Covering the Sky: The Years I Was the Empress's Strictest Master

Still shaken, Chi Xuan asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, she should be Gu Qingying, the current Goddess of the Spring and Autumn Pavilion."

It is said that she appeared when the Xiang family of the Southern Region was attacked by cultivators from the Feathered Divine Dynasty of the Central Plains...

She stopped there, then changed the subject and whispered to Chi Xuan:

"It's late, don't think about it anymore, go back and rest."

After speaking, she took Chi Xuan's hand, who looked slightly dazed, and turned to walk into the pavilion.

Just as she stepped into the pavilion, she couldn't help but glance out of the corner of her eye at the direction of Hedao Cliff, and then look up at the cold, lonely moon in the sky after the storm.

She knew that, because of these factors, her younger sister was probably thinking of that brother again today.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

……

The moonlight is silent, its gentle glow quiet and still.

In the void outside the Chi family's mountain gate in the Tianchi Mountains.

The figure of "Gu Qingying" slowly emerged.

Several elderly figures behind her were watching her.

With that, she took one last look at the Chi family's territory, which lay dormant like a sleeping dragon under the cover of night.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the distant He Dao Cliff, which was now invisible under the cover of the great formation, before he looked away without any further interest.

clatter……

With a light touch of her jade-like foot, she took a step forward, and a crack appeared in the void in front of her, whereupon her figure vanished.

The Tianchi mountain range, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, has returned to tranquility.

In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, only the night wind swept across the mountains, stirring up the rustling pines, as if telling a story of the past.

…………

Seven days after Tianling left.

On the cliff of Hedao, the young man faced the fierce wind, as sharp as a divine blade, and threw punches again and again.

An invincible fist intent flowed through his body's blood and qi, as if the intensity of his energy was increasing every moment.

With each punch he threw, the void in front of him, which was stable under the suppression of the supreme Dao patterns, would erupt with a violent roar.

Tan Lin, having thrown countless punches throughout the day, returned to the center of the stone platform and began to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.

With each breath, his body beneath the silk robe shimmered with a pale golden light, his vital energy as powerful as a dragon's.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, he slowly opened his eyes.

A slight ripple appeared in the void before him, and the aged figure of Chi Yushan materialized.

The last time they played chess was just yesterday. The old man's expression carried a hint of barely perceptible sigh, clearly indicating that he had not come to seek out the young man for a "discussion on the Way".

He looked at Tan Lin, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke, his voice somewhat low:

"Young friend Tan, your cousin at Yangxin Garden is probably due to die today."

Upon hearing this, Tan Lin's stagnant blood and qi paused slightly, then gradually calmed down.

He didn't seem too surprised when he heard the news.

During his first visit more than half a year ago, he had already noticed that Xiang Jun's life force had been cut off, and that he was like a candle flickering in the wind, on the verge of exhaustion.

It is a miracle that the other party has been able to hold on until today, even with the care of the Chi family and his periodic nourishment with his physical essence.

At that moment, he silently nodded, stood up,

Then he channeled his divine power into his robes, shielding them from the onslaught of the fierce winds, and his voice remained as calm as a still well.

"I am grateful for your kind invitation, senior. As Brother Xiang Jun is on his deathbed, I must stay by his side to see him off on his final journey. Therefore, I would be grateful if you could escort me there to save some time..."

Upon hearing this, Chi Yushan looked at the young man's face, which had briefly fluctuated before becoming overly calm, and sighed inwardly.

Wow!

Without saying much, he rolled up his sleeves, used his supernatural powers to connect with the array patterns here, and instantly disappeared from the He Dao Cliff with Tan Lin.

……

Yangxin Garden, a quiet room.

The scent of medicine mingled with a faint smell of decay in the air.

The interior furnishings were simple and elegant, the windows were bright and clean, and a carefully tended plant by the window exuded a faint vitality, but it could not dispel the growing gloom in the room.

Xiang Jun lay on the couch, and his current condition was so good that even describing him as skin and bones would be an exaggeration.

His face was deeply sunken, with only his eyeballs visible, making him look extremely eerie, and his whole being exuded an ominous, ashen appearance.

As time passed, his breath became so faint as to be barely audible, and his chest seemed to have stopped rising and falling.

However, although his eyes were cloudy and dim at this moment, they were still open silently and with difficulty, looking towards the doorway, as if waiting for something.

One side.

Chi Xuan was sitting sideways on a chair in front of the couch, holding a warm jade bowl in her hand. The bowl contained a precious life-extending elixir made from the Nine Apertures Spirit Spring Liquid.

Today, unusually, she wasn't dressed in a pale yellow ensemble, but rather in an elegant light green dress.

Without any makeup, her delicate profile, bathed in the soft sunlight filtering through the window, appeared as serene as her elder sister, Chi Yao.

Tap...tap...

She carefully scooped up a small amount of spiritual liquid with a jade spoon, gently brought it to Xiang Jun's lips, and then used the profound and wondrous power of her primordial spirit body to guide its essence and medicinal power into his body, and then slowly guided and refined it.

As she fed the medicine, she seemed to have shed her usual spoiled and arrogant demeanor, her eyes showing a rare focus, and even a hint of barely perceptible sorrow.

This Brother Xiang Jun has been unable to refine the medicinal power on his own for more than half a year, and he needs the assistance of others to barely absorb it.

Even now, with her divine assistance using her primordial spirit body, it's all in vain.

No matter what she did, her body no longer absorbed any vital energy or medicinal power from the outside world.

crunch...

Just then, the door was gently pushed open from the outside.

Upon hearing the sound, Chi Xuan instinctively turned her head to look.

When she saw the tall, upright figure following behind Chi Yushan as he strode into the quiet room...

Her hand holding the jade bowl trembled almost imperceptibly, causing the spiritual liquid inside to ripple in tiny circles.

At that moment, her gaze met Tan Lin's deep, calm eyes, and her heart felt as if it had been gently pricked.

It's him……

More than half a year later, she and he met for the first time in Yangxin Garden.

The other person's appearance seemed to have changed; his posture was more upright, and his face appeared even more handsome under the faint bloodstains.

Half a year is neither a long nor a short time.

The other person seemed more composed and reserved than I remembered, and that profound depth that drew me in inexplicably was even more pronounced.

Especially those eyes of the other person, so deep and unfathomable.

With just one glance, Chi Xuan felt as if her soul had been captured once again.

Her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but her gaze swept over Tan Lin's calm, almost indifferent face.

In an instant, a strange sense of grievance, along with the resentment that had been suppressed in my heart recently, surged up once again.

She quickly looked away, lowered her head again, and focused intently on the spiritual liquid in the bowl, as if the person in front of her was just air.

However, her slightly tense chin and the knuckles of her fingers, which turned white as she gripped the edge of the jade bowl tightly, undoubtedly betrayed the unease in her heart at that moment.

At the door, Tan Lin seemed oblivious to Chi Xuan's "cold" reaction.

Or rather, at this moment he simply didn't have the time or inclination to pay attention to other details in the room.

Upon entering, his gaze immediately fell upon Xiang Jun on the bed.

Upon seeing Xiang Jun's current appearance, a deeply hidden sadness flashed across the depths of his dark eyes.

He walked slowly to the bedside, and softly called out to Xiang Jun:

"Brother Jun, I'm here."

Upon hearing that familiar address and voice on the couch, Xiang Jun's unfocused gaze seemed to finally focus for a moment, before his eyes moved with difficulty to look at Tan Lin.

"..."

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he could only make faint whispers.

Although he couldn't speak, the words he wanted to express were clearly conveyed in his eyes as he looked at Tan Lin.

It was a mixture of complex emotions, including relief, hope, and regret.

What he really wanted to say had already been said, back when Tan Lin first came to visit him.

On his deathbed, he saw Tan Lin and the hope for the rise of the Indestructible Golden Body, and he had no regrets.

At that moment, Tan Lin sat down by the bedside. Seeing that the other person was no longer able to speak, he said nothing.

He simply stretched out his hands and gently clasped Xiang Jun's withered hand in his own.

hum...

A wisp of pure and gentle blood energy, containing the life force of the indestructible golden body, slowly flowed into Xiang Jun's body through Tan Lin's palms.

This was not an attempt to prolong his life or give him a final burst of energy; Xiang Jun's vitality had long since withered, and no external force could reverse his fate.

His actions were merely to alleviate the other person's suffering in their final moments and allow them to pass away peacefully.

As this gentle flow of vital energy was injected, a faint trace of color seemed to return to Xiang Jun's ashen face.

His tightly furrowed brows, which were no longer visible to outsiders, now relaxed slightly.

In his final moments,

He looked at Tan Lin, and his lips twitched upwards very slowly and with great effort, as if he wanted to show a smile.

Finally, he turned his head, and his eyes, which had been staring at the door as if waiting for someone, slowly closed.

The last remaining trace of life within him slowly dissipated.

The hand that Tan Lin was holding had completely lost its last bit of warmth at this moment.

The boy knew that this "young man," on whom the entire Xiang family of the Southern Region had placed high hopes, had finally passed away.

Tan Lin sat quietly by the bed, holding the gradually cooling hand, without moving for a long time.

He kept his head down, silent, with stray hairs falling across his forehead, obscuring his eyes and making it impossible to see his expression.

The room was deathly silent.

Only the faint sound of the wind coming from outside the window, and the subtle sound of the jade bowl and spoon handle gently stirring together in Chi Xuan's hand.

But her movements had completely stopped at some point; she simply lowered her head, staring blankly at the now still liquid in the bowl.

tick...

After a long while, the sound of tears falling seemed to rise from the silent room.

Chi Xuan raised her head slightly and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw Tan Lin reach out and wipe Xiang Jun's eyes, closing them.

However, there seemed to be a slight trace of moisture in the corner of Xiang Jun's sunken eye that was pointing downwards.

The other party was waiting for someone, and perhaps not only Tan Lin, but also his father Xiang Li, who was far away in the Southern Region.

Standing by the door of the quiet room, Chi Yushan watched this scene and sighed silently in his heart.

He has lived so long and has witnessed too many partings and deaths.

But just because you've seen it doesn't mean you can simply let go of the emotions it evokes.

If one can remain unmoved, it is only because the deceased are gone, not because of someone close to them.

crunch...

In the silence, Chi Yushan glanced at Tan Lin's back as he looked away, then at Chi Xuan, who sat motionless.