Chapter 968: Who is this person?

"What exactly happened to the Xianzhou?"

The voice trembled like a candle in the wind, "How did you end up here? You're a general, and you appear in this place—does that mean the Xianzhou outside is already…"

When she got to this point, something seemed to catch in her throat, and she couldn't get the latter half of the sentence out.

Then, irritated, she raised her hand and tugged at her hair; gray‑white strands slipped through her fingers and fell, covering half of her face.

Yao Guang looked at Qingque's appearance, and their heart felt as if something had squeezed it.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something to interrupt the other's increasingly absurd speculation, but she couldn't find the right words at that moment.

After all, she herself hadn't fully figured out the state of this space; her power was heavily suppressed, her perception grew vague, and all connections to the outside seemed to have been cut off.

The only thing she could be sure of was that she was still alive, standing here unharmed, and the woman before her, a demon‑shadow body, was Qingque.

"Qingque!"

Yao Guang finally spoke, their voice gentle and steady, "Calm down and answer me a question first!"

Qingque lifted her head, looking at Yao Guang through the tangled strands.

Those emerald‑green eyes were wet, like a handful of dark pool water about to overflow.

Yao Guang looked into her eyes, their tone softening.

"Why are you here?"

The question made Qingque choke.

She opened her mouth, and only then managed to force out a sentence.

"I was cut by Jing Liu."

After saying that, she felt the answer was too terse, so she added, "The whole street froze into ice sculptures. When that move hit, I felt nothing, and when I came to I was lying on this tree. I think I might already be dead."

Qingque paused, glanced at Yao Guang, then at the surrounding dark‑red branches and swirling mist, and hesitantly added:

"So this must be the afterlife, right?"

Yao Guang, after listening, lifted the corner of their mouth in a curve that was both helpless and slightly comforting.

"Do I look like a ghost then?"

Yao Guang asked.

Qingque stared at her for a few seconds.

Then she lowered her head to glance at the shadow beneath Yao Guang's feet, and looked up at the faint glimmer reflected from the peacock‑feather hair ornament in their hair.

"Not at all."

Qingque answered honestly.

"Then that's that."

In Yao Guang's voice there was a regained, reassuring composure.

She raised her right hand, tucking a strand of wind‑tossed silver‑white hair behind her ear with her fingertips, as if lighting a solitary lamp in this dark‑red world.

Then the two fell silent together.

The dark‑red mist drifted slowly between them.

The sound of wind came up from far below the abyss, intermittent, as if something turned over in the deepest depths.

A few dark‑red fragments drifted down from above, landing on Qingque's left shoulder, which she did not brush away.

Yao Guang glanced at her shoulder, their gaze lingering a moment on the few gray‑green twigs before moving on.

Both had their own thoughts.

Qingque thought: Yao boss said she didn't look like a ghost, but she appeared here, so perhaps this really isn't the afterlife.

But how did she get here? How did Yao boss get here?

Could it be that neither of them died, only falling together into some strange place?

Yao Guang also thought: Qingque had become a demon‑shadow body, which was basically certain.

The Abundance aura around her was steady, unusually so.

Moreover, when she spoke earlier her thoughts were clear, her emotions regulated normally, showing no signs of the typical consciousness collapse of an ordinary demon‑shadow body.

Something inexplicable was happening to this girl.

Once the structure of this space is understood, she must find a chance to use the Ten Directions Light Mapping Dharma Realm to investigate.

"You come down first!"

Yao Guang was the first to break the silence, waving at Qingque, "Standing that high makes me tired to watch."

Qingque let out an "Oh," and obediently jumped down from the branch above.

When she landed she staggered slightly; her mist‑gray thigh‑high socks slipped half an inch on the branch surface, but she quickly grabbed a nearby jutting twig to steady herself.

Once she stood upright again, she saw Yao Guang just two steps away, measuring her with a subtle gaze.

"Your hair..."

Qingque lowered her head, glanced at the gray‑white strands scattered across her chest, and gave a wry smile, "That's a long story."

"Long enough, then."

Yao Guang turned, walking toward a thicker, smoother trunk not far away, "There's plenty of time here."

Qingque was startled for a moment, then followed.

Her emotions were much steadier than before; although her mind still held a jumble of questions, with Yao Guang ahead, Qingque found her heartbeat had calmed.

Perspective shift.

Heimu walked through the maze corridor, her high‑heeled boots striking the black stone slabs, producing a sharply rhythmic "tap, tap."

The towering walls on both sides continued to shift slowly, the dim green lights flickering, casting a matte‑silk black‑purple dress's shoulder‑exposed lace trim as if dusted with a thin layer of fluorescent powder.

Pa Duo carried A Bo Ni Ya, following behind her on the left, her cat‑paw pads landing almost silently; only when she stepped on a fragment of metal in a stone crack did a faint clink sound.

"I think this place is a loop."

Pa Duo mutters while walking, "We definitely saw this wall just now; look at that strip of light, the third lamp is flashing, just like the one before."

A Bo Ni Ya sits on the cat's back, tilts her head at the words, her gauzy tail swaying lightly behind her shoulder: "Pa Duo, are you tired? I can get down and walk."

"No, no, no!"

Pa Duo quickly arches her back a bit higher, the four legs instantly regain strength, "I was just kidding! Sister A Bo Ni Ya, sit tight, I've still got plenty of energy!"

Heimu ignores the two, and instead shifts his gaze sideways, landing on the void in front of his left.

A Light Screen that only she herself can see.

A pale‑purple border, semi‑transparent, like a thin veil gently rippling in the wind.

In the center of the Light Screen reflected a dark‑red world of branches and trunks, interlaced, with fog churning.

In the picture's center, two figures—one ash‑gray, the other silver‑white—stepped one after another on the stout dark trunks, moving deeper.

The ash‑gray one was Qingque; the silver‑white one she glanced at twice, confirming she didn't recognize her.

Heimu's eye corner twitched.

Who is that person?

In her mind she rapidly ran through the known female figures of Luofu and the Xianzhou Alliance.

Fu Xuan, Jing Liu, Yukong, Xue Yi, Han Ya, Gui Naifen, Su Shang, Huo Huo, Bai Lu…

No match.

She couldn't summon any memory of the silver‑white‑haired woman.

But the other party was clearly acquainted with Qingque.

When the two walked together, the sense of distance was subtle; Qingque, following behind her, placed her legs cautiously, much like an erring student trailing the Head Teacher.

The system gave no voice reply; it simply compressed a long string of information straight into her consciousness.

The edge of the Light Screen before Heimu rippled with a ring of violet waves, and several lines of data rose from the ripples, arranging themselves quickly yet orderly.

She saw a name: General Rong Tao, Yao Guang.

The ruler of Jade Palace Xianzhou, who illuminates the ten directions of the Dharma realm, deduces stellar patterns; his chess and stratagems are unfathomable.

Behind the information followed a note on abilities; Heimu scanned it, and his mouth twitched.

"This really is…" she didn't finish the sentence, only feeling her temples throb twice.