Chapter 1223
Chapter 1223: The Person Whose Name Was Removed Was Me!
Rong Xiu didn’t give a clear answer to the question she asked previously—the one about her having been to the medicinal garden before.
Rong Xiu looked down slightly. Although he had expected Chu Liuyue to remember some more things of the past after coming out of Fengmin Mountain, he didn’t think she would remember so much. After a moment of silence, he looked up. “What other things do you remember?”
Chu Liuyue raised her eyebrows. Being the smart person she was, she could naturally tell that Rong Xiu was trying to sound her out. “No. All I remember is that I’ve picked herbs out of that garden before.”
She then paused and added, “That garden… Logically speaking, nobody but its owner is allowed to enter, right?”
Rong Xiu leaned back in his chair and remained silent for a moment. “That’s right. That’s indeed the case, although it’s not like people haven’t been in there before. The director freed up that piece of land years ago. Although that medicinal garden has only been around for a few years, it has all sorts of precious herbs there. Some of which were even personally tended to by the director himself, so some people would go there to gather herbs.”
“The owner’s consent was naturally required, so there weren’t actually many people who could go pick herbs from that garden. Besides, that place is right next to Medicinal Valley. There have been cases where people accidentally ended up there after losing their way in Medicinal Valley.”
“That seemed to be the case for Zhong Xun. It looks like there have been quite a number of people who have been to the medicinal garden before.” Chu Liuyue nodded thoughtfully before looking fixedly at Rong Xiu. “In that case, I was there at the medicinal garden for one of those two reasons?”
Rong Xiu hesitatingly said, “You did like going there to pick herbs.”
All of a sudden, Chu Liuyue stood up and walked toward Rong Xiu. She stopped right in front of him and bent down to look straight into his eyes.
The gap between them was so small that they could hear each other’s breathing. They could even touch each other if they so much as moved.
Chu Liuyue’s eyes, which were usually sparkling, were dark and calm right now.
Rong Xiu widened his eyes. “You—”
“Not only do I like going there to pick herbs, but I seem to also like tending to the herbs there. I suppose not anyone has the right to do that, right?” Chu Liuyue spoke in a slow manner.
Rong Xiu’s heart thumped. She remembers more than I expected her to!
“From the octagonal pavilion on that cliff, one can directly cross over the mountains and see the beautiful scenery of that medicinal garden. An easier and more convenient method would be to fly straight there.”
Rong Xiu slowly clenched his fists.
“For someone who could make Ling Xiao Academy’s director open a medicinal garden for them, they probably wouldn’t allow just anyone onto their territory, right?” said Chu Liuyue slowly with a slight smile. “Unless that place is theirs to begin with!”
Chu Liuyue looked at him. “Rong Xiu, the person whose name was removed from the Qing Yun Ranking… is me, right?” As unbelievable as this sounds, it must be true since there’s no other explanation than this!
It was dead quiet in the room.
Rong Xiu relaxed his body and leaned completely against the back of the chair as he looked up slightly. There was a hint of a smile on his noble yet alluring face, along with surprise and resignation. “Yes.”
…
The passing time felt really long and arduous, and the glow of the setting sun shone in through the window.
Chu Liuyue,—who had sat still for the entire afternoon—finally let out her breath. It’s rare that I have such free time to myself, where I don’t need to cultivate, understand Xuan formations, or even study pills.
All she did was sit there and let her mind go blank. Well, not entirely so because what Rong Xiu said to her, along with her fragmented memories, had been constantly replaying in her mind. It was just that they seemed surreal to her even now. They seemed to be a dream, though she knew they weren’t. I-it was all real! I was the disciple of Ling Xiao Academy’s director, the owner of the medicinal garden, as well as the one whose name was removed from the Qing Yun Ranking…
That person had only been an amazing legendary figure to her. Chu Liuyue had once thought of wanting to meet that person after hearing so much about them, but it turned out that she was that person all along.
Chu Liuyue closed her eyes. Even now, everything about this matter still felt really surreal to her, and she found it a little hard to believe. That said, she became even more curious about things like the Qing Yun Ranking after her question had been answered.
From what I remember, I was only a ninth-grade heavenly doctor, warrior, and Xuan master when I was faced with Shangguan Wan and Jiang Yucheng’s betrayal, and that standard would only guarantee me the last position on the Qing Yun Ranking lists at best. There is no way I could rank highly, much less top the ranking.
Based on Rong Xiu’s account and my own memories, I came to the God Residence Realm and spent some time here before returning to the Tianling Dynasty. I didn’t come back after that though.
She couldn’t understand why her cultivation level had dropped after going back to the Tianling Dynasty or why she had forgotten everything about the God Residence Realm. I must’ve been a legendary warrior since my name used to be on the Qing Yun Ranking. In that case… How did I end up being a stage-nine warrior?
Countless questions flooded her mind. After thinking about them for a while, she suddenly got up and walked outside.
Almost instantly, Rong Xiu walked out of the room next door. “Where are you going?”
“Qing Ming Square,” Chu Liuyue answered with pursed lips and then added, “I just want to go and take a look.”
Although the medicinal garden was hers, it was inconvenient for her to go there in her current capacity. There were also many other places where she couldn’t go. Hence, after much thinking, she decided that Qing Ming Square was the most suitable place for her to go.
Even though students weren’t usually allowed to go there, she wanted to go and check it out. In fact, she felt an urge to do just that.
Rong Xiu smiled in understanding. “I’ll take you there.”
Given his status, he naturally had no problem going there.
After hesitating for a moment, Chu Liuyue nodded in agreement.
…
The sky was getting dark as it was evening now. Although it was almost empty around Qing Ming Square, they still attracted the attention of many people when they left Jiuheng Peak since Rong Xiu’s every move was closely watched. Some people even secretly followed them, but they didn’t care about them.
Chu Liuyue walked to the edge of the square and stood still.
Rong Xiu looked at her. “Want to take a closer look?”