Li Yunxian nodded, her expression calm and composed. “Fine, go ahead and explain.”
Su Wenjing fell silent.
Seeing Li Yunxian’s attitude, Su Wenjing guessed that she likely had a rough idea of what was going on with his name. Li Yunxian had always been quite sharp.
“Hey!” Su Wenjing shouted, his face full of irritation.
Li Yunxian looked at Su Wenjing, still showing no hint of guilt. Her previous displeasure had been genuine!
She couldn’t act as if it never happened just because she had calmed down now. If necessary, she could easily get angry all over again.
“So, are you not going to explain?” Li Yunxian stared at him.
Su Wenjing was at a loss for words.
Confronted by Li Yunxian’s righteous persistence, the annoyance Su Wenjing felt from regaining his memories was instantly dissipated. This woman’s words were truly more cutting than the sword in her hand!
Su Wenjing helplessly set aside his embarrassment and finally spoke. “You’ve probably already figured it out. After that great war, I destroyed the Lingli sources of so many worlds.”
“Whether it was the path of righteousness, the Demonic Path, or even ordinary people who just wanted to pursue cultivation, they all held a grudge against me.”
“There was an Ren Clan kingdom near Qingqiu named after our You Su Fox Tribe. After Qingqiu was destroyed, the area became heaven’s ruins, no longer suitable for low-level cultivators to survive, let alone ordinary people.”
“They took the last of the You Su Fox Tribe to other dynasties to seek protection, becoming their vassal states. Later, those people were also impacted by the subsequent things I did.”
“The You Su Kingdom eventually met its end. No one dared to use ‘You Su’ as a name anymore, so they only kept ‘Su’ as their surname. I was heavily injured at the time and found a random place to recuperate and vanish. By the time I finished recovery and emerged, 200 years had already passed.”
“Because of the lack of Lingli, cultivation for all races became very slow, and most levels were not high, so… the entire Shenzhou became the territory of the Ren Clan.”
“The Ren Clan cycles through generations so quickly; they rapidly adapted to the new environment of scarce Lingli and didn’t care about my previous destruction of the Lingli sources. After all, the Ren Clan benefited from it.”
This was the main reason why Su Wenjing spent so much time among the Ren Clan and eventually participated in the construction of modern righteous society.
“I returned to the tribe and discovered those fellows… had conveniently changed my name as well.”
Regardless of the dynasty, they all handled household registration and required names to be officially recorded.
Thinking of this, Su Wenjing’s face was filled with a speechless expression.
Against the backdrop of all the elders having sacrificed themselves, Su Wenjing was of the oldest generation among the remaining fox clan members. In essence, those juniors had changed their ancestor’s name!
“I wasn’t used to it at first, but after hearing it so much, I couldn’t be bothered to explain to people why my surname was You Su while my clansmen were all named Su. I never liked talking to those people much anyway.”
“So… after hearing people call me ‘Su Wenjing’ for thousands of years, it can be considered my real name now.”
“The reason you couldn’t find me using that name is likely because I lost my memories after entering the Secret Realm,” Su Wenjing said with certainty.
Li Yunxian gave an “oh” and took out another Seeking Talisman, chanting ‘Su Wenjing’ in her heart.
Consequently, the Seeking Talisman exploded into fireworks before Li Yunxian’s eyes once again.
Li Yunxian was silent.
Su Wenjing was equally silent.
“There must be something wrong with this talisman!” Su Wenjing insisted stubbornly.
Li Yunxian glanced at Su Wenjing but didn’t dwell on the issue.
Looking at Su Wenjing’s state in Qingqiu while he lacked his memories and seeing how he interacted with the elders of his tribe, it was clear that the surname ‘You Su’ held immense significance for him.
Li Yunxian wasn’t surprised by this outcome. Instead, she was somewhat surprised by Su Wenjing’s claim that ‘Su Wenjing’ was also his real name.
Even though the Seeking Talisman didn’t recognize the name in the end, the fact that Su Wenjing could say those words was a very special signal.
Thus, Li Yunxian chose to accept Su Wenjing’s explanation and returned to the main topic. This topic was also the reason Li Yunxian had so quickly revealed her name to Su Wenjing to help him recover his memories.
“What is supposed to happen at this point in time? Why does it feel so peaceful?” Li Yunxian asked. “You’ve been in here for almost two months.”
When Fu Ling entered her Secret Realm, three deserting soldiers from the Sang Army appeared immediately.
When Li Yunxian entered her own Secret Realm, Yin Ke appeared shortly after and immediately took her to plant the ginkgo tree that symbolized their love.
But here with Su Wenjing… absolutely nothing was happening.
“What’s the deal with your Secret Realm?” Li Yunxian asked in surprise.
This was a question only the Su Wenjing with restored memories could answer. Hearing Li Yunxian’s words, Su Wenjing gave a bitter smile. “Because this isn’t exactly my Secret Realm.”
“I mentioned earlier that the heaven’s ruins here are Qingqiu—the actual location of Qingqiu.”
“This place is composed of the collapsed remains of Qingqiu, combined with the past intentions from my memories, and… the collection of the divine soul remnants of the Righteous Cultivators from all races who sacrificed themselves in that great war.”
“Haven’t you noticed? The number of people in this Secret Realm and the vastness of the map are completely unusual. This Secret Realm is a place that exists between reality and illusion.”
Precisely because of this, Li Yunxian was not heavily affected when entering her own Secret Realm, whereas Su Wenjing had quickly lost his memories after Li Yunxian was ejected from Qingqiu. This Secret Realm was exceptionally powerful.
“I didn’t come in here planning to take the marker away. I can’t take it even if I wanted to. This Qingqiu serves as the key to suppressing the entire heaven’s ruins, preventing the resentment of the deceased Demonic Path followers and the creepy entities born from it from leaving the range of the ruins.”
“It doesn’t belong to me alone. I only came in because I wanted to settle things with the past, say something to my aunt and the others, and then leave.”
At this point, Su Wenjing sighed, his expression quite helpless. “I didn’t intend to stay here for long.”
Who could have expected so many accidents would happen? Thinking this, Su Wenjing glanced at Li Yunxian. Well, it wasn’t exactly unexpected.
As Li Yunxian listened to Su Wenjing’s explanation, she had an epiphany. “So, nothing was supposed to happen in this Secret Realm from the start, right?”
Su Wenjing was stunned. He had said so much, yet this was what Li Yunxian focused on!
Su Wenjing’s mouth twitched. “Yes. The main operation here is driven by the remnants of the Righteous Cultivators. What they wanted was a stable and peaceful world. Everything here runs according to their desires.”
Therefore, this Past Secret Realm would continuously loop through the most peaceful period in the consciousness of those divine soul remnants. Su Wenjing’s expression carried a trace of sorrow.
“I see…” Li Yunxian fell into deep thought before finally reaching a decision. “Then we should stay here for a while longer.”
“Huh?” Su Wenjing didn’t know how Li Yunxian had come to such a conclusion.
Li Yunxian glanced at Su Wenjing. “You said that what exists here are the divine soul remnants of those Righteous Cultivators. Then they can be considered a part of the individuals themselves.”
“In that case, since your elders are all here, I have to prepare some gifts for them. Surprise gifts,” Li Yunxian said.
Su Wenjing was no longer feeling sorrowful. He wasn’t even moved.
“…What kind of surprise gift are you sending?” Su Wenjing asked warily.
Li Yunxian assured him, “Don’t worry, it’s definitely reliable.”
As she spoke, Li Yunxian grabbed Su Wenjing and pulled him outside. “You come help, too!”
Su Wenjing could only offer a weak, “Oh.”
***
Under Li Yunxian’s deliberate protection, You Su Yu and the other fox elders had no way to eavesdrop on what the two were discussing.
They only saw that after the two finished talking, they went out to play together again, seemingly in high spirits.
“It looks like they’ve made up,” You Su Yu said with a chuckle.
The other elders watched and shook their heads. “This Little Wenjing, he used to look so detached from worldly desires as if he weren’t interested in anyone, but once he gets into a relationship…”
“It turns into an earth-shattering affair.”
The foxes all shook their heads.
“As long as they don’t cause a scene in our Qingqiu, it’s fine,” said the tribe leader, You Su Yu, who had dealt with many domestic trivialities and was prone to headaches.
“They’re going out anyway,” the elders said, feeling reassured.
Except…
The Other Races surrounding Qingqiu suffered immensely.
Ultimately, using materials they hunted and supplies Su Wenjing exchanged from various kingdoms and towns, Li Yunxian crafted a magic tool. It was a magic tool similar to a Yujian.
After Li Yunxian finished it, she handed it to Su Wenjing.
Su Wenjing took it, puzzled. “What is this?”
“A Memory Jade Slip,” Li Yunxian replied. “Profound Grade Superior. It can store 800 years of memories. Normally, a Yujian only stores books and such.”
“This is the best I can do for a Yujian.” Her level in the Four Arts was only at this stage.
“Filter out the unimportant parts of your memory and put in up to 800 years of memories.” Li Yunxian’s eyes were filled with a smile.
“Even though they are just divine soul remnants, they surely want to see the future world that became peaceful because of them.”
Su Wenjing suddenly felt the jade slip in his hand become incredibly heavy. He stared at it blankly for a long time before reaching out and pulling Li Yunxian into a tight embrace.
He felt as if he had a thousand words to say, yet none seemed enough to convey his current feelings. After all those unspoken words, they ultimately condensed into two simple ones.
“Thank you,” Su Wenjing said. “Truly… thank you.”
Li Yunxian felt what seemed to be tears wetting the back of her neck. Reaching out, she slowly returned the embrace.
***
By the time You Su Yu and the others sensed Su Wenjing and Li Yunxian reappearing in Qingqiu, nearly two years had passed since they left.
Without the aid of modern technology, hand-crafting a Memory Jade Slip indeed took a considerable amount of time.
Furthermore, Su Wenjing had agonized over which memories to include for several months, leading to the delay.
However, You Su Yu and the others were unaware of this. Sensing their return, You Su Yu appeared gracefully beside Su Wenjing and teased, “Where’s the distress signal? It’s been quite a while, and yet no one has sent me one~”
The teased Su Wenjing was choked up. He suddenly didn’t want to give her the jade slip anymore.
Seeing Su Wenjing’s expression, You Su Yu giggled. Then she turned to look at Li Yunxian.
“Is the happy day approaching? Do you want to hold a Dao Companion Ceremony? We haven’t had such big good news in Qingqiu for a long time. I guarantee we’ll make it look beautiful for you!”
You Su Yu had originally wanted to see an embarrassed expression on Li Yunxian’s face.
Instead, Li Yunxian’s eyes lit up, and she asked directly, “Then can everyone use their original forms during the ceremony?”
Su Wenjing was speechless. A Dao Companion Ceremony isn’t for you to look at giant fluffballs!
You Su Yu was stunned. “Well… Qingqiu might not be big enough for that,” she said awkwardly.
The reason they, as high-cultivation Yaoxiu, all used human forms… was truly a matter of space. You Su Yu had never expected that her half-serious teasing would lead to a request she actually couldn’t fulfill.
You Su Yu felt a sudden pang of frustration.