Situ Fanzhi looked utterly shocked. He had never imagined that a mere immortal attendant like Ou Shinan would know his real name.
"There is no need for Immortal Lord to be so surprised. Xuanming Xingjun's hall has everything," Ou Shinan said carelessly, spreading his hands. With his other hand, he traced several symbols in the air, and Situ Fanzhi's old master-disciple oath suddenly appeared.
"That day, I was very curious. I could not understand why you monitored every immortal in Liao Yin Immortal Realm so closely, yet you were completely unconcerned about a stranger who trespassed into a forbidden place. So I went to look into that person's background, and I did not expect to find an extra surprise. Who would have thought that our lofty Immortal Lord, seated in the most honored position in all the Three Realms, had only picked it up from someone else's hands back then?" Ou Shinan slowly spread open the oath in his hand. Written on it were all the detailed records of Situ Shuang and Jiagu Qing.
"If a tiny Frost Flower could sit on the seat of Immortal Lord, then would not a little flower like me, stained with divine beast blood, be even more fit to rule the Three Realms?" Ou Shinan spread his arms and laughed toward the sky.
"But..." Ou Shinan suddenly stopped. His voice paused, and then he turned back with a playful smile toward Situ Fanzhi. "The yang energy inside your body is still not enough. It is not enough to stand against the Moonshadow Dan that absorbed the old Demon Lord's power."
Step by step, Ou Shinan drew close to Situ Fanzhi again. Situ Fanzhi seemed to understand what he meant. His eyes were full of resistance, but his body could not move at all.
"So I will have to trouble Immortal Lord to go to the human world and gather back a little more yang energy for me." Ou Shinan leaned close to Situ Fanzhi's ear and spoke softly, then recited another string of incantations .
On the Mountain...
Mie Xingzhe came hopping back to the cave with two jars of wine in his hands.
"Senior Jiagu, Senior Jiagu!"
He looked all around, inside and out, but did not see Jiagu Qing anywhere.
"Master, where did Senior Jiagu go?" Mie Xingzhe suddenly felt a little disappointed.
"Senior Jiagu has always been free and easy. He is used to wandering as he pleases." Li Luoning did not seem too concerned.
"How could he leave without even saying goodbye?" Mie Xingzhe muttered, sounding wronged. "Now that Senior Jiagu is gone, life on this mountain is going to be even more dull."
"Boring?"Li Luoning asked.
"No, no. I know Master likes peace and quiet. It is fine here." Mie Xingzhe hurriedly waved his hands and explained.
Li Luoning did not continue. He only lowered his head and thought for a while, as if calculating something.
And just as Mie Xingzhe had expected, the next few days were exactly the same. Practicing spells, reciting heart methods, gathering herbs. Plain and uneventful.
The silent night sky was covered with drifting dark clouds. The crescent moon was hidden now and then by passing clouds. Xueling was wrapped in a dim, muddy darkness.
"I wonder how long we are going to stay in this empty place. We cannot go back to Jingyun Residence, we cannot go to Pingyan, and we cannot go to the Peach Blossom Grove either. Are Master and I really going to stay in this birdless place for the rest of our lives?"
Unable to sleep, Mie Xingzhe sat alone on a rock by the cliff, talking to himself, completely unaware of Li Luoning standing behind him.
Looking at Mie Xingzhe's back, Li Luoning's gaze was complicated. After thinking for a while, he turned and quietly walked away.
At dawn the next morning, Li Luoning gently woke Mie Xingzhe.
"Nian Nian, get up." Li Luoning's voice was soft as he lightly patted Mie Xingzhe's shoulder.
Still half asleep, Mie Xingzhe sat up unsteadily.
"Master, is it not too early to go hunting at this hour?" he asked drowsily.
"It is time," Li Luoning said softly.
"Time for what?" Mie Xingzhe asked with his eyes still closed, not yet fully awake.
"Time to leave this place." Li Luoning's lips curved upward slightly as he murmured.
"Really? We are really leaving this barren mountain? That is great!" The moment he heard they were leaving, all of Mie Xingzhe's sleepiness disappeared. He jumped up excitedly.
Seeing how happy he was, Li Luoning looked a little surprised, and almost smiled.
Noticing his Master's gaze, Mie Xingzhe immediately restrained himself.
"What I mean is... anywhere is fine, as long as Master is there too." Mie Xingzhe stammered awkwardly.
"Then let us go." Seeing that he was fully awake now, Li Luoning turned and walked out of the cave.
"Master, where are we going?"
"The human world."
At Wuming Demon Mountain, in the Demon Lord's great hall,
"What do you mean, no one knows where he is?" Shen Tu Zhuojia angrily demanded of the demon soldier who had come to report.
"Commander Hua did indeed go to Pingyan before. But he stayed at Nan Zhe's residence for less than the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, then hurried off in the direction of the Peach Blossom Grove. The barrier around the Peach Blossom Grove was too strong. The demon soldiers did not have enough cultivation to get in, so... so we lost him." The reporting demon soldier's voice trembled.
"Are you certain he entered the Peach Blossom Grove and never came out again?" Shen Tu Zhuojia asked once more, still unwilling to give up.
"Yes."
In Liao Yin Immortal Realm, at the Peach Blossom Grove...
"What sudden interest brings Your Lordship here to admire the flowers in my Liao Yin Immortal Realm?" Ou Shinan asked knowingly, standing before Shen Tu Zhuojia with a group of immortal soldiers behind him, lightly fanning himself.
"And what are you, that you think you are fit to speak with me? Call Situ Fanzhi out to see me!" Shen Tu Zhuojia's voice carried open anger. He believed Hua Qiuyuan had most likely been detained somewhere in Liao Yin Immortal Realm by Situ Fanzhi, so he showed no courtesy at all.
"Immortal Lord is currently in seclusion. If Your Lordship has any matter, this little immortal can pass it along for you." Ou Shinan smiled lightly and bowed his head once.
"So now even a lowly flower demon can speak on behalf of your immortal sect? You people really will take in anything!" Shen Tu Zhuojia's deep and powerful voice was full of contempt.
Ou Shinan's slender fingers tightened around his fan. He lowered his eyes for a moment to hide the flash of anger that passed through them. He hated being called a flower demon more than anything. A flower demon stained with divine beast blood was the label he had always wanted to cast off. But no matter how hard he tried, he could never stop the whispers of others. In the end, he was still the godson whom the Medicine King had once seen as dangerously threatening.
After a brief pause, Ou Shinan raised his head again with a smile in his eyes.
"Then it seems Your Lordship has nothing urgent to discuss. I will not keep you company here any longer. Perhaps Your Lordship can return after Immortal Lord comes out of seclusion." With that, he turned to leave.
"Stop!"
"Does Your Lordship have any other instructions?" Ou Shinan slowly turned back, still smiling.
"Did you capture Hua Qiuyuan?" Shen Tu Zhuojia asked directly, his tone hard.
"Commander Hua? He did come here a few days ago," Ou Shinan said, pretending to think. "But he only took a medicine box from the Peach Blossom Grove and then left." Ou Shinan lied smoothly, without changing his expression in the slightest.
"He left? Where did he go?"
"That I do not know. Though I think I heard him muttering something about avenging Hua Ruoying. But the rest, I did not hear very clearly." Ou Shinan smiled faintly.
"Revenge? Revenge on whom?" Shen Tu Zhuojia pressed.
"How would this little immortal know? After all, I am only... a flower demon." Ou Shinan's tone carried open mockery. Before Shen Tu Zhuojia could ask anything else, he turned and left with his group of immortal soldiers.
"Qiuyuan has always handled matters carefully. Even if he truly went to seek revenge, he would never have vanished without sending back even one message. Something is wrong here." Shen Tu Zhuojia knew Hua Qiuyuan too well. Disappearing like this for no reason was not something he would ever do on purpose.
Mie Xingzhe looked at the ruined blackened buildings ahead, overgrown with weeds, and asked,
"Master, what place is this?"
"The Li residence," Li Luoning replied softly, then walked into one of the ruined rooms that had not been completely burned away.
"The Li residence... then does that not mean..." Mie Xingzhe murmured to himself for a moment before he finally understood. He hurried after him.
This half-ruined room was once the eastern courtyard of the Li residence, the place where Li Luoning's mother had lived.
The wooden door was long gone. Through the missing roof tiles in the blackened roof, a wide stretch of sky could be seen above. Most of the walls had been burned so badly in the great fire that their original color could no longer be recognized. The furniture had all long been moved out. Beyond the only surviving window frame, there was a flourishing sea of blue snow flowers.
"This is not even as good as the broken temple where Grandpa Mi and I used to live," Mie Xingzhe complained as he looked around.
Li Luoning lightly touched several marks on the wall beside the window frame, and his thoughts were unwillingly dragged back to the past.
"Mother, have I grown taller again?" the young Li Luoning had once asked, looking at the marks by the window.
"Our Ning has grown so much taller. As long as Ning can live safely and in good health, Mother will be content."
"Mother, when Ning grows up, I want to be someone who understands medicine like Father."
"All right, all right. As long as Ning likes it, anything is fine. As long as you are safe and sound."
On the day the Li residence burned, the instant Li Luoning was pushed out of the room, a burning roof beam crashed down and pinned Madam Li beneath it.
"Mother, save my mother! Let go of me! I want to save my mother!" The young Li Luoning had no time to react before the servants who rushed over lifted him away by force.
The young Li Luoning could only watch helplessly as the fire swallowed Madam Li bit by bit. The last thing he heard from her was one final instruction.
"Ning !My son, live on well."
"Master... Master...?"
Mie Xingzhe's call pulled him back. Only then did Li Luoning realize that without noticing, he had crushed a notch into the window frame with his hand.
Mie Xingzhe waved his hand in front of Li Luoning's face. Once he saw his Master finally come back to himself, he asked carefully,
"Master, are we going to live here from now on?"
"If not here, then where?" Li Luoning turned and shot Mie Xingzhe a look.
When Mie Xingzhe thought about it, it made sense. No matter how ruined the place was, it still belonged to Master. That was far better than living in a broken temple and being chased off at every turn.
"It is... it is good here. Once we clean it up, it should be pretty nice. I will fetch some water to wipe things down, then go to the market and trade for a few things. If we mend it a little, we should be able to live here." Mie Xingzhe said with a soft smile as he picked up dead branches from the ground.
Li Luoning nodded, then turned to look at the sea of blue snow flowers again. Only now, his gaze gradually turned cold and fierce.
Still unwilling to give up after failing to find Hua Qiuyuan, Shen Tu Zhuojia decided to try his luck in Pingyan.
In the deep night of the demon forest, mist drifted everywhere. The wind passed through drooping willows, and under the moonlight their shadows swayed strangely. Dried bloodstains on the earth made the place feel all the more sinister.
Shen Tu Zhuojia naturally knew what had happened here before, but he paid it no mind. He only wanted to get to Pingyan City as quickly as possible and find out the truth. He completely failed to notice the powerful strike of energy shooting out from the shadows behind him.
"Who is there?"
The attack hit the center of his back heavily. Shen Tu Zhuojia staggered forward several steps, nearly falling.
Nan Zhe stepped out from the darkness, neither fast nor slow.
"Why is Demon Lord in such a hurry? Where might you be going?"
"You came at the right time. I was just about to come looking for you, and now you have delivered yourself."
"What is wrong with Demon Lord? Why such a foul temper?" Nan Zhe's cold voice drifted from behind his dark mask.
"I ask you this. Was it you who invited Hua Qiuyuan to your residence?"
"Invited him as a guest? Not quite. But Hua Ruoying was murdered. As her friend, was it not only proper for me to inform her brother?" Nan Zhe rubbed his fingers slowly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"After Hua Qiuyuan came to your place, where did he go next?" Shen Tu Zhuojia continued.
"How would I know? Commander Hua acts quickly and does not care much for dealing with people. I only told him who killed his sister, and then he rushed off on his own. Even if I had wanted to stop him, I could not have." Nan Zhe tilted his head and stared straight at Shen Tu Zhuojia, his eyes full of arrogance.
"You know who killed Ruoying?" Shen Tu Zhuojia asked in surprise.
"Is there anything in Pingyan that Gu does not know?" Nan Zhe spread his hands proudly, his tone full of mocking amusement.
"Who was it?" Shen Tu Zhuojia urgently needed a name.
"Oh, so that is why Demon Lord himself came down the mountain and searched all over for him? Tsk, tsk. I never expected that Hua Qiuyuan, only a commander of demon soldiers, would be important enough for Demon Lord to search for in person. What a trusted little lackey he must be." Nan Zhe suddenly stopped being direct and began speaking in circles.
"Enough nonsense. I have not settled accounts with you over your dealings with Minghan. You had best know your place and tell me at once who killed Hua Ruoying, and where you lured Hua Qiuyuan. Otherwise do not blame me for being rude." Shen Tu Zhuojia's patience was nearly gone. His gaze at Nan Zhe grew more and more furious.
"Now that is unfair, Demon Lord. Back then, how was I supposed to know he was a fake Demon Lord? I really thought I had managed to tie myself to the great ship of the demon race. Thinking back on it now, Gu was also a victim, deceived and misled." Nan Zhe's tone remained relaxed and slow.
"I will ask you one last time. Who killed Ruoying?" Shen Tu Zhuojia had no interest in wasting another moment with Nan Zhe. He forced down his fury and asked in a low voice through clenched teeth.
"Fine, I will stop playing coy. Back then, who was the one tricked by Ruoying again and again? I do not think I need to make it any clearer than that." Nan Zhe flicked something from his hand, then disappeared into the night of the demon forest.
Shen Tu Zhuojia instinctively caught what Nan Zhe had thrown. When he slowly opened his palm, he found a blue snow flower lying there.