This month, Yue Lan was hiding something—something about Qing Mu.
As soon as Lin Qiyou left the Rose Church, she bit her thumbnail, standing by the roadside, one foot tapping incessantly on the ground.
Yue Lan definitely had a big problem.
Lin Qiyou could tell. From the way Yue Lan spoke about the former heroes and when she mentioned Qing Mu, her attitude was clearly twofold.
Though the shift between these attitudes was subtle, Lin Qiyou still sensed something strange in her eyes.
Was Qing Mu’s matter a church secret?
It seemed so. Over the past year, from Zenda Town to the Rose Kingdom, and even in front of Saintess Yue Lan herself, almost no information about Qing Mu could be extracted.
It was as mysterious as the secrets of immortality in her own world.
But this only made things more suspicious.
The protection of information about Qing Mu had gone beyond reasonable privacy or security measures. It felt like the entire world was deliberately hiding something.
“Phew… good thing I didn’t ask about the Deepwood District.”
Stopping her anxious tapping on the ground, Lin Qiyou murmured her thoughts.
There was an alchemy furnace in the Deepwood District…
Since Yue Lan was deliberately concealing Qing Mu’s whereabouts, Lin Qiyou wouldn’t easily get any news either. So perhaps the wood elf blacksmith making the alchemy furnace in the Deepwood District was a breakthrough.
“May the Holy Light bless you. You are the person invited by the Saintess herself, right?”
Suddenly, a greeting came from ahead. Lin Qiyou looked up and saw a priest she didn’t recognize. She nodded.
“I’ve heard some news regarding the border checkpoint of the Rose Kingdom. Please allow me to extend my sincerest respect.”
“That’s an exaggeration. I’m only doing what’s within my ability.”
Lin Qiyou tried to shake him off. She needed some personal space to think. Even Xiao Ya, who was supposed to accompany her, had been sent back to their lodging.
Yet, this priest was strange. He said quite a lot to Lin Qiyou, subtly inviting her to some place.
It was odd. Lin Qiyou instinctively felt that although he was from the Rose Church, he didn’t share Yue Lan’s views.
If Yue Lan wanted to find her, she would have come in the name of the Saintess or at least dropped some hint.
In the end, Lin Qiyou refused the priest several times and finally turned away resolutely.
After walking a few steps, Lin Qiyou suddenly felt something was off. She stopped and looked back. It was the priest’s figure.
“Hm… danger. But where exactly is the danger?”
Lin Qiyou touched her forehead and pondered for a while before mumbling:
“Ah… I want to pry into secrets?”
She immediately got a bad feeling and hurried back to her residence in the capital.
Upon returning, she found a guest in her room.
The guest was a woman—one of the people from the group trying to kill and seize treasure at the border checkpoint.
She had brought some food for Lin Qiyou and Xiao Ya, exchanged some polite words, then left once Lin Qiyou came back.
“Don’t eat that.”
Lin Qiyou snatched the food from Xiao Ya’s hands. Despite Xiao Ya’s puzzled protests, she threw all the food into the trash.
“Go to the bathroom, now.”
Grabbing Xiao Ya, she pulled her toward the washbasin, her fingers pressing at the back of Xiao Ya’s throat.
After a while, she muffled Xiao Ya’s screams and cries, covered her mouth, then opened the window and climbed to the rooftop to wait for nightfall.
Xiao Ya had found Lin Qiyou’s behavior inexplicable from the start but chose to trust her. On the tavern’s rooftop, she rested her head on Lin Qiyou’s lap and fell asleep.
Lin Qiyou sat in meditation until she heard faint sounds from below. Then she opened her eyes.
Quietly drawing her longsword, she waited for the right moment to draw it. Just as she prepared to unsheathe, additional sounds appeared.
This made her frown sharply.
“Bang! Bang!”
Immediately, the clash of swords and explosions of magic came from downstairs.
There was a fight going on. It couldn’t be assassins fighting amongst themselves.
“Someone wants to kill me. On one side, the assassin sent by Saintess Yue Lan. The other side… who could it be?”
Lin Qiyou gripped the sword hilt, uncertain whether to intervene.
…
…
“Qiyou, what are you thinking?”
In another world, Qin Shuang looked curiously at Lin Qiyou, who was still sitting in meditation.
They were atop a mountain, below which two spirit beasts were fiercely fighting.
Their purpose was to capture both spirit beasts separately. Unexpectedly, the two had coincidentally started battling.
So the matter became them sitting on the mountain, watching the tiger fight.
“If you don’t stop them soon, they might seriously injure each other. Any damage would greatly reduce their value.”
Qin Shuang said again.
“No rush…”
Lin Qiyou was still dressed in white, her black hair flowing like a waterfall, but her aura was colder than before.
She had been through so much these decades.
From breaking with her family, to killing her father with her own hands, and then founding the Ghost Sword Sect.
Qin Shuang had accompanied her for a long time. The two had become friends who shared everything.
“Very well, I’ll follow your lead.”
Qin Shuang nodded and also entered meditation beside her.
The howls of the spirit beasts echoed through the valley.
The two immortals closed their eyes in contemplation, unaffected by the wild wind on the mountaintop.
After an unknown length of time, they slowly opened their eyes. The spirit beasts continued fighting.
Occasionally, a sharp shriek pierced the sky, and a wave of spiritual energy stirred their hems.
“How much of your spiritual veins can these two spirit beasts help you restore?”
“About thirty percent…”
Lin Qiyou looked at her palm and sighed.
Qin Shuang knew that when Lin Qiyou had faced her father, she had sacrificed her shattered spiritual veins to defeat him. In recent years, she had been striving to repair those broken veins.
This was both the saddest and happiest thing for Lin Qiyou.
The sadness was that Qing Mu’s most precious gift was gone.
The happiness was that she could finally shed the heavy shackles Qing Mu had left her.
“You still shouldn’t go to the Six Flavor Hall recently. I think it’s better to return to the Ghost Sword Sect first. There are a few elders—”
“No!”
Lin Qiyou firmly rejected Qin Shuang’s suggestion.
“Why? I don’t understand you. What’s so special about that fox that you keep chasing her?
You already caught her last time but did nothing.
What exactly do you want from that fox?”
Qin Shuang asked in confusion.
“I have my plans. It’s better you don’t ask.”
Lin Qiyou shook her head, unwilling to reveal the reasons behind this matter.
“Alright, it’s time to act.”
To prevent Qin Shuang from asking more, Lin Qiyou stood up, drew her longsword, and prepared to deal with the two spirit beasts below.
“Want me to help?”
Qin Shuang was eager to join.
“No need. I just want to test how much I’ve recovered recently.”
As Lin Qiyou leapt down from the mountaintop, she said, “After this, I’ll go check on the Six Flavor Hall.”