Chapter 456: 431 The Envoy

Inside the Time Jar that Tang Zhao carried with him lay a piece of golden stone whose origin he did not know.

It had been taken from a coffin floating in the air, hidden inside the coffin lid by a woman who had turned into bone; it was only the size of a pearl, yet it emitted a radiance that even Tang Zhao's Sword Image could hardly match.

Although Tang Zhao did not recognize it at all, his intuition told him it was no trivial object, so he had cautiously stored it in the jar.

This matter was sufficiently secret that perhaps only two people had witnessed it. One was the living, namely Tang Zhao, and the other had already silently turned to bone; if she knew of this in the afterlife, perhaps she would know that the object she hid before her death had been left to Tang Zhao.

Even the white fox did not know.

Initially, Tang Zhao had speculated from fragments of text carved on the coffin, such as asking for help from Dongjun, that the person in the coffin might be related to Dongjun; later, after hearing the white fox's guesses about that woman's origin, he had confirmed a few things, and now, seeing this golden powder, he was even more certain.

The gold powder, which claimed to be able to repel the Shadow and maintain a floor for several months, was almost identical in texture to that stone.

It was just that, despite the stone not being large, the size difference compared to these fine specks scattered on the Lamp was like the contrast between the sun and the earth, or even the sun and the moon.

Tang Zhao even suspected that these specks were not scraped off with some tool; after all, a casual scrape would easily result in a thick layer and could not produce such light, fine powder—there must have been a special processing method.

If this gold powder was truly so miraculous that a mere bit could deter the Wangliang from approaching, and if one could find a way to decompose this stone into fine specks and scatter them evenly in every corner of this Wangliang World, perhaps one could really cleanse away this stubborn and difficult-to-remove darkness?

Could it be done?

Tang Zhao rejected the thought he had just raised.

If it could be done, why didn't that woman of bone do it back then?

The stone was originally hers, she was familiar with all sorts of operations, and the gold powder here might even have been scraped off by her own hand; she harbored regret in her heart and was clearly brooding over that catastrophe until her death—if there had been a way to save Baiyujing back then, or even just to save those immortals in Baiyujing, how could she have resigned herself to lying in the coffin and departing quietly?

That was naturally because it could not be saved at the time!

So, while she hid that stone with the intention of entrusting it to those who came after, it probably wasn't for the purpose of having someone take the stone back to save Baiyujing—was there another use?

The first thing Tang Zhao thought of was a token.

Linking it to the origin of that woman, the answer was obvious...

While he was thinking, the white fox asked, "You mentioned Dongjun again, where is Dongjun here... ah?"

She also remembered the bone at this moment, and referring to the guess she had previously mentioned to Tang Zhao, she said, "Are you talking about that Dongjun Envoy? You mean this Lamp is hers?"

Aqin said thoughtfully, "Are you talking about the Envoy sister? I have seen the Dongjun Envoy."

Ling Baoyu had originally thought Tang Zhao was guessing blindly, but upon hearing Aqin say this, she gave a start and said, "What is going on? How could you have seen her? Tell me quickly."

According to the timeline, when that Dongjun Envoy arrived, the catastrophe had already descended; Aqin was the only one in all of Baiyujing playing hide-and-seek without a care in the world, so she shouldn't have seen that person, right?

Aqin said, "It was nothing, I just happened to run into her. It was that day, the day the catastrophe began. The weather was very bad that day, and the sky was as dark as a crow's feathers. I didn't know what Her Highness and the aunts were busy with, so I just thought about finding someone to play with like before. But I remember that day was so strange; no matter what, I couldn't find anyone to play with me, as if everyone had disappeared. I was very angry and looked everywhere, and right around here, I saw a sister walking by from a distance. I didn't even see clearly who it was, so I called out, 'That sister, let's play hide-and-seek together?'"

"She stopped, turned her head, and it turned out to be a sister I didn't know, who looked very beautiful with exceptionally bright eyes. I was a little embarrassed and was about to speak when she stared at me and said, 'Hide-and-seek?'"

Speaking of this, Aqin suddenly stopped, her expression changing abruptly.

Ling Baoyu immediately thought an enemy had arrived and busily pricked up her ears to observe the surroundings, but finding no one had come, she relaxed and said, "What's wrong? Why did your expression change so suddenly?"

Aqin stammered, "I didn't notice it at all at the time, but her expression was so terrifying. When I was just recalling it, I remembered her face—how could she have such a terrifying expression? I really didn't understand anything back then."

She shook her head repeatedly and continued:

"I said very happily at the time, 'Yes, hide-and-seek. I'll hide, and you come find me. Is that okay? We won't play too long, if you don't have time...' She smiled and said, 'Fine, I will play hide-and-seek with you.' I was only focused on being happy at the time, but now that I think about it... she smiled so terrifyingly then, as if she wanted to kill me."

Ling Baoyu was incredulous and said, "She had murderous intent toward you? Why?"

Although she had always disliked Dongjun, that was because she believed Dongjun was not living up to the name and was dragging allies into the water; she had never doubted the fact of being "allies" itself. Hearing Aqin say this, it seemed like this woman had a problem with her stance?

That couldn't be, right? Not to mention Her Highness's verification, even the name Dongjun should have some guarantee, right?

Tang Zhao, on the other hand, was not surprised.

At the time he saw those messy words of regret, he had many speculations, and this was just one of them.

Aqin said somewhat flustered, "I don't know. I just realized it now; I didn't notice it at all at the time. I was such a fool back then! I asked her, 'Sister, I haven't seen you before, are you new to Baiyujing?' She replied, 'I come from the outside, from a place very, very far away. You wouldn't know that place even if I told you.' I just listened at the time, with my heart set on hide-and-seek. She asked me, 'Where are you going to hide?' I was right in front of Qianqiu Tower then, so I just said, 'Let's use Qianqiu Tower. I'll hide, you come find me. I won't go anywhere else, just inside the tower. You come find me, and if you find me before the sun rises, you win.' She started to laugh—well, she looked pretty when she laughed then, I remember that. She said, 'Fine, you stay in the tower and don't come out. You are a good child; if you say you won't come out, then don't.'"

Ling Baoyu felt a slight chill; listening to this conversation with her current perspective, it was clear Aqin had walked past the gates of hell.

That woman must have been up to some evil business in Baiyujing and just happened to run into Aqin. She revealed murderous intent at the time mostly because she intended to kill Aqin to silence her, and it was only because Aqin was truly innocent and naive, suspecting nothing, and willing to hide in Qianqiu Tower and not come out, that she escaped with her life.

The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. With Her Highness's abilities, even if she couldn't resist the Wangliang, why would she end up sealing everyone away, unable to even escape?

It turned out there was a traitor inside, working from the inside out.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but grind her teeth, wishing she could grind that woman to dust and tear Dongjun into ten thousand pieces.

Aqin said, "I went with her to the front of Qianqiu Tower. I stood inside the door, and she stood outside. I said, 'Sister, you are only allowed to find me after the sun sets, and you cannot find me after the sun rises. That means I win. No going back on the win or loss.' She said she understood, and then asked me if there was anything to eat or drink in the tower? I said I didn't need it; it was only a dozen or so hours until the sun set and rose again, and I was already a Sword Guest, so it wouldn't matter if I didn't eat or drink for a day or two."

"She shook her head and said, 'No, although the sun is about to set, perhaps it will never rise again for a very, very long time.' I laughed out loud at the time and said, 'How is that possible? When the sun sets, it must rise; the length of a day and night is fixed, and it has been like this since ancient times. How do you not even know this, sister?' She squatted down, looked me in the eye, and said, 'No, who says that things that have been happening since ancient times must be heaven's law? Things that have been happening until today might not happen after tomorrow. I know the sun will set and not rise again, because I come from the sun itself; I am the Dongjun Envoy. And you don't know. Come, take one last look at the sun.'"

"I was very confused; the weather was so bad, where could I see the sun? I looked in the direction she pointed, and it seemed I saw a hazy light among the clouds—that was the shadow of the sun. It didn't look like much, so I stopped looking. She touched my head and said, 'Look clearly. I hope that a long time from now, you will still remember that you are someone who has seen the sun.' Sigh, I really was a fool; I just thought she spoke strangely, but I didn't ask her. If only I had asked a few more questions."

She repeated several times that she was a fool, clearly getting angrier the more she thought about it.

Ling Baoyu sighed, "If you had asked a few more questions, you might have died right then. So she really did come here, and this Lamp might be hers. This woman... this woman..."

She turned to look at Tang Zhao and said, "You said she later wrote on the coffin that she regretted it? What kind of regret? Regret for doing something wicked? Or regret for not killing us all?"

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "Perhaps both... or perhaps, she was deceived and that is why she regretted it?"

The story ended here, and Aqin said, "Later, I hid in Qianqiu Tower and didn't wait for her to find me; instead, I waited for the black shadow. The black shadow chased me, and I couldn't hide, so in the end, I had to merge with the reflection, and it has been like this for over a hundred years."

There was some silence in the room, as if the shadows outside had invaded the room.

Because of her status, Aqin could not truly glimpse the full truth of that catastrophe, but the fresh perspective she provided did indeed outline the other side of the incident.

The sudden change that could drag the entire Baiyujing into the water was indeed very deep.

Tang Zhao pondered, "Miss Aqin, you and Miss Ling asked me to come in to discuss this—is it because you still want to return to your original form?"

Aqin said, "Not exactly... I probably can't go back to how I was in this state. Besides, my situation is not the most urgent thing right now; the most urgent thing is to go to Gongcheng, to Yutang, and see if we can find Her Highness. If we find her, can we wake her up? I just... I have had no physical form for a long time; I can't touch anything, I can't eat anything, I'm not like a person at all, and I'm not like a Sword... I am just a Sword Art. I don't know what I can do, even if I were just a sword?"

Her speech was a bit incoherent, and Tang Zhao did not understand what her request was.

Was she asking for a future, to see if she could cultivate to a certain realm and then return to reality?

Her state was a bit like a Phantom; although Tang Zhao did not understand that line of work, he had a friend who was a Spirit Official and could ask Senior Feng for the cultivation method of a Spirit Image—he wondered if it could be used generally?

Ling Baoyu said, "She wants to have a physical form, so she doesn't have to hide in the Mirror anymore and can walk around freely. She also wants to touch the Cloud Silk again, step on the ground, and taste candy... That is what I think; to reverse time and restore her to her original appearance is something no one can do. I heard that you Talisman Sword Masters have the ability to raise or lower the grade of material textures, like converting water and fire; can you follow the pattern and convert her into a physical form?"