By the time Gu Jingyang arrived at Kaiyao Mountain with her father, mother, and her mother’s many disciples, the sun had already set on the mountain, and the temperature had dropped significantly. Without sunlight, Kaiyao Mountain was desolate, with sparse branches everywhere. The wind was strong, and the clouds were thick. Gu Jingyang overlooked the vast mountain, her heart anxious. Where exactly was A’Ling? The mountain wind was like knives, making Gu Jiangxue’s demon hunter robe rustle loudly. At the foot of the mountain, Gu Jiangxue’s disciples had set up ‘Demon-Trapping Lamps’ every ten steps.
Gu Jingyang and Gu Hongjue stood solemnly on their swords not far behind Gu Jiangxue, watching as a golden light soared into the sky from Gu Jiangxue’s palm, exploding and scattering like fireworks in the air. The golden sparks, like snowflakes, drifted down, blanketing and enveloping the entire Kaiyao Mountain. Looking around, everything was a shimmering golden. Gu Jingyang and Gu Hongjue both took a deep breath. As Gu Jiangxue made her next move, they held their breath tightly in their chests. This was the first time they had seen Gu Jiangxue unleash her power at such close range. They watched as Kaiyao Mountain below seemed to be bathed in sunlight everywhere, not missing a single corner, the entire mountain gleaming with dazzling light. As the golden light slowly dissipated, Gu Jingyang saw white smoke beginning to rise from several spots on Kaiyao Mountain.
“Go.”
Gu Jiangxue led Gu Jingyang and Gu Hongjue, flying towards the spot where the white smoke was thickest. Upon arriving, Gu Jingyang discovered it was the Armored Beast cave she had visited earlier. White smoke was still continuously billowing out. She dismounted her Moonfall Sword and looked inside; beneath the white smoke were still only the fragments of Armored Beast corpses, nothing else.
Gu Jiangxue approached the entrance of the Armored Beast cave, unhooked the silver gourd from her waist, shook it twice, and softly recited an incantation. After pulling off the silver gourd’s lid, a silver liquid poured out from the seemingly empty gourd. The moment the liquid hit the ground, it spread rapidly as if swept by a strong wind. Gu Jingyang and Gu Hongjue unconsciously wanted to step aside for the silver liquid, but then realized that these seemingly liquid things were actually condensed spiritual mist that could seep into their shoe soles, and nothing could obstruct them. Before long, with the Armored Beast cave as the center, the liquid spread out into a giant circle, then collectively vanished like water vapor evaporating under the scorching sun. After they disappeared, only a patch of red footprints remained at the entrance of the Armored Beast cave.
Gu Jingyang widened her eyes, carefully examining the footprints on the ground. She discovered a key detail: these seemingly entirely red footprints, upon closer inspection, were actually distinct. There were roughly five shades of red, varying in intensity: brownish-red, dark red, fiery red, crimson, and light red.
Gu Jiangxue’s voice rang out at this moment: “Five people have been here today.” No sooner had she finished speaking than Gu Jingyang felt something crawl onto her shoe. She looked down and saw that a circle around her shoe sole was encircled by a light red thin line. Gu Jiangxue pointed to the light red footprints at the cave entrance: “These should be your footprints, Jingyang.” Gu Jingyang nodded. She had been here before: “Why is my color the lightest? Is it because I arrived last?” Gu Jiangxue nodded approvingly: “The color varies with the time. From the colors on the ground, two people must have arrived together, one after the other. Then these two hid behind that large rock.”
As Gu Jiangxue spoke, pointing at the footprints on the ground, Gu Jingyang realized that a trail of footprints had appeared on the ground along the path, though she didn’t know when. Gu Jingyang looked at the two remaining sets of footprints, fiery red and crimson. The crimson footprints led windingly downwards, while the fiery red footprints only showed steps coming upwards, with no traces of going downwards. What’s going on?
Gu Jiangxue had already finished observing behind the large rock and walked back to the Armored Beast cave entrance. She peered inside, deliberated carefully, and once she felt ready, she told Gu Jingyang and Gu Hongjue her deductions. “There were five people in total. The first two to arrive must have been the ones who arranged this cave. The third person should be your little friend, who mistakenly entered the Armored Beast cave here, awakening the sleeping Armored Beasts. It’s likely other dangers were added, preventing her from leaving this cave. The distress message you received, Jingyang, should have been sent by your little friend from this location.” Gu Jingyang heard her mother say that the first two were a pair and immediately thought of Qi Leshan and Zhao Diqing, whom she had encountered at the foot of the mountain earlier. It seemed these two had lured A’Ling here.
“Then a fourth person arrived. Judging by the thick spiritual mist detecting inner energy in the cave, and the abrupt footprints, the person who saved your little friend must have teleported here, and after saving her, took her further down.” Teleportation? Gu Jingyang was astonished. And they happened to teleport right into this cave. Who could it be? Who was so timely and managed to teleport to the exact location? Did A’Ling ask for help from more than just her? But spatial teleportation techniques are very difficult, and only cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or above can cultivate them. She still didn’t know such advanced techniques. The first person who came to Gu Jingyang’s mind capable of this was Shi Qingqian.
Gu Jiangxue followed the crimson footprints downwards, with Gu Jingyang closely behind her, and then discovered a problem. “If that person saved A’Ling, then why is there only one kind of footprint on the ground? Where are A’Ling’s? The footprints on the ground were clearly not A’Ling’s. A’Ling’s feet were about the same size as hers, but these footprints were noticeably larger than both of theirs.” The moment Gu Jingyang finished speaking, Gu Jiangxue stopped. She stepped on the compacted earth beneath her feet and said: “They must have fallen in here.” Gu Jingyang nodded. The footprints vanished into thin air at this spot. “Your little friend must be injured and was carried, which is why there are no footprints,” Gu Jiangxue said, her face serious as she looked at the bluish-yellow soil beneath their feet. An extra layer of tension appeared in Gu Jingyang’s eyes: “A’Ling is injured and fell into here. Mother, will she be in danger?”
Gu Jiangxue knelt on the ground and drew a charm commonly used to open demon caves. With one hand, she formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation. The charm on the ground flickered with a faint light, but then it seemed to run out of power and extinguished, as if it had struggled for a long time but couldn’t open the gate. Gu Jiangxue’s eyes flashed with understanding. Seeing Gu Jingyang’s intense worry, she said gently: “Don’t worry, this is indeed a great demon beast’s sacrificial cave. Since they were able to enter, they should generally be fine.”
“Generally?” Gu Jingyang immediately picked up on the uncertainty in her words. Gu Jiangxue nodded. Primarily, two people went in. If only one person had entered, they would definitely be fine, as that would mean they were the person chosen by the great demon beast. “But with two people…” “As long as the great demon beast’s sacrificed demonic core is held by the correct person, then they will be fine,” Gu Jiangxue said with a solemn expression. The implication was, if the wrong person held it, something would go wrong! Gu Jingyang couldn’t feel at ease this time. A’Ling, she hoped A’Ling didn’t want everything she saw!
“I got it first, so it’s mine.” A’Ling looked at the jade-green demonic core in her hand, pure as emerald, her eyes flashing with a strange green light. This was a good item! A demonic core was equivalent to a cultivator’s golden core. Obtaining a demonic beast’s demonic core meant obtaining all its cultivation of those years. It was as if a demonic beast with no cultivation, upon acquiring and devouring a thousand-year demonic beast’s demonic core, would gain a thousand years of cultivation. Of course, this only applied between demonic beasts. Others, such as cultivators, could not devour demonic cores; if they did, it would be no different from swallowing a stone. However, cultivators usually had spirit beasts. With another demonic beast’s demonic core, it was like directly increasing their own spirit beast’s cultivation. In her previous life, A’Ling had also considered getting a hundred-year cultivation demonic core for her mount, so that the useless thing would be of some use, and prevent it, and A’Ling, from being mocked as ‘useless master with useless dog’ by others. It was just a shame such an item was so rare. Demonic beasts, upon realizing they were about to die, would directly self-detonate their internal demonic cores, preventing their enemies from obtaining them. To obtain a demonic core, one could only strike a fatal blow when the beast was unprepared. However, the higher a demonic beast’s cultivation, the higher its vigilance, making it extremely difficult to succeed easily. In any case, A’Ling had never succeeded in her previous life.
A’Ling saw the head beneath her tilting towards her, and quickly put the demonic core tightly into her spatial pouch, casually patting Shi Qingqian’s head back to the front. “Forget it. I got it first, so it’s mine. If you try to take it by force, then you’d be a shameless rotten ghost, an embarrassment even among ghosts.” Before Shi Qingqian could say anything, A’Ling quickly changed the subject, pointing to the stone slab that had descended from above and asking: “What words are written on it?”
Ever since entering this cave, Shi Qingqian had found everything strange. She had also seen the demonic core just now, but since they were currently in a great demon beast’s cave, it was best not to touch things lightly, especially this inexplicably appearing demonic core. But before she could say anything, A’Ling had already taken the demonic core. Her heart instantly clenched, and she vigilantly checked around for any abnormalities. However, seeing no changes around them, she worried if the crisis itself was the demonic core. Just as she was about to turn and persuade A’Ling to put it down, she saw that A’Ling had already put the item away. It seemed there was no problem. Her heart filled with doubt, but hearing A’Ling’s words, she temporarily put aside her thoughts and looked forward. The vertically inserted stone slab that had appeared with the demonic core had patterns and words on it.
The pattern was very easy to recognize: a simple drawing of a spider. The words above were a bit strange. They didn’t look like the currently common script, lacking the usual strokes and turns. They seemed to be drawn with a single continuous stroke, almost like drawings, but more complex than simple figures. “I don’t recognize them,” Shi Qingqian told A’Ling after reading. She didn’t recognize a single ‘word’ on it. A’Ling had been frowning, struggling to look at these words, but upon hearing this, she burst out laughing. “No, haha, I’m dying of laughter! Outsiders praise you as so learned and knowledgeable, yet after all that, you can’t even read?”
Shi Qingqian’s expression remained unchanged, though a hint of uncertainty flickered in her eyes. Hearing A’Ling say this, could it be… “You recognize the words on it?” Shi Qingqian asked, puzzled. A’Ling stopped laughing and replied decisively: “No.” Afterward, she added with great conviction: “It’s perfectly normal for me not to recognize them. I never knew many characters to begin with, and no one praises me for being learned or clever, unlike some who gain empty reputations.” She then added: “All that glitters is not gold.”
A’Ling used all the flowery phrases she had learned in the mortal realm to mock Shi Qingqian. The satisfaction in her heart was immense, like a spring breeze caressing a shimmering lake, utterly delightful. With a smile in her eyes, she reached out and pulled at the strange slab on the stone platform. Since neither of them recognized it, they would find someone who did. A’Ling thought Gu Jingyang must know them. She looked like someone genuinely capable, unlike the one in front of her, who was very pretentious and fake.
Shi Qingqian was pondering what those words might mean when A’Ling, without any warning, pulled up the stone slab on the platform. Once again, she couldn’t stop her in time. A’Ling was already on her back, and Shi Qingqian’s hands had to be cupped around A’Ling’s knees, causing her to be a step too slow every time. “A’Ling, put it back.” Shi Qingqian raised her voice slightly. If one listened carefully, there was a hint of panic in her tone. A’Ling had already tucked everything securely into her spatial pouch. Shi Qingqian’s sudden outburst startled her.
But before she could say anything, the edge of the protruding stone platform suddenly opened from the outside, and a burst of light shone in, hitting them directly. A’Ling’s eyes widened instantly, and after seeing the situation before her, they suddenly lit up. “See? I told you, getting out requires me! So this strange stone slab was the mechanism!” A’Ling exclaimed excitedly, looking at the exit in front of them, and couldn’t help but sway Shi Qingqian back and forth, holding her neck: “Quick, let’s get out of here!”
Great, they were saved! A’Ling urged Shi Qingqian to hurry forward, but Shi Qingqian hesitated.
Outside the cave, on Kaiyao Mountain, after Gu Jiangxue confirmed the location, she knelt on the ground and took off the golden gourd that had been hanging from her waist. She sat cross-legged on the charm she had drawn earlier. With one hand, she pushed open the golden gourd’s lid, and with her other index finger, she lightly rotated it. After activating an incantation, a wisp of thin smoke emerged from the tip of her rotating index finger. Soon, that wisp of smoke condensed into a jellyfish-shaped ‘little monster’ with pointed horns on its head, emitting a ‘cackle’ of laughter. “Go in,” Gu Jiangxue said, waving a finger and shaking the golden gourd in her other hand.
The strange-looking little monster, like a sentry receiving orders, immediately went into the golden gourd. Before long, the golden gourd broke free from Gu Jiangxue’s control and began to tremble violently in the air. Gu Jingyang had never seen this before. She didn’t know what her mother was doing, but it must be something very important. She held her breath beside her, not daring to disturb her. Gu Hongjue was the same. He stood behind the mother and daughter, his spirit highly tense, watching their surroundings without blinking, fearing that someone might interrupt his wife during her spellcasting. The consequences would be unimaginable.
A moment later, the golden gourd, which had been vibrating with a sharp whine, gradually quieted. As Gu Jiangxue extended her hand, it obediently returned to her. If one listened carefully, there was still a bustling chatter coming from inside the gourd. “We’re going out, we’re going out! It’s been so long since we had fresh air!” “Don’t just think about playing. Jiangxue must need our help. You all have to listen to me later.” “Great! I love helping Jiangxue the most.” ……
Gu Jingyang was already holding her breath, entirely focused on Gu Jiangxue’s every move. Hearing these words from inside the golden gourd, she couldn’t help but be greatly astonished. Although she didn’t know what was inside, this time she clearly and intuitively understood her mother’s power. She felt immense pride and admiration for her mother. Gu Jiangxue also felt her daughter’s intense, almost burning gaze. A slight unease appeared on her usually calm face. She drew a circle on the ground in front of her, coughed lightly twice, and said to the things inside the gourd: “Go in there and see what the situation is.”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming!” “Me first, me first! Let me go first!” “Move aside, move aside, don’t block me!” ……
A small burst of playful commotion emerged from the golden gourd’s opening. The next instant, a group of entities, similar in appearance to the little monster from earlier, flew out of the golden gourd, chasing each other, and forcefully drilled into the ground within the circle Gu Jiangxue had drawn. Gu Jingyang watched as the pointed horns on their heads, like wooden drills, quickly broke through the muddy ground’s resistance and burrowed inside. But the moment they entered, the broken ground instantly reverted to its original state.
“Mother, what are these?” Gu Jingyang asked curiously. Gu Jiangxue put away the golden gourd and stood up from the ground, answering her daughter’s questions: “They are demon spirits.” After demon hunters dealt with evil demons, they would usually purify their souls and send them to reincarnation. But there were also demons unwilling to undergo reincarnation who wished to remain in this world. At such times, they needed a dwelling, just as humans needed a house. The demon hunter’s gourd was their sanctuary. However, only highly skilled demon hunters could refine a ‘gourd’ capable of sheltering demon spirits. The deceased demons living in Gu Jiangxue’s gourd naturally had to obey Gu Jiangxue’s commands. Only the great demon beast itself, or the person for whom it sacrificed itself, or that person’s bloodline, could enter this sacrificial great demon beast’s cave. However, this restriction only applied to living creatures; deceased demon spirits were not bound by it.
Gu Jingyang looked at the ground, which now showed no abnormalities, and prayed that these demon spirits would find A’Ling. Just as Gu Jingyang was about to ask Gu Jiangxue how long these demon spirits usually took to return, Gu Hongjue’s voice abruptly sounded from behind her.
“Who’s there?!” Gu Hongjue said, then leaped and instantly appeared behind the suspicious Quju tree. He was already worried about the safety of his wife and daughter and had used his spiritual sense to guard them, so when his inner energy fluctuated, he immediately detected a barrier nearby. The person who came probably didn’t have high cultivation, but they were quite bold, daring to play tricks right under his nose. He violently shattered the barrier and yanked the person inside out. Gu Jingyang looked at her mother, who stood with open arms protecting her, and her father, whose face was solemn as he held onto the person. Her heart warmed slightly; she truly had the best parents in the world.
Suppressing the emotion in her heart, Gu Jingyang poked her head out from behind Gu Jiangxue and immediately saw Zhao Diqing on the ground, panicking. “It’s you?” Gu Jingyang narrowed her eyes, walked out from behind Gu Jiangxue, approached Zhao Diqing, and looked down at the person on the ground.
Zhao Diqing had just been dragged out from behind the tree, and her heart palpitations hadn’t subsided. Looking up, she saw the tall figure that had suddenly appeared in front of her, and couldn’t help but tremble. Her words came out with a shaky voice: “What are you going to do?” Gu Jingyang looked at her with a grim face: “That question should be mine to ask you. What are you doing here?”
Seeing that Gu Jingyang seemed to know the person on the ground, and that the person didn’t appear to have high cultivation, Gu Jiangxue and Gu Hongjue simply stood to the side, like two guardians preventing the person on the ground from harming Gu Jingyang, but otherwise not interfering much. Zhao Diqing looked up at the three people in front of her, filled with vexation. After returning, she couldn’t put her mind at ease about Shi Qingqian. At that time, she had personally witnessed the two of them suddenly sinking into the ground here and disappearing. She worried that Shi Qingqian would never be able to get out. Although Shi Qingqian had rejected her confession, she still liked her in her heart. She even liked her more than before. She felt it was normal for someone as outstanding as Shi Qingqian not to like her yet, as her current strength was truly too weak. But she was already working hard, and she believed that one day she would stand at the same height as Shi Qingqian, allowing Shi Qingqian to see her.
This time, they were supposed to deal with A’Ling. She didn’t want to harm Shi Qingqian. After shaking off Qi Leshan, she wanted to return to the mountain to see if there was any way to rescue Shi Qingqian. As a result, she found many people at the foot of the mountain. Zhao Diqing thought of Gu Jingyang and guessed that Gu Jingyang had brought people to search for A’Ling. She wasn’t sure if Gu Jingyang would only save A’Ling if the situation became truly dangerous, especially since Gu Jingyang had always been outshone by Shi Qingqian at the academy. Perhaps she had grown to resent Shi Qingqian in her heart. She was worried no matter what, and simply had to come see for herself. She finally managed to sneak up the mountain, only to be caught red-handed as soon as she got close. But when she was just pulled out, she hadn’t done anything. Thinking of this, Zhao Diqing calmed down a little.
“I was just idle, so I came to climb the mountain for fun. This isn’t your family’s mountain, so can’t I come?” Zhao Diqing propped herself up and stood from the ground, feigning righteous indignation, but her slightly trembling fingertips betrayed her panicked heart. Gu Jingyang saw her guilt from her darting eyes, and since she was here, she must have known something. Just then, Gu Jingyang caught a glimpse of a red glow from the corner of her eye. She looked down and saw that Zhao Diqing’s shoe sole was encircled by the same red thin line as hers. The difference was, Zhao Diqing’s was a brownish-red thin line. Gu Jingyang looked back, glancing at her mother in confusion. Gu Jiangxue nodded at her.
Anger surged in Gu Jingyang’s heart: “So it was you!” She had already been suspicious of Qi Leshan and Zhao Diqing’s coincidental appearance on Kaiyao Mountain, but she mostly suspected Qi Leshan was behind it, as he had clear motives—A’Ling had just embarrassed him yesterday. But Zhao Diqing, wasn’t she A’Ling’s friend before? Yesterday, it was she, Gu Jingyang, whom Zhao Diqing had mocked so much. Why would she do this to A’Ling? Zhao Diqing was hit with a close-range palm strike, feeling as if cracks had appeared in all her internal organs. A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out.
“Why would you do this?” Gu Jingyang asked, looking down coldly at the person on the ground. Zhao Diqing finally managed to swallow the surging blood in her throat. Her eyes, as she looked at Gu Jingyang, were filled with hatred: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is your Gu family picking on me, an orphan girl, because I’m easy to bully? Just striking me whenever you want? Then if you have the guts, kill me today! Otherwise, I will make sure everyone in Longyin Town knows that your Gu family abuses its power and bullies the weak.”
This was the first time Gu Jingyang had seen someone turn the tables like this. It was truly sickening. She was about to explain the evidence of the red lines on her shoe soles to Zhao Diqing, to see how she would refute it, but a hand reached out from behind her and stopped her. Gu Jiangxue saw the angry expression on her daughter’s face and thought, My child is grown, but still lacks experience and understanding of human nature. Don’t be fooled by the person on the ground seemingly crying. With the three of us standing here, it really looks like we’re bullying her with our power. But isn’t this also a strategy of retreating to advance? If there were truly others present, we’d inevitably have to spend effort explaining. To deal with such people, one must be swift, accurate, and ruthless. Don’t give them a chance to act. Otherwise, even if things are eventually cleared up, the vexation felt during the process would be real, and remembering it later would be like swallowing a fly.
“I’ll do it.” Gu Jiangxue took a step and stood before Zhao Diqing. Just as Zhao Diqing opened her mouth to speak, Gu Jiangxue swiftly stuffed a ‘Truth-Telling Restraint Pill’ into her throat, then quickly closed her mouth and lifted her chin. It was just like giving medicine to disobedient sick spirit beasts: swift, accurate, and ruthless. Zhao Diqing swallowed it before she even had a chance to spit it out. “What are you doing?! What did you make me eat? Ugh, ugh!” She clawed at her throat, trying to throw up the item, dry-heaving and tearing up, but couldn’t get it out.
After Gu Jiangxue stood up, a handkerchief for wiping hands appeared before her. She looked back and saw Gu Hongjue smiling solicitously: “Wipe your hands.” Gu Jiangxue took it with a smile and carefully wiped her hands. Gu Jingyang gave her father a thumbs-up. She had thought of a handkerchief just now too, but found none on her. It had to be her father. And her mother, who knew what she made Zhao Diqing eat. Meanwhile, Zhao Diqing on the ground couldn’t vomit anything up. Seeing the Gu family trio completely unconcerned with her life or death, her heart sank to the bottom. Had they poisoned her?
After Gu Jiangxue finished wiping her hands, Gu Hongjue immediately reached out and retrieved the handkerchief, taking two steps back to his previous position, like a dutiful guard. His actions made a brilliant smile appear on Gu Jiangxue’s usually stern face. She had to try very hard to suppress the curve of her lips. Gu Jingyang also found it amusing. Both knew it wasn’t the time to laugh, so they forcefully suppressed their smiles.
Gu Jiangxue nodded at Gu Jingyang: “The time is almost up. You can ask now.” Gu Jingyang raised an eyebrow: “Hm?” She looked at the person on the ground and saw that Zhao Diqing’s face was blank, neither crying nor causing a fuss, and her eyes appeared completely vacant. “What’s wrong with her?” Gu Jingyang asked. Gu Jiangxue explained: “I gave her a ‘Truth-Telling Restraint Pill.’ For the next hour, she will truthfully answer any questions you ask.” Gu Jingyang’s eyes lit up. Her mother had quite a lot of good things. Time was tight. She took out her Cosmos Pearl to record and quickly asked all the questions on her mind.
Gu Jingyang: “Is Qi Leshan your accomplice?”
Zhao Diqing: “Yes.”
Gu Jingyang: “How did you trick A’Ling into coming here, and what did you intend to do?”
Zhao Diqing: “A’Ling is so foolish, it’s easy to trick her. I disguised myself as A’Ling’s adoptive mother, pretending to be hunted. That fool followed along. Once she arrived and fell into our trap, those four Armored Beasts would surely trample her into a pile of minced meat.”
The skin on the back of Gu Jingyang’s neck tingled. She hadn’t expected Zhao Diqing to actually intend to kill A’Ling!
Gu Jingyang: “What happened next? Where is A’Ling, and what transpired afterward?”
Zhao Diqing: “Later, Shi Qingqian somehow appeared. She saved A’Ling. How could that idiot A’Ling be so lucky? Oh, no, that’s wrong, she’s a jinx, so she’s not lucky. Anyone who gets close to her will be harmed or killed. Shi Qingqian was also harmed and killed.”
Gu Jingyang thought, sure enough, it was Shi Qingqian who saved A’Ling.
Gu Jingyang: “What happened to Shi Qingqian and A’Ling? And why did you come here, what were you trying to do?”
Zhao Diqing: “Shi Qingqian was harmed and killed. She and A’Ling both fell into the mud here and disappeared. I came to save her! I want to save Shi Qingqian! How could she die with A’Ling? It’s all A’Ling’s fault. A’Ling killed Shi Qingqian.”
Gu Jingyang didn’t want to ask anything further. What Zhao Diqing said was consistent with her guesses. Knowing that Qingqian had saved A’Ling, Gu Jingyang breathed a slight sigh of relief, and the worry that had been lodged in her throat finally settled. She thought that with Qingqian there, A’Ling would be fine.
If A’Ling knew Gu Jingyang had this thought, she would probably curse: ‘Only someone whose brain matter has been completely replaced by foot skin could come to such a conclusion.’ She felt that all the trouble she encountered was due to Shi Qingqian, that jinxed, rotten ghost. If it weren’t for going to find Shi Qingqian this morning to ask about Jin Siliu, she wouldn’t have gotten injured at all, nor would she have inexplicably fallen into two pits. They say bad things come in threes, but A’Ling thought, Please don’t let there be a third time.
Seeing another three-way fork ahead, A’Ling felt some regret. She should have just stayed still in that great demon beast cave earlier. This sudden exit was just like a pie falling from the sky; surely nothing good would come of it. When they entered the suddenly opened door, they saw a narrow, long passage. They thought walking to the end would lead them out, but they had been walking for an unknown amount of time. At the three-way fork, A’Ling casually cursed in her mind, ‘Shi Qingqian eats rice noodles without chopsticks and without vinegar‘. From left to right, she tapped the corresponding path with each word, and after silently finishing the last word, her finger landed on the leftmost path.
“Let’s go this way,” A’Ling said weakly, pointing to the leftmost path.
Shi Qingqian acknowledged with a sound, lifted the person on her back slightly, and continued walking forward. Shi Qingqian’s good temper left A’Ling with no temper left to lose. Looking at yet another seemingly endless path ahead, A’Ling no longer had the energy to be irritable. In the past seven or eight times she encountered such a situation, A’Ling would still furiously curse Shi Qingqian and threaten to blow up the entire cave after they got out! But now, after seventy or eighty times, anyone would have achieved a calm mind. Thinking of this, A’Ling looked at the dark head in front of her, its hair disheveled from her actions, and the wrinkled collar. A’Ling truly regretted her actions now. It would have been better if she hadn’t left home this morning. Why did she think of looking for Shi Qingqian? A’Ling truly had to suppress her urge with great effort to keep from tapping the head right in front of her! Mainly because she was on someone else’s back. If she accidentally ‘broke’ them, she wouldn’t find a temporary mount.
Now wasn’t the time for integrity, A’Ling thought. Anyway, she usually had a lot of integrity, so losing it once or twice was nothing. A’Ling glanced at the endless path. Since she was idle anyway, she might as well ask the questions she wanted to ask now, saving herself another trip later. She had developed a phobia of looking for Shi Qingqian.
“Um, did you know Jin Siliu is gone?”
Shi Qingqian paused her steps, tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her eyes. Not because of the question itself, but because she hadn’t expected A’Ling to suddenly speak to her. It was only a brief moment of distraction. Recovering, Shi Qingqian continued walking forward. “Don’t worry, she’s fine.”
Upon hearing this, A’Ling thought, ‘Just as I suspected, I was right!’ Jin Siliu’s disappearance must be related to Shi Qingqian! She stopped beating around the bush and asked directly: “Where is she now?” Shi Qingqian didn’t hide it from her: “The Demon Realm.”
A’Ling grew anxious upon hearing this: “Did you force her to the Demon Realm? Do you know how difficult life is for a low-level demonic creature like her in the Demon Realm?!” Shi Qingqian’s expression froze: “You know she’s a demon?” A’Ling didn’t want her to change the topic: “Did you make her leave?”
“No.” Shi Qingqian thought for a moment. She had only reminded Jin Siliu that her presence would affect A’Ling; she hadn’t driven her away. But now she had another question: “You know she’s a demon?” Jin Siliu’s demonic energy had only just begun to become uncontrollable; before, she had suppressed it very well. A’Ling’s brow twitched. So it wasn’t Shi Qingqian who drove her away. Then why did she suddenly leave, and go so far, returning directly to the Demon Realm?
Shi Qingqian couldn’t see the expression of the person on her back. Seeing that she didn’t answer, she asked again: “When did you find out she was a demon?” A’Ling was still pondering why Jin Siliu returned to the Demon Realm. Hearing this question, she replied without hesitation: “I knew it from a very young age.” Shi Qingqian was surprised. Jin Siliu had told her that A’Ling didn’t know she was a demon. She was a little puzzled: “How did you know?” A’Ling raised an eyebrow. Since they were already discussing this, she might as well explain it clearly once and for all.
“She told me herself, but she probably doesn’t remember.” Shi Qingqian recalled Jin Siliu’s request. Jin Siliu had asked her not to tell A’Ling about her identity: “She thought you didn’t know she was a demon.” A’Ling pursed her lips: “The things she said when she lost control of her emotions, she never really remembered clearly afterward. When I was very young, I asked her why we were running for our lives, who were we hiding from? That’s when she told me she was a demon, and my father was a righteous cultivator, and because she was a demon, he wanted to kill her.”
“At that time, although I didn’t understand what a cultivator was, what a demon was, or why that meant someone had to be killed, I still remembered it.”
Shi Qingqian looked shocked, her feet seemingly shackled by thousand-pound chains, unable to move another step forward. “You knew?” She hadn’t expected A’Ling to know this. But it didn’t make sense. If Jin Siliu told her this, then why would she agree to return? She asked in a hoarse voice: “Then why did you come back? Weren’t you afraid he would kill you both?”
A’Ling understood who ‘he’ was whom Shi Qingqian was asking about—her presumed father at the time. “I thought he wouldn’t,” A’Ling said, her heart aching and her mouth bitter, speaking of her innocent thoughts when she was a teenager in her previous life. “At that time, I thought if he saw I wasn’t a bad person, he wouldn’t want to kill me.” Back then, she had even naively told Jin Siliu that even if ‘father’ wanted to kill her, she would stop him. She had held onto a sliver of hope initially because neither she nor Jin Siliu had died, thinking perhaps her father didn’t truly want to kill them, that there was some misunderstanding. She believed that after seeing her and discovering her good qualities, he wouldn’t want to kill her anymore. Naive, foolish! How many ‘I thought’s could there be? What was she, that others would spare someone they wanted to kill just for her sake?
In her previous life, after returning to the Huo family, Jin Siliu had another version of the story. In that version, Shi Qingqian’s parents both met with misfortune, and to protect her master’s last remaining bloodline, she had no choice but to switch the children. At that time, all her trust in Jin Siliu completely collapsed. She wished she could kill Jin Siliu. Later, because everyone preferred Shi Qingqian and constantly compared her to Shi Qingqian, she held a grudge and always found fault with Shi Qingqian, and her relationship with the Huo family also deteriorated. In her previous life, she had never revisited the story Jin Siliu told her during her emotional breakdown.
“Thinking about it now, those things she said, could they be about your parents?” A’Ling regretted her words the moment they left her mouth. What did Shi Qingqian’s matters have to do with her? The more she knew, the faster she would die. But the words were already out and couldn’t be taken back.
Shi Qingqian knew A’Ling couldn’t see her expression, but she still slightly lowered her gaze, not letting A’Ling see the surging complex emotions within. A’Ling didn’t know what she was thinking. Seeing that she didn’t reply, she quickly patted her shoulder: “Don’t worry, I won’t meddle in your affairs. I’ll keep these matters to myself. But whatever you plan to do, don’t harm Jin Siliu.” She always felt Jin Siliu’s attitude was strange. Every time she saw Shi Qingqian, there was a glimmer of expectation in her eyes. A’Ling thought that Jin Siliu’s thoughts were always on her master, so she definitely wouldn’t easily let go of the person who harmed her master. But Shi Qingqian’s father was clearly no ordinary person and must be very difficult to deal with. She didn’t know what the two were plotting, but she only hoped Jin Siliu wouldn’t be foolish enough to risk her life for Shi Qingqian.
She had said what needed to be said and didn’t want to meddle in other affairs. Seeing Shi Qingqian with her head lowered, pondering something, she was about to open her mouth to urge Shi Qingqian to continue walking, but suddenly realized something was wrong. “Look quickly, ahead!” A’Ling anxiously tugged at Shi Qingqian’s hair by her ear, forcing her to look up and forward. Shi Qingqian’s dark, unfocused eyes followed the direction A’Ling was pointing. Ahead, another three-way fork appeared. “Look at the things on that wall.”
A’Ling urged Shi Qingqian to walk faster. When they got closer, sure enough. She had thought not to go in circles, so she was extra careful and marked all the chosen forks they passed. The little figures drawn on the cave wall, and the crosses beside them—wasn’t this the very first fork they had chosen?! Oh my god, after walking for so long, they had actually returned to the starting point! A’Ling suddenly lowered her head and pounded Shi Qingqian’s back. “It’s over, we can’t get out. We’ve gone in a big circle and returned.” Not only that, but the great demon beast cave they were in earlier was gone after they returned. They couldn’t even go back to the original great cave. They were trapped in this narrow tunnel. Although there was no danger, if they kept walking like this day after day, it wouldn’t be long before A’Ling might go crazy.
“Ahhhhhhh, I’m going to die! Why did we come back to the starting point again?! What the heck is this place, how do we get out, ahhhhhhh——” A’Ling roared desperately at the pitch-black rock wall above. If her leg weren’t injured, she would rather dig a hole in this cave wall herself, continuously digging in one direction. She wouldn’t believe there wouldn’t be a day she dug through!
At the same time, Gu Jingyang had just taken out a rope and was about to bind Zhao Diqing’s hands when she heard shouting coming from beneath her feet. She abruptly stopped her movements, looking down at her feet in shock: “Why do I feel like I heard A’Ling’s voice?” Gu Jiangxue also heard the sound coming from underground. Just as she was about to squat down to check, a sudden sensation of weightlessness came over them. Gu Hongjue had been on guard nearby. Hearing Jingyang’s words, he was about to hold his breath and listen when suddenly, his wife and daughter both vanished from his sight!
Underground, A’Ling had just taken out the jade-green great demon beast’s demonic core from her spatial pouch and was raging impotently at it. “Are you behind this? Send me out, quick——” That ‘ah——’ was still echoing in the tunnel when suddenly, with a ‘bang, bang, bang’ sound, a group of people inexplicably appeared before her eyes. As she stared blankly at the three people who had suddenly appeared in front of her, A’Ling’s brow twitched. Hadn’t she just told the demonic core to send her out? Did she mean send more people in? No, what did this demonic core mean by bringing so many people in? A hotpot of chaos?
Good chapter 😌
Haha the more the merrier