Qinglian’S Heart Is Covered, Fate Meets Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Qinglian Returns, Baifei Enters the Dream

Lianhua’s immortal soul and mortal consciousness remained in a stalemate for a long time, until the moment the morning light pierced the window lattice, creating a new opportunity. Although her mortal body had reached the end of its lifespan, the bond she shared with the Young Master Liu—who was formed from one soul and one spirit of Hu Si—and with her neighbor Zixun, actually condensed into a pale green lotus seal, embedded in the center of her immortal soul’s brow.

The immortals sensed the unusual movement in her aura and were about to descend to receive her, but they saw Lianhua’s immortal soul had transformed into a Qinglian, slowly ascending into the heavens. However, this time, she did not return directly to the Jade Pool. Instead, in the gap between the Celestial Realm and the mortal world, she condensed a new immortal body, naming herself Qinglian—both remembering her origin in the Jade Pool and acknowledging the self who underwent tribulation in the mortal dust.

On the third day of Qinglian’s return to the heavens, Hu Si’s heavenly punishment was finally pardoned. Ignoring his unhealed injuries, he rushed straight to Qinglian’s new palace, only to find the hall empty. There was only a lotus seal placed on the desk, with a note beside it: “Mortal attachments are not yet resolved. I have temporarily gone to the mortal world to conclude them. Fourth Brother, please wait.”

Hu Si laughed softly, his fingertips tracing the handwriting, the worry in his eyes transforming into tenderness. Knowing her nature, he stayed in the palace, quietly awaiting her return.

Meanwhile, in the mortal world, inside an old residence in a water town in Jiangnan, the scholar Gu Baifei was hunched over his desk, writing furiously. He was the reincarnation of Zixun. Although he was no longer struggling in this life, he always had the same dream every night: in the dream, there was a purple-robed immortal maiden standing by a lotus pond, her eyes gentle, yet carrying an unresolvable melancholy.

That night, Gu Baifei entered the dream again, but the immortal maiden in the dream actually walked toward him. It was Qinglian, who had descended to the mortal world.

“Zixun, I trust you have been well.” Qinglian’s voice was soft. Gu Baifei was stunned and blurted out, “Immortal Maiden… how do you know my past life’s name?”

Qinglian smiled faintly, her fingertips brushing over the manuscript on his desk. It was his writing on the myriad aspects of the human world, filled with compassion for all beings between the lines: “The dream you were so fixated on has finally been realized in this life.”

Gu Baifei looked at her, a strange familiarity surging in his heart, as if spanning lifetimes of connection: “Did the Immortal Maiden come for me?”

“No,” Qinglian shook her head, her gaze falling upon the old locust tree outside the residence. A figure in green stood there—the reincarnation of Hu Si’s one soul and one spirit. “I came to resolve two lingering attachments.”

The green-robed person under the old locust tree also looked over, meeting Qinglian’s gaze, and nodded slightly. He had already resolved his infatuation, seeking only to protect her safety. Now seeing her immortal grace unchanged, he turned and vanished into the morning mist, his soul returning to its main body.

Seeing this, Gu Baifei’s heart stirred, and he asked again, “Will the Immortal Maiden return to the Celestial Realm after this?”

Qinglian nodded, but then added, “The mortal world’s life is interesting. Perhaps I will often come into your dreams in the future.”

As her voice faded, the morning bell rang, and Qinglian’s figure gradually disappeared. Gu Baifei woke up abruptly. On his desk, there was an extra pale green lotus petal, carrying a faint immortal fragrance.

Clutching the lotus petal, he looked at the light outside the window and suddenly smiled. And in the Qinglian Palace in the Celestial Realm, Hu Si caught the returning Qinglian. Seeing that the lotus seal on her brow had faded significantly, he couldn’t help but smile: “Now, should you finally be able to settle down and return to your position?”

Qinglian nodded, the melancholy in her eyes transforming into relief: “The mortal tribulation is over. From now on, both the Celestial Realm and the mortal world have a place for me.”

She just didn’t mention that whenever she entered the mortal world’s dreams in the future, she always liked to land beside Gu Baifei’s desk, watching him write about the myriad aspects of human life, and watching him occasionally stare blankly at the lotus petal, just like that first meeting that crossed the boundary between immortal and mortal, back in the rainy alley of Jiangnan.