundly experience what was meant by the "marvelous experience" of intertwined cold and heat.
This was similar to the experience of having a high fever of over forty degrees; the central temperature receptors had long since lost their function.
Clearly, even the air he exhaled was scalding hot, yet inside his body, he contrarily felt as if he had plunged into an ice cavern.
Of course, what Luo He felt was not just this.
For him, who cultivated the orthodox Tianchen Sword Sect heart technique, this demonic flame also carried additional harm.
Like scalding oil dripped into cold water, it was constantly evaporating, consuming, and igniting the clear spiritual energy within his body.
This didn't feel good, but it was merely "not feeling good." For the time being, it couldn't take his life yet.
What Luo He lacked least was the endurance to remain calm while tolerating pain.
The Black Lotus's sudden eruption was undoubtedly the consequence of Huoxin detonating the Demonic Seed on her end.
This simultaneously represented that they had already shown their hand on Luo Hongyu's side and were preparing to make a move, and the fact that he had deceived her at that time was exposed.
This was very good; this way, everyone was out in the open.
Out in the open, there was no longer the question of who was afraid of whom.
Luo He looked inward at his body, quietly observing the progress of the three parties: the malevolent qi, the Black Lotus, and the Immortal Imprint.
The result was obvious. Although the Black Lotus's arrogance was currently very high, it was only a temporary situation.
The source of the demonic flame was the self-combustion of that Black Lotus, so it would always have a time when it burned out. And whether it was the malevolent qi, that Immortal Imprint, or Luo He himself, it couldn't eliminate a single one of them.
Regarding this, there were two problems Luo He needed to consider.
One was time; he couldn't just let them consume each other like this, his own time couldn't afford to be wasted.
The other was that Luo He did not wish for the Demonic Seed Black Lotus to completely disappear from his body.
The Demonic Seed Black Lotus was his burden and drawback, but after receiving the Remnant Moon heart method from Su Huanhuan and Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor's Immortal Imprint, it had instead become a very crucial tool—a tool to deal with Huoxin.
This was also the reason he continued to stay on Little Azure Peak to try and refine the Demonic Seed.
Thinking of this, Luo He took a deep breath, began to circulate the Remnant Moon cultivation method, and meticulously peeled the Black Lotus and demonic flame from his meridians...
Hiss...
Unsurprisingly, it was very painful, a pain that reached into his bone marrow.
If what happened before was like sticking needles into the crevices of his bones, then what he was doing now was pulling those needles back out from the crevices of his bones.
He was like a craftsman meticulously carving with a small awl and a file; however, his material was his own body.
But as he worked slowly, he suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon.
Under the soft radiance of the Immortal Imprint, he discovered that after he circulated the Remnant Moon cultivation method, the two forces that were previously fighting to the death... now seemed to be slowly fusing with each other?
Demonic flame merging into malevolent qi would be instantly annihilated. But when a wisp of malevolent qi entered the Black Lotus, it instead merged into the demonic flame's circuit and began to operate.
Causing the demonic flame, which originally still had some impression of fire, to instantly become ice-cold.
By now, the Black Lotus had gradually quieted down. And moreover... it could be mobilized by his Remnant Moon heart method.
Luo He gazed at his own palm... Weng.
A grayish-black lotus leaf, its tip carrying a bone-chillingly burning demonic flame, gently landed in his hand. After a short while, a small section of the black cloth wrapped around his hand was burned away.
Perhaps it was because the malevolent qi had joined in and become fuel; even though the Black Lotus had already closed its core, that mass of demonic flame still burned within his body.
Yet the parts scorched by the flame seemed as if a layer of frost had condensed upon them. It truly was a strange and even somewhat magnificent sight; it was just a pity that no one could see it.
Although Luo He had always not really regarded his own body as a body, this time...
Luo He felt it seemed a little too much.
To create a mass of fire within his body that could freeze things—that was really something else.
And all of this, besides the heart method Su Huanhuan gave him...
had to be attributed to this Little Azure Peak, and also this Immortal Imprint within his body.
Luo He withdrew his inwardly inspecting spiritual energy and got up from the bed.
Frankly speaking, after these several months of interaction, Luo He still didn't understand the reason for Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor's favor towards him.
She knew his situation like the back of her hand... Surely she wasn't pitying him, right?
Then... actually, there was nothing bad about that either.
Rather, he actually cherished this goodwill very much; in the future, he would find a way to repay it in kind.
If he still had a future.
"Young Master Luo is awake?"
Pushing open the door of the small cabin, a familiar, lighthearted female voice sounded. Luo He turned his head to look; it was indeed the female official who had appeared with the divine sedan chair that night.
Speaking of which, he still didn't even know her name.
"Hehe, this little girl's name is Qingxuan. I am one of those who attend to Her Ladyship. Young Master Luo need not be overly courteous."
"Also, Her Ladyship had some matters to attend to and left these past two days, so she asked me to wait here for you."
"Her Ladyship entrusted me to bring you a message. She said you need not think of thanking her; just go straight ahead and do what you need to do."
"......"
Listening to Qingxuan's words, Luo He glanced again at Little Azure Peak.
This place was still the same, a small world of lush greenery and pleasantness.
He had spent several months here, which for an ordinary person could have been extremely monotonous. But for Luo He...
no anxiety about time, no life-threatening crisis, only books, a cat, and the little golden bell on the cat's tail, dinging and dang-ing, the sound of it speaking to him.
This was perhaps one of the few, even countable on one's fingers, times of true tranquility he had ever obtained.
Although its arrival time was shortly before he planned to seek life through death, it was like a refreshing sea breeze blowing before him just before the arrival of surging waves and a tsunami.
That, then, was also enough.
Luo He didn't know where Little Azure Peak was, nor did he know why it would be Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor's mind-scape.
He also wasn't sure if this Little Azure Peak still existed in reality. But, if there was a chance, he wanted to look for this place when the time was right.
To see what it looked like, apart from how it existed in Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor's heart.
Luo He took his leave.
The exit here, Qingxuan had already opened for him.
After giving her a slight salutation, Luo He planned to leave from here.
"Young Master Luo, wait a moment."
Qingxuan called out to him from behind, stopping him.
"The Water Lord Festival is held once every five years; Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor always comes to Gengyang City at that time."
"You came in a hurry this time, and your departure is also rushed; you haven't yet seen what the Water Lord Festival looks like when it's truly bustling."
"So, if you're willing, next time you come, remember to stay a little longer. I will come and show you around the sights here properly."
Luo He looked forward to it very much.
Traces of gentleness flowed from the dark eyes beneath his mask, making Qingxuan stare, stunned for a moment.
The young man turned and walked into the exit leading to the outside world. The world behind him began to gradually blur in his vision, transforming into countless points of light.
Suddenly, Luo He felt someone gently pat his back, and it seemed they also said something.
Luo He turned his head to look, but only saw Qingxuan's smiling face in the distance.
...
"Your Ladyship, Young Master Luo has already left."
"I know Your Ladyship doesn't want to say the words 'goodbye' to him, but deliberately hiding, there's really no need for that."
"Hmph hmph, Your Ladyship, you're still blaming me. If it weren't for those words I just said, believe it or not, I'm afraid Young Master Luo would have probably just forgotten there was a Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor in Gengyang City afterwards."
"You cannot go look for him, so isn't it fine to just let him come look for you? One's thinking always needs to be a bit broader, right?"
"Otherwise, this incomparably precious reunion for Your Ladyship would be wasted.”