Chapter 31: Interrogation

Shang Si led Lu Shiyuan into the stone chamber for secluded cultivation. Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. During that time, several intense bursts of spiritual energy leaked out from inside the chamber. Qin Xinying, unable to set her mind at ease, joined forces with Qingzhi to lay down a small barrier around it.

“It’s about time. If all went well, the two of them should be emerging any day now,” Qingzhi said in the verdant shade of Azure Bamboo Courtyard. She absentmindedly placed a stone on the chessboard carved from ancient parasol wood.

Moments later, a slender hand pinched a black stone and set it down, followed by a few light, tinkling laughs. Qin Xinying picked up each of the captured white stones one by one and dropped them into the go bowl.

Only then did she raise her eyes to glance at the person across the table, her lips curving into a smile. “Sister Qingzhi, you’re going to lose again. No need to go out of your way to let me win like this.”

“No more. I’ve got no interest in it,” Qingzhi replied. Since Qin Xinying had bluntly called her out, she simply tossed aside the stone in her hand, done pretending. “Young Clan Leader, you’ve been sitting here with me for most of the day now. Does the Fire Phoenix Clan really have so little to do that you don’t need to spend a single moment on clan affairs?”

“It’s just that things have been rather quiet these past few days.” Qin Xinying pretended not to catch the hint to leave in her words and set down her own stone as well.

In the third and fourth months of the lunar calendar, the tender bamboo shoots were just sprouting. Plucking the tips and brewing them in water yielded a uniquely refreshing fragrance. She lifted the teapot and poured Qingzhi a cup. “It’s been many years since Sister and I last saw each other. Why are you so eager for Ye Lord to come out? Do you really find even a short while in my company such a burden?”

“How could I?” Qingzhi met Qin Xinying’s eyes, brimming with playful reproach, but her expression remained one of gentle warmth, her voice soft and measured. Her heart, however, felt no stirrings.

Over the past few days while Shang Si had been in seclusion healing someone, Qingzhi had become a woman of leisure. She had no intention of leaving before Shang Si emerged, which made it all too convenient for Qin Xinying to drop by whenever she pleased—whether to brew tea or distill wine, or to fetch a chessboard for a match.

This was Fire Phoenix Clan territory, and with the clan’s elders all away, the Young Clan Leader could come and go as she wished.

In short, Qin Xinying had endless ways to entertain her. If Qingzhi claimed to be tired of one, a new diversion would appear the very next day.

The lands where Phoenix Demons gathered lay far from the heart of the Demon Realm, and thanks to their formidable strength, no lesser clans dared provoke them. The place was exceptionally serene—or it would have been, without Qin Xinying around. Qingzhi figured staying there for ten days or half a month would have been a fine diversion.

But with Qin Xinying present, it was a different story altogether.

In truth, if not for the fact that only she could refine the Soul-Protecting Pill for Shang Si, Qingzhi never would have set foot in this hotbed of trouble known as the Fire Phoenix Clan.

No one knew that the two of them had once shared a night of unexpected passion.

The incident had caught Qingzhi off guard back then, and she had no desire to dwell on who was right or wrong. She had made it clear afterward that they were drawing a line between them. Yet Qin Xinying seemed to harbor lingering resentment over it.

Qingzhi found it something of a headache. She had no wish to get entangled with a girl several generations her junior.

And yet, some entanglements were fated from the start.

Suddenly, a freshly brewed cup of bamboo green tea was offered before her, its faint, elegant fragrance wafting up.

Qingzhi lowered her gaze to the slender hand holding the porcelain cup. She did not raise her eyes. “Young Clan Leader, in the future, just call me by name. Even your mother has to address me politely as Ghost Lord whenever she sees me. Don’t use terms like ‘sister’ here with me. You and I… we’re not close.”

Even as she spoke these words—harboring not the slightest other feeling for Qin Xinying—Qingzhi instinctively avoided meeting her eyes.

That look of playful reproach was truly hard to withstand.

“Is that so?” Qin Xinying abruptly let go, deliberately allowing the porcelain cup to crash down from on high onto the parasol wood chessboard. The unfinished game scattered in an instant, white and black stones tumbling to the ground amid splashes of tea. A drop or two even landed on Qingzhi’s skirt sleeve.

“Ghost Lord Qingzhi.” Her voice turned cool, stripped of its earlier warmth and laughter.

Before the woman before her could react, Qin Xinying suddenly let out a light laugh. She braced her hand against the chessboard and swept all the remaining stones to the floor. A brilliant smile bloomed on her face, bright as a petulant outburst. “What if I insist on calling you ‘sister’?”

The familiar tone was enough to give one a headache.

Qingzhi let out a quiet sigh. She picked up a white stone that had been swept near her hand and slowly rose from the stone bench. But just as she turned her head to speak—

A flurry of hurried, panicked footsteps sounded from the courtyard entrance.

“Young Clan Leader, Elder Hongchou has suddenly returned.”

“She is gravely injured.”

This branch of the Fire Phoenix Clan was said to trace its bloodline back to the ancient divine beast, the phoenix. Phoenix—phoenix—from some unknown time onward, the clan had only huang and no feng. And because their numbers were so few, they cherished their lives above all else, never involving themselves in needless strife or battles.

In the clan, aside from the clan leader, the only other voice that truly mattered belonged to this sole elder. The so-called young clan leader came after that. Thus, upon hearing the clan members report that Elder Qin Hongchou had been gravely injured, Qin Xinying lost all interest in delving deeper into those matters of the heart with Qingzhi. She rose to her feet and left at once.

Qin Hongchou was not only an elder of the Phoenix Demon Clan but had also treated her with great kindness since childhood.

Following the guiding clan member through the small courtyard and along the winding corridors, Qin Xinying caught sight of her. Shock and fury surged within her, stirring the aura around her body into a frenzy that nearly unleashed her innate flame uncontrollably.

“Auntie Hongchou, you…”

“Who did this to you? Who dared to strike such a heavy blow? Do they truly think our Fire Phoenix Clan is easy to bully?”

In just a few strides, she reached Qin Hongchou’s side. Without a word, she reached out to check her pulse and assess the injuries. But Qin Hongchou subtly evaded her touch.

Her hand met empty air, and Qin Xinying froze for a moment.

She looked up at the woman before her, who coughed lightly twice before waving her off.

“I’m fine, Xinying,” Qin Hongchou said, her face drained of color and her voice faint as a thread. Yet she forced herself to finish her words, her expression unusually grave. “The matter is far too complicated for me to explain right now. You must remember this: do not let word of my injury spread. It could invite unnecessary trouble.

“I’m going into seclusion to heal. If any outsiders visit during this time, you know what to do.

“If anyone asks, say I suffered qi deviation during cultivation.”

From her return to the Fire Phoenix Clan to this meeting with Qin Xinying, less than the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn had passed. After a few brief instructions, Qin Hongchou hurriedly entered seclusion to recover, as if delaying even a moment longer would mean her death right there.

Yet even with such severe wounds, she refused to let the clan members assist in her healing. This puzzled Qin Xinying.

The hasty drama came and went in a flash, but it cast a fog of unease over young and old alike in the clan. After all, Elder Qin Hongchou—one of the clan’s finest—had suddenly returned gravely injured and gone straight into seclusion without delay. Anyone would suspect there was more to it.

After dispersing the gathered clan members, Qin Xinying made her way back along the same long corridor. But just a short distance in, around the corner, she ran into the only “outsider” currently residing in the clan.

“The wounds on Qin Hongchou aren’t from a fight.” Qingzhi had clearly timed it perfectly. As Qin Xinying approached, she made no attempt to hide. Instead, she stepped out openly.

“You heard all that?” In her rush to leave and amid the chaos, Qin Xinying’s attention had been entirely on Qin Hongchou. She hadn’t noticed the tail following her.

Qingzhi’s status was complicated in her eyes.

An outsider, yet not entirely.

Qin Hongchou had repeatedly warned her not to tell any outsiders.

“Will you tell the Ye Lord?” Qin Xinying looked up, meeting Qingzhi’s gaze, which brimmed with tenderness. She knew full well that tenderness was just an illusion—this woman looked at everyone that way.

Qingzhi glanced sideways at her. “Of course.”

It was the answer Qin Xinying had expected. She nodded and said no more.

But as she brushed past Qingzhi, the woman suddenly spoke, calling her name.

“Qin Xinying.”

“There’s a serious problem with the elements in your clan. From Yedu’s standpoint, I hope you’ll investigate thoroughly and quickly—especially regarding Qin Hongchou.” Otherwise, if Shang Si uncovered ties to the Fire Phoenix Clan later, it wouldn’t just implicate one or two people.

Qingzhi meant well, but to Qin Xinying’s ears, it sounded like an official warning.

The woman paused in place, silent for a moment. Then she turned, a brilliant smile lighting her face—though it held less warmth. “Thank you for the reminder, Sister Qingzhi. I have some matters to attend to, so I won’t see you back.”

She must have taken Qingzhi’s words to heart. Within a couple of days, the Fire Phoenix Clan launched an internal purge.

Especially when investigating Qin Hongchou, Qin Xinying had to admit there were indeed suspicious points.

She discovered that this revered elder of the clan seemed to have secret dealings with members of the Jiao Dragon Clan. But Jiao Dragon demons were bloodthirsty and cruel by nature, and they had always kept to themselves, never crossing paths with Phoenix Demons. When had these contacts begun?

Qin Xinying had never heard her mother mention it.

And almost at the same time, after ten days in her secret chamber, Shang Si finally emerged from seclusion.

The first thing Shang Si did upon emerging was head straight for Qin Xinying, the young clan leader currently in charge.

By a stroke of coincidence—or perhaps misfortune—Qin Xinying was lounging in the small courtyard where Qingzhi was staying, brewing tea and sipping wine. Under the pretense of seeking guidance, she had dragged out the afternoon, wearing on Qingzhi’s patience.

A warm spring breeze carried the rich aroma of tea through the sunlit yard. The sudden arrival of a third party shattered the idyllic scene.

Or at least, that’s how it felt to Qin Xinying alone.

Qingzhi had anticipated Shang Si’s emergence from seclusion in the next couple of days, so her appearance came as no surprise. What puzzled her was why Shang Si had come alone.

“Why are you by yourself? Where’s Shiyuan?” she asked.

“Shiyuan’s spirit veins have been fully remade, but she’ll need time to adjust and harmonize them. I received your message and came out ahead of schedule.” With that, Shang Si said no more to Qingzhi. She turned directly to Qin Xinying, her beautiful eyes narrowing.

“I’m here for you.”

“I want Qin Hongchou.”

The words were curt, a blunt declaration rather than a request for permission. Gone was the polite restraint she’d shown at their first meeting.

Such an aggressive stance naturally provoked intense discomfort in Qin Xinying. As the younger one, her smile froze on her face. “Ye Lord, before we’ve found sufficient evidence, demanding one of my clan’s elders seems a bit…”

Her words cut off abruptly under Shang Si’s piercing gaze.

“Do you know whose messages I received these past few days, Young Clan Leader?” Shang Si’s voice softened, but it carried the ominous weight of an approaching storm.

The mention of “evidence” nearly drew a laugh from Shang Si. She pressed her lips together, her tone turning icy. “Kunlun Sect, Purple Firmament, Azure City Mansion, and Immortal Cloud Sect—all sent the exact same message in quick succession…”

Seated on the other side of the table, Qingzhi had already sensed that something was amiss.

She hesitated for a moment, then quietly reached under the table to press down on Qin Xinying’s instinctive gesture of resistance, signaling her not to provoke Shang Si at a time like this.

Shang Si never bothered with futile efforts. If she insisted on handling this personally, it meant she had ironclad proof—and that the matter was gravely important.

Sure enough, in the next instant, Shang Si raised her hand high and flicked her crimson sleeve. In the empty air before them materialized a row of neat, concise sentences, draining the color from the faces of the other two women.

【The grand array has been broken. The one who set it will surely suffer massive backlash. Ye Lord, keep a close eye.】