Chapter 96
The entire Tianyu Mountain was unusually quiet now, and everyone's expressions were not normal, some even showing sadness. Brothers and sisters from Tianyu Mountain had also sacrificed their lives in the "Three Prefectures" operation.
Before Lin Jichen could even feel sad, his senior brother summoned him to the council hall, saying there was something to announce. When Lin Jichen arrived, he saw only two people sitting in the main seats: the sect leader's senior uncle and his grand-uncle. There were no elders below; everyone was a disciple of the sect leader's elders.
She came up behind her senior sisters without making a sound.
"Uncle-Master, you still won't tell us at this point?" Han Wenqing said, rubbing his forehead. "Sui Fu, who went to investigate, is dead. He was killed by the demons."
Upon hearing the news of Sui Fu's death, this grandmaster was greatly shocked. He stretched out his fingers and began to calculate, but suddenly his face turned pale, and he muttered, "Impossible, he can't be dead."
Sui Fu is dead? That white-haired male fox spirit is dead? Lin Jichen recalled that monster. He was clearly a very, very good person. He was the one who protected Gu Qingci to Yanyue Sect, and he was also the one who protected Zhou Xuanzhi and Shi Yunzhou who had mistakenly entered Guancheng. How could he be dead?
Han Wenqing waited patiently for a while and then said, "The body was discovered by Master Fang of the Exorcism Division, and he personally confirmed it. He also mentioned some other information." Han Wenqing looked at his senior uncle with a helpless expression: "You didn't explain everything beforehand."
Lin Jichen suddenly realized she couldn't hear anything. She could only see her sect leader's mouth moving, and her grandmaster's mouth moving as well. Why was this happening? He had nothing to do with it; he shouldn't have died!
Suddenly someone patted her on the shoulder; it was from the late Ming Dynasty.
"...How are you? Are you alright?" The face and voice of their senior sister gradually became clearer.
She nodded to indicate that she was fine.
This is the voice of her grandmaster: "At that time, I did a divination and it was predicted that there would be a great calamity in the world. The root cause lies in Xiao Qing's tragic love affair. Only she can stop this calamity."
The two listened to their grandmaster's words: "I went to ask Xiao Qing what her connection is with some member of the demon race."
"What was her answer?" the sect leader asked.
"Does she mean a blood feud?" The grandmaster smiled bitterly and said, "How can a blood feud count? That person is clearly deeply in love with her. The name Chonghua was something Xiao Qing thought about for a long time before she came up with it. You all know this story, so I won't go into details."
"In the end, the calamities of this mortal realm have little to do with Xiao Qing. She never imagined that saving a mortal would one day make her the Demon Lord of the Demon Clan. However, Xiao Qing's spiritual palace is shattered, and she can only live for a maximum of fifty years. She couldn't hold on until today to stop Chonghua, and even if she had held on until today, she would no longer have the power to stop him."
“We tried many methods, but none of them worked. Then we saw Sui Fu. Xiao Qing thought about Sui Fu’s background. He was originally capable of becoming an immortal, but after his inner core was taken away, he cultivated a demon core again. Xiao Qing was inspired and said that she could not die naturally, because that would cause her soul to be completely destroyed and there would be no possibility of her dying again.”
"Then there's only one way: to be killed. That way, her soul can be captured when it scatters. As long as we seize this opportunity, we can deceive the Heavenly Dao and quietly nurture her shattered soul. Two hundred years, just two hundred years, and she can return."
Han Wenqing almost cursed at the audacious plan devised by the three of them. If this weren't his senior uncle or his junior sister, he really would have cursed them. All he could say in the end was, "You guys are too bold!"
However, the plan was successful.
The grandmaster nodded. Although they had succeeded, he wasn't very happy. How could Sui Fu have died? He had calculated everything. Their plan had succeeded; they had prevented the disaster from happening, and they were all alive.
"Xiao Qing's soul is currently with Chong Hua. We're just a hair's breadth away from getting her back to kill Chong Hua." At this point, there's no turning back.
No one can act in secret from the will of Heaven. If you've been caught in its machinations, it means Heaven wants you to know. Whether it's Chonghua, your martial uncle, or Shi Wanqing, who became part of the plan, they were all manipulated by Heaven. They were manipulated to the point of submission and willing to give everything.
Clearly, this grandmaster who had foreseen everything also knew that this was what Heaven wanted him to know. At that time, they had no other choice but to continue doing this, solely to achieve what they had today.
"Are you really sure Chonghua is willing to be used by the Heavenly Dao?" Han Wenqing sighed. Although he had never met or interacted with that demon, he was a genius who had unified the demon race step by step, yet he had a weakness like his junior sister. But that didn't mean he was willing to be used by others, especially the Heavenly Dao.
"The person in the story you told didn't believe in fate, and he was rewriting his own destiny," Han Wenqing said almost in despair. "What would such a person do if he knew that all of this was arranged by Heaven?"
The sect leader's senior uncle actually said that. Lin Jichen didn't know much about this Demon Lord, but wasn't everything he did just to revive his junior uncle? What did it have to do with the Heavenly Dao?
Seeing Lin Jichen's bewildered expression, the senior sister lowered her voice and said, "If you were Chonghua and found out you'd been deceived, what would you do?"
Of course I'm angry.
Do you think Chonghua won't discover Junior Uncle's plan?
A person who can rise from a mortal to the position of Demon Lord must be extremely intelligent; he should have figured it out. Lin Jichen nodded involuntarily.
The eldest sister said, "That's what the sect leader thinks. Senior Sui Fu was killed by the demons, and the sect leader suspects that Junior Uncle and the others' plan was discovered by Chonghua."
Wait a minute, wasn't this something our grandmaster uncle just mentioned? How did our sect leader uncle find out? And how did he come to suspect the demons?
After all, she had taken care of Lin Jichen all these years, and she could tell what Lin Jichen was thinking from just a few glances. So she continued to explain, "It was the head of the Exorcism Division, Master Fang, who learned about Senior Sui Fu... and he informed his senior master, Master Uncle, of some things."
Sect Leader Fang knows this, but the people of Tianyu Mountain don't. I imagine that Sect Leader Uncle is very angry right now!
"How did you discover Senior Sui Fu?"
The eldest sister's mood sombered. "He was in contact with the leaders of various sects, communicating almost daily. There had been no news of him for the past few days, and everyone was worried. Some sect elders went out to search and then discovered his... remains."
"They found it in a valley, and they said it passed away peacefully..."
Even a powerful demon like Sui Fu was silently killed by the demon race, so what about us cultivators? Wouldn't we die even more tragically? When I was training in the mortal realm before, I wasn't afraid even when facing Fang Xia Shen, but now I'm so scared that I have goosebumps all over my body.
She wanted to say something but couldn't utter a word. What exactly did the demons want to do? Senior Sui Fu had absolutely nothing to do with this matter. Did he have to die just because he helped the immortal sects?
Seeing Lin Jichen's state, the senior sister felt sorry for him and comforted him, saying, "Don't think too much. We are facing vicious criminals who cannot be understood with human thinking. What we need to do is protect ourselves and those who need us."
When Lin Jichen returned to his room and saw the furnishings, he suddenly felt as if he had been transported to another world. Everything here was both strange and familiar. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that after leaving this time, he would never see this room again.
Right now, all I want to do is lie in bed, with the blanket over my head. It seems like that would shut me out of everything outside, and give me a strange sense of security. ...But I can't. There are still many people outside who need my help. And the demons won't give me time to rest just because I'm exhausted.
Suddenly, I long to return to my childhood, when I was well protected by my senior sisters. In my spare time, I would go with them and other senior brothers from different peaks to gather spiritual herbs for herbalists and steal newly drawn talismans from talisman cultivators. Of course, I was also resented by others; I don't know who it was that cut my zither strings at night.
Back then, although I was troubled by schoolwork, that was all I was troubled by. Those days are gone forever; I can never go back to my childhood.
As Lin Jichen reminisced about his childhood, he suddenly felt himself sway. He thought it was just his imagination, but then the swaying continued, and the cups on the table fell to the ground.
As soon as she stepped outside, she saw countless protective formations activated. She ran out and arrived at the training ground of Nanyu Peak, which was filled with her senior and junior sisters.
She went to her senior sister's side, "What happened?"
She wasn't sure either, and shook her head at everyone, saying, "Don't worry, no matter what happens, just stand behind me."
The message came from mid-air: "The demons are attacking the mountain; defend the mountain as planned."
The demons have finally begun to take action, and a huge weight has been lifted from my heart, Lin Jichen thought.
Lin Jichen wasn't among the guards protecting the mountain; she was sent out to continue rescuing the people. As she left, she seemed to see tears glistening in her senior sister's eyes, but she still refused her wish to stay and help, firmly letting her leave.
Anzhi, the youngest junior sister, also left with them. The senior sister looked at Anzhi with reluctance and said, "I'm entrusting my junior sister to you. She's not very old, so you should take care of her..." She suddenly couldn't say anything more. In fact, Lin Jichen's age wasn't very old in the immortal sect. In everyone's eyes, she was still a child. It didn't seem fair to entrust another child to her like this.
Finally, she said, "Take care of yourselves."
Lin Jichen looked at his senior sister and didn't know what to say for a moment. In the end, he only said, "Senior sister, you must take good care of yourself and Master."
Anzhi didn't really want to leave either. She hugged her senior sister and cried, "Senior sister, please don't let us go! Let's go together!"
"No!" she refused sternly. "They still need you outside. Don't come back without orders."
After calming herself down, Lin Jichen took Anzhi's hand and said to her senior sister, "Don't worry, senior sister, I will take good care of everyone."
Anzhi couldn't break free from Lin Jichen's hand. As Lin Jichen pulled her away, she kept looking back at the people who had come to see her off... When she could no longer see anyone, Lin Jichen released her hand. When they reached the gate of Tianyu Mountain, she asked, "Can we come back?"
"Yes, we will definitely come back," Lin Jichen firmly believed.
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