After Rebirth, the Heroine is Consumed by Overwhelming Regret Chapter 4

The Mooring Platform was the eastern main gate of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Ordinary disciples would depart from there when leaving the sect. Firstly, the teleportation array was convenient, and secondly, they could receive supplies: a Peace Talisman, capable of blocking one attack from a demonic beast below the Golden Core stage, and a pair of Golden Scale Wings. The wings contained spiritual stones and allowed one to effortlessly travel great distances daily once equipped. Although they were single-use, they were essential items for any journey.
Moreover, the Mooring Platform was located in the east. As the saying goes, auspicious energy comes from the east. Even sect leaders, who had no shortage of spiritual stones or magic artifacts, liked to depart from here for good luck.
Qi Qing was set to depart tomorrow morning and would definitely pass through there.
Ling Aorui had arranged to meet there precisely because she didn’t want to delay Qi Qing’s important business. Yet, she had to clarify matters before Qi Qing left.
The person inside never responded. Ling Aorui didn’t know if her unspoken request was accepted or not, but she couldn’t wait outside the door forever. So, she announced her departure and left with a flick of her sleeve.
Once she was gone, a commotion erupted in front of Qi Qing’s door.
“Qi Qing, who gave you the nerve to treat Senior Sister Ling so rudely?”
“Exactly! Who do you think you are, making Senior Sister Ling wait for you? Why didn’t you open the door? What could have been so inconvenient? At most, you were busy cultivating. And let me tell you, with your kind of talent, even if you cultivated for a hundred years, you wouldn’t be half as good as Senior Sister Ling!”
“You’ve made Senior Sister Ling leave in anger! You’re done for!”
That someone dared to treat the person they worshipped like a goddess so dismissively immediately ignited their outrage. They felt Qi Qing was being pretentious and didn’t know what was good for her.
They cursed loudly for a while, but there was no sound from inside. When they looked again, they saw that at some point, a sound-blocking talisman had been placed on the door. It meant all their cursing had been a complete waste of breath.
Their anger flared even more, but cursing at a sound-blocking talisman was simply too foolish. They couldn’t break down the door either, so they could only fume in frustration.
Someone said, “What’s there to fear? She can’t stay inside forever, can she?”
Everyone clapped in agreement and left with their arms around each other’s shoulders, discussing how they would surely give her a harsh scolding when they saw her the next day.
Only when Qi Qing saw the shadows reflected on her door gradually disperse did she relax, slumping weakly onto her pillow. She didn’t understand. In her past life, she was scolded for trying to get close to Ling Aorui. In this life, she was scolded for not wanting to get close. Why do these people meddle so much?
“You saw Ling Aorui just now? Why didn’t you tell me?” the system asked. “What did she want from you? Why didn’t you meet her?”
Its barrage of four questions made her head spin.
It had been sleeping earlier and didn’t know the two had met, much less that Qi Qing had decided not to try and win Ling Aorui over. Qi Qing didn’t want to reveal this now and invite an unnecessary lecture, so she replied casually, “I did run into her, but I had a strong emotional reaction and left without saying anything.”
“Alright, let it go for tonight. But she made plans with you; you can’t stand her up tomorrow.”
Qi Qing sneered. Who made plans with her? Wasn’t Ling Aorui just talking to herself the entire time?
Although she didn’t know what Ling Aorui wanted, Qi Qing planned to stay as far away as possible from anything concerning her. They were from different worlds, after all; avoiding her would be incredibly easy. As for death—she had already died once. Did she really care if it happened again?
Her only regret was missing out on the good magic artifacts given at the Mooring Platform; she wouldn’t get them if she left through another gate. She had to find a way to get the artifacts without meeting Ling Aorui.
Meanwhile, Ling Aorui left the disciples’ quarters. Seeing it was already early morning, she decided against returning to her immortal cave and instead teleported directly to Mooring Mountain.
There were several spots on Mooring Mountain rich in spiritual energy where she could wait for Qi Qing to appear.
The mountain peak was cool in the early morning. Although it was nearly midsummer, the high altitude meant a refreshing breeze blew from time to time, invigorating the spirit.
Perhaps because she felt close to getting answers, Ling Aorui’s heart was in a flutter. She kept glancing towards the Mooring Platform, but the sky had yet to brighten, and the platform was veiled in a thin, pale blue mist.
This wasn’t surprising. It was only the fourth watch of the night, still a long time before the platform’s gates would open.
Though called a platform, the Mooring Platform was more like a grand hall, magnificent with carved beams and painted rafters. It towered into the clouds, its full form indistinct, resembling an immortal’s treasure palace from afar. Ling Aorui waited patiently for another two hours before a few figures finally began to appear in front of the hall.
They wore pale yellow Daoist robes, their hair tied in two small buns, and they spread silver wings to fly down the mountain. Ling Aorui recognized them as the young attendants who delivered medicine. They weren’t living beings but rather flying insects that had been transformed. Every day, they would carry spiritual medicines down the mountain to sell, which was a significant source of income for the sect.
Because they never tired, they always set off earliest, deliberately staggering their departure to avoid the disciples. By the sixth watch, those emerging were all cultivators.
Worried she might miss Qi Qing if it got too crowded, Ling Aorui flew closer to wait.
After a while, disciples indeed began to emerge from the hall. Seeing her waiting, they hurried forward to bow and greet her. This was a sect rule: if fellow disciples met by chance, those of lower rank had to take the initiative to greet their seniors. The etiquette involved was quite elaborate.
Ling Aorui accepted their greetings and returned the courtesies, which took up considerable time and delayed her purpose. So, she formed a hand seal for an invisibility spell and focused solely on waiting for Qi Qing. However, she waited for a full two hours, and Qi Qing still didn’t appear.
Could she have… overslept?
She considered going to the dormitory to get her, but worried they might miss each other. She thought about sending out her spiritual sense for a look, but she hadn’t reached the Nascent Soul stage yet. It would have been helpful if she had a companion, but she had no friends, nor did she know any of Qi Qing’s. She couldn’t make a big scene over this either. After growing anxious, she decided she had no choice but to go back and check herself.
No sooner had Ling Aorui left, Qi Qing emerged.
This was Qi Qing’s strategy. She had arrived early, collected her magic artifact, and then hidden behind the door, watching for any sign of Ling Aorui. Just as she’d expected, Ling Aorui had been waiting there. Although Ling Aorui later turned invisible, the spell wouldn’t work on someone who had been watching her before she cast it.
Once Ling Aorui left, Qi Qing immediately rushed out and flew down the mountain. The journey ahead was long; Ling Aorui wouldn’t be able to catch her.
Frankly, if it weren’t for the system’s surveillance, Qi Qing might have genuinely considered roaming the world and never returning. But that wasn’t too difficult to manage; once she was off the mountain, she would find ways to delay things.
Before that—
Qi Qing took out the jade slip from her robes. It was the letter she had to deliver for her current mission. Even if she planned never to return, she still had to complete this final mission properly.
As the saying goes, one should part on good terms. The Heavenly Sword Sect was a major sect and had, in a way, been kind to her. If she burned her bridges completely, her reputation would be ruined, and she wouldn’t even be able to beg for scraps.
This jade slip was crystal clear, a beautiful twilight-mountain purple. Purple symbolized nobility and was usually associated with high-status individuals. The recipient’s status was indeed high: Immortal Lord Minghuai. Those who could be addressed as ‘Immortal Lord’ mostly possessed transcendent status; there were only a few such figures in the entire cultivation world.
She’s been in seclusion for so many years, Qi Qing mused. I wonder why the Heavenly Sword Sect is trying to contact her now.
Having suddenly gained a sense of freedom, the gloom in Qi Qing’s heart vanished, and she felt exhilarated. Everything seemed interesting, everything sparked her curiosity. As her fingers toyed with the wax seal on the jade slip, she dearly wished she could break it open and take a peek.
Of course, she couldn’t. The wax seal was specially made; once broken, it couldn’t be resealed. If she saw something she wasn’t supposed to, she’d be arrested and imprisoned.
Forget it, I won’t think about it anymore, she decided.
Qi Qing activated her Golden Scale Wings and sped towards Changhe Mountain.
A few days later, on Changhe Mountain, a goddess was descending to the mortal realm.
“Cough, cough, cough… How did it get so rundown…”
Yu Yan brushed away cobwebs as she walked deeper into the immortal cave. Nothing much had changed inside, except that, compared to a few hundred years ago, it was now covered in much more dust and filled with crawling insects.
She detested insects. Even after becoming a goddess for many years, she hadn’t overcome this weakness. This was mainly because the Heavenly Realm had no such creatures; it was utterly spotless. Only someone as idle as her would forsake a perfectly good position as a divine official to come down to the Lower Realm and endure such torment.
But what could she do? The heavens were just too boring.
For years, peace had reigned across the Three Realms, with not a single troublemaker in sight. Divine officials like her had nothing to do, idling away their days. Yet, the Divine Monarch was exceedingly strict, forbidding them the slightest indulgence. All fun activities and delicious foods were on the prohibited list.
They didn’t need to cultivate either, so they were truly restless from sheer boredom.
So dull.
If I’d known the Heavenly Realm was this boring, I would never have ascended, she thought. It would have been much better to remain a minor cultivator in the Lower Realm, eating and drinking whatever I pleased, with no one to boss me around.
Of course, she couldn’t say that aloud.
So, for the past few thousand years, whenever boredom became unbearable, she would send a sliver of her divine consciousness to the Lower Realm. This consciousness acted like an incarnation, experiencing all of life’s joys, sorrows, and flavors on her behalf—what mortals often called “an immortal descending to the world.”
Since she lacked the Divine Monarch’s permission, she couldn’t appear in her true form. Fortunately, she had an identity she’d established a few hundred years prior, which could serve as a perfect vessel for this current descent.
Immortal Lord Minghuai. Her real name was Yu Yan.
Such an obvious hint! But because she was so renowned from the start, everyone knew her title but not her true name. She had even planned to gift five hundred years of cultivation to anyone who discovered this secret.
A pity, truly a pity. Mortals are so foolish.
She was in the process of transforming a few dust motes to help clean the immortal cave when she suddenly heard a faint clap of thunder from above.
It was heavenly thunder.
She froze. Heavenly thunder represented the Divine Monarch. His presence here meant he must have discovered her plan. She racked her brain but couldn’t figure out how she’d been exposed. Was it a tattletale, or my own carelessness?
Should I flee immediately, or try to bluff my way through?
“Yu Yan, do you acknowledge your crime?”
“Divine Monarch, this time it was merely…”
“Enough,” his voice boomed. “No need for glib excuses. Since you have erred, you must be punished. You yearn so deeply for the mortal world, so I shall bestow upon you a love tribulation. What say you?”
“Absolutely not…!” Yu Yan panicked. She hadn’t expected such a severe punishment. She had only wanted to come down for some fun, not to undergo a tribulation in the mortal realm!
But the Divine Monarch was not in a mood to discuss it. He simply left her with a parting sentence.
“From this moment on, the very first person to visit you here—regardless of their appearance, age, or build—will be your fated love tribulation. If you do not overcome it, you shall never return to the Heavenly Realm.”
Before she could even attempt to seal off Changhe Mountain, a clear, cool voice of a young woman drifted in from outside: “Excuse me, is Immortal Lord Minghuai present?”