The mournful sound of the flute, filled with sorrow, lingered in the air. Gu Xiaosang stood by the window, her delicate fingers pressing against the jade flute, her rosy lips lightly touching it. Her gaze seemed both distant and dreamy, as if witnessing flowers silently falling and swallows flying in pairs.
*Thud, thud, thud.* A low, rhythmic knocking at the door snapped her out of her reverie. She turned around, revealing an enigmatic smile.
“Come in,” she said lightly, as if unconcerned with maintaining the solemn image of a holy maiden.
The door creaked open, and a man dressed as a peddler entered, bowing deeply. He carefully closed the door behind him and spoke with utmost respect:
“Reporting to the Holy Maiden, there is news as you requested.”
He kept his head lowered, not daring to meet Gu Xiaosang’s gaze directly, as if afraid of being overwhelmed by her ethereal and breathtaking beauty.
“The extraterrestrial stone has gone missing again?” Gu Xiaosang’s dimples appeared faintly, her expression giving nothing away.
“Yes, the extraterrestrial stone within the Zengxian Gate was lost again last night,” the peddler replied truthfully.
Gu Xiaosang tucked the jade flute back into her waistband and nodded slightly, as if casually asking, “Have any Exterior experts passed through the Three Mountains and Four Rivers these past few days?”
The peddler pondered for a long moment before answering, “The Cui family has a fleet approaching, preparing to head south to Hengyuan to visit the Zheng family. There must be an Exterior expert aboard.”
“The Cui family of Pingjin has been rather restless lately, frequently visiting the great clans. Some people must be feeling uneasy,” Gu Xiaosang chuckled softly, neither confirming nor denying. She then retrieved a wax pellet from her storage ring and flicked it to the peddler. “Travel day and night to the stretch of river leading into Huanzhou and drop this into the water. Make sure it’s done by tomorrow evening.”
She didn’t utter any threats, but the peddler shuddered nonetheless, blurting out:
“Your subordinate obeys! I will not disappoint the Holy Maiden, or I shall throw myself into the great river and end my life!”
At this moment, he instinctively raised his head to show his resolve, only to meet those deep, star-filled eyes.
As vast, beautiful, and awe-inspiring as the starry sky, those eyes were equally dreamlike.
The peddler felt as if struck by lightning. Unbeknownst to him, a subtle suggestion had been planted deep in his mind—to commit suicide after completing the mission to silence himself. Dazed, he pocketed the wax pellet and left the building.
The pellet was as large as a human eye, covered in crimson skin with a faintly fiery scent, clearly no ordinary object.
Gu Xiaosang watched her subordinate depart, standing motionless for a long time, as if turned into a statue. Suddenly, her delicate brows furrowed in apparent pain, her eyes flickering, losing their usual liveliness and emptiness, growing deeper and colder, as if she had witnessed countless cycles of reincarnation and seen through the vicissitudes of the mortal world.
At that moment, tiny streaks of purple lightning and azure thunder crackled from her forehead, forming layers of intricate seal scripts that overlapped into an exceedingly complex and ornate pattern.
The pattern pressed down, sinking into her skin and vanishing without a trace. Gu Xiaosang’s eyes regained their usual sparkle.
“Xiao Zi…” she murmured with a low laugh, her tone inscrutable.
The white gauze fluttered lightly as the door closed. Gu Xiaosang returned to the window, her lips still curved in that enigmatic half-smile:
“The inheritor of the Mystic Fairy has emerged, her incarnation awakened… Shan Xiumei, Liu Shuyu…”
When it came to scheming and strategizing, she was second to none—partly due to her innate talent, and partly due to the mystical nature of her cultivation techniques, as well as her accumulated experience and knowledge.
On a grand scale, she had glimpsed the myriad possibilities of the future and understood secrets that might even surpass those known to some of the great figures beyond the shore. On a smaller scale, the Luo Sect had a long and terrifyingly efficient intelligence-gathering network, surpassing most sects and clans.
When you knew far more than your opponent, things became simple and effortless.
This was something that fellow couldn’t even imagine, which was why he would eventually resist but still be forced to follow her lead, like a mouse under a cat’s paw. And this could also describe her own situation—yes, it could describe her own predicament…
…
Rain pattered softly, washing the bluestone slabs of the street. Shan Xiumei quietly entered the private chamber of the Moonview Pavilion, taking the seat of honor. The room was empty, with no guests yet arrived.
The great river winding through the rugged mountains of Huanzhou churned and roared, occasionally carrying the floating corpses of drowned victims. At a certain stretch of the riverbed, the wax pellet seemed to melt as if burned by fire, its crimson contents mysteriously vanishing.
The pellet split open completely, revealing its contents—a broken sword tip, roughly the length of the top joint of a ring finger.
The sword tip was coated in a frost-like azure glow, causing the surrounding water to slow and congeal. Then, it erupted with a burst of light, piercing through the river and shooting into the sky, its sharp, icy aura stirring the heavens and earth.
Aboard a fleet that had turned southward, Cui Qingyu, with his two broken eyebrows, suddenly opened his eyes, his short beard trembling slightly:
“The aura of a divine weapon?”
Before his words faded, his figure blurred, leaving only twisting layers of purple shadows in his place.
Near the Moonview Pavilion, in a quiet room of a small courtyard, another person’s eyes flashed with light:
“A divine weapon has emerged?”
Light and shadows flickered, and the courtyard returned to silence.
Deep in the treacherous mountains, an Exterior expert passing by turned his head toward the azure radiance, then took out a mask and placed it over his face—the mask of the legendary “Taiyi Zhenren” from ancient myths!
In a carriage outside the Moonview Pavilion, Gu Xiaosang, her face unadorned, gazed up at the sky, watching the light vanish in an instant.
The matter of the Thunder God’s inheritor was of great importance. The Pure Maiden Sect wouldn’t send only the Mystic Fairy’s inheritor just because Shan Xiumei’s incarnation was nearby—there must be an Exterior expert as well!
Lure the tiger away from the mountain, one peach for two scholars!
Shan Xiumei waited for a moment, then suddenly sensed something. She rose and walked to the window, just in time to see a woman in plain white robes holding an oil-paper umbrella swaying toward her like a flower bathed in rain.
She walked leisurely, one step bringing her to the front of the building, the next to the window’s edge!
Shan Xiumei’s pupils contracted to pinpricks, and in her ears, phantom prayers seemed to echo:
“Eternal Mother of No-Birth, the Vacuous Pure Land…”
“Eternal Mother of No-Birth, the Vacuous Pure Land!”
A jade-white finger pointed toward her, and Shan Xiumei found herself involuntarily leaning forward, as if trapped in a nightmare.
At the critical moment, six streaks of cold light erupted—from the tree in front of the Moonview Pavilion, from the shop across the street, from the hall on the first floor. Some twisted and turned, some shot like meteors, some spiraled upward, enveloping every vital point behind Gu Xiaosang, forcing her to retreat from Shan Xiumei. At the same time, a ribbon flew into the private chamber, wrapping around Shan Xiumei’s waist and attempting to pull her back.
Seven Heavenly Maidens protecting the Mystic Lord!
For them, ensuring Shan Xiumei’s safety was the priority!
At that moment, Gu Xiaosang vanished from their sight.
As if she had anticipated this, her earlier finger strike had been a feint. She stepped forward, her body spinning gracefully, and appeared behind Shan Xiumei. Her left hand swept out elegantly, aiming for the back of Shan Xiumei’s head.
And Shan Xiumei, pulled by the ribbon, seemed to willingly collide with it!
The six streaks of light, having lost their target, continued unabated. Seeing they were about to strike Shan Xiumei, they were forced to alter their trajectories in a flurry of confusion.
In the chaos, a white figure flickered. Gu Xiaosang abandoned Shan Xiumei and plunged into the scattered sword lights. The surrounding air seemed to vanish, losing all resistance, as if a terrifying vortex had formed, throwing the Heavenly Maidens off balance and drawing them closer to the Great Luo Demoness.
With pulls and pushes, twists and turns, the white figure danced gracefully as one figure after another fell. Gu Xiaosang never strayed far from Shan Xiumei, using her as both shield and bait.
By the time the Scattered Flowers Heavenly Maiden abandoned her ribbon and joined the fray, only three of the seven remained.
Shan Xiumei barely regained her composure and drew her sword. Suddenly, the floorboards split unnaturally beneath her, and she plummeted from the second floor to the first, breaking free of Gu Xiaosang’s grasp. The remaining three Heavenly Maidens threw themselves at Gu Xiaosang, sacrificing their lives to keep her from pursuing.
Gu Xiaosang showed no surprise, only a light chuckle.
The inheritor of the Mystic Fairy had finally been forced to act…
Afterward, she slaughtered the remaining Heavenly Maidens and chased into Huanzhou, where she once again encountered Meng Qi.
The past, buried for a thousand years, was now dust.
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