After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 32

Self-Destruction

Enveloped in the scent of blood, Wen Qiwu felt only dizziness and vertigo

“Chirp…” When Wen Qiwu woke, the sky outside had already darkened. A luminous pearl sat on the table beside her, its soft glow illuminating this palm-sized space.

            

She was still groggy when she first woke, unable to tell whether she was dreaming or awake.

She hadn’t seen light at night in a long time. These past few days, her shijie rarely came back, and even when she did, she would only sit silently by the bed for half the night, then leave before dawn the next day.

But today, not only had her shijie brought out a luminous pearl, she had even taken out a book and was reading it at the table.

            

Wen Qiwu shook her little head, hardly believing her eyes. The scene was so peaceful and serene that she almost thought she was dreaming.

Then she pecked her own wing. It hurt. This was definitely not a dream!

“Chirp!” Wen Qiwu had assumed that her shijie, jolted awake from a nightmare, would be in worse shape than before. To her surprise, her shijie actually looked better than she had these past few days!

            

What was she reading?

Wen Qiwu craned her little head to see the words on the page, but Yun Heng noticed. The soft glow of the luminous pearl seemed to lighten the gloom between her brows, as though returning to many years ago… Yun Heng closed the book and set it aside, then added some fresh spiritual fruit to Wen Qiwu’s cage.

Perhaps influenced by this atmosphere, Wen Qiwu relaxed a little. And since her shijie had chopped the spiritual fruit into pieces to feed her this time, Wen Qiwu ate every piece, one bite after another.

            

“…” So this little one only eats chopped-up spiritual fruit? Yun Heng looked at the empty fruit dish, wondering where Dong Shiyue had caught such a finicky bird.

“Chirp!”

Yun Heng looked down at the cage. The little one, having finished its spiritual fruit, rubbed against her fingers. Its expression actually bore quite a resemblance to her shimei when she was young.

            

Wen Qiwu wanted to ask her shijie whether something good had happened today. She had only just woken up now and had no idea what had occurred during the day, or what had become of those demon cultivators.

But her shijie wouldn’t communicate with her when she was lucid. Only when her mind was clouded and she mistook the bird for Qingtuan would she ramble on in muddled fragments.

Never mind. Wen Qiwu would rather Yun Heng not speak to her at all than see her shijie in that state.

            

Come to think of it… where was Qingtuan?

Wen Qiwu looked around. There was no trace of another bird anywhere nearby. From what her shijie had said, Qingtuan must have left long ago and hadn’t returned in over a century. Besides, if it were nearby, her shijie would surely have sensed it.

Strange. Where did it come from?

            

Wen Qiwu wanted to find it. Qingtuan knew her situation—maybe it could help her, even if only by opening the cage door.

She sighed inwardly several times, until there was movement from her shijie’s side, and Wen Qiwu looked up.

Her shijie walked to the bed and took off her outer robe. Now Wen Qiwu could see more clearly how much weight Yun Heng had lost. These hundred years had nearly destroyed a True Immortal Realm cultivator. Wen Qiwu’s eyes grew slightly warm.

            

Yun Heng lay down on the bed. Aside from unconsciousness, she hadn’t actively rested in a very long time. This bed had practically become a decoration in Yun Heng’s room.

The little white ball of fluff in the birdcage blinked. Seeing her shijie treat her own body with care, Wen Qiwu was happier than anyone.

She had thought her shijie encountered something good while she was unconscious. In truth, after the elders left, Yun Heng had merely repaired the gap in the mountain and delivered the “good news” that all the demon cultivators were dead to the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord.

            

The Demon Lord’s frail soul nearly scattered on the spot, but Yun Heng stabilized him again. His last shred of value hadn’t been wrung dry yet—Yun Heng wouldn’t let him die.

What Yun Heng had encountered was only a nightmare. The reason she had specifically gone to the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord was because of the nightmare she’d had while unconscious.

She had heard the sound of her shimei crying. How could she let the one responsible live in peace? The Life Tablet had recorded a few images from before her shimei’s death, but it couldn’t preserve the voice of her heart. Had she been afraid? Had she blamed her for failing to save her? Yun Heng’s guilt and remorse gave birth to a Heart Demon, and the Heart Demon twisted Wen Qiwu’s true likeness until it became the figure in Yun Heng’s nightmares.

            

But today, the voice Yun Heng heard in her nightmare carried no hatred or resentment. In a daze, she recalled that Ah Que’s voice had been the kind that was gentle with a trace of endearing petulance—one that always made you yield a little, then yield a little more without even noticing…

When Yun Heng jolted awake from the nightmare, besides the pain in her heart, a longing had risen unbidden—she wanted to hear that voice again.

If the Heart Demon brought only despair, then that voice had lit a faint glimmer in her nightmare, letting someone drowning in water catch a single breath.

            

Yun Heng lay in bed without the slightest drowsiness, so she swallowed a Mind-Calming Pill and forced herself to sleep.

But tonight’s dream held no beloved shimei—only a Wenshen Sect drenched in blood and a Heart Demon soaked in despair.

How could the Heart Demon stand by and watch Yun Heng slip from its control? Its very purpose was to tear away all of Yun Heng’s solace and drag her into the abyss.

            

Yun Heng jolted awake from the nightmare again, her face pale as paper.

Wen Qiwu had been making the most of her time to familiarize herself with the techniques she had recently learned. When there was movement from Yun Heng’s side, she opened her eyes as if sensing something. She hopped to the edge of the cage. Why did her shijie’s expression look wrong? Hadn’t she been fine before going to sleep?

Why… of course because what had come was not Wen Qiwu, but a Heart Demon that wanted nothing more than to see her completely break.

            

The Heart Demon knew best how to destroy a person’s hope. It wanted Yun Heng to feel so guilty and despairing that she wouldn’t dare seek solace. Yun Heng had nearly collapsed in the dream. Even after barely waking, she seemed to see her shimei’s blood on her hands, everything before her eyes a sea of crimson.

“Ah Que, I didn’t…” I didn’t want to run away. I never thought of giving up on you.

[Then come keep me company.]

            

The Heart Demon grasped Yun Heng’s hand, guiding her to grip her sword hilt.

“Chirp chirp?” Seeing her shijie silently shed tears, Wen Qiwu was frantic, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in horror. Her shijie had actually drawn her sword and pressed it against her own pale neck.

            

How razor-sharp that Divine Artifact was—it sliced open a gash in her immortal body, and warm blood flowed freely. Yet Yun Heng’s eyes were hollow, as if she couldn’t feel the pain at all.

Wen Qiwu threw herself against the cage with all her might. The crash of the birdcage hitting the floor jolted Yun Heng awake.

The Heart Demon’s venomous gaze gradually faded, and the distorted visions before Yun Heng’s eyes returned to normal.

            

But after one glance at the bloodied sword, she didn’t put it down right away.

“Chirp chirp chirp!” Only when a somewhat anguished cry rang out beside her did the sword slip from Yun Heng’s hands. She felt no relief at having narrowly escaped death—only a fine, ant-like gnawing of pain and emptiness radiating from the depths of her soul.

She forced herself to look at the birdcage that had fallen to the floor. The little one inside was staring at her urgently, and that gaze actually resembled her shimei from deep in her memories.

            

Yun Heng picked up the birdcage. After checking and confirming the little one was unharmed, she placed Wen Qiwu back on the table. This time she pushed the cage further in, to keep it from falling again.

She stroked the little white ball of fluff, which was trembling all over as if frightened. The blood on her hand accidentally stained its feathers.

Enveloped in the scent of blood, Wen Qiwu felt only dizziness and vertigo. She bit down on her shijie’s fingertip and refused to let go no matter what.

            

After a long moment, she heard her shijie murmur, “I’ll send you to Shangqing Mountain.”

Wen Qiwu’s feathers puffed up all over, making her look a whole size rounder. She was just short of declaring her resolve to die before going to Shangqing Mountain.

But… did they keep caged birds at Shangqing Mountain? If she were sent there, would they let her out? That might be an opportunity. But right now, her shijie couldn’t be left alone—Wen Qiwu didn’t dare imagine what would have happened just now if she hadn’t been here.

            

Because the wound on Yun Heng’s neck had been inflicted by a Divine Artifact, it healed extremely slowly. Before long, blood had soaked the left side of her collar.

Yun Heng let Wen Qiwu keep biting her, while her other hand gently stroked her feathers. She used a Dust-Cleansing Spell to wipe the blood from the little one’s feathers. The little one’s body temperature was slightly higher than an ordinary person’s—just like the warmth of her shimei’s palm.

For some reason, she saw many similarities between this little one and her shimei. The void in her heart was, faintly, filled a little by soft downy feathers.

            

After a long while, the little ball of fluff in her palm finally stopped trembling.

The little one’s pale pink beak loosened slightly, then her small head burrowed into her palm. The tiny beak kept tracing across her hand, tickling her palm with a faint itch.

Rumble!

            

Just then, a slight tremor shook the ground beneath them.

Yun Heng’s brow furrowed slightly, and the next instant she vanished from the room. Wen Qiwu stumbled and nearly fell over inside the birdcage. She stared blankly at the empty room. Even-tempered as she was, she was angry enough to chirp chirp chirp curses at the culprit—just let her find out who caused this commotion!

The tremor had a wide reach, and its epicenter was not at Wenshen Sect.

            

Before long, a distress message arrived from the sect at the epicenter, overwhelmed and unable to cope. It turned out that the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord’s pet had devoured a Half-Step Golden Immortal Realm cultivator and gone wild in Dongzhao Domain. The pet was a Soul Demon, and its rampaging power had driven many people with unsteady minds into demonic corruption—including even Earth Immortal Realm cultivators. The situation over there had descended into chaos, and reinforcements were urgently needed.

The fastest way to resolve the chaos was to have the Immortal Venerable intervene. But… the Medical Immortal, upon hearing of this, immediately went to stop Yun Heng. By the time she reached Wendao Mountain, that patient who never listened to medical advice had already gone to handle the matter.

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The author has something to say:

            

Shijie will soon get to see her shimei once more (albeit in a dream).

There will also be an extra update tonight. I was so busy last week I didn’t have a moment’s rest, but today I can finally get this bonus chapter posted.

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