277: Chapter 277 You are my fifth Phoenix Maiden, aren't you?

Under the wash of the rain.

The floodgates of memory were crumbling.

Once opened, those buried memories surged into her mind like a bursting dam.

Time rewound to the afternoon she first visited the Demon Slaying Society at Polytechnic University.

Back then, as a woman, she had already spent decades struggling in the martial arts circle.

She had seen through the coldness of the world.

No power, no background, no money, no talent.

Her path in the martial arts world was fraught with difficulty.

Her childhood dream of becoming a great hero had vanished.

Accepting Jiang Luoli's invitation to become an ordinary club advisor at the Polytechnic University Demon Slaying Society was a move born of desperation.

Back then, she numbed herself daily with revealing clothes and harsh tobacco.

Along the way, those self-righteous university students pointed and whispered at her.

Despite the ID badge on her chest, no one believed she was a university teacher.

Instead, more people probably thought she was a (...) person.

Naturally, no one was willing to greet her.

Teacher Wang Jin didn't care.

Until she stood before the dilapidated gate of the Demon Slaying Society.

A boy wearing cheap street-stall clothes, looking like he came from an extremely poor family, stopped in his tracks.

He didn't stare at her chest and thighs with lewd eyes like the other male students.

Instead, he bowed to her properly and respectfully.

He gave a brilliant smile that made even the sunlight of that day pale in comparison.

"Hello, Teacher. My name is Su Chen."

"I'm from the Class of '22 in the Law School."

That smile was like a beam of light forcing its way through the darkness.

Instantly illuminating her heart, which was already riddled with holes.

Later, as Su Chen slowly entered the Demon Slaying Society's view.

She also gradually learned about this incredibly unlucky boy who suffered from a terminal illness.

How he faced life with such an optimistic and cheerful smile.

How he worked odd jobs desperately just to scrape together medical fees for his sister in the hospital bed.

He lived like a blade of wild grass.

Humble, yet resilient.

But what truly made Teacher Wang Jin fall completely.

Was that late night during a torrential downpour.

That day, stung by memories of the past, she had gotten dead drunk.

Wearing an extremely revealing high-slit cheongsam, she stumbled through a dark alley near Polytechnic University.

Because of her breathtaking beauty and incredibly explosive figure.

She was soon blocked by a group of street thugs.

Those men leered, preparing to harass her verbally before getting physical.

One thug even pulled out some prepared knockout drugs.

Several thugs' eyes scanned back and forth between her chest and thighs.

The lust in their eyes was impossible to hide.

Actually.

Even if she was drunk.

As a martial artist.

She could have torn those thugs to pieces with her eyes closed.

Just as she was sneering and preparing to draw her blade to send these scumbags to hell.

"Bang!"

A soaked, thin youth with a faint trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.

Like an enraged lone wolf, he charged at her recklessly from the alley entrance in the curtain of rain.

It was Su Chen.

At that time, he wasn't the powerful martial artist and Great Xia's King of Soft Rice he was now.

He was just an ordinary person with no strength to even catch a chicken, tormented by cancer to the point where he could collapse at any moment.

But he stood firmly in front of her.

Using that thin body, he took several blows from the thugs' clubs.

With bloodshot eyes, he bit back and fought like a mad dog.

He clearly understood one principle: in a street fight, the weak fear the strong, and the strong fear those who don't value their lives.

He put on a desperate, life-risking stance until he completely scared the thugs away.

Then, the youth, his face covered in blood and barely able to stand.

Turned around toward her as she sat slumped on the ground.

He difficultly reached out a warm hand.

"Teacher Wang..."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

At that moment.

Looking at the hand extended to her, Teacher Wang Jin's tears finally burst forth.

As a strong woman accustomed to living life on the edge.

She was used to protecting others and licking her wounds alone.

Before this, she had never thought about getting married.

Because besides the blade in her hand, nothing could give her enough security.

But only this one.

This weak, sickly youth who couldn't even protect himself and didn't have long to live.

Gave her a profound sense of security she had never felt in her life.

"This brat..."

"He better not fucking leave before I do..."

Sitting on the threshold of the Huayu Association, a gentle and poignantly beautiful curve formed on Teacher Wang Jin's lips.

Hot tears mixed with cold rain slid down her face.

She closed her eyes and began her routine yet unusual spiritual power cultivation.

Her consciousness also began to grow increasingly blurred as she entered the state of cultivation.

And in this chaos between wakefulness and dreams.

Deep in her brain, it seemed as if something ancient and innate.

Was slowly cracking.

"Crack—!"

Images that absolutely did not and could not belong to this life, which she swore she had never seen.

Yet made her feel incredibly familiar.

Completely submerged her like a tsunami.

"Memory Awakening?"

Teacher Wang Jin felt a surge of joy, knowing her opportunity was coming.

She calmed her mind and seriously watched the images slowly appearing before her.

It was a vast world, indistinguishable whether it was ancient or fantasy.

Gods and Buddhas filled the sky, and myriad races stood tall.

A Spirit River flowed through the middle of the continent.

Near the upper reaches of the Spirit River, it was filled with many ancient sects so powerful they were beyond imagination.

But she in the images was just an ordinary, tiny daughter of a merchant living at the end of the Spirit River.

She stood in a simple, even somewhat dilapidated small courtyard.

Looking at her rough hands and ordinary clothes.

Her heart was filled with self-deprecation and trepidation.

The men, women, young, and old around her were all excitedly beating drums and gongs, as if some great figure was about to arrive.

Yes...

The disciple of that extremely noble person living at the source of the Spirit River.

Randomly chosen as one of the candidates for his wife.

Was her.

She knew that the women beside that man were either Female Prime Ministers who ruled over immortal dynasties with great power, or peerless sword immortals with sweeping sword qi.

An ordinary woman like her, covered in the smell of copper and worldly dust.

Would he... despise her?

"Knock, knock, knock."

A crisp knocking sound rang out.

She suddenly pulled open that worn wooden door.

Outside the door, amidst the swirling snow.

A man dressed in luxurious, spotless silk robes, with a face as handsome as a god descending from the nine heavens.

Was looking at her with a smile.

No matter how simple and crude the surrounding environment was, there wasn't a hint of contempt in his eyes.

He gently reached out that long, broad hand toward her.

The smile on his lips was sunny and handsome.

"Tsk tsk... I've been looking for you for a long time."

"You are... my fifth Phoenix Girl, right?"

(Update progress 65/100)