Love & Redemption
Chapter 81 - 38: Si Feng’s Mask (Part 1)

Chapter 81: Chapter 38: Si Feng’s Mask (Part 1)

The first watch.

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Her body was extremely heavy, like a clump of cotton submerged in water, soaked through and immovable. But... who cares? Just lie here, why bother moving?

After all, she had nowhere to go.

There were many shadows flickering before her eyes, some chattering and persuading her; some surrounded her, pressing swords against her; some hastily tied her up with ropes.

While the chaos was in full swing, a sudden larger ruckus came from outside; footsteps erupted suddenly, and someone rushed in, shouting, "The edict has arrived—!"

The babbling voices were very annoying, buzzing in her ears and head until they felt like they would explode. She gave up struggling and decided to play dead, to be at their mercy. In a daze, as if led by someone, she staggered to a gloomy place, facing an iron gate as thick as an arm, engraved with various strange spells.

It felt familiar, yet she could not remember where it was. Just like that, she was inexplicably pushed and fell behind the gate.

Many people peered at her through the iron gate, whispering to each other outside.

"What a pity... she had just ascended..."

"...committed heinous crimes, even those close to her faced the penalty of association..."

"Unrepentant to the end, not even the Heavenly Emperor could protect her..."

She simply couldn’t make out who those people were talking about; she just felt tired, exceedingly tired, her entire body filled with burdensome water, every inch of her skin lazy, only wanting to lie there.

It was good to lie there, a small patch of light overhead, with the occasional passing cloud casting shifting shadows, bringing her a moment of tranquility.

"Hey, I’m telling you... don’t forget about me."

Someone spoke to her, the voice so familiar. Had she heard it before?

"But then again, it doesn’t matter if you do forget. I will wait for you, I will always find you, and then we can settle our debts once and for all."

Debts? What debts?

A sudden shock ran through her, the water in her body seemed to be drained in an instant, and the surrounding landscape seemed to be withdrawn into a vortex, gently swirling and then vanishing.

She opened her eyes abruptly, light streaming down directly onto her nose bridge. She was in a rock cave, damp and dark, and utterly silent.

Xuanji moved slightly and felt a sharp pain in her right hand, which seemed to be broken. Enduring the pain, she sat up bewilderedly, looked around, and noticed that she was in a cave that sank deep into the ground. It wasn’t large; two steps would hit the wall, but it was deep, with sunlight shining down from an opening above and various mosses growing inside, emitting a strange odor.

How did she end up here? Xuanji racked her brains to recall what had happened before. She remembered encountering a demon that had come to destroy the Sea Stabilizing Iron Chain on the mountain. The creature recognized them as the murderers of the demon of Sea Bowl Mountain, seeking vengeance, and had even brought the fearsome Bi Fang Bird.

She had been scorched by strange fire, then kicked in the back by a demon, and subsequently passed out. The last faint memory was of someone holding her as they jumped into the lake... it must have been Si Feng! He must have saved her!

Xuanji quickly got up but her right hand and back acted up simultaneously, causing her chest to tighten from the pain, stars dancing in her eyes, and she nearly collapsed again. In a daze, she glimpsed a figure lying in the corner of the cave, in a green robe with black hair, it was Yu Sifeng. Ignoring her own pain, she struggled to his side and turned him over.

Yu Sifeng’s body was limp, unresponsive. Xuanji called out to him for a long time, but he didn’t answer.

A terrible premonition rose in her heart as she tremblingly reached for his wrist to check his pulse—she exhaled in relief, thank goodness, his pulse was still there, he wasn’t dead!

"Si Feng, can you hear me?"

She called him gently by his ear, but he remained motionless. He wore a mask on his face, hiding his features, causing Xuanji’s heart to race as she reached to lift it off. Just then, she noticed red traces at the edge of the mask, as if something had dried and congealed there.

She dabbed some with her finger and sniffed it by her nose—it was blood!

Xuanji felt her heart plummet, her body turned cold, and for a moment, she dared not remove his mask for fear of seeing a face with blood flowing from all seven orifices. Could he be dying? Had he suffered an irreversible severe injury?

She trembled uncontrollably, staring blankly at the crying mask... Wait, she remembered Si Feng’s mask depicted half smile, half tears! Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the mask and realized it had changed to one of crying; the smiling half had vanished... leaving only the slightest hint of a smile at the corner of the mouth.

"Si Feng!" She screamed, ripping the mask off in one swift motion.

To her surprise, the face beneath the mask wasn’t twisted or bleeding as she had imagined. It was a pale face, with eyebrows stretching into the temples, a nose like a gall bladder—a cold and proud youth from her memories four years ago. He had grown up, his features sharply defined like a tall, straight pine or a bamboo, just as Zhong Minyan had said, whenever you see Si Feng, it makes you think of something very elegant and refined—why was it that he could grow up so handsome?

Xuanji stretched out a hand and touched his face. His eyes were tightly closed, and his moist eyelashes stuck to his cheeks; he must have hit his nose, as blood trailed from the lip of his nose to the corner of his temples, and there were dried traces of blood at the corner of his mouth.

He hasn’t changed... Xuanji wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Initially, she thought something dreadful happened to him because of that eerie mask. Stupid Si Feng, not telling her anything, making her worry to death.

After checking his arms and legs to ensure there were no fractures, she concluded that he must have just fainted and wasn’t seriously injured. Only then could Xuanji let out a sigh of relief. She endured the severe pain in her right hand and back as she searched her body for something. Finding a wet handkerchief, she used it to clean the blood off his face.

Yu Sifeng groaned softly, his eyes opening blankly, the first thing he saw was the disheveled Xuanji, her hair in disarray and her face drenched, whether with sweat or tears from crying, she had never looked so ugly in her life.

"You’re awake! How is it, where does it hurt?" Xuanji exclaimed with joy as she saw him open his eyes.

He stared at her for a long time, then his lips formed a smile, his hand reaching out to wipe her face as he said softly, "Xuanji, you’re so ugly."

Xuanji was stunned, but she saw him struggling to sit up, suddenly going pale and groaning as he clutched at his ribs, she asked urgently, "What’s the matter?"

He shook his head, "Rib’s broken, no big deal... Can you find me some branches?"

She agreed right away, groping around the cave to collect several wet branches and piling them in front of him, then impulsively began to open his clothes to set his bones. Yu Sifeng’s face turned red as he grabbed her hand, saying in a low voice, "Let me do it."

Seeing the crimson on his face, which made him look as shy as when he was younger, she couldn’t help but laugh, "Why are you blushing? We’re all friends! It’ll be quicker if I help you."

But Yu Sifeng was stunned for a moment, then slowly raised his hand to his face, following a touch, his expression changed, "Where’s my mask?"

Xuanji held up the odd mask with a grin, "I took it off early! I saw blood on it and thought you were injured. Did I break the rules of your Lize Palace again?"

Yu Sifeng looked at her incredulously, as though she were a monster, muttering, "You... you could take it off?"

"What’s so impossible about that, it’s just a mask after all!"

He stared at her, speechless, and Xuanji, feeling unnerved by his gaze, cautiously handed back the mask, whispering, "Did I... did I do something wrong?"

He still didn’t speak, and Xuanji grew anxious, "Look... look, I’m just a blockhead! Always messing up, either forgetting to write you letters or breaking your rules! Scold me, hit me, but don’t sit there brooding..."

Yu Sifeng suddenly shook his head, sighed deeply, his face blossoming like a rose, his eyes softening into a smile, adding an uncanny number of bright colors to the dark cave.

"You..." Xuanji stared, momentarily speechless, forgetting what she wanted to say.

The next moment, she was suddenly enveloped in an embrace. He held her tightly, his head lowered to press a kiss onto her tousled hair, and after a long while, he murmured, "I’m not angry, I’m just too delighted." (To be continued. Visit www.qidian.com for more Chapters and to support the author and legitimate reading!)

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