Chapter 87 The Huashen

Courtyard is located behind the mountain temple on the majestic snow-capped mountains. At dawn, the sound of prayer wheels could be heard from the hall, and prayer flags printed with the totem of the mythical bird fluttered in the mountain breeze.

Shang Youqing had been recuperating from her injuries in this small courtyard of the mountain temple for a long time.

Most of the time, she didn't like to move, or rather, she couldn't move even if she wanted to.

She always lay quietly in the arms of the priest, licking her feathers and daydreaming.

From beginning to end, the priest never questioned or blamed her, as if as long as she didn't speak, the priest would not ask anything.

The priest held her in his arms, and accompanied her to recuperate in the small courtyard of the snow-capped mountain temple, and accompanied her through this extreme snowstorm that lasted for several months.

From some day on, Shang Youqing was able to transform back into a human form.

That day, she was wearing a neat light yellow satin robe, and she rested for a while on the couch in the window near the porch. When she woke up, it was almost noon.

A bowl of freshly brewed butter tea sat on the table. Shang Youqing leaned over to sniff it, then lifted the teacup and took a sip or two. Her body, as if immersed in ice, warmed up.

Hearing some movement in the courtyard, Shang Youqing gently opened the window a little, letting a chilly wind pierce through her bones.

A phoenix's normal body temperature should be warm, but Shang Youqing's body had long been chilled by the perpetual chill. Her fingers curled into her sleeves, trembling with fear at the first gust of cold air.

Shang Youqing didn't close the window. She looked into the courtyard. The priest stood with his back to her, arranging herbs by the medicine rack.

The courtyard door suddenly opened, and Cheng Huang, dressed in a monk's robe, hurried in from the Buddhist temple. He said something to the priest, who replied, "I understand," his hands still methodically arranging the herbs.

Shang Youqing's expression was blank. She stared for a moment, then quietly closed the window.

The tea bowl in her hand had unknowingly been cooled by the warmth of her palm.

Shang Youqing lowered her head again, her soft black hair falling on the inside of her thin shoulder blades. She drooped her eyelashes without any focus, and her fingertips gently stroked the lines on the outside of the tea bowl, sometimes and sometimes, focused and empty.

She didn't even notice when the priest came in, until the priest took away the cold tea bowl in her hand, and then she raised her head half a beat late.

"Hold out your hand."

Shang Youqing obediently placed her hand on the pulse pillow beside her and watched the priest feel her pulse.

After a while, the priest gathered his sleeves and commented, "Your heart pulse has recovered quite well."

Shang Youqing gently tugged at the priest's sleeve and, after a moment's hesitation, called out in a hoarse voice, "Father..."

The priest's gaze fell on her pale cheek. He pushed her hand away and touched her head. Without giving her a chance to continue, he pushed the medicine bowl he had just brought in towards her. "Xiaoqing, drink the medicine first."

Shang Youqing pursed her lips, took the bowl, and gulped it down.

The medicine was bitter. Whenever a young phoenix was sick and had to drink bitter medicine, she would frown and ask the priest for a few candied fruits before she would stop. Now, Shang Youqing had been drinking bitter medicine for months without a single complaint.

The priest lowered his eyes and looked at her calmly for a long moment. Then he took back the empty medicine bowl and gently soothed her, "Xiaoqing, you can't go out yet. You should rest well in your room."

Shang Youqing watched the priest finish his words and then left with the medicine bowl, clearly unwilling to hear her talk about the thunder tribulation that had struck her months ago.

Not long after Shang Youqing drank the medicine, she felt sleepy again. Too lazy to move back to bed, she simply rolled up the blanket and leaned back on the couch, slowly closing her eyes.

However, this time she didn't sleep too deeply. After some time, she faintly heard the door on the other side of the porch open.

Shang Youqing opened her eyes and listened to the movement outside the porch through the window and door, holding her breath.

After a while, she silently got off the couch. Her ankle was still painful. She struggled to stand and pushed open the door, not forgetting to hide her fingers in her sleeves.

As the door opened, she saw the priest about to leave the courtyard gate. Shang Youqing ran after him in the snow and stopped him, "Father—"

When the priest raised his eyes to look at her, Shang Youqing lowered her head with some difficulty, like a child admitting his mistake.

Her face was cold and pale, and her voice was soft and slow: "Don't worry about it, okay."

Every word sounded cold, like crushed snow.

Upon hearing this, the priest raised his hand and brushed away the snowflakes that had settled on the ends of Shang Youqing's hair. His expression remained unchanged, and he refused in a clear voice, "I can agree to anything else, Xiaoqing, but not this."

As he spoke, he gently pushed away Shang Youqing's hand that was trying to stop him.

Shang Youqing still stood in front of the priest, a cold red tinge in the corners of his eyes.

It was as if he was trying very hard to force himself to swallow the astringent pain that kept rising up. He used all his strength, pinching his fingertips red, but in the end, he couldn't hold on.

The emotions that had been suppressed for several months finally broke out at this moment.

She lowered her head, her slender shoulders trembling slightly. She squeezed her eyelashes tightly, but couldn't hold back the tears. She choked out a low, choked voice, "I'm sorry."

The priest was silent for a moment, letting out a barely perceptible sigh. Finally, his heart softened, he took a half step forward, and gently embraced his little phoenix. "This isn't Xiaoqing's fault."

Shang Youqing buried her face in the priest's shoulder, her fingers trembling as they clutched his sleeve. The pain began to return, so much so that she couldn't make a sound, only silently shedding tears.

Months had passed.

She had been obediently following the priest's advice and resting well.

But it seemed she couldn't recover.

The priest brought Shang Youqing back to the monastery and channeled spiritual energy into her heart for a long time before she finally recovered from the piercing cold.

She became unusually quiet again.

Her still-red eyelids drooped silently, her gaze cold and calm as she gazed out the window at the distant, snow-capped mountains.

Beside my ears, there was the calm voice of the priest.

"His name is Ying Shixue. He comes from the lineage of the Dragon God."

"In ancient times, the ancestor of the Dragon God ruled the seas of heaven and earth. Later, he lost the battle for power with the Nine Heavens. In a rage, he used his authority to launch tsunamis and floods, causing great suffering to all living beings. In the end, the Heavenly Dao personally killed him and issued a strict order to wipe out all the conditions for the dragon clan to become gods. For tens of thousands of years thereafter

, there was no dragon clan in the Nine Heavens." "And Ying Shixue... is the first dragon in ten thousand years to break through all the strict conditions of the Heavenly Dao and is about to become a god and ascend to heaven. However, the Heavenly Dao will not allow it."

"At that time, the priest received a secret order from the Heavenly Dao and learned that Ying Shixue was only one step away from ascending to heaven and becoming a god. He was ordered to go to the Eye of Kunlun Mountains and kill him." "

But you saw the final result. Ying Shixue almost escaped from the Kunlun Mountains. The priest had to suppress him completely on the top of Kunlun at the cost of sleeping."