Chapter 1840

Qiqi entered the meditation room, saw Master Yuanmu sitting cross-legged on the futon; even her arrival did not make him rise to greet her, but Qiqi did not mind, after all Master Yuanmu was highly revered in Tianlong Temple, and for such an otherworldly enlightened monk, one cannot judge him by the attitude toward ordinary subjects; she smiled and said, "Master, are you well?"

Master Yuanmu said, "Lady benefactor, have you come today to fulfill this poor monk's wish?" His expression was calm and serene, his eyes filled with compassion, like a kind elder.

Qiqi nodded, then sat on the futon opposite Master Yuanmu and said softly, "I have memorized the Heart Sutra of Prajnaparamita completely." She pointed to her head, then smiled gently and said, "If Master needs it, I can write it down now."

Master Yuanmu sighed and said, "There is no longer any need for that."

Qiqi looked at him, her eyes full of confusion; Hu Xiaotian had said Master Yuanmu wanted to exchange his mother's secret from years ago for the Heart Sutra, but now that she had come, why did the old monk say there was no need? Had he already lost interest in that sutra?

Master Yuanmu said, "Your Highness, what would you like to ask?"

Qiqi said, "Master, do you know my mother?"

Master Yuanmu said, "We have only met once; we are not acquainted."

"That day at the Great Xiangguo Temple, why did Master strike down Minghuai's pagoda with a single palm?"

Master Yuanmu said, "Without destruction there is no creation; without death there is no extinction."

Qiqi said, "What exactly happened between Minghuai and my mother back then?"

Master Yuanmu gazed quietly at Qiqi and said, "Why dig up the past, benefactor?"

Qiqi said, "My heart is filled with too many doubts; I hope Master will compassionately point me out of confusion."

Master Yuanmu said, "Trouble arises from the mind, demons arise from the mind; benefactor, you wish to have doubts cleared, yet you do not know the cycle of cause and effect—one thought ceases, another arises. Even if I could answer one of your questions, that answer would give rise to endless confusion; why must you go round and round, asking endless questions about the Way?"

Qiqi said, "Is that what Master means by indestructibility and immortality?"

Master Yuanmu's gaze was as still as an ancient well.

Qiqi said, "It seems yesterday's killing trap was set by Master."

Master Yuanmu's gaze, as tranquil as an ancient deep pool, rippled for the first time.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Why?"

Ji Feihua sighed, bowed three times reverently before the Buddha statue, and placed the burning incense in her hand into the censer.

Hu Xiaotian could not help but ask, "When did you start believing in Buddhism?"

Ji Feihua's gaze lingered on the Buddha statue as she said, "Because this Buddha statue is different."

Hu Xiaotian looked at the Buddha statue because of her words, but it was merely an ordinary clay statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and he did not know what was different about it.

Ji Feihua said, "This is the Chu family's Immortal Buddha."

Hu Xiaotian's heart shuddered; he never imagined that the Immortal Buddha statue that Hong Beimo had spent half his life searching for was actually here, openly displayed in the Buddha Fragrance Pavilion, and that Dakang royal officials frequently came and went, and even Hong Beimo himself had been here, yet he had watched the Immortal Buddha statue slip past him.

Ji Feihua said, "There is a Buddha within the Buddha; actually the Immortal Buddha statue was not remarkable in itself, but it was merely a bait left by the old master to lure outsiders, who see it as profoundly mysterious."

Hu Xiaotian also recalled the Immortal Buddha statue he had found in the Cleft Cloud Valley; perhaps it was merely a blind? Was it Chu Fufeng deliberately leaving a bait to lead Hong Beimo astray? If Hong Beimo knew his master had made him waste so many years on this futile task, he would surely fly into a rage.

Ji Feihua said, "Have you met Master Kongjian?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded.

Ji Feihua turned to gaze at his eyes and said softly, "In the world, probably only you can leave Master Kongjian's presence unhurried."

Hu Xiaotian laughed and said, "I never crossed hands with him."

"If you were to fight him, you would have no chance of winning."

Hu Xiaotian had no objection to that; in the past, facing any expert he would feel varying degrees of pressure, but when facing Kongjian he felt no pressure or killing intent from him, nor any vitality; if not for Kongjian speaking, he would even fail to sense the other's life force, so profound and inscrutable. He said quietly, "Actually, martial arts cannot solve everything; otherwise, the one seated on the throne ought to be the world's foremost expert."

"Exactly!" Ji Feihua sighed sincerely.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Actually, I should have realized earlier that you know Master Kongjian."

Ji Feihua nodded slightly and said, "I am merely curious how you managed to leave his presence unhurried."

Hu Xiaotian laughed and said, "He owes the Chu family a favor; only by repaying that favor can he gain release, and the closer a monk is to enlightenment, the more he likes to nitpick."

Ji Feihua said, "I promised him that if he keeps you for three days, his debt to the Chu family will be settled."

Hu Xiaotian said, "I told him that if he does not let me go, I will sever my own meridians; if I die, he will not only fail to repay his debt to the Chu family, but will also incur an additional blood debt, and you will not let him off—you will blame his death on him."

Ji Feihua chuckled and said, "How do you know I would do that?"

Hu Xiaotian said nothing, merely gazing quietly at Ji Feihua's eyes; her gaze softened first, then she whispered, "I will!"

To Hu Xiaotian, those two words were comparable to the most moving love words in the world, stirring his heart involuntarily, but he quickly returned to reality and said softly, "You originally intended to kill Qiqi, didn't you?"

Ji Feihua said, "Yes!"

"But later you gave up on that."

Ji Feihua said, "Back then, there were two skulls in the Dakang imperial palace; one was secretly taken by Long Xuanjiao to Tianxiang State, and the other ended up in Qiqi's hands. When we first broke into the Qingxuan Observatory together, we seized that skull from Su Yujin's hands."

Most of these events Hu Xiaotian experienced himself, so he knows them clearly; it was only when he was trapped in the Qingxuan Observatory that he realized Ji Feihua could actually perceive the information contained in the skull, and Ji Feihua is undoubtedly a descendant of the Heaven's Mandate.

Ji Feihua said, "Only specific individuals can perceive the particular information left in the skull, so I am not worried that Hu Wuwei would take that skull."

Hu Xiaotian nodded; Ji Feihua must be the descendant of the skull found at the Xuanqing Observatory. He also confirmed this from Qiqi: even if Qiqi had received the skull sent by Ren Tianqing, it would produce no reaction. He said softly, "The information hidden inside the skull should be inheritable only by descendants who share blood ties with the deceased."

Ji Feihua said, "So I thought that as long as we eliminate the Yongyang Princess, Hong Beimo's plan would naturally collapse." She looked at Hu Xiaotian and said, "If it were not for your relationship with Qiqi suddenly thawing, I would not be in such a hurry to do this." She worried that if Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi joined forces, any future attempt by her to eliminate Qiqi would undoubtedly become twice as difficult.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Actually, it may not be necessary to kill her."

Ji Feihua bit her lip and said softly, "I originally thought I could peer into her mind's secrets, but…" She trailed off there.

Seeing Ji Feihua silent for a long time, Hu Xiaotian could not help but ask, "You still haven't told me why you suddenly gave up on the plan to kill her."

Ji Feihua's expression showed extreme hesitation; after a while she said, "Because the instant I invaded her mind, I saw a person's shadow…"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Who?"

Ji Feihua declared firmly, "My father!"

Hu Xiaotian's heart jolted; Ji Feihua's father is Chu Yuanhai, so how could Qiqi's mind contain an image of Chu Yuanhai? That seems unscientific, since Chu Yuanhai died before Qiqi was born. However, Quan De'an, on his deathbed, had once told Hu Xiaotian a secret about Qiqi's origins: she was born after Ling Jiazi carried her for seven years, meaning Ling Jiazi conceived while Chu Yuanhai was still alive.

Ji Feihua said, "I do not know why, but from her I felt something familiar, like…" She could not find the words, and though she was usually decisive in killing, at that moment she hesitated and could not bring herself to strike.

Hu Xiaotian said, "You and she both possess the blood of the Heaven's Mandate, which is why you feel that way." Meanwhile, he made a startling inference: given what he knew, Chu Yuanhai should be a Heaven's Mandate bearer, Ling Jiazi should also be one, and perhaps Qiqi is their daughter, which is why Ling Jiazi carried her for seven years before giving birth, making Qiqi a pure-blooded Heaven's Mandate.

Ji Feihua is likely Qiqi's paternal half-sister, but her bloodline is probably not as pure as Qiqi's; according to Old Lady Xu, she was born from Chu Yuanhai's union with the Fire Seed. Hu Xiaotian thought with great dread that, had it not been for Quan De'an's deathbed secret, no one could have linked Qiqi and Ji Feihua. The sense of familiarity Ji Feihua described is not merely due to both possessing Heaven's Mandate blood; rather, it is because they are likely sisters, sharing blood, same root and clan, which is why she thought of her father when she moved to kill Qiqi, and this is also why she abandoned the killing, thus avoiding a fratricidal tragedy.

Of course, Hu Xiaotian cannot be entirely certain either, since Chu Yuanhai and Ling Jiazi are both dead, and no one can prove what exactly happened between them back then.

Ji Feihua sighed softly and said, "Perhaps that's right."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Actually, even if you killed Qiqi, it wouldn't fundamentally solve this trouble."

"Why?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "The Skull is not just the two stored in the Dakang imperial palace; I also discovered another one in the Wuxian Sect's main altar, and it is now kept in the Heavenly Mechanism Bureau's Seven Treasures Exquisite Tower, but Qiqi shows no reaction to this Skull."

Ji Feihua said, "You once said that, besides the two extraterrestrial visitors eliminated by the Dakang imperial family back then, there were others."

Hu Xiaotian nodded and said, "Unless we find all the Skulls and destroy them completely, perhaps only then can we eradicate the hidden danger."

Newly Established Octopus Group, Zhangyu presides over, welcome to join: 516764203 (To be continued~^~)