Chapter 2334: The Inescapable Grasp

No matter who takes over the position of chief steward, the Heavenly Palace will undergo a major upheaval—some will laugh, some will cry, some will rejoice, some will grieve; this is the nature of power transition.

And just at this very moment—alas, troubled times.

……

The next day, the Heavenly Palace held a grand ceremony for the inauguration of the new Lord of All Clouds, and Mei Wuniang attended as well. Many maidservants came over to express their condolences to Aunt Zeng, but Mei Wuniang would not let them enter.

On the third day, she was to take Aunt Zeng down the mountain to return to her hometown.

The servants placed Aunt Zeng's body into a specially made ice coffin; in a moment of carelessness, the back of the corpse's head struck the bedpost, and the sealing pill in her nose immediately fell out.

Tong Yiyi angrily said: "How dare you be so clumsy!"

Having spoken, she rushed forward and replaced the bead in its original position.

Before descending the mountain, she still had to enter the Hall of Myriad Gods with the other maidservants to pay homage to the deities.

It is said that this is also part of the procedure for the transition between the old and new Lords of All Clouds.

The Hall of Myriad Gods remains as splendid as ever; the parts previously burned by the Juju torch have been restored to their original state, and every deity statue is dignified and majestic—no matter from which angle Mei Wuniang bows, she feels their eyes are fixed upon her.

Hah, this feeling is truly unpleasant.

Since it is called the Hall of Myriad Gods, there are at least several hundred statues of deities, large and small, enshrined within. After Mei Wuniang finished bowing with the crowd, her waist and back ached terribly, though she dared not show it.

Having finally completed this procedure, she led the coffin-bearing party down the mountain in haste.

At the moment they left the territory of Mount Xushan, Mei Wuniang looked back toward the Heavenly Palace and let out a long breath.

She had come out!

Even the air of this dusty, mundane world seemed to have grown fresh.

Heaven knows that during the past dozen or so hours, every minute and every second had been torment for her.

What if the truth were exposed? What if she were discovered!

Fortunately, the "what if" never came to pass.

Now, she still has one danger to investigate.

Today is a bright, sunny day; the small town they passed through has residents who are leisurely and lazy. An ordinary place, ordinary days.

Mei Wuniang had a small knife concealed in her sleeve; she deliberately stepped into the sunlight and, using the view of the streets on both sides, turned her head left and right.

Then she saw—a faint red thread stuck to her left shoulder!

This thread is extremely fine and pale; one end is attached to her shoulder, the other seems to stretch toward the infinite distance of the sky, and no one knows where it ends.

So thin, like a spider's silk, this single red thread made Mei Wuniang's heart feel as if it had plunged into an ice cellar.

She had been "linked"!

The Great Emperor of the Nine Abodes said that heavenly gods can place a mark on living beings to activate a tracking function. This is also a divine art, called "God's Gaze," and those observed will have dark threads attached to them—ordinary beings, even immortals and demons with supernatural powers, cannot detect this thread.

But as long as she holds the small knife given to her by the Great Emperor of the Nine Abodes and stands in the sunlight, she can see it—for example, now!

The Heavenly Palace has changed its steward—shouldn't the heavenly gods' attention be entirely on Lu Yongxin, on the relationship between the Heavenly Palace and the Demon Emperor?

Why would they pay attention to someone as insignificant as her?

Mei Wuniang's heart was racing, but in front of the group she had to force herself to maintain a normal expression.

Having finally stepped out of the Heavenly Palace's territory, she had still not escaped the heavenly gods' grasp!

Mei Wuniang recalled that this red thread was likely placed on her when she bowed to the gods in the Hall of Myriad Gods.

She was leaving the Heavenly Palace, and the heavenly gods had cast a long line to fish for her.

What should she do now?

The Great Emperor of the Nine Abodes said that the current "God's Gaze" rarely exists alone; in secret, there are likely several pairs of eyes watching. Therefore, it is very difficult for her to send out the information she holds.

What troubles Mei Wuniang most is why the heavenly gods are watching her.

As she led the group forward, she struggled to think.

At the moment she discovered the red thread, she had only one thought:

I have been exposed!

But after calming down and reconsidering, that's not right.

She is merely a lowly maidservant—let alone her true identity being exposed, even if the heavenly gods had the slightest suspicion, the Heavenly Palace could easily detain and interrogate her on the spot; why would they let her go down the mountain with the coffin?

But if she had not been exposed, why would the heavenly gods place a red thread on her?

The function of the red thread is to make it easy for the heavenly gods to find her.

What do the heavenly gods wish to observe?

Mei Wuniang pondered for half a day and felt that only one hypothesis was most plausible:

Could it be that the heavenly gods are not targeting her?

The timing of her descent from the mountain is actually very sensitive—the transition between the old and new Lords of All Clouds, and the former lord's personal female official, Aunt Zeng, had died in service. Needless to say, the news of the Heavenly Palace's change of leadership has surely spread throughout the upper circles of Beijia. At this very moment, a first-rank maidservant from Aunt Zeng's side was sent down the mountain…

Damn it! Mei Wuniang silently cursed.

Could it be that she was being used as bait?!

No wonder they let her lead a coffin party overland—the Heavenly Palace and the heavenly gods are indeed nothing good.

If this coffin-bearing party truly is bait, then it is likely that someone will come knocking soon. Mei Wuniang very much wants to escape before that happens, after all she carries many secrets, and it would be best not to be drawn into any further incidents.

She cannot withstand scrutiny.

Yet she knows she cannot escape.

Outside of the "God's Gaze," there are likely others secretly following. If she were to cut the red thread herself, it would be tantamount to exposing herself, and the other party would very likely come immediately to seize her.

What should she do now? Mei Wuniang brushed the hair from her forehead, her head aching.

After traveling a hundred li, the party left the territory of Lingxu City, and the sky had darkened.

After much hesitation, she finally made an important decision:

Continue escorting the coffin, and pretend to know nothing.

The gods wanted to use her as bait to catch fish, which meant an accident was likely to come knocking. Only muddy water could yield fish, so at that time, it might just be her chance!

If everything went smoothly along the way with nothing happening, she would actually find it hard to shake off the gods' control.

Having figured this out, she ate when she should, slept when she should, traveled by day, lodged at night, and still had to regularly inspect the coffin.

From Mount Xushan to Zeng Guzi's hometown, it was roughly a ten-day journey.

Mei Wuniang did almost the same thing every day, hoping the person tailing her would grow tired of her routine and loosen their surveillance.

On the fourth night, she found another inn for the group to stay in, and naturally took a quiet, undisturbed large guest room for herself.

She read for a while, then checked on Zeng Guzi's coffin, and only then returned to her room, lying down on the bed to rest.

The night was deep and quiet.

After blowing out the lamp and pulling the covers over herself, a tiny gray pearl slipped from her sleeve and landed in her palm.

At first glance, this was the sealing pearl used on Zeng Guzi's body—each corpse required several of them.

But this one was the pearl she had shoved into Zeng Guzi's ear on the day the Lord of Douyun died; a few days later, on the day Zeng Guzi was laid in the coffin, she had replaced it with another pearl.

She gently rubbed the gray pearl twice, then pricked her palm with her fingernail, letting a drop of blood stain the sealing pearl.

All these movements were hidden beneath the covers.

On the surface, she lay with eyes closed, properly covered, making no extra movements whatsoever.