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Before Meng Shuying could call for more water in the inner hall, Hongdou returned.
The journey from Kunlun Mountain to Dongji Island was long, even for Hongdou, who could transform into her true Xuanfeng form. It took her an entire day to fly back. Meng Shuying had expected Hongdou to be delayed for a day or two after finding the Azure Dragon on Dongji Island. However, to her surprise, Hongdou came rushing back before the sun had even set the next day.
It was rare to see such good weather on Kunlun Mountain, with a cloudless sky and crimson sunset filling the horizon.
A disciple planting spiritual herbs in the field inadvertently looked up and saw a flash of cold light streaking across the sky. Squinting his eyes, he stared for a while before asking his junior brother beside him, "Is one of the elders returning today?"
"No, you know that the Killing God is currently in the Cold Palace. No elder would dare return at this time, right? Have you forgotten what happened to the Danyang Alliance?"
These true disciples knew more than ordinary disciples, so they spoke about her more cautiously, unlike the ordinary disciples who were more careless. They were vague, afraid of accidentally saying something they shouldn't and ending up like the Danyang Alliance.
It was obvious that the elders of Kunlun were thinking the same, which was why they remained behind closed doors during this time of year, refusing even the sect leader's summons.
The cold light landed in the courtyard of the Cold Palace, and as Hongdou pushed open the outer hall door, she immediately noticed the three chairs lined up against the wall, with someone lying straight on one of them. Her heart skipped a beat.
No way, did her master kill the girl in just two days?
She quickly walked over to the person and saw that the little Kunlun girl had cotton stuffed in her ears and was breathing evenly with her eyes closed, looking like she was asleep. Only then did Hongdou breathe a sigh of relief.
She gently shook Su Luowei awake, "Nothing happened while I was gone these past two days, right?"
Su Luowei opened her eyes, looking dazedly at her, clearly still not fully awake.
She stared at Hongdou for a moment before slowly sitting up. Seeing that she couldn't hear anything because her ears were still plugged with cotton, she reached up and pulled it out.
She pointed to the cotton, then to her ears, indicating that she hadn't heard what Hongdou said earlier.
Hongdou playfully tapped her on the head and then gave her a once-over, making sure she was intact. Smiling, she said, "It seems you've been getting along well with the master these past two days."
Getting along well indeed.
Su Luowei sneered inwardly and blatantly rolled her eyes in the direction of the inner hall.
Thanks to her time alone with Meng Shuying, she had witnessed sides of her that others never saw.
When Meng Shuying finally realized she was Su Luowei, let's see how she would explain herself!
Hongdou noticed her discontent and chuckled before sitting down on the chair next to her. She pulled out two small jars from somewhere and handed one to Su Luowei, "Want some? Green plum wine."
After a pause, she asked, "By the way, how old are you this year?"
Su Luowei gestured: Fifteen.
"That's too young. You can't drink yet." The wine she had offered was immediately taken back.
Hongdou pulled out the cork and took a deep whiff, a look of contentment spreading across her face. "There's nothing like the green plum wine from Dongji Island."
Suddenly, she turned serious and said, "Hey, kid, no one in Kunlun knows where I went these past two days, and you're not allowed to spill the beans either."
Su Luowei wasn't particularly interested in the wine, but she did catch a bit of interesting information from Hongdou's words.
So, Hongdou had gone to Dongji Island during her absence.
But how did Hongdou bypass the Kunlun Mountain's protective array? After all, the entire Kunlun Sect was enveloped by the mountain's protective array, and without the sect leader's token, no one could enter or leave at will.
She tilted her head to look at Hongdou, her eyes filled with questions. Somehow, Hongdou understood what she was thinking and smiled, "Are you wondering how I managed to get through the Kunlun array?"
Su Luowei's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.
"Such a simple trick can't stop me," Hongdou said confidently, ruffling Su Luowei's hair again. "I have my own ways."
For some reason, Hongdou felt a strong sense of familiarity with this little girl, as if they had known each other for a long time.
As a spiritual beast with ancient bloodline, Hongdou rarely felt this way toward humans.
Not even toward her master, Meng Shuying.
She was puzzled by this but didn't dwell on it, assuming it was just fate that brought them together.
Otherwise, why would she have impulsively given away her most prized feather the first time they met?
Su Luowei swatted her hand away, smoothing her hair back into place, looking a bit displeased. Hongdou stopped teasing her and explained seriously, "My bloodline is quite special. Once I reached adulthood, I gained the ability to pass through any array or barrier without obstruction, so I can come and go from Kunlun as I please."
So that's how it is. Su Luowei suddenly understood.
It seems her guess was right—Hongdou had the bloodline of a divine beast.
Back when she was in the Qingxu Sect, she had noticed that the Xuanfeng was different from other spiritual beasts, as it seemed to possess innate intelligence.
It's known that most demonic beasts in this world only develop intelligence after reaching the Golden Core stage. Even then, their thoughts are usually slow and simple, like a three- or four-year-old child.
But Hongdou was different. Even when she was still being raised at Yanmo Peak, Su Luowei had noticed her exceptional intelligence.
Later, when she met Meng Shuying in Fuxiao City and learned that Hongdou could transform into human form, she was shocked for quite a while.
Among the demonic beasts she had encountered, only the Azure Dragon from the Ten Directions Paradise had been able to transform into human form without reaching adulthood. So at that time, she had suspected that Hongdou might be related to the escaped Luan Feng from the Ten Directions Paradise.
She had kept her suspicions to herself, intending to confirm them once Hongdou reached adulthood.
And now, she was certain—Hongdou was indeed a descendant of the Luan Feng, as only Luan Feng's bloodline carried spatial abilities, allowing them to break through the void and treat arrays as if they were nothing.
Su Luowei had other questions she wanted to ask Hongdou, but she was still bound by the silence charm. Just as she was worrying about how to communicate her thoughts, she suddenly noticed the inner hall door slowly opening.
Since Hongdou had returned, she no longer needed to serve Meng Shuying. She tugged on Hongdou's sleeve and pointed towards the inner hall, signaling her to go in.
The white curtains layered upon each other, obscuring the figure inside.
Meng Shuying was holding a jade comb, slowly helping her senior sister with her hair.
"Why did you come back so quickly? What's the situation on Dongji Island?"
"When I arrived on Dongji Island, that dumb dragon had already left, but..." Hongdou's brow furrowed slightly as she recalled what she had learned on the island. "But the people of Dongji Sect mentioned that a woman in green had visited them. She asked about you, and also about someone else."
Meng Shuying: "Who?"
"Su Luowei."
There was a look of confusion in Hongdou's eyes; she couldn't figure out how the two might be connected.
Meng Shuying's hand paused, her voice lowering, "Did she say why she was looking for my senior sister?"
"She didn't. She only mentioned that they were old acquaintances."
"Old acquaintances..." Meng Shuying repeated.
She wasn't aware that Su Luowei had met Jade Slave in the Ten Directions Paradise, nor did she know that Jade Slave had given Su Luowei a dragon scale.
So, upon hearing that the Azure Dragon was also searching for her senior sister, she instinctively assumed that the dragon had discovered something about her and her senior sister and intended to use her sister against her.
With a cold expression, Meng Shuying silently considered how to deal with the situation while continuing to gently comb her senior sister's hair.
"When we leave Kunlun, send word to the Azure Dragon. Tell her I'll be waiting at Qingxu Sect, and that our grievances should not involve others."
Hongdou immediately became anxious, "That won't do! We took her heart's blood back then. If she comes to Qingxu Sect, it'll cause absolute chaos."
"Even if she turns Qingxu Sect upside down, it's better than her coming to Kunlun and harming my senior sister's body. Besides, when we took her heart's blood back then, she wasn't yet an adult..."
She stopped there, but Hongdou caught her unspoken implication.
Now that the Azure Dragon was an adult, her heart's blood would be even more potent.
Hongdou lowered her eyes, silently considering Meng Shuying's words and finding them reasonable. Rather than letting the Azure Dragon discover their weakness here, it was better to take the initiative.
"Alright, when we return to Qingxu Sect, I'll make the arrangements."
After saying this, Hongdou didn't immediately leave. Instead, she stood there, looking slightly hesitant.
Meng Shuying asked, "Is there anything else?"
Hongdou: "One more thing... I wanted to ask, how has that little girl outside been doing these past two days?"
Hongdou knew she shouldn't meddle, but she couldn't help herself.
It was strange—back when she followed her master and swept through the Danyang Alliance, she had felt nothing. But just seeing that little girl lying on the hard wooden bench had stirred a sense of pity in her heart.
"She..." Meng Shuying hesitated.
Judging by the girl's repeated naps and the deliberately overfilled bathtub, "responsible" wasn't exactly how she would describe her.
But Meng Shuying had no intention of quarreling with her over it, so she replied indifferently, "She's alright."
"That's good..." Hongdou sighed in relief, then quickly voiced what was on her mind. "I think she's been quite diligent. You still lack someone to serve you—how about taking her as a disciple?"
The Qingxu Sect didn't keep servants, not even the peak masters had such privileges. Disciples like Zhan Xuehan and Nie Wentian handled the daily chores for their masters, but Meng Shuying still didn't have a single disciple, leaving Hongdou to manage everything herself.
Even through the curtain, Hongdou could sense Meng Shuying's probing gaze on her.
"How exactly did you determine she was diligent?"
Didn't you just say so yourself?
Meng Shuying rarely praised anyone, so in Hongdou's eyes, her comment that the girl was "alright" was already quite an achievement.
She had been secretly pleased, thinking that if Meng Shuying took the girl as a disciple, she would finally have some relief from her duties.
But it seemed Meng Shuying wasn't keen on the idea.
Meng Shuying indeed wasn't interested.
Firstly, the girl outside was a disciple of Kunlun Sect. Taking her as a disciple would be akin to snatching someone else's student.
Secondly, Meng Shuying had many other matters to attend to. She had no time to teach a disciple until her goals were achieved.
After waiting for a long time without hearing any further response from Meng Shuying, Hongdou understood this was a rejection and knew better than to bring it up again.
She sighed inwardly and changed the topic, "It seems the master is purging the love poison faster than before this time. Should we leave early, or stay a few more days as planned?"
Meng Shuying was reluctant to part with her senior sister, but she also worried that the Azure Dragon might cause trouble and disrupt her plans. After a moment of contemplation, she softly replied, "Let's leave early."