Chapter 879: Extra Chapter 4: 116

Xiao Jiu hurriedly lifted her foot and went around the side of the screen, but she discovered that behind the screen, directly facing it, was a long table.

The table was placed in the exact center of the west room, stacked with many volumes; the paper was simple and ancient, looking quite old.

In the entire west room, except for the south side, the other three walls were tightly lined with cabinets of various sizes, neatly arranged.

Each cabinet bore a seal, making it impossible from the outside to tell what was stored inside.

Xiao Jiu could only first examine the volumes on the table.

The more she looked, the tighter her brows furrowed.

These volumes date back as far as a thousand years ago.

Without exception, each volume recorded events related to the temporary resurgence of earth vein spiritual qi back then.

Xiao Jiu quickly flipped through, found the timeline, and began reading from the start.

The earliest records in these volumes were all good news about the resurgence of earth vein spiritual qi.

Wherever a supreme spirit beast appeared, wherever a previously spirit‑qi‑depleted blessed land regained its qi, wherever a sect's grandmaster, aided by five‑elements qi, broke through again in cultivation……

But soon, this good news basically disappeared.

Following closely, the earth vein fractured again in some places, demonic qi arose in others, and some places became grounds for raising corpses……

In the later volumes, the records were no longer as detailed as at the beginning, and they grew increasingly chaotic.

As Xiao Jiu kept flipping, she suddenly noticed a crucial problem: the great seal on these volumes was not that of the Earth Deity Maiden, but…… that of the Earth Vein Dragon God.

In other words, this is an unfinished matter left by the Earth Vein Dragon God who was invested a thousand years ago, lingering here.

Logically, since Liu Junyan has now been invested as the Earth Vein Dragon God, these volumes ought to be handed to her for handling—why are they placed here?

Soon, Xiao Jiu had the answer.

It turned out that when the problem erupted to its end, it had nearly spiraled out of control, killing many living beings, including people and spirit beasts, etc.

Whether it was the earth vein or death, both were closely tied to the Nether Realm.

To resolve the issue, the Queen Mother Earth established a department at the yin‑yang boundary, appointing Earth Vein Envoys to specially liaise with and handle this matter.

Thus, whether in the upper realms or the mortal world, anything related to the earth vein could be transferred to the Earth Vein Envoys.

And this kind of handover, the more Xiao Jiu read, the more it resembled the business model of Yin Dang Hang.

In other words, this department was very likely the precursor or prototype of Yin Dang Hang.

But Xiao Jiu didn't understand why the problem had to be solved in this manner.

Shouldn't it have been enough to simply dispatch the netherworld officials to capture and suppress it?

Xiao Jiu couldn't figure it out and found no answer, so she decided not to think about it for now.

Didn't the Queen Mother Earth say that someone would come specially to teach her, and then everything would become clear?

She now has a physical body and is no longer just a wisp of spiritual awareness.

But her physical body ought to have been in Yin Dang Hang; it suddenly vanished, and Li Qingying must have been terrified.

Xiao Jiu came out of the front hall, continued forward, smoothly penetrated the barrier, and upon standing outside, she discovered she was inside Jiuzhou Fu.

In other words, her manor and Jiuzhou Fu actually exist in a parallel space.

Xiao Jiu's manor is not open to the outside.

She directly hands over matters with Liu Junyan.

Having realized this, Xiao Jiu hurriedly left Jiuzhou Fu and headed toward Yin Dang Hang.

Fortunately, it was night now, with hardly anyone wandering about outside.

Xiao Jiu had gone halfway when she ran into Li Qingying.

When Li Qingying saw Xiao Jiu, for a moment she dared not step forward to recognize her.

Xiao Jiu, however, called out to her: "Sister Qingying!"

Only then did Li Qingying rush over, scanning Xiao Jiu up and down, asking: "Xiao Jiu, what's this……?"

"Let's go back to Yin Dang Hang first and talk."

Xiao Jiu took Li Qingying's hand, and they quickly returned to Yin Dang Hang.

By then it was past three in the morning.

Li Qingying closed the gate of Yin Dang Hang, and Xiao Jiu had already gone to change clothes.

She had just been about to call Hui Moqiong to tell him Xiao Jiu had been found, when Hui Moqiong's call came in.

As soon as Li Qingying answered, Hui Moqiong immediately said: "Qingying, Seventh Lord's side received the news that Xiao Jiu has been invested as the Earth Deity Maiden, her manor is in Jiuzhou Fu, and she should now be inside Jiuzhou Fu."

"Xiao Jiu is back," Li Qingying said, "I haven't yet had a chance to ask her."

Li Qingying's mood was extremely excited, but she still restrained her curiosity and asked: "And Seventh Lord?"

"He's heading back," Hui Moqiong said, "I and Brother Hu are standing guard; Seventh Lord is returning first to Wufu Town."

Li Qingying just guessed it would be like that.

She reminded Hui Moqiong to stay safe, then hung up.

Xiao Jiu also came over, having finished changing clothes.

Li Qingying blurted out: "Xiao Jiu, are you hungry?"

Xiao Jiu wasn't hungry.

While her spiritual awareness wandered about, the Queen Mother Earth's power continually protected it, and with the final boost of spiritual power from the Queen Mother Earth, her condition was even better than before her faint.

Li Qingying then pulled Xiao Jiu to sit down and listened as Xiao Jiu told her what had happened to her during this period.

But the more she listened, the more confused Li Qingying became: "What exactly does the Queen Mother Earth want you to help her do?"

Xiao Jiu shook her head: "I can only be certain that the business model is that of Yin Dang Hang; I am now directly interfacing with the earth vein, belonging to the Queen Mother Earth, serving as her female official."

Li Qingying asked: "What about Yin Dang Hang? Is Ranran taking it over?"

"Probably," Xiao Jiu said, "there will be an announcement soon; we don't need to rush, just wait."

Li Qingying let out a long breath and said, "No matter what, you've been promoted, this is a good thing; no matter what you do, we will fully support you."

After chatting a while longer, Liu Junyan hurried back.

Upon seeing each other, Liu Junyan's gaze fell on Xiao Jiu, scanning him up and down.

Those golden vertical pupils seemed to want to see through Xiao Jiu.

Then Liu Junyan nodded and said, "Xiao Jiu, congratulations on being appointed Earth Deity Maiden, and welcome to join Jiuzhou Fu to manage the earth veins together with me."

He said this, opening his arms toward Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu directly lunged into Liu Junyan's embrace.

Liu Junyan held Xiao Jiu tightly.

Although he had anticipated these things all along, with Xiao Jiu still not awake after a day, his heart could not settle.

Now that everything had settled, Liu Junyan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Jiu, in Liu Junyan's embrace, spoke in a muffled voice: "Āyàn, regarding the earth veins, there may be a huge challenge ahead; if we can't withstand it, then……"

"Xiao Jiu, believe in yourself, and believe in me." Liu Junyan interrupted Xiao Jiu's words, saying in her ear, "As husband and wife, united we stand; no matter how great the challenge, we will surely withstand it, the earth‑vein line……will not break……"