Chapter 98: God? Or demon?

So her name is Feng Lishu.

"Good, Ali, no, A Shu." Hu Jun bent over and lifted her up, "Nobody believes you, but I do. Listen, I'll first check your injuries."

Hu Yulin held Feng Lishu as they walked toward the Qilin Temple.

Feng Lishu wrapped her arms around his neck, her pointed chin resting on his shoulder, and gave me a triumphant smile.

That was the smile of a victor.

So that's how it is.

What a little white lotus.

But I didn't care about any of that; I turned and looked toward the horizon.

There, a white figure tumbled through the clouds, the number of crows had sharply declined; it seemed Liu Junyan would be back soon.

I silently let out a breath, then turned to look at the villagers and children lying on the ground.

The children are innocent.

I walked over, bent down, and checked the children's bodies.

Sure enough, many children had burn marks, but some had improved after taking the medicine Feng Lishu gave them.

Could it be that Feng Lishu truly came to save people and accumulate merit?

But that black shadow was clearly summoned from the Qilin Temple; is there still some hidden connection between Feng Lishu and the temple?

"Xiao Jiu."

Hu Yulin settled Feng Lishu, then walked to stand before me.

I stood up and locked eyes with him: "Hu Jun."

Hu Yulin smiled at me and said earnestly, "Xiao Jiu, Ali is back."

I said nothing.

He continued, "I know you've been innocently dragged into this turmoil; it's unfair to you, and I once misjudged you, but rather than wait for Junyan to figure things out later and come to dislike you, it's better for you to leave cleanly now and leave him a good impression.

I remember you haven't finished college yet; you can totally go back to your normal life."

I gave a helpless laugh: "Hu Jun, you're shifting the concept."

Hu Yulin stalled: "What?"

"From the start, you all treated me as Ali." I said, "It's not that I pretended to be Ali on my own; no matter when, the fault lies with you, not me, right?"

Hu Jun saved my life; he owes me a favor.

But that doesn't mean he can twist right and wrong, and casually trample me for Feng Lishu's sake.

Hu Yulin frowned over and over, finally saying only, "Xiao Jiu, I'm doing this for your own good."

I returned a smile: "Then thank you for your kindness, Hu Jun."

"A Lin." Feng Lishu's voice came over, "I've taken out some incense ash; come help me save these poor children."

Hu Yulin gave me a look that said 'do as you please,' then went to help Feng Lishu.

When they used the Qilin Temple's incense ash to save people, I watched from afar.

They applied the incense ash to the burns; for light ones the marks faded quickly, for severe ones they dissolved the ash in water and gave it to drink, and after a while they also improved.

So the primer for treating burns is precisely the incense ash from the Qilin Temple.

The villagers woke up one after another, and the children were mostly rescued.

The crowd surrounded Feng Lishu, praising and worshipping her, respectfully offering her as a bodhisattva.

Taking advantage of the chaos, I also secretly took some incense ash.

Liu Junyan returned soon; I hurriedly checked him over and found he wasn't injured.

Liu Junyan patted my head and said, "No injury, don't worry."

I hummed in acknowledgment.

By then the villagers had dispersed one after another; Hu Yulin and Feng Lishu both looked toward Liu Junyan.

Liu Junyan's gaze met Feng Lishu's and instantly turned cold; he lifted his foot as if to step forward and do something, but Feng Lishu instantly dodged behind Hu Yulin.

Hu Yulin opened his folding fan, one hand shielding the person behind him, assuming a defensive stance.

I tugged Liu Junyan's sleeve and shook my head at him.

Hu Yulin is his childhood friend; I don't want them to fight again over this, they've already clashed once.

Liu Junyan thought it over, then decided to bring me down the mountain with him.

With Feng Lishu and Hu Yulin in Tafeng Village, this farce won't cause any more trouble.

Liu Junyan drove, taking me back.

I sat in the passenger seat, heavy with thoughts.

What exactly was that black shadow with huge wings that flew out of the Qilin Temple?

Could it be the Divine Lord of the Qilin that Tafeng Village has always worshipped?

Is the Qilin Divine Lord a god… or… a demon?

Liu Junyan saw I wasn't speaking and asked concernedly, "Xiao Jiu, what are you spacing out about? Were you frightened?"

"No, I just can't figure some things out." I then asked, "Liu Junyan, if Feng Lishu is truly Ali, will you one day despise me?"

"Feng Lishu?" Liu Junyan asked, "That woman's name is Feng Lishu?"

I nodded.

He then said, "Xiao Jiu, don't overthink it; a fake is a fake. Even if she stole your spirit bone and memories and mimicked you perfectly, it's still Sensible imitating the frown—unsustainable under any scrutiny."

"Spirit bone?"

I pressed both hands to the lowest two ribs of my own, instantly feeling a faint ache, sucked in a breath of cold air, and forced myself to ask, "Is it here?"

Liu Junyan startled, immediately pulled the car to the roadside, took my hand away, and scolded, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Don't you know it hurts?"

"So, you've always known, right?"

I discovered that my two ribs had a problem during that CT scan at the hospital.

I never expected these two ribs to be my spirit bones.

I asked: "Spirit bones are extremely important to me, right?"

Liu Junyan nodded, one hand moving to my brow: "As long as the spirit bone remains, your spirit root remains, the mark symbolizing identity also remains; if the spirit bone is lost, you lose everything."

Hu Yulin recognized Fengli Shu by the feather mark on her brow.

It turns out that behind that feather mark lie many secrets.

"Liu Junyan," I asked, "can my spirit bone grow back?"

Liu Junyan shook her head: "Spirit bones are rare, hard to regrow; Xiao Jiu, trust me, I will eventually retrieve your lost spirit bone."

I inexplicably felt a sense of loss: "Can it really be retrieved?"

"It's possible." Liu Junyan said firmly, "Fengli Shu repeatedly emphasized to me that her Nirvana failed, her spirit bone damaged; I therefore probed, and indeed, when her life faced a real threat, the spirit bone's spirituality within her body became unstable, and the feather mark on her brow changed accordingly."

It turns out that he gripped Fengli Shu so hard precisely to test.

I nodded and said: "Āyàn, I want to go to Huicheng as soon as possible; I feel I might find some clues there."

Afterwards, I told Liu Junyan in detail how I had written Song Ruoqing's two children's names, exactly matching the names of the dragon-phoenix twins from Tafengcun, as well as the matter of that qilin statue.

After hearing my words, Liu Junyan immediately grasped the point: "You mean that behind the Song Family and Tafengcun, it's likely the same group pulling the strings?"

After some thought, I said: "Perhaps one could say that Tafengcun and Wangting Mountain are the same."

Indeed, as soon as I said that, Liu Junyan's expression changed instantly.

The serpent clan of Wangting Mountain is a very special existence to Liu Junyan.

Liu Junyan hates them, yet finds it hard to sever ties.

After all, Liu Junyan was born in Wangting Mountain and lived there for a period.

"If someone is behind Wangting Mountain, that person is certainly not to be underestimated." Liu Junyan cautioned, "Xiao Jiu, I will investigate the matter of Wangting Mountain; you'd better not get involved, you can't match them..."