Chapter 39: The Weight of Hope

Atop Qingqiu Mountain.

“Ling’er, why won’t you listen to our Eldest Senior Sister? Why are you so determined to get involved with Scarlet Soul and Bai Jiu’er?”

“Fourth Senior Sister, you know this is the only way I can think of to help Master right now…”

“Have you forgotten? Two years ago, didn’t Eldest Senior Sister tell you in the Tian Shu Mountain Range that we have a way to free Master from everything, a way that absolutely doesn’t require your interference? You are far too weak right now. All you need to do is stay by Master’s side; you can’t accomplish anything else!”

“Moreover, you bear the very soul essence of the Qingqiu fox demon clan. Didn’t they entrust you with the hope of their revival when they were sacrificed by Scarlet Soul?”

Xia Qiuqian stood beneath the shade of a tree, clad in black. Her figure was slender and graceful, perfectly proportioned.

Her short, black and white hair intertwined, crowned with matching black and white cat ears. Two cat tails, one black and one white, swayed behind her.

A cat-face mask rested on the left side of her head, though she hadn’t put it on.

Despite all her earnest pleas and bitter advice, she simply could not change Su Ling’er’s mind.

The urgency caused her two cat tails to knot together.

‘This little lass has only been around for two hundred years, yet how did she become so stubborn?’

“Then tell me everything about Master!” Su Ling’er’s eyes glimmered with a faint light, her demonic energy surging. Six ethereal fox tails floated behind her.

“Tell me why Master and Bai Jiu’er are connected! Why did you, Fourth Senior Sister, encounter a Bai Jiuyue who looked exactly like Master two thousand years ago! Why haven’t any of you visited Master for thousands of years? Do you truly believe I haven’t uncovered anything in these past few centuries?”

Xia Qiuqian’s pupils contracted slightly. However, she quickly recalled something, and her expression gradually shifted to one of astonishment and stupefaction.

“How do you know that… Wait, have you touched the Star Gate? You’re not trying to merge with the Water of Recollection, like Scarlet Soul did two hundred years ago, are you?”

Su Ling’er conjured a small bottle from thin air, within which a peculiar blue liquid eerily floated.

Her face was etched with both madness and obsession.

“Eldest Senior Sister is now the Demon Emperor of the Tian Shu Mountain Range, wielding immense power, and has long forgotten Cloudfall Mountain and Master! Second Senior Sister went missing ages ago, Third Senior Sister is trapped on Star Crown Mountain with no news, and you, Fourth Senior Sister, are immersed in your ridiculous cat-and-mouse game of being a phantom thief.”

Su Ling’er recounted, one by one, the circumstances of her other four senior sisters as she understood them.

“Only I have diligently studied for Master for the past three millennia. Four hundred years ago, I found the quickest and most effective method in Qingqiu, and during the Dreamfall two hundred years ago, only I remembered everything that vanished! Only I have consistently strived for Master, and only I can save Master now. Master’s greatest need right now is me!”

Su Ling’er smiled. The moonlight illuminated her six tails, and beneath their six-fold radiance, her crazed and morbid smile infuriated Xia Qiuqian.

Xia Qiuqian’s breathing grew ragged as she involuntarily clenched her fists.

“This method of altering the past by distorting memories and history is simply impossible to achieve! Scarlet Soul and Bai Jiu’er paid a price worse than death for it.”

“Master now has the Azure Water Pearl. We have plenty of time to wait for Eldest Senior Sister…”

“I can’t wait!”

Xia Qiuqian’s words were cut short by the enraged Su Ling’er. The base of her fox tails turned crimson, and countless fiery meteors shot from them, assailing Xia Qiuqian.

“This is my only hope…”

Su Ling’er’s eyes were obscured by her disheveled long hair, tears streaming from them, only to be swiftly evaporated by the flames, leaving barely perceptible tear tracks.

From within the smoke of the explosion, Xia Qiuqian stood unharmed, her head bowed.

“I truly didn’t want to be rough with my dear junior sister, but you’ve genuinely provoked me!”

“Ling’er, if I could, I truly wouldn’t want to be rough with my dear junior sister~”

Xia Qiuqian placed the mask on her head, slowly emerging from the tree’s shade. The cat-face mask adhered to her face like regenerating skin, and a demonic power far greater than Su Ling’er’s surged from within her.

“In that case, allow me to steal your hope!”

At the headquarters of the Demon Suppression Bureau’s central courtyard…

“Uncle Zhuge, what do you need from Muqin and me?”

“Zhuiming, I have something I need to entrust to you.”

“What is it? Don’t tell me it’s another report for those demons? Spare me, Uncle. I’m truly not suited for writing such things. You’d be better off asking Iron Hand or Leng Feng to write it.”

“But Lord Zhuiming abandons official duties every day to slack off under wanted posters, and often gets into arguments with the fugitives.”

“Junior Sister Muqin, you’re wronging me. That’s not slacking off; it’s called going deep into the grassroots to better understand criminals and public sentiment.”

“That’s true! Lord Zhuiming, single-handedly, managed to make the Demon Suppression Bureau appear unprofessional and unreliable to the common folk. Truly impressive!”

“Uh…”

Zhuge Ming watched the two young women mock each other, rubbing his forehead in annoyance.

‘Alas, not a single one of them gives me a moment’s peace.’

He cleared his throat twice, looking up to quiet the two women.

He took out his identity token and displayed four wanted posters for Zhuiming and Muqin to see.

The four demons were Su Ling’er, the snake demon from Cloudfall Mountain, Scarlet Soul, and Long Zhi, who had just been captured by Zhang Feng.

“I presume you’ve heard about Scarlet Soul’s escape from prison.”

“Master, Lord Zhuiming slacks off here every day. There are even his comments below the posters; he definitely knows everything perfectly clear!”

“Junior Sister, can we please not talk about slacking off? Can’t you be a little kinder to your senior sister? What man would dare marry you if you keep this up?”

“But Lord Zhuiming, I completed all your official duties this week. I also handle the daily meals, practice equipment, and room tidying. If I had to be even kinder, Muqin would truly collapse from exhaustion…”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m exploiting you!”

“Aren’t you?”

“…”

“Cough, cough. Save your bickering for private. I called you here for an urgent matter.”

Seeing Zhuge Ming’s serious expression, Zhuiming realized this was indeed important. She shed her carefree attitude, sitting up straight.

“According to the jailer’s testimony, the one who helped Scarlet Soul break out of prison was a highly skilled formation master.”

“A formation master? Didn’t this unorthodox path lose its during the Dreamfall incident? Only a few remnants remain in the eastern Aolai Kingdom.”

Zhuiming pondered, voicing her doubts.

Formation masters were once the foremost among the three unorthodox cultivation paths, but for some unknown reason, they vanished during the Dreamfall incident two hundred years ago. Only a few remaining outer disciples fled to the Aolai Kingdom, leading to their decline.

A formation master powerful enough to help Scarlet Soul escape the Tenshu Tower prison? She truly couldn’t think of anyone in the world today.

Not even the current Imperial Preceptor of the Aolai Kingdom, the strongest formation master in the Eastern Huang Immortal Continent, could achieve such a feat.

“Indeed. That’s why I suspect Scarlet Soul’s escape is related to the Star Gate.”

“According to my covert agents embedded in the martial world, Scarlet Soul’s objective is to go to Qingqiu and reinstitute the Dreamfall ritual. This includes the wanted fox demon Su Ling’er, and the snake demon Bai Jiujiu from Cloudfall Mountain, both of whom have already departed for Qingqiu.”

“Oh~ It seems I’ll get to meet this Thousand-Faced Fox Demon who caused such a stir in the Great Chu Kingdom. She must be very much like me!”

“And to teach such an interesting fox demon, this snake demon must also be incredibly capable—a truly distinctive Venerable!”

Zhuiming’s face lit up with joy. If not for her status as a ninth-rank constable, which prevented her from acting independently, she would have long since rushed to Cloudfall Mountain to find Bai Jiujiu.

“Zhuiming, I am now issuing you a command: without revealing your identity, you must disrupt Scarlet Soul’s plan at all costs and apprehend her.”

“Muqin, you are responsible for assisting Zhuiming. Publicly, I will inform the martial world that you are the primary operative for this mission.”

Zhuge Ming slammed his hand on the table, issuing a solemn command. The two young women rose simultaneously, bowing respectfully to him.

“Yes!”

Zhuge Ming then explained the plan and precautions in detail to the two of them, before sending Muqin away to prepare for the upcoming operation. Zhuiming, however, he kept behind alone.

“Uncle, is there anything else?”

Zhuiming was a little puzzled. Everything that needed to be said had already been made clear. Did her uncle have any further instructions?

“Zhuiming, do you know the history of the Chu Kingdom?”

“Of course. It was founded two hundred years ago by Master’s adopted daughter, Xiang Tian, during the Dreamfall incident. The current King Chu, that young fellow, is Xiang Tian’s grandson and that guy Leng Feng’s junior disciple.”

“Then have you heard a saying that the Chu Kingdom was actually established three thousand years ago, built step by step by a young beggar using the Azure Water Pearl?”

“I’ve heard of it; it seems to be a rumor from Zhuocheng. Could it be that Uncle, you also believe such an absurd claim?”

“For this mission, you must remember these twelve words: ‘See what is seen, remember what is not remembered, do what is not done.'”

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