Chapter 967: Can Communicate

Luofu has Fu Xuan at the top; what about over at Jade Palace?

General Rong Tao is gone; who will take charge of those overwhelming military duties and strategizing?

Qingque knows Yao Guang's standing in Jade Palace all too well; the tasks under that person's command piled up could fill an entire Star Chariot dock.

She died, so those tasks must crush the others into something.

The more Qingque thought, the more her heart raced; sweat on her forehead had already gathered into pea‑sized beads, rolling down from her temples, dripping onto her shoulder and dampening a small patch of fabric.

Her complexion, already made ashen cold by the demon‑shadow body, now turned so white it looked bluish, and with those bulging emerald eyes, her whole face resembled rice paper that had been soaked and then air‑dried.

Yao Guang stood on the lower horizontal branch, taking in Qingque's reaction fully.

Those violet‑blue gradient eyes narrowed slightly, a complex glint flickering within.

She didn't rush to speak, but surveyed Qingque from head to toe.

Gray‑white long hair, draped over her shoulders, reaching her waist.

Emerald eyes, dull in hue, like jade veiled with a thin layer of ash.

Pale white skin, with a few gray‑green slender branches sprouting from her shoulders and arms, each bearing a half‑withered gray‑purple bud.

The outfit was of a familiar cut, yet the design was clearly different: asymmetrical tailoring, cuffs embroidered with star trails and mahjong patterns, the skirt split into three layers of sheer silk, the left leg sheathed in mist‑gray over‑knee stockings, the right leg bare, a silver chain with a sparrow motif tied around the ankle, from which dangled a small lapis‑blue bell.

Demon‑shadow body.

Yao Guang whispered the term in her mind.

She sensed an Abundance aura from this person, faint but definitely present.

But beneath that Abundance aura lay something else, which her currently suppressed perception could not fully discern.

She was a bit uncertain.

Just now she vaguely heard someone calling out, as if from above.

She thought it might be an illusion caused by staying too long in this strange space.

Then a second voice came, clearer than the first, as if someone were asking whether she could hear.

Now she saw the demon‑shadow body crouched on a branch and realized those two calls must have come from it.

Can speak.

Then we can communicate.

Yao Guang quickly made a judgment in her mind.

She re‑examined Qingque, and the more she looked, the more she felt the eyebrows and eyes were familiar; the face, framed by gray‑white hair and the pallor of the demon‑shadow body, looked quite different, yet the underlying features remained.

But she didn't pursue that line of thought for now.

After all, in her Memory, she was just a lazy girl with a brown‑tawny ponytail who would sit rather than stand while walking, far removed from the gray‑white long‑haired woman before her in this demon‑shadow form.

Yao Guang raised her right hand and waved at Qingque.

"Hey."

She spoke, her voice clear and gentle, composed, as if casually greeting a stranger on the road, "Can you hear me speak? Can you answer me?"

Qingque's soul, drifting beyond the nine‑sky clouds, was summoned back by that shout.

She jolted, snapping back to awareness, and found Yao Guang staring at her, those violet‑blue gradient eyes clear and steady, the corners of her mouth curving in a faint, ambiguous smile.

That tone, that demeanor—Qingque knew it all too well!

She quickly patted her cheek, then tossed the branch she held aside, straightened up, inhaled deeply, trying to make her voice sound steadier.

"Can—can—can!"

Qingque said "can" three times in rapid succession, almost biting her own tongue.

She cleared her throat, then added, "I can hear you, and I can speak. Um, I am Qingque, the Diviner Qingque of Luofu's Tai Bu Si!"

When she said "Qingque," she instinctively raised her hand in a silly gesture, as if pulling her name out of the air to hand it over.

After the gesture, she realized and quickly withdrew her hand, her fingertips awkwardly pinching the edge of her skirt.

"Boss Yao, uh, General Yao Guang!"

After Qingque uttered that title, she felt her voice trembling, unsure whether it was from the excitement of seeing an old acquaintance or from the fear sparked by the speculation that "Yao Guang is dead."

She swallowed hard, stared at Yao Guang's face, and asked the question she most wanted to ask, "Why are you here? What happened over at Xianzhou? How is Jade Palace now? What about Luofu? Is Luofu all right? How are Lord Fu Xuan and the others?"

A string of questions spilled from her mouth like beans being poured, each one asked with a tighter voice and faster pace.

After finishing, she felt herself like an interrogator, but there was no time to worry about propriety.

Her mind now held only the thought "Did something big happen to Xianzhou?" nothing else could fit.

Yao Guang was stunned.

Even General Rong Tao, accustomed to great storms, took a full two or three seconds to process the other's self‑introduction.

In those violet‑blue gradient eyes, composure faded for an instant, the pupils dilating slightly from the surprise.

"Qingque?"

Yao Guang repeated the name.

Her voice was much softer than before, clearly very hesitant.

She once again examined the gray‑white long‑haired figure before her from head to toe, this time far more meticulously than earlier.

The expression in those almond eyes, the habit of nervously pinching the hem with her fingertips, and the hurried yet clumsy tone from earlier, all gradually matched the girl in her Memory who would scratch her head and grin foolishly at the card table.

This time Yao Guang's brows truly furrowed.

She took a small step forward, her thin‑strapped high‑heeled sandals clicking against the rough branch surface.

The high slit of her skirt widened slightly to both sides with her movement, revealing her long, fair right leg.

"You are Qingque."

She said it again, this time her tone shifting from question to confirmation.

The other party quickly nodded.

After confirming, Yao Guang's brow furrowed even tighter.

She watched the few gray‑green flower stems sprouting from Qingque's clavicle, and the gray‑purple buds that trembled faintly in the dark‑red mist, and her lips pressed together.

Qingque couldn't wait for Yao Guang's direct answer; after he called her name, she fell silent.

That silence was like a huge stone, thudding as it struck her heart.

The nerves she had been holding finally snapped completely at that moment; her complexion flashed white, and even her lips began to tremble.

"That Boss Yao!"

Qingque's voice was much lower than before, almost squeezed out of her throat, "You should say something, you know."

She shuffled a small step forward, and the branch beneath her foot swayed slightly.

She didn't care; her eyes stared straight at Yao Guang's face.