Chapter 113: The Premier Songstress of the Dongguan Kingdom

Little Rascal’s voice suddenly rose from the depths of her heart. At that very moment, Luo Yue’s hand jerked, and the two jade pendants came together. A dazzling radiance flashed into her eyes, so bright that she could not keep them open.

Another memory, both strange and familiar, surged into her mind.

Luo Yue clutched her forehead tightly, but beneath that overwhelming force, she eventually fainted.

…

The dream began in perfect serenity. Then dark clouds suddenly blotted out the sun. The Boundless Sea, the most tranquil place in the Divine Realm, gazed toward the distant border with the Demon Realm, where evil energy churned and surged.

The woman in red stared at the figure before her, and Luo Yue instantly guessed that it was Chong Lian.

Chong Lian’s expression froze. She transformed into violet smoke and vanished from where she stood. With a wave of her hand, it was as though heaven and earth had been purified, and the Divine Realm returned to its former state.

Far away, in the Thirty-Third Heaven, Chong Hua was in secluded cultivation. Chong Ye had disappeared, leaving Chong Zi alone. In her eyes, the azure sky before her had already turned blood-red. Yet for the sake of her elder brother, Chong Ye, she ultimately decided to remain in the Thirty-Third Heaven and stand guard.

It was as though a murky, black-brown mist had veiled Luo Yue’s eyes. Blood-colored light flooded her vision, while countless roars and screams rang in her ears.

This was the Abyss of Vengeful Souls, born from evil thoughts.

All around was chaos. Within the primordial void, countless evil thoughts transformed into dark currents and crashed toward Chong Lian!

“When chaos first emerged, after tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of years, evil thoughts were born between heaven and earth. Who would have thought that a black lotus would remain, seeking to purify me?”

The voice was rough and arrogant, neither distinctly male nor female. Yet there was no visible body—only a mass of black vapor, bearing two eyes that burned like will-o’-the-wisps.

Chong Lian warily surveyed her surroundings. With one hand, she formed a seal. A curtain of light rose from her body and cut off the surrounding darkness. Behind her, the spirit-form of a black lotus unfurled in magnificent, furious bloom.

“You were born only through the power of countless living beings. What gives you the right to be so arrogant?”

“Ahahahaha… Countless living beings? Then go ahead and slaughter them all!”

Chong Lian gave a cold laugh. “Hmph. Then wait and see whether you will ever have the chance to witness this god slaughter every realm beneath heaven!”

Her hands moved furiously as she formed seal after seal. Gales of astral force swept in from both sides, repeatedly striking at the barrier surrounding her.

Seeing that Chong Lian remained completely unmoved by its temptations—and noticing that the seals in her hands were gradually taking shape—the evil spirit felt the pressure of heavenly law compressing through the chaos.

“You intend to seal me?”

Chong Lian did not answer. She continued completing the seal. Having only just received the Mandate of Heaven, she was still unfamiliar with sealing arts, and her movements were somewhat unsteady.

“It is merely a few hundred years. You are still far too inexperienced. To me, this seal is nothing more than an opportunity to cultivate here for several hundred more years. Once that time passes, I will still break free of the Six Realms and overturn heaven and earth!”

“Ancient Gods of the Primordial World, hear my command. I, Chong Lian, offer my true body as the price, and shall confine this evil spirit here for a thousand years. When the day of my return comes, I shall eradicate the calamity threatening the Six Realms!”

The red, phosphorescent flames within the evil spirit’s black vapor gradually dimmed beneath the pressure of heavenly law.

“When the day of my rebirth arrives, it shall also be the day of burial for you, Chong Lian, and the entire Six Realms!”

Chong Lian traced the final mark. The black lotus behind her radiated a sacred light that shone all the way to the ends of the primordial chaos.

In an instant, heaven and earth lost their color. The evil spirit once more became a cluster of black spiritual fire, imprisoned within a black lotus.

Everything fell silent.

The boundless Abyss of Vengeful Souls was illuminated by that radiance. At that moment, a black lotus slowly drifted down from the sky, its petals withering one by one as they fell into the countless worlds…

…

“!”

Luo Yue opened her eyes. The scene from her dream remained vivid before her.

When she looked out the window again, dusk was already approaching.

She had never imagined that this fragment of her true self would reunite with her in such a manner.

“No one came in during that time just now, did they?”

[Heehee, that fellow Lian Wu came by in the middle of it, but I imitated your voice and sent him away.]

Little Rascal sounded immensely proud. If he had possessed a long tail, it would probably have been raised straight over his head by now.

“Mm. Well done.”

[Of course!]

According to the dream, Chong Lian’s seal could last only a thousand years or so. Once that time came, the evil spirit would break free, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Even now, Luo Yue’s cultivation was still lingering around the Sacred Realm. How exactly was she supposed to unleash the greatest power of Purifying the World? And where was she to comprehend the fourth level of the Profound Art of String-Slaying?

Far too many things troubled her. Perhaps only after she recovered all the fragments of her true self would everything finally become clear.

[Master, you need not worry too much. A hundred years is more than enough time for you to comprehend it.]

Little Rascal bounced into Luo Yue’s palm.

The little creature’s fur had been kept sleek and glossy.

“I’m not worried. It’s just… Never mind. When a boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally pass beneath it. Chong Lian managed it. As her reincarnation, if I cannot do the same, won’t the Six Realms look down on me?”

[That’s the spirit! No matter what happens, you have me… and Lord Chong Li!]

Luo Yue nodded. “Yes… Wait. Lord Chong Li? Is there something you’ve been hiding from me?”

Little Rascal’s entire face began to break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, his thick fur concealed the flushed face of the mouse.

[Huh? Why can’t I call him Lord Chong Li?]

The little mouse looked utterly bewildered, his tiny beadlike eyes filled with innocence.

The memories brought back by this fragment of her true self were so shocking that, after thinking it over repeatedly, Luo Yue suspected she had simply become overly vigilant.

She returned Little Rascal to her personal space and left the room.

Anyone would have grown suspicious if she had remained cooped up in her bedroom all morning.

As she turned past the staircase, she happened to encounter Matchmaker Hong, who was wearing a panicked expression.

“Eh? Auntie Hong, what’s wrong?”

Hong Niang wiped away the fine sweat beading her brow. “A Yue is missing.”

Luo Yue’s lovely brows drew tightly together. “When did this happen?”

Hong Niang sighed. “It must have been some time ago.

“This morning, A Yue told the Pavilion Master that she wanted to go play at the market. The Pavilion Master agreed and followed her without leaving her side. But in the brief moment he turned his head, A Yue vanished without a trace.

“An informant just returned with the news. The Pavilion Master has already begun posting notices seeking her.”

[Master, she’s at the House of Wind and Moon…]

Luo Yue’s brow twitched. Now that she had obtained a fragment of her true self, she could have left immediately, yet the House of Wind and Moon was always finding ways to cause trouble.

“Auntie Hong, I’ll help search too. The more people there are, the better.”

Worry filled Hong Niang’s eyes. “All right. Let’s search together.”

The House of Wind and Moon.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

A Yue was bound hand and foot to a pillar in the woodshed of the House of Wind and Moon. Guards surrounded the room in several layers, inside and out.

“Let me go! You bad people! Brother Gu Ying, help me!”

“Sister Luo Yue! Save Yue’er!”

“…”

The woodshed door suddenly opened.

A man wearing a ghost mask walked up to A Yue.

“Quiet.”

Understanding at once, Yue Niang took a handkerchief from her robes and stuffed it into A Yue’s mouth.

“Young girls should be obedient, shouldn’t they? Why all the screaming and shouting?”

With the cloth stuffed into her mouth, tears streamed uncontrollably down A Yue’s face.

“Mmph! Mmph-mmph! Mmmphhh…”

Yue Niang did not so much as blink.

“Mu Liao, I have completed the task you assigned me. I want to take my parents back to the countryside!”

Beneath the ghost mask, the corners of Mu Liao’s lips twitched.

“We’ll discuss your conditions after this is over.”

With that, he flung back his robe and left the filthy woodshed.