Chapter 1483: Elder Sister

Granny Xue frowned. “The Demon Fox Clan?”

“Yes,” Chuan Ying said. “It seemed Wu Chang was looking for someone among the Demon Fox Clan, but couldn’t find them easily. He had me approach Niu Youdao and win his trust for precisely that reason.”

Who could Wu Chang possibly be looking for among the Demon Fox Clan?

Granny Xue’s gaze flickered. A person immediately came to mind.

Yin Ji!

Some things did not need to have the answer stated outright. An answer the other party reached on their own was often the most suitable answer.

Chuan Ying continued, “Who could have known Niu Youdao would suddenly be assassinated and killed? My mission was shelved after that, and I’ve been left idle all this time. Only recently did that side suddenly contact me again. They told me to use Luo’er to inquire into your movements, Grandmother, and confirm where you would be during these ten days.”

Granny Xue asked, “Why investigate my movements?”

“I don’t know, but I have the feeling it may be connected to their search for someone among the Demon Fox Clan.”

“Feeling?” Granny Xue seemed suspicious. “Why?”

“Because until now, apart from the matter of finding someone in the Demon Fox Clan, Wu Chang’s side has never come to me for anything else.” Chuan Ying kowtowed. “Grandmother, I truly have never done anything harmful to the Sacred Land. I beg you to show mercy and give me one more chance to redeem myself.”

A strange light moved through Granny Xue’s eyes. Her gaze fell on Xue Luo’er, who was watching her anxiously. Granny Xue bent down, returned the child in her arms to her, then straightened and swept her sleeve. “Take them all away.”

Bai Wuya stepped forward and abruptly placed restrictions on Chuan Ying. Chuan Ying did not dare resist.

“Grandmother!” Xue Luo’er cried in alarm.

Before she could react, Bai Wuya turned and placed restrictions on her as well.

The family of three was then taken away on Bai Wuya’s orders and confined under house arrest. For the moment, nothing else was done to them.

Granny Xue walked out onto the ice cliff where snow and wind swept past the Ice Palace. Looking down over the continuous rows of pavilions and halls throughout the Sacred Land, she suddenly asked, “Do you think Chuan Ying was telling the truth?”

Bai Wuya hesitated. “I cannot be certain. But he is already under our control. If he wants to live, there seems little reason for him to lie.”

“Luo’er also mentioned before that Chuan Ying really did bring Niu Youdao a letter from Linghu Qiu. Chuan Ying clearly showed signs of deliberately befriending Niu Youdao back then. He seemed unusually warm toward him, as though he truly intended to get close.”

“I always felt something about it was wrong. Looking at it now, perhaps we’ve finally found the reason.”

Granny Xue was puzzled. “The Demon Fox Clan is suspicious by nature. How could Niu Youdao have had dealings with them?”

Bai Wuya shook his head slightly. “The man is already dead. There is nowhere to investigate the truth. If this is real, I’m afraid only Wu Chang and the Demon Fox Clan know what happened.”

Granny Xue looked back at him. “If it is true, who do you think Wu Chang wants to find among the Demon Fox Clan?”

Bai Wuya had already formed a suspicion. He tried answering, “Could it be Yin Ji? The Desolate Marsh Deadlands are difficult for outsiders to survive in. The last time Yin Ji arranged to meet you there, you already felt something was wrong. Could Yin Ji have been hiding with the Demon Fox Clan all along?”

Granny Xue turned back toward the distance. “If this is true, then apart from that woman, there probably isn’t anyone else worth this much effort from Wu Chang. His relationship with that woman runs very deep.”

Bai Wuya was still puzzled. “There’s one thing this son cannot understand. What does having Chuan Ying watch your movements for ten days have to do with searching for someone among the Demon Fox Clan?”

Granny Xue gave a dry chuckle. “I live inside the Ice Palace and rarely go out. Outsiders have difficulty knowing my movements. Even when I leave, it isn’t easy for anyone outside to learn of it. How could that be something they can simply investigate at will?”

“I am currently stationed in the Sacred Realm. Wu Chang wants to determine whether I am inside the Ice Palace.”

“If everything Chuan Ying said is true, and if Wu Chang really is looking for that woman, she won’t be so easy to find.”

She looked back at Bai Wuya again. “Ten days. Why ten days? Could he be certain he can find her within ten days?”

“If he has set a fixed time limit, there is only one explanation.”

“That woman arranged to meet me last time, and I stood her up. Now she has very likely contacted Wu Chang and arranged to meet him instead. The two of them must have agreed on a specific time.”

Bai Wuya seemed to understand. “In other words, because Mother is stationed in the Sacred Realm, Wu Chang suspects Yin Ji may have arranged to meet you as well. But he doesn’t know whether she has already contacted you, so he wants to monitor your movements?”

Granny Xue chuckled. “Ten days. Several have already passed. If this is true, Wu Chang will very likely meet that woman within the next few days.”

“For safety, the place she chooses will most likely still be the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. If anything changes, it will be convenient for her to escape.”

“Whether this is true or false, one look will tell us.”

“If it is true, I want to see exactly what that woman is playing at. Why does she keep arranging meetings inside the Demon Fox Clan’s territory?”

“Wuya, go personally to the Sacred Realm entrance and make secret arrangements. The moment Wu Chang is seen returning to the Sacred Realm, inform me immediately...”

...

Inside the secret chamber in Nanzhou, Lü Wushuang entered and found Niu Youdao standing before the map of the Sacred Realm.

After watching him for a moment, she approached. “Worried something will go wrong?”

With his back to her, Niu Youdao sighed. “I only hope Yin Ji’s judgment of Kunlin Shu isn’t wrong. If the inspections at the Sacred Realm entrance hadn’t become increasingly strict, I would have gone to watch personally.”

Lü Wushuang said, “Even if you went, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to change anything.”

Niu Youdao asked, “With the arrangement I made, are you certain Granny Xue will be able to find them?”

“You underestimate that old demoness far too much,” Lü Wushuang replied. “She already knows the target and roughly where he is going, and she has time to prepare in advance. If she truly intends to go, she will definitely be able to find him.”

...

At the entrance to the Sacred Realm, a man arrived wrapped in a black cloak.

The people of Ice and Snow Sacred Land had already received instructions. They immediately went forward of their own accord and reached out to stop the newcomer for inspection.

The face beneath the hood lifted.

Wu Chang.

The people blocking him immediately recoiled in fright and respectfully allowed him through.

Wu Chang strode into the bowl-shaped curtain of rippling light. His figure appeared in another world, emerging from another crescent of shimmering radiance before swiftly streaking away through the sky.

Beneath a great tree half-veiled by cloud and mist on a nearby mountaintop, Granny Xue personally watched the direction he took.

Before long, Bai Wuya flashed over and reported urgently, “Mother, there’s no mistake. Wu Chang came.”

Granny Xue stared toward the direction in which Wu Chang had vanished and sneered. “As expected, he went toward the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. Go back first.”

Her figure flashed away, already pursuing Wu Chang.

Bai Wuya watched her depart for a moment, then quickly left as well.

High in the sky, Granny Xue drove her cultivation to its limit, pushing her flying speed as high as it could go as she pursued urgently.

After chasing for quite some time, she finally spotted the figure flying ahead.

She immediately lowered her altitude and continued tracking him, almost skimming the ground while using the terrain below to conceal herself.

...

In the Desolate Marsh Deadlands, Wu Chang flashed into view and hovered in the air.

After studying his surroundings, he descended onto a mountaintop—the agreed meeting place.

He stood silently in the wind for a while, then raised a hand and pushed back his hood, revealing his true face. His long hair streamed in the wind, and an unfathomable depth showed in his gaze.

After he had waited for some time, the swamp ahead began to churn.

A figure rose from the marsh.

Silver robes gleamed brilliantly beneath the sunlight as Yin Ji floated up and landed lightly on a patch of meadow, her skirts fluttering in the breeze.

Yin Ji stared at the man on the mountain.

Wu Chang gazed back at her.

They looked at one another for a long time.

Then Wu Chang’s figure flashed.

With a soft rush of air, he landed on the meadow two zhang away from her.

Again, they fell into silence, staring at each other across the distance.

A complex expression could be seen surfacing on Wu Chang’s ordinarily cold face.

Yin Ji broke the silence. “Wu Chang.”

Her voice was soft and melodious, her bearing unchanged from the past.

A trace of a smile actually emerged on Wu Chang’s impassive face. “Elder Sister.”

Yin Ji said, “So many years have passed in the blink of an eye.”

Wu Chang’s smile was unexpectedly handsome. “I never imagined Elder Sister was still alive. I’m very happy.”

“Not necessarily. The last time I asked to meet you, you didn’t come.”

“I still had doubts. If you were alive, why reveal yourself only now after all these years? And something truly did happen at the time, so I couldn’t spare the attention.”

“I failed to come meet Elder Sister in time. I hope you won’t hold it against me.”

“This time I happened to have nothing pressing on hand. No matter what, I had to come and see whether it was true. I never expected it really would be.”

Yin Ji said, “What right do I have to blame you?”

Wu Chang replied, “When I learned of Elder Sister’s death all those years ago, I fell out with Luo Qiu.”

“From all the signs, I suspected you had died by Luo Qiu’s hand. I wanted to avenge you, but my strength was limited, and I was never able to do it.”

Yin Ji said, “You used me, yes. But afterward, to protect me, you joined hands with Luo Qiu and protected me for many years. As far as I personally am concerned, you no longer owe me anything.”

“It has nothing to do with whether I used you.” Wu Chang raised his right hand and pressed his palm against the left side of his chest.

“Elder Sister may never understand how I felt when a man had to hand the woman he loved most to someone else.”

“That wound is here, in my heart.”

“It has never healed. It has always hurt.”

“I often feel as though I’m holding a chisel. Every time the hammer falls, the one being carved apart is myself.”

“You will never understand that torment.”

Yin Ji said, “You never used to say this kind of nonsense.”

“It isn’t nonsense. I simply want you to know.”

“And I should thank you as well.”

“Perhaps, from your point of view, I used you. But I had no choice.”

“Luo Qiu came to my door. I had no power whatsoever to protect you. If I had refused to submit, not only would I have been unable to escape disaster, I would have dragged you down with me.”

“I could also see that Luo Qiu genuinely loved Elder Sister.”

“However unwilling I was, I had to admit that Elder Sister was safest with Luo Qiu.”

“He could give you what I could not.”

“Elder Sister will never understand how I felt watching you and Luo Qiu spend every day together.”

“You may think I harbored ulterior motives from the very beginning and had always been using you. In truth, many things were not what outsiders thought they were.”

“I only want to tell Elder Sister this.”

“After I lost you, the humiliation of bowing before overwhelming power hardened my resolve to move forward at any cost.”

“After I lost Elder Sister, I had nothing left to fear. At worst, I would die.”

“It was Elder Sister who made me what I am.”

Yin Ji remained unmoved. “Finished with your nonsense?”

Wu Chang fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject. “As long as you’re still alive, that’s enough.”

“Elder Sister, there is something I don’t understand.”

“What exactly happened all those years ago?”

“Why did you hide yourself until now before appearing again?”

Yin Ji said, “Back then, I truly did nearly die at Luo Qiu’s hands. I suffered grievous injuries and only recovered recently.”

Wu Chang frowned. “I don’t understand. Luo Qiu’s feelings for Elder Sister were real. Why would he have the heart to strike you so ruthlessly?”

[End of Chapter 1483]