After rebirth, the eldest sister voluntarily abdicated and gave way to the wise.

Chapter 518 Help Me Take This Heart Away

After climbing the steps and stepping onto the bluestone slabs, Jiang Liqian pushed open the very simple wooden door in front of her without much hesitation.

Inside was a garden, vibrant and lovely. At the far end of the garden was a small wooden house with its door open, allowing a glimpse into its simple furnishings.

Jiang Liqian walked lightly along the garden path and stepped into the wooden house.

The room wasn't very well lit; the brightest spot was the window, which was propped open with wooden bolts, and sitting in front of it was a woman wearing a thin veil.

The woman was beautiful and graceful, sitting quietly and elegantly. When she turned around and looked at us, she was enveloped in a soft golden light.

"Nice to meet you, Junior Sister Jiang." The woman's eyebrows arched, her eyes sparkling with the most vibrant, clear light of the heavens and water.

Jiang Liqian was stunned for a moment, then pointed her sword at her: "You know me? Did you bring me here? Where is this place? Who are you?"

The woman didn't speak immediately, but instead lowered her head and turned to a page of the book beside her.

The wisps of sandalwood incense blended into the beams of light streaming in from the window, making her silhouette even more indistinct.

A very long time passed, so long that Jiang Liqian thought she would never speak again, but the woman suddenly snapped the book shut.

“It’s not me who knows you, Junior Sister Jiang, it’s my master who knows you.” The woman turned her head again, this time looking straight into Jiang Liqian’s eyes, speaking each word very softly and very seriously, “This is a moment that stopped five hundred years ago on this heart, and I was the former owner of this heart.”

Her words sounded rather strange. Jiang Li narrowed her eyes and asked, "Are you saying that Elder Jiang's heart belongs to you?"

“It used to be mine, but I gave it to my master before I died.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liqian was stunned. Her first reaction was that it was impossible. Who would give their heart to someone else? And what would someone else want her heart for?

The Tianqian Sect is not a heretical sect. As the head of the sect, Jiang Yueming may have an unpredictable temper, but he is definitely not the kind of person who would use such sinister techniques.

However, the next moment, she found that she did not doubt the man's words.

This place is both real and illusory, because it represents a fleeting moment in time that truly existed, yet it is already in the distant past.

However, what she couldn't understand at all was: "Master Jiang has no disciples, so why do you call him 'Master'?"

Whether in her past life or this life, she had never heard of Jiang Yueming having a disciple. Wasn't he always a loner?

Upon hearing Jiang Liqian's question, a fleeting look of overwhelming sadness flashed across the woman's eyes. She turned her gaze slightly, and the wind outside the window picked up a little, blowing off her veil and revealing half of a hideous and terrifying scar. The veil then immediately floated back down, completely concealing the scar.

Jiang Liqian's pupils dilated, and she subconsciously opened her lips.

The woman smiled apologetically at Jiang Li: "Sorry, did I scare you? I didn't mean to..."

Jiang Liqian immediately shook her head, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

“This was when I was three years old, I was injured by an evil cultivator who broke into my home and slaughtered my relatives. It was the most insidious evil fire. My master tried many methods to extinguish it, but none of them could. He could only stop it from festering on my face little by little. He always felt guilty and felt that he had not fulfilled his responsibility as a master.”

Jiang Liqian was taken aback, speechless for a moment, not expecting that the quiet and peaceful woman in front of her had such a tragic past.

The woman touched the scar beneath her veil, as if reminiscing about something, or perhaps sighing about something.

She said to Jiang Liqian, "Junior Sister Jiang, I'm sorry for taking the liberty of bringing you in, but Master is already afflicted with inner demons. If he continues to be deluded, his cultivation in this life will likely be in vain."

"I sensed your inner demons, which is why I wanted to take a gamble."

Jiang Liqian was truly shocked.

"Can you see Xin Xin?"

"Xin Xin?" The woman paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is that the name of your inner demon? Your inner demon is truly unique, both a calamity and a tremendous opportunity. The Heavenly Qian Sect... indeed, every generation produces talented individuals and geniuses. How wonderful..."

Jiang Liqian seemed to understand her words but not quite, and hesitantly asked, "Are you... like Xinxin, also a demon in your heart?"

The woman shook her head.

"I am not."

"The heart I left behind is..."

"What do you mean?" Jiang Liqian asked, somewhat bewildered.

Isn't the heart just this person, and isn't this person just this heart?

She's not a real person.

The woman turned her head to look at the butterflies fluttering outside the window, where gardenias bloomed. The thin gauze curtains cast sparse shadows, conveying an indescribable sorrow and heartbreak.

"An ancient proverb has been passed down: Without a sincere heart, one cannot become an immortal; without thought, one cannot enter the gate."

"A person without a heart cannot ascend to immortality."

Jiang Li blinked and thought back for a moment. She had indeed seen such a statement in various ancient books and miscellaneous writings.

Cultivating immortality requires cultivating the mind. Only with a mind can one experience the seven emotions and six desires. Only with the seven emotions and six desires can one break through and eliminate them, and rebuild from the ashes.

Sigh, wait a minute... Right, why didn't she think of this? Jiang Yueming is not a human cultivator, but a piece of sea stone frozen for thousands of years at the bottom of the Hopeless Sea. It is extremely rare and unique for a sea stone to be able to cultivate into a human body. After all, the sea stone is just a stone. Can a stone have a heart?

“I know that Master is single-mindedly pursuing the Dao, hoping to one day break through the shackles and achieve immortality. I think that when I die, I should leave behind my last bit of value, so I left my heart to Master.”

“I hoped that one day he could realize his wish, but I never expected that this wish would become my master’s obsession.”

The woman sighed, stood up, slowly walked to Jiang Liqian, raised her hand, and gently touched her cheek with a non-resisting expression.

Her eyes were gentle, filled with the appreciation and expectations of a senior for a junior.

“Once Master has a heart, he has emotions and desires. He feels that as long as my heart can still beat in his chest, he can find me and bring me back, even if I am just a broken skeleton, even if I have no chance to enter reincarnation again, let alone be resurrected and stand in front of him again. Every beat of my heart is a reminder to him of his responsibility to me as Master.”

"My master has been in great pain, and this pain has accompanied his heart for five hundred years."

"On the one hand, Master knew he shouldn't come looking for me anymore; he had to abandon me for the greater good of the world. But on the other hand, Master couldn't bear the torment in his heart. I was his only disciple, and he had promised me that he would protect me for life and never let me be bullied by anyone again. He was a man of his word."

The woman smiled faintly at Jiang Li, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Junior Sister Jiang, I would like to ask you for a favor: please help me take this heart away."