Chapter 368: The Origin of the Path Within the Painted Realm

"Ah!"

Long Qi could not help but exclaim; he finally remembered who exactly the woman before him was!

When he was young, he had once traveled with his father and met someone at a household—was it not this very woman before him?

Although Long Qi did not remember much from that time, the incident had left a deep impression; after all, it was the first time in his life he had been handled and poked all over, so even if he wanted to forget, he could not.

Yet, how could Long Qi have known that Tumi Xianzi was actually performing a bone-reading on him?

Long Feiyu had brought young Long Qi to Lu Family Fortress with the intention of having an expert check on his youngest son, but after a thorough bone-reading, Tumi Xianzi had only sighed.

This made Long Feiyu, as a father, feel a tightening in his heart, and only after his repeated questioning did Tumi Xianzi finally speak.

Long Qi did not understand what the adults around him were saying at the time. He only remembered that his father's expression was not very good, and being so young, he thought his father was angry because someone had been touching him.

According to Tumi Xianzi, Long Qi would face a great tribulation at the age of twenty-one, which might endanger his life; as for whether he could pass through it safely, that would depend on his own fortune.

Twenty-one?

Long Qi's eyes widened upon hearing this.

In a few more days, would it not be his twenty-first birthday?!

It was not that Long Qi was afraid of death, but he had yet to rescue Lingxiang; if he were to lose his life now, how could he be content?

Seeing the panic on Long Qi's face, Tumi Xianzi poured a cup of tea and handed it to him.

"Matters of fate are inherently mysterious and profound; one cannot ignore them, but one should not believe them entirely either."

Hearing this, Long Qi pondered for a moment before picking up the Tea Cup.

These words were not false.

He remembered that while training at Qingwei Peak, Lingxiang would often tell them that "fate is determined by Heaven" was the most absurd saying in the world.

Not to mention what "Heaven" actually was, just considering the three thousand sentient beings, if the fate of every single person had to be arranged one by one, even if things didn't fall into chaos, Heaven would be exhausted to death.

"Things like fate can only be held in one's own hands. Whether the path of life is bumpy or smooth, whether one moves forward or stays put, it is all a matter of a single thought, and no one can control it."

Long Qi was still immersed in his memories, but Tumi Xianzi interrupted him.

"Do you know why this encounter happened today?"

Long Qi naturally did not know.

Although everything seemed to be Lingxiang's intentional doing, Long Qi always felt that, in the dark, there seemed to be a hand pushing everything forward.

And this hand was the Tumi Xianzi before him.

Long Qi did not know how to bring it up; after all, this person was Lingxiang's mother, but according to Lingxiang, she only had a vague impression of her mother—it was less like a mother and more like there was simply such a person in her memory.

He naturally did not believe the "person in her memory" that Lingxiang spoke of; after all, although Lingxiang's expression at the time looked indifferent, the desolation in her eyes was plain to see.

Lingxiang probably held some resentment toward her mother!

After weighing it for a while, Long Qi decided to address her as Fairy, which would neither appear disrespectful nor go against Lingxiang's wishes.

"Since Fairy has issued this summons, you must intend to inform this junior, so this junior will listen respectfully." Long Qi took a sip of the tea; the tea in the cup actually tasted of lotus leaves.

Tumi Xianzi looked out toward the pavilion, and only after a long while did she speak.

"I cannot remember how long ago it was, but the head of the Lu Family found me, saying there was a matter to entrust..."

During her early travels, Tumi Xianzi had heard of the Long, Lu, and Qiao families, but what was rumored in the outside world only spoke of them as paragons of demon-slaying; as for the specific situation, she had never delved into it.

When the head of the Lu Family found Tumi Xianzi, she had been slightly surprised.

Although she had not done few things involving trickery and deception in her daily life, she would never offend these kinds of insiders. Why would the top figures of the demon-slaying world seek her out now?

It could not be denied that when people had come to ask for medicine before, she had indeed acted somewhat rudely, but it shouldn't be enough to hold a grudge until now!

Upon learning the reason, Tumi Xianzi had wanted to refuse. She had long since retired, and this trip was only because some past ties had yet to be settled, which was why she had brought her young daughter out to seek medicine.

But she could not resist how much they were paying!

There is a saying: "Only a fool doesn't earn money," though this saying originated from the mouth of Tumi Xianzi herself.

Tumi Xianzi had originally thought it would be an easy job; after all, for such a wealthy family that was also part of the cultivation world, it was normal to be Cup Bow Snake Shadow after offending the Demon Race.

But everything changed after meeting the daughter of the Qiao Family, forcing Tumi Xianzi to be extremely cautious.

In these times when Spirit Roots were waning, Tumi Xianzi had never expected to encounter someone with a Heavenly Star Spirit Root; this was not an ordinary matter. Furthermore, this Qiao girl possessed the ability of foresight, and what was more troublesome was that although this girl had superior aptitude, she was weak and sickly, unable to enjoy the blessings of it.

Even if Tumi Xianzi could save this girl for a moment, she could not save her for a lifetime.

The girl's ability was quite tricky, but Tumi Xianzi was rather interested, so she tried to enter her dreams using a Dream-Returning Pill, hoping she might find a way.

But what Tumi Xianzi saw after entering the dream left her greatly horrified.

The Qiao girl seemed to know that Tumi Xianzi had entered her dream and actually revealed the Demon Race's chaos in the human world to her, and the leader of it was the very member of the Demon Realm's royalty that Tumi Xianzi had saved in her early years.

Tumi Xianzi did not even want to look at that person for an extra second.

Back then, when Tumi Xianzi agreed to save him, she thought she could reform him, but who would have thought he would harbor evil intentions and attempt to commit an indecent act against her!

Tumi Xianzi had never told anyone about this.

At the moment of danger, fortunately, Chiyanzi knocked that person unconscious, and Tumi Xianzi was spared.

Tumi Xianzi had always held a grudge regarding this matter, which was why she decided to retire after Yunmeng.

Some people, no matter how much you pour your heart and soul into them, will not change.

Returning to the matter, Tumi Xianzi learned of future events from the Qiao girl, but some things simply did not make sense.

Supposedly, after Wu Wang defeated the Shang, the Demon Race appeared in the world and lived in peace with humanity for a thousand years; why would they come to invade the human world now?

Later, after some investigation, she learned that the so-called peace was not as simple as the world believed.

The Long, Lu, and Qiao families were originally one clan; during the time of ancient evil spirits, they were ordered by the High Gods to suppress hundreds of demons in the human world. However, after the great undertaking of the Conferment of the Gods, a divine revelation descended from Heaven, separating the three families into three locations to form the Three Talents Zhen.

On the surface, it was to trap demons with the array, but in reality, this array was to seal the Demon Race, preventing them from escaping the Netherworld and wreaking havoc on the human world.

However, because of this, the power of the Demon Sealing Technique became much weaker due to the dispersal of the three families.

As time went on, and with the world encountering an era where Spirit Roots were in decline, this allowed a source of disaster like the Zhuyan to take advantage of the situation.

Furthermore, according to the head of the Qiao Family, the original place where the three families suppressed demons was actually at Jiuque Mountain!

……

"So the one pushing everything behind the scenes really is you!"

Upon hearing this, Long Qi could not help but slam the table and stand up, drawing great dissatisfaction from Sutong, who was at his side.

Tumi Xianzi, however, merely smiled slightly.

"It is, and it is not."

Long Qi looked bewildered upon hearing this.

It either is or it isn't; what is meant by "it is and it is not"?

"I merely spoke of what I have seen and heard," Tumi Xianzi sighed. "All of this was proposed by the heads of the three clans themselves."

"What! It was... it was Father and the others..."

But...

Why?