436: Chapter 436 The Lord's Wife

She paused, her voice dropping lower, "The Lord said... he needs a partner, someone who can understand him. He said he is very lonely. The shadows in the Void Realm have no consciousness; they only devour and cannot speak. He has drifted alone in the Void Realm for I don't know how many years."

"Do you hate him?"

The female phantom shook her head, "I don't know. He saved me and gave me a second life. But he also imprisoned me. I want to go back, back to the Human Realm. But... I cannot return. My body has already been destroyed; even if I went back, I could not survive in the Human Realm."

Tears welled up in her eyes, shimmering with a dark red light.

"What is his weakness?" Gao Feng asked directly. The female phantom was silent for a long time. Black Qi churned around her, as if she were struggling and resisting.

"He fears light. Not sunlight, but the light of the Soul, the light that can reveal his true form. His true form is a mass of immense shadow, usually taking on a human shape, and only revealing itself when heavily damaged. If you can find the core of his true form and shine the light of the Soul upon it, his power will be greatly weakened." She paused and added, "He is extremely sensitive to Soul fluctuations. The moment you entered the Void Realm, he likely already sensed it. But he will not come personally; he will first send his subordinates to test you. He does not care about the lives of those subordinates; he only cares about himself."

Tianxin asked softly, "Can you... take us to find him?" The female phantom was silent for a long time. She lowered her head to look at her translucent hands, black Qi seeping from between her fingers and then being clutched back into her palm.

"I cannot go back." Her voice was very light, as if coming from a great distance, "I have not returned in a very long time. He built me a palace, deep within the rift. It has a bed, a table, and a vanity, exactly like in the Human Realm. But I have never felt that it was home."

She lifted her head, looking into the distance. Luo Li's "Requiem" was still echoing in the Void Realm, the sound of the zither suppressing the black Qi around her slightly. Her figure became even more illusory than before.

"You must head north and keep going. There is an invisible rift there that requires a Space-Time Deduction Technique to enter. Inside the rift, there is light—not light for illumination, but the dark light emitted by the Lord's true form. It is very easy to recognize."

Her figure began to dissipate, starting from the soles of her feet, turning into specks of silver light.

"You..." Tianxin reached out, wanting to grab something, but caught nothing.

"I should go. I should have left long ago. Thank you for... listening to me say all this."

The female phantom turned into silver light filling the sky, dissipating into the Void Realm. The black Qi that had entangled her lost its host and fled madly in all directions. Chu Lan's Shadow-Eating Vine seized the opportunity to pounce, its roots piercing into several larger clusters of black Qi, enjoying a hearty meal.

The graveyard fell silent. Those remains floated quietly, no longer churning with resentment.

Tianxin stood where she was, gazing in the direction where the woman had dissipated. The Spirit Fox on her shoulder gently nudged her face, a trace of comfort transmitted through its thoughts—she was liberated and would no longer suffer.

After the black Qi in the graveyard dispersed, the surrounding Void Realm became unusually calm, and even the gray-white mist faded slightly.

Luo Li's zither music still echoed in the Void Realm, the melody of "Requiem" like a thin veil, gently covering those remains, soothing away the last trace of restless resentment.

Liu Ruyan's phantom did not dissipate. The black Qi had almost entirely vanished, leaving only a faint silver-white light shrouding her figure. Her face was much clearer, no longer the twisted, painful expression from before, but a calmness that seemed to see through all worldly affairs.

Tianxin took out a Cleansing Heart Talisman from her sleeve, the blue-white flames of the burning Talisman enveloping Liu Ruyan.

The flames did not burn her; instead, they made her phantom more stable. The calming power contained within the Talisman's patterns seeped into her remnant Soul, smoothing out her last thread of resentment. Liu Ruyan closed her eyes, feeling that long-lost peace. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was much clearer than before; there was no longer any madness, only a weariness that had settled over a thousand years.

"Thank you." Her voice was no longer a shrill, hoarse roar, but had returned to its original gentleness, like a mountain stream—clear, cold, and slow.

Gao Feng stepped forward, standing before her phantom, his tone steady, "How do you want us to help you?"

Liu Ruyan lifted her head, looking at him, then at the six people behind him. She was silent for a long time, so long that Chu Lan couldn't help but want to speak, but was gently pulled by her sleeve by Yaoguang.

"I want those men who betrayed me to apologize to me in person. They have already undergone Reincarnation; I want to find their Reincarnation bodies and hear them say 'I'm sorry'." Liu Ruyan's voice was very light, yet it made everyone present fall silent.

Gao Feng did not answer immediately. He looked at her and finally spoke, "What is your story?"

Liu Ruyan closed her eyes. Her voice echoed in the Void Realm, every word carrying the weight of a thousand years, but there was no resentment, only memories.

"My surname is Liu, my given name is Ruyan. I was the daughter of an ordinary merchant in the mortal world. For seven lifetimes I was human, and for seven lifetimes I was fought over and betrayed by men because of my beauty, eventually dying a miserable death."

She paused for a moment and began to recount.

"The first lifetime: a heartless scholar. After passing the imperial examination and gaining the rank of Jinshi, he climbed the social ladder by clinging to the powerful. With a single letter of annulment, he forced my father to his death, and I drowned myself in a river."

"The second lifetime: a gambling husband. After losing all our family assets, he sold me into a brothel, and I hanged myself."

"The third lifetime: a palace concubine. I was poisoned out of jealousy by the Empress and died bleeding from my seven orifices."

"The fourth lifetime: a courtesan. A scholar redeemed me only to steal my savings, and the brothel madam beat me to death."

"The fifth lifetime: a farm wife. My husband was an alcoholic who abused me; I fled to my maiden home but was rejected, so I threw myself into a well."

"The sixth lifetime: a wealthy young lady. My fiancé colluded with mountain bandits to rob and murder my whole family, and I killed myself after being abducted."

Her voice remained calm throughout, so calm that it sounded as if she were reciting someone else's affairs. Chu Lan's hand, however, gripped tighter and tighter, her nails sinking into Yaoguang's hand; Yaoguang did not pull away.

"The seventh lifetime..." Liu Ruyan's voice finally rippled with emotion.

"The seventh lifetime, I finally met someone who treated me with sincerity. He was a soldier at the border, with no prominent family background or exceptional talent, only a heart of genuine sincerity. He guarded the border, and I wove cloth at home. Every month, he would entrust someone to bring back a letter, and the letter only contained a few sentences—'Ruyan, I am doing well, do not worry.' 'Ruyan, the moon at the border is very round, rounder than the one in our hometown.' 'Ruyan, wait for me to return, and I will marry you.'"

Her eyes turned red.

"I waited year after year. The letters became fewer and fewer, from one per month, to one every three months, to one every half year. Finally, the letters stopped. I waited for three years, and what I received was the news that he had died on the battlefield. Some said he went missing during a patrol—never seen alive, never seen dead. Others said he defected to the enemy and became a traitor. No one knew the truth."

Her voice began to tremble.

"I did not believe it. I did not believe he would betray me. I inquired everywhere, exhausted my family's wealth, and eventually fell ill. Before I died, I was still waiting for his letter."

"And then?" Chu Lan's voice was very soft.

"Later, I found out that he had not died. He had not defected. He had simply been captured by the enemy and locked in a dungeon for three whole years. He suffered every torture, yet never revealed the border's defense layout. When he escaped, he was no longer in human shape. He found my grave, knelt for a day and a night, and then drew his sword to end his own life."

Liu Ruyan's tears finally fell.

"The news had been maliciously concealed. His superior officer, fearing responsibility, falsely reported that he had died in battle. His comrades, jealous of him, claimed he had defected. I hated the wrong person, I waited for the wrong person, and I died for the wrong person. He never betrayed me."

Tianxin asked softly, "Do you still hate?"

Liu Ruyan shook her head, "No, I do not. I have hated for seven hundred years; I cannot hate anymore. I only want to find those who truly failed me and hear them say 'I'm sorry'."

Luo Li's zither music flowed in the Void Realm, the melody of "Requiem" smoothing away the resentment around Liu Ruyan bit by bit. Tianxin's Cleansing Heart Talisman burned before her forehead, the blue-white flames enveloping her. The calming power contained within the Talisman's patterns seeped into her remnant Soul, extracting the remaining resentment bit by bit.

"After I died in the seventh lifetime, I was unwilling to undergo Reincarnation again. My Soul drifted in the Void Realm, I do not know for how long. The Lord met me and asked why I was drifting here. I said I did not want to go back; the human world is too bitter."

Liu Ruyan lifted her head.

"He was silent for a long time. Then he gave me something—a Form-Shaping Immortal Fruit. After eating it, the Soul will not dissipate and can even possess a solid body. He said that drifting here is not a solution, so it would be better to stay."

"I ate it. He built me a palace, deep within the rift, exactly like my boudoir in the human world. He never forced me to do anything, and even rarely came to see me. Sometimes he would come once every few months, sometimes every few years. He rarely spoke, just sat there, keeping me company."

"He was very good to you." Tianxin's voice was very soft.

"He was indeed very good. But what he wanted was not me; it was my hatred." Liu Ruyan lowered her head, her voice even softer, "My hatred can nourish his dark power, making him become more powerful. I hate those men who betrayed me, I hate this unjust world. The deeper my hatred, the stronger his power becomes."

Chu Lan lifted her head, her eyes red, "Then do you hate him? Do you hate that Lord?"

Liu Ruyan shook her head, "I do not. He is also a pitiful person. In his life, he was a Cultivator with extremely high talent, who was framed by his sect and betrayed by his lover, dying from Qi Deviation. After death, his resentment did not dissipate, and he consumed an Immortal Fruit to take on a human form. Deep within his heart, there is still kindness, but it has been blinded by hatred."

Luo Li lowered her zither strings and said in a low voice, "Let her decide for herself."

Liu Ruyan's phantom slowly faded, but her gaze was clearer than before, the black Qi had almost entirely dissipated, leaving only a faint silver-white.

"Can I leave here? Can I go to the Human Realm? I just want to find them and hear them say 'I'm sorry'." She looked toward Su Ning.

Su Ning closed her eyes and performed the deduction for a long time, the Space-Time Deduction Technique unfolding in the Void Realm. A blurred star map appeared before her, marking the locations of seven figures on the map, scattered across different regions of the Human Realm.