Wu Xiang returned to the divine hall. She had not lived here since being brought back by Rong Jin and was unfamiliar with the place.
The moment she entered, she felt Rong Jin's presence. She concealed her aura and walked in silently.
The divine hall was somewhat desolate. Simple artifacts had lain dormant here for tens of thousands of years, almost always unvisited.
Rong Jin leaned against a writing desk, holding a brush and drawing something. She occasionally looked up at her surroundings, then lowered her head to write and draw, completely focused, not even noticing Wu Xiang's appearance behind her.
On the paper, she sketched the outline of Zhu Ying's face. As she depicted the features, her strokes unconsciously shifted to resemble Wu Xiang.
Sensing this, Rong Jin no longer felt the anger and unwillingness she once did. She reached out and touched her chest, feeling a strange calm.
Could it be that everything was really due to that heart?
Yes, she had witnessed firsthand how madly those two were driven by love, something she, as the sacred Spiritual Phoenix Saintess, had never experienced.
"Is this me?"
Rong Jin turned in surprise, "How are you here? Why did you come here?"
"I wanted to understand what happened back then and came to take a look. And you, Jin'er, I haven't seen you for days. Were you deliberately avoiding me?"
Rong Jin turned her face away, "Don't call me that?"
Wu Xiang's intimate and indulgent tone made her very uncomfortable.
Wu Xiang put her arm around her waist and sat down. Rong Jin struggled for a moment, but unable to break free, she let it be.
With a smile, Wu Xiang looked at the ink, brush, and paper on the desk. She picked them up, added a few strokes beside the drawing, and asked, "You knew my mother for many years. You must be very familiar with their past. Tell me about it."
Rong Jin watched her paint, her mood growing calmer. She was silent for a moment, then slowly began to speak.
"Back then, I was entrusted by my followers to descend to the mortal realm to save someone. Unexpectedly, my true form was trapped by them, and they divided and consumed it. It was my sister who bestowed divine power upon me and saved me. However, I was still naive and was tricked by the demon race into losing my heart, leaving me on the brink of death.
At that time, Chong Yan had already been in the divine realm for many years. Rong Jin was not familiar with him, only knowing that he was a treasured pearl of the Human Emperor from Canglan Prefecture. After being favored by Zhu Ying, he became her immortal attendant, and later, he slept with her.
It is now impossible to verify who harbored ill intentions during this period. In any case, by then, the two of them could not live without each other. Rong Jin only understood this later.
When Zhu Ying was dealing with the Golden Dragon clan, her soul was damaged. She wanted to save Rong Jin, but everyone else disagreed. It was Chong Yan who drugged her, making her fall asleep, and gave his heart to Rong Jin, saving her.
Then Zhu Ying arrived and, in order to save Chong Yan, she made him descend into demonhood.
Wu Xiang couldn't help but interrupt, "Are you saying he became a demon because of my mother?"
Rong Jin nodded, "Yes, no one else could have done it." Only Zhu Ying could make someone a god or a demon. Chong Yan, in essence, was still a mortal back then, and could not have done it.
Zhu Ying personally turned him into a demon god.
Perhaps he did it willingly.
During that period, the demon race was rampant, their actions no different from those of the Golden Dragon clan. By becoming a demon god, he could possess supreme power and help Zhu Ying stabilize the Three Realms.
Later, during the war between the two realms, Zhu Ying completely stripped away her uncontrolled divine soul. As a result, she lost most of her memories of Chong Yan. However, Chong Yan had already become a demon god by then, his state of mind had changed, and his strength had greatly increased. Naturally, he was unwilling. After some back and forth, the two secretly got together again.
Ever since Rong Jin possessed Chong Yan's immortal heart, she began to develop possessive feelings towards Zhu Ying. Previously, she only felt gratitude towards Zhu Ying, but gradually, she wished to replace Chong Yan.
Yet, even after losing her memory, Zhu Ying fell in love with Chong Yan again. To sever their connection, Rong Jin cut off Zhu Ying's emotional threads and orchestrated the battle at the Divine Summit. When Chong Yan was severely wounded by the gods' encirclement, she appeared with Zhu Ying's divine sword and killed Chong Yan with one strike.
Chong Yan's soul scattered across the three thousand worlds, and everyone believed him to be dead.
The only thing Rong Jin didn't anticipate was that Zhu Ying's love ran bone-deep. Even without remembering who Chong Yan was, she still went mad and descended into demonhood, remaining in the divine realm for ten thousand years without recovering.
Wu Xiang listened and mused, "Where is the divine soul that my mother separated from herself now?"
Rong Jin replied, "I saw her once in the three thousand worlds. She tried to impersonate my sister and deceive me, but I saw through her. She colluded with a monster, and she should have already been killed by my sister."
Wu Xiang asked with a hint of confusion, "What was in that strand of divine soul?"
Rong Jin didn't know either, but she knew that person was definitely not good.
Yet, it had clearly been separated from Zhu Ying's body.
Perhaps it was truly her "evil" side. Jiu Ying said that Zhu Ying was born pure and true, and later took the lives of all beings in the world as her responsibility.
But even the most selfless person changes. Even if they don't, excessive selflessness is a form of selfishness. It's not strange that an evil side would arise over time.
Wu Xiang then asked another question, "Also, since his soul had already scattered, how could he be born at the Divine Summit? There have never been gods in the world with past and present lives."
Rong Jin shook her head, indicating she didn't know either. "However, Chong Yan's name was not this when he first arrived in the divine realm. This name was bestowed upon him by my sister. Yao Zhu once said that the Great Dao has fifty principles, and Tian Yan has forty-nine, leaving one for man's escape. He was originally a human. Being bestowed the name 'Chong Yan' meant he had two chances. Perhaps because of this, he was resurrected. My sister was the first deity in the world, and whatever she said, this heaven and earth had to fulfill."
This explanation was somewhat reasonable.
Wu Xiang didn't intend to delve into other matters.
Regardless of what happened back then, their entanglement spanning millennia, their blood as sacrifice, and countless beings of the world consumed in the process, what they were experiencing now was perhaps a punishment, or perhaps the consequence of gradually violating their own rules.
Or perhaps, it was all arranged by the Great Dao. Whether it was Zhu Ying and Chong Yan, or the people in the three thousand worlds, their actions, good or evil, had their own karma, and even gods could not escape it.
"It seems no one can escape."
Rong Jin smiled, "Life is like this, for both humans and gods. Those who don't know and conform to the will of heaven will follow the path arranged by heaven. Those who know, pry into the will of heaven, and even attempt to defy it, will ultimately, by mistake, walk the predetermined trajectory. The former are like the ordinary people in heaven and earth, while the latter include Si Ming Yao Zhu, who pried into fate and met an unfortunate end. It is evident that in the end, people cannot escape."
Upon hearing this, Wu Xiang couldn't help but smile.
"What are you smiling about?"
"I'm glad I went to Si Ming Palace earlier. I wanted to see if you and I had any destined relationship, but I didn't get to see it in the end. Now, thinking about it, it's fortunate I didn't. If it wasn't to my liking, I would have defied heaven. If it was to my liking, I would fear many twists and turns, and I can't wait." Sud an Novel Network
Rong Jin, after her tension, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that she hadn't looked.
"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed, and fate cannot be defied. Don't have such thoughts in the future."
Wu Xiang said firmly, "Then, will you promise me?"
"...Isn't it good for us to be like this?"
"Just don't avoid me."
In any case, she had plenty of time. As long as this person didn't run away, she would eventually win her heart.
"I, I won't do it again."
Wu Xiang's smile deepened. Stroke by stroke, she wrote all the tenderness in the world.