Volume 12
Chapter 23: Born with Seven Apertures, a Heart like Glazed Glass
Lu Li and Zhu Qiao held each other warmly, swaying slightly. The smiles on their faces were so similar, a smile that was almost transparent and without any lingering attachment. Zhu Xi couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She said to Grandma Zhu, “Grandma Zhu, you have a way to save Little Qiao, don’t you?! Right?! There must be a way!” By the end, it was no longer a question, but an imperative sentence.
Grandma Zhu silently walked to the ancestors’ spirit tablets and slowly knelt down. “This junior has offended you.” With that, she went to the front and brought out a magnificent wooden box. Just as Zhu Xi was puzzled, Grandma Zhu opened the lid, revealing nine neatly arranged crystals inside—eight were shattered, and the last one was radiant and intact.
“The Colored Stones…” Zhu Xi subconsciously called out the name. The four Colored Stones she had brought from Shanzhu Village had all been shattered. Where had this intact one come from?
Lu Li also reacted when he heard the words “Colored Stones.” He looked up at the wooden box in Grandma Zhu’s hands. The moment his gaze fell on the wooden box, he could hear his own heart beating violently. Ever since he had stepped into the ancestral hall, he had had this feeling of heart palpitations. Now he could be sure that it was all because of the Colored Stones.
Pendant, Reincarnation Crystal, Colored Stones—no matter what they were called, that object was the source of everything.
“Xi’er, you should know the function of the Colored Stones now, shouldn’t you? Lu Li should have told you,” Grandma Zhu said, placing the wooden box in front of Lu Li. Faced with this supreme treasure that could reverse fate and rewrite life, Lu Li felt not the slightest bit of greed. He only felt that the nine crystals in this box were the most terrifying things in the world. For every gain, there is a loss; this is the truth of the world. Rebirth is such a heaven-defying act, so it must come with an extremely painful price. The Price… it sounds so ordinary, but when it truly descends, it brings nothing but despair.
If he were to die, before he died, he would definitely tie stones to his feet and sink into the sea, holding these nine Colored Stones.
“I know.” Zhu Xi’s eyes became fervent. “The Colored Stones can make a person be reborn, can change fate. You with the surname Lu, am I right?”
Lu Li didn’t answer.
Zhu Xi reached out to grab the Colored Stones. “It can save Little Qiao! It can definitely save Little Qiao!”
Lu Li suddenly reached out and, with extreme force, slapped Zhu Xi’s extended hand away. “Zhu Xi, don’t be desperate and try anything!”
Zhu Xi became angry again. “Lu Li! What are you going crazy for! You won’t let me go to the hospital, and now you won’t let me use the Colored Stones? What are you going to use to save Little Qiao?”
Grandma Zhu sat between Lu Li and Zhu Xi, stroking Little Qiao’s fine hair with her withered, old hands. “Lu Li is right. If you use the Colored Stones to change fate now, you will only get a more tragic and desperate result. I took out the Colored Stones not for you to use them directly.”
Zhu Xi also realized that in the end, she still had to rely on Grandma Zhu. She forcibly suppressed her anxious heart and sat up straight and proper, waiting for Grandma Zhu’s next words.
“The Colored Stones can reverse cause and effect. Besides allowing a person to directly return to the past, they have another function. Lu Li, do you have any impression?” Grandma Zhu asked.
A flash of inspiration went through Lu Li’s mind. He suddenly remembered that bizarre dream in the bamboo of Shanzhu, where he had traveled through time and spoken with the deceased Mei Jinliu.
“It can allow a person to backtrack on the timeline, to briefly meet with people, things, and events from the past and future. Compared to Rebirth, this function is more conservative, has no Price, and is therefore an incomplete Rebirth, or rather, a preliminary process of Rebirth,” Grandma Zhu said calmly. “I cannot see your future after you use the Colored Stones, so I said I have no way to save Little Qiao. If you can briefly backtrack in time and prevent Little Qiao from committing the unforgivable taboo, then you can save her.”
Lu Li’s heart shivered. Backtracking in time, changing the past, and without a Price—how could there be such a good thing? Zhu Xi was already overwhelmed. She was overjoyed. “Then what are we waiting for?! Grandma Zhu, how do we activate this function of the Colored Stones?”
“But.” Sure enough, this word arrived as expected.
“But this method is not without risk,” Grandma Zhu said. “The first risk is that in order to backtrack completely, you must have the memory of a Miko as a carrier. Without a Miko’s memory as a carrier, the backtracking will be in flashes, and there’s no guarantee you will pass through the appropriate point in time. Little Qiao is on the verge of death; she cannot be a carrier. And I do not have a shared memory with Lu Li, so I cannot be a carrier either.”
Zhu Xi said quickly, “Then let’s not have him. I’ll go alone!”
“This is the second risk. Time backtracking is extremely dangerous. Once you are lost in time, your memory, sanity, and physical body will be washed away, and even your own existence will be forgotten by the world. Xi’er, you’ve always asked me about the deeds of Emperor Zhengyuan. I can tell you the truth now.” Grandma Zhu’s words calmed Zhu Xi down. “In order to ensure that you can return to the present in time after backtracking, two people must go together, using a red thread as a bond, to look after each other and not be washed away by the river of time. Therefore, Lu Li and you must backtrack at the same time.”
Lu Li gave Grandma Zhu another look. He instinctively felt something was wrong. Although Grandma Zhu was the previous generation’s Miko, she knew far too much… Was this really something a Miko could know?
Zhu Xi, at this moment, was completely oblivious to the strangeness in Grandma Zhu’s words, frowning. “The Mikos of the Zhu family are only Grandma Zhu and Little Qiao? Where are there any other Mikos?!”
“It doesn’t have to be a Miko of the Zhu family. Anyone with the aptitude of a Miko can do it,” Grandma Zhu said. “The ancestral teachings of the Zhu family state that only a girl from the main family who is born with seven apertures and a heart like glazed glass can be chosen as a Miko. In theory, a Miko with a shared memory with Lu Li can use herself as a carrier, and Xi’er… your reputation is extremely prominent, so on the contrary, most people will have a memory of you.”
Born with seven apertures, a heart like glazed glass. Just like the mystifying sayings of the ancients. Where could he find a Miko born with seven apertures and a heart like glazed glass now? Lu Li frowned slightly. He subconsciously thought of a person, but he was extremely reluctant to admit it. “Jingyi… Chu Jingyi?”
Grandma Zhu closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”
Do I really have to drag Jingyi into such a storm? Lu Li just felt that this idea was perhaps the Price at work. But he couldn’t think of a better answer.
“Will there be any danger in using one’s own memory as a carrier?” Lu Li asked.
Grandma Zhu shook her head. “There will be no danger. It’s just falling into a deep sleep and having a dream.”
Zhu Xi suddenly interrupted Lu Li. “Wait a minute. I have a more reliable candidate.”
“…?”
“Wen Hupo.”
Lu Li’s pupils constricted. He didn’t know why Zhu Xi would think of Wen Hupo.
“The feeling she gives me is very similar to Little Qiao’s,” Zhu Xi murmured to herself. “Born with seven apertures, a heart like glazed glass. It doesn’t necessarily refer to someone as innocent and romantic as Chu Jingyi, but rather to someone as transparent and natural as Little Qiao.” Zhu Xi suddenly reached out and grabbed Lu Li’s arm. “You with the surname Lu, call Wen Hupo right now! I’ll arrange a plane!”
Lu Li closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he reopened them. “I can’t make the decision for her. Let her decide for herself.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he took out his phone and dialed Hupo’s number.
The unique static sound of a television came from the phone.
“Hello, Outstanding Representative,” Hupo’s calm voice came through. Hearing her voice, Lu Li was almost certain for a split second that Hupo must be qualified to be a Miko. This thought, on the contrary, added a bit more bitterness to his heart.
