Yu Jin wasn't the only one who pondered what he thought to be memories from his past life. Even though some days had already passed since Jing Yi ate the Beguiling Night Tree's fruit and even though he had talked about it was Qiu Ling, Jing Yi couldn't forget about it.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he once again felt the sensation of that man's arms around his waist and his breath that tickled his ear. He shuddered involuntarily whenever he remembered and hastily opened his eyes.
It helped to be around Qiu Ling but when he finally fell asleep that scene would be there again, haunting him in his dreams. Even worse, he felt like there were more things. He could see details he hadn't noticed when they stood in front of that painting. It really had to be a memory of his past life and it got more vivid with each time that he remembered.
He felt like he was going crazy and there was nothing he could do against it. Thinking that it might have to do with the Hei Dian Sect and that everything would return to normal after they got back to the Yun Zou Sect he threw himself into accomplishing the mission Yuchi Bing Xia had given him.
It actually wasn't hard. After finding Hong Bao and her sister part of it was already achieved and since Hong Bao was still adamant about organizing his wedding with Qiu Ling he didn't even need to think up a reason to spend time with her. Considering how chatty she was it probably wasn't a wonder that he had already found out the whole story in a few days.
The result left him speechless, though.
The story went as follows: Once upon a time, the forest near the village where Hong Bao and her mother lived was infested with demons. Even though there was a small deity sect situated not far from them the cultivators turned a blind eye. Villagers died left and right until finally, Hong Bao's mother became one of the victims. Hong Bao who was just fifteen years old back then didn't know what to do.
In her desperation, she traveled to the nearest town and asked somebody to write a letter for her that was then sent to the sect where her sister stayed. Maybe it was true that stupid people never had to fear anything because even though the letter needed some weeks to reach her sister Hong Bao was still alive when Hong Ai finally arrived at the village.
Hong Ai was furious at that time. Not because of her sister but because of the attitude the deity sects were showing. Even her own sect that was hailed as one of the premier sects that weren't even ranked had done nothing when she informed her master of the things going on there. They just adopted an attitude of 'that's just how the world is, the strong survive and the weak will die' and continued with what they had been doing before.
Now, it was just Hong Ai against all the demons. She didn't hesitate though. Her sister's life depended on her and she was also taking revenge for her mother. Furthermore, she knew that someone would have to do something or the villagers around the forest would all die. They were mere mortals, after all.
So she set out on her own and started to decimate the demons. Unfortunately, there were too many. She killed the first wave and then a second and third but over time her injuries accumulated. Finally, she could barely hold on.
Hong Ai had no idea that someone had been watching her the whole time. That person was naturally Shen An De. Since he was part demon himself and even the nephew of the current demon king Jin Ling he couldn't help but pay attention to everything related to the demons. Their movements at that time were really suspicious and he couldn't help but suspect that his uncle might be behind that. He had never trusted him so he went to check things out.
Who knew he'd see a young woman fighting against the demons all on her own until she only had one breath left? He was quite intrigued and in the end, he lent a helping hand.
What sounded like the beginning of a beautiful love story didn't unfold that way, though. Hong Ai wasn't thankful. Just taking one look at his black robes would tell everyone that he was a heretic practitioner. She actually suspected him to have orchestrated everything.
Shen An De who was more and more falling in love had quite the headache. In the end, he left the blade with her that was able to eliminate a demon. Then, they parted ways and Hong Ai returned to the village.
She spent some time with her sister while in the Nine Heavens above someone noticed her selfless deed. Soon after, a message was sent down telling her the time and place when someone would come and have her ascend as a reward.
Unfortunately or maybe it was fortunate, by that time Shen An De had already succeeded in moving her heart. Considering that most likely only a messenger would be sent Hong Ai persuaded her sister to go in her stead. If Hong Bao ascended, then she wouldn't have to worry about her anymore and she imagined life in the Nine Heavens to be nice.
Hong Bao who was a hopeless romantic had nothing to say to that. She let her sister flee with her soon-to-be brother-in-law and went to meet up with the messenger from the Nine Heavens.
What came after that was the reason for Hong Ai's worries: If one believed Hong Bao, then that messenger had never shown up. She was picked up the next day by a handsome man called Liu Cheng and brought to the Chun Feng Sect because her village had mysteriously vanished. In reality, more than a millennium had already gone by since her sister followed Shen An De to the Hei Dian Sect.
Hong Bao didn't think very much about this. Most of the time she talked about her Senior Martial Brother Liu Cheng who was the best-looking man she had ever seen. In the five years she had been in the Chun Feng Sect, the two of them had gotten quite close and she was expecting him to take the next step soon enough.
There was only one problem: Hong Bao still wanted to see her sister again very badly so when her brother-in-law suddenly showed up in front of her she didn't think much and just followed him back to the Hei Dian Sect. Then, she had to catch up with Hong Ai and she really wanted to get to know her brother-in-law better and see how those two were living and before she noticed a year had already gone by.
Why she never contacted her Master or that handsome Senior Martial Brother? Well … she forgot.
It really wasn't a story Jing Yi wanted to report to the Yun Zou Sect.