Night had fallen, and the cold weather had driven most people away. Even the usually bustling night market was nearly deserted, with most stalls already packed up and the few remaining vendors hurriedly closing shop.
Shen Hefeng had been loitering around the market all this time.
Just as he had predicted, Little Yu from the Purple Flame Sect returned!
However, she had changed into men’s clothing and altered her appearance. But when it came to disguises, Shen Hefeng was a master. With just one glance, he saw through her. Internally, he scoffed—wasn’t this just a pointless effort? But outwardly, he maintained a kindly demeanor, pretending not to recognize her. Stroking his beard with what he thought was an air of wisdom (though it came off a bit sleazy), he asked, "Young master, are you here for a divination?"
Seeing Shen Hefeng still at the market, Little Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
She was truly desperate. The matter was too important, and she didn’t dare ask anyone within her sect for help.
Aside from her sect elders, she didn’t know anyone else.
The "Mad Daoist" was practically the closest thing she had to an acquaintance.
Well, acquaintance was a stretch—she was the only one who thought so. She had been watching the Xuantian Grand Competition, and though this Mad Daoist was from a rival sect, his predictions during the matches had been eerily accurate.
And that day on Hundred Flowers Street, he had immediately discerned that she was searching for someone.
Most importantly—though she would never admit it—she actually quite admired the six disciples of Qingling Mountain.
"Yes," Little Yu nodded, glancing around nervously before lowering her voice. "Daoist, I’d like to know the whereabouts of a friend… Can you divine that?"
Shen Hefeng fiddled with his tortoise shell.
Wen Erbai had asked him to investigate Di Yanran that very night, and he had immediately cast a divination—but nothing came of it. Not surprising, though. Di Yanran was backed by the Di family, rulers of the Purple Flame Sect, who naturally had ways to block such inquiries.
"It’s possible," the scheming Daoist said, eyeing the naive girl before him. He rummaged through his robes and pulled out a Mind Reflection Pearl—one he had taken from Wen Shuangbai—and handed it to her. "But you’ll need to infuse it with a drop of your heart’s blood while continuously recalling memories of your friend."
A "Seeking Pearl"?
She had never heard of such a thing.
Was this a newly crafted artifact by that Senior Wen from Qingling Mountain?
Little Yu hesitated, suspicion flickering across her face.
Seeing this, Shen Hefeng stood up, dusting off his robes with a huff. "Tsk, young master, if you don’t trust me, why even ask for a divination? Go find someone else! What a waste of my time. I’m leaving!"
With that, he snatched the pearl back and turned to go.
Little Yu panicked and chased after him. "Daoist, please wait—"
The faster she pursued, the quicker Shen Hefeng ran.
"Daoist, I’m sorry! I believe you, I do!" Seeing him pull further away, she stomped her foot and blurted out, "I was just worried the Seeking Pearl might be expensive! Would thirty thousand spirit stones be enough? That’s all I have…"
Shen Hefeng’s ears perked up. Without letting her finish, he immediately spun back around. "Ah, young master, I see we are fated. For you, I’ll make an exception—thirty thousand it is."
Little Yu: "…"
She had the distinct feeling she’d been scammed.
From then on, things spiraled beyond her control.
In a daze, she handed over the money, followed Shen Hefeng’s instructions to draw a drop of heart’s blood, and ultimately gave him the so-called Seeking Pearl.
This silly girl was even easier to fool than Lu Santu.
Shen Hefeng gleefully pocketed the money and the Mind Reflection Pearl, then cast a divination for the poor girl.
The result was dire—a life-threatening omen.
After careful calculation, he finally spoke. "Southeast."
Little Yu blinked. "Daoist, what does that mean?"
"Young master, I’m not exaggerating—you must head southeast immediately." Shen Hefeng said gravely, mixing truth with lies. "Though your friend’s body remains in the Di Province, her soul wanders in the southeast. If you don’t go, she’ll perish."
He had no idea where Di Yanran’s soul was, but if this foolish girl didn’t leave soon, she’d be the one in mortal danger.
"And remember—do not speak of this to anyone."
With that rare act of kindness, Shen Hefeng stuffed a stack of protective talismans into her hands, then scampered off to brag to his unreliable teammates, the Mind Reflection Pearl in tow.
"See? What did I tell you? I said that girl would come back! And you all doubted me?" Shen Hefeng tossed the pearl in the air, unbearably smug. "Blind fools! Having me as your teammate is the luck of several lifetimes!"
The other four, having caught wind of the situation, regrouped with him and headed back to the Endless House.
Xie Ziyin, standing beside Wen Shuangbai, shot him a glance and scoffed. Though he said nothing, Shen Hefeng could practically hear the venom in his thoughts.
Wen Shuangbai, who had eavesdropped on part of the exchange, raised an eyebrow. "Madman, you’ve changed. Since when did you grow a conscience?"
Little Yu might not have noticed, but the others, having worked with Shen Hefeng for so long, immediately recognized that sending her southeast was his way of protecting her.
"Pfah! Don’t slander me, you venomous woman," Shen Hefeng retorted. "I just thought she was as gullible as Lu Santu and figured I’d lend a hand."
Behind them, Lu Jiayao—who had been enthusiastically recounting the events to Li Zhuohua, who had rushed over from the Rainbow Fate Pavilion—paused mid-sentence. "???"
What did he have to do with this?!
He wasn’t that easy to fool anymore!
---
Clearly, Little Yu had been deceived.
The Mind Reflection Pearl was no Seeking Pearl—no such thing existed in the first place.
Similar to a Memory Pearl, it was an artifact capable of recording images.
But unlike a Memory Pearl, the Mind Reflection Pearl could capture scenes from a person’s memories—provided the user infused it with heart’s blood and focused on those recollections.
Upon returning to the Endless House, the five immediately examined the pearl.
It contained Little Yu’s memories of Di Yanran.
Contrary to Wen Shuangbai’s initial assumption, Little Yu hadn’t been investigating Di Yanran on behalf of her secluded senior sister—she had noticed something amiss with Di Yanran herself and taken action.
Little Yu was a sword cultivator, while Di Yanran practiced formations. They weren’t direct sect siblings.
Their first meeting had been a chance encounter—Little Yu had served tea when Di Yanran visited her sword-cultivator friend.
Di Yanran was a prodigy of the Purple Flame Sect, while Little Yu came from an ordinary background. Their paths shouldn’t have crossed.
But during an intra-sect competition, Little Yu refused to yield even when at a disadvantage.
She appeared shy and easily flustered in private, yet the moment she held a sword, she transformed into a warrior. Despite fighting with relentless determination, covered in wounds, she ultimately lost because her sword was too inferior—shattered by her opponent.
After this battle, Di Yanran sent Little Yu a fine sword.
When the Heart Shadow Pearl replayed this scene, Li Zhuohua watched with such fervor that he nearly wished he could leap into the illusion to fight alongside her. "She's impressive! A true sword cultivator. I’d have given her a sword too!"
Out of gratitude, whenever Di Yanran visited the sword sect’s senior sister afterward, Little Yu would bring her tea, pastries, and fruits.
These scenes were mostly mundane, with Di Yanran behaving perfectly normally—nothing out of the ordinary.
Until one day, Di Yanran mentioned to a friend that she would be joining Di Qi and the others in the temporarily opened Long River Secret Realm.
"Oh?"
At this point, Wen Shuangbai raised an eyebrow and nudged the man beside her with her elbow.
Xie Ziyin arched a brow in return: "?"
Wen Shuangbai leaned in and whispered, "That’s where those two fell in love."
In the original story, it was where the male and female leads got together—and slept.
Lu Jiayao clearly recognized the Long River Secret Realm too and chimed in, "After leaving Zhuoguang City, while you all were recovering, Di Qi and the others went there!"
"I think this was also when Yu Xiaoxiao disappeared, wasn’t it?" Wen Shuangbai mused.
"Exactly!" Li Zhuohua confirmed, his tone resentful. "I went to challenge her at the Ten Thousand Saints Palace, but she withdrew and vanished!"
Shen Hefeng, ever the cynic toward those he disliked, sneered, "In my opinion, she followed Di Qi into the secret realm, then pulled a switcheroo—returning as Di Yanran. Clever. No one would ever find her that way. Brilliant, really."
Lu Jiayao weakly protested, "But Di Yanran is Di Qi’s sister. He wouldn’t go that far, would he…?"
"You naïve fool, no wonder you keep getting duped. When you’re old, Xie Ziyin will sell you poison pills," Shen Hefeng retorted. "Does Di Qi strike you as someone who cares about others’ lives?"
While the others bickered, Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin remained silent, their gazes locked on the troubled expression of Di Yanran in the illusion.
Her friend asked, "Yanran, what’s wrong? You look worried."
Di Yanran snapped out of her thoughts and sighed with a faint smile. "It’s nothing. I was just thinking about Qi Yaoling."
Her friend frowned. "Did you watch Qingling Mountain’s competition in Zhuoguang City? Why think of that now?"
"...Never mind." Di Yanran hesitated, sighed again, and soon left.
While Di Yanran was away in the Long River Secret Realm, Little Yu focused on her cultivation.
But just before Di Yanran’s return, the sect leader, Di Xiuyuan, bestowed a Bodhi Fruit upon the sword sect’s senior sister. After consuming it, she entered seclusion to meditate on her insights.
Little Yu was happy for her senior sister at first. But when Di Yanran returned, things began to feel… off.
Di Yanran no longer smiled or nodded at her in passing as she once had.
She used to dislike spirit peaches—now she loved them.
The girl’s instincts screamed that something was wrong, but she dared not speak up—until Shen Hefeng bluntly pointed it out during the Hundred Flowers Street incident.
With that, the Heart Shadow Pearl’s playback ended.
Wen Shuangbai’s expression darkened. "This is worse than I thought. Why was Di Yanran thinking about Qi Yaoling?"
Xie Ziyin leaned slightly toward her, fingers tapping the table. "The Qi family crafted demons. Qi Yaoling was deceived, investigated, and died in Zhuoguang City."
Shen Hefeng’s eyes gleamed. "This just got more thrilling! Are you saying the Di family is involved in demoncraft? Di Yanran found out, so she was killed, and Yu Xiaoxiao took her body?"
Lu Jiayao paled at the wild speculation. "But the Di family oversees the Xuantian Order, guards the Sacred Tower, and has quelled demonic uprisings multiple times!"
"Classic case of the thief crying ‘stop thief!’" Li Zhuohua interjected. "Let me tell you—Sect Leader Li has long despised that old fox Di Xiuyuan!"
"But we have no proof," Xie Ziyin said. "Investigating the Di family is beyond our capabilities alone."
"True." Wen Shuangbai caught his meaning and slammed the table. "This isn’t just our problem—it concerns Qingling Mountain and the entire Xuantian Continent. Let’s go find Old Cao!"
No sooner said than done, the five of them rushed out—only to collide with Yin Xuan, who drifted back like a ghost.
"Senior Brother?" Wen Shuangbai skidded to a halt. "You weren’t in your room?"
Yin Xuan cracked one eye open, shaking his head with a contented smile. "No, I went to the dining hall."
He tilted his head. "Where are you all off to so late?"
"To see Old Cao." Wen Shuangbai asked, "Is he still awake?"
Yin Xuan looked mildly sympathetic. "Afraid so. His lamp’s still lit."
Then his expression turned pained as he trailed behind the group, groaning, "Do I really have to come along?"
"Absolutely." Wen Shuangbai insisted—this was too important for him to miss.
Lu Jiayao turned to console him. "Think of it as a stroll to aid digestion!"
Yin Xuan: "…"
Did he look like he needed digestion aid?
Was he getting old? How did his juniors have endless energy, like untamed bulls?
…
Cao Xing, buried under paperwork late into the night, glared at his troublesome disciples, barely masking his irritation. "…It’s the middle of the night. What could possibly be so urgent?"
Couldn’t they see he was swamped?! Did they have no mercy?!
"Old Cao, take a look at this." Wen Shuangbai tossed him the Heart Shadow Pearl, cutting to the chase. "We suspect the Di family is tied to demons."
Cao Xing’s face instantly changed. He snatched the pearl and began reviewing it.
Wen Shuangbai studied him, puzzled.
His reaction… lacked surprise. As if he’d already known.
Nearby, the diligent wooden puppet Four Hundred was organizing documents.
Spotting its master, it waved a tiny wooden hand in greeting before resuming work—priorities clear. It was saving up for its own little treasury!
But Xie Ziyin flicked it aside and scanned the papers. "Isn’t this the blood sacrifice array from the Divine Ghost Valley?"
"Yes," Elder Cao replied while examining the Heart Shadow Pearl. "The Sect Leader and the various Pavilion Masters have been observing your matches. They believe the Blood Sacrifice Array in the Divine Ghost Valley is closely tied to the ghostly incidents from five hundred years ago."
Li Zhuohua, gripping his sword, urged, "Old Cao, explain in detail!"
"...Five hundred years ago, the Seven Sages never uncovered the truth behind the ghostly incidents. At the time, everyone assumed it was just a natural shift in the world." If humans, plants, and trees could exist, it stood to reason that spirits might emerge as well. "But the events in the Divine Ghost Valley suggest this matter is far more complicated than we thought."
So that was it.
Wen Shuangbai nodded thoughtfully.
No wonder Elder Cao had specifically questioned them about the Blood Sacrifice Array when they first emerged from the Divine Ghost Valley.
"The sect originally didn’t plan to tell you, wanting you to focus on preparing for the final battle. But we didn’t expect you to be investigating this as well," Cao Xing remarked with a sigh.
Wen Shuangbai asked, "What do you mean? Have you also uncovered something about Di Yanran?"
"Not quite." Cao Xing handed them an ancient-looking scroll for the group to examine. "You’ve likely heard of this—a thousand years ago, during the War of the Seven Kingdoms, the three most powerful armies clashed, leaving no survivors in a sea of corpses. Yet afterward, the relatively weaker Qi Kingdom suddenly rose to prominence, unifying the land under the new name 'Xuantian' and changing the royal surname from Qi to Di. This was the origin of the Di family."
Wen Shuangbai flipped through the scroll, which detailed this very chapter of war-torn history. Her heart sank. "Elder Cao, are you suggesting the Blood Sacrifice Array and the ghostly incidents are the work of the Di family?"
"We only suspect as much. But you must understand—the Di family members are all core disciples of the Violet Flame Sect, and the Violet Flame Sect is protected by the Sacred Tower. Even if this truly is the Di family’s doing, unless we first secure the Sacred Tower from the Violet Flame Sect, the combined forces of our six great sects would still stand no chance against them." Cao Xing’s expression was grave as he addressed the six disciples before him. "Leave this matter to us to investigate. Your most critical task now is to prepare for the final battle and claim victory—so we can seize control of the Sacred Tower."
