Chapter 66: Strangers on the Path, Moving Stars Before the Past

Seeing the Compass, Xin Yi was startled; how could such an object be in the hands of this little Peak Master? He forced himself to remain calm as he looked toward Lingxiang, but since moonlight was spilling onto her back and no lamp had been lit in the room, he could not make out the expression on her face.

Xin Yi was instantly filled with killing intent; he rose to his feet, wary of Lingxiang, his face full of murderous severity.

Yet Lingxiang seemed completely unconcerned; she merely smiled and began to speak:

"In that case, let us start from the beginning."

……

Tumi was originally a Wandering Immortal cultivator. No one knew her family background, nor did they know who her master was. All that people knew was that she was a woman who traveled to heal the world like a celestial being, a woman whom one could never forget after a single glance.

However, such a woman had no fixed abode, making the four seas her home. Wherever there was disaster or suffering, that was where she would go. The world knew of such a person, yet they did not know where to look if they wished to find her.

By chance, she came into possession of a rare Spirit Treasure and became obsessed with Spirit-Refining and medicine-making, hoping to save the world from suffering during those chaotic times.

But day after day, year after year, having seen enough of the world's fickleness and knowing the sinister nature of the human heart, she no longer felt passionate about saving the suffering. She simply could not bear to part with the rare plants and precious fruits of the mortal world, so she spent her years traveling through high mountains and vast forests, devoting herself to the study of the Dao of Spirit-Refining.

Finally, one day, she succeeded in refining a Pill that could restore vitality to those on the verge of death.

Yet this medicine required rare ingredients, was difficult to refine, and having just come out of the furnace, even Tumi herself did not know how effective it would be.

It so happened that a change occurred in the Demon Realm; the Demon Lord suddenly passed away. Amidst the power struggle, his most favored son became a sacrifice. Fortunately, however, his subordinates were fiercely loyal and risked their lives to send him to the human world.

But by then he was already severely wounded and on the brink of death; he happened to be found by Tumi as she was passing by to gather herbs, so she casually saved him and brought him back.

After she administered the new medicine to him, this son of the Demon Race actually came back to life, and after recuperating for some time, his body recovered as if nothing had happened.

This result excited Tumi greatly. Seeing that its efficacy was so extraordinary, she named it:

Life-Prolonging Pill!

……

Lingxiang paused deliberately here and looked at Xin Yi, but Xin Yi showed not the slightest reaction, remaining motionless as he half-knelt on the bed.

Seeing him like this, Lingxiang began to speak slowly once more.

……

The cause of the chaos and strife at that time was actually the descent of the fierce beast Zhu Yan. After the Yuanqing Sect learned of this news, the Sect Leader took five disciples and together they subdued it.

But it was, after all, the soul of an ancient fierce beast. Although they eliminated it after seven days of fighting, the Yuanqing Sect Leader suffered a fatal wound while saving his disciples. As he was about to return his soul to the Grand Void, even the Yuan Qing Patriarch was helpless.

It was at this moment that Tumi Xianzi arrived with the son of the Demon Race and saved the Yuanqing Sect Leader.

The Yuan Qing Patriarch, moved by her kindness in saving his disciple, gifted her Qingwei Peak, which was the richest in spirit plants within the sect. It happened that she was also tired of the world's lack of order, so she gladly settled down there.

Unexpectedly, after Tumi Xianzi lived in Yuanqing for a long time, she and the Yuanqing Sect Leader developed feelings for each other. As the two interacted, they were married before long.

That son of the Demon Race had long harbored feelings for Tumi but had never expressed them. Seeing the two of them like this, he was consumed by rage and returned to the Demon Realm.

At that time, there were three demon-exterminating families in Chenjian. Having heard of the Life-Prolonging Pill from somewhere, they came to ask for it. It happened that Tumi Xianzi was refining a new formula and was also pregnant, so she generously gave it away.

The heads of these three families thought they had obtained a treasure, so they took it home and worshipped it carefully, little knowing that it would bring about their destruction in the future.

To return to the son of the Demon Race: he returned to the Demon Realm and reclaimed power within three years. He had never forgotten Tumi Xianzi, and upon hearing that she had given birth to a daughter for the Yuanqing Sect Leader, he was even more unable to contain his anger, so one day he slaughtered his way back to the Yuanqing Sect.

It was this very time that nearly caused the destruction of the Yuanqing Sect.

Yet just as he was about to finish them all off, he suffered an injury for unknown reasons and had no choice but to withdraw from Yuanqing.

However, the injury he sustained this time was difficult to recover from. After hearing that the three great demon-exterminating families had obtained the Life-Prolonging Pill, he sent men to seize the pill and bloodbathed the three families.

……

"These three families were the Gaoling Qiao Family, the Nanhua Long Family, and..." Lingxiang dragged out her words as if on purpose, "... the Youlu Lu Clan."

Upon hearing this, Xin Yi seemed moved; a flash of sorrow appeared in his eyes.

And this very instant was captured by Lingxiang.

"After the incident at the Yuanqing Sect, the experts of the Long Family calculated this disaster, so they entrusted their family's heavy items to the Qiao Family. The Qiao Family included them in the dowry of their daughter who was about to be married and sent them away, while the Youlu Lu Clan was attacked before they could even prepare," Lingxiang said as she jumped down from the window.

"It was only later, when the officials were cleaning up the aftermath, that they discovered something was wrong," Lingxiang looked at the motionless Xin Yi. "The Lu Clan clearly had an only son, yet although the number of victims was consistent, one of the people held in the arms of a woman was a baby girl."

"That only son was named Lu Xingyi."

Lingxiang looked at Xin Yi and spoke this sentence word by word. After hearing this, Xin Yi seemed to have his strength drained away; all the killing intent around him vanished, and he slumped onto the bed, only speaking after a long while.

"The one who bloodbathed the Lu Clan was Bai Wuchang. That day was the Mid-Autumn Festival; I had gone to the street with my mother, which is how I escaped death. When I returned, I only saw a scene of devastation. Who would have thought the Demon Soldiers would return, so they took my mother and me to Bai Wuchang."

It was as expected.

Lingxiang thought this as she spoke: "The dual-blade cultivator outside the Taishang Sect mountains is you, isn't it? Although you were masked, I remembered your brows and eyes."

"That is correct," Xin Yi did not deny it.

"Why did you go to waylay and kill me that day?" Lingxiang asked.

"That was Bai Wuchang's order. As far as I know, the Demon Lord only obtained two Life-Prolonging Pills back then. All these years, he has been sending people to secretly search for the third. That day, seeing you use a pill in such a peculiar way at the Taishang Sect, I thought you might have it."

"I do indeed have it," Lingxiang said as she sat on a stool in the room. "But that was one I refined myself. Besides, I had already fed one to Lu Ying at the time; how did you know there would be another?"

"I did not know that what you fed Lu Ying was a Life-Prolonging Pill; all I knew was the Golden Core that Bai Wuchang spoke of."

Lingxiang laughed upon hearing this.

"If the color is gold, it is of high quality. There are countless Golden Cores in the world; how would he know which one it was? To think he is a member of the Demon Race and a strategist at that, yet he lacks even this bit of discernment."

As she spoke, she turned to pick up the Compass and threw it to Xin Yi.

"You might be wondering why I have this object; it just so happens that I saw you when you were at Yinyu Mountain that day."

Xin Yi looked at the formation on the face of the Compass, which had been disrupted by the talisman drawn in Cinnabar, feeling utterly bewildered.

"Then why didn't you stop it, and instead let this Summoning Array gain power?"

"I was testing you, to see if you still had any goodness in you," Lingxiang said as she rose. "That is why I distributed different talismans to you all. I was gambling—gambling on you."

"What does this mean?" Xin Yi was deeply confused. He raised his head to look at Lingxiang, only to see her walk to the window and look up at the sky outside.

"Tumi Xianzi... is my mother."