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With a slight frown, Xiao Chen asked softly, "What is your request?"
"Help me open this coffin. I want to see something in there," the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady replied calmly. Xiao Chen was very surprised by her words.
When the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady said that, he immediately turned wary. Remove the Immortal Sealing Talismans?
Xiao Chen had put in a lot of effort to stop the two Immortal Venerates from tearing off the Immortal Sealing Talismans. Now, this Heavenly Profound Holy Lady actually wanted him to tear them off.
He was speechless. Then, he demanded, rather annoyed, "Heavenly Profound Holy Lady, are you toying with me? Do you know how much effort I spent preventing the two Immortal Venerates from doing just that? To think that you are saying such a thing now!"
If the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady wanted to see the inside of the coffin, then there had been no need to get him to stop the two Immortal Venerates. All she had to do was wait for the two Immortal Venerates to tear off the Immortal Sealing Talismans, and she could have just waited at the side to watch.
Why the need for such a botched excuse? It was unnecessary!
"Do you think that a heartless person would have the heart to trick you?" The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady's expression remained calm, showing no changes just like before. She appeared extremely peaceful.
When Xiao Chen heard this, he felt like he had gotten hit on the head with a stick. This reply was better than many other possible explanations.
The moment the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady said that, she immediately convinced Xiao Chen. Not many people in the world could understand the sorrow behind those words.
No matter how strong one was, being a heartless person was a kind of sorrow.
"Alright, I agree!"
Logically, Xiao Chen absolutely should not agree to this request. However, on his path so far, no matter how he changed, the attitude in the depths of his heart never did, maintaining some innocence and sentimentality.
If one always used logic to decide things, acting strictly according to the rules and being extremely prudent, how was one different from a robot?
This time, Xiao Chen was willing to trust the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady. Even if he got cheated, he would not regret it.
The Immortal Sealing Talismans were not easy to remove. However, with the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady giving instructions, Xiao Chen just needed to follow the steps.
As the two communicated, Xiao Chen discovered something very strange. The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady did not seem to understand the Immortal Sealing Talisman that well.
It was like she had not personally refined the Immortal Sealing Talismans. Hence, she required a lot of time to think when making her explanations.
"You were not the one who refined the Immortal Sealing Talismans?" Xiao Chen could not help asking after putting in a lot of effort and trying a few times.
The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady remained silent for a long time before replying, "No. I once had a Dao companion. He was the one who helped seal me up."
[TL Note: Dao companion: For seasoned readers, you probably already know what this is, but for such cultivation stories, this is basically something like marriage, someone who cultivates alongside one and is their lover. Due to the nature of their long lives and the danger of their world, it is possible for Dao companions to change; it is not something as formal as a marriage.]
When Xiao Chen heard this, he was stunned for a while. Unexpectedly, such a ruthless person as the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady actually had a Dao companion as well.
After reaching the peak of Martial Cultivation, she scattered her cultivation and cultivated as an Immortal. In the end, she turned into a heartless person.
It was hard to imagine that someone was willing to love such a woman.
"Where is he?"
"He…should be dead already." The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady deliberated for a while before saying uncertainly, "When I scattered my Martial Cultivation, he was the one who protected me. However, I do not know what happened after he helped me seal my coffin."
Actually, this question was rather silly. No one could live from the Immemorial Era until now.
Of course, someone as determined person as the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady was not included.
About seven minutes later, Xiao Chen dealt with the two Immortal Sealing Talismans. After hesitating for a while, he still gently pushed the lid off in the end.
When no mysterious phenomenon appeared, Xiao Chen released his bated breath. A corpse lay quietly in the coffin.
The corpse was very well preserved, looking like when she was still alive. It was not rotten or damaged. There were no strange smells, either.
The corpse looked exactly like the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady beside Xiao Chen, just older with a full head of white hair. The crow's feet at the corners of her eyes were very obvious, and there were some indistinct wrinkles on her forehead.
She just lay there quietly like a woman in a peaceful sleep. She also tightly grasped a painting.
When Xiao Chen first saw the painting in the corpse's hand, his instincts told him that this was what the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady wanted to see.
After being dead for more than a million years, the corpse still tightly grasped the painting. Clearly, this item was extremely important.
Xiao Chen could not help feeling curious. What kind of painting was it for it to hold such an attraction?
"Is it this item?"
The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady nodded gently. "Help me take it out. I just want a look at it."
Xiao Chen did as told. He reached out, grabbed the painting, and pulled carefully. In the end, he discovered that the corpse held it very tightly. So, left with no choice, he used more strength.
Naturally, a dead person could not defeat Xiao Chen in physical strength. Just by adding more strength, he managed to pull the painting out.
"Whoosh!"
Just at this moment, something strange happened. The tightly shut eyes of the corpse suddenly opened. A cold light shot out of those eyes and encased Xiao Chen.
Cold Qi entered Xiao Chen's body, freezing it stiff immediately. Despite being dead for more than a million years, this corpse still had a glare with a powerful sharpness that one would not dare to block, that inspired fear.
Since nothing happened for so long after the coffin was opened, dropping one's guard was inevitable. However, when Xiao Chen took the painting, the female corpse suddenly opened her eyes. An ordinary person would have been frightened to death.
The more horrifying thing was yet to come. The instant this female corpse opened her eyes, she soared into the air and tried to grab Xiao Chen's neck with one hand.
A killing Qi surged over like an overwhelming flood. In his despair, Xiao Chen's strong desire to live allowed him to break the suppression from the corpse's aura and move back.
At the critical moment, he managed to dodge this fatal strike.
Just when the corpse was about to move again, the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady suddenly appeared and tapped the corpse's forehead. "Bang!" The corpse's body turned into dust and vanished.
The instant the corpse was destroyed, a strong wind blew, picking up the painting and unfurling it.
The startled Xiao Chen, who was on the throne, could not shift his gaze away after seeing it.
The exquisite painting had a bright moon at the top. The painter used his great skill to illustrate this bright moon as distant and elegant.
The entire painting had the gentle moonlight spreading through it, making it very pleasant to view.
However, when the moonlight reached the ground, the feeling suddenly changed. The pale-white moonlight looked like frost covering the ground in a courtyard.
A cassia tree stood in the middle of the courtyard. The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady also stood there, holding up her sword.
The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady in the painting was very beautiful. She looked as pure as snow and stared at the moon in a heroic manner. Her eyes showed a strange grief.
It was precisely this grief that made the moonlight on the ground look as deathly pale and cold as frost.
There were words on the painting: "Moonlight like frost, the flowing water endures injuries. Beauty ages easily, where do I seek immortality…"
The distant moonlight filled the courtyard, appearing like cold, white frost and exuding a faint sense of grief. Who could endure such grief? Only that woman who looked as gentle and resilient as flowing water.
However, time was like flowing water. Once it passed, it never returned. The ravages of time would eventually show on this face.
Actually, the flowing water could not endure this boundless grief, either. As this person gazed at the bright moon in the sky, she only asked, "Where do I seek immortality!"
In an instant, Xiao Chen understood what the painting was trying to convey. He understood the hidden grief and helplessness in the poem.
He reached out, and the painting slowly floated back into his hand.
The contrast between the person in the painting and the current heartless Heavenly Profound Holy Lady truly made one sigh.
The person in the painting still felt grief and helplessness. However, the person before him did not have any of that.
"He painted this painting?" Xiao Chen looked up at the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady as he held the painting with both hands.
Naturally, the "he" that Xiao Chen referred to was her Dao companion.
After being silent for a while, the Heavenly Profound Holy Lady appeared like she was freed of something. She nodded slightly. "That's right. He painted this. This is the thing that I recall most fondly in my life. After dying, I left a lingering thought for more than a million years for the sake of seeing this painting again."
"I really like this painting."
"Then keep it. Help me take care of it. Now, I can fulfill my promise to you."
"There's no rush."
Xiao Chen slowly furled up the painting. Then, he took out a brocade box and carefully placed it inside.
The Heavenly Profound Holy Lady felt confused. She could not understand why Xiao Chen, who seemed very anxious and rushed earlier, suddenly became so composed and unhurried.
