Rebirth of the Supreme Immortal Emperor
Chapter 294 - 292: Do You Know of Love So Deep It’s In Your Bones? [First Update]

Chapter 294: Chapter 292: Do You Know of Love So Deep It’s In Your Bones? [First Update]

South of Wuling, when the news of Respected Immortal Master Li taking charge reached Yanzhou, Zhao Yuqing was practicing her swordsmanship.

Since Li Chen left, she had been tirelessly practicing her swordplay day and night.

Her constitution was special, and her talent exceptional, so naturally her cultivation progressed at twice the speed. In just a few short days, she had already mastered the sword art "Icy Heavens, Snowy Earth" to the Small Success Realm.

People in the alliance saw her, a delicate woman, practicing her sword relentlessly through wind and rain, day and night, and found it baffling. Some well-intentioned people, worried about her health, advised her to rest and not to exhaust herself.

But Zhao Yuqing politely declined their kindness.

She was already far behind; if she didn’t put in the effort, she feared he would leave her so far behind that she wouldn’t even see his shadow.

She didn’t want to hold him back, and aside from effort akin to working oneself to death, she had no other method.

The first sword!

The second sword!

The third sword!

...

The nine hundred and ninety-ninth sword!

The thousandth sword!

When she thrust the thousandth sword, Zhao Yuqing’s arms trembled from exhaustion, feeling as if they bore the weight of a thousand juns, and simply could not be raised.

Drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, she ran to the lotus pond and washed her face.

By the lotus pool, two love bean plants bloomed with vibrant flowers.

Zhao Yuqing picked up a withered love bean and held it in her palm, lost in thought for a long time.

Looking at the love bean in her hand, Zhao Yuqing felt a surge of indescribable heartache.

"Tiny dice filled with love beans, does the bone-deep yearning even know?"[Note 1]

In fact, she knew all too well that Li Chen admired the girl named Ye Chuxue, and not her, Zhao Yuqing.

He never had romantic feelings for her, only sympathy and pity.

But she couldn’t reconcile herself to simply give up.

She had already lost her mother and her father, and didn’t even have a home. If she gave up now, she really would have nothing left.

Is it wrong for someone to pursue their happiness?

During sleepless nights, Zhao Yuqing had asked herself more than once.

But she could never find an answer.

Unconsciously, tears had already made their way down her cheeks, dropping onto the concrete floor.

"Yuqing, why are you crying?"

Just then, a voice as if from a dream reached Zhao Yuqing’s ears.

Zhao Yuqing turned her head to look, her bright eyes lighting up with surprise.

The newcomer was none other than Li Chen.

He was returning from Lingnan and stopped by Yanzhou to see her.

But who would have thought, the first scene he saw was a beauty in tears.

"Who upset you, was it Qin Tianlong and his people?"

Zhao Yuqing shook her head like a rattle-drum, saying, "No, Mr. Qin and the others treat me well."

Li Chen, confused, asked, "Then why are you crying?"

He shouldn’t have asked, for this question dredged up all the grievances buried in Zhao Yuqing’s heart.

In an instant, the tears she had just stopped were falling again, and she even threw herself into Li Chen’s embrace.

Li Chen wanted to say some words of comfort, but when the words came to his lips, he didn’t know what to say.

After a long bout of crying, Zhao Yuqing finally stopped and uttered her first words stammeringly.

"I thought you had forgotten about me, that you wouldn’t come to see me!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chen paused and smiled faintly, saying, "You really are a silly girl!"

Zhao Yuqing, her tears turning into laughter, nodded like a pecking chicken: "Yes, I am a silly girl."

Then, blushing, she added quietly, "Your silly girl!"

Suddenly, Li Chen noticed several blisters on Zhao Yuqing’s hands and furrowed his brow.

"Yuqing, what happened to your hands?"

Zhao Yuqing, as if caught in the act of stealing, quickly hid her hands behind her back and hesitantly said, "It’s, it’s nothing."

Li Chen gave her a look and said, "It’s from practicing swordplay, isn’t it?"

Zhao Yuqing blushed like a little school student who did something wrong, staying silent.

Li Chen, with a parental tone, commanded: "Give me your hand!"

Zhao Yuqing puckered her lips and somewhat reluctantly stretched out her small hand.

Li Chen gently blew on it and asked with concern, "Does it hurt?"

Hearing Li Chen’s care, Zhao Yuqing felt a sweetness in her heart as if she had eaten honey.

Such a sentence made her feel that the past days of hard swordsmanship practice were all worth it.

Li Chen took out a silver needle and said to Zhao Yuqing, "It might hurt a bit, hold on!"

Zhao Yuqing nodded like a pecking chicken, her eyes brimming with a smile.

With the silver needle, Li Chen carefully pricked each blister on Zhao Yuqing’s hand, revealing the crystalline fluid within.

After pricking the last blister, Li Chen asked, "Does it hurt?"

Zhao Yuqing shook her head and said, "It doesn’t hurt!"

Li Chen replied, "That’s good, don’t practice swordsmanship for the next two days, and don’t touch water either!"

At this moment, Zhao Yuqing became a good and obedient baby, taking Li Chen’s every word as command.

"Okay, I’ll listen to you."

Li Chen smiled with a doting air, "That’s my good girl!"

Zhao Yuqing’s face flushed with shyness, she asked in a low voice, "I want to go to Yandang Mountain to watch the sunrise, will you come with me?"

Li Chen smiled in response, "Yes!"

That night, a gentle breeze blew, and the moon shone sparsely among the stars.

The pristine moonlight was like a stream of spring water, spilling over Li Chen and Zhao Yuqing, making this match made in heaven shine brightly.

Zhao Yuqing fluttered her beautiful large eyes as she gazed up at the starry sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

At that instant, he was reminded of the Northern Song lyricist Qin Guan and his popular poem, "Cowherd."

Flying clouds craft shapes, falling stars carry longing, as the silvery river silently flows across the night.

When golden winds and dewdrops meet, they surpass countless moments in the human world.

After midnight, the air grew cold.

Wearing only a thin dress, Zhao Yuqing’s delicate body began to shiver.

Li Chen took off his own coat and draped it over Zhao Yuqing’s shoulders, but she still felt cold.

"Yuqing, the mountain wind is strong and the temperature is low, let’s go back!"

Yet, the always obedient Zhao Yuqing was unexpectedly stubborn this time.

"No, I want to see the sunrise!"

Li Chen was a bit speechless and asked, "What’s so good about the sunrise?"

Zhao Yuqing pouted and acted coy, refusing to go back.

In truth, she wasn’t particularly interested in watching the sunrise; she simply wanted to cherish this opportunity to be alone together.

Left with no choice, Li Chen told her, "Give me your hand!"

At his words, Zhao Yuqing blinked in surprise and asked, "Why do you want my hand?"

Despite her question, she still extended her small hand.

Li Chen caught Zhao Yuqing’s small hand and with a tug, pulled her into his embrace.

Before Zhao Yuqing could struggle, Li Chen gently bit her slightly reddened earlobe.

"Is it warmer this way?"

Zhao Yuqing’s cheeks turned red with shyness, and the roots of her ears burned hot. Too embarrassed to utter a word, she could only whimper softly like the buzzing of a mosquito.

A slight breeze lifted Zhao Yuqing’s somewhat disheveled hair, revealing a face as delicate as carved jade.

Her bright, sparkling eyes, her small, shapely nose, and the tempting blush on her cheeks made her look like an alluring love bean ripe for plucking, filled with endless temptation.

Suddenly, a ballad could be heard in the distance, singing:

Love beans grow in the southern lands, blooming with several sprigs in spring.

May you pick more, my dear, for these beans are tokens of my deepest longing.

...

Note 1: From the second of Wen Tingyun’s two "Newly Added Voices of the Willow Branches Lyrics" from the Southern Song. The love bean refers to a token of affection, an ancient trinket for courting, oh no, for affirming love.

Note 2: The closing ballad is "Red Beans" by Wang Wei, a poet from the Tang Dynasty.

Writing the love scenes is somewhat difficult, requiring a grasp of both the male and female’s minds, especially Zhao Yuqing. Zhao Yuqing’s life experiences are rather complicated, not as simple as Ye Chuxue’s or Lin Xuanfei’s, hence her thoughts are not so easily controlled.