ATPnovel Chapter 549: Not a Single One Left
Chapter 549: Not a Single One Left
Since Daoist Master Yun Xi brought Gui Junmeng to Tushan, and Gui Junmeng delivered Xiao Mo's final letter to Tushan Jingci, a full thirty days had now passed in the blink of an eye.On that day thirty days before, Tushan Jingci had carried the box Gui Junmeng had brought back to her courtyard alone.
In the quiet, empty room, her trembling hands drew Xiao Mo's own handwritten letter from the box, and she read it word by word with careful attention, as though trying to carve every character into her heart.
Yueshi did not know what exactly Xiao Mo had written in the letter. She simply kept quiet watch outside the courtyard but Yueshi knew that her Young Miss had stayed in that room for a very, very long time, so long that she began to wonder whether the Young Miss meant to shut herself in there forever.
And ever since her Young Miss finally emerged from that room, Yueshi had never once seen her smile again. Not a single time.
All Yueshi saw was her Young Miss pouring every ounce of energy into her cultivation, day after day, without ever tiring.
Otherwise, the Young Miss would bury herself in Tushan's library pavilion, staying there for a whole day at a time, not even remembering to eat.
Yueshi knew that all the books her Young Miss was reading concerned formations.
As for the purpose and effect of these formations, Yueshi had already guessed at some of it herself.
Because Xiao Mo had rendered such distinguished service, having genuinely earned considerable merit in Quicksand City and even brought back that precious demon core to Tushan though the demon core had been specifically directed by Xiao Mo to Tushan Jingci, in everyone's view, since it had ultimately fallen into Tushan's hands, it naturally belonged to the whole of Tushan as well.
Therefore, after Xiao Mo's passing, by all rights Tushan should have held a funeral for him.
Tushan Meng had even intended to conduct Xiao Mo's funeral according to the protocol reserved for elders, to demonstrate the respect and mourning owed to this meritorious servant.
Everyone had been astonished by Tushan Meng's decision.
No one had expected the Grand Elder to be so generous yet just as everyone had agreed to the Grand Elder's proposal, Tushan Jingci refused it.
"Xiao Mo... is not dead."
When the Tushan elders had gathered to discuss the specific arrangements for Xiao Mo's funeral, Tushan Jingci had suddenly risen to her feet and declared to everyone present, with absolute certainty.
"Holy Woman, the human tradition values a proper burial to bring peace to the deceased. Though Xiao Mo has no remains, we could at the very least build a memorial tomb for him with his belongings, so there would at least be something to remember him by. Otherwise..."
"I said!"
Tushan Jingci cut off the elder without a shred of courtesy, her voice suddenly rising.
"Xiao Mo is not dead."
Her voice carried absolute conviction, even a note of stubbornness that admitted no argument but everyone present understood clearly that Xiao Mo was dead, his soul destroyed utterly, without even the chance for reincarnation left to him.
There was no possibility of Xiao Mo ever returning yet looking into Tushan Jingci's reddened eyes, not a single one of them dared to say another word.
In the end, because of Tushan Jingci's adamant opposition, Xiao Mo's funeral was never held.
Very few people minded this at all, in truth. After all, Xiao Mo had been human, and holding a funeral for him would have been more of a courtesy than an obligation.
With no funeral to arrange, everyone else was spared the trouble.
Before long, Tushan was to hold the Holy Woman ceremony yet the closer the ceremony drew, the fiercer the voices of opposition grew.
Among the ten Grand Elders of Tushan, three had already openly stated their opposition, believing that "Tushan Jingci was not suited to serve as Tushan's Holy Woman."
Fortunately, Tushan Jingci had displayed astonishing cultivation talent during this period, and with the demon core in her possession, her future prospects seemed boundless.
In the end, with the Grand Elder's full support, the objections raised by these three elders were dismissed one by one.
The Holy Woman ceremony was held as scheduled.
On that day, Tushan Jingci changed into a long dress symbolizing the status of Holy Woman.
The snow-white gown was flawless, tracing the graceful curves of her figure with perfect elegance, and its color echoed the distant Moon Spirit Tree, as though the two shared some hidden resonance.
When Tushan Jingci made her graceful entrance at the ceremony, she looked as sacred and pure as a goddess descended from the heavens.
Yueshi looked at her Young Miss, and could not tear her eyes away with just that single glance but very quickly, a deep and heavy feeling rose in Yueshi's heart.
Her Young Miss looked so radiantly, sacredly beautiful in that moment. What a pity that he would never see it again.
The Holy Woman ceremony proceeded smoothly but just as Tushan Jingci was about to perform the ritual offering to the Moon Spirit Tree, a rebellion suddenly erupted at the banquet.
A large number of fox clan cultivators, working in concert with outside cultivators who had infiltrated the gathering under the cover of chaos, surged together toward Moon Spirit Peak.
Among the rebel forces were no few immortal-realm powers, including two elders from within Tushan's own clan.
Beyond Tushan's borders, two Ascension-realm cultivators had descended as well.
They had chosen the timing of the Holy Woman ceremony precisely, coordinating inside and outside forces in an attempt to bring down the entirety of Tushan in a single stroke but Tushan Meng seemed to have anticipated this development long in advance.
Among the guests at Tushan's banquet, one of Tushan Meng's own Ascension-realm friends had been secretly present all along.
With this friend's assistance and the support of Tushan's mountain-protecting formation, the battle ultimately ended in the rebels' crushing defeat.
Tushan Meng thus purged every traitor who had surfaced, rooting them out entirely and showing no mercy.
Throughout this entire battle, Tushan Jingci's expression remained calm from beginning to end.
Especially when, with cultivation only at the Nascent Soul realm, she forcibly killed a cultivator at the early stage of the Jade Simplicity realm across a full major realm gap.
When her pure white robes became spattered with blood.
When she stood quietly beneath the Moon Spirit Tree just like that.
Everyone stared at her in a daze, as though for a moment they were looking at the ancestral founder of Tushan herself, as depicted in the clan's old paintings.
It was this battle that firmly established Tushan Jingci's standing, once and for all, and no one dared to question her position again.
Thirty years passed in the blink of an eye.
After the crushing defeat of that surprise attack on Tushan thirty years before, the Heavenly Demons Alliance and the Holy Demons Alliance truly and finally split apart, no longer able to join forces, each fighting independently, paying no further mind to the other.
Over these thirty years, the Ten Thousand Demons Alliance, led by Tushan, continuously absorbed sects and kingdoms throughout the Demon Realm, growing in strength day by day, showing every sign of sweeping across the entire Demon Realm unchecked yet the various kingdoms and sects of the Demon Realm were not fools simply waiting to be devoured.
Faced with this situation, they understood that unless they wished to be absorbed one by one by the Ten Thousand Demons Alliance, they had to join forces and resist together and so, under the combined effort of the other factions, the Ten Thousand Demons Alliance's advance was halted, and the Demon Realm once again fell into a delicate, relative balance.
And compared to the Demon Realm at large, which remained caught in years of continuous warfare and suffering, Tushan's own territory stood like a peaceful, idyllic paradise untouched by the chaos beyond.
During these thirty years, Tushan Jingci established one school after another within Tushan, teaching and answering questions for ordinary fox clan members.
Even those young fox descendants of only ordinary talent were now able to attend school and learn to read and write.
Xiangniang became a female teacher at one of these academies.
Though this "female teacher" Xiangniang had not actually read very many books herself, with not much learning to draw on but when it came to teaching these young little foxes a few characters or reading a few passages, she managed well enough.
Tushan Jingci would sometimes go to the academies herself, teaching classes to these small fox children and she genuinely encountered, among those young and innocent faces, quite a few students of exceptional spiritual talent.
Tushan Jingci took on three female disciples and had them move into Moon Spring Peak.
These three little foxes were all of ordinary fox bloodline, their origins not particularly distinguished.
To them, Tushan Jingci as the Holy Woman was like a celestial being descended from the heavens, an existence lofty and beyond reach but there was one thing these three little foxes could never quite understand. Though the Holy Woman was so exceptionally beautiful, they had never once seen her smile. Not a single time.
And the Holy Woman often occupied herself alone with certain mysterious and profound formations.
Those formations were far too complex for them to understand at all.
They had asked about it a couple of times out of curiosity, but the Holy Woman had never explained much, only saying flatly that she was searching for something, the most important and precious thing of all.
Beyond that, the Holy Woman would often sit alone in the courtyard, holding a yellowed envelope and staring off into space.
They had no idea what was written on that faded paper.
They only knew that the Holy Woman read that letter over and over, as though she could never grow tired of it.
One day, after finishing their cultivation, the three little girls quietly slipped over to the courtyard where the Holy Woman lived.
Three little fox-eared girls, no more than seven or eight years old in appearance, peered around the doorframe, their fluffy little heads poking out, eyes blinking with the nervous, guilty excitement of children up to something forbidden.
"Doudou, Yiyi, is it really okay for us to sneak into the Holy Woman's study like this?"
The little girl named Tushan Kankan blinked her round eyes rapidly.
She had actually already begun to regret coming along with Doudou and Yiyi.
If the Holy Woman found out they had snuck into her room, she would surely be angry.
"Kankan, it is fine. We are just going to take a peek, to see what is written on that paper the Holy Woman is always holding, and then we will come right out. The Holy Woman will never know." Yiyi, the boldest of the three, spoke softly.
"Mm-hmm." Tushan Doudou nodded eagerly in agreement. "Kankan, are you not curious why the Holy Woman is so unhappy? I think the answer lies in that paper. Once we know why the Holy Woman is unhappy, could we not think of a way to make her happy again?"
"That is true, but..." Tushan Kankan still felt uneasy inside, murmuring quietly.
"Come on, Kankan, we are already here. Do not overthink it!" Tushan Yiyi said, and took hold of both her sisters' hands, tiptoeing quietly into the Holy Woman's room.
They had actually been to the Holy Woman's room quite a few times before.
Sometimes the Holy Woman taught them their lessons right in this very room and they also knew that the Holy Woman kept that treasured letter tucked beneath her pillow.
Before long, the three little girls had found the yellowed piece of paper.
Tushan Yiyi carefully spread it open on the table, terrified of even bending the tiniest corner and just as the three little ones pressed their hands to the edge of the table, leaning their fluffy little heads in close, trying to make out what exactly was written on the page, "knock, knock, knock."
Each of the three little heads received a light tap.
"Ow!" The three of them clutched their heads in pain, looked up, and found Yueshi standing behind them without any warning.
"Elder Sister Yueshi." The three of them quickly straightened up, their small bodies going stiff as a drawn bowstring, too nervous to move.
"What are you doing here?" Yueshi asked in a gentle voice, her warm gaze sweeping over the three little ones.
"We... we..." The three little girls lowered their fluffy heads, their fingers twisting together, unable to think of an explanation for a moment but there was no need for them to answer.
Yueshi glanced at them, then at the yellowed piece of paper spread out on the table, and quickly understood what had happened.
"I will forgive you this once, but there will not be a next time. You are never to sneak into the Holy Woman's room again. Do you understand?" Yueshi's tone was firm, and she carefully picked up the piece of paper.
"Elder Sister Yueshi, what does that paper actually say?" Tushan Yiyi still would not let it go, tugging gently at Yueshi's skirt, looking up at her with pleading eyes.
"That is right, Elder Sister Yueshi, please read it to us." Tushan Doudou came closer as well, wrapping her arms around Yueshi's leg, her voice soft and sweet.
"You three little ones, why are you so curious about what is written in this letter?" Yueshi looked at the three of them, helpless.
"Because the Holy Woman always stares at this paper in a daze." Tushan Yiyi answered earnestly.
Tushan Doudou nodded repeatedly, quick to back up her sister. "And every time the Holy Woman looks at this paper, she looks so unhappy, it makes us feel so bad for her."
"We... we want to make Sister Jingci happy again, but first we need to understand why she is unhappy," Tushan Kankan added softly.
Listening to the three of them talk over one another, Yueshi looked at their earnest little faces and knew these children were not making anything up and besides, these three little girls truly did not know how to lie.
"Then you have got the wrong idea about it," Yueshi said with a quiet sigh, her tone considerably gentler now. "What is written on this paper is not something that would make the Holy Woman sad. It is nothing more than a poem."
"Just a poem?" Tushan Kankan tilted her head, puzzlement filling her eyes. "Then why does the Holy Woman keep staring at it?"
Yueshi crouched down slowly, gently stroking Tushan Kankan's fluffy head, her voice gentle and distant. "Because this poem was written by the person the Holy Woman cares about most in the whole world."
"Then Elder Sister Yueshi, why does the Holy Woman never smile at all?" the little girl asked, blinking, pressing further.
"Because..."
A young man's figure passed through Yueshi's mind, her eyes filled with remembrance and quiet sorrow.
"The Holy Woman's smile has already all been given to him."
"Not a single one left."