Chapter 32: Emerging from Seclusion

A mere dozen words or so, but their implications could not have been clearer.

Qin Xinying’s expression changed on the spot. The hands hanging at her sides slowly clenched into fists, her nails nearly embedding themselves in her palms.

The facts were laid bare before her—how could she fail to think of what Shang Si had already associated?

In these times of peace across the Three Realms, the Phoenix Demons were powerful and kept an exceedingly low profile. Though their numbers were few, they had held steady as the second greatest clan in the Demon Realm for thousands of years. For such elite warriors, each one a top-tier force wherever they went, to return mysteriously and gravely wounded…

It was no wonder Shang Si wanted to haul her in for questioning.

In truth, it wasn’t limited to these famous major sects whose names everyone knew by heart. Even around some obscure minor sects that ordinary folk couldn’t name had similar formations appeared. Shang Si had simply cited a few representative major ones.

The incident had begun at Kunlun, and tugging one thread pulled the whole tapestry.

Once the immortal gates of the Mortal Realm caught wind of it, outrage erupted everywhere. Human-demon relations, already fragile since the last great upheaval in the Three Realms, now teetered on the brink of collapse.

In just this one or two months, the pressure weighing on Shang Si had doubled.

If this affair wasn’t thoroughly investigated—if the conspiracies lurking behind it weren’t rooted out—then once it ignited chaos across the Three Realms and blood flowed like rivers, there might be no way to properly contain the flood of wronged ghosts and resentful spirits. It could even provoke an uprising from the Million Resentful Spirits sealed beneath Yedu.

When that happened, neither the Three Realms nor Yedu could hope to stay clear of the storm.

Shang Si had long understood the truth: talk of transcending the Three Realms, free from the world’s fetters… it had always been pretty words, nothing more.

If the Three Realms crumbled, how much better off could Yedu be?

She styled herself the Ye Lord with fine words, but in reality, she was just the one forever wiping up messes and cleaning house.

Thus, the secrets Qin Hongchou harbored had to be dragged into the light.

Yet this aggressive move—forcing her out of seclusion—would inevitably incense the other Phoenix Demons.

Publicly and privately, Qin Xinying could not stand idly by and watch Shang Si slap the Fire Phoenix Clan’s face. So despite Qingzhi’s subtle attempts to hold her back, she steeled herself and rose. “Ye Lord, Qin Hongchou is an elder of my clan, after all. Even if she must be taken, it should wait until my mother arrives to question her in person.”

“Two days ago, I sensed it—Mother will return in at most half a month. We can sit down then and discuss how to resolve this.”

Her words rang firm, but they carried little true conviction.

Shang Si lowered her beautiful eyes and said nothing, leaving it unclear whether Qin Xinying’s plea had even registered.

“Ghost Lord Qingzhi, what do you think?” Unable to sway Shang Si, Qin Xinying turned with a wry look toward Qingzhi standing off to the side, adopting—for once—a properly deferential posture.

It was a cry for help.

She hoped Qingzhi would speak a few softening words on behalf of her and her clan, buying even a sliver more time from Shang Si.

For the first time, Qingzhi felt truly caught in the middle, though Shang Si knew nothing of the tangled history between her and Qin Xinying.

After a moment’s grave consideration, she finally spoke up. “A Si, this is an internal matter for the Fire Phoenix Clan, after all. If they can conduct their own interrogation and reach a conclusion, it saves Yedu from playing the villain.”

Besides, they had only recently accepted a tremendous favor from them—that rare Companion Grass handed over without a second thought. Ten days or half a month was but a fleeting moment; a little patience wouldn’t hurt.

Qingzhi didn’t need to spell out the deeper implications; Shang Si grasped them perfectly.

With someone chiming in on her behalf, Shang Si relented along those lines, granting Qin Xinying a half-month reprieve. “Very well, I’ll give you half a month. If Qin Lan hasn’t stepped forward with an explanation by then, I’ll handle it myself.”

With the deadline set, the thick pall of tension in the air finally began to lift.

But just as Qin Xinying exhaled in relief, Shang Si spoke again. “Oh, right—Young Clan Leader, Shiyuan’s spirit veins have been fully mended. She just consumed the Nectar and Jade Liquid and needs time to absorb it, so please instruct your clansmen not to disturb her for the next few days.”

Moments ago, she had issued cold ultimatums without mercy; now, she casually piled on another request as if it were nothing.

Qin Xinying’s expression grew a touch rigid, but she still responded politely.

Once Shang Si had departed, Qin Xinying at last let the taut string in her chest go slack. A soft, alluring smile bloomed across her face once more. “Sister Qingzhi.”

“Better to keep calling me Ghost Lord Qingzhi.” Qingzhi averted her gaze, unwilling to meet those silken, seductive eyes.

A phoenix through and through, yet she carried herself like some vixen spirit.

Unfazed, Qin Xinying leaned in and murmured, “That Nectar and Jade Liquid the Ye Lord mentioned just now… what is it?”

“It’s something left over from before the Immortal Realm perished—a heavenly treasure that diminishes with every drop used.” After giving that soft reply, Qingzhi rose from the stone bench and returned to her room, leaving the troublesome “guest” standing dumbfounded in the courtyard.

Nectar and Jade Liquid.

The small porcelain vial retrieved from the Kunlun Ancestor had contained just such a drop.

It was the first time Lu Shiyuan had learned that this world she had transmigrated into truly possessed something called nectar and jade liquid.

Even just hearing Shang Si mention its name, she knew it must be extraordinarily precious, though she hadn’t realized quite how much.

Shang Si had refused to discuss its origins, only instructing her to consume it to help consolidate her cultivation and accelerate her adaptation to the state of her reshaped spirit veins.

Naturally, Lu Shiyuan had complied.

Yet she hadn’t anticipated that such a transparent, unassuming drop of jade liquid could harbor such vast power. After swallowing it, it unleashed surging waves within her body, one after another, forcing her to passively guide the ferocious spiritual energy as it dispersed through her meridians, channeling it bit by bit into her dantian.

Day after day like this, even without deliberately checking, Lu Shiyuan could feel her long-stagnant cultivation growing at a terrifying speed, surpassing even her former peak.

Most astonishing of all, upon inner inspection, the drop of jade liquid settled in her body was still continuously releasing spiritual energy.

For the first time, Lu Shiyuan felt a dizzying mix of trepidation and exhilaration… At the same time, she strangely sensed a familiar connection to this drop of nectar and jade liquid, absorbing it with ever greater ease.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Those outside didn’t know how far Lu Shiyuan had progressed in refining the jade liquid within the stone chamber, but they did know one thing was imminent.

Qin Lan hadn’t arrived on time as Qin Xinying had promised, and Shang Si certainly wasn’t going to wait indefinitely.

But this was the Fire Phoenix Clan’s territory, after all. Even as the Ye Lord, taking someone by force would inevitably spark a fierce battle.

This time, even Qingzhi couldn’t intervene.

All she could do was clearly state her position and stand with Shang Si.

Publicly, the Shang Family were the hereditary rulers of Yedu.

Privately, Shang Si was like family to her.

As for Qin Xinying and the rest of the Fire Phoenix Clan, they weren’t even on Qingzhi’s radar. In her eyes, that faint, ambiguous affection with Qin Xinying paled in comparison to Shang Si and Yedu.

Yet with battle imminent, Qin Xinying, as the Young Clan Leader of the Phoenix Demon Clan, transformed into her true form before Shang Si and Qingzhi to defend her clan’s honor. A magnificent fire-feathered phoenix unfolded its wings and soared into the sky, every plume a deadly weapon, beautiful beyond compare.

She screeched as she bathed in flames, choosing to entangle Qingzhi alone and pin her down.

Perhaps confident that the other wouldn’t strike her hard, Qin Xinying acted without fear.

What seemed like a lopsided fight fraught with mortal peril turned into a farce because of her antics.

On Shang Si’s side, the other phoenix demons who tried to block her fared far worse.

Without Qingzhi’s aid—and unable to kill the rest outright—Shang Si had never fought such a frustrating battle. Her growing irritation made her strikes even heavier.

But against absolute superiority in strength, numbers meant little.

Once she dispatched the obstacles in her path one by one, the sealed chamber where Qin Hongchou was in seclusion shattered under a single blow.

As the dust settled after the stone door crumbled, a frail figure within the chamber staggered to her feet, entering Shang Si’s line of sight.

It seemed this half-month had done nothing for Qin Hongchou’s injuries—perhaps even worsened them.

Shang Si had no interest in such matters.

She focused her mind, extending her five fingers and slowly clenching them toward the frail figure shrouded in dust below. A powerful twisting force seemed to manifest in the air, locking the figure in place; struggle etched her face, but she couldn’t move.

However, at that moment—

“Shang Si, stop right there!”

A furious shout rang out, and the temperature around Shang Si spiked instantly.

In the next instant, as she instinctively dodged, the spot where she’d stood erupted in roaring flames, as if the very air had ignited.

Shang Si furrowed her brow.

Her spell interrupted by this sudden intruder, she recognized a familiar aura.

This time, rather than anger, she inexplicably felt a quiet relief.

At last, she wouldn’t have to completely burn bridges with the Fire Phoenix Clan.

Shang Si looked up, her gaze fixed on the figure that had suddenly appeared to block Qin Hongchou. She habitually shook the Gold Bell on her right wrist and tossed out a light, dissatisfied rebuke. “You say you could come out—why didn’t you do it sooner and spare me all this trouble?”

“Shang Si, Ye Lord!”

“Is this how you treat a visit to my Fire Phoenix Clan?”

Qin Lan laughed in fury as she surveyed the wreckage strewn across the ground and her own clanspeople, every one of them battered and disheveled. Her anger boiled over.

If only she could actually beat Shang Si—she’d give the woman a proper lesson.

“In my position, some things must be done,” Shang Si replied, lowering her gaze without a hint of remorse for her recent actions. She remained unmoved. “Clan Head Qin, rather than blame me, you should consider what explanation you’ll give regarding Qin Hongchou. And not just to me—to all those enraged immortal sects of the Mortal Realm as well.”

She was calm and detached—a true ruler.

To deploy an Extermination Array with the intent of wiping out an entire clan… what grudge could possibly justify such ruthless madness?

If she let Qin Hongchou go today, who would spare the innocent lives tomorrow?

Qin Lan understood the reasoning all too well, even without it being spelled out.

Once she had calmed down, Qin Lan fell silent for a moment. She glanced back at Qin Hongchou, whose wounds had worsened, then at her disheveled clanspeople all around. With a heavy sigh, she said, “Give me some time. Hongchou has a stubborn streak—I’ll get the full story out of her and tell you everything.”

“More time?” Shang Si narrowed her eyes in impatience. She raised her slender hand and pointed toward Qin Xinying, who had reverted to human form not far away. Tilting her chin up arrogantly, she added, “Your daughter already asked me once.”

Qin Lan shook her head, feigning ignorance. “Ye Lord, you can’t take a junior’s words seriously.”

It was clear stalling.

Qingzhi, who had only just broken free from the phoenix bird’s entanglement nearby, overheard Qin Lan and darkened her expression. No wonder Qin Xinying was so thick-skinned and relentless—her own mother set the example.

The two women continued their back-and-forth, locked in a stalemate, neither willing to yield an inch.

It was at that moment that a surge of dense spiritual energy erupted from somewhere within the clan grounds, shooting straight into the sky and forming a towering cylindrical pillar of light. The commotion drew every eye, including those of Qin Lan and Shang Si.

Yet Qin Lan was the first to laugh aloud upon witnessing it. At last, she had found the leverage that would force Shang Si to back down.

“Shang Si, look,” Qin Lan said, her eyes half-lidded as she tilted her head toward the pillar.

A closer inspection revealed a faint, indistinct silhouette within the column—like a radiant star slowly rising, brilliant enough to rival the sun and moon.

What Qin Lan could see, Shang Si could see as well.

And the aura emanating from that figure inside… it was all too familiar to her.

“My Fire Phoenix Clan is doing you a huge favor here,” Qin Lan continued, her voice laced with amusement. The words carried the same plea as before, yet this time, they struck Shang Si as surprisingly reasonable.

The corner of Shang Si’s mouth curved upward, her eyes sparkling with barely contained mirth.

Even her unyielding stance softened at last.

“Very well. As you wish.”

The light of righteousness!!