Volume 1, Chapter 129 – A Complicated Relationship

“We’ve arrived at the main hall.”

Fushan’s voice broke into her thoughts.

Luoshui looked up. Ahead stood a majestic main hall bathed in a faint wash of moonlight.

Above its doors, the four characters spelling “Yaochi Immortal Palace” seemed naturally imbued with Dao Resonance. Though merely four words, they radiated boundless majesty.

The doors opened without a sound.

Fushan stepped aside and gestured for her to enter.

“The Palace Master is inside. Please.”

Luoshui composed herself, suppressed the thoughts churning within her, straightened her clothes, and stepped into the main hall.

The interior was vast and tranquil. Far overhead, a formation transformed the vaulted ceiling into a deep, starry sky, its twinkling stars casting a soft silver radiance.

The floor was made of lustrous spirit jade, polished to a mirror sheen.

And at the far end of the great hall, upon a cloud couch…

A peerlessly beautiful woman sat quietly, her hair as silver as snow and her palace robes white as moonlight.

Nestled in her arms was an adorable little girl with twin buns. The child blinked her large eyes and gazed over curiously.

Luoshui’s gaze came to rest on the silver-haired figure upon the cloud couch.

Their eyes met.

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A supreme majesty, as vast as a sea of stars and seemingly transcending all creation, silently filled the hall.

Luoshui’s heart jolted. She was seized by an involuntary urge to bow in homage.

She hurriedly steadied herself, took three steps forward, and bowed deeply and solemnly toward the cloud couch.

“I am Luoshui, first disciple of Empress Qingxuan of the Qingxuan Imperial Dynasty in the Eastern Region. I have come at my Master’s command to pay my respects to the Palace Master of Yaochi Immortal Palace.”

Her voice was clear and melodious, her manner exceptionally respectful. She had offered the formal greeting of a junior meeting a senior.

From the cloud couch, Gu Han calmly appraised the blue-robed woman below.

Ninth heaven of Tribulation Transcendence, with a solid foundation. Her aura held a trace of water’s supple resilience, clear evidence that she cultivated an exceptionally profound water-aligned technique.

Her looks and bearing were both outstanding. Her gaze was clear and resolute, and her temperament seemed sound as well.

That woman Qingxuan had taken in a fine disciple.

“There’s no need for such formality.”

Gu Han’s voice was clear and even, yet carried an innate authority.

“Why did Qingxuan send you here?”

Luoshui straightened. After a moment’s hesitation, she slowly replied,

“Palace Master Gu, my Master specifically instructed me to deliver a gift.”

As Luoshui finished speaking, a jade box slid from her sleeve. She respectfully held it out before her with both hands.

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The box was a lustrous milky white, its surface carved with an intricate and exquisite mystic-bird motif.

Gu Han’s gaze fell upon the jade box, and a hint of curiosity flickered in her eyes.

What could that woman Qingxuan possibly have sent her?

At a thought, the jade box floated from Luoshui’s hands and slowly flew toward the cloud couch, where it hung motionless in the air.

Gu Han paused with one fingertip extended, then channeled a wisp of spiritual power into it.

“Click.”

With a soft sound, the jade box opened.

Its interior was lined with soft cloud brocade, upon which two objects lay.

On the left was a pale cyan bracelet made from a material that resembled jade yet was not jade, bone yet was not bone.

The bracelet was simple and archaic in design, with little ornamentation. Only a handful of naturally formed dark patterns adorned its surface, flowing like ripples across water and emanating a lustrous glow and faint Dao Resonance.

On the right was a special jade slip roughly three inches long and two fingers wide. It was a luminous white throughout, with faint golden light flowing along its edges.

A mystic bird had also been carved upon the jade slip, though this one appeared far more lifelike, as if it might spread its wings and take flight at any moment.

The instant those two objects appeared…

Standing below, Luoshui could not keep her usually placid eyes from narrowing slightly. A trace of disbelief flashed deep within them.

That… Could it be?!

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That bracelet!

She recognized it!

Her Master had worn one on her left wrist for years and almost never removed it!

It belonged to a pair of artifacts called the Profound Heart Bracelets, which her Master had brought back from her travels across the Xuanhuang Continent in her younger years.

According to her Master, the bracelets were made of an unusual material and shared a mysterious resonance and connection.

They were true tokens of “linked hearts,” far more precious than ordinary heaven-rank artifacts!

Her Master treasured them beyond measure. In tens of thousands of years, Luoshui had never seen her take hers off, much less show it to anyone!

And now… her Master intended to give one of them to the Yaochi Empress?!

And that jade slip…

It was no ordinary voice-transmission jade slip, but a “Linked Hearts Slip” her Master had personally refined with her own Dao laws.

What in the world… was her Master trying to do?

Countless thoughts and speculations instantly surged through Luoshui’s mind.

Could there be something between her Master and the Yaochi Empress that Luoshui knew nothing about?

Was that why her Master had not only given the Yaochi Empress one of her most intimate possessions, something she never took off, but had even chosen to contact her through a “Linked Hearts Slip”?

All manner of salacious speculation about the relationship between these two Immortal Ascension experts flashed uncontrollably through Luoshui’s mind.

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For once, a subtle look of near stupefaction appeared on her beautiful face.

Gu Han did not notice Luoshui’s momentary lapse in composure.

Her attention was entirely captured by the two objects inside the box.

She picked up the pale cyan bracelet first.

It was cool and smooth to the touch, almost as though it were alive.

Even more surprising was what happened when the spiritual power at her fingertips inadvertently brushed across it.

A faint pulse of Empress Qingxuan’s aura came from within the bracelet, along with a subtle sense of attraction that seemed to reach across the barriers of space.

“This is…”

Gu Han arched an eyebrow slightly.

Although she did not know the bracelet’s exact origins or purpose, her discerning eye naturally told her that it was extraordinary.

The Dao laws and material it contained were entirely unlike those of ordinary artifacts in this world. It was likely a heaven-rank mid-grade artifact at the very least.

And… why did this bracelet look so much like the one Qingxuan wore on her wrist?

Could Qingxuan be giving her own bracelet to Gu Han?

Wasn’t this gift a little too… intimate?