Female lead: No, it's me again??

Chapter 311 Disguised Imprisonment

"Feng Siyue, do you know?"

"The glutinous rice ball appeared before me like a falling comet. I stood in the courtyard and watched it slowly turn from a dark blue stone into a small, black ball, as if it had been struck by lightning."

"I thought it was black, but I never expected that after washing it, it would be a small dumpling, just like the glutinous rice balls that people eat during the New Year in storybooks. It's soft, chewy, and very cute."

Feng Siyue couldn't help but chuckle as she recalled that scene. "So, you named it Tangyuan?"

Xuan Li nodded, then smiled and lowered his head.

"Correct."

"I have been alone in Tianshan for so many years. Only when the Ice Spirit Fruit ripens each year will the Ancestor come to see me with many, many storybooks."

"A month later, I was all alone again."

"He read storybooks to pass the time, but he didn't know that the more vivid and interesting those storybooks were, the more I longed for the outside world."

"I yearn for the world he depicts in his writing."

During those long and agonizing times, she would have gone mad long ago if it weren't for storybooks and glutinous rice balls to keep her company.

Feng Siyue rarely inquired about Xuan Li's past life, but today, for some reason, or perhaps because Xuan Li brought up the topic, she asked, "Senior... why didn't you leave Tianshan?"

How did Ali, who didn't know how to cultivate, endure those monotonous days?

Xuan Li shook his head.

“I asked him too, and Xuanzu only said that it was dangerous down the mountain and that I couldn’t go down because I didn’t have the ability to protect myself. He’s given me the same excuse every year. If it’s dangerous down the mountain, then why can’t I even leave the courtyard?”

"If he hadn't suddenly brought you here, I don't know if I would have stayed there until the end of my life..."

To another extent, it was Feng Siyue's appearance that freed her from that kind of life.

However, she thought she would be happy when she escaped from there and saw a new world she had never seen before.

But in reality, Xuan Li wasn't that happy; instead, he felt a sense of bewilderment.

She thought it was because she hadn't adapted yet.

But the further she went, the more she found herself able to quickly integrate into unfamiliar environments...

The strangeness of the past has now been explained.

Those twenty years were perhaps just a chapter in her life.

Inside Tianxin, Feng Rou, who had been silently listening to the whole thing, said, "It's strange, why is it that when you came, Xuan Li, who was being imprisoned in a disguised way, was able to gain his freedom?"

Feng Siyue said subconsciously,

“Feng Rou, Ali didn’t know me at all back then, and if the senior had any intention of harming me, why would he have told me how to resolve the Soul Devouring Curse?”

Feng Rou cupped the water in her hands and said casually.

"Feng Siyue, as you said, you certainly didn't have the resources to scheme back then. But don't forget, you have to play the long game."

"You are not the same person you were before."

Feng Siyue still stuck to her own ideas.

"So what if I'm not the same person I was back then? If you value my talent, as an alchemist, you could have simply made me an obedient puppet. There was no need to save me at all."

I still can't agree with your point of view.

Feng Rou shrugged and didn't say anything more.

Feng Siyue noticed another problem, "Ali, were you always trapped in the yard before?"

Xuan Li nodded, “I can’t go anywhere outside the courtyard, and the courtyard I live in is about the same size as Qiu Si Courtyard. The bonfire in the courtyard never goes out, just like the snow-capped mountains outside.”

Qiusiyuan is such a big place, twenty years...

No wonder she didn't find the months of arduous training in the Thorn Demon Forest boring at her age; was it because she was used to it?

In that instant, Feng Siyue felt only heartache.

Even though she was a wanderer and often went hungry, she could see the flowers blooming in spring, hear the echoes of all things in the world, and witness the ultimate duel between cultivators!

Although dangerous, this is the color of life.

But what about Ali?

She was safe, so safe that no one knew where she was, as if she had been forgotten by the world.

No one spoke to her, no one played with her, and she could not see the myriad colors of the world.

It existed in solitude for twenty years.

If it weren't for Tangyuan's company, she might have lost her current proud and bright demeanor, becoming lifeless and a walking corpse.

The person who caused this situation is our predecessor.

And the person who prevented her from traveling to mountains, rivers, and seas after she descended the mountain was her.

Thinking of this, Feng Siyue felt even more guilty!

But she still had a question, "Ah Li, the senior locked you alone in the courtyard for so long, don't you hate him?"

"hatred?"

Xuan Li seemed to have heard something she couldn't understand. She tilted her head and said, "In my heart, I don't think I hate him."

“Many times, I also complained to him about why he locked me up there and why he disappeared for eleven months.”

"But I found myself unable to hate; it's as if I've lost the ability to hate someone."

She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then looked at the purse at her waist. "Maybe it's because of it, or maybe it's because... he's been away for so long, but when he comes back he still remembers to bring me the flower seeds I like."

She had no idea how much effort Xuanzu had put in to make those precious flowers bloom year-round in the extreme cold, adding stroke after stroke of color to her life.

She often wondered if she could cultivate and not be so outstanding in appearance, would the Xuanzu be able to let her go out and play without worry?