After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 33

Those Whose Wishes Have Been Fulfilled May Not Enter the Temple Again?

Wu Ruo stared intently at the flowing characters before her, searching for any clues. Yet no matter how long she gazed, the words remained unchanged, offering no hints.

Her eyes grew slightly dry from the prolonged focus. When she blinked and looked again, the tightly shut temple door was blank completely empty.

A belated chill crept over her. Jiang Qingbei and Yue Qinglan had vanished, leaving only the cold night wind to bite at her skin, making her shiver. It was as if she had come to this eerie wishing temple alone, as if she had never had companions by her side.

Suppressing her doubts, she pushed against the temple door once more.

It didn’t budge.

The red temple was eerily silent no sounds, not even footsteps. Logically, if Yue Qinglan had noticed she wasn’t following, she would have called out, and Jiang Qingbei would have joined in.

But there was nothing. No Jiang Qingbei, no Yue Qinglan. Her two cheerful friends had been swallowed by this wretched temple right before her eyes, while she was left stranded outside like a lost ghost, bewildered and helpless.

Jiang Qingbei was bold, he’d be fine. But Yue Qinglan was terrified of the dark. If she realized Wu Ruo wasn’t with her upon entering, she’d probably be trembling in fear.

Wu Ruo clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and slammed a punch against the temple door. “Open up!”

Bang.

The force rebounded onto her hand, leaving her palm red and throbbing. Undeterred, she charged again, attempting to pry it open with spiritual energy only to find that the moment she gathered her power, it was swiftly dispersed by some mysterious force within the door.

It seemed this place could nullify any attack. Even the spiritual energy of the cultivation world held no sway here. This temple was clearly no ordinary place, it had to be something profound.

Yet despite her violent actions borderline vandalism, the red temple didn’t retaliate. It merely returned her force and dispersed her energy without backlash, as if it bore her no ill will and had no intention of harming her.

After a moment of thought, she bowed deeply toward the temple door and spoke solemnly, “Great Temple Spirit, I apologize for my earlier actions. I meant no disrespect, I was merely worried for my friends’ safety. Please do not take offense.”

The door remained unmoved, but she inexplicably sensed a strange flicker of amusement. Recalling the words that had appeared earlier, she added, “I have never been here before, nor am I someone whose wish has been granted. Could you have mistaken me for another?”

The red temple stayed silent. A fierce gust of wind swept past, carrying an icy chill as if urging her to leave. If the wind could form words, they would probably say, Get lost?

Well, she wasn’t going anywhere.

Wu Ruo summoned Jinghong Descends, but the moment she tried to ride it, she found herself unable to take flight. She circled the temple walls until she spotted a tree branch. Climbing the trunk, she reached a height where she could leap over,

Thud.

She landed face-first on the ground outside the temple, covered in dust and thoroughly humiliated. No matter how high she climbed, the inside remained pitch-black from the outside.

This is insane!

The cold wind in the air grew increasingly fierce, almost like a warning. After an internal struggle, Wu Ruo abandoned her plan to enter the temple and, frowning, slowly made her way back to the inn.

Perhaps she should gather some information from the innkeeper first. Their hasty departure earlier had been reckless something she now regretted.

The chilly night wind sent a shiver down her spine, but as she resolved in her mind to return to the inn, she felt a bit more clear-headed. Those eerie words surfaced in her thoughts again: The wish has already been granted.

But she had never been here before. Could it be that, within the eighteen years of lost memories, she had once visited this wishing temple and made a wish that had since come true?

If so, what would she have wished for? Knowing herself, it might have been something like “May everything go as I hope,” or “May everyone stay safe and well.” Then again, it could also have been “I want to become the Holy Maiden of Miaojiang” or “I wish to protect my homeland.”

Yet, given her current circumstances, none of those had come to pass. She had even lost her own memories, leaving her with only two companions she got along with both newly acquainted in Zhiyuan Immortal Sect and a Qiankun pouch from which she had pulled out a sword that didn’t belong to her, Jinghong Jiangshi Wait.

She froze, staring at Jinghong Jiangshi in her hand, its blade shimmering faintly under the moonlight as if watching her from afar. The sword was as clear as water, as radiant as the moon, as untouched by worldly dust as its owner.

That was it.

The biggest difference between her past self and her present self was that now, she had a Daoist partner Luo Qingyi.

She had always wondered how someone like her, whose very existence defied societal norms, could earn the love of someone as pure and noble as Luo Qingyi. By all logic, Luo Qingyi should never have fallen for someone like her. And yet…

She closed her eyes, recalling their time together. Those usually cold eyes would soften when they met hers. Those hands, cooler than most, would grow warm when holding hers, guiding her through sword practice so warm it seeped into her heart.

She had willingly surrendered, willingly adored.

But Luo Qingyi had deceived her so much.

On the day she left, overwhelmed by emotion, her heart had been filled with nothing but disappointment toward Luo Qingyi.

Yet now, after breaking free from the shackles of Zhiyuan Immortal Sect even accidentally killing one of its disciples returning to the ruins of her homeland, discovering surviving members of her clan, and traveling with Jiang Yue and the others, she felt an unexpected calm. The negative emotions toward Luo Qingyi had faded, and so had the positive ones.

She had regained her freedom. Her people were not extinct. She had gained two companions she could call friends and even a giant serpent that obeyed her completely. There was no need for despair anymore.

Similarly, thinking of Luo Qingyi no longer brought her such pain.

Looking back, the reason Luo Qingyi had fallen in love with her was most likely the result of a wish.

Now, she no longer needed that wish. She had to enter the Red Temple again not just to rescue Jiang Yue and the others, but to uncover the truth of her memories. And if possible to undo the wish, to set both herself and Luo Qingyi free.

Wu Ruo hurried back to the inn in the dead of night. The innkeeper was fast asleep, so she didn’t disturb him and quickly made her way to her own room. Earlier, Yue Qinglan had a paper crane used to communicate with Luo Qingyi, it must still be in her room.

The paper crane remained blank, indicating Luo Qingyi had not replied. It had been so long since she’d seen the other’s handwriting. She thought for a moment about writing an apology, but words felt too light, too insubstantial. It would be better to explain everything in person when they met.

She sat on the bed for a while, watching the faint glow of dawn break through the window, then suddenly smacked her forehead she remembered why she had come back.

The innkeeper was yawning downstairs when Wu Ruo approached him with questions. “A red temple?” he mumbled sleepily. “There isn’t one, is there? There’s an old temple behind the inn, but it’s so dilapidated you can’t even tell what color it used to be. Just looks like dirt now.”

The red bricks had faded?

Wu Ruo thanked him and went to investigate the temple behind the inn again. The pale morning sun cast its light over the land as she arrived at the temple gate from the night before only to freeze at the sight before her.

It really had faded.

The bricks were dull gray, the door was dull gray, and a thick layer of dust coated everything. The temple door was heavy, likely locked tight, even an adult like her couldn’t push it open.

The gate, long neglected, was tangled with spiderwebs. A spider dangled from one of them. Wait, a spider?

Wu Ruo pricked her fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the web in front of the tiny spider.

As if receiving an order, the spider immediately scurried through the crack in the door. Moments later, she heard the faint sound of tiny mandibles gnawing at the lock, followed by a loud click in her ear.

She pushed the door again this time, it opened.

“Good job, little one,” Wu Ruo murmured as she stepped inside, stroking the spider still dangling from the door. The creature brushed its fuzzy legs against her fingers, as if proud of its handiwork.

The inside of the temple was just as desolate as it appeared from the outside. In the courtyard stood a broken bell tower, its surface caked with an unusually thick layer of dust. The incense burner hadn’t been used in ages where ashes should have been, there was only dirt.

“You, the one whose wish has been granted.”

What?

Wu Ruo whipped around but saw nothing. Yet she distinctly felt something tugging at her not forcefully, not to harm her, but simply to push her out.

“Your wish has already been fulfilled. This temple requires no further offerings. Please leave.”

“Alright, alright, I get it. But if someone else came here with a wish say, an unrequited love could it be granted too?” Sensing no hostility, her mind raced, trying to fish for information. At the very least, she wanted to know what wish she had supposedly made.

But the voice remained indifferent, repeating mechanically, “The one whose wish has been granted, please leave.”

Just as she was about to be shoved out, Wu Ruo’s gaze caught on a crumbling section of the wall near the entrance. The faded surface bore a set of large characters: Temple Rules.

Rule One: All living beings may enter. Approach with reverence, not irreverence.

Rule Two: …

All living beings?

Wu Ruo’s gaze lingered on the four large characters. Just as she was about to be pushed out the door, she shouted, “The one making the wish today isn’t me, it’s this! It’s my contracted spirit companion. We can’t be separated, so I came along to accompany it in making its wish!”

She pulled out a small black snake no thicker than a finger and not even the length of a palm from her Qiankun pouch. The snake looked utterly bewildered, flicking its tongue, unsure of what was happening. Unable to read the characters on the wall, it simply coiled itself into a twist on Wu Ruo’s hand.

“…?” The temple’s voice clearly fell into deep thought, seemingly stunned by her words. At a loss for how to respond, it momentarily froze.

“I’m not making a wish. I won’t trouble the temple god a second time!” Wu Ruo assured again. “I’m just here to accompany my contracted spirit companion. You don’t need to worry about me. Ouch!”

The temple’s force shifted direction, pushing her elsewhere: “This temple receives only one person per day. All others must wait in the front hall.”

One person per day?

Wu Ruo allowed the unseen hands to guide her to the front hall, where, sure enough, a familiar figure lay sprawled on the ground, fast asleep. It was Yue Qinglan, who had entered the temple second and thus had to wait her turn.

“Que Qinglan, what’s wrong with you?”

The other girl didn’t stir. The temple’s voice spoke again: “Those awaiting their turn to make a wish will fall into a dreaming state.”

Wu Ruo glanced down at her snake, already curled up and snoozing soundly in her palm. Yet she herself remained wide awake, unaffected.

In other words, right now, she might be.

She abruptly stood up, ignoring the temple’s urgent protests, and sprinted straight toward the central hall. Jiang Qingbei had been the first to enter the temple, he had to be there!

Stepping into the main hall, she saw an offering altar at the front. A redwood low table held a row of lit candles, with two prayer cushions placed before it and kneeling on one of them was a figure.

Jiang Qingbei knelt motionless, eyes closed, hands pressed devoutly against the cushion in front of him, as if lost in his own world.

“Qingbei!”

He didn’t respond, seemingly detached from everything around him. A sudden unease prickled at Wu Ruo. Before her mind could fully process the warning, her right hand instinctively grabbed Jiang Qingbei’s shoulder.

In an instant, the world spun. The surroundings dissolved into black mist, then reformed into solidity.

She was back at Zhiyuan Immortal Sect.

How had she returned here?

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