Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 299 - 173: The First Memory

Chapter 299: Chapter 173: The First Memory

Zhou Yan might have been outmatched in the grand scheme by those old monsters in terms of intelligence, but in this matter, he wouldn’t make a mistake.

At this moment, his attention turned to both the interior and exterior of Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City. After understanding the differences, his confidence in the grand plan he had set up was even stronger.

He took advantage of the time at hand to strive once more to condense his split body, preparing for potential upheavals that might arise next.

Inside the Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City, in the Despair Abyss.

"The first condition has been met by you. Now, state your second condition," said the woman in white with a severed arm, her voice detached.

By her side, a man in colorful clothes maintained his composure throughout.

The calmer he was, the more intense the pressure felt by everyone else in the room.

But Zhou Yan remained equally serene and calm. He turned around, his gaze sweeping over all present, finally settling on Li Wuxian, Zhou Wangchen, and Li Yunjin.

After a slight hesitation, he said, "The Mingxin Mirror—I know you have it. Show it to me. At the very least, before I die, I want to resolve a doubt."

"The Mingxin Mirror... If you want it, then take it. In fact... when I found it, I just wanted to know how you were. Little did I expect, we would meet here as mother and son.

I don’t deserve to be your mother... Yan’er, I’m sorry."

Li Yunjin found it hard to face the situation, but she still forced herself to remain steadfast.

Because evasion was not an option.

All things considered, her schemes had cornered her into this predicament, forcing her to confront it.

Feng Ling Bamboo and Li Qimeng stood worryingly by her side, both providing support.

These two women, too, didn’t dare to look at Zhou Yan at this moment. Perhaps from guilt, fear, or simply being unable to face him.

"Miss, the Mingxin Mirror must not..."

Feng Ling Bamboo hesitated for a long time, then sighed, unable to finish her sentence because Zhou Yan’s haggard appearance had deeply pierced her heart.

"It’s okay, things will get better."

Li Yunjin pulled away from Feng Ling Bamboo’s and Li Qimeng’s hold and then cast a deep, affectionate glance at Zhou Wangchen before turning to walk towards Zhou Yan.

At that moment, Zhou Wangchen, as if by instinct, steadied her and walked with her towards Zhou Yan.

The object in Li Yunjin’s hands was the Mingxin Mirror, the mirror that Zhou Yan had always sensed and that Yanyan cared so much about.

Li Yunjin approached Zhou Yan, standing less than two meters away from him.

Then, an unspeakably tender and maternal love shone from her beautiful, large eyes, her motherly glow seemingly reaching its apex in that instant.

Even if one did not recognize her, even if they had never met before, just that look alone was enough to show how immense the love of a mother could be.

Great love is often voiceless; maternal love is boundless, profound, and far-reaching. It’s just that those involved can be lost in the maze and remain blissfully unaware.

Zhou Yan had many grievances and questions to confront her with. But he found that he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Did a mother who bore a child and then left wish to do so? No one desires such a fate. If not, then his mother must have suffered a thousand times over when Zhou Yan himself was in pain.

When blaming his mother, did one ever consider that she was also lonely and helpless? Just as frail and pale?

At this moment, deciding to engineer a grand plan, to ruin everything, why should one cause pain to one’s relatives? Relatives may have their difficulties, but even if they didn’t, he couldn’t be devoid of compassion and righteousness!

After all, should one ignore the ties of blood and inflict harm upon them?

Zhou Yan’s heart trembled slightly.

At that moment, his emotions visibly fluctuated, his eyes growing moist.

He wouldn’t yield to heaven and earth, yet now he knelt in front of Li Yunjin and Zhou Wangchen—primarily before Li Yunjin.

A man kneeling before his parents wasn’t a humiliation, but a mental state.

"Mother, your unfilial son was unable to rescue you from peril, nor fulfill the duties of a son to show filial piety."

Zhou Yan’s voice was gentle and utterly sincere.

"Yan’er..."

Li Yunjin trembled, her gaze filled with relief, excitement, emotion, and pain, a contradiction pervading her heart.

So much so, she stood there in dismay.

Zhou Yan prostrated three times before standing up and moving to Li Yunjin’s side.

This beautiful, mature woman looked truly haggard, like a forlorn and helpless child.

Zhou Yan wanted to help her, but the more he cared, the quicker these people would meet their demise.

This also filled him with greater fury. Inside the Purple Flame Void Body, there was a hysterical madness brewing.

"Yan’er, this is the Mingxin Mirror, take it..."

Zhou Yan subconsciously accepted the Mingxin Mirror.

"Zhou Yan, the Mingxin Mirror can suppress your mother’s soul, keeping it from perishing. If you use it, you must return it, else your mother’s life will be in jeopardy! Besides, had it not been for her and your father giving up all their Qi Fortune and imposing the destiny of the Eternal Spirit upon your Body of Destiny, you wouldn’t have survived till now! Stop letting your parents down!"

At that moment, Li Wuxian’s expression suddenly flashed with shock, and he roared loudly.

It was as if he foresaw a great terror.

But it seemed to be too late.

...

The very moment Zhou Yan received the Mingxin Mirror, it was like he was struck by lightning. His body began to tremble violently.

A segment of his forgotten memory had been unlocked.

This was his first memory in this lifetime.

The memory of his birth.

...

"Yan’er, you were born with grand wisdom and activated the Emperor Qi Sword Body. While this should have been a good thing, the Emperor Qi Sword Body is destined for unparalleled suffering and cannot form a Sword Soul...

I am willing to abandon my own fortune and have summoned the Eternal Spirit to help you defy the heavens and change your fate, but you must never activate the Emperor Qi Sword Body again..."

Li Yunjin was covered in blood, staining her snow-white silk dress red.

But she spoke to the infant in her arms with unparalleled tenderness.

"Yunjin, if you give up your fortune, there will be an endless calamity, and continuous suffering. You should give up my fortune instead. Even if you spend your life as a waste, as long as my son can grow up healthy, being an ordinary person is already enough."

The still young and handsome Zhou Wangchen had his brows deeply furrowed, speaking with intense anxiety.

"Wangchen, brother, what does our life and death matter? But Yan’er... he can’t be without a father’s care. He has already lost his mother; if he loses his father as well, how much pain would he endure? My pain doesn’t matter, as long as our son lives well, that’s all that matters."

Li Yunjin smiled with a gentle and loving warmth.

She looked at the baby in her arms, whose eyes were wide open, and gently kissed his face, saying, "Wangchen, brother, look at our child, how adorable. So young and yet it’s as if he understands our helplessness. In the future, he will surely be a good son..."

...

"I owe you both and I will repay you. But the decision for both of you to give up your fortunes and place it upon this child causes me great pain as well. We can only choose to enter the Despair Abyss, go in, and then come out.

Doing so will make us forget the past suffering so that it doesn’t lead to the Body of Destiny meeting destruction and leaving scarring across the Tao.

Once inside and out again, you won’t know about your forfeited fortune and may live a life of tragedy. Have you thought this through?"

In a cold environment, under an ancient and withered tree, the Eternal Spirit stood with his back turned, questioning the couple, Li Yunjin.

The infant they held had wide eyes, full of bewilderment, as if unaware of the impending trials because of him.

"We’ve decided this after thorough consideration! You know, none who bear the Emperor Qi Sword Body have happiness; they live lives of solitary suffering and unrelenting hardship!

My child must not be shackled by the lonely fate of the Emperor Qi Sword Body, that’s why I’ve broken his innate Emperor Qi Sword Body and will now use your fortuitous Body of Destiny to defy the heavens and change his fate for him!"

Li Yunjin and Zhou Wangchen spoke with solemn determination.

"Alright, then prepare yourselves... I will use my supreme treasure, the ’Mingxin Mirror,’ to take you in. This object, found in a desolate land within the Exotic Realm, can break all shackles, bring clarity of mind and nature, and even traverse the Void.

Only with it can I locate and enter the City of No Tears’ Despair Abyss.

But after we come out, this supreme treasure will be lost to me, and even my memory of it will be gone as if it were but a dream."

Jia Yongheng sighed lightly, expressing his helplessness.

As he spoke, he produced the Mingxin Mirror.

In that moment, the infant’s gaze became firmly captured by the Mingxin Mirror.

The baby’s gaze met Zhou Yan’s in an instant.

After that, Zhou Yan trembled, but did not awaken from this state.

Because that memory played yet another scene.

"Painful memories must eventually be let go. Wangchen, brother, forget about me."

Li Yunjin turned to leave, no longer glancing back at Zhou Wangchen, her motion as if to turn yet unturned, as though time and space were frozen at that instant.

Zhou Wangchen paused for a moment, etching this instance deep in his memory.

And Zhou Yan, even as an infant, remembered this scene as well.

Li Yunjin did not turn back, taking the lead to step out of the Despair Abyss’s channel, left, and disappeared.

Zhou Wangchen was filled with immense pain, staring blankly at that spot, feeling a void in his heart.

He held the infant, his whole being as if he had lost his soul.

"I have prepared three things for you. The reincarnated Holy Daughter, a Short Sword, and wine."

"The reincarnated Holy Daughter, whom I searched for a long time to find, let her grow up with Zhou Yan to suppress the forces of destiny’s shackles upon him."

"The Short Sword can be engraved with Li Yunjin’s visage, creating an engraving to contemplate the Sword Dao and to instruct Zhou Yan appropriately, laying the foundation for your eventual rise."

"The wine, named ’Fiery Flame Sword Heart Wine,’ has its ingredients in the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb; you can refine it yourself. Fiery Flame Sword Heart Wine, when drunken, dispels a thousand sorrows. You need to constantly refine your Soul, so you can inherit the Supreme Forget Love Swordsmanship in the future.

You and Li Yunjin, together, have the qualifications to inherit the Supreme Forget Love Swordsmanship. All of this, too coincidental, as if someone deliberately orchestrated it."

"But we’ve reached this point; there’s no choice."

...

That scene appeared inexplicably in Zhou Yan’s memory; as he came to, the Mingxin Mirror in his hand had undergone an inexplicable change.

Only then did Zhou Yan hear Li Wuxian’s words, finally understanding that his mother, Li Yunjin, seemed to have undergone a catastrophic change in her Soul, needing the Mingxin Mirror to suppress it.

He also finally knew how much his parents had sacrificed for him!

In that moment, he suddenly felt conflicted.

The Mingxin Mirror could clearly alleviate Yanyan’s suffering, giving it to her meant that Yanyan would no longer suffer.

But the Mingxin Mirror could also prevent his mother’s Soul from shattering.

What should he choose?

Zhou Yan was momentarily lost, and then he let go of the Mingxin Mirror and sent it towards Li Yunjin.

"Mother, take this..."

Zhou Yan didn’t finish his words when suddenly the Mingxin Mirror burst into a flare of Purple Flame and disappeared.