"He's gone?"
Perhaps because she had been too tense earlier, it was only after Gu Qingfeng had been gone for a long while that Liu Piaopiao asked in a daze.
"He's gone."
Wei Qing stared at the chess game on the table, seemingly somewhat distracted.
Only after confirming this did the stone hanging in Liu Piaopiao's heart finally drop. Her body felt as if it had been drained, and she sat down weakly in the pavilion. Then, as if remembering something, she asked, "Why did you tell him everything?"
"He asked."
"Just because he asked, you told him?"
"What else could I do?"
With Wei Qing's one sentence, Liu Piaopiao said nothing more.
Yes.
He asked. What could you do if you didn't tell him?
That man was mysterious and bizarre, his strength terrifyingly extreme. His pair of eyes seemed to see through all things in the world. Under his gaze, it was as if you no longer had any secrets. What could you do if you didn't tell him?
"What did he mean by what he said before leaving? That he doesn't know the Empress, yet is connected to her? And saying he might help the Empress—why would he do that?"
Wei Qing looked at the unfinished chess game on the stone table, an unusual glint flashing in his eyes as he responded, "He should be doing it for Karma."
"Karma? You mean he has Karma with the Empress?"
"Perhaps. I don't know either."
Liu Piaopiao stood up again, her willow-leaf eyebrows deeply furrowed as she recalled the conversation between Gu Qingfeng and Wei Qing just moments ago. She murmured, "Five hundred years ago, our Seas of Consciousness all underwent strange changes. Do you really suspect it was because the Empress briefly awakened?"
Wei Qing did not respond immediately to this question. Instead, he closed his eyes. After a moment, he shook his head, indicating he did not know.
"You don't know?" Liu Piaopiao stared at him, demanding, "Wei Qing, tell me honestly, do you know something?"
Wei Qing merely looked at the unfinished game and shook his head again, once more indicating he did not know.
"Hmph!" Liu Piaopiao snorted coldly. "You must know something. Otherwise, after the Calamity, when we woke up, why have you always been so particularly interested in the Yunxia Sect? Is the Yunxia Sect connected to the Empress? What exactly do you know? Tell me!"
"The reason I've always paid attention to the Yunxia Sect is only because the Bingxuan Sect founded by the Empress is related to the Yunxia Sect. I just want to know what exactly the relationship is between the Empress and the Ancestor of the Yunxia Sect. That's all."
"But after investigating for so long, you haven't found out anything, have you?"
Although both Wei Qing and Liu Piaopiao were created by Yun Nishang.
Although they did not know Yun Nishang's true identity.
Although five hundred years ago, strange changes in their Seas of Consciousness caused the loss of many memories.
One thing was certain: there was an indescribable, unclear relationship between the Empress and the Yunxia Sect. To be precise, it was related to the Ancestor of the Yunxia Sect, the one known as the Chiyang Ancestor, and also related to the Chiyang Heart of the Yunxia Sect.
This, Wei Qing knew, and Liu Piaopiao knew as well.
After the Calamity, they had tried every means to investigate. But no matter how much they looked into it, they found nothing. That Chiyang Ancestor seemed to have appeared out of thin air. There was nothing about him. Besides knowing he founded the Yunxia Sect, they knew nothing else—no identity, no background, nothing at all. There wasn't even a trace of his deeds.
Very low-key!
Frighteningly low-key.
So low-key he had no sense of existence.
If not for the fact that the Yunxia Sect still existed, probably no one would even know who its Ancestor was.
As for the Chiyang Heart.
During the Calamity, it had already fallen into the hands of the Nine-Hua Alliance. It was said to be in the possession of an elder of the Nine-Hua Alliance. Wei Qing knew clearly in his heart that there was someone else behind it. As for who it was, he did not know and had been investigating all along. However, after a hundred years of investigation, he had no clues. This was also the fundamental reason why he joined the Nine-Hua Alliance.
"I remember you once said that the reason the Empress risked being utterly annihilated to undergo a bloodline awakening must be related to the Ancestor of the Yunxia Sect."
Leaning against the stone pillar, Liu Piaopiao also closed her eyes, recalling what Wei Qing had said earlier. "You also said that five hundred years ago, the strange changes in our Seas of Consciousness must have been because the Empress awakened once."
She paused, then continued, "You also said at the time that, based on the timing of the changes in our Seas of Consciousness, nothing strange happened in the Bingxuan Sect that year, but two things happened in the Yunxia Sect."
"One of them was related to Monarch Chixiao. That year, Monarch Chixiao was expelled from the Yunxia Sect."
The more Liu Piaopiao spoke, the more animated she became. "I even asked you back then if Monarch Chixiao could be related to the Empress. You said you didn't know. Later, after I investigated, I learned that the reason Monarch Chixiao's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds that year was because he had come into contact with the Chiyang Heart."
"In other words, it's highly likely Monarch Chixiao had some Karma with the Empress."
Liu Piaopiao seemed to realize something and added, "Just now, Gu Qingfeng made it very clear that he is also investigating Karma. Gu Qingfeng... Monarch Chixiao also has the surname Gu. Gu Tianlang, Gu Qingfeng... Could it be..." At this thought, Liu Piaopiao's expression changed dramatically, and even her breathing stopped. However, at that moment, Wei Qing's voice came.
"There is no 'could it be'... I suspected it too. Unfortunately, he is not Monarch Chixiao. He cannot be."
Liu Piaopiao wanted to ask why, but the words stopped at her lips.
She knew that Monarch Chixiao had already perished three hundred years ago, utterly annihilated by the judgment of the Immortal Dao. Even if rumors said the Monarch did not die but used a great method to ascend to the Heavenly Realm, even if he did ascend, after the Calamity, he should have reincarnated.
And there was no trace of turbid aura on that Gu Qingfeng, not even the slightest bit. This indicated he had no connection whatsoever to reincarnation, soul possession and rebirth, or even bloodline inheritance.
"If Gu Qingfeng is not Monarch Chixiao, then what Karma could he have with the Empress?"
Liu Piaopiao asked, but Wei Qing did not respond.
If possible, he would like to know as well.
Suddenly.
Liu Piaopiao seemed to remember something else and asked, "You said that five hundred years ago, when our Seas of Consciousness underwent strange changes, two things happened in the Yunxia Sect. One was Monarch Chixiao coming into contact with the Chiyang Heart. What was the other thing?"
Wei Qing shook his head, indicating he did not know.
"Do you really not know, or are you unwilling to say?"
"I truly... do not know."
Wei Qing reached out and picked up a white chess piece, intending to place it into the unfinished game, but quickly withdrew his hand. He said, "Regarding the Empress's affairs... we'd better not speculate recklessly. Some things are not as simple as they appear on the surface... And some things, not knowing is not knowing. Knowing too much is not good... for you, and no exception for me."
...
That noon.
Yunxia Sect, Rear Mountain Spirit Seclusion Garden.
A rather slovenly-looking old man was pacing back and forth in the courtyard. The old man was unkempt, wearing a gray robe, pacing to and fro, occasionally opening a wine gourd to take a swig, all the while muttering curses under his breath.
"Kid Gu! Kid Gu! You really are a leopard that cannot change its spots!"
"When you were a kid, you fought wherever you went. How is it that after all these years, you're still the same!"
"You, kid... you've only been gone a few days, and you've nearly wiped out two major sects in the surrounding territories!"
Huode had just returned from outside. He had only received the news at dawn that Gu Qingfeng had caused trouble at Chixu Mountain Villa. By the time he rushed to the Liujin Region, it was already too late.