Chapter 73: The Seventy-Third Day of Slacking
“Clipping… through? Dead?” A’kui was utterly bewildered by Wen Ying’s words. “Senior, what… what do you mean?”
“It means you’re already dead,” Wen Ying said. With a flick of her finger, she sent a wisp of energy toward the sleeping Hua Pi, who slowly stirred and woke.
Hua Pi looked around, dazed.
She had, indeed, been unconscious.
“Yingying? Why did you suddenly barge in? And what… what’s happening now?” Hua Pi glanced at the darkness outside the house, then turned to A’kui, her confusion growing. “A’kui, and you… ah!! A’kui, your hand! What’s wrong with your hand?!”
Hua Pi’s shock was not faked.
And at this point, there was no need for pretense.
Her reaction was something Wen Ying hadn’t anticipated.
Was the highest form of deception truly to deceive even oneself?
A’kui never thought Wen Ying would wake Hua Pi.
He quickly pulled his hand from where it had phased through his chest, looking at Wen Ying in disbelief. “Senior, why did you wake Pi’er?”
“Senior?” Hua Pi found everything she was seeing and hearing utterly bizarre. “What just happened? A’kui, why did you make me sleep? And why are you calling Yingying ‘Senior’?”
“Pi’er, the truth is, Senior Wen Ying is your mother,” A’kui said with a gentle smile. “Pi’er, you can finally be reunited as a family.”
Ugh…
If I recall correctly, I don’t think I ever admitted to that…
“Really?” Despite her confusion, a look of joyful surprise blossomed on Hua Pi’s young face.
She trusted A’kui’s words.
Because of her previous illness, her memories of the past had always been hazy. She could only vaguely recall moments with her mother and sister, but she couldn’t remember her mother’s face.
So, the seasonings her mother had left behind, and the words “when you solve the riddle, it will be time for our reunion,” meant this… Her mother truly never lied to her.
“Mother, is it… really you?” Hua Pi looked at Wen Ying with hopeful eyes. “Then… what about my sister? Do you know where she is?”
Wen Ying truly wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t definitively say no.
In this reincarnation, too many people had mistaken her for someone else. Even Wen Ying herself was beginning to wonder if she truly was that person.
All she could say was that, in her own memory, she really didn’t know these people.
But she could answer the question about Hua Pi’s sister.
“Your sister… should be this.” As she spoke, Wen Ying took the shattered, kaleidoscopic mirror from her sleeve. “Hua Gu is your sister, isn’t she?”
“A… mirror? Mother, are you saying my sister is a mirror?” Hua Pi’s reaction was, once again, one of unexpected shock and confusion. “How… how could that be? If my sister is a mirror, then… am I also… Ah!!!”
Hua Pi felt a splitting pain in her head. She clutched it, squatting down and burying her face, letting out an agonized cry.
“Pi’er!” A’kui cried out in distress, rushing to her side and gently holding her.
Wen Ying had truly not expected Hua Pi to have deceived herself so completely.
But…
No matter how beautiful a fabricated illusion is, it must eventually be torn apart.
And the pain of facing reality is always magnified.
From the moment she wove that beautiful illusion for herself, this end was already written.
It was time for all of this to end.
“A’kui, you’ve always thought that this Ping’an Town, besides being part of your deal with that cultivator, was also a stage you provided for Hua Pi, haven’t you?” Wen Ying asked him.
“Yes,” A’kui no longer hid anything. “It was Pi’er… Pi’er always wanted to return to a simple life. The ordinary home of a small town, a simple stronghold on a small mountain… Although Pi’er doesn’t remember why she was separated from you all, every time she recalled it, she would look so pained…”
Wen Ying frowned slightly.
Xiao Hei’s words, Xiao Sun-sun’s words, Kong Jingjing’s words, and now A’kui’s words.
What exactly happened a hundred years ago?
But A’kui’s intentions were simple.
He wanted Hua Pi to live in this peaceful and beautiful world. Their adopted son Lin Ruge, the residents, the manor, even their appearances—all were shaped by Hua Pi’s desires.
Indeed, everything in the town, everyone’s life, was A’kui’s handiwork.
But the river without water, the pit one could clip through, and Auntie Wu’s house that existed on the map but was invisible—those had nothing to do with him.
“But have you ever considered whether this stage is real?” Wen Ying asked coolly.
“Huh?” A’kui was stunned. “It’s… it’s Ping’an Town.”
“A’kui, I told you before… you’re already dead,” Wen Ying sighed softly. “You’ve forgotten, your wife is a mirror demon. What a mirror reflects—is it reality, or is it an illusion?”
As Wen Ying spoke, Hua Pi’s pained cries ceased.
She had heard Wen Ying’s final words. After a moment of silence, she finally, slowly, raised her head.
When she looked up again, the confusion in her eyes was gone, but so was her original innocence.
“Mother… I never thought I would see you again in my lifetime…” Hua Pi stood up, leaning on A’kui for support, and walked toward Wen Ying. “It’s so good that you’re not dead.”
From Hua Pi’s expression, she wasn’t deceiving Wen Ying.
Another person had mistaken her for someone else.
“Do you know Xiao Hei?” Wen Ying suddenly asked. “A black cat, a real little brat.”
“Of course. He was the pet that was always by your side, Mother,” Hua Pi smiled.
It seemed Hua Pi’s mother and Xiao Hei’s master were, again, the same person.
The number of people who had mistaken her for that person had now reached four.
Perhaps… she really was that person after all.
“But my sister…” Hua Pi took the Hua Gu mirror from Wen Ying’s hand, her eyes filled with infinite sorrow. “After that day, my sister and I were both gravely injured… I watched with my own eyes as that person snatched my sister away, shattered her demon core, and turned her into a mere shell of spiritual energy… But now, even this shell has been destroyed…”
“The person you’re talking about, was it a woman, a very ugly one?” Wen Ying asked.
“Mm,” Hua Pi nodded. “Mother, when you created us, I was reality, and my sister was illusion. To this day, I still don’t remember what happened that day… but I will never forget the moment that person shattered my sister’s demon core…”
So that was it.
It seemed that “master” had created two mirrors. One was Hua Pi, a mirror that could reflect reality. The other was Hua Gu, a mirror with a beauty filter function.
“It is hard to paint the skin without painting the bones.” Opposing names, perhaps a warning, or perhaps… just a name the master had casually chosen.
Wen Ying, for now, had no way of knowing.
So Rong Hua’s so-called divine artifact had come from this.
Wen Ying let out a cold laugh, her gaze turning icy, chilling to the bone.
“Mother, now that you’ve awoken me, you must already know what I’ve done…” Hua Pi turned to look at A’kui. “I’m sorry, A’kui. All this time, I’ve been deceiving you… and myself. Just as Mother said, everything here is a world in a mirror. I am reality, so I reflected the entire real Ping’an Town to become the world we see now.”
Wen Ying was not surprised by Hua Pi’s confession.
The moment she connected Hua Pi with the Hua Gu mirror, she had understood everything.
Auntie Wu wasn’t reflected because Hua Pi had a mole on her face. In other words, her mirror surface had a flaw right where Auntie Wu’s house was. The so-called mirror surface was like the surface of water, a reflection formed beneath the entirety of Ping’an Town. That’s why Auntie Wu’s house could be seen by Li Xiangyue’s special ability at the same coordinates.
A reflection is inherently illusory, shattering at a touch. It was Hua Pi’s spiritual power that made the illusion solid.
But the sweet pickled garlic incident had caused Hua Pi to “rust,” which had weakened her spiritual power, leading to the multiple clipping incidents.
“This… how could this be…” A’kui was clearly shocked. “Then… what am I…”
If all of this was an illusion, was he an illusion too? Recalling what the Senior had said, was he truly already…
“Mother is right. You… you’re already dead.” Hua Pi’s hands, at her sides, were clenched tightly. “You were just a small strand of puppet thread. You couldn’t possibly withstand that much true energy… Later, the one who continued the transaction with that cultivator was actually me…”
Next, Hua Pi told A’kui the whole truth.
It turned out that just before A’kui’s real body disintegrated, that cultivator had coincidentally appeared. With his help, Hua Pi had extracted A’kui’s consciousness and placed it in the mirror world she had created.
It was the only way to keep A’kui “alive.” But once the mirror world disappeared, A’kui would cease to exist.
Hua Pi was already gravely injured and naturally needed more spiritual power to maintain this mirror world. So she agreed to the cultivator’s request to continue providing him with true energy. In return, the cultivator would refine a portion of the true energy into pills, allowing Hua Pi to convert it into her own spiritual power to sustain the mirror world.
“I’m sorry, A’kui. I’m sorry, Mother.” Hua Pi lowered her eyes. “I know my actions were selfish. Mother, you always told us that everyone dies, and that a death can be as weighty as Mount Tai or as light as a feather. You told us you had lived long enough, and to die for your own beliefs was nothing to regret. But I… I don’t want to lose anyone else… Mother, I really don’t want to lose anyone else…”
As she spoke, tears silently slid from Hua Pi’s eyes, one drop, then another, splashing onto the floor.
Wen Ying said nothing.
At this moment, if Wen Ying could confirm she really was Hua Pi’s mother, she might have told her that all of this was just a selfish excuse. A’kui was already dead. The people of Ping’an Town were not the cause of all this; how innocent were they?
But, in Wen Ying’s memory, she was not Hua Pi’s mother. There was no need for her to point fingers or lecture.
Wen Ying didn’t like to preach. When someone clearly knows right from wrong but chooses the wrong path, a few words of preaching can’t change anything.
At this moment, Wen Ying took out a piece of paper and a charcoal pencil from her sleeve and quickly began to draw something.
“The cultivator you’re talking about, is it this person?” After finishing, Wen Ying showed the portrait of Xu Mofeng to the two of them.
“That’s him!” Hua Pi and A’kui nodded in unison.
“It was a trap. You were deceived,” Wen Ying sighed softly.
This matter wasn’t difficult to deduce.
Hua Pi’s injury was real, but not life-threatening. The so-called “life-threatening danger” and the “medicine” were all illusions created by Xu Mofeng. His goal was to lure the two of them into a trap.
A’kui being unable to withstand that much true energy was also within Xu Mofeng’s calculations. His ultimate goal was to use the beautiful illusion as bait, to make Hua Pi continue gathering energy for him.
This was far easier than constantly faking Hua Pi’s life-threatening condition.
After hearing Wen Ying’s words, both Hua Pi and A’kui fell silent.
So… that was the truth of it all.
That cultivator was certainly hateful, but they themselves were the ones who caused all this.
It was their selfishness, their greed, that ultimately led to this end.
“Crack.”
With a faint cracking sound, the entire room suddenly began to shake.
At the same time, A’kui’s body began to slowly turn transparent, starting from his fingertips and gradually spreading through his entire body.
“A’kui!” Hua Pi’s pupils contracted. She wanted to rush to his side, but the violently shaking ground hindered her, making her stumble and struggle to move forward.
“I… I’m…” After the initial shock, A’kui suddenly became calm. He smiled. “Am I… about to disappear?”
“Hua Pi, the construction of this world, besides spiritual power, also requires your own belief. Only if you believe A’kui should exist can he continue to exist.” Although this was not a scene Wen Ying wished to see, sooner or later… A’kui and Hua Pi had to reach this point.
Just now, when Hua Pi realized she had been deceived, she hesitated.
She felt she was terribly wrong. She shouldn’t have used this method… to let A’kui live on like this.
As the fluctuations in Hua Pi’s heart grew more intense, the collapse of the entire world also accelerated.
“No—!” Hua Pi cried out, trying with all her might to reach A’kui’s side.
She was so close, just a little bit more and she could touch him…
But the next moment, A’kui vanished into nothingness beneath Hua Pi’s fingers.
Hua Pi froze.
Two lines of tears streamed from her wide-open eyes. She suddenly sat down on the ground and began to wail.
If… if Wen Ying were her mother, perhaps she would…
Wen Ying walked to Hua Pi’s side and gently stroked her head.
Perhaps it was a form of comfort. But what was wrong was wrong.
“Mother, I… I was wrong…” Hua Pi sobbed, speaking to Wen Ying. “I was wrong… I shouldn’t have let myself live in a dream… I forgot what you said, Mother… that even a cruel reality is better than a beautiful illusion… that was the reason you created us two sisters…”
“Mother, the people! Once the mirror world collapses, the people inside will…” Hua Pi suddenly turned, her voice filled with anxiety.
“It’s alright,” Wen Ying shook her head. “I’ve already had others send them out in advance.”
This was the task Wen Ying had given to Xiao Hei and Lu Xiaojie, and had Da Hei wake Lin Ruge for.
She couldn’t predict what would happen after meeting the couple, so she had them protect these people beforehand.
If it was within her power, why not do it?
This was also the reason why Wen Ying, after so many reincarnations, had not turned to darkness.
In her short first life, she had received help from many strangers. Maybe it was just asking for directions, maybe it was just help carrying luggage in her university dorm. The world has truth, goodness, and beauty, which is why it is not hell.
This was also the reason why, at this final moment, Hua Pi still cared about these people.
“Thank you, Mother, for helping me lighten some of my sins.” Hua Pi wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and gave Wen Ying a small smile. “Mother, I finally understand now, the stories you told us, of the Butterfly Lovers, of Romeo and Juliet’s joint suicide. To die together is also a kind of HE, I suppose.”
HE… a Happy Ending?
“Mother, my demon core can help my sister revive. I believe you, Mother, can definitely fix my sister, right?” Hua Pi said with a smile, raising the Hua Gu mirror in her hand.
Wen Ying didn’t stop her.
Even if she really was Hua Pi’s mother, she had no right to stop her.
This was her own choice, a choice of companionship, a choice of atonement.
“Mother, if… if none of this had ever happened… right now, it should have been our family reunion… wouldn’t that have been nice…”
Wen Ying watched as Hua Pi gradually disappeared, finally condensing into a crystal-clear demon core that flew into the broken Hua Gu mirror.
The Hua Gu mirror then fell to the ground. Wen Ying picked it up and quietly wiped a teardrop from the corner of her eye.
Reunion… what a luxurious word.
In moments of tragedy, the worst thing is to remember past beauty, and possible beauty.
Wen Ying took one last look at the collapsing world, chanted an incantation, and completely left this now-annihilated mirror world.
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