Nothing Wounds Like Love, Yet She Refuses to Wake
Nothing Wounds Like Love, Yet She Refuses to Wake
Inside the Mortal Palace, Jiang Chuchu sat with her dark hair cascading like a waterfall, her small face gaunt and worn, looking utterly haggard. She murmured softly to herself, her spirit wandering elsewhere.
Although all this time she had kept telling herself that Gu Changge’s nominal fiancée was Yue Mingkong...
That the two of them had reached fulfillment in their relationship, and that holding the grand wedding half a year later was only natural and proper...
What did any of that have to do with an outsider like her?
Yet in her heart there was an irrepressible sense of loss, confusion, unwillingness... and helplessness.
The entire vast Beyond knew of the relationship between Gu Changge and Yue Mingkong.
And she was the Saintess of Mortal Palace, representing purity unsullied, a divine bearing of the Dao, untouched by worldly dust—how could she possibly fall in love like a mortal?
How could she possibly fall head over heels, without looking back, for the great demon Gu Changge?
What’s more, at the very beginning, she had hated Gu Changge to the bone, and she understood his many hidden depths more clearly than anyone.
Gu Changge was the most deeply hidden Successor of Demonic Arts, stirring up storms and schemes behind the scenes across the Beyond—a demon through and through.
Not only had he ambushed and slain the Young Prodigies of various clans to seize their Sources, he had even schemed against the Reincarnation of the Mortal One, grinding him to dust in the Overworld and then taking his place.
Countless Cultivators and orthodoxies across the entire Beyond had been played in the palm of his hand without ever realizing it.
A man like that was born destined to stand on the opposite side from her, to be her enemy.
Yet in the end, as if fate were playing a cruel joke, she had fallen in love with him, sinking so deep she could not free herself—obstinately refusing to wake.
“Saintess, your Dao injury...”
Just as Jiang Chuchu’s heart was tangled in endless melancholy, an Elder who had heard the commotion and walked in from outside the great hall saw her soul-lost, haggard appearance and couldn’t help but sigh softly.
During this period, all of Jiang Chuchu’s various abnormalities had been plain for them to see, and they naturally knew exactly what it was about.
As the Saintess of Mortal Palace, she had actually fallen in love with a man.
And that man was none other than Gu Changge, whose might now shook the entire Beyond.
Jiang Chuchu should never, ever have fallen in love with Gu Changge—especially since Gu Changge carried another identity: that of the Reincarnation of the Mortal One.
Although the many Elders of the Mortal Palace all knew perfectly well that the matter of the Reincarnation of the Mortal One was pure fabrication, merely a ploy to steady the devout, pilgrim hearts of the Beyond’s Cultivators and living beings...
To the various orthodoxies and powers of the outside world, Gu Changge was the Reincarnation of the Mortal One.
If word of this affair were to spread, it would inevitably shake people’s hearts, and might even cause the Mortal Palace to be mocked by all clans and factions, reduced to a laughingstock.
Moreover, according to the rules of the Mortal Palace, Jiang Chuchu, as Saintess, had to remain pure and unsullied. She had already violated the rules.
In truth, she should be punished and stripped of her status as Saintess of Mortal Palace. But for the time being, the Mortal Palace simply could not produce a second suitable candidate for Saintess.
The other Saintess, Wang Zijin, had sent no word back ever since returning to the Longevity Wang Family.
By now, even the Mortal Palace did not know her whereabouts, and every matter, great or small, was handled by Jiang Chuchu alone.
Faced with this, the Elders could only turn a blind eye, pretending not to know.
“This injury of mine is nothing serious.” Jiang Chuchu waved her hand, her expression already recovered, cold and tranquil once more, as if she were a being untouched by mortal fires.
The Elder sighed inwardly and shook her head. “Of all things in this world, nothing wounds like love. I hope the Saintess will think it through soon, and cease this obstinate refusal to wake.”
With that, she turned and walked toward the hall’s exit. But before she had taken more than a few steps, her eyes suddenly went wide with utter shock, as if she had seen something inconceivable.
“This...”
The Mortal Palace Elder’s mouth hung half-open as she stared at the tall, slender figure walking in from outside the hall, unable to utter a word for a long moment.
Hadn’t Gu Changge just set his wedding date with Empress Mingkong of the Unrivaled Celestial Dynasty? How had he come to the Mortal Palace?
Wasn’t he afraid of arousing suspicion by doing this?
Still, she was a shrewd old soul who had lived long enough that even her eyelashes were hollow with cunning. Not daring to think too deeply, she hastily cupped her fists in salute. “This old one greets Young Master Changge.”
Hearing this voice, Jiang Chuchu—who had been lost in thought with lowered eyes—suddenly froze, half wondering if she had misheard.
She quickly snapped back to her senses and hurriedly turned around to look toward the hall’s entrance. Her originally calm, cold eyes rippled as though stirred by a breeze.
A man in black robes was walking in slowly with a smile on his face, carrying a warmth about him like a spring breeze, his every gesture seeming to hold the rhythm of the Dao and the grace of immortals.
“Chang... Gu Changge...”
Jiang Chuchu murmured somewhat dazedly, as if unable to believe what she was seeing.
With his wedding day fast approaching, Gu Changge had actually traveled untold millions of miles to come here and see her.
To her, all of this felt far too dreamlike—she could hardly imagine it was real.
Wasn’t Gu Changge afraid of provoking Yue Mingkong’s displeasure, or drawing others’ suspicion, by doing this?
But such thoughts flashed by in an instant, quickly drowned out by overwhelming surprise and joy.
“Chuchu, I came to see you.”
Gu Changge seemed not to notice the Elder standing off to the side at all as he smiled faintly and spoke.
The Mortal Palace Elder’s face stiffened slightly, somewhat awkward.
Still, she pretended not to have heard those words and hurriedly slipped away, not daring to linger and disturb the two of them.
Although the Mortal Palace had rules requiring its Saintess to remain pure and unsullied, in the face of absolute power, any rule could be broken.
Clearly, Gu Changge now possessed exactly that kind of power.
Even if the other Elders learned of this, none would dare say a word.
Soon, the palace hall fell quiet, with only the vast, ocean-like silver power of faith surging and rolling through the air.
Jiang Chuchu stared blankly at Gu Changge, now right before her eyes. In this moment, a thousand words seemed to crowd her heart, begging to be spoken.
“Why did you come?”
Yet in the end, everything she wanted to say condensed into this single sentence.
She lowered her eyes, her dark hair spilling down, making her face look all the more thin and drawn.
“How did you end up with a Dao injury? Has someone hurt you during this time?”
Gu Changge didn’t answer directly. His gaze swept over her, and his brow furrowed as he asked a question that didn’t quite answer hers.
He could naturally tell that Jiang Chuchu’s Dao injury stemmed from qi deviation.
But of course, he couldn’t ask about it so bluntly.
“No... how could anyone possibly hurt me?”
“This injury of mine is fine, it doesn’t affect me at all.”
Jiang Chuchu was somewhat dazed, feeling the worry and concern in Gu Changge’s words.
She had harbored some resentment toward him, but her tone involuntarily softened, turning almost meek and tender.
After all, Gu Changge had rushed over at a time like this, caring for her so much—how could he possibly not care about her, how could he casually cast her aside?
“Did something go wrong in your cultivation? I have here a million-year-old Heavenly Black Fungi that I brought back from the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains. It can mend even the Dao injury of a True Daoist.”
Hearing this, Gu Changge sighed softly. Then, without waiting for Jiang Chuchu’s consent, he produced a crystalline, translucent jade box and placed it in her hands.
“I know.”
“My heart has been a little unsettled these days, but it should be fine now.”
Jiang Chuchu nodded, lifting a pair of glistening eyes filled with irrepressible, fawn-like delight and joy as she carefully put away the jade box.
Then, seeing that Gu Changge seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief, she couldn’t help but ask, with a trace of hope and caution—
“You promised me... you wouldn’t abandon me...”
Though before outsiders she was the cold, proud Saintess of Mortal Palace, before Gu Changge she was as simple and pure as a blank sheet of paper.