I Need To Find A Way To Make Her Love Me Again - Chapter 33

“It’s nothing,” Yan Xingyu said, quickly pulling her thoughts back and smiling at the others. “I just didn’t expect that we would be the first friends Guan Fei ever brought back.”

Xuan Ya replied, “Indeed. The Little Palace Master must value you both very highly.”

Hearing this, a complex, inexplicable emotion stirred in Yan Xingyu’s heart. Losing the desire for idle chatter, she feigned weariness and said, “Mm, let’s rest early then. We need to recharge our energy so we can go find Guan Fei tomorrow.”

Xuan Ya nodded. Seeing there was only one bed in the room, she suggested, “There’s no need for you two to squeeze in here. There are other rooms nearby. Which of you ladies would like to come with me?”

“I’ll go with you,” Yan Xingyu decided. Thinking that Jiaoyu’s temperament wasn’t suited for being alone with others, she felt it was better if she went. “Little one, you stay here.”

As she followed Xuan Ya out the door, Yan Xingyu noticed the girl immediately straightened her back. Within a few steps, her expression became solemn and her footsteps turned silent, moving exactly like the other maidservants.

Only after they entered the other room did Xuan Ya relax slightly. Yan Xingyu asked curiously, “Is it really necessary for you all to walk so rigidly?”

Xuan Ya sighed softly. “Miss, these are the rules of the Lingluan Palace. We must obey them, or we cannot afford the punishment from the Palace Master.”

Yan Xingyu grumbled, “The way you’ve turned the whole palace so lifeless… don’t you find it eerie staying here?”

Xuan Ya looked conflicted. After some deliberation, she explained, “Actually, the Lingluan Palace wasn’t always like this.”

“It was after the Little Palace Master was born. The Palace Master ordered the entire palace to remain silent.”

“That way, the Little Palace Master wouldn’t be distracted by too many external sounds. Even with her eye ailment, she wouldn’t fall into too much restlessness.”

After hearing this, Yan Xingyu said thoughtfully, “From that perspective, Palace Master Guan seems to dote on Guan Fei quite a bit.”

“But the Little Palace Master doesn’t like it that way. It was fine when she was a child, but as she grew up, she frequently argued with the Palace Master. Sometimes, they even came to blows.” Xuan Ya’s sigh deepened at the memory. “I wonder if the Little Palace Master got into another fight with the Palace Master today.”

Surprised that the relationship between Guan Fei and her mother was so strained, Yan Xingyu asked, “Why is it like that?”

Xuan Ya recalled, “The Little Palace Master dislikes having her life arranged for her. She believes life should be full of change and surprises, not something stagnant and meticulously designed.”

Yan Xingyu mused, “Guan Fei isn’t wrong to think that way.”

Xuan Ya agreed, “That’s why she ran away from home. Now that she’s back, the Palace Master definitely won’t let her leave easily. We must rescue her as quickly as possible tomorrow.”

Yan Xingyu smiled. “You are certainly loyal to Guan Fei.”

Xuan Ya gave a bashful smile. Seeing it was late, she said, “Miss, I won’t disturb your rest further. I will come for you tomorrow.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

Once Xuan Ya left, Yan Xingyu extinguished the light and lay on the bed. She silently processed everything she had seen and heard today, feeling a knot of contradictions in her heart that made her feel uneasy.

Feeling a hard object pressing uncomfortably against her waist, she reached out and pulled it out. In the darkness, the Sea Pearl lay in her palm, enveloped in a faint, soft glow.

She stared at it for a long time in silence, her mind a chaotic battlefield of thoughts, until the dawn finally broke and light illuminated the gloom.

The group moved cautiously through the palace. At dawn, only a few maidservants were on patrol. With Xuan Ya leading the way, they hid and moved forward smoothly, eventually arriving outside the central hall of the Lingluan Palace.

Unlike the other halls, the walls here were carved with many sea monsters of various forms, looking incredibly lifelike. The secret chamber hidden here was located within the tail of a carved mermaid.

Looking at the numerous circular arrays covering the entrance, Yan Xingyu asked, “How do we get in?”

Xuan Ya reached out, condensing spiritual energy to manifest a green bird. She sent it flying into the formations on the door. With light pecks of its beak, it unraveled the layers of arrays.

“This array isn’t hard to open, it just looks complicated to deter outsiders.”

Once the restriction was cleared, Xuan Ya opened the door and led the two inside.

The moment they stepped through, Yan Xingyu felt a chilling wind blast toward them. She instinctively squinted, only to see several ice mountains rising abruptly from the ground before them.

Jiaoyu asked, “What is this place?”

The green bird Xuan Ya summoned let out a few chirps. Xuan Ya listened, a flash of confusion crossing her eyes. “This is the barrier set by the Palace Master, but it seems different from before.”

“But as long as we follow the green bird and stay on the correct path, we can exit the barrier and find the Little Palace Master.”

Yan Xingyu felt as if she had truly arrived on an island of ice. She quickly circulated her spiritual protection to keep her body from freezing. Looking at the endless glaciers, she asked, “Where is the path?”

“Just stay close to me, ladies.”

Xuan Ya mounted her sword and rose into the air, letting the green bird lead. Seeing this, Yan Xingyu manifested her own sword and followed with Jiaoyu.

As they flew through the air, despite being in an illusion, the low rumbles coming from the cracks in the ice mountains below sounded incredibly real.

Yan Xingyu felt a sense of unease. Suddenly, a massive ice mountain appeared ahead, like an unsheathed sword piercing the clouds. As they flew past, a crack rapidly spread across its surface.

In an instant, the giant glacier split open before them. They intended to fly straight through, but the sea roared incessantly, and the air inside the glacier fluctuated violently as if trying to swallow them.

Jiaoyu was the first to notice something wrong and shouted, “Watch out below!”

Yan Xingyu glanced down. The ice fragments falling into the sea suddenly transformed into pillars of ice, shooting straight up toward them.

She hurriedly dodged with Jiaoyu, but the ice pillars seemed to come alive, continuously erupting and chasing them.

Meanwhile, on the walls of the split glacier, a crack took the shape of a seahorse, with three lobed leaf like branches sprouting around it. This strange entity actually came to life and detached from the wall.

Seeing blue wings emerging from the air and swinging toward them, Jiaoyu pushed the distracted Yan Xingyu aside. Jiaoyu then leaped onto an ice pillar, using the momentum to strike at the sudden monster.

Seeing the horse headed sea monster with a long snout emerge from the glacier, Xuan Ya cried out, “It’s a Sea Dragon! Be careful of its mouth!”

As she spoke, the creature facing Jiaoyu straightened its snout and spat out blue-glowing needles.

Yan Xingyu dodged the continuous ice pillars, wanting to retrieve Jiaoyu. However, the Sea Dragon noticed her as well. While spitting needles, it swung its long row of wings toward her.

Seeing them overwhelmed, Xuan Ya rushed over to block the dense rain of needles. She told Jiaoyu to get to her side first and shouted to Yan Xingyu, “Miss, don’t get tied up with the Sea Dragon here. We must leave quickly!”

“Right, I know!” Yan Xingyu replied.

She gathered her energy and struck forward, but the Sea Dragon had rows of wings; as soon as one was batted away, another followed. It was exceptionally troublesome.

Jiaoyu, perched on Xuan Ya’s shoulder, watched the battle. She ignored an ice pillar about to strike from behind and yelled, “Yan Xingyu, watch your bottom!”

Hearing the warning, Yan Xingyu used her energy to form a blade and struck out, severing one of the sea monster’s wings. She flipped through the air, dodging another eruption from the sea, desperate to regroup with Xuan Ya and leave.

However, the Sea Dragon, enraged by the pain, began to lash out wildly. All its wings flapped together, creating a hurricane in the air that swept toward them.

Xuan Ya saw it and immediately flew higher with Jiaoyu to avoid it. But Yan Xingyu, unable to dodge in time, was sucked into the vortex. Amidst the spinning world, she felt a force wrap around her body.

Struggling to open her eyes, she saw the Sea Dragon wrapping itself around her and retreating back into the glacier. The panicked expressions of the two in the sky grew faint until she could no longer see them, and even the sound of rushing water faded away.

Jiaoyu saw Yan Xingyu being dragged into the glacier by the Sea Dragon, and the split mountain actually closed back up. She wanted to jump down to find her, but Xuan Ya held her back.

“Miss, don’t go.”

“Why?”

Xuan Ya explained, “The Sea Dragon is a type of monster that doesn’t actually kill. But it loves to bind people and take them for ‘swims’ in the sea until it’s had its fun. Only then will it let go.”

“It has surely dragged her far away by now. If we chase it, it will be hard to find and a waste of time. It’s better to find the Little Palace Master quickly and break the barrier. Miss Yan will naturally return then.”

Seeing Jiaoyu’s hesitation, Xuan Ya added, “If we delay too long and the Palace Master returns, all our efforts will be in vain.”

Jiaoyu finally decided to find Guan Fei first. She asked once more, “Are you sure Yan Xingyu will be okay?”

Xuan Ya replied, “This place is the ‘Guchuan’ set by the Palace Master. Its purpose is only to trap the Little Palace Master. Though Miss Yan was accidentally taken by the Sea Dragon, she definitely won’t be in danger.”

Jiaoyu grunted in agreement. “Fine, let’s find her first.” With that, the two turned and continued following the green bird.

Meanwhile, the captured Yan Xingyu watched as the Sea Dragon swam with her through the sea. They eventually stopped at a ruined palace submerged on the seabed.

The Sea Dragon’s movements slowed as it entered the palace. it approached a small statue in the center of the hall. It was a woman with a graceful figure, every smile and expression was carved with exquisite detail, showing the carver’s great care. Through the passage of time, the smile on her lips seemed to have turned into one of gentle affection.

However, this face… why was it exactly the same as the “Fairy in the Cave” who had been covered in cocoons?