Chapter 34: The Ambush

Meeting Zhuo Yilang was entirely unexpected. To avoid implicating the Song family, Ye Minwei, Wen Ci, Xie Yuzhu, and Cang Shu left the Song residence that very night. They instructed Song Jiao that if anyone asked, he was to insist they were merely travelers seeking temporary lodging, and that he knew nothing of their true identities.

In truth, Song Jiao truly did not know who they were; his understanding of their card-playing skills was likely far greater than his knowledge of the people themselves.

Though it was meant to be a fleeting encounter, Granny Sun chased after them from her room as they were leaving. It was the middle of the night, and no one knew how she had suddenly awoken. She grabbed Ye Minwei’s hand, weeping and refusing to let her go.

"Little Yun, Little Yun," the old woman cried, "why must you leave again? Without you by my side, Mother is so lonely!"

Song Jiao tried to persuade her, but Granny Sun would not loosen her grip. Her withered fingers dug into Ye Minwei’s arm so tightly that they left marks.

For the first time, Ye Minwei did not bluntly tell Granny Sun that her daughter was dead. She looked at the red marks on her arm, thought for a moment, and said, "Mother, I will come back."

As soon as that word "Mother" left her lips, everyone stared at her in astonishment. Wen Ci’s eyes were wide, as if the person before him had been possessed.

Ye Minwei felt nothing amiss. She uttered the word without any internal burden, and the promise was delivered as naturally and calmly as if it were nothing.

"Then... when will you come back to see me?" Granny Sun’s wrinkled face scrunched up, looking as aggrieved as a child.

"In a few years, when you return to Ningyu and hold the Golden God Festival again, I will come back."

Having secured Ye Minwei’s promise, Granny Sun finally released her hand. She stood at the doorway with Song Jiao, watching them leave with lingering attachment. When they were quite far away, they looked back and could still see that small, short figure silhouetted in the doorway of the humble house.

Wen Ci remained silent for a long time before asking, "Why did you lie to Granny Sun?"

"I didn't lie to her. I will come back, and I have made a promise to you as well."

"Then why did you call her Mother?"

"Xie Yuzhu once told me that the relationship between master and disciple is decided by the disciple; it is the disciple who makes the master a master. The same must be true for the bond between mother and daughter; it is the mother who makes the daughter a daughter. Since Granny Sun sees me as her daughter, then we are mother and daughter. She calls me daughter, so I call her Mother."

Ye Minwei spoke her logic naturally. It sounded strange and eccentric, yet it was oddly self-consistent.

She paused, turned to look at Wen Ci, and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Wen Ci shook his head. He looked away, gazing at the brightening sky. "Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never heard you say such things before."

In the past, she seemed to have no connection to anyone in this world. She possessed many principles and many laws, but within those vast, staggering, and incomprehensible theories, there was never a place for the human heart.

Following the grand and chaotic Golden God Festival, the authorities announced that Mount Chongdan would erupt with lava in the coming days, which would bring disaster to the surrounding towns. The news spread through the villages at the foot of the mountain. Under normal circumstances, people might have hesitated in disbelief, but having witnessed the phenomena during the festival, they were struck with terror and immediately believed it. Everyone scrambled to pack their belongings, dragging their families to the authorities to await evacuation.

After the official decree, the immortal sects and Ren Tang, who had arrived in Ningyu, obtained silver scales from "Su Zhaoqing." They organized their disciples and members, using various incantations to move the commoners to Jiazhou in batches. Though there were minor frictions over the Cang crystals, no major disasters occurred.

Wen Ci and Ye Minwei mixed Xie Yuzhu and Cang Shu into the crowd of evacuees and sent them to Jiazhou for temporary shelter. They themselves found a cave opposite Mount Chongdan to observe the situation.

When Cang Shu left Ningyu, he finally finished his period of divination abstinence. He extended his fabric-wrapped hands, performed some calculations, and told Wen Ci and Ye Minwei, "This omen is quite ominous. You two are going to encounter a disaster this time."

Wen Ci, who had always been impulsive, and Ye Minwei, who had always been heartless, did not care much about it. Xie Yuzhu was worried for her two masters and asked Cang Shu how to avoid it. Cang Shu smiled faintly and said, "Some disasters cannot be avoided, and there is no need to avoid them."

Xie Yuzhu retorted bluntly, "Then what was the point of you calculating anything?"

Thus, with two days left until the predicted eruption, the evacuation proceeded in an orderly fashion, and everything remained calm. That night, Ren Tang suddenly sent a signal asking "Su Zhaoqing" to come to the Qinglian Hall, claiming there were urgent matters to discuss.

Seeing the signal, Wen Ci frowned and said, "What could he possibly want with me? Could it be that the brat from Lingjin Pavilion finally remembered to file a complaint?"

Ye Minwei reminded him, "Is this the disaster Cang Shu spoke of?"

Recalling the serious demeanor of that ever-accurate fellow, Wen Ci immediately set off for the Qinglian Hall to see what was going on. In any case, it was night; he was hardly afraid of anyone.

After Wen Ci left, Ye Minwei sat on the floor of the cave. Within the vision of her Sight Stone, filled with various symbols, she calculated the Cang crystals she had distributed over the past few days. While she was counting, she heard a rumbling sound.

Ye Minwei looked up and saw the dark silhouette of Mount Chongdan swaying under the moonlight. The eruption was near; frequent tremors had occurred in Ningyu over the past two days, so this swaying was not unusual.

Yet, she watched the mountain quietly for a long while, her fingers drawing on the ground as she muttered, "Something is not right."

Meanwhile, Wen Ci stepped into the Qinglian Hall to find Ren Tang standing there with disciples from the Lingjin Pavilion, Baiyun Pavilion, Canglang Villa, and other sects. A large crowd had gathered, and the scene was quite grand. Zhuo Yilang was nowhere to be seen among them.

Wen Ci paused, then continued forward, sitting unceremoniously in the main seat at the head of the hall. He asked nonchalantly, "You all come with such aggression; what do you want with me?"

Ren Tang looked at him probing and stepped out from the crowd, bringing up an unexpected matter: "Miss Su, are you aware that many of the commoners we sent to Jiazhou have gone missing without cause over the past few nights?"

Wen Ci frowned.

Ren Tang explained that among the refugees arriving in Jiazhou, people had been vanishing mysteriously. At first, the authorities thought they had gone to find relatives, but yesterday, over four hundred people disappeared at once. They vanished without a sound, leaving their luggage and belongings behind. Including those who had disappeared earlier, nearly a thousand people were gone.

The governor grew anxious and sought the help of the immortal sects. The sects possessed a tracking technique that could use items a person had used within the last three days to locate them. The disciples used the luggage left behind by the missing villagers as a medium, but they found nothing. The matter was passed on to Vice Sect Master Zhen of the Xiaoyao Sect, who also attempted to track them personally, but he failed as well.

This could only mean that whoever abducted the villagers had intentionally severed the reach of the tracking technique. If it was not a powerful expert with profound cultivation, it must be spiritual bandits using spiritual artifacts to obscure their trail.

After Ren Tang finished speaking, Wen Ci’s expression grew grave. The pendant in his hand flipped rapidly. Looking at the wary expressions of the people in the hall, he understood everything after a moment of thought.

He raised an eyebrow, incredulous, and said, "So you are all suspecting that I am the bandit who abducted these people? Hahahaha, I asked you all to help move the refugees, only to abduct them myself? Why wouldn't I just grab them in Ningyu? I am not stupid enough to do something so redundant."

Ren Tang, however, did not believe him. He waved his hand, and the world suddenly plunged into darkness. The floor beneath Wen Ci’s feet turned into a blood-filled hell. Wen Ci’s eyes sharpened; he quickly summoned numerous giant eagles with gaping maws and flipped onto one of them. He saw that the cultivators trapped in the dream had all drawn their spirit swords, the cold light flashing.

"As to how to determine the truth, please come back with us for a detailed explanation, Miss Su."

Wen Ci narrowed his eyes: "And if I refuse?"

"Then don't blame us for being impolite, Miss Su."

After a pause, Ren Tang added, "Miss Su, are you truly Su Zhaoqing?"

Wen Ci smiled faintly, raising his hand to fill the nightmare with countless giant eagles, and said nonchalantly, "Me? I am your ancestor!"

Elsewhere, Ye Minwei had descended the mountain and arrived at the main street of Ningyu town—the same street where the Golden God parade had taken place. Looking up, one could see Mount Chongdan perfectly framed between the buildings. The usually bustling street was now empty. The shops along the way were closed, their doors sealed tightly with wooden planks; looking down the straight road, it seemed as if a wooden walkway had been erected along the street.

Ye Minwei found a spot with the best view and sat on the stone pavement. She supported the ground with her right hand and used a stone in her left to write and draw on the ground. Every time the rumbling tremors of the mountain traveled through the stone road to her palm, she would draw a series of numerical symbols.

Mount Chongdan let out another booming roar. With the sound, a voice spoke from behind her.

"Senior."

Ye Minwei turned back to look. The person before her was young and elegant, dressed in purple Daoist robes with a wooden crown securing his hair. At his waist hung a silver-white spirit sword and a jade pendant carved with grape vines.

"It’s you." Ye Minwei stood up, dusted off her clothes, looked at Zhuo Yilang, and said, "Do you have new questions for me?"

Moonlight fell into the young man's eyes. He gripped his sword tightly, complex emotions churning within his gaze.

Seeing he remained silent, Ye Minwei continued, "Oh, right. I meant to say it that day—your spiritual power is very profound. Have you already successfully completed Nightmare Cultivation? But you are so young, why undergo Nightmare Cultivation? With your aptitude, if you waited a few decades to cultivate it, your spiritual expansion would be hundreds of times greater than it is now. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhuo Yilang gritted his teeth, looked up at Ye Minwei, and said, "Senior, I do indeed have a question to ask you."

Ye Minwei looked at him calmly: "Hmm?"

"Are you truly... are you truly the Ancestor of All Phenomena, Ye Minwei?"

Zhuo Yilang stared at her intently, speaking each word clearly.

He pronounced the three characters "Ye Minwei" with great clarity. His voice echoed in the empty street, carried away by the summer breeze blowing through the alleys. Under the full moon, only Ye Minwei and Zhuo Yilang stood in silent confrontation.

A moment later, Ye Minwei blinked and said with surprise, "You are so young; you shouldn't know me, should you?"

"He may not know you, but I do."

A Daoist in a wooden crown and green robes stepped out from the shadows of the street. He was tall yet lean, with firm features. He appeared to be around thirty years old. As he stood there, remotely facing the shadow of Mount Chongdan, he bore a striking resemblance to the mountain's silhouette. Hanging beside a wooden plaque with a Taiji cloud pattern at his waist was a bronze longsword.