The Cold-Hearted Princess Who Transmigrated Here

The man called Old Yang took a sip of his drink and continued, spitting everywhere, "It's strange, she used to always hang around our village, but then she disappeared for many days, and I thought she had already left."

"Yesterday, out of curiosity, I peeked into the dilapidated temple and was shocked to see her drinking the blood of a wild pheasant raw...!"

After finishing his sentence, Old Yang immediately took another sip of wine to calm his nerves. "When I saw that bloody scene, I almost peed my pants."

"If you saw this, you would be absolutely terrified!"

For some reason, a strong intuition welled up in Li Kongchen's heart, making him firmly believe that the woman described by the person in front of him was An Yi.

He hurried forward, frantically pulling out the carefully preserved scroll from his pocket and gently unfolding it on the slightly worn wooden table in front of Old Yang.

"Brother, please take a closer look. Does the woman you saw earlier look exactly like the person in this painting?" Li Kongchen's voice was filled with urgency and anticipation.

Upon hearing this, Old Yang turned his gaze to the painting on the table. He saw that the woman in the painting had long, glossy black hair and a beautiful face, like a fairy descended from heaven.

However, after only one glance, Old Yang shook his head without hesitation and replied with great certainty, "No, absolutely not! The people in this painting have nothing to do with the people I have ever seen."

Then, Old Yang described the scene to Li Kongchen in detail: "What I saw was clearly an old woman with a wrinkled face, gray hair, and dirty clothes. How could she be as young and beautiful as you depict in this painting?"

Upon hearing this, Li Kongchen was struck dumb, frozen in place.

Only then did he realize that he had been making a fatal mistake all along. The painting in his hand was of An Yi from more than 20 years ago, and how could An Yi still maintain her youthful appearance now?

Nevertheless, Li Kongchen was unwilling to give up this last glimmer of hope easily.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his inner turmoil, and then sincerely said to Lao Yang again, "Brother, please tell me more about her. Perhaps through these details, we can confirm whether she is the person I have been searching for."

"Please!" he said, and hurriedly took out five taels of silver and stuffed it into the other person's hand.

Old Yang had never seen so much money in his life, and he was so excited that he forgot everything else, "This..."

"This...this isn't quite right!"

"That's too much..."

Upon seeing the other party's reaction, Li Kongchen knew that the people here were very simple and honest. Old Yang probably felt uneasy and uncomfortable about receiving so much money.

This cautiousness arises because one has taken money beyond their means and feels guilty about it.

“Brother, whether she’s the one I’m looking for or not, as long as you tell me everything about her, it’ll be worth it for me.”

"Her clues are more important than my life!"

Seeing that the other party was a man of character, and that he was sincere and anxious, Old Yang reluctantly but carefully put the silver away.

“She came to our small village more than a month ago. We don’t know what she was looking for. She would wander around the village every day, muttering to herself. We couldn’t understand what she was saying. At first, we thought she was either crazy or a beggar. We were even worried that she was up to something bad, so everyone was very wary.”

"After observing her for several days, we found that she would wander around the village during the day and hide in the dilapidated temple next to our village at night, eating some wild fruit when she was hungry."

"The villagers felt sorry for her, so they would occasionally give her some food, which she would quietly accept and bow to say thank you."

"But after half a month, she rarely appeared near the village anymore, and instead often wandered around in the mountains."

"I hadn't seen her for a long time, so I wondered if something had happened to her or if she had died in the temple, which is why I went to check on her."

At this moment, the female shopkeeper behind the counter came over and added, "Although that woman has a full head of white hair, she has an extraordinary temperament. I can imagine that she must have looked similar to the person in your portrait when she was young."

"There was always a deep sadness and despair in her eyes, and what she was muttering was probably a person's name, something like 'chan' or 'cheng'."

Upon hearing this, Li Kongchen hurriedly stood up and grabbed Lao Yang's arm, pleading, "Brother Yang, please take me to that dilapidated temple to find her right now, I beg you!"

Old Yang didn't want to go again because what happened yesterday gave him nightmares all night, and he had finally calmed down a bit today.

However, since he had already taken the money, he could only muster up the courage to go again. "Sigh, let's go!"

With Kong Chen pulling and dragging them, the two arrived at the dilapidated temple at an extremely fast speed.

To my surprise, the place was empty except for a pool of blood on the ground, which proved that someone had indeed been there.

Old Yang had to get things done after taking the money, so he offered a suggestion: "Brother, it's getting dark, why don't you stay at my house for the night, and I'll take you to look around the village again tomorrow? What do you say?"

Li Kongchen shook his head and refused, "Thank you for leading the way, Brother Yang. You can go back now! I'll wait for her here. When you get back, please ask around in the village if anyone else saw her today."

"If you have any news, please let me know as soon as possible. I will be very grateful for your help."

As dusk approached, Old Yang trembled even more upon seeing the congealed black blood on the ground. "Alright, alright! I'll go back and ask around among the villagers."

After saying that, he ran away in a flash.

Li Kongchen carefully inspected the dilapidated temple inside and out, leaving no stone unturned as to any place that might have been left by human hands.

He desperately wanted to find even the slightest clue related to An Yi.

However, to everyone's disappointment, apart from the remaining fire in the center of the clearing and a pile of dry, yellow grass in the corner, nothing else was found.

By this time, night had fallen completely, like a thick black curtain, shrouding the entire world in darkness. Li Kongchen looked up at the sky; if An Yi hadn't left, she would surely have returned.

Fearing that lighting a torch would alert An Yi and cause her to leave, he had no choice but to hide behind a thick pillar and wait quietly.

For the first time, Li Kongchen felt that time was incredibly long and agonizing. He felt that this moment was even more unbearable than when he was being chased before, and the current situation left him in a dilemma.

If they choose to stay here and wait in vain, and An Yi leaves sooner, the distance between them will inevitably grow further and further.

However, if he were to rashly go out to search for her, he feared that she might return just as he was leaving, thus missing the chance to reunite with her.

Just as Li Kongchen was nearly driven to madness by inner turmoil, a very faint sound of footsteps suddenly approached from afar.

At the same time, An Yi, who was walking towards the dilapidated temple, also felt a strange sensation.

She keenly sensed that something was amiss with this dilapidated temple today. Even before stepping inside, she could clearly feel the Gu worms within her body beginning to stir restlessly.

That unusual reaction was like a worm encountering a kindred spirit that piqued its interest, drawing her involuntarily closer and closer.

This feeling was as if she had returned to the Valley of the Holy Healer. Perhaps there were her own kind nearby. Since she had not sensed any danger at the moment, she would just let things take their course.

Li Kongchen quietly hid in the darkness, cleverly using the faint moonlight to carefully and attentively watch the woman who was slowly walking towards the dilapidated temple.

She was so thin it was heartbreaking. She wore a tattered and extremely thin gray-black cotton coat, which showed that she had been wandering and drifting all these years and had never had a proper rest or a good meal.

Looking at her face again, it was covered with deep wrinkles that were completely out of proportion to her real age.

Clearly, this was not an illusion created by any disguise technique, but rather caused by the near depletion of her vital essence and blood, which triggered a strong backlash from her natal Gu.

Her once silky, lustrous black hair was now dull and lifeless, like withered grass. Her head was as white as snowflakes, which filled him with sorrow in the darkness.

Faced with this sight, Li Kongchen trembled all over. Only when she was just a few steps away did he dare to softly call out, "An Yi..."

An Yi, who was walking forward, suddenly heard this familiar voice and froze instantly.

Immediately afterwards, she turned around quickly, her eyes eagerly looking in the direction from which the sound came.

When she finally saw the other person's face clearly, her eyes were filled with surprise, along with a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe.

In that instant, a strong impulse surged within her, an urge to rush forward without regard for anything else, but she ultimately suppressed that impulse.

She knew perfectly well that at this moment, she had to remain restrained and rational. So, instead of moving forward, she consciously and slowly retreated, step by step, each step carrying endless pain and helplessness.

Because she knew perfectly well that she had no further connection with the man in front of her, and that there was absolutely no possibility of any further relationship between them.

She slowly raised her arms and hugged her frail body tightly, trying to give herself some warmth and comfort in this way. At the same time, she kept telling herself to calm down.

"Li Kongchen?" Her voice was filled with doubt and a slight tremor.

Seeing his silvery-white hair, she knew he had also suffered a great loss. Looking at his aged face, she realized with a start that he, like her, had grown old.

Upon hearing her call, Li Kongchen could no longer suppress his emotions of excitement and regret. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud. Tears streamed from his eyes, instantly soaking the ground beneath his feet.

"An Yi, I came here specifically to find you and your daughter!" he cried out, his heartbreaking sobs echoing in the room.

However, An Yi believed that Li Kongchen's actions were only based on the sympathy and pity of his clan.

After a long silence, she slowly raised her chin, because her eyes were already filled with tears and blurred her vision. She didn't want to appear weak and pitiful in front of others.

She suppressed the turmoil of pain churning within her, took a deep breath, and said in a cold and hoarse voice, "Thank you for your help, Second Brother Li."

"I will find my daughter myself, so you don't need to worry about it."

"Times have changed. Now I have a husband and daughter, and you must have a gentle and virtuous wife and a smart and clever child by now... So, it's best if we don't have any involvement with each other."

After saying these words, An Yi seemed to have used up all her strength, and she looked extremely tired.

Without hesitation, she asked him to leave: "It is against etiquette for a man and a woman to be alone in a room. Please leave immediately. I am really tired and need to rest."

Kneeling on the ground, Li Kongchen heard the sarcasm and distant politeness in An Yi's words and naturally understood that she had misunderstood him. But even so, he would never easily give up this only chance to resolve the long-standing grudge between the two of them.

Before An Yi could react, he quickly got up, strode forward, and directly pressed her pressure points, then held her tightly for a long time.