The Spoiled Young Lady Who Married a Military Officer Chapter 196 - 194: I Must Return to That World

Su Tang languished for a long ti, her leave of absence extended indefinitely. The hospital directors, worried she was suffering from a ntal breakdown, offered several tis to take her for an examination.

But Su Tang refused every ti, saying only that she needed ti to rest.

The directors agreed, telling her to get plenty of rest and to be sure to call them if she needed anything.

Su Tang was a rare talent, and the hospital was willing to accommodate her.

At ho, she spent her days reading all sorts of books on taphysics, trying to find a way back.

Until her phone rang persistently for what felt like the dozenth ti.

It was her younger colleague from the sa departnt, Xiao Li, who had a bit of a belief in the taphysical.

"Tangtang, are you okay? Everyone’s saying you’re not doing well..."

Xiao Li’s voice was filled with concern. "I know you’ve been dealing with so things... that science can’t explain, and that it’s been hard on you. Why don’t you go out for a walk? Clear your head?"

Su Tang’s voice was hoarse and heavily nasal. "Clear my head? It’s useless no matter where I go..."

"Hey, I know a place that’s supposed to be really spiritually potent! You know Fengming Mountain, on the outskirts of the city? There’s a very old Daoist temple at the summit. It’s remote, but they say there’s an old master there who has real abilities, not one of those charlatans out for your money."

"You could go for a hike, work up a sweat, and while you’re there... just in case, you could ask him, right? It’s better than being cooped up at ho all by yourself!"

The obsession with returning had beco Su Tang’s only pillar of support. She would grasp at any straw, no matter how slim.

Hearing Xiao Li’s words, she said hoarsely, "...Okay. Thank you."

Xiao Li had studied traditional Chinese dicine, and her family had supposedly been spirit diums. She really did know a lot about taphysics.

’Maybe she’s telling the truth?’

The next day, Su Tang dragged her seemingly hollowed-out body to Fengming Mountain.

She had no heart for the scenery, chanically climbing the mountain path on so indescribable impulse.

Sohow, she strayed from the main path and plunged into a dense, untrodden forest behind the mountain.

The woods grew denser and the light dimd. The surroundings were so silent that only the sound of her own footsteps and breathing remained.

A chill ran down her spine, and she was just about to turn back the way she ca.

When she looked up, she saw an old Daoist master sitting beneath a giant, ancient pine tree up ahead. He wore a tattered robe, his hair and beard were completely white, and he was ditating with his eyes closed, as if he had been waiting there for her all along.

’Could this be the spiritually potent old master Xiao Li ntioned?’

The old master slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was unnaturally clear and bright for a man of his age.

He looked at Su Tang and sighed. "A soul from another world, shackled by obsession. Why must you suffer so?"

Su Tang’s heart jolted. She rushed forward and asked frantically, "Master! You know about ? I’m begging you, please tell how to go back! I have to go back!"

The old master sized her up and spoke slowly. "A rift in ti and space is no small matter. By a twist of fate, your soul left your body and fell into another realm. Your physical body remains there, and your connection to this world has not been completely severed. This is the greatest fortune amid your misfortune."

Su Tang’s eyes lit up instantly. "You an, I can still go back?"

"It is difficult, and yet, it is not."

The old master stroked his beard.

"Your connection to this realm is weakening, while your connection to the other realm is deep. Your closest kin, the one you love with all your heart—they are your anchors.

Perhaps you can try this: use your thoughts as a bridge and an object as a conduit. Fortify your spirit and focus your will. At midnight, when yin and yang converge, clear your mind of all distractions and visualize the people, things, and places of that other realm. This may strengthen your connection and allow you to glimpse a path back."

Seeing Su Tang’s desperate yet confused expression, the old master explained more plainly.

"It ans that every night, at the stroke of midnight, you must take the object most important to you from that world and think, with all your heart and soul, of the people you want to see and the place you want to return to. If you persist, you might feel sothing.

But rember: a sincere heart is key, while a scattered mind will fail. Do not try to force it, but also, do not give up."

It all sounded too esoteric, like so kind of psychological comfort.

Su Tang was skeptical, but this was the only lead she had.

She hurriedly asked what kind of object she needed, but the old master just shook his head and said, "You know best." He said no more, closed his eyes again, and beca as still as the pine tree itself.

No matter what else Su Tang said after that, the old master refused to acknowledge her.

Dispirited, Su Tang descended the mountain and returned ho.

Looking at the cold, unfamiliar modern apartnt, her heart was a blank void.

’The most important object?’

’That world... did I bring anything back from that world?’

She suddenly rembered sothing!

She frantically searched the pockets of the white coat she had been wearing that day. She hadn’t touched the garnt since changing out of it after returning from the Northwest.

Sure enough, in a corner of the pocket, her fingers found a small, withered sprig of cal thorn, still dusted with a bit of yellow soil.

She had picked it absentmindedly in the courtyard in the Northwest while watching Lu Xiao and Cheng’an play. She had fiddled with it in her hand before casually slipping it into her pocket.

This was sothing from that world.

That night at eleven o’clock, Su Tang sat in the darkness, tightly gripping the withered cal thorn. She cleared her mind of all distractions and scread over and over in her heart.

’Lu Xiao, Cheng’an, I want to co ho.’

She didn’t know if this would work. She even felt like a fool.

The seconds and minutes ticked by. Just as she was about to give up in despair...

Suddenly, the darkness before her wavered like a ripple on water.

Then, she saw a blurry but familiar scene.

It was her and Lu Xiao’s ho in the Northwest—the familiar room, the familiar cabinet, and on the windowsill, the wildflowers she had kept in an old jar.

And by the window sat an incredibly haggard, unshaven man. It was Lu Xiao.

He was holding her hand tightly, pressing it to his cheek, his lips moving as if he were whispering sothing.

"Lu Xiao!"

Su Tang cried out in excitent, instinctively trying to lunge toward him.

But her body wouldn’t move an inch. The scene before her was like looking through a shimring curtain of water—visible, but utterly untouchable.

Lu Xiao seed completely unaware, still lost in his own world, watching over the unconscious version of her on the bed.

But in the instant Su Tang cried out his na, it was as if they shared a telepathic connection.

Lu Xiao snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes scanning the room with shock and uncertainty. His brow furrowed deeply, as if puzzled by the strange feeling from that fleeting mont.

The vision lasted for less than ten seconds before it abruptly vanished.

Su Tang was plunged back into darkness, gasping for air. Her heart hamred in her chest, and tears stread down her face.

But this ti, they were tears of pure ecstasy.

’The master’s thod worked!’

’I saw Lu Xiao! I couldn’t touch him, and it was only for a mont, but I really saw him! It wasn’t a dream!’

She clutched the precious sprig of cal thorn, as if grasping the only link that existed between the two worlds.

’I have to get back to that world!’

anwhile, in the world of the book, Lu Xiao was still tightly holding his wife’s cold hand.

The sudden, baseless flutter in his heart just now had left him feeling vaguely uneasy, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

All he could do was tighten his grip on her hand, as if that alone could protect everything.

’It must have been my imagination. Otherwise, how could I have thought I heard Tangtang’s voice?’