Chapter 17: No Hope for the Next Life

"It seems that there is another love-hate entanglement." Lingjun thought so and sat on the table, crossed his legs, took the wine pot and glass, and started watching the show while pouring the wine.

Zheng Ze glanced at Lingjun, his expression unchanged, and he still held the long sword in his hand to suppress the young man kneeling on the ground.

The old woman in brown held a colorful pearl in her hand and looked into the young man's eyes , the color of her eyes changing from bright to dark.

"Humph, I perform in this building every year at this time, and you come here to see me with this bead in your hand. This has been the case every year since we met five years ago. Do you really think I don't know what you want to do?"

The young man sneered, his tone angry and his expression full of resentment.

“I’m not…” The old woman opened her mouth to defend herself, but then she seemed to have thought of something irrefutable, and finally remained silent.

"You're not? Then tell me, besides knowing that my name is Madam Miaoyin, do you know what my real name is? Defu? Or Mingcheng?" The young man looked up with disdain and resentment.

"You..." The old woman said bitterly.

The young man stared closely at the old woman's charming face, as if the long-awaited thing had finally become an illusion as expected, and actually smiled a little crazy:

"Ha, I was indeed right - you only regarded me as that person's substitute from the beginning! If you really want to use me as that person's substitute, why are you so reluctant to do so since you have the orb in hand? Redeeming me from my citizenship? Since you have been accused by the world of not spending the evening, why do you want to be so proud of this occasion and bear to watch me singing and laughing , and sinking into misery? Or do you just like me showing off in front of others, and you think it's unique? ?”

The old woman seemed shocked by the boy's confession and said after a while:

"Miaoyin, I never knew you thought like this..."

"It's useless even if you know." Zhengze's cold tone sounded, "Ms. Miaoyin, the forces behind you will not easily let you quit your country and become a good person."

Lingjun nodded in agreement - how could such a power be willing to let go of a good tool easily if it could cultivate such a peerless master and make him willing to fall into the world of mortals?

"De... why do you want to seize this orb? Who is manipulating you behind you?" The old woman calmed down, her eyes shone with sharp light, but there was still a trace of sadness in her expression.

But the young man raised a charming smile and asked affectionately: "If I said that if you hand over this orb, you can exchange for my freedom, and I can be by your side from now on, would you be willing or not?"

A trace of hesitation flashed across the old woman's face, and after a long moment she sighed quietly: "Miaoyin, my treatment of you was not what you thought from the beginning."

The young man's provocative smile froze on his lips, and the light in his eyes went out:

"Isn't that what I thought? Then tell me, in the past five years, you have spent a lot of money and never left the ground to listen to me play the piano and sing, talk to me about poetry and poetry, and accompany me to row a boat on the lake. What do you want? how?"

"I, I want to..." The old woman hesitated, looking at the young man's eyes struggling in pain.

"Haha, don't you even know what you want to do?" The young man sneered.

"Wonderful sound," the old woman sighed suddenly, "if you want to be free, I can give this bead to the master behind you now..."

Unexpectedly , the young man glanced with handsome eyes and raised a disdainful smile on his lips: "No need! Miaoyin is not worthy of such a compliment from you!"

"Wonderful sound!"

"Hello!"

"呲——" There was a sharp sound of a sharp sword scratching, and blood spurted out from Miaoyin's neck instantly, splashing red on Zhengze's cold sword body.

Lingjun covered Lin'er 's eyes.

"Miaoyin, why are you doing this!" The old woman screamed and threw herself at the young man who fell to the ground .

"Remember, remember! My name is Lin Hengyu...from Wujun, Jiangsu...I am not him, I am definitely not him..."

The young man held the old woman's trembling hand tightly and spoke urgently, and large balls of blood spurted out of his mouth.

"You are him, you have always been him, you are him..." The old woman cried miserably, her carefree and free disguise completely shattered at this moment, as desperate as a female doll who has lost her beloved thing again and again.

The young man's eyes widened in pain, but suddenly his eyes softened, with a hint of desolation that was inappropriate for his age, and he lingered on the woman's tear-stained face:

"Okay, if you say it's him, I'll be him... It would be nice if you could remember me like this..."

The young man smiled sadly, his clear eyes gradually losing their luster of life.

"Why... I just want to see him again..." Staring into the boy's darkened eyes, the old woman muttered to herself, with tears constantly flowing from the corners of her wrinkled eyes.

"A mere mortal who goes against nature will only harm others and himself." Zhengze's cold words made a fair judgment.

"Going against heaven?" The old woman held up the colorful pearl in her hand, looked at it carefully, suddenly smiled, and said in a daze:

"When the woman in scarlet clothes gave me this bead, she only said that if I have any regrets and want to pass it on to the deceased, I can hold this bead and pray sincerely in front of the reincarnated person, and sincerity will lead to spiritual success. , I will definitely be able to see the soul of my old friend and express my sincere feelings. Defu died in depression due to my momentary righteous indignation. I was lonely for many years and often regretted it when I dreamed about it late at night. Until I met him when I traveled to Hangzhou five years ago——"

The old woman looked down at the young man's lifeless face, with tenderness in her eyes:

"The outline of his face was exactly the same as that of Defu when he was young, and his posture and expression were exactly the same as Defu's. I knew that it was Defu who came back and he came to find me. But I have been homeless for many years, and there is nothing else around me except this pearl. I can only redeem him. I can only gather things together until he performs on stage every year. I never thought about what to do with him. I just wanted to use this bead to summon Defu's soul and talk to him personally. He said sorry and told him that I had forgiven him long ago and that I had never looked down on him..."

"Now you tell me that I am doing this against nature. Am I harming others and myself?" The old woman raised her head and silently complained with blurred tearful eyes.

"You have no power to activate the Lotus Pearl." Zhengze said.

"So it's called the Lotus Pearl..." The old woman rubbed the pearl in her hand and muttered in the colorful light scattered by the pearl.

"The Lotus Pearl was born in the Lianhua Mountain in the west . It emits seven-colored light all over its body. It has the miraculous ability to summon the souls of mortals in previous lives. However, it requires the magic power of those who have attained Taoism to activate it. It cannot be done with the power of mortals alone." Zheng Ze is cold. Open your mouth.

"That woman in scarlet clothes ..." The old woman was surprised and seemed to be struggling.

"But a very pretty and romantic young woman with phoenix eyes that is unforgettable?" Ling Jun asked.

Zheng Ze glanced sideways at Lingjun, who quickly shrank his head.

His description is correct.

The old woman nodded.

"That woman is neither a fairy nor a demon, nor a devil nor a ghost, nor a spirit nor a monster. We cannot guess the reason why she gave you this lotus pearl." Ling Jun said.

"Immortal." The old woman suddenly stood up, bowed to the two of us, opened her eyes and said expectantly:

"As soon as the two immortals entered the teahouse, Lingjun knew that you were extraordinary. Seeing your expressions, you seemed to like the lotus pearl in my hand very much. I am willing to offer this pearl with both hands, but I dare to ask the two immortals to help me. Summon the soul of my late husband and let me and my husband reconnect with each other."

Lingjun and Zhengze were both silent.

Suddenly, the body of the young man lying on the ground glowed with a bright blue light, starting from the feet, gradually turning white and transparent, and finally dissipated into nothingness at an irreversible speed.

A dazzling pool of blood was left on the empty ground.

"Defu, Defu! What's going on? Immortal, what's going on!" The old woman fell to the ground, groping around on the ground in disbelief, with scarlet eyes , and asked sternly, her fair skin His hands fell into a pool of blood, staining them red, as if he was going crazy.

"The sword of the Immortal Family is extremely powerful. No matter who it kills, both body and soul will be destroyed and no longer exist in the four realms." Ling Jun spoke quietly, sympathy and sighs welling up in his heart.

"Both body and soul are destroyed... Immortal, you are saying that Defu has no soul and no reincarnation, right?" The old woman stared at Lingjun closely, her anxious eyes burning with hope.

Lingjun nodded and looked away, unable to bear to see this mortal's despair any longer.

"Both body and soul are destroyed... gone, no more... The gambling books and tea-filled couplets and poems are gone, all gone. It was my fault, Defu, it was my fault... There is no hope for the next life, Oh, there is no hope for the next life..."

The old woman completely saw the meaning in Lingjun's eyes. She no longer cared about the lotus beads that fell to the ground, nor looked at the blood swimming on the ground , nor did she recognize the man in black who had fainted on the ground. With only his hair disheveled and his clothes disheveled, with blood on his hands, he stumbled out of the teahouse, causing numerous screams from the ferry boatmen outside the building.

"Hurry, hurry up, row quickly, my husband is waiting for me on the shore, hurry up, don't make him wait..." The old woman's frantic cry came from outside the building.

"Dad, that brother actually likes that mother-in-law, right?" Lin'er raised her clear eyes and asked Lingjun innocently .

"Ms. Miaoyin's sword just now seemed sharp and deadly, but it didn't mean to hurt her at all. Even the cold arrow that was shot bypassed her." Ling Jun said quietly.

"When Jiankang rebelled, Liu Mingcheng abandoned the city and fled. Mu Yi'an's "Summer Quatrains" was a vivid rebuke, which made the world clap and chant it. Who knew that her eternal masterpiece would eventually make Liu Mingcheng die of depression two years later? end."

Zheng Ze looked at the outside of the building where the spring rain was falling, and said lightly.

Lingjun leaned over and picked up the colorful lotus beads on the ground, and gently wiped away the blood on them: "What feelings and words you have, I will tell them all in this life. It is useless to wait for people to die and the lights are extinguished before asking again." Making amends is such a nonsense.”

Hearing this, Zheng Ze's slender back froze slightly.

Swallows fluttering in the rain, Lingzhi's intimacy is amazing, I wonder who the childhood sweetheart and childhood sweetheart is that has passed away?