A strong wind suddenly swept through the courtyard.
In an instant, thunder rumbled, and a torrential rain poured down.
The moonlight vanished, and the snow lotus flowers withered in large swathes. A gust of wind whipped up the illusions, which seemed both real and unreal, and swept towards Bai Shengyi. Unable to dodge, Bai Shengyi plunged into the multitude of illusions.
"Little Junior Sister, don't be afraid. From now on, I will be the National Master of the Great Sheng Kingdom. I will use my knowledge to protect the Great Sheng Kingdom's peace. You just need to live a happy and content life forever."
In the empty National Master's mansion, the young man wiped the blood from his hands on his clothes, then carefully, with one arm, circled the shoulders of the little girl in front of him.
But he dared not hold her tightly.
"Senior Brother, what if Senior… no, that scoundrel, comes back?" The little girl's nose was red, clearly having just cried. Her crimson dress made her appear even more fragile.
"Don't be afraid, I struck his heart, he won't come back," the young man said with certainty.
The scenes Bai Shengyi saw were always slightly tilted. The perspective was limited, and after a while, she realized that she was currently using the perspective of the artifact's spirit. However, she couldn't find the spirit itself; instead, the scenes before her flashed by rapidly.
The young man should be Xuan Qing, who would later become the National Master, and the little girl was Princess Ruyi, Sheng Yi.
The events in these scenes were completely different from what Old Man Zhang had told her.
For instance, the National Master bestowed a marriage upon Xuan Qing and Princess Ruyi, who were in love with each other.
Furthermore, the former National Master, who had been stabbed by the young man, did not die but returned with an invasion force from surrounding countries.
They drove fierce beasts to attack the citizens and soldiers of the Great Sheng Kingdom, threatening the King to hand over Xuan Qing and Princess Ruyi.
"Impossible! This King will never hand them over!"
"Exactly! We absolutely cannot surrender the Princess and the National Master to that despicable villain!"
The aging King and his subjects were furious, but everyone had reached a consensus: they would not compromise!
The newly appointed National Master, Xuan Qing, stepped forward and declared with a resounding voice, "Your Majesty, I am willing to lead the troops to battle and defeat their beastly army!"
"Good! Xuan Qing, this King believes you can surely do it!"
The King patted Xuan Qing's shoulder, and Xuan Qing led a grand army of one hundred thousand to campaign.
He never returned from this expedition.
"Father, I want to go to the front lines!"
"No! A'yi, what can a frail young girl like you do on the battlefield? Be obedient and stay in the capital. As long as the Great Sheng Kingdom does not fall, Xuanjizi cannot harm you."
"Father, I cannot be so selfish."
Princess Ruyi rode out of the city. Before leaving, she looked back at the familiar capital.
The capital was still prosperous and lively. The tall Star-Gazing Tower was adorned with red ribbons for the people's prayers, but upon closer inspection, many people in the bustling streets wore worried and bitter expressions.
The smoke of war had already spread throughout the Great Sheng Kingdom.
She did not want to implicate the entire nation's people because of her, and she also hated Xuanjizi to the bone, wishing for a mutual destruction.
The scene changed again.
A desolate desert of yellow sand, strewn with corpses, with lonely geese circling overhead. The setting sun cut across the sky, painting a scene of desolation.
Princess Ruyi, clad in crimson armor, her body covered in wounds, knelt on the ground, leaning on her sword. Not far from her, Xuanjizi clutched his chest and laughed wildly to the sky.
"You think the Great Sheng will be fine just because you killed me? Ruyi, Ruyi, you are still too naive. I'm not afraid to tell you, just yesterday, I sent fifty thousand troops to attack the capital of the Great Sheng Kingdom. Today, I'm afraid your Great Sheng Kingdom has already fallen!"
Princess Ruyi looked up in disbelief!
She stared intently at Xuanjizi, "Why?"
Why did he do this?
"If Great Sheng does not fall, Ruyi, Ruyi..." Xuanjizi coughed, wiped the blood from his lips, and greedily looked at Princess Ruyi and the sword in her hand.
Princess Ruyi stood in a daze.
Her birth was not a blessing to the Great Sheng Kingdom, but a disaster, wasn't it?
She staggered to her feet, raised her sword, and lunged at Xuanjizi again.
Xuanjizi did not take Princess Ruyi's desperate struggle seriously, not until—
"Puff!"
The divine artifact flashed with a faint blue light. The sword tip pierced through his defenses and pierced his heart!
"You..." Xuanjizi fell straight down.
Princess Ruyi could no longer stand and collapsed onto the ground.
She still clutched the long sword tightly in her hand. "Little Lanlan, if there is an afterlife, I will fight alongside you on the battlefield again, for a lifetime of freedom. Xuan Qing, I'm coming to find you..."
The yellow sand swirled in the sky, and the wind howled as if mourning for her.
"Drip!"
The cold rainwater landed on Bai Shengyi's forehead, and she suddenly realized that all the illusions had vanished.
She walked to the ice coffin and pushed it open with a palm. This time, the artifact's spirit did not stop her.
"How ironic. The King of Great Sheng wished for her to be content her whole life, but little did he know she lost her mother in childhood, trusted the wrong person in her youth and was confined in the National Master's mansion. After finally escaping the inferno of the National Master's mansion, she successively lost her husband and father… and finally her life…"
The spirit's voice echoed in her ears, followed by a cold sensation on her neck.
A sword was placed at Bai Shengyi's throat, radiating killing intent.
Bai Shengyi's expression remained unchanged, and she calmly said, "But in the end, the one she couldn't let go of was you, Tian Ji."
A divine artifact named Tian Ji Sword, also a long sword called Little Lanlan, a sword she picked up in her childhood, which accompanied her through the lonely times in the palace and the long confinement in the National Master's mansion.
Bai Shengyi finally understood why this world was so strange.
It was both real and fake.
It was real in that it existed in the torrent of history, and everything displayed was based on what had happened. It was fake because, apart from the artifact's owner, everyone else in it had lost their lives in time. She just didn't know what method the Tian Ji Sword had used to keep these souls within its divine domain.
"Don't you want to know why you were able to continue living after her death?"
Bai Shengyi tilted her body slightly, and the Tian Ji Sword instinctively changed direction, unwilling to harm her.
No, he couldn't be deceived by this woman's sweet talk anymore!
The Tian Ji Sword's blade was aimed at Bai Shengyi again, and it spoke coldly, its voice filled with mockery and malice, "You don't need to babble anymore. I have always known. Of course, it's because I am the unique divine artifact in the world. With the mountains and rivers at peace, I am eternal."
Bai Shengyi chuckled, a mocking smile curving her lips, "But you signed a soul contract with her back then, didn't you?"
The Tian Ji Sword's body grew colder.
A soul contract was more ancient and overbearing than the three types of contracts currently existing on the Shenqi Continent. Once signed, it bound the souls of both parties together for all eternity.
The spirit of the Tian Ji Sword had awakened in Princess Ruyi's company, but it developed feelings and directly forced a soul contract with her. If Princess Ruyi died, the Tian Ji Sword would absolutely vanish from heaven and earth.
Bai Shengyi no longer gave the Tian Ji Sword a chance to evade.
She said calmly, "You must have guessed it already, Princess Ruyi exchanged her lifetime's merit and the fortune of her next life for you to live on…"
"No! You're lying! Shut up! Shut up!" The Tian Ji Sword jumped up and down excitedly, "She clearly deceived me! She's a liar! She wronged me!"
"I've waited for her for so many years, and she hasn't come back to find me!" The Tian Ji Sword's voice was choked with sobs. "I was clearly her true love, but she chose Xuan Qing…"
It was unwilling. Was it because it was just a sword that it didn't deserve to be with her?
Clearly, it was the one who had always accompanied her, and it was the one who had always waited for her.