Volume 3, Chapter 346 – It Must Be Her!

Lu Zhuxin furrowed her brow.

Though Hu Mei’er sometimes acted childish in front of her, she was, for the most part, quite reliable in her role as head steward of the Fox Palace.

It was rare for Lu Zhuxin to see Hu Mei’er in such a state of distress.

“Calm down. Tell me slowly.”

Hu Mei’er drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the panic rising in her chest.

“My liege…”

“This is a message from Lingxu Sword Sect.”

“Song Shiyuan… she’s gone missing!”

Once she finished speaking, Hu Mei’er snuck a sidelong glance at Lu Zhuxin, her expression fraught with unease.

That little sword cultivator held a significance to her liege that was anything but ordinary.

She had brazenly stolen her liege’s first time, and yet her liege had not punished her. Placing her under house arrest at Lingxu Sword Sect had been an act of protection.

Though she resented it, Hu Mei’er understood that the little sword cultivator might one day become something like a co-mistress of the Fox Palace.

Now that something had happened to Song Shiyuan, Hu Mei’er had no idea how to answer to the Fox Monarch.

“Song Shiyuan… is missing?”

Lu Zhuxin’s voice grew cold.

Hu Mei’er’s heart lurched.

Her liege was truly angry. She really did care deeply about that little sword cultivator.

Lu Zhuxin raised a hand and pressed it to her forehead, the tendons across her palm drawn taut.

“Tell me. What exactly happened?”

Her tone remained indifferent, yet beneath that calm surface, one could hear the storm of fury that had been forced back down.

Hu Mei’er hunched her shoulders.

Even though Song Shiyuan’s disappearance had nothing to do with her, she was still the one who had to face her liege’s wrath head-on.

The last time her liege had been this furious was during the war against the Demon Monarch.

Back then, a human cultivator sect, in an attempt to force the Fox Clan to withdraw its troops, had secretly abducted several hundred fox clan cubs as leverage.

Afterward, the enraged Fox Monarch had torn that sect apart from the inside out.

“My liege… here is what happened…”

Hu Mei’er relayed the events that had unfolded at Lingxu Sword Sect.

When she finished, she bowed her head and waited for Lu Zhuxin’s judgment.

“…” Lu Zhuxin closed her eyes and pressed her fingers hard against the bridge of her nose.

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“What about Huang Xifeng and Huang Shangshang?”

“Can they enter the linked dreamscape?”

Hu Mei’er felt as though she had just been granted amnesty.

As long as she didn’t have to face her liege’s fury alone, she could bear anything.

“My liege, please wait a moment.”

“Lingxu Sword Sect is too far away to allow them to enter the linked dreamscape directly.”

“I will have the foxes prepare a relay dreamscape at once.”

With that, Hu Mei’er snapped her fingers softly.

The dreamscape dissolved. Lu Zhuxin opened her eyes inside the room.

Song Shiyuan’s disappearance had caught her completely off guard.

Song Shiyuan had already lost her memories and was no longer the heaven-mandated female lead bound to Song Shixuan by fate. So who would be targeting her like this?

“System.” Lu Zhuxin called out quietly.

[Host, 03 is here.]

The system’s voice was as steady as always.

Lu Zhuxin knew the system could not see what transpired within the linked dreamscape.

But she could not be certain whether this system had any connection to Song Shiyuan’s disappearance.

Lu Zhuxin raised her hand and touched the side of her neck. The mark that Qu Qingtang had planted in the Rain Dew Acupoint of her fox demon body showed no sign of fading.

She let out a quiet, soft laugh.

“I feel like Qu Qingtang’s mark is becoming rather… an eyesore.”

[Why does Host say that so suddenly?]

Lu Zhuxin propped her chin in her hand, the picture of someone deep in thought.

“Once I’m done with the Chi family matter, my next conquest target is the Human Empress.”

“The Human Empress is at the Venerable Saint realm. My fox demon identity may very well not be something I can hide from her.”

“Think about it. If she discovers that I’ve already been marked by Qu Qingtang, what would she think?”

“Would she still look kindly upon me?”

“Isn’t that just dragging down my conquest progress entirely?”

[That is a fair point.]

The system agreed with Lu Zhuxin’s reasoning.

[Then, has Host already decided to remove the mark Qu Qingtang left behind?]

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Lu Zhuxin curled the corner of her mouth.

“Then the question becomes,” she said, “what is the price?”

[Has Host truly made up her mind?]

[The price is the same as what was mentioned before.]

“Song Shiyuan’s life. Is that right?”

[Host, a female lead whose conquest has already been completed no longer holds any value for exploitation.]

The system’s words were laced with temptation.

[Why not put her to full use.]

Lu Zhuxin narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.

“So if I agree to your terms right now, would Song Shiyuan simply be erased from existence?”

[No, Host.]

[The system’s authority is limited. It is not capable of making unlimited modifications to the novel world.]

The system’s tone was oddly subdued.

[The choice you make must be carried out by you personally.]

[So, Host. Can you kill Song Shiyuan with your own hands?]

“…”

Lu Zhuxin’s expression did not change. Her fingers tapped soundlessly against the surface in front of her, almost without thinking.

“Song Shiyuan isn’t here with me. The city gates of Beihe Commandery are sealed shut, and I can’t leave. So how exactly am I supposed to kill her?”

Lu Zhuxin let out a soft laugh. “Or would it count if I had someone else do it?”

[That should not be a difficult matter for you, Host.]

[You were able to break through the grand formation of the Chi Residence. You could just as easily break through the city-wide formation here.]

[Moreover, the Fox Clan’s informants are spread across all under heaven. Delivering a woman who has lost her memories to Beihe Commandery would not be any great difficulty.]

“…” Lu Zhuxin’s brow tightened slightly.

So it seemed that System 03 did not know that Song Shiyuan had gone missing.

Did that mean it had no part in her disappearance?

And since 03 did not know where Song Shiyuan was hiding either…

If it was not this system, which had always seemed so fixated on Song Shiyuan, then who else would have made a move against her?

Lu Zhuxin could not make sense of it. Still, she let out a quiet laugh.

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“Forget it… Song Shiyuan is a disciple of Lingxiao Sword Sect. With so many Lingxiao sword cultivators right here in this city, if I were to actually bring her over and something went wrong, it would get messy.”

“Besides, there’s no rush right now.”

“I’ll deal with it when the time comes to pursue the Human Empress.”

“Time to sleep. Time to sleep.”

“Even though I didn’t do anything today, I’m completely exhausted.”

Lu Zhuxin stretched lazily.

She laid down on the bed with great contentment and closed her eyes once more.

From beginning to end, she had not let a single unusual emotion show.

…

Hu Mei’er did not keep Lu Zhuxin waiting long.

Soon, she pulled Lu Zhuxin, who had only just begun to doze, back into the dreamscape.

When Lu Zhuxin opened her eyes within the dreamscape, she found that two hazy silhouettes had appeared at Hu Mei’er’s side.

Huang Xifeng took Huang Shangshang’s hand and stepped forward.

“Your subordinate Huang Xifeng, along with her daughter Huang Shangshang, comes before Your Majesty to plead guilty.”

“Your Majesty!” The girl in yellow robes dropped to her knees with a thud, her eyes rimmed red. It was clear she had only just finished crying. “It’s my fault. I only stepped away for a moment, and I never imagined Song Shiyuan would vanish. Please, Your Majesty, punish me!”

Huang Xifeng also spoke. “Your Majesty, I am at fault as well. Had it not been for me, Shangshang would not have left Song Shiyuan alone at the banks of Tianshui Lake. Please, Your Majesty, punish me!”

Lu Zhuxin’s brow was drawn into a tight, hard knot. “We will deal with punishment later. What I want to know is exactly how she went missing. Did you find no trace at all?”

The mother and daughter pair fell instantly silent.

After a brief moment, Huang Xifeng spoke, her voice careful and measured.

“The grand formation of Lingxu Sword Sect has always been under my regular inspection, and after Your Majesty’s reminder the last time, I rewrote the formation as well.”

“Yet this time, the formation showed no sign of having been disturbed whatsoever.”

“I cannot figure out how Song Shiyuan left at all.”

Huang Shangshang also spoke haltingly. “Song Shiyuan has been in low spirits these days. She is very perceptive, and she figured out early on that we were keeping her under house arrest… Before she disappeared, she had also mentioned to me that she wanted to go out for a walk.”

“But…” Huang Xifeng picked up the thread again. “Song Shiyuan has lost her memories, and her cultivation has been sealed. By all reasoning, she should not have had the ability to leave Lingxu Sword Sect on her own.”

“Then Song Shiyuan must have been taken away by someone. But who would have that kind of ability?”

“To forcibly abduct someone without triggering the formation at all… that could only be done by someone at the Venerable Saint realm, couldn’t it?”

The mother and daughter went back and forth, trading their analysis in turns.

Lu Zhuxin felt a dull ache building behind her eyes. She pressed her fingers against her throbbing brow.

There was no way to know how Song Shiyuan had left. Better to start by analyzing who might have made a move against her.

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System 03 could be set aside for now.

Song Shiyuan had never made enemies with anyone. The possibility of revenge could also be set aside for the time being.

Then who else could have targeted Song Shiyuan?

First was the Song family. Given how badly Song Shixuan, that wretched excuse for a man, had been humiliated at the Fox Palace, it would not be out of character for him to pull something like this. But the Song family had been quiet these past days, and it seemed unlikely they had the means to forcibly take Song Shiyuan away without leaving a single trace.

So the Song family’s involvement was not very probable.

Next was the second Qu Qingtang. If the Human Empress truly was Qu Qingtang, then her suspicion would be the greatest. But Wei Qingyu had only just come to the Chi family today to probe for information. If it had truly been the Human Empress’s doing, then Wei Qingyu’s probing would make little sense.

But if it was not the Human Empress, then who was it?

Other than someone at the Venerable Saint realm, who else could take Song Shiyuan away without disturbing the formation or alarming anyone?

“Wait…”

A flash of sudden insight cut through her mind. Lu Zhuxin immediately cut off the mother and daughter’s exchange.

“Song Shiyuan went missing at the lakeside. Is that right?”

Lu Zhuxin pressed her brow together, voice sharp. “Have you checked Lingxu Sword Sect’s hidden lake passage?”

“The hidden lake passage?” Huang Shangshang looked completely lost. As the Young Sect Master of Lingxu Sword Sect, this was the first she had ever heard of such a thing.

“Your Majesty… surely not?” Huang Xifeng’s expression wavered. “The location of the hidden lake passage was known only to my late wife…”

“And after I became sect master, the passage was sealed completely. Only a fox demon of the Sixth Realm or above would be able to reopen it.”

As she spoke, a flash of shock suddenly surged into Huang Xifeng’s eyes.

“Your Majesty’s meaning is… she is a traitor?!”

“No. Not her.” Lu Zhuxin’s gaze turned ice cold.

The hidden passage of Lingxu Sword Sect had been built long ago by the Fox Clan to infiltrate the sect. In the original story, it had only been discovered after Lingxu Sword Sect was destroyed, when Song Shixuan led the Demon Suppression Bureau to excavate the ruins.

Through that, the secret had finally come to light: for centuries, the Fox Clan had moved freely through human territory without ever leaving a trace that could be tracked.

Fox Clan hidden passages were, in truth, a very special spatial realm, existing somewhere between the dreamscape and reality. Only those of the Fox Clan, using secret techniques, could dissolve their physical bodies into dream-matter and travel through the passage.

But constructing such a passage was enormously complex, requiring a staggering amount of resources and materials.

In all the centuries of the Fox Clan’s history, only a handful of such passages had ever been built.

When Lu Zhuxin had crossed the boundary line and slipped into human territory, she had traveled through one of the passages built along the border.

What Huang Xifeng did not know, however, was that besides Huang Shangshang’s late mother, there was one other person who knew the location of Lingxu Sword Sect’s hidden passage.

“It’s her!”

Slowly, Lu Zhuxin spoke that name inwardly.

“Ming. Zhao. Xi!”