Chapter 164: Why No Red Dress Today?

In the mirror.

Gu Changqing still sat within that curtained enclosure.

Their gazes met. The two were speechless, silent for a long while.

“I…”

Gu Changqing opened his mouth, and for a moment did not know what to say.

“You don’t need to say anything.”

Jiang Yunli’s voice was flat, imbued with an icy quality.

“Consider this as if it never happened. I don’t need you to be responsible, and you have no right to be responsible for me.”

Her red lips parted slightly and her tone was ice-cold to the extreme.

Jiang Yunli seemed once again like that iceberg of old, keeping everyone a thousand miles away.

Her eyes carried bone-deep cold, without any mixed emotion.

As if last night’s tenderness, the little woman’s pure laughter, had been nothing but a grand dream of Gu Changqing.

But clearly it was not so. The red on the white blanket, the drunken intoxication, the tender laughter in his memory…

“You should go.”

Jiang Yunli’s coldness did not allow any room for negotiation.

…

Outside the mirror.

The gathered cultivators sighed helplessly.

Just like Gu Changqing’s feeling in the scene, last night’s bright tenderness seemed like a grand dream.

Last night was the woman’s chance to let go of herself, so she showed the demeanor of a coquettish woman.

Now that she had sobered up, she ultimately still must shoulder the mission of the Jiang family’s legitimate daughter, must marry into the Ji family, hide the feelings in her heart, and face that harsh reality.

The gathered cultivators were internally unsettled.

This woman remained cold, still like an iceberg.

But everyone could sense that beneath that iceberg, tender feelings were hidden.

“Ah.”

The cultivators sighed softly, a boundless melancholy rising in their hearts.

…

In the mirror.

Outside Jubei City.

Gu Changqing, clad in a white robe and holding an ancient bell, set out on campaign again.

A vast army followed him, hundreds of thousands strong, silent and motionless.

Gu Changqing suddenly halted and turned to look at the battlements of Jubei City.

On the battlements, the red-clad figure remained.

That red robe was like fire, yet the beauty was cold as an iceberg, watching the army depart with no expression.

Gu Changqing turned his head.

The vast army behind him also turned.

Even the Jiang family members who came to see them off turned their heads.

Many people’s hearts had been expecting something, but in the end nothing happened.

Gu Changqing did not linger and slowly departed.

In the hearts of tens of thousands of soldiers, disappointment arose as they followed the great general’s steps to campaign in distant lands.

And then at a certain moment.

Dong!

Dong dong!

Dong dong dong…

A dense, rain-like drumbeat suddenly sounded, its force astonishing, like thunder.

It shook heaven and earth, and trembled in everyone’s heart.

Everyone swiftly turned to look toward the battlements.

The red-clad girl struck the drum forcefully, her red skirt billowing. That flash of beauty amazed everyone.

It was etched into every soldier’s heart.

The Jiang family’s legitimate daughter personally saw them off, personally beating the drum.

At this moment the soldiers were united, of one mind and will, their fighting spirit high.

At that moment something seemed to stir in Gu Changqing’s heart. An unusually hard and severe look appeared in his eyes briefly, but in an instant that severity completely faded.

He held the ancient bell in his arms, leading the multitude of troops, slowly departing to the drumbeats.

From the battlements of Jubei City behind him rose a woman’s strained shout, “Great General, return triumphant!”

…

Outside the mirror.

The gathered cultivators watched in silence as the campaigning army receded, eyes fixed on the white robe at the head of the dark, pressing mass.

Everyone’s hearts were moved.

“There are feelings for Jiang Yunli in the Heavenly Emperor’s heart, aren’t there?”

“Yes, that brief severity just now… The Heavenly Emperor seemed as if he wanted to snatch the red-clad figure from the battlements.”

“But he, in the end, did not…”

“Jiang Yunli bears the Jiang family and the bloodline mission of the Xuanyuan lineage.”

“And the Heavenly Emperor, he bears all living beings!”

“Now he already has the qualification to enter the Xuanyuan ancestral land, he only lacks an opportunity to take the Xuanyuan Sword. If he were to throw everything away now for Jiang Yunli…”

“The head of the Jiang family would surely turn against him. If that happens, the Heavenly Emperor would no longer have a chance to obtain the Xuanyuan Sword.”

“Sigh.”

The cultivators sighed heavily.

They read the reluctance in Jiang Yunli’s drumming and in that cry of ‘Great General, return triumphant.’

They read that flash of severity in the Heavenly Emperor’s eyes.

Compared to a love at even the cost of their own lives, this kind of love, one that was yet fully deep, but obstructed by endless bonds, was undoubtedly more worth savoring.

Its bitterness and aching heartache, while savored, left one’s heart mournful.

“I now somewhat dare not believe that the Heavenly Emperor would act to refine Jiang Yunli into an artifact spirit,” a cultivator murmured softly with emotion.

It would have been one thing if the Heavenly Emperor had no feelings for Jiang Yunli before, but in that severe expression they read far too much.

“But the fact is that Jiang Yunli became an artifact spirit. She became the artifact spirit inside the Heavenly Emperor’s Heaven Burying Bell…”

The cultivators sighed in silence.

Although they were unwilling to believe, and dared not believe.

But the fact was laid out before them, so how could they explain it?

…

In the mirror.

Time passed. The years flew like arrows.

The scene shifted, and several months had passed.

Gu Changqing returned from the expedition, clutching a broken ancient bell, his eyes full of worldly sorrow.

His white robe was stained with blood.

Undoubtedly, he had experienced a bloody battle, a brutal bloodshed.

Behind him, although the soldiers’ armor was damaged, they looked spirited.

Because they knew that on the battlements of Jubei City, a red-clad figure would surely welcome them.

The Jiang family’s legitimate daughter would personally welcome them.

So much blood and tears, so many scars. They were all worth it.

However.

When they approached Jubei City, the soldiers did not see the red dress from their memories.

It was the head of the Jiang family who personally welcomed them.

But at this moment the soldiers’ hearts still could not help but swell with loss.

If sending off, having the red dress around was best. And if welcoming back, it was of course, also best to have the red dress around.

No matter how high the head of the Jiang family’s status was, it could not compare to that fluttering red dress in the soldiers’ hearts.

…

On the battlements of Jubei City.

The head of the Jiang family had undisguised pride and admiration in his eyes.

He looked at the man before him, patted his shoulder, and said with meaningful feeling, “Jiang An, well done, well done!”

“This time you pacified Xichuan in just a few months, establishing unparalleled meritorious service for my Jiang family.”

“Tell me, what do you want? Whatever you want, I will grant it to you.”

Gu Changqing now had risen as high as he possibly could.

Of course, he seemed to have never been particularly attached to power or position.

He only looked at the head of the Jiang family and said calmly, “Why no red dress today?”

The head of the Jiang family, who had always been kind to Gu Changqing, upon hearing this, had a rare change in expression.

That face turned endlessly sullen and furious.

“Jiang An, just do your duty!”

“You are merely a great general. Do not ask what you should not ask.”

The head of the Jiang family swept his sleeves and left, his aura chillingly cold.