Chapter 540 - I Can’t Find Her…
Chapter 540: I Can’t Find Her...
Yun Ruowei's appearance was the same as it was in the past. Wearing plain green robes, she had bright and sparkling eyes like clear spring and had a soft and tender smile.
Her feet were bare. She wore a bracelet around her wrist which had a hanging silver bell. Whenever a gentle breeze blew, it would give out a sweet-sounding ring.
"Are you willing to help me look for the jade? What I'm looking for is a Blue Bridge Jade Pendant. It's something that belongs to my elder sister... The true reason why I'm looking for it is because I want to find my elder sister... I know that she isn't dead. I just know it..." When she heard that Ning Fan was willing to lend her a hand, Yun Ruowei no longer hid her thoughts from him. Instead, she put on a hopeful look.
She was merely a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator while Ning Fan was a Void Refinement Realm expert who had powerful capabilities. With his help, it would be much easier to find the jade pendant.
"Is your elder sister the little winged demon whom I saw in your dream last time?" Ning Fan asked.
"Yes…" Yun Ruowei hesitated for a while and decided to tell the truth.
"I remember that her name is Ning Qian..."
"Indeed..."
"She and Yun Tianjue are..."
"The two of them... are Dao Companions... My elder sister went missing one thousand years ago. Yun Tianjue forgot his emotions at around the same time... Before my elder sister disappeared, she gave birth to a child for Yun Tianjue. It was a premature birth... No one knew what happened after that and my elder sister vanished with her child within a single night... After quite some time, that child's life plate broke. He should have already died. As for my elder sister's life plate, it turned grey and dim. Even though she isn't dead, she should have fallen into a quagmire... She should not be dead yet. However, I couldn't find her even after painstakingly searching for her for a thousand years. Where exactly is she...? What exactly happened in the past...? Yun Tianjue did not protect my elder sister nor his own child. However, what's worse about him is that he has completely forgotten my elder sister after she went missing and he couldn't even remember who Ning Qian was already... He really is a heartless and cruel person!"
Yun Ruowei no longer concealed anything from Ning Fan. She even told him some secrets through telepathy. Her eyes were filled with sadness and anger.
She hated Yun Tianjue's coldheartedness. That was why she was unwilling to continue staying in the Rain Palace and decided to join the Southeastern Cultivator Union.
She could not bear to harm Ning Fan in the past because his smile shared a striking resemblance with her elder sister's and thus, sympathy took over her...
"..." Ning Fan went silent. His heart, however, was not quiet. Was he the deceased child of Ning Qian and Yun Tianjue...?
Yun Tianjue had forgotten his emotions for one thousand years and Ning Qian also went missing a thousand years ago. If he was the child who died that year, how could he still be alive today...?
Yun Ruowei regarded Yun Tianjue as someone cold-hearted but Ning Fan had a completely different opinion of him. To him, Yun Tianjue was a person who prioritized his loved ones.
Perhaps he might not bat an eye when annihilating a sect or a country but he definitely was not someone who would abandon his own wife and child...
Ning Qian is nowhere to be found, Yun Tianjue has forgotten everything about his past and the mysterious death of his child... Something must have happened one thousand years ago...
Ning Fan gently closed his eyes. Perhaps he could only find out the truth behind this confusing mystery after locating Ning Qian.
As for clues to find Ning Qian, it seemed like there was only the Blue Bridge Jade Pendant...
"I'll help you find the jade pendant but I have a question for you. Why would you come to the Ning Family of Hai Ning to look for the jade pendant? Is it possible that there are some clues here in this place?" Ning Fan asked.
"No. There is nothing here... I was originally following the members of the Southeastern Cultivator Union heading to Seven Apricot City but when we passed by Hai Ning, I felt an intent realm qi from within this city. It's my sister's qi... That intent realm qi was extremely faint. However, it still lingered around here even after one thousand years had passed which also contained a deep sorrow... Something extremely saddening must have happened to my elder sister in Hai Ning! Otherwise, she would not leave behind the sorrowful qi that won't go away after one thousand years!"
"But I've already asked the cultivators of the Ning Family of Hai Ning about it... The Ning Family had only been established for one thousand years. Moreover, none in the family has lived for one thousand years. No one really knew whether or not a winged demon lady came here one thousand years ago..."
Yun Ruowei's face was filled with disappointment.
The three ancestors of the Ning Family, on the other hand, were extremely scared. Since they could not provide Yun Ruowei a satisfactory answer, they did not know whether it would provoke her, a Nascent Soul Realm female cultivator.
"You may all leave... Mistress Yun, come with me. Let's search for clues around the Ning Family. Mm... Mistress Qing, if you don't mind, you can also come with us."
Ning Fan dismissed the three ancestors of the Ning Family. The three old men immediately left as if they had been pardoned and informed the entire city not to stop Ning Fan no matter where he wanted to go.
After the three ancestors of the Ning Family left, Ning Fan brought Yun Ruowei and Ning Qingqing with him to start their search of the entire Hai Ning City.
Ning Fan spread his spirit sense extremely far away, making it cover an area of four hundred thousand li* (500m per li). Then, he carefully inspected every area within his senses.
He did not notice it before. However, after Yun Ruowei told him about it, he had indeed sensed an extremely faint sorrowful intent realm within the city...
That sorrowful intent realm was very vague. Even though its power was weak and delicate, it would not go away even after one thousand years went by, as if it had been etched into this very place.
All of a sudden, Ning Fan was stunned.
This intent realm qi is exactly the same with my mother whom I've spent day and night with in the illusory realm...
"I've already searched all over Hai Ning. Not a single clue had been left behind by my elder sister..." Yun Ruowei sighed dejectedly.
"Your elder sister came to the land of Wu one thousand years ago and experienced something heart-rending... Even though Hai Ning has her sorrowful intent realm, it isn't really the place where she felt heartbroken... I suppose she only passed by this area in the past... The place where she felt saddest wasn't here..."
Yun Ruowei could only sense a sorrowful intent realm from the land of Hai Ning and determined that it was left behind by her elder sister based on her ability.
Ning Fan, however, could trace the sorrowful qi and find the place where it was the most concentrated...
Would there be any clues there...?
Even the Void Fragmentation Realm experts of the Rain World might not necessarily be able to discern the intensity of sorrow and look for its source.
But Ning Fan was able to do it because the intent realm he learned was the Memory Intent Realm. It was a Second-Step Intent Realm. Just in terms of the comprehension of intent realm power, Ning Fan was actually much better than Void Fragmentation Realm experts!
"Come with me!"
He suddenly displayed the void teleportation travelling light and travelled to the north while carrying both Yun Ruowei and Ning Qingqing. In the blink of an eye, he traversed a distance of forty thousand li* (500m per li).
He descended onto the ground. It was a demon forest with a desolate mountain surrounded by a mist of blood. The place was called the Weeping Blood Forest. It was quite a famous training ground in Wu Country. Many bloodthirsty winged demons were born here and many cultivators of Wu Country liked to come here to hunt demons and cultivate.
The area outside the Weeping Blood Forest was the place where the sorrowful intent realm qi was the most intense!
"It's my elder sister's intent realm qi! It didn't dissipate even after one thousand years! Is it possible that she is right inside here in the Weeping Blood Forest?!" Yun Ruowei said in surprise.
"There are many mortal cities within five thousand li* (500m per li) around this Weeping Blood Forest. Wars frequently occured here and many orphans became homeless and destitute. The Ning Family always search for some orphans in this place to adopt... I've checked the slave records of the family. In that year, you were also picked up near here..." Ning Qingqing was deep in thought as if she was recalling her memories with her brows slightly knitted together.
"Really..."
Ning Fan sighed gently, sensing the thick sorrowful qi concentrated in this place. He already had some guesses about the early stage of his life. Without saying anything more, he took the lead and quietly walked into the forest with the two ladies following behind him.
They walked past the dry twigs and decomposing leaves. They stepped on the mud and swamp. Along the way, no demon beast dared to stop Ning Fan.
At the deepest part of the Weeping Blood Forest, there was a small pond which was just one zhang* (3.33m per zhang) deep. The water of the pond was red like blood.
Ning Fan stopped by the edge of the pond.
The pond did not contain any spiritual qi at all. It was just a normal pond that would never be noticed by any cultivators or demon beasts.
However, Ning Fan sensed an inerasable sorrowful intent realm from the pond.
He gazed into the bottom of the pond and saw a blue jade pendant lying quietly on the muddy ground...
Other than that, there also seemed to be some broken stone chips on the bottom... Ning Fan carefully studied them and discovered that they were stone chips which were left behind by a broken demon cocoon of the demon race...
With a wave of his hand, the jade pendant below the pond immediately flew out from the water and went onto his palm.
The warm and wet blue jade pendant had the shape of a mandarin duck. Additionally, there was also a line of words written in beautiful writing.
When mountains become plain, when heaven and earth unite, only then will I dare to part from you...
Yun Ruowei got closer to Ning Fan and meticulously observed the blue jade pendant. At the next moment, her beautiful eyes flashed with joy.
Those writings were none other than Ning Qian's writing. It was the Blue Bridge Jade Pendant that belonged to her!
"We've found it! But where is my elder sister...?"
Yun Ruowei spread out her spirit sense, scanning across one thousand li* (500m per li) around the Weeping Blood Forest. Even so, she could not find any traces of Ning Qian at all.
She isn't here. She isn't here... Other than the sorrowful intent realm, none of her qi is here.
The blue jade pendant is here but Ning Qian isn't... She once regarded this jade pendant like her own life. How could she leave it behind here so carelessly?
"Ning Fan. I beg you. Please help me find her!" Yun Ruowei held Ning Fan's hand helplessly. How could it just end like this after spending so much effort to find a clue about Ning Qian's whereabouts...?
"I'll try my best!"
He wanted to find Ning Qian not only for Yun Ruowei but also for himself.
He held the Blue Bridge Jade Pendant and unleashed the power of his memory intent, enveloping the entire Weeping Blood Forest with it!
He took out a pile of Min Luo Fruits. He obtained all of them from the treant. There were twenty of them in total. Without hesitation, he consumed every single one of them!
He did not wish to enter the dream state by taking those Min Luo Fruits. He did not release his memory intent to wipe out anyone's memories.
A single Min Luo Fruit could allow one to go through fifty years in the dream realm. Twenty of those fruits would be equivalent to one thousand years in the dream realm!
He only wanted to clearly see everything that had happened throughout the past one thousand years!
He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground. The scenery in his mind was rapidly changing.
Min Luo Fruits could improve one's state of mind in one's dream while allowing them to look back at the things in their memories.
Ning Fan had the memories of Hai Ning. That was why he managed to see that his original surname was Yun in the Min Luo Dream Realm.
Ning Fan did not have the memories of the Weeping Blood Forest. Therefore, he could only borrow the memories of the forest to enter the dream realm!
Min Luo Dream Realm!
In the dream, Ning Fan was not a human but the entire Weeping Blood Forest, the forest of this place one thousand years ago!
He could not move nor speak. All he could do was to observe all the living creatures using his spirit sense in his territory.
He had become a vast land and a mountain forest!
One thousand years ago, the Weeping Blood Forest was not surrounded by a thick mist of blood. The blood-red pond in its deepest part was not there yet.
The sun rose and the moon fell. Countless demon beasts were born and died in this forest. Countless cultivators of Wu Country entered the forest to temper themselves by killing demons. Some of them died, some of them lived.
Ning Fan did not care about these demon beasts and cultivators. He was waiting for the person he was looking for.
One day, a gentle woman wearing a light yellow dress stumbled into the forest while carrying an ice-cold child in her arms.
"She is..." Ning Fan wanted to speak but he could not make any noise because he was just a piece of land.
She was Ning Qian!
Ning Qian's body was emanating Late Nascent Soul Realm qi. However, she was gravely injured and had a pale face.
Her eyes were extremely beautiful. They were bright like the moon but they were filled with sadness and despair. Tears were flowing down her cheeks incessantly.
"My... child..."
Ning Qian was carrying a baby boy that was not even one-month-old. She fell down at the end of the forest, overwhelmed with grief.
The child in her embrace was wearing a cotton jacket with a bright color. His soft hands were still holding her sleeve but he was already dying and unconscious.
The baby was on the brink of death. His heart's meridians were broken and someone had sucked dry all of his essence qi... He could only hang on to life because he had consumed a high-grade pill.
Ning Fan was shocked upon seeing the baby's condition. Who could be so cruel as to actually suck a baby's blood dry?!
Ning Qian felt like her heart was being torn to pieces and her face became even paler.
She stroked the baby's ice-cold body with her hand and looked at the baby's breathing that was gradually getting weaker and weaker. She held back her tears with a forced smile.
"I won't let you die... As long as I can revive you, I'm willing to even give up my life!"
Ning Qian stared at the pond that was one chi* (30.7 cm per chi) in front of her with eyes filled with determination.
She bit her finger and suddenly performed a series of hand seals while enduring the pain. She condensed her fresh blood into silks to form a cocoon and sealed the baby inside it. Then, she took off the blue jade pendant she was wearing and placed it inside the blood cocoon with the baby.
"Your father said that this is the Life Locking Demon Cocoon Technique of the ancient demon race. The demon cocoon can shield a person's fate from the heavens and lock their life force..."
Ning Qian's face turned even paler. Apparently, it was extremely taxing for her to display that technique.
"They've extracted all of your blood. I'll give you my blood instead. You must come back to life. Come back to life..."
Ning Qian embraced the demon cocoon as gently as she could since she was hugging her baby.
She bit her other fingers and pressed them on the rough surface of the demon cocoon, spreading her blood all over it.
When she was rubbing her wounds on the rough demon cocoon, the pain was excruciating but she did not mind it.
"I won't let you die. I won't let anyone harm you..." Ning Qian said with a pale smile while repeatedly rubbing her blood all over the demon cocoon.
One day. Two days... On the tenth day, all of her ten fingers were covered with wounds. Her blood was nearly drained completely.
She stared blankly at the demon cocoon in her embrace and continuously channeled her demon power into it.
As the demon cocoon absorbed her blood, it gave off a faint red glow. However, it could not retain the baby's life force which was slowly draining away.
Ning Qian shed tears of despair. She was helpless and sorrowful. As her tears fell onto the demon cocoon, it washed away a few droplets of blood.
She hurriedly wiped off her tears and bit her fingers again, trying to refill that spot with her essence blood.
However, there was already no blood left within her meridians... If she were a mortal, she would have certainly died at this point. However, since she was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, she could still live as long as her nascent soul was not destroyed.
"I have no more blood. What should I do...?"
Panic filled her face. At the next instant, she seemed like she had thought of something as she took out a small but sharp flying sword and plunged it into her chest.
"I still have my heart blood... It's still fine. It's still fine..."
After piercing through her heart, her cultivation base began to regress. From the Late Nascent Soul Realm, it fell to the Early Nascent Soul Realm... Slowly, even her Nascent Soul Realm cultivation base started to become unstable...
She did not have the time to care about her own injuries and cultivation base. She just took out a jade bottle and filled it with every drop of her heart blood. After that, she spread it on the demon cocoon.
Even though she had already sacrificed her heart blood, the baby inside the demon cocoon was still slowly dying.
One day, two days... On the third day, Ning Qian was carrying the demon cocoon with her trembling body. The red glow of the demon cocoon was gradually diminishing. As she sensed the breathing within the cocoon that was weakening by the minute, agony drowned her...
On the fourth day, the baby had stopped breathing completely and died...
"NO-----"
Ning Qian's voice was hoarse. Her tears dried up. Her body was shaking uncontrollably as if her soul had been pulled away from her. It was as if she had lost her whole world...
"I won't let you die! I won't let you die!!!"
Her dim beautiful eyes were filled with sadness.
She gazed into the sky, wailing helplessly as if she was about to go crazy... She could not lose her child! She could not!
Her eyes which had always looked gentle and feeble changed at this very moment. They now flickered with an inextinguishable persistence!
No one could seize her child from her!
She was willing to give up everything as long as she could exchange it for her child's life!
*Chi*
A flying sword penetrated through her dantian, piercing into her nascent soul. Ning Qian could no longer feel physical pain. Then, she wiped the blood of her nascent soul on the demon cocoon with a blank expression.
It was the blood of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator's life. When her blood was drained completely, it would be her demise!
"I beg you... Please return my child to me..."
"Please..."
"Please... I beg you..."
Ning Qian was begging and praying helplessly. Even though she was about to die, all she wished was to revive her child before she breathed her last.
The current Ning Qian had lost all of her cultivation base. Despite her imminent death, her persistence as a mother was so stubborn that even the Heavenly Dao could not douse it!
She used up all of her demon blood. The mist of blood covered the entire Weeping Blood Forest. Even the pond water was dyed red.
The breathing of the baby in the demon cocoon gradually stabilized. All of a sudden, he started laughing in his dream. It was unknown what beautiful dream he was dreaming of...
Ning Qian put on an ashen smile. She had rescued her child from fate...
As such, she would have no regret even if she dies...
The baby was sucking his thumb while chuckling joyfully. Well, how would he know that he was about to lose his mother?
However, sadness began to take over her again. She wished that she could stay by his side and watch him grow day by day...
Unfortunately, she probably would not live to see that day...
She took out a tuft of blood-red thunder grass from her pouch and planted it beside the pond. Then, she placed the demon cocoon into the pond.
"I can't bring you back to the Rain Palace. That place is too dangerous... I'll leave this thunder grass for you. With the qi of your demon cocoon, she can probably become your demon partner... Oh thunder grass, if you can use the demon power of my child and achieve the transformation, then you will be my child's demon partner. Remember, you must protect him his entire life... If that day arrives, you will be named Ning Honghong..."
Ning Qian's qi was on the verge of dissipating. She looked at the pond with her eyes filled with sorrow and reluctance.
"Child. My child. Remember, your surname is Yun. Don't hate your father. He had just forgotten about us temporarily... When he remembers everything, he will certainly look for you and take you home..."
"I'm sorry... From now onward, I can't take care of you anymore..."
Ning Qian ignited the last trace of her nascent soul power. Faint blood light rose around her body. She mustered the final trace of her strength and flew out of Wu Country, heading toward a certain direction.
She wanted to meet Yun Tianjue again before she died.
She already had no intention to care about her enemies.
She also did not want to find out why Yun Tianjue lost his memories anymore.
All she wanted to do at her final moment was to tell Yun Tianjue that their child was still alive and he was in Wu Country...
...
The dream realm still continued.
It was unknown how many years had passed. The demon forest was named the Weeping Blood Forest because of the mist surrounding the forest that was red like blood.
Countless cultivators from Wu Country had come here for cultivation. Ning Qian, however, did not appear again.
After accompanying the demon cocoon for tens of years, the thunder grass beside the pond had started to transform under the nourishment of the demon cocoon's demon power.
The thunder grass was originally a broken piece of a peerless Void Fragmentation Realm primordial spirit. Under the nourishment of the demon power, it transformed into a lady in red robes.
Even though she had just transformed into her human form, she already possessed a terrifying cultivation base at the Peak Nascent Soul Realm.
She stared at the pond water vacantly. She had forgotten her past. The only thing she remembered was the message that a woman once told her.
From now onward, her name was Ning Honghong. From now onward, she had to protect the demon cocoon in the pond.
She then began a grueling cultivation and established the Ning Family in Hai Ning of Wu Country.
She did not know how long she had to protect the demon cocoon. She hunted and killed the demon beasts around the place to gather demon blood and spread it on the cocoon to replenish the life force of the baby.
When the baby's blood was sucked dry in the past, he lost all of his innate potential in cultivation. However, he still managed to preserve his life.
One day, the sealed gate of the Ancient Heavenly Court reopened.
Ning Honghong went inside the Ancient Heavenly Court with the hope of finding some nourishing spiritual items for the baby. However, she died there and a trace of her soul floated to the Sinister Demon Forest from one of the grand formation entrances...
Years after years, spring went and autumn came... A thousand years went by and one day, the demon cocoon cracked. A blood ray carrying the baby descended upon a mortal city situated five thousand li* (500m per li) away from the Weeping Blood Forest...
Three years later, the mortal city was destroyed because of warfare. A cultivator from the Ning Family passed by the ruins and took away a few orphans...
...
One thousand years of the dream realm ended!
Ning Fan had sat in the forest for ten consecutive days after taking the twenty Min Luo Fruits.
Ten days later, he opened his eyes but fell into silence for a long time.
"Did you manage to find where my elder sister is?!" Yun Ruowei asked nervously.
"..."
Ning Fan did not say anything. He just took out a clean magic bottle and quietly squatted down beside the pond to take all of the blood-red pond water.
Right after that, he took out another clean bottle and used his magic power to draw all the blood mist within one thousand li* (500m per li) into it.
He then leaped into the dry and muddy bottom of the pond to pick up all the broken pieces of the demon cocoon and carefully stored them in a jade box.
He tied that blue jade pendant using a rainbow-colored thread and wore it on his neck. That rainbow-colored thread was an extremely precious ingredient for weapon refinement. It could even be used to forge Immortal Grade Treasure...
"I'm sorry... I can't find her..."
"I'm sorry..."