Volume 3, Chapter 366 – I Want to See the Human Empress

Chi Xiyan cradled Lu Zhuxin’s hand against her chest.

Their fingers interlaced.

She lowered her gaze, a self-deprecating, bitter smile surfacing on her face.

“All along this road, I have lost so many things…”

“Things I could see, things I could not…”

“Things I could touch, things I could not…”

“And perhaps… many things I have not even realized I lost…”

“Little Xue’er…”

“The only person still by my side now is you.”

She tightened her grip around the soft hand in hers.

The warmth of the girl’s palm was more comforting than the cloak draped over her shoulders.

“So no matter what happens, I never want to lose you…”

Lu Zhuxin looked into Chi Xiyan’s eyes, her expression briefly stunned. “Sister…”

Chi Xiyan’s gaze dropped. There was a veiled, layered complexity and hesitation in her eyes. “You are my little sister. My only family.”

“And the Chi family’s… last hope…”

“…”

Lu Zhuxin fell silent after hearing that.

Chi Xiyan, you little wretch. Give me back my heartfelt moment!

She lowered her head, barely suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.

When she looked up again, her face had shifted into a serene smile.

“Yes… we are sisters…”

“After Mother left, you became my only family, Sister.”

She lifted the hand Chi Xiyan had been holding.

“I will never let go of your hand!”

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Watching the girl’s sweet smile, Chi Xiyan’s emotions became even harder to name.

Yes, they were sisters.

That was something she herself had always emphasized.

And yet, hearing Chi Muxue repeat her own words back to her, saying they were sisters, that they were family, a nameless feeling rose unbidden from the depths of her chest.

She was the one who had said it first. So why did hearing it from Chi Muxue’s lips feel so… wrong?

Chi Xiyan, have you truly fallen for a girl?

But no matter how she looked at it, Chi Muxue was her little sister. They shared blood. They were kin.

Between blood relatives, how could such thoughts ever be permissible?

It defied the natural order. It was repulsive.

Chi Xiyan said nothing. She dropped her gaze, the grip of her fingers loosening until she was only loosely holding the girl’s hand.

A sister could only ever be a sister. Nothing more.

The soft, warm hand in hers now felt like a piece of red-hot iron, searing a dull ache into her heart.

“Sister, your expression suddenly changed. Did I say something wrong?”

The girl’s concerned voice reached her ears.

Chi Xiyan looked up and met those eyes, full of worry and care.

“I am fine… just a bit of a headache…” Chi Xiyan pressed down the feelings threatening to rise to the surface, and smiled at the girl.

Then she turned her gaze toward the distance.

“That woman who sits as Human Empress is not someone easily moved.”

A rather blunt attempt at changing the subject.

Lu Zhuxin had to fight down the urge to roll her eyes again.

There was clearly just one thin layer of paper between them, yet piercing through it seemed nearly impossible for Chi Xiyan.

This girl had to be part ostrich.

Getting her to admit her feelings was harder than wearing down an iron rod into a needle.

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Then again, if it were that simple, she would not have needed to lay out such an elaborate scheme.

“Sister.” Lu Zhuxin continued, “Where there is a will, there is a way. We will find something.”

“Yes. Where there is a will, there is a way.” Chi Xiyan let out a long sigh. “But I wonder where the way out is for us.”

“That Human Empress has long since stood at the very pinnacle of this world. To her, the Chi family is no more than an ant.”

“If she wished to break the siege on the Chi family, it would cost her no more than a flick of the wrist.”

Chi Xiyan’s brow furrowed tightly. “We are not equals. Even getting an audience with her is immensely difficult.”

“The relationship between the Seven Sword Sects and the Human Empress has always been… murky.”

“On the surface, the Seven Sword Sects defer to her as supreme, just as every other faction does. But because Immortal Venerable Qingzhi stands behind the Sword Sects, even the Human Empress, ruler of all humankind, must show some measure of respect.”

“Given all of this, how are we supposed to persuade her to lift the siege on the Chi family?”

“…”

“Merchants always operate on the principle of exchanging value for value.”

“But no matter how I think it over, I cannot find a single thing we have that could move the Human Empress…”

“Sister!”

Chi Xiyan’s stream of murmuring stopped.

The girl before her was gently pressing one slender, fair finger against the center of her furrowed brow.

“This merchant’s way of thinking, where everything comes down to trading value for value. Is that your own idea, or something the head of the Chi family drilled into you?”

“…” Chi Xiyan went still.

Her attention was pulled against her will toward the girl’s small gesture.

Her mind stalled for several breaths before she registered what the girl had actually said.

She had never once asked herself that question.

For as long as she could remember, Chi Jingwen had taught her to think this way.

Nanny Qin Qingfen had always pushed her to learn from Chi Jingwen’s shrewdness.

Every merchant family she had come to know was much the same as Chi Jingwen.

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And so she had always done the same.

From childhood to now, she had never questioned whether this approach was flawed.

Reducing everything to a quantifiable value.

To some, it might seem cold.

But for Chi Xiyan, it helped her make clear, straightforward judgments about things.

Merchants prize profit. They weigh gain and loss.

That had long since become second nature to Chi Xiyan.

“Is there something wrong with that approach?” Chi Xiyan asked.

Lu Zhuxin shook her head. “Sister, I do not know exactly what is wrong with it…”

“But I do not like it.”

“And I do not think everyone shares that way of thinking.”

“Sister, you cannot be certain the Human Empress operates the same way, can you?”

“…” Chi Xiyan was quiet for a moment.

What Chi Muxue was saying was something she had never considered before.

She let out a wry smile. “But if the Human Empress cannot even be moved by something of value… does that not mean we have even less hope of persuading her?”

Lu Zhuxin was nearly beside herself with exasperation.

How could this girl be so stubborn?

“Sister!” Lu Zhuxin said. “The Human Empress is not a merchant…”

“You are far too caught up in thinking of her through a merchant’s lens.”

“I think that is the wrong approach.”

She sighed softly, her finger pressing a little more firmly against Chi Xiyan’s furrowed brow.

“Get some rest, Sister.”

“Sleep on it tonight, clear your head, and think it through again slowly tomorrow, alright?”

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“…” Chi Xiyan said nothing.

Her attention remained fixed on the girl’s fingertip.

That warm, gentle touch broke her train of thought, yet somehow also freed her to start over from the beginning.

Chi Muxue was right. She knew nothing about the Human Empress, nothing of how she conducted herself.

She had been treating the Human Empress as if she were a merchant, which was why she kept circling back to the same question: what price would it take to buy her cooperation?

That line of thinking might have been wrong from the very start.

“Little Xue’er, you have reminded me of something.”

The cards in her hand were clear enough.

But what the other party needed, she had no idea.

Like a fly without a head to follow, speculating about someone she knew nothing about, imagining she could move them with whatever happened to be in her own hands. That was foolish.

“Sitting here and guessing will get us nowhere.”

“I have to actually meet her before I can figure out what she needs.”

Lu Zhuxin pressed a hand to her forehead.

…

Early the next morning.

Huang Shangshang had not expected to see Chi Xiyan again so soon.

After taking a quiet sip of the tea Lu Zhuxin had personally brewed for her, she looked toward the composed and serious eldest miss of the Chi family.

“Miss Chi… have you made up your mind?”

“Yes.” Chi Xiyan gave a single nod. “I have.”

“Young Sect Master Huang.”

“I want to see the Human Empress.”

“Please help me.”