Chapter 67: The Pearl Curtain Rolls Up, the Jade Tower is Empty

"Bai Wuchang slaughtered your entire family, yet you still work for him. Could it be..."

"That's right," Xin Yi rose at this moment and walked over to sit beside Lingxiang, "my mother is in his hands."

Lingxiang pinched her chin, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Are you certain your mother is still alive?"

"What do you mean by that?" Upon hearing this, a chill appeared in Xin Yi's eyes.

"Nothing, it's just that as far as I know, the son of the Demon Race was only able to usurp the throne back then by relying on Bai Wuchang's methods. And he has a title, known to people as the White-Faced Asura, who never does anything unnecessary. That he spared your life back then, I imagine he must have calculated for today. That is why I am curious..." Lingxiang hesitated, "How long has it been since you last saw your mother?"

Hearing Lingxiang ask this, Xin Yi was startled in his heart: That's right, he had been working for Bai Wuchang since he was small, yet it had been a long time since he had seen his mother.

Seeing him lost in thought, Lingxiang hurriedly said, "It is not that I am saying your mother is no longer in this world, but if she fell into his hands, I imagine..."

Xin Yi stood up immediately and looked toward Lingxiang.

"Impossible! At the time, my mother and I were captured together, it was only later that we were forced to separate!"

"Do not panic," Lingxiang comforted him, "for now, you can only do what he tells you to do, but you must keep your guard up in all things."

Hearing her say this, Xin Yi could not help but ask, "Everything I do now will not be of any benefit to you or the Yuanqing Sect, yet you are so fearless?"

"Afraid?" Lingxiang smiled, "Fear is natural, of course, but the matter is already upon us, is it not? Being afraid is useless. Who told Maidong..."

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly digressed.

"Speaking of which, you seem to know Maidong."

"She..." Xin Yi said hesitantly, "She should be the daughter of my mother's sister. The two of us were betrothed since we were small..."

"What?" Lingxiang said in surprise, "How could that be?"

"She has a wheat-ear embroidery on her right arm; that was originally a burn scar..."

Lingxiang recalled when she and Maidong bathed together as children; there did seem to be a mark on her right upper arm.

"I originally thought she had been killed back then. My uncle was working under my father at the time, and my aunt often stayed at our house. I later read the government notice and saw the number of victims, so I believed it to be so..." Xin Yi explained.

"You mean she was at your house at the time?" Lingxiang pondered for a moment, "That is not right. I remember Brother Fuyin picked her up in Lincheng. That is more than a short distance from Youlu, how could that be?"

The two were just feeling puzzled about this matter when the room door suddenly opened.

Long Qi was seen standing outside the door with red eyes, staring fixedly at Lingxiang for a long time.

Lingxiang was stunned for a moment, then asked, "You... heard it all?"

Only then did Long Qi step forward quickly, pulling Lingxiang as he walked outside. He did not let go until they were out of the courtyard gate, yet he did not speak for a long while.

Lingxiang could not fathom what he was thinking now, and just as she was thinking about how to speak, she heard Long Qi ask in a muffled voice:

"Are you the daughter of Tumi Xianzi?"

Lingxiang thought that since he had asked this, he must have heard everything, so there was no need to hide it.

"Yes, Tumi Xianzi is my mother."

And after hearing this sentence, Long Qi seemed to tremble, and only after a long time did he speak:

"I was very confused. You are at the Foundation Establishment Three Realms, while I only knew some martial arts at the time. How could you let me move into Youran Abode so easily? So, you knew who I was all along."

"Naturally not. The reason I let you move into Youran Abode was entirely because my room was full of good things, and it was inconvenient to exert myself to kick you out. Besides, I truly do not know martial arts. As for who you are..."

Lingxiang hesitated over whether to tell Long Qi, while Long Qi tensed his entire body upon hearing the words "as for."

"Although I knew you must have had a purpose in following me, I truly did not know at the beginning. Later, when I saw the ancient jade on your person, I only then became aware."

Hearing this, Long Qi relaxed his body—so she had not kept him there on purpose.

"Later, I used some methods to learn of this past, and I thought, since it was caused by the Life-Prolonging Pill and involved my mother, I should make some amends..."

Just as Lingxiang was speaking, she did not expect Long Qi to suddenly turn around and hug her.

How could she talk about amends? So she had always wanted to make amends for herself, but the matter of the family slaughter was not her doing, so how could she make amends? She must not think like that!

Lingxiang was shocked by Long Qi's action and could not recover for a moment. When she finally came to her senses, she tried to push him away, but she could not move him at all.

"What are you doing!" Lingxiang said sternly, "I am your master!"

Long Qi released Lingxiang, but his hands gripped her shoulders, and he looked at Lingxiang with his head bowed and eyes red.

"I don't want you to be my master!"

Lingxiang was stunned by Long Qi's low roar. She had never seen him like this before, and it was a long while before she said with a flushed face:

"This habit of yours is not good... At my age, I cannot be your mother either..."

"I!" Long Qi was choked by her words and did not know how to speak for a moment, so he simply lowered his head and was about to kiss Lingxiang.

However, at this very moment, a "poof" sound was heard; Lingxiang suddenly disappeared without a trace, and a small wooden doll stood where Lingxiang had been.

……

As soon as the Ever-Bright Lamp went out, Lingxiang woke up. As soon as Maidong saw her get up, she hurried forward to ask what Xin Yi had said, but she seemed as if her soul had not yet returned.

She could not figure it out. A perfectly fine person, insisting on recognizing someone as a mother—although she did have a motherly heart, she could not just mess around like this!

Although it is said that a teacher for a day is a mother for life, one cannot really take oneself as a mother. She had never been a mother before, where would she have any experience?

"I'm asking you a question! How did you become such a fool?" Maidong said, touching Lingxiang's forehead.

Lingxiang then slapped Maidong's hand away.

"I am fine," she said, then remembered what Xin Yi had said and hurriedly asked, "You were indeed picked up by the Sixth Senior Brother from Lincheng, right?"

Maidong looked confused upon hearing this: Could it be that Xin Yi asked about this?

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Then do you remember where you were before that?" Lingxiang asked, pushing Maidong away.

"I must have been in Lincheng the whole time, I don't remember clearly."

"Then can you still recall anything from before your master picked you up?"

Maidong thought for a while and shook her head. Apart from stealing jade pillars to eat and being chased and beaten, she did not remember anything else.

This was strange, Lingxiang thought, pinching her chin: How did she get to Lincheng?

But as she thought about it, she could not help but recall what Long Qi had said, so she asked Maidong:

"Tell me, if someone wanted to acknowledge you as their mother, would you agree or not?"

Upon hearing this, Maidong was greatly alarmed!

What? Could it be that Xin Yi wanted to acknowledge her as his mother!?

"No! Absolutely not!"

What a joke! With her flower-like beauty and radiant youth, she hadn't even married yet, and she was to become someone's mother?!

What on earth did that wretched girl do while she was out, to make Xin Yi want to acknowledge her as his mother!?