Chapter 292: The Solution

When he saw Empress Jiang on Bai Li with his own eyes, he thought of this solution.

Back then, Empress Jiang beguiled the previous Emperor, throwing the court into chaos. In the end, Xuanyangzi entered the palace to exorcise the evil thoughts from the previous Emperor and execute Empress Jiang. To prevent the Emperor from being beguiled by evil spirits again, Xuanyangzi hung a Three Purities Bell in Zichen Palace, which served as the Imperial Bell.

“I know that the Imperial Bell was set up because of you.”

“I also know that the Imperial Bell only protects the Emperor.”

“So I became the Emperor.”

Seeing and hearing this, what else could Bai Li not understand? She smiled bitterly: “So, when I told you I had woken up and was fine, you didn’t believe me at all. You always knew about the strangeness in me.”

“I know,” Li Yu said, his face becoming paler, his eyes turning bloodshot as if blood was about to seep out, but his eyes were full of smiles, “I can see it, from beginning to end, I can see it.”

See it, huh.

Li Yu had a Realm of No Dreams, unaffected by illusions, but that was only within illusions. She didn’t expect that he could also see the strangeness on her face in reality.

“You’ve been watching me like this all along?”

Bai Li’s expression was complicated.

Every time Li Yu in the Realm of No Dreams saw her face, he would cry bitterly, and his fear would cause the dream to shatter.

But Li Yu in reality just looked at her face like this, married her, and smiled at her every day.

How much fear and torment of hatred must he endure?

Bai Li sighed softly: “You must have been terrified.”

Li Yu looked at her, shaking his head with a smile: “No, I’m not afraid.”

He was only afraid that he couldn’t save Ah Li, that he couldn’t help her.

“Fortunately, I became the Emperor.”

“I can help you get rid of her now.”

He raised his hand and caressed Bai Li’s left cheek. This hand was not pressed against his chest, but the blood oozing from his body dripped onto it. As he caressed, Bai Li’s left cheek was also stained with blood.

“Ah Li, now your face is your own, it’s all yours.”

“It’s very beautiful.”

Bai Li was about to say something when the person behind her turned and leaned over.

“Is my face not beautiful?” The fair and beautiful face looked at Li Yu.

Under the reflection of the scarlet characters, cracks appeared on her fair face.

“Ah, this annoying thing.” She turned and waved her hand, her sleeve dancing like gauze, spreading out like a large net, covering the scarlet characters.

The cracked face returned to normal.

She looked at Li Yu again, pressed her hand to her heart, and finished what she hadn’t said.

“I’ve already paid my respects to you in the wedding ceremony. You’re so heartless to treat me like this. I’m so heartbroken.”

After saying that, she laughed heartily.

As she laughed, the large net waving in the air also turned scarlet, reflecting on her face. It wasn’t just her face, but her whole body seemed to be shattering.

“Stop joking around,” Bai Li shouted, looking up, “Think of a way to deal with it quickly.”

The clear bell ringing sounded again, and the scarlet world rippled like water, as if to flatten all foreign objects.

Jiang Mian’er raised her head and blew towards the sky, causing the surging ripples to disperse and retreat.

“Li Yu,” Bai Li supported Li Yu and said hurriedly, “This is my fault. There are many hidden details that I haven’t explained clearly to you.”

She looked at Li Yu’s chest, imagining it uninjured, but the dagger faded and the blood disappeared only for a moment, before returning again.

It was difficult to heal injuries in reality within an illusion, let alone with the taboo of the Imperial Bell casting the principle of “Tao follows Nature.”

“It’s true that she occupied my body, but it wasn’t her who occupied my body.”

“At first, she wasn’t her, it was someone else, it was Shen Qing’s obsession.”

“I eliminated it last time with the help of the Imperial Bell.”

“But then, I gave birth to my own obsession.”

“So, she is the obsession I gave birth to.”

“She is her, and she is also me.”

Listening to Bai Li’s words, Li Yu’s hand on her face slipped and grabbed her shoulder: “Ah Li, wake up! You are you, not her.”

“You’ve been invaded by her and forgotten yourself.”

“Ah Li, wake up quickly.”

As he spoke, the hand he pressed against his chest was about to exert force again—

By hurting himself, the Imperial Bell could eliminate Empress Jiang faster.

Bai Li hurriedly grabbed his hand: “Li Yu! I know I am me, and she is her, but if I want to truly find myself, I can’t ignore her. I’ve been trying to find a way, I can solve it myself, Li Yu, you don’t have to hurt yourself—”

“But his method is very good,” a voice came from behind, and at the same time the person leaned over again, turning between the two, her beautiful eyes rippling, “Good for Bai Li, and good for me too.”

She looked at Li Yu with a smile.

“I’ve been wanting to get rid of this Imperial Bell, but to get rid of it, I have to wake it up first.”

“If I want to wake it up, I have to hurt the Emperor, Prince Changyang. It’s hard to find an opportunity, and even when I got close, he wasn’t the Emperor anymore.”

“Fortunately, you’re here.”

“Thank you for taking the initiative, so I don’t have to make Bai Li give birth to her own obsession.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at Bai Li as she spoke.

“Although you’re increasingly merging with me, it’s really not easy to make you do something harmful, it takes a lot of effort from me.”

“Fortunately, this boy is sentimental and did it for you.”

After saying that, she laughed heartily and turned to go upwards, but the next moment, Bai Li reached out and grabbed her wrist.

Because she was grabbed, her movement paused, and the ripples of water from above fell. Her originally clear figure rippled along with it, as if about to shatter.

“Hey!” She shouted in the midst of shattering. As she shouted, Jiang Mian’er re-condensed and turned to look at Bai Li, her expression sinking, “You’re in such a hurry to let the Imperial Bell kill me.”

✿✿✿

Bai Li didn’t look at her, but at Li Yu: “Li Yu, thank you for helping me like this, but what I need to do now is not watch the Imperial Bell execute her, but get rid of the Imperial Bell.”

Get rid of the Imperial Bell? Why? Li Yu gripped her shoulders, propping himself up to look into her eyes: “Ah Li, you—”

“I’m not beguiled by her, I haven’t become someone else,” Bai Li interrupted him, “Or rather, Li Yu, from the first moment you saw me, I wasn’t truly myself.”

What did she mean by saying that from the first moment he saw her, she wasn’t herself? Li Yu looked at her, wanting to say something.

Bai Li shook her head to stop him: “Li Yu, I’ll explain to you later.”

“Hey, Bai Li, let go of me—”

Jiang Mian’er, who was being held by her, shouted. Another wave of water surged towards them. She angrily tried to shake off Bai Li’s hand, but no matter how much she shook, she couldn’t break free from her wrist.

“I’m not going to stand here and wait to die.”

“I said, you’re the obsession I gave birth to. If I don’t let go, you can’t break free,” Bai Li said. She let go of the dagger, stood up from beside Li Yu, and looked at Jiang Mian’er, “You won’t stand here and wait to die? Then why did you jump off the building in the first place?”

“I was a woman, with no martial arts skills and no weapons, so if I didn’t stand here and wait to die, I had to jump off the building,” Jiang Mian’er said, looking at Bai Li standing beside her, her face sinking, “Let go of me quickly, otherwise, even if I die, I’ll tear off half of your soul. Just wait to become a fool.”

Bai Li looked at the four large characters “Tao follows Nature” that were getting closer and closer overhead.

“Do you really think you’re omnipotent? Don’t forget, if it wasn’t for Shen Qing last time, your soul would have already scattered.”

Jiang Mian’er scoffed: “That wasn’t the real me.” She then forcefully shook off Bai Li’s hand and leaped up, “This time, I’ll let you see—”

But before she could finish her words, Bai Li reached out and grabbed her ankle, leaving her floating in mid-air.

“Bai Li—”

Bai Li ignored her, listening to the bell ringing again. Although she hadn’t cast the illusion, she wasn’t normal at this moment either. As the bell vibrated, she could feel her soul shattering.

“I can’t do it alone, and you can’t do it alone either,” she said, “But the two of us together will be more powerful.”

She looked up at Jiang Mian’er floating in mid-air.

“You, transform into a long saber for me to use.”

Jiang Mian’er looked down at her, then suddenly burst into laughter without asking a word, leaping upwards.

Bai Li still didn’t let go of her ankle, and at the same time leaped forward. In the scarlet world, the two women’s dresses danced. The next moment, the woman at the top disappeared, and Bai Li was holding a long saber in her hand.

The blade was sharp, the hilt wrapped with a string of rubies, emitting a strange light.

Bai Li took a step forward, and a palace appeared beneath her feet. Her foot landed on the flying eaves. Under the scarlet ripples, the flying eaves and palace instantly disappeared, but Bai Li had already leaped out. Another pavilion rose from the ground, carrying her straight towards the four large characters in the air.

At the moment the pavilion shattered, Bai Li also approached one of the characters, and fiercely slashed the long saber in her hand onto it.

A flash of lightning seemed to streak across the scarlet night sky. Accompanied by the lightning, a scarlet character slowly cracked, fell, and dissipated.

“Good saber!” Bai Li shouted happily.

The next moment, the blade shook, and instead of returning to human form, it transformed into a bow and arrow.

Bai Li drew the bow and aimed at the sky. As the three characters shook, the drawn bow vanished, but a sharp arrow had already flown out.

The sharp arrow pierced through the rippling water, through one character, then another. Two characters in one arrow, instantly shattered and dissipated.

Accompanied by cheers, Bai Li, her body covered in cracks, jumped out of a ripple of water, and her shattered figure re-condensed.

But the palaces, pavilions, and giant trees that appeared beneath her feet dissipated before they could take shape.

She could only land on the ground, looking up at the remaining character high in the sky.

“I need a spear—” Bai Li shouted.

As she shouted, a spear suddenly appeared in her empty hand. With a forceful leap, she threw the spear out.

With a crisp sound, the last character was pierced by the spear. The scarlet color faded from the world, the ripples dissipated, and it turned dim yellow.

Bai Li fell to her knees, watching Jiang Mian’er slowly descend in the distance. She pointed her finger.

“The Imperial Bell has appeared,” she said.

With the four characters “Tao follows Nature” concealing it, within the illusion, they could only hear the bell ringing, but couldn’t see where the Imperial Bell was, let alone destroy it.

Jiang Mian’er followed her finger and looked over. A bronze bell hung in the dim yellow world.

“Can your saber cut it open?” Bai Li said.

Jiang Mian’er didn’t answer, but walked to Bai Li’s side: “Have you thought it through? Without it, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

Bai Li looked at her: “I know what your obsession is.”

Jiang Mian’er raised her eyebrows: “To be the Empress, of course.”

Bai Li shook her head: “No, you’ve already been the Empress, you don’t care about that at all.” She looked at the Imperial Bell ahead, “You care about it. With it here, the obsession that you would return before your death is just a pipe dream.”

Jiang Mian’er stared at her with her beautiful eyes for a moment, then suddenly threw her head back and laughed heartily, pointing at her: “Bai Li, you’re finished. You understand me so well, we really are inseparable.”

Bai Li said: “Whether we’re inseparable or not, we’ll talk about that later. Now, let’s take it down first.”

She extended her hand as she spoke.

Jiang Mian’er looked at her hand, smiled slightly, and placed her hand on top of hers.

“Ah Li—”

A shout suddenly came.

Zhou Jingyun?

Bai Li was startled and subconsciously raised her head. Jiang Mian’er also looked over at the same time.

Before they could see the person, the voice came again.

“Be careful—”

Accompanied by the shout, a figure suddenly appeared in Bai Li’s sight.

Xuanyangzi!

Xuanyangzi sat down cross-legged. The Imperial Bell hanging in the air swayed, suddenly transforming into a large bell and falling down.

With a loud boom, dust and smoke rose in the dim yellow world. Bai Li and Jiang Mian’er disappeared under the bell.

I have to go out tomorrow, no updates! See you the day after tomorrow.