As Lu Hong's arduous quest for the Qingzhao Mirror Fragment was interrupted, investigating the cause of death of the Heir of the Prince of Nankang became the four-person team’s primary mission. They turned the Nankang Prince’s Mansion upside down before discovering the Prince’s journal in a study at the end of a corridor.
"The fifty-third year of the Great Song. I met a demon at the Zhouyou Restaurant. She covered her face with a veil, and her eyes held a mix of greed and evasion when she looked at me. Yet, I was not afraid. How I wished she would kill me and put an end to my life spent trapped in this magnificent cage."
"Spring, the fifty-fourth year of the Great Song. Jiēlián brought me to the Huancui Opera House to watch a performance. Coincidentally, the lead actor was also named Jiēlián, though written with the character for 'pity'. In truth, even now, I do not know how the demon Jiēlián’s name is actually written. The actor Jiēlián had a face just like my mother’s in her youth, like a crescent moon falling into water—bright and icy. A desire arose in me to save her from the life of a courtesan.
Early autumn of the same year. My youngest son seemed to know that Jiēlián was a demon. He said he saw her at night near the mansion's woodpile, eating a gardener alive. I checked in the morning, but saw nothing, though the gardener had indeed vanished."
"The fifty-fifth year of the Great Song. Jiēlián and I went to the Zhouyou Restaurant again. I bought an old man a cup of tea and purchased an object from him that resembled a mirror, yet it could not reflect a human face. But what else could an object of such shape be if not a mirror?"
"The end of the fifty-fifth year of the Great Song. I proposed to take the actor Jiēlián as a concubine. She was very happy and sang 'Qingmei' for me. Neither the primary wife nor the secondary wives in the mansion objected. Why did the demon Jiēlián look at me with that expression? Does she… possess feelings as well?"
"Early the fifty-sixth year of the Great Song. I went insane. I do not know what I did. When I regained my senses, I found my younger brother’s heart pierced by the sword in my hand. He was dying, sobbing in pain, begging me to stay away from the demon Jiēlián.
Did Jiēlián kill him? Then why was the longsword in my hands? I did not dare to take the actor as a concubine anymore."
"Summer, the fifty-sixth year of the Great Song. I still went to the Huancui Opera House to watch the performance, but the actor Jiēlián’s voice was hoarse—even stranger than the demon Jiēlián. The Huancui Opera House adopted a new rule: on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, Jiēlián would no longer sing. My heart felt hollow."
"Entering winter, the fifty-sixth year of the Great Song. Jiēlián came to find me, asking if I would be willing to give her my heart. Is she trying to kill me?
But now, I cannot bear to die."
"..."
After reading the last entry, Lu Hong forced a fake smile. "This Prince of Nankang is quite interesting, isn't he? The gardener in his mansion was eaten by Jiēlián, and he just glossed over it like that?"
Those entries proved clearly enough to Lu Hong that the Prince of Nankang had once obtained the Qingzhao Mirror Fragment.
But at this moment, her focus was not on that.
The Prince of Nankang’s notes mentioned killing his younger brother while unconscious. His younger brother should be Prince Dong'an.
But Prince Dong'an wasn't dead, was he? Isn't he living well in Lintai?
If Lu Hong’s memory served her correctly, whose life did the sword in the Prince’s hand actually take?
Upholding the principle of never letting Lu Hong’s words fall to the ground without a sound, Tushan Jiang replied: "Judging by his later entries, he was already rather muddled. It’s hard to tell what kind of connection he truly shared with the White Mountain Red Serpent."
"What connection could there be?" Yǔn Héngjùn said, dismissing the affairs of men and women. "At most, it was a completely rotten demon and a foolish mortal. The Demon Realm and the human world were never meant to mingle. Did they really expect a good outcome?"
Áo Yúnchè never shared his opinions on such matters. The Qingzhao Mirror Fragment inside his sleeve required constant immersion in immortal energy to keep Lu Hong from discovering the truth. If his secret were exposed, he dared not imagine what Lu Hong would do.
The effeminate and frail noble had a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. His immortal energy was running low.
He desperately needed to return to Penglai to recover, but he had no excuse to leave just yet.
The eagle-eyed Lu Hong noticed Áo Yúnchè weakening. His usually soft lips were slowly turning pale, his light-colored brows were furrowed, and a layer of sweat clung to his forehead, as if he had suffered severe internal injuries.
But he hadn't even been in a fight, had he?
Lu Hong was incredibly perplexed. "Are you hot, or cold? Or are you injured somewhere?"
"Just tired." Áo Yúnchè smiled at her. "Don't worry about me."
He prayed inward that Lu Hong would not move any closer.
But the world works in such a way that the things you fear the most happen.
Lu Hong shifted half her body over, intending to check his pulse.
Áo Yúnchè’s brow deepened. The hand she stretched out was aimed at his right arm, where he was channeling his immortal energy!
No, if Lu Hong, who was well-versed in pharmacology, took his pulse, the Qingzhao Mirror Fragment would be impossible to hide.
He acted decisively, using his left hand to reach out and catch hers in mid-air. His fingers were slender but icy, pale and devoid of warmth.
The cool touch on the back of her hand made Lu Hong’s body stiffen. When she came to her senses, she saw her right hand and Áo Yúnchè’s left hand clasped together in the air...
"What are you doing?" Lu Hong whipped her hand away, looking at Áo Yúnchè as if he were a lecher.
"Nothing." Áo Yúnchè forced a smile. He raised his left eyebrow and teased Lu Hong as usual. "I thought when you reached out, it was to pull me. It seems it was just my wishful thinking, Red Overseer." He whispered the last three words lightly, carrying a sense of repetitive longing.
An indescribable feeling surged in Lu Hong’s heart. She suddenly saw a vision of a thousand years ago at the Red Book Tower, when Lí Xuě was hunting her down, and Áo Yúnchè had stood before her, clutching her hand and running as he shouted, "Follow me!"
Back then, Áo Yúnchè hadn’t been this annoying.
Perhaps out of a burst of kindness, she grew afraid that something might truly be wrong with him. After thinking it over, she suggested, "Why don’t you go back to Penglai?"
This was exactly what Áo Yúnchè wanted. He lifted his eyelids, intending to tease her a bit more before leaving.
But the look of worry on Lu Hong’s face fell into his eyes like a heavy stone crashing into a lake.
Known for his composure, he was momentarily flustered. Those teasing words felt like thorns, making his throat sting.
"Fine. I’ll return to Penglai to recover and wait for your good news."
Áo Yúnchè raised his left hand, and waves of mist circled around him.
In the next second, he was back in the seat of the Penglai Chief Inspector. No longer able to suppress the wrenching pain in his chest, he suddenly coughed up blood.
Just as he was about to release the immortal energy controlling the Qingzhao Mirror, he suddenly heard a familiar female voice: "Is there anything new in the human world?"
He swallowed the fishy sweetness rising in his throat, lowered his eyes, and replied, "It is my incompetence for failing to welcome the Lord of Kunlun’s holy presence."
On the other side.
Lu Hong scratched her head, while Yǔn Héngjùn and Tushan Jiang exchanged glances.
"Why did he suddenly act like that?" Lu Hong asked.
Yǔn Héngjùn shrugged. Didn't the rumors claim that Áo Yúnchè’s immortal energy was incredibly powerful?
But looking closely at how he appeared just moments ago, it looked very much like the weakness of someone who had exhausted their energy.
And how would he have exhausted it like that?
Tushan Jiang’s eyes flickered. It seemed Áo Yúnchè was injured.
But he reigned supreme over the Donghai Prefecture and held a divine position in Kunlun. He had mastered the most advanced techniques of the Dragon Clan, which had spanned tens of thousands of years.
Who among the outcast sons of the East Sea Dragon Clan could possibly hurt him?