4044-chapter-32
Chapter 32
After Yan Chaosheng left, Liu Shuang said, “Young Master Jimo, how about we not go any further?”
She felt deeply uneasy.
When Yan Chaosheng mentioned that ahead lay the Valley of Eight Sufferings, Liu Shuang was shocked.
She suddenly understood what Shaoyou had referred to in her past life as a harrowing experience of near-death.
As the young master of Kunlun, Shaoyou had a cultivation of nearly ten thousand years, born with the ancient immortal veins and destined to be a realm lord, akin to a monarch.
Yet later, his immortal energy faded, and his seven souls scattered, forcing him to roam the mortal realm in search of them.
It turned out he had once ventured into the Valley of Eight Sufferings, paying a steep price.
His seven souls drifted from the Never Forget City into the mortal world, which was how Liu Shuang encountered him there.
The seven souls represent joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire.
Before meeting Liu Shuang, Shaoyou had already collected six of the seven souls, lacking only the last one.
Curious, Liu Shuang once asked him, “Which soul haven’t you found yet?”
Grandpa Tree had answered with a mysterious tone, “Why ask him? Isn’t the last one inside you?”
Liu Shuang was utterly shocked, trying to recall when she might have inadvertently swallowed one of Shaoyou’s souls without realizing it.
Shaoyou’s face reddened slightly.
He cleared his throat and said to Liu Shuang, “He’s teasing you. Don’t take it seriously.”
But even on her wedding day, when Shaoyou left, Liu Shuang still couldn’t get him to reveal what soul he was missing.
Nor did he explain what danger had caused his seven souls to scatter, leaving him to search for them alone.
Thinking back now, the only thing capable of hurting Shaoyou so badly must have been the Valley of Eight Sufferings.
Liu Shuang regretted her decisions deeply.
If she had known earlier that the Ghost King’s Tomb contained the ancient site of the Valley of Eight Sufferings, she would never have brought Shaoyou here.
She quickly grabbed his wide sleeve.
“Listen to me—I was lying before. Your mother’s soul isn’t here. I made it up to borrow the Shennong Cauldron. You can scold me, punish me, but don’t go any further.”
Shaoyou looked down at her.
She seemed ready to spread her arms to block his way.
He said, “I know Chishui young miss didn’t lie.”
“I lied! I lied! I made it up just to trick you into opening the Shennong Cauldron for me,” Liu Shuang exclaimed, pulling down her veil. “Look, I just wanted to retrieve the Huanyan bead as soon as possible and had no other choice.”
Shaoyou looked at her, his lips curving into a faint smile.
His mother’s soul lamp had yet to extinguish.
For the sake of this lingering wisp of a soul, he had scoured nearly every corner of the Eight Wilderness for over ten thousand years, even visiting the Feng Clan’s Heavenly Palace and the Ghost Realm multiple times.
The only place he hadn’t searched was the Never Forget City, the burial site of the Ghost King.
When Liu Shuang brought him to this location, he knew she wasn’t lying.
Her words to stop him from proceeding were the real lie.
Watching her grow anxious, guilt-ridden, and even pulling off her veil, Shaoyou hesitated for a moment before taking a jade pendant from his robes and handing it to her.
“Take this and return to Kunlun. After meeting Immortal Lord Wo Jiang, ask him to help you open the Shennong Cauldron,” he said, frowning slightly when she didn’t take it.
“What’s wrong? Do you have other questions? Don’t worry—this is my personal spiritual jade. Wo Jiang will believe you.”
Liu Shuang asked, “What about you? Are you still going to the Valley of Eight Sufferings alone?”
Shaoyou had assumed Liu Shuang was merely worried he wouldn’t return to help her open the Shennong Cauldron.
He hadn’t expected her to still be concerned about his safety after achieving her goal.
His long lashes lowered, concealing his emotions, and his voice softened.
“I still have the strength to try.”
“If you insist on going, I’ll go with you!” Seeing she couldn’t dissuade him, Liu Shuang sighed.
She couldn’t bear to let him face the Valley alone and risk losing all seven souls.
“Enough. Stop being stubborn. Go back,” Shaoyou said.
As Kunlun’s young master, his authoritative tone and innate aura were formidable.
Even his master, Wo Jiang, dared not defy him when he was truly angry.
Liu Shuang, however, showed no fear.
Boldly, she returned his jade pendant.
“Keep your pendant. I want you to return alive and personally fulfill your promise to help me open the Shennong Cauldron.”
The jade in his hand still carried her warmth. Shaoyou’s fingers curled slightly as he lowered his gaze and said coldly, “I am the young master of Kunlun. If you refuse to go back, don’t even think about borrowing the Shennong Cauldron.”
“And I am the young miss of Kongsang. If I want to walk this path, you have no right to stop me,” Liu Shuang retorted.
Shaoyou raised his hand.
Liu Shuang immediately crouched down, shielding her head.
“Don’t resort to violence! Even if you force me away, I’ll come back. Don’t forget—I have the Transcendent Mirror.”
Shaoyou’s cold demeanor cracked, and he sighed inwardly.
Nearly ten thousand years of life had never prepared him for being completely overpowered by a young immortal girl.
Seeing he wasn’t going to strike, Liu Shuang peeked up at him with a grin.
She reasoned with him gently, “I’m not being reckless. It’s said that an ancient deity once entered the Valley of Eight Sufferings but never returned, proving it has nothing to do with cultivation level. All things have their counters. High cultivation doesn’t guarantee survival, and low cultivation doesn’t mean no chance. If you go alone and can’t return to Kunlun, what then? Look, I have this soul lamp. At least it can preserve your soul, and I can bring you home.”
Liu Shuang quickly retrieved a golden soul lamp from her storage pouch, holding it up for him to see.
Its warm, golden light reflected in her eyes like fallen stars.
Shaoyou remained silent, his heart heavy.
The Valley of Eight Sufferings was infamous throughout the Eight Wilderness.
Elders often used it to frighten young immortals, yet none truly knew what lay within.
Because no one had ever returned.
Not wanting to endanger anyone else over his personal matter, Shaoyou hesitated.
Yet, after thousands of years of searching, he couldn’t resist the urge to take one last step with his obsession within reach.
After a long silence, he said, “Let’s go.”
Liu Shuang hurriedly followed him with the soul lamp.
But after only a few steps, Shaoyou flipped his palm, and she collapsed softly to the ground.
He caught her, carried her to an open area, and used his blood to draw a protective formation that shielded her from ghosts.
Shaoyou placed her within the formation, gazing down at her as she clutched the golden soul lamp even in unconsciousness. He set his jade pendant beside her and stepped away from the barrier, heading toward the Ghost King’s Tomb.
When Liu Shuang awoke, she rubbed her head in frustration.
People truly change.
Seven hundred years ago, Shaoyou had been this overbearing? He was nothing like the gentle man he later became.
Unprepared for his actions, she found herself sealed in the formation, unable to break through despite her efforts.
As she tried every method she knew, her hand brushed against something that fell from her pouch.
Joy surged within her—how had she forgotten about the Transcendent Mirror?
Moments later, Liu Shuang emerged from the formation, having used the mirror to escape with minimal energy loss.
Grabbing the soul lamp, she quickly headed toward the Ghost King’s Tomb.
As she neared the tomb, the air became eerily devoid of wandering ghosts.
At the tomb’s edge, not a single ghost remained.
Such emptiness only signaled extreme danger, where the most terrifying entities lurked, leaving no living creature within miles.
Liu Shuang hesitated.
Shaoyou had entered the tomb ahead of her.
Charging in recklessly might lead to her own demise without even finding him.
Holding the golden soul lamp, she deliberated briefly.
Instead of entering the tomb, she extended the lamp forward, placing the jade pendant inside it.
Thankfully, Shaoyou had left her something imbued with his aura.
Liu Shuang closed her eyes, interlacing her fingers as she controlled the soul lamp in midair, guiding it forward.
This was indeed a good idea.
If she arrived late and Shaoyou suffered the same fate as in her past life—losing his cultivation and scattering his seven souls—the soul lamp, sensing the jade pendant’s owner, would actively absorb the dispersed souls.
Once Shaoyou escaped the Valley of Eight Sufferings, she could directly return the seven souls to him.
If the soul lamp couldn’t locate the souls, it would prove that Shaoyou was temporarily safe.
It was better than everyone recklessly venturing inside.
The soul lamp floated slowly within the Ghost King’s Tomb under Liu Shuang’s control.
Just as it sensed something, it plummeted from midair and shattered into pieces.
Liu Shuang spun around to see Shaoyou in blue robes kneeling not far away, covered in blood, with a broken immortal sword in his hand.
Upon seeing her, his pupils contracted.
“Stay back! Leave immediately!”
Before he finished speaking, an invisible hand seemed to grasp him, dragging him toward the Ghost King’s Tomb.
Shaoyou planted the broken sword into the ground, remaining silent.
Liu Shuang summoned a white ribbon of immortal energy from her hand, wrapping it around his waist to pull him outside the tomb.
The white ribbon melted in an instant.
Shaoyou said, “Go!”
Seeing him about to be swallowed, Liu Shuang leapt forward, grabbing his hand.
“Shaoyou!”
Shaoyou looked up at her, the pain in his expression slowly transforming into a smile.
Liu Shuang’s heart sank.
Just as she was about to let go, her body felt as if it was falling into an endless abyss.
The ground beneath them cracked with a roar, and Liu Shuang didn’t even have time to scream before plummeting into the Valley of Eight Sufferings.
In the Valley of Eight Sufferings, Liu Shuang fully became Chishui Liu Shuang.
When Liu Shuang regained consciousness, rain was pattering down from the sky.
The wind stirred the gauze curtains.
Sitting up in bed, she realized she had become smaller.
She was now a little girl wearing a light blue gauze dress, her fingers soft and chubby.
Before she could figure out what was happening, someone outside said, “Is the young miss still asleep?”
Liu Shuang quickly lay back down.
“Of course,” another voice replied.
“She’s carefree, causing trouble and leaving the madam in such a state while she snoozes away in her chambers. If the Lord hadn’t ordered us to keep it quiet, the entire Eight Wilderness would probably know by now that the young miss of Kongsang has something wrong with her—a simpleton.”
An immortal maid chuckled.
“You shouldn’t say that. She’s only like this because she’s missing part of her soul. It’s normal for her to be a bit dim.”
“She recklessly ran off to play, only to get captured by a great demon. Madam Zi shattered her core to save her. I don’t think this little simpleton will amount to anything, even when she grows up. Not like the heirs of the Feng and Jimo clans.”
“Don’t speak like that; she’s still the Lord’s daughter.”
“She just got lucky being born into the right family. Meanwhile, we’re stuck serving a foolish little immortal.”
Hearing their words, Liu Shuang felt a dull pain in her heart.
A faint voice in her mind whispered: It’s not like that.
Someone had told her that on the cliffs of Changbai, there was a divine flower of unparalleled beauty that could heal Madam Zi’s lingering ailments after giving birth to a daughter.
She had struggled with her tiny body, flying up the cliff again and again, falling and bruising herself each time.
Finally, when she glimpsed the jade-colored flower, she was captured.
The great demon squinted and smiled.
“She didn’t lie after all. She kept her promise and brought you here.”
The demon then struck her chest with a blast of demonic energy, and Liu Shuang fainted from the pain.
When she woke up, she witnessed a heart-wrenching scene—Madam Zi shattering her core to save her.
Lying in Madam Zi’s arms, Liu Shuang felt a deep sadness but couldn’t shed a single tear.
Her incomplete soul left her unable to cry or laugh properly, making her appear cold and unfeeling.
Blood welled up in her throat.
When Liu Shuang opened her eyes again, she overheard the maids gossiping about how her recklessness had disregarded her mother’s life, branding her as a heartless little fool.
Liu Shuang’s small body ached all over.
She lay stiffly in bed, trying to call out for help, but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.
An invisible weight of sorrow pressed down on her.
She climbed out of bed, her body moving instinctively toward Madam Zi’s chambers as memories guided her.
Unexpectedly, she heard Madam Zi arguing with Chishui Chong.
“She’s my daughter. I won’t give up on her no matter what you say. Everyone calls her foolish now, but she’ll be fine once her soul is complete.”
“I’m not asking you to give up on her,” Chishui Chong said, frowning.
“There’s no one in this world whose soul cannot be found. We’ve tried every method, and yet we still can’t find the missing part of Liu Shuang’s soul. She’s too unruly and unfit for the responsibilities of a successor.
Kongsang needs a capable heir,” Chishui Chong said coldly.
Madam Zi sneered, “And who do you think qualifies? Is it Bai Zhuixu, whom you’ve brought in for training, or Bai Yuxiao? Perhaps Mi Chu of the Lou clan? Do you think everyone is better than her?”
“You know that’s not what I mean!” Chishui Chong retorted.
Liu Shuang listened in stunned silence, her heart heavy with an unfamiliar sorrow.
These were the memories of the original soul of this body.
Liu Shuang was now using the original heart, feeling the pain and sorrow of a past long delayed, finally receiving these memories.