Chen Jing was feeling anxious and restless, and the thought of Ye Qingxue in the Golden Pavilion on Mount Kunlun made him want to rush back into the mountains. His yin spirit had suffered a severe injury, and if he hadn't returned to this statue in time, he might have died outside.

  At this time, he finally realized that although the butterfly's body could host the yin spirit, it was not his own body after all. After being injured, he had to return to the statue to recover. The root of everything was still in the statue, and the yin spirit hosting in the butterfly's body was just a branch of the tree, no matter how long or high it extended, it still needed to rely on the trunk and roots behind to provide nutrients.

  At this time, Chen Jingzheng was sitting on the threshold of the River God Temple, with the big red shrimp in front of him that never stopped talking. On the side was a shell, as large as a millstone, still covered with moss. She and the big red shrimp were almost two extremes, one always restless, the other silent all day long.

  Chen Jing took out the jade slip again and looked at it. His mind naturally entered it, and a few sentences immediately appeared in his mind. He had read these few sentences several times, and every time he felt uneasy in his heart, he would take them out to look at them.

  This jade slip is indeed the "Heart Sutra of Sacrificing Swords" from the Luofu Sword Sect, just as Chen Jing thought in Kunlun Mountain. However, apart from the original Heart Sutra of Sacrificing Swords, there are also a few lines of text imprinted by Ye Qingxue with her divine thoughts, with characters like thunder patterns.

  "The heavens will change, quickly return to the Qu River, quietly cultivate and nurture your spirit. Wait for my return, reopen the thousand Luo, verify the great Tao."

  If Chen Jing hadn't seen Ye Qingxue with his own eyes at that time, he would never have believed that this was something Ye Qingxue would say. This didn't seem like Ye Qingxue's personality, or rather, it didn't fit the image of Ye Qingxue in Chen Jing's heart. In these past few days, he had carefully thought about everything he had seen since getting to know Ye Qingxue, and only then did he realize that his understanding of Ye Qingxue was actually very limited. On Mount Qianluo, she would always sit on the thatched roof of the rear mountain's medicine garden, meditating and practicing her breath control. Except for that one period when she taught him how to cultivate, she had never left. If nothing happened at Mount Qianluo, Chen Jing would almost think that she would sit there until the grass hut collapsed, or suddenly ascend to immortality and leave one day.

  "Shi Jie is wholeheartedly seeking the Great Way." Chen Jing thought to himself, and suddenly felt that Shi Jie's doing these things might be for the sake of the Great Way.

  "Heavenly Lord, I think the Goddess is someone who only has the Great Way in her heart, and everything she does is for the sake of the Great Way. So, you don't have to worry about her anymore," said the Big Red Shrimp.

  Chen Jing pinched the jade slip, dazed and distracted, listening to the words of the big red shrimp in his ear, and his mouth had already said: "Shouldn't those who seek the Great Way sit quietly in the mountains, cultivate their hearts and practice? Even if they are walking in the world, shouldn't they try their best not to be tainted by worldly dust and avoid secular affairs? But why is it like this, Master Sister?"

  The big red shrimp kept moving back and forth, anxiously tapping one pincer against the other newly grown pincer. Despite this, he couldn't say anything else, only saying: "Goddess must be different from others, Goddess is not an ordinary goddess."

  Chen Jing didn't respond to him, he just sat there quietly, but deep down in his heart, there was a strange and inexplicable feeling of annoyance. This feeling came wave after wave, making him very worried. Because this feeling was exactly the same as the one he had in Qin Guang City, could it be that it was going to happen again like it did in Qin Guang City?

  He didn't dare to imagine that if it were true, all the living beings in the Jinhe River Basin would die under his sword. Qin Guang City was dark and deserted, although not peaceful, but Chen Jing didn't see anything unusual. After sobering up, there wouldn't be any obstacles in his heart, and when the time came for blood to flow like rivers, he himself would have to take his own life first, let alone those who subdued demons and eliminated evil.

  Sometimes when you think of something in your heart, it comes; sometimes the more you worry about something in your heart, the more likely it is to happen. When he thought that his soul's dead spirit nightmare curse was going to break out again and couldn't confirm it, a ghost appeared.

  She came stepping on moonlight and starlight, coming quietly without a sound. If this weren't Chen Jing's divine domain, it would be absolutely impossible to discover her.

  "What kind of escape technique is this?" Chen Jing asked with some curiosity, generally speaking, in the cultivation world, it's rare to ask others about their techniques, even among good friends, cultivators are wary of letting others know their foundation.

  Xu Ling said directly: "It's a ghostly escape technique."

  "What kind of escape technique?" Chen Jing had never heard of this name before.

  Xu Ling stood a distance away from the River God, lowering her head to say: "The Ghost Concealment Technique relies on borrowing the yin energy between heaven and earth to conceal oneself. At night, the yin energy is heavy, so..." She didn't continue speaking, but Chen Jing already understood. He smiled at the same time, saying: "You always appear when I'm thinking of you." What he said was his own inner thoughts, because he was indeed thinking about Xu Ling's Soul-Reflecting Mirror in her hand, wanting to take a look at what his soul curse looked like now.

  Yu Ling was taken aback, and immediately lowered his head, using his hand to brush away the black hair hanging in front of him, and involuntarily tilted his head. In his ear, he heard Chen Jing's words: "You should have brought that Soul-Reflecting Mirror with you."

  Xu Ling hastily nodded, and Chen Jing smiled slightly, saying: "I think the curse on me is about to act up again. Use that mirror to take a look at my soul."

  "Oh." Yu Ling suddenly felt a bit stiff, and hastily pulled out a black mirror from his bosom. The mirror was pulled out, but it also brought out a white silk handkerchief, which he quickly stuffed back into his bosom. He didn't look at Chen Jing, but instead wiped the mirror clean and then looked at Chen Jing through it. However, he discovered that Chen Jing had already disappeared from in front of him. At this time, a voice came from beside his ear: "You spirit ghost, you're really blind, my family's River God has already returned to the temple."

  The spirit lifted its head, and Chen Jing was indeed no longer in front of it. A large red shrimp was standing beside it, while a green shell was parked in front of the River God Temple.

  She hastily walked over, came to the front of the River God Temple, and did not see Chen Jing, only saw the statue of the god in the temple, and did not look closely. She picked up the mirror and shone it at the statue. The black surface of the mirror slowly opened up, turned white, and then became clear. Originally, there was nothing on the surface of the mirror, but immediately reflected the situation inside the River God Temple. She rubbed the surface of the mirror with her hand again, and except for the god's statue, all other scenes had disappeared, leaving only the god's statue.

  Nor did she see any movement, but the statue slowly shattered in the mirror, like dust flying away, and then reassembled into a phantom figure.

  A figure stood quietly at that time, with a flash of light on his waist, and in the light, a butterfly was printed on his waist like a seal. However, when the spirit saw the soul shadow in the mirror, he exclaimed, covered his mouth with his hand, and quickly looked up at the river god statue.

  "Heavenly River God..." Huan Ling exclaimed and shouted.

  The big red shrimp hastily squeezed in and looked into the mirror, but couldn't understand what was going on. Looking at the expression of the virtual spirit, it didn't dare to ask either.

  Chen Jing naturally also saw it, and when he saw the dense red spots on the soul shadow in the mirror, he was also shocked. He did not expect that after returning from the underworld, this vengeful spirit's curse had almost covered his soul body.

  For so many years, Chen Jing thought that this Wandering Soul Nightmare Curse would not diminish or grow again. Who knew that it had grown to such an extent? The crimson spots had almost completely covered his soul body, and nearly a third of them had transformed into blue.

  A figure flashed above the statue, and Chen Jing walked down from the statue. He came to the front of the void spirit, looked carefully at the mirror, and asked in surprise and doubt: "How can this be?"

  Xu Ling glanced at Chen Jing, then lowered his head to look in the mirror, seemingly worried, and said: "This Wandering Soul Nightmare Curse will devour all emotions to grow, as long as there are emotions present, it will grow."

  A crescent moon shines alone over the great river.

  The moonlight is hazy, the tree shadows are swaying. The river waves hit the shore, the night wind blows in gusts.

  The mountains and rivers are unchanging in people's eyes, but they always make people feel amazed at a certain moment, and compose poems for them. Sometimes, the scenery that has not changed for thousands of years will also make some people feel sad.

  The sky above the embroidered spring river domain had unknowingly started to drizzle with a hazy fine rain, silently and quietly falling down, as if afraid of startling the fish swimming in the waves within the river.

  The river waves are like tireless slaps against the riverbank, as if they want to slap out a carefree and leisurely atmosphere from the bund that binds itself. The wind, however, ran recklessly into the River God Temple, entwining itself around a young girl who thought herself ethereal, lifting her hair, and delicately sniffing the faint fragrance on her body.

  The big red shrimp didn't understand what the spirit was saying, he stared at the only remaining large eye of the spirit and looked at Chen Jing, wanting to ask but not daring. He didn't understand what the shadow in the mirror meant, his intuition told him that things were very serious.

  "Will it devour emotions and grow?" Chen Jing looked at the image in the mirror, muttering to himself: "Why is this so, how can there be such a spell in this world."

  Xu Ling didn't make a sound, but stared at Chen Jing's eyes, as if to see when he would go crazy again, and also seemed to want to see if Chen Jing was afraid.

  "When did I learn this spell and why can they enter Qin Guang City without a problem."

  Xu Ling knew that Chen Jing wasn't asking her, but rather asking himself. However, Xu Ling opened her mouth and asked: "What did the River God encounter in Qin Guang City?"

  Chen Jing suddenly thought of the desolate, the sky, and the green bamboo flute. He recalled the words on the green bamboo flute. After a long silence, he slowly said: "I saw another world inside, I saw another life."

  "What kind of world is this? What kind of life?" asked the spirit.

  "A distorted world, a life of my own." Chen Jing stopped looking at the mirror, the spots in it gave him a heart-pounding feeling, making him feel that his life was beyond his control.

  Fortunately, those spots were not active, as if they had fallen into hibernation, but Chen Jing's irritability and anxiety in recent days made him feel that these curses were about to become active.

  Xu Ling didn't know what Chen Jing was talking about. Since she returned to the mortal world, nothing had happened that she originally didn't know about and then suddenly knew. There were no more inexplicable things appearing in her mind. The world Chen Jing mentioned, which seemed like a fantasy yet not quite like one, Xu Ling was unaware of it. She thought this was the time to say something comforting to Chen Jing. After some thought, she couldn't find anything suitable to say, and at that moment, Chen Jing spoke again.

  "Hehe, the cycle of yin and yang, all things are born and die in mutual generation and restraint. If such a curse appears, there must be a way to break it. Just because I can't solve it now doesn't mean I won't be able to in the future. As long as I can keep living, one day I'll definitely find a solution."

  Xu Ling heard the laughter, but couldn't see a smile on his vague face. However, the tone of his words seemed to have relaxed, no longer so heavy. She suddenly felt that the atmosphere in the River God Temple was not as oppressive as before. Before she could speak, Chen Jing continued: "To be honest, since I became the River God of this embroidery spring, I haven't made many friends, but I've made quite a few enemies. The only one who can be considered a friend is you, right?"

  His last two words were obviously asking if the ghost considered him a friend. There are many people in this world who, after meeting and chatting for a few times, drinking together a few times, would call each other brothers or friends. Friendship was something that had existed in Chen Jing's life before, but it was dead now. In the Thousand Rope Mountain, there was only one shifu (senior sister), and outside of it, he had a ghost in his heart, which is why he said such words.

  The spirit didn't answer, but instead asked: "Isn't Cui Ping Niang Niang a friend of the River God?"

  "Her?" Chen Jing shook his head and said, "It's not her."

  When it comes to Cuiping Niangniang, Chen Jing naturally thought of Cuiping Niangniang's appearance, but as soon as he did, he found that he couldn't think of what she looked like at all. He only knew that she was a very beautiful woman and even her age was unclear. However, he clearly remembered the first and second time he saw her, her casualness and carelessness, as well as the superior attitude she showed when he first met her.

  Sometimes a glance or a sentence can offend someone to death, Chen Jing thought he was not that kind of self-centered person, but still disliked the way Cui Ping Niang did things.

  "Oh, right, has your memory recovered?" Chen Jing suddenly asked Huiling.

  Yu Ling said: "Only when I'm close to Qin Guang City in the underworld, and something triggers my memory, will I recall some things. In this world, there won't be any strange memories appearing."

  "Why didn't you wait in Qin Guang City for some memories to recover?" Chen Jing asked.

  Xu Ling brushed a strand of black hair blown by the river wind to her ear and whispered, "I'm afraid that at that time I will no longer be me."

  "But after all, it's your own memory."

  "Memories are just the past, why bother recalling things from the past? As long as I'm happy now, that's all that matters." Xul Ling gazed out at the river surface outside the River God Temple, where the large red shrimp had already retreated back into the water, leaving only a shell quietly sitting by the door like a green stone.

  This was the most words Chen Jing had ever spoken to Xul Ling. Before, he thought she was quite weak and cautious in her heart, but now he found that she was actually a woman with very strong thoughts and opinions, only these were all hidden under her weak appearance. Anyone who saw her always lowering her head as if shy would produce a desire to protect her.

  The crescent moon sank in the west, and the not-so-bright moonlight shone into the River God Temple, shining on the feet of two people at the threshold.