439: Chapter 439 Obsession Gradually Fades

"Believe it or not, the spring water won't do any harm. If the townspeople drink good water, it can be considered the Karma we've brought to this place." Chu Lan clapped the dirt off her hands, stood up, and gazed at the cooking smoke in the dusk in the distance.

"Let's go. We have to travel tomorrow. We still need to visit several places for the remaining five Reincarnations, so don't delay." Su Ning had already opened a Space Folding channel.

Night fell. The obsession of the second Reincarnation had been resolved, but the light was still on in Old Man Wang Si's tent. He broke the dry, hard flatbread into pieces, soaked them in water, and swallowed them bit by bit.

He had gambled his whole life and lost his whole life. Now, in his old age, he was still huddled alone in a tent that was about to collapse. He gazed at the moonlight outside the tent, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Liu Ruyan's figure had long since disappeared into the dusk, never to return.

After leaving Old Man Wang Si's tent, Tianxin did not linger. The Spirit Fox carried Liu Ruyan's remnant Soul and streaked toward the east.

Tianxin applied a speed-enhancing Talisman to her legs, moving as fast as the wind. Before dawn, she arrived at a fishing village on the eastern coast. The Reincarnation of the third-life Empress was now a seventy-three-year-old woman named Chen; the villagers all called her Granny Chen.

Granny Chen lived in a dilapidated adobe house, its thatched roof scattered by the sea breeze. It was early morning when Tianxin arrived. Granny Chen was squatting in front of the stove, trying to light a fire to cook. The firewood in the hearth was damp, and the thick smoke made her cough incessantly.

Tianxin was in no rush to enter. She stood outside and used her spiritual sense to sense Granny Chen's Soul. The Souls of ordinary people were murky and dim, but Granny Chen's Soul looked like a crumpled piece of old cloth that had been repeatedly kneaded. Those weren't traces brought on by aging—they were obsessions, regrets, and the scars left deep within her Soul by the Karma from seven hundred years ago.

Tianxin took a Dream-Entry Talisman from her sleeve. The paper drifted through the door crack into the house and burned silently in front of Granny Chen's forehead. Granny Chen's body swayed, and she leaned against the stove, closing her eyes.

Liu Ruyan's phantom drifted out from the light orb on the Spirit Fox. She stood before Granny Chen, looking at that wrinkled face. Seven hundred years ago, this person had sat high on a throne in a Phoenix robe while she knelt in the hall. Now, their positions were reversed.

Tianxin whispered, "Go in."

Liu Ruyan closed her eyes, and her consciousness sank into Granny Chen's dream.

In the dream, Granny Chen was no longer a hunched old woman; she had returned to her youth. She was wearing a Phoenix robe, standing under the corridor of the deep palace. Liu Ruyan walked over from the other end of the corridor, dressed in plain clothes, holding a bowl of medicinal soup—that was her final memory before she was murdered. When Granny Chen saw the medicine bowl in Liu Ruyan's hand, her face turned pale. Her lips trembled as she tried to explain, but the Phoenix robe in the dream locked her in place like iron chains.

"You knew that bowl of medicine was poisoned," Liu Ruyan said softly.

Granny Chen's body trembled violently, tears streaming from her eyes. "I... I didn't want to. The Emperor only favored you and never looked at me. I was jealous of you, I hated you..." She lowered her head, her voice growing smaller. "I didn't mean to."

Liu Ruyan was silent for a long time, looking at her as if she were a stranger. She had thought that when she saw her again, she would feel hatred and resentment for the grievances of the deep palace seven hundred years ago. But now, seeing Granny Chen's hunched frame and wrinkled face, she suddenly found she couldn't hate her. Over seventy years old, her son buried at sea, her daughter-in-law remarried, her grandson taken away, and she had no one to rely on in her old age. Was the suffering of her life not the fruit she had planted herself?

Liu Ruyan placed the medicine bowl on the corridor railing and turned to leave. Not a drop of medicine spilled from the bowl. In the dream, Granny Chen chased after her retreating figure for a few steps, but her feet caught on her skirt, and she fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She lay on the ground, crying like a child.

Liu Ruyan did not look back. She had already walked far away.

Tianxin collected the ashes of the Talisman, glanced at the unconscious Granny Chen, placed a small bag of rice on the stove, and turned to leave.

The fourth Reincarnation was in a small town in the water villages of Jiangnan.

In her fourth Reincarnation, Liu Ruyan was a courtesan. She was swindled out of all her savings by a scholar, and the brothel madam beat her to death. That scholar's Reincarnation was now called Zhou Wancai, the richest merchant in town. He had built a five-courtyard mansion at the east end of the town, and the stone lions at his gate were even more imposing than those at the county magistrate's office.

It was afternoon when Tianxin arrived with Liu Ruyan. Zhou Wancai was drinking tea in his study. His business had run into a major problem; a shipment of silk destined for the north had been robbed at the ferry crossing, and he had lost everything.

Tianxin did not go through the main gate. With a teleportation, the Spirit Fox brought her and the Talisman directly into Zhou Wancai's study. Zhou Wancai was holding a teacup; seeing Tianxin appear out of thin air, he was so startled that he dropped the cup on the floor. Before he could cry out, the Dream-Entry Talisman in Tianxin's hand had already burned.

Zhou Wancai slumped into his grand armchair and entered the dream.

He dreamed of himself seven hundred years ago. At that time, his name was Shen Mo, a poor scholar who made a living writing letters for others. He met Liu Ruyan in a brothel and used sweet words to trick her into trusting him. Liu Ruyan gave him all her savings so he could take the imperial examinations. He took the money and left, but instead of going to the exams, he went to a gambling den. After losing everything, he was too ashamed to return. He changed his name, fled to another place, and swindled a rich merchant's daughter, achieving great success from then on. Liu Ruyan waited for him in the brothel until the madam grew impatient and beat her to death.

In the dream, Zhou Wancai saw the scene of Liu Ruyan being beaten to death. He trembled like a sieve, and the grand armchair creaked.

"I didn't mean to... I didn't..." He muttered to himself.

Liu Ruyan stood before him, her eyes devoid of hatred, filled only with pity. The scholar from seven hundred years ago had swindled her and cost her her life. But this person, seven hundred years later, had already repaid the debt with several lifetimes of wealth and the accidental disaster of this lifetime. Tianxin's Talisman allowed him to see his future of business failure and total loss of assets—it wasn't Tianxin's doing; this was something that would have happened anyway. Karma and retribution had long been written into his fate.

Liu Ruyan turned, and her phantom drifted out of the study.

Zhou Wancai slumped in the grand armchair for a long time. When he woke up, he was covered in sweat. He didn't know if the dream was real or fake, but he felt as if a piece had been carved out of his heart.

The fifth Reincarnation was in the southwestern mountainous region.

Tianxin walked for an entire day in the deep mountains and old forests before finding Zhao Iron Pillar's residence—a small hut built of wood and stone, with a small vegetable patch in front and a pile of chopped firewood behind. Zhao Iron Pillar was not home. Tianxin waited outside for a day and a night. The Spirit Fox dozed at her feet, and Liu Ruyan's phantom stood on the cliff edge in front of the hut, gazing at the distant mountains.

The next morning, Zhao Iron Pillar returned carrying a wild deer. He was a man in his forties with a long scar on his face, stretching from his left eyebrow to the corner of his right mouth. He set down his prey and was about to enter the hut when he saw Tianxin sitting on a stone by the door. His gaze was vigilant but not fierce.

"You are..." Zhao Iron Pillar was momentarily at a loss for words.

Tianxin stood up, brushed the dust off her robes, and pointed to the faint, shimmering silver orb of light behind her: "Someone wants to see you."

The Dream-Entry Talisman burned again. In the dream, Zhao Iron Pillar saw himself from seven hundred years ago. At that time, he was a man with a brutish face, addicted to alcohol, and would beat people when drunk. Liu Ruyan was his wife in the fifth Reincarnation, an ordinary peasant woman who managed the household chores and took care of his parents every day, working without complaint. He would gamble away the family fortune and then beat her to vent his anger, only to kneel and beg for her forgiveness afterward. This happened repeatedly until she broke her leg, only to have it broken again. Liu Ruyan threw herself into a well.

In the dream, Zhao Iron Pillar knelt by the well, looking desperately into it. The well water was pitch black, and there was nothing there. He turned to look for someone, but there was no one behind him.

When Zhao Iron Pillar woke up, it was already noon. He sat on the threshold of the hut, still holding a wood-chopping knife in his hand. He did not look at Tianxin, nor did he look at the silver-white orb of light. He placed the knife on the ground and buried his head in his knees.

"I haven't touched alcohol in this life." His voice was muffled, sounding congested as if his nose were blocked. "Not a single drop. I know someone told me not to drink. I don't remember who, but I know."

Liu Ruyan stood before him, looking at his broad back. Seven hundred years ago, she hated him to the bone, wishing she could kill him with her own hands. Now, looking at him, she found she no longer felt hatred. The man who had beaten her, sold her, and harmed her had become a taciturn hunter who had sworn off alcohol and gambling seven hundred years later. He had no wife, no children, not even any neighbors. Every day, he hunted, chopped wood, and grew vegetables, day after day. He didn't even remember why himself, but that dream told him he owed someone a life.

Liu Ruyan withdrew her phantom. The black Qi had almost dissipated, leaving only a faint silver-white.

The sixth Reincarnation was in a garrison town on the northwestern frontier.

It was late at night when Tianxin found the sixth Reincarnation with Liu Ruyan. The man was named Li Ergou, in his early twenties, an ordinary soldier in the frontier garrison whose name no one remembered even when he stood on the city wall. It took some effort for Tianxin to sneak into the barracks, but the Spirit Fox's teleportation was a huge help, taking her and Liu Ruyan's remnant Soul directly through the wall. Li Ergou was sleeping in the barracks, snoring thunderously.

This time, Tianxin did not use a Dream-Entry Talisman, instead letting Liu Ruyan enter his dream on her own. Liu Ruyan's phantom drifted into Li Ergou's brow, and she closed her eyes.

In Li Ergou's dream, he was a wealthy young master, adorned in gold and silver, skilled in all manner of debauchery. He was betrothed to Liu Ruyan, and to covet her family's farmland, he colluded with bandits to rob and kill her entire family. Liu Ruyan was abducted and, unable to bear the humiliation, committed suicide. In the dream, Li Ergou saw the bandits rushing into the Liu residence and tried desperately to stop them, but it was as if an invisible hand held him in place, unable to move. Liu Ruyan's phantom stood before him, still looking as she had seven hundred years ago.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I didn't know people would die... I only wanted the farmland... I didn't mean to take her life..." Li Ergou knelt on the ground, kowtowing desperately.

Liu Ruyan did not answer. She stood there quietly, watching him for a long time, as if looking at a yellowed, old ledger. It was the same debt that had once made her hate him so much she gnashed her teeth, but now, standing before this person, she found she had no emotions left.

Li Ergou woke up from the dream in a start, his face covered in tears. He didn't know what had happened, only that he felt he had done something very wrong, something that could never be undone.