Returning of the sun
Chapter 3
"Beyuan! Stay conscious, child!"
Lady Pan's voice rang sharply across the pavilion.
She pulled a brush from within her robes and swept it through the air, rapidly forming a barrier formation to sever the raging current of Qi that was devouring everything in its path.
At the same time, Lady Huifan's fingers flew across the strings of her pipa, striking out a deep, resonant note to disrupt the terrifying force of attraction.
"Hold on, Yi'er!"
Lady Daifu rushed forward and caught Lanyi from behind, quickly pressing her fingers against the young woman's vital points.
Bang!
The sudden severing of the Qi connection sent a violent backlash exploding through the air.
Puzhen and Beyuan, still on the rooftop, immediately lost their footing.
Both young men tumbled from the roof and crashed miserably into the shrubs beside the pavilion.
"OW!!!"
Crash!
Beyuan was in the worst condition of all.
His face had gone deathly pale, and he gasped desperately for breath like a man who had only just been dragged back from drowning.
"Hah... hah..."
Lanyi opened her eyes for only a moment, panic flickering across them.
The last thing she saw was chaos—
And the frightened expressions of everyone around her.
Then her consciousness vanished, her body going limp in Lady Daifu's arms.
After that day, the atmosphere within the Wei Estate changed noticeably.
News quickly spread throughout the valley that the noble guest's Qi had nearly "devoured" a young Zhenyuan like Beyuan whole.
The young Zhenyuan men who had once secretly admired her—or entertained thoughts of testing the so-called direct-line Rouling for themselves—lost their courage almost immediately.
One after another, they began keeping their distance from Lanyi's guest residence, as though some sleeping monster lay hidden within.
When Lin Lanyi finally regained consciousness, she awoke in a silent room.
Only the faint movements of Housekeeper Ning and her personal maids could be heard as they remained close by, quietly tending to her.
"Young Lady... you're awake?"
Lanyi slowly turned her gaze toward them.
"You... you shouldn't be near me..."
"It is alright, Young Lady."
A-Ling hurriedly lifted a small stone pendant hanging from her chest.
"Madam Wei gave us these protective Qi pendants."
A-Lan raised hers as well.
"She said they can protect us. Only..."
"Only...?"
Lanyi's voice was quiet.
"If there is something you need to say, then say it properly."
A-Ling lowered her eyes.
"They can only protect us for a short while, Young Lady."
"If you begin showing symptoms again... we must move away from you immediately."
Those words made Lanyi fall completely still.
'Everyone is afraid of me...'
Her hollow gaze drifted toward the world beyond the window.
'Even one of the strongest Zhenyuan in this valley nearly lost his life because of me.'
"I... I hurt someone again..."
The room was filled with the calming fragrance of medicinal incense.
Lanyi lowered her eyes toward her trembling fingertips.
Guilt pressed heavily against her chest until even breathing seemed difficult.
'Is this... the great and wonderful power Father once spoke of?'
Tears slowly gathered in her eyes as bitterness rose within her heart.
'If I cannot control it...'
'Will I never be able to return to my family?'
'Will I never be able to live peacefully again?'
"Young Lady... please don't torment yourself like this."
A-Ling stepped closer and gently massaged her shoulders, trying to comfort her.
"Madam Wei said what happened was beyond your control."
"You have only just begun your training, Young Lady."
For the next three weeks, Lanyi pushed herself relentlessly.
Even when the three Madams were not present to guide her, she continued practicing the circulation of Qi on her own.
"Young Lady, please rest and have something to eat."
"It is alright, A-Ling. I am not hungry yet."
After answering, Lanyi simply closed her eyes and returned to meditation.
The maids could do nothing but carry the untouched refreshments back to the table.
"A-Lan..."
A-Ling lowered her voice anxiously.
"Look at the Young Lady. She's become so thin..."
"I know."
A-Lan's expression was equally troubled.
"All she does is force herself to circulate her Qi."
"She keeps saying that she feels better... but I don't think she looks better at all."
The two maids watched their mistress with worried eyes.
"If this continues... I'm afraid she'll fall ill before anything else happens."
But their concern could no longer reach her.
Only one thought remained in Lanyi's heart.
'I will not remain trapped here forever.'
'I will return to the capital.'
Then, one morning—
"Young Lady! A procession from the capital has arrived with gifts for you!"
Lanyi slowly opened her eyes from meditation.
"From the capital?"
"Yes, Young Lady!"
"Betrothal gifts and a letter from Young Master Gu Fang have arrived!"
A-Ling hurriedly carried an exquisite wooden box over and placed it in front of her.
"Look, Young Lady."
"A cloud-patterned fragrant hairpin carved from the finest white jade... and a letter written in Young Master Gu Fang's own hand."
Lanyi carefully unfolded the letter.
'I shall await the day you return in all your grace for our wedding. Please take good care of yourself and return safely.'
Her fingers gently brushed across the cool surface of the jade.
Tears of joy began gathering in her eyes.
The touch of the betrothal gift was like a reminder of the beautiful life waiting for her in the capital—
A life proper and elegant according to every rule she had ever known.
A gentle husband.
And an honor left pure and unstained.
"He is still waiting for me..."
"He still believes in me."
She whispered the words, her heart swelling with hope once more.
"Of course he does, Young Lady."
A-Ling firmly took her hand.
"That is why you must not give up."
"Just a little longer."
"Once your power becomes stable, we'll finally be able to return home."
That distant support was like a miraculous medicine breathing life back into Lanyi's exhausted heart.
During the final week of that month, she trained with a focus stronger than ever before.
She refused to allow exhaustion—or the whispers of her Rouling instincts—to shake her determination again.
By the time a full month had passed, the Yin power that had once raged wildly inside her had begun to settle.
Still.
Silent.
Like the surface of a lotus pond without a single ripple.
'Five days...'
'It has already been five days since my Qi last went out of control.'
Although loneliness and emptiness still gnawed quietly at her heart, Lanyi had begun, little by little, to adjust to life in the Zhenyuan valley.
'If this continues... then removing this power must be possible.'
'I only need to be patient.'
The young woman looked toward the jade hairpin and the letter she kept close as encouragement from her fiancé.
[I shall await the day you return safely to the capital.]
Her fingertips gently brushed across the jade hairpin—and the hope of the future it represented.
'I will become a perfect woman again.'
Lanyi often spent her afternoons at the pavilion in the middle of the snow-lotus pond.
The protective formation surrounding the area helped conceal her Qi and prevent it from surging outward.
Her slender fingers carefully plucked the strings of the pipa—
The instrument Lady Huifan had begun teaching her to play.
Its clear, resonant notes were like drops of morning dew.
And the melody through which she released her loneliness seemed, strangely enough, to calm the Qi within her.
'Playing the pipa feels so peaceful...'
'One day... I wonder if I will be able to play like Lady Huifan.'
But Lanyi had no idea that the music she believed was merely an outlet for her emotions—
Was slowly drawing an even greater "trouble" toward her.
At that very same moment—
Along the steep, rugged road winding toward the Cursed Lands, a slender figure dressed in dark warrior's clothing rode a nimble black horse with the speed of a storm.
Flame-red hair streamed wildly behind her in the wind like dancing fire, contrasting sharply with the fitted leather garments coated in dust from a long journey.
A large cloth sack hung behind the saddle, tightly packed around something that had been carefully bound inside.
"Hahahaha! I finally made it back!"
Her voice rang clear and bright, full of reckless confidence.
"This time, Father and Mother are definitely going to praise me!"
"I brought back something incredibly valuable from the Land of Ten Thousand Demons!"
The red-haired rider urged her horse even faster.
Then—
A beautiful pipa melody drifted upon the wind and reached her ears.
The rider abruptly pulled her horse to a halt.
'What is that sound...?'
'A pipa?'
'Who in my Zhenyuan valley can play so beautifully?'
Her sharp, beautiful eyes immediately followed the direction of the melody.
Without hesitation, she urged the black horse up a small rocky cliff high enough to overlook the walls of the Wei Estate.
The horse came to a stop.
Her gaze swept downward—
And there she saw her.
A woman seated gracefully within the pavilion beside the lotus pond, quietly playing the pipa.
The afternoon sunlight shimmered across the surface of the water, surrounding that slender figure in such radiance that she seemed almost like a goddess descended from the heavens.
A pleased smile slowly appeared upon the newcomer's striking, finely sculpted face.
The interest in her eyes was completely impossible to conceal.
"Who is that woman...!?"
Her smile widened.
"I have to get to know her!!"