Little Pink took a few seconds of silence to torture Xiang Ling before it finally answered - "Though Her Majesty didn't lock your powers, she has sealed off most of your space to punish you."
It took a few precious moments for the realization to dawn over Xiang Ling who stared at Little Pink with disbelief filled in her eyes. "Sealed off my space?" Her eyes darted around the cottage and she wondered what was going on.
As if Little Pink read her thoughts, it quickly explained. "Initially, your entire space was locked but Her Majesty eventually decided to leave this particular cottage unlocked just in case you will need to use your space while protecting His Highness the Crown Prince."
Xiang Ling opened her mouth to protest but Little Pink stopped her as it continued, "Don't be disheartened. Though your space has been sealed for now, you will be able to unlock its different parts according to your performance during your life tribulation."
"Performance?" Xiang Ling asked curiously, wondering what new twist the Heavenly Empress had added to her punishment. Once again, she felt a bad premonition about whatever Little Pink was about to say.
"These two scrolls..." Little Pink started speaking as it sent the two remaining scrolls flying toward Xiang Ling who quickly grabbed them before they could have fallen on the floor. "... are written by the previous owner of your body before her death. One of these scrolls contains her grievances while the other contains her desires. Along with completing your life tribulation and finding the whereabouts of the Crown Prince, you are also required to make up for the grievances and fulfill the desires of the previous owner of your body. Every time you complete one of these tasks, you will be able to reopen one area of your space as per your requirement. You can choose to accept these missions or reject them but the latter will cost you your space during your mortal life."
Xiang Ling thought about her life without her space and she immediately shook her head as her entire being rejected that idea. She needed her space for too many reasons and the most important one among them was the requirement for spiritual energy inside her space that she needed to continue her cultivation in the Mortal Realm. The mere amount of spiritual energy that was present in Dongzhi City was not efficient for an Immortal like her. Since she was an immortal inside a mortal body, she required her space to survive her life tribulation.
Letting out a small sigh, she opened the first scroll and it was the scroll of previous Xiang Ling's grievances.
~
- despite being the only daughter of my parents, I never felt any parental love
- despite being a young miss from a noble family, no one respected me
- I have no friends
- I'm poor
- I'm weak
- no one loves me
- despite having five very good-looking men as my husbands, none of them sees me as their wife
- I felt lonely my entire life
- I was always insecure
- I wasn't born beautiful
~
Xiang Ling let out a sigh as she closed the scroll of grievances and opened the second scroll that contained the desires.
~
- I want my parents to love me
- I want loyal people around me who will respect me
- I want to earn a lot of money
- I want to eat a lot of delicious food
- I want to become powerful and influential
- I want the people of the city to respect me
- I want to live in a beautiful place
- I want to look beautiful
- I want a lot of good friends
- I want a good relationship with my siblings
- I want my husbands to love and cherish me
~
The sigh that escaped Xiang Ling's lips this time was even longer than the previous one. For a moment, these grievances and wishes didn't seem too much but when considering the current state of life of the previous owner of her body, these terms seemed so hard to achieve.
"What have you decided then?" Little Pink asked after certain long moments of silence.
Xiang Ling looked up at the spirit beast before she once again returned her attention to the scrolls and reread them to make sure that she didn't miss any point mentioned there. Even though these mentioned grievances and desires weren't simple, she believed that they weren't impossible to achieve. Besides, if she wanted to get full access to her space, she needed to complete these missions. The good thing was that almost all the grievances were present among the mentioned desires, so there wasn't too much she needed to work on.
Taking in a deep breath, she finally nodded her head as she looked at Little Pink. "I will do it. I will make up for the last wishes of the previous Xiang Ling and I will also try to find the whereabouts of the Crown Prince to keep him safe during his life tribulation. I just hope that when everything ends, Her Majesty will forgive me and not keep making things harder for me in the future."
She didn't hold back while adding the last sentence, knowing fully well that her message would be forwarded to the Heavenly Empress as it was.
"I will convey your words to Her Majesty." Little Pink said as it fluttered its beautiful wings, making silver glitters fall from them.
Xiang Ling safely stored the two scrolls in one of the cabinets in the room and started preparing to get ready for the day. She was on her way to select a dress when her brain suddenly recalled the incident from the previous evening... the mysterious man... the... kiss...
Her hand immediately flew to cover her lips as she recalled the warmth and softness of his lips against hers. If she wasn't remembering it wrong then she was sure that the man didn't just kiss her, during the kiss he actually passed some of his internal energy into her.
She quickly turned to look at Little Pink who hadn't left yet and asked, "Did you see a mysterious man inside my space?"