Chapter 193 : Chapter 193
Chapter 193: Sixty Years of Obsession
Old Shui naturally noticed their reactions.
He said calmly:
“My apologies. I frightened you both.”
“This is my wife’s remains.”
After Old Shui finished speaking, Li Mu and An Xing were even more bewildered.
But they did not dare to ask further.
Unexpectedly, Old Shui took the initiative to say to Li Mu:
“Child, after you came in just now, you used a pupil technique to see through your surroundings. What did you see?”
Li Mu’s heart tightened.
When that black-robed disciple whispered to Old Shui earlier, he was probably talking about how Li Mu’s Water-Avoidance Art had parted the water curtain.
When Li Mu used his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze to look around, the black-robed man should not have known.
Unexpectedly, Old Shui could even tell that he had used a pupil technique?
“The island has sunk into the water, forming a world of its own.”
Li Mu answered honestly.
Old Shui’s eyes clearly brightened.
The black-robed disciple was even more stunned.
He had lived here for more than ten years, yet he had only understood what this place was in his third year.
Unexpectedly, Li Mu had seen through it with a single glance after entering.
“What else?”
Old Shui seemed to be speaking with some hidden expectation.
Li Mu and An Xing exchanged a glance. Then Li Mu activated his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze and subconsciously looked around again.
When Li Mu looked at the female corpse inside the water coffin, he was immediately startled.
He saw that the corpse in the water coffin, which had just been ugly and terrifying, had completely changed in appearance.
Her skin was fairer than snow, delicate and smooth.
There was not the slightest trace of blood on her beautiful snow-white dress.
Her rounded face was gentle and serene, possessing the peaceful grace of a prosperous age.
Her eyes were peacefully closed. Even without any vitality, she still carried a trace of elegance.
Just from her appearance, one could tell that she had surely been a virtuous and kind woman.
Li Mu was stunned.
When he withdrew his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze and looked again, the female corpse returned to its ugly and horrifying form.
When he activated his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze once more, the female corpse regained that clean, beautiful appearance.
She was merely a beautiful girl in her twenties.
Could it be?
Was that ugly and terrifying appearance an illusion?
Who had cast the illusion, and who was it targeting?
Just as Li Mu was observing in puzzlement, he suddenly felt the female corpse transmit a faint wisp of intent toward him...
She did not open her eyes, but Li Mu kept feeling as though she was looking at him.
Li Mu carefully sensed her intent.
The intent was extremely weak. It seemed to contain some kind of information, but it could not be converted into language, so Li Mu did not quite understand it.
From the moment Li Mu activated his pupil technique, Old Shui, who stood nearby, had become faintly excited.
When the black-robed disciple beside him was about to speak and question Li Mu, Old Shui waved his hand and stopped him.
He signaled for him to remain silent.
Only after a long while did Li Mu withdraw his gaze and look toward Old Shui.
“Old Shui, I can see her true face clearly.”
Old Shui’s body visibly trembled.
He gave a bitter laugh.
“Why... Why am I the only one who cannot see it?”
“Old Shui, I sensed a faint wisp of intent, but I cannot be certain.”
“Can you tell me the full story? That way, I may be able to understand what it means...”
Li Mu felt that there should be a story behind this.
He had sensed a trace of regret from the woman’s intent, so he wanted to understand the whole picture.
“Why not?”
When Old Shui heard that Li Mu had actually sensed a faint wisp of intent, he was first overjoyed. Then he smiled in relief.
He told the two of them an old story.
The woman in the water coffin was his wife.
The two of them had met and fallen in love in their youth.
At that time, Old Shui had only been a minor Martial Artist with an A-Grade Talent.
His wife, on the other hand, had been a favored daughter of heaven with an S-Grade Talent. Her strength had even been above Old Shui’s.
For a period after their marriage, the two of them had lived very happily.
But good times did not last. One day, his wife mysteriously disappeared, and Old Shui searched for her for several days.
In the end, he discovered that his wife had been kidnapped by a group of Heaven Society forces.
At that time, society had only just driven the monsters back into the Abyss. Even the stationed military fortresses beneath the Abyss entrances had not been built yet.
The situation was turbulent, and public order was chaotic.
The Heaven Society had been extraordinarily rampant at the time. Unlike now, where it lurked in high places and in the shadows, back then it had many low-level dregs.
His wife had been abducted by a group of Heaven Society demons.
Old Shui searched for her frantically and finally located a house with the help of a Law Enforcement Team.
But when he rushed inside, the house was already engulfed in a towering blaze.
At that time, Old Shui had not even cultivated a water-type cultivation art. Even so, he risked his life and charged into the flames to rescue his wife.
But by then, his wife had already been tortured beyond recognition. Her blood-soaked clothes had been completely burned and fused to her body, and vast areas of her body had been severely burned as well.
He had only rescued his wife’s corpse. In the end, she had not even had time to say a single word to him.
From that day onward, Old Shui “went mad.”
He had no ability to take revenge, so he carried his wife’s remains and hid in the mountains.
He frantically searched for a method to preserve his wife’s body.
Heaven did not disappoint those who persevered.
He soon found a water-type secret art that could ensure a corpse would not decay, and could even slowly restore it.
It required a water-type internal cultivation method.
From that day onward, Old Shui abandoned his own internal cultivation method and began cultivating a water-type internal cultivation method.
Thus began his long path of preserving the corpse.
In only a few years, the burned skin had already become fine, delicate, and pale. His wife’s face had been preserved perfectly, as if she were merely asleep.
Old Shui cultivated even more frantically.
He even fantasized that if he preserved his wife’s body well, then one day, when he ascended to the Earth Rank or Heaven Rank, perhaps there might be a way to “revive” her.
Unexpectedly, As Old Shui’s cultivation advanced, his wife’s corpse began to decay!
No matter how Old Shui maintained it, the corpse changed day by day into something ugly and terrifying.
It looked like an evil ghost that had crawled out of hell.
Old Shui only believed that his cultivation was too low, and he never gave up on continuing to preserve the corpse.
Until he ascended to the Earth Rank.
He took Linyuan City, where the two of them had once lived, as his own territory.
He established this underwater pure land and maintained his wife’s corpse day after day.
Yet he still could not restore his wife’s beautiful face.
After hearing this, Li Mu combined it with that faint wisp of intent and finally understood completely.
“Old Shui, within your beloved’s intent just now, there was a trace of regret.”
Li Mu spoke quietly.
“Regret?”
Old Shui did not understand.
Li Mu smiled.
“Yes. The face you see now is an illusion that her lingering intent cast upon you.”
“She loved you deeply as well. That is why this faint wisp of intent could remain.”
“After she died, you sacrificed everything of your own to protect her body from decay.”
“In her eyes, you were especially foolish.”
“She hoped you could forget her, find happiness again, and live your own life.”
“So she used her own lingering will to cover her true face with this ugly and terrifying appearance through an illusion.”
At this point, Old Shui’s aged eyes were already moist with emotion, and he nodded repeatedly.
“Yes! Yes. Her talent was precisely illusion.”
Li Mu continued:
“She hoped that by facing this terrifying and ugly face every day, you would quickly come to loathe it and wear away your patience.”
“She wanted you to give up on her because of it.”
“She simply never expected you to be this persistent.”
“You looked at this terrifying face for a full sixty years, yet you were still searching for ways to preserve it, without the slightest intention of abandoning her.”
“She regretted it long ago.”
“If she had known your obsession would run so deep, she should have accompanied you through this life with her most beautiful appearance.”
“Unfortunately, her lingering will is no longer enough to undo this illusion.”
When Li Mu said this, he sighed.
He sighed for the love between the two of them.
Tears welled from Old Shui’s eyes, and he looked at Li Mu with hope.
“Since you can see it, can you...”
Li Mu first shook his head.
A trace of disappointment flashed through Old Shui’s eyes.
But Li Mu immediately said:
“It should not require me. Old Shui, go forward and speak to her.”
Old Shui slowly turned around and walked to the water coffin in a daze.
His chest trembled and rose and fell as he murmured:
“You are even more foolish than I am. You thought this appearance could drive me away. Truly... Ah...”
When emotion reached its deepest point, Old Shui raised his hand.
A surge of pure water-spirit power transformed into a large hand inside the water coffin and gently stroked his beloved’s cheek.
At that moment, Li Mu activated his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze.
【Miasma-Piercing】 could see through all illusions.
【Miasma-Casting】 could cast all illusions it had seen through in an even stronger form.
Li Mu directly used his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze to shatter that layer of illusion.
Old Shui, who was stroking his beloved’s cheek, suddenly discovered it.
The terrifying and ugly corpse before his eyes had disappeared.
In its place was the beautiful face he had yearned for day and night for decades.
“Hahaha... It is you... Hahahahahahahaha.”
Old Shui laughed.
He laughed as tears poured from his eyes. The pain of decades of bitter waiting also vanished in that instant.
He laughed like a young man in love.
At this moment, even the black-robed disciple was crying bitterly.
He was sincerely happy for his master!
An Xing was also moved at the side.
As for Li Mu, he once again sensed a faint wisp of intent from the female corpse.
This time, its meaning was very simple.
It was “thank you.”