"Just now, his narrative only reached halfway," Qing Pu didn’t know who "he" referred to as he drifted to a cherry blossom tree and compared, "Do you really not remember anything?"
"Intermittent memory loss, ’Yue Jinghua’ has a strong protective desire, some things, I can’t remember," Yue Jinghua had already well adapted to this body, but certain memories belonging to "Yue Jinghua" were like Pandora’s box, locked up tight, and she had always been unable to unlock them.
"This is where ’Yue Jinghua’ first encountered Fa Xiaoyi, and thereafter, I met Yue Jinghua and took residence within her body... In fact, this is also where Fa Xiaoyi and I first met," Qing Pu said slowly and methodically.
"Oh, so that’s how it is," Yue Jinghua nodded, then suddenly she stopped, the focus of Qing Pu’s words was on the latter part, "You and Fa Xiaoyi?!"
"The words he just told Lie Sisi contained mostly truth, except he omitted a part. A part that happened before Fa Xiaoyun and Yue Nian’s visit to Shang Kingdom. I believe, this part, is also something Fa Xiaoyi has never mentioned in front of others," Qing Pu told Yue Jinghua the whole truth from ten years ago.
The first Contractor Qing Pu chose was not ’Yue Jinghua,’ but rather Fa Xiaoyun.
Fa Xiaoyun was the person with the highest elemental affinity Qing Pu had seen thus far, even as a boy, his elemental affinity was ten times that of an average person.
Especially when he was deeply trapped in despair and loneliness, his consciousness connected with the consciousness of the Cannibal Small Qingpu growing in Little Shang Palace.
On a certain night ten years ago, a starless night, when the boy was in despair and secretly crying in the Cherry Blossom Garden, a green flash streaked across the sky.
The red-eyed boy looked up, his eyes fueled with frenzy.
"You made a pact with Fa Xiaoyi?" In her mind, as if an atomic bomb had been detonated, there was no news more shocking than this; Yue Jinghua believed that, be it Dark Beast or spirit wood, one could only establish a pact once in their lifetime.
"It was a half-pact, he didn’t trust me, and I didn’t trust him completely either. To make him believe in my power, I made a half-pact with him, partly opening up the functions of my Summoning Treasure Book to him, and began to teach him some basic requirements of contracting," Qing Pu was an Ancient Summoner, in that era, every Summoner had a Summoning Treasure Book.
"About half a year later, just before the sudden visit of Duke Xue Ying to Shang Kingdom, he was able to complete summoning independently. It was also then that I became negligent, allowing him to steal my Summoning Treasure Book at an opportune moment," Even though Qing Pu was merely a Spiritual Sense without an actual face to speak of, the almost fiery look in his eyes told Yue Jinghua one thing; this guy’s hatred for Fa Xiaoyi was sky-high, deeper than the sea.
In that era, a Summoning Treasure Book was more precious than a man’s wife; many men have three wives and four concubines, but there’s only one Summoning Treasure Book.
Most Summoners were ordinary in physical strength, their real power resided in the Dark Beasts they laboriously collected through the Summoning Treasure Book. Nearly ninety percent of Qing Pu’s mental power was condensed in that Treasure Book, originally thinking he had found a summoner apprentice with exceptional talent, little did he know he would take a huge fall, nearly costing him his life.
The ungrateful nature of Fa Xiaoyi had already shown itself since then; shortly after obtaining the Summoning Treasure Book, he ordered the gardeners in the palace to excavate all the dandelions in the Cherry Blossom Garden. If not that Qing Pu used a special method, it’s likely he would have been annihilated long ago.
Just when Fa Xiaoyi thought that the Ancient Summoner had long been dissipated, Yue Nian and her father suddenly visited.
"Yue Jinghua" unintentionally found a cyan-white dandelion puff under the eaves of the palace where she was staying.
The gears of fate locked in tightly from that moment, making a "zzz" sound, intertwining the fates of three people and two countries towards the unknown.
"All of these events occurred before Yue Nian and her father’s visit to Shang Kingdom, so that means, what ’Yue Jinghua’ saw that day was..." Listening to everything Qing Pu said, Yue Jinghua already had the answer in her heart.
The pitiful boy who was bullied by his brother but couldn’t fight back, the father and daughter who were too keen to fight for justice and with a noble heritage – the overlay of the former and the latter, Yue Jinghua had an epiphany.
All of it was within Fa Xiaoyi’s calculation, the only exception might just be Yue Nian’s unpredictable action, letting the snake bite Fa Xiaoyi.
If one were to ask why Fa Xiaoyi harbored such resentment towards Yue Nian and her father, it’s probably because Yue Nian’s appearance completely disrupted his plans.
From scheming to being schemed – this is what Fa Xiaoyi, who had always considered himself above others, could not accept.
What a Fa Xiaoyi, what a meticulously arranged game, a game ten years in the making.
Such a pity for "Yue Jinghua," such a devoted person, to lose everything at a glance.
With that said, she should actually feel fortunate; the disfigurement and invalidation of "Yue Jinghua" caused her to lose her usefulness prematurely, which also forced Fa Xiaoyi to reveal his true colors earlier.
"Awoo, so despicable, so vicious, ugly beast, you must take revenge for Gao Shuai," Meat Worm listened on the side, yawning continuously, and after receiving a resentful glare from Qing Pu, it quickly chimed in sycophantically.
"Revenge must be sought indeed, to dare to steal my summons... oh no, no, Qing Pu’s Summoning Treasure Book, we need intricate planning for this, it must be flawlessly orchestrated," that was, after all, a Diamond Level Summoning Treasure Book. Yue Jinghua felt her mind fill with High-level Supreme Dark Beasts and let out a terrifying laugh alone in the Cherry Blossom Garden.