The Bai Family schoolroom was situated to the west of the Bai Estate. Stepping out and heading east led to the side gate of the estate, while heading west led to Qingyun City's largest marketplace.
Leaving the schoolroom, Bai Mengjin did not return to the Bai Estate; instead, she headed to the marketplace.
Contrary to what many assumed, she was a demonic lord with a remarkably self-contained state of mind, entirely free of inner demons.
A hard youth? She had already lived through it; why dwell on it? Her current cultivation was peerless, capable of making the entire immortal realm tremble with a single stomp of her foot, while those in the Bai Family who had once bullied her had long since passed away. How could they possibly deserve another ounce of her energy?
Therefore, this illusion appeared particularly bizarre.
Generally speaking, illusions served two purposes. The first was to attack a person's mental vulnerabilities and shatter their Dao heart. The second was to manifest their deepest desires and make them indulge.
For Bai Mengjin, this past chapter with the Bai Family achieved neither.
That was strange. Since the Samsara Mirror was a supreme ancient treasure, surely its power didn't stop there? What happened to the legendary abilities of moving mountains, overturning seas, and defying the heavens to alter fate?
Hence, Bai Mengjin decided to investigate the marketplace. Qingyun City was a large city where immortals and mortals lived side by side; the greater the crowd, the easier it was for flaws to show.
Entering the marketplace, she found it unexpectedly crowded. Merchants and travelers bustled shoulder to shoulder, their hawking cries rising and falling in waves.
Bai Mengjin scanned the surroundings all the way, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.
She could not find a single flaw, as though all these people were truly flesh and blood.
Could this not be an illusion? Then what was it? An independent miniature world within the Samsara Mirror?
Finding no answers for the moment, Bai Mengjin casually picked a tea stall and sat down to ponder life.
As she absentmindedly took a couple of sips of tea, she suddenly heard a sweet, lively female voice by her ear.
"Senior Brother, we've been walking for ages, let's take a break!"
Then came a familiar male voice, teasing her: "You just think these tea pastries look pretty and want to eat them, don't you?"
Having her intentions exposed, the girl acted spoiled: "Please, say yes!"
The Senior Brother replied with a mixture of helplessness and doting affection: "Can I ever say no to you? Order whatever you want, Senior Brother is treating."
The girl let out a cheer and eagerly called for the waiter.
Hearing the voice, Bai Mengjin turned her head and saw a man and a woman sitting at the neighboring table, wearing similar apricot-colored Dharma robes. The female was a young girl of fifteen or sixteen, with pretty features and lingering childishness. The man was someone she had seen just before closing her eyes, though his temperament was much younger—Huo Chongxiao. It was actually Huo Chongxiao!
Her first reaction was to shield her face. If Huo Chongxiao had entered this illusion with her, turning hostile right now was clearly ill-timed; her cultivation hadn't returned yet!
However, as she listened to the two of them speak next, she froze.
She also recognized this young girl: Huo Chongxiao's junior sister, Yue Yunqiao. The two had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, and their bond was exceptionally close. Yet, not long after she entered the sect, Yue Yunqiao had died during a demonic-hunting operation. Huo Chongxiao had suffered a severe psychological blow, and his temperament had changed drastically ever since.
If this person truly were Huo Chongxiao, it was impossible for him to appear this carefree upon seeing the junior sister he missed day and night within an illusion.
Could it be that he remembered nothing? Or was he also a denizen of the illusion?
Harboring doubts, Bai Mengjin listened carefully to their conversation.
Yue Yunqiao had a lively disposition and chattered away with a critique of the tea pastries before shifting to another topic.
"Senior Brother, we've been investigating for days and haven't found any problems. Are there really demonic creatures in Qingyun City?"
Huo Chongxiao took a sip of tea and replied, "The people disappearing in the city are either youths or young children—they are the favorite offerings of demonic creatures."
"But they could also be human traffickers!"
"What you say is true, but if they were traffickers, the compass wouldn't react. This matter was reported by a demonic hunter, so it's most likely true."
Within the immortal realm, apart from the major immortal sects and families, there were a considerable number of rogue cultivators. Most of them made a living hunting demons, and if they encountered problems they could not resolve, they would seek help from the immortal sects.
At this point in reality, Bai Mengjin had no idea Huo Chongxiao had ever come to Qingyun City, nor had she ever heard of any demonic creatures appearing here. Was this an event fabricated by the illusion?
She inexplicably felt an ominous premonition.
"In any case, this matter is rather peculiar. We should proceed with caution." With that, Huo Chongxiao paid for the tea and left with Yue Yunqiao.
After a moment of thought, Bai Mengjin tossed down two coins and followed them.
The senior brother and sister left the marketplace and headed toward the southern district. That area was a densely populated gathering place for people from all walks of life.
Huo Chongxiao knocked on a door, and a woman with red, swollen eyes looked at them in confusion: "You two are..."
"Auntie, Immortal Master Liu recommended us to come."
This Immortal Master Liu should be the demonic hunter who filed the report. The woman understood instantly and hastily gestured, "Please come in, Immortals. Our home is humble, but I hope you won't mind."
Huo Chongxiao flashed a polite smile: "Of course not. Thank you for the trouble, Auntie."
The senior and junior sister stepped inside, and the door closed behind them.
Bai Mengjin's current hearing wasn't sharp enough to catch their conversation through the door. After a brief hesitation, she reached into her tunic, pulled out that stack of spirit talismans, drew one out, and folded it into a paper crane.
She blew a breath on it: "Go!"
A flicker of spiritual light wrapped around the paper crane, transforming it into a flying insect that landed on the crack of the door, transmitting the voices inside directly to her ears.
"Daya disappeared that night. It's all my fault; I knew it wasn't safe outside, but I didn't go meet her, and then she never came back."
"Which route did she usually take? Around what time did she get home?"
"She usually took Sheep Horn Street; there are restaurants over there, so it's a bit livelier. Daya has always been well-behaved; she comes home right after her shift and gets back by the second watch at the latest."
Huo Chongxiao asked a few more questions and finally requested a personal item belonging to Daya.
The woman asked with hopeful expectation, "Immortal Master, will my Daya be able to come back?"
Huo Chongxiao fell silent for a moment: "We haven't found her yet, so I am not certain."
The woman began to weep softly again: "Everyone says my Daya was snatched away by a monster and eaten."
Huo Chongxiao offered a few words of comfort and took his leave with Yue Yunqiao.
"Senior Brother, what do we do next?" Yue Yunqiao asked.
Huo Chongxiao thought for a moment: "Let's wait until dark to try calling her soul."
The schoolroom let out at the You hour, and since it was already growing dark, Bai Mengjin simply decided not to return and followed the senior brother and sister from a distance.
The two walked along Sheep Horn Street and finally stopped at a secluded, deserted street corner.
"Senior Brother, I feel like the Yin energy is rather heavy here."
"Then let's do it here. Take out the items."
"Alright."
Yue Yunqiao produced a talisman brush and ink, watching as Huo Chongxiao drew a simple soul-summoning array on the ground.
Before long, night fell completely. He took out the handkerchief he had obtained from the woman and burned it inside the array.
Black smoke rose, and the soul-summoning array reacted. Seemingly formless entities gathered around, but after waiting for a long time with no further movement, Huo Chongxiao's expression gradually grew solemn.
Bai Mengjin also furrowed her brows. The soul-summoning array had sensed a presence, which meant Daya was indeed dead, but if they couldn't summon a complete soul after this long, the problem was rather significant.
For the soul-summoning array of Danxia Palace, summoning a mortal's soul was as easy as turning over a hand. If it couldn't be summoned, either the soul was completely gone, or it had been detained.
There really were demonic creatures in Qingyun City!
Preposterous! A supreme demonic lord was right here, and some blind demon dared act up?!
At that moment, something flashed across the wall behind Yue Yunqiao, while the two remained completely oblivious.
In a moment of urgency, Bai Mengjin formed a hand seal and traced an invisible talismanic script: "Careful!"