Chapter 550: Four Void Temple

Night had grown deep, and moonlight fell quietly from the sky, its clear, pure glow flowing over the mountain forest like water, wrapping everything in a faint silver sheen.

In a small courtyard halfway up Moon Spring Peak, three fox-eared little girls lay side by side on the bed in their room, their three fox tails flicking continuously, batting at the blankets without pause.

Tushan Kankan held a piece of rice paper in her arms, reading it over and over.

For Tushan Kankan, who loved reading, and poetry especially, the more she read the words on the page, the more a quiet happiness rose in her heart. The paper held the very poem that had been written on the Holy Woman's own white page.

After the three little ones had been sent away that time, Yueshi had made a separate copy for the best-behaved of the three, Tushan Kankan, and had told her, "You alone may look at this. You must not show it to the other two."

This was meant as a punishment for Tushan Doudou and Tushan Yiyi.

Sure enough, once they were back, Tushan Doudou and Tushan Yiyi were burning with curiosity.

Tushan Doudou leaned over the edge of the bed, poking her fluffy little head out, her fox ears twitching, wanting eagerly to lean in and see for herself. But the moment she moved, Tushan Kankan noticed, pushed out her lips, and turned away without ceremony.

Tushan Yiyi crept quietly toward Tushan Kankan's side too, hoping to steal a peek but Tushan Kankan quickly pressed the poem tightly to her chest, covering it completely.

"Kankan, just show us..." Tushan Doudou grabbed hold of Tushan Kankan's small hand, swaying it back and forth in coaxing appeal.

"That is right, Kankan, just let us have one look, and we will buy you pastries afterward." Tushan Yiyi pleaded along with her.

"No." Tushan Kankan shook her head firmly. "Elder Sister Yueshi said we could not show it to you two."

"Just show us, and we will wash your clothes for you for the next six months." Tushan Doudou, unwilling to give up, raised her offer.

Tushan Yiyi paused for a moment, glancing at her close companion, thinking privately that this might have been a bit much but seeing that Kankan seemed to be wavering, Tushan Yiyi hesitated a moment longer before finally steeling herself and giving a firm nod. "Doudou, never mind six months, we will wash your clothes for a whole year going forward, all of it..."

"And Kankan, we grew up together as sisters, did we not? Sisters should share in fortune and hardship alike. How could we keep secrets from each other and hide things away? Besides, if you show us, we will absolutely never tell anyone."

Tushan Doudou looked at her with wide, watery eyes, blinking, her expression full of earnest sincerity.

"That is right, we are sisters who will never be apart, our whole lives." Tushan Yiyi quickly followed up, adding her own persuasion.

"Well..." Being pleaded with so persistently by her two sisters, the stubborn resolve in Tushan Kankan's heart gradually softened.

"But you two never study properly on ordinary days. I doubt you would even understand the words in this poem." Tushan Kankan said with some resignation.

"That is fine, Kankan, just read it to us." Seeing an opening, Tushan Yiyi and Tushan Doudou immediately seized the chance, continuing their pleading in unison.

"Well... all right then..." Tushan Kankan finally relented, giving a small nod. "I will read it to you."

With that, she took out the white paper Yueshi had copied for her, sat up properly, cleared her throat, and read with full feeling, "Having tasted every bitterness of parting across the far reaches of the world, I did not expect that on returning, so many flowers would already have fallen and scattered."

Tushan Kankan read each line with deep feeling.

Though Tushan Doudou and Tushan Yiyi could not fully grasp the meaning of what Tushan Kankan was reciting, they both felt, without quite knowing why, that this poem was genuinely beautiful.

"Beneath the blossoms we looked at each other without a word, and the green-shuttered window watched spring fade with the sky into dusk."

Tushan Kankan continued reading, her voice clear and bright as pearls falling on jade.

Listening, Tushan Yiyi and Tushan Doudou found their little heads swaying gently from side to side without meaning to.

In their minds, images seemed to rise, of scattered blossoms, of a green latticed window, of that tender, spring-filled scene, full of quiet life.

"I will wait to speak of my longing by the lamplight."

"A single thread of new joy, and a thousand threads of old sorrow."

At this line, Tushan Kankan paused briefly and did not continue.

"Kankan, is that the end?" Tushan Doudou blinked curiously and could not help asking.

"Kankan, I feel like this poem is not finished yet?" Tushan Yiyi shook Tushan Kankan's small hand, urging her on. "Keep reading, please."

Tushan Kankan glanced down at her two little sisters, took a slow breath, and read the final line word by word. "The one thing in this world that can never be kept is beauty leaving the mirror as blossoms leave the branch."

Beneath the Moon Spirit Tree, Tushan Jingci slowly lifted her head, murmuring quietly to herself, gazing quietly at this sacred tree that the Tushan clan had revered for generations.

At her feet, a massive formation had already been completed.

The formation's patterns spread outward in every direction like a spider's web, layer upon layer wrapping the entire Moon Spirit Tree within its embrace.

Tushan Jingci raised her left hand slowly.

A dagger drew across her palm, the cold blade cutting through her skin, and crimson blood flowed slowly down from her fist, drop by drop falling into the formation.

The young woman's warm blood, like a key unlocking a seal, silently ignited the entire formation.

Over these thirty years, Tushan Jingci had tried again and again, failed again and again, but she had never given up and this time, she used the bloodline of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox as her medium, the Moon Spirit Tree as her formation, and the fortune of the entire Tushan clan as her protection.

This time, she would find him without fail.

"You promised me. You said you would never leave me. You said you would never break your word."

Behind the young woman, seven snow-white fox tails drifted and unfurled continuously in the air like the finest silk, radiating a sacred light.

The Moon Spirit Tree suddenly burst forth with an enormous radiance, that brilliant pillar of light shooting straight through layer upon layer of clouds, reaching to the very edge of the sky.

Ring after ring of vast spiritual energy spread outward from Moon Spirit Mountain in continuous waves, like ripples disturbing the surface of a lake.

At this moment, Tushan Jingci's divine sense had already fused entirely with the Moon Spirit Tree.

She seemed to have become one with those spreading ripples of spiritual energy, extending across every inch of the Demon Realm.

Her gaze passed over demon after demon, human after human throughout the Demon Realm, sweeping across wastelands and cities, across mountains and rivers.

Every person, every demon, in Tushan Jingci's eyes, was like a single grain of sand in a vast ocean, tiny and insignificant.

Only every single one of these grains of sand was dim and lightless, none of them the one she had been so desperately searching for.

The young woman did not know how many grains of sand she had looked upon.

Because of the extended use of the Moon Spirit Tree's power, and the enormous burden placed on the formation, she felt her divine sense growing heavier and heavier, as though a mountain pressed against her heart with every breath.

Even her very soul seemed on the verge of being violently torn apart, as though countless invisible threads were being pulled and shredded in a frenzy.

Her physical face had visibly turned pale as well, drained entirely of color.

Crimson blood trickled slowly down from the corner of her mouth, drop by drop, falling onto the formation patterns beneath the Moon Spirit Tree but Tushan Jingci did not care about any of this in the slightest.

The only thing she truly feared was that this time, even after pouring everything she had into this nearly perfect formation, she would still be unable to find any trace of him.

If she could not find him this time either.

What would she do with all the days ahead of her?

Tushan Jingci did not dare to think about it and just as the formation's power was gradually fading, as the Moon Spirit Tree's ripples of spiritual energy were about to dissipate entirely, and just as Tushan Jingci's heart seemed on the verge of sinking into utter despair.

On a mountain peak at the edge of the Demon Realm, a single, extraordinarily faint point of light suddenly appeared.

That light was like the weak but stubborn glow of a firefly in the deepest night.

Though extraordinarily small, it was impossible to overlook.

In that instant, the young woman's heart suddenly raced, her mind going entirely blank.

Three breaths later, the formation's light gradually dimmed, and the Moon Spirit Tree's ripples finally faded away.

Though the young woman could not pinpoint his exact location with precision, this was already enough.

"I knew it."

"I knew I would see you again."

"I knew it. You would never deceive me."

The moment the young woman beneath the Moon Spirit Tree slowly opened her eyes, tears fell silently from the corners of her eyes.

Sliding down her pale, smooth cheeks.

Sliding across her lips, curved faintly like a crescent moon.

…

The Dragon Palace of the Four Seas.

Little Green sat alone in the great hall, her eyes lowered as she worked through a mountain of accumulated affairs.

Thirty years before, when she had rushed back from the Demon Realm to the palace, her heart had been full of anxiety and unease.

She had worried that her sister might have already heard news of Elder Brother Xiao, worried that her sister might rush recklessly into the Demon Realm without regard for anything else.

Fortunately, her sister had not paid especially close attention to the Demon Realm's affairs over the years, and certain matters had ultimately gone unnoticed by her but every time Little Green saw her sister still stubbornly searching for traces of Elder Brother Xiao, her heart could not help but ache quietly.

Because Little Green understood, better than anyone, that this was ultimately a fruitless search, a labor without answer, forever yet over all these years, Little Green had never once told her sister that Elder Brother Xiao's soul had already been utterly destroyed, dissolved entirely into the world.

She could not bring herself to do it.

She could not bear to be the one who extinguished, with her own hands, the last flicker of hope remaining in her sister's heart but Little Green also often found herself, in the deep quiet of the night, asking herself over and over.

Was what she was doing truly right?

Was concealing this from her sister truly for her sister's good?

And... would her sister truly... never find out?

Little Green thought about it quietly for a long, long while, her heart caught in endless conflict.

At last, Little Green made up her mind: once her sister came out of seclusion this time, she would tell her everything, holding nothing back, with no more concealment from that day forward.

"Elder Sister..."

Just as Little Green had finished reviewing the memorials submitted by the Four Seas' officials, the maidservant Han'er came hurrying into the hall, her steps rapid and her expression full of panic.

"What is it?" Little Green raised her head, her brow furrowing with confusion. "What has you so flustered?"

"Elder Sister, something has happened at that forbidden place in the rear palace." Han'er's voice trembled faintly, her fingers gripping her skirt tightly.

Han'er did not know exactly what purpose that formation, built with the full strength of the Four Seas, actually served but she understood clearly that Her Majesty and Elder Sister cared deeply about every development at that formation.

And both Her Majesty and Elder Sister had personally instructed her that should any unusual sign appear at that formation, no matter the time or place, she was to report it immediately, treating it as the highest priority above all else, even if the sky itself were falling, without any delay whatsoever.

"Something has happened?"

"Could it be..."

Hearing Han'er's words, Little Green's mind jolted sharply, and she rose to her feet at once, hurrying without hesitation toward the rear courtyard but as she walked along the path toward the forbidden place, Little Green's mind was filled with confusion.

This formation had, after all, been built by her sister specifically to search for Elder Brother Xiao's reincarnation but Elder Brother Xiao's soul had already been destroyed. How could he possibly enter the cycle of reincarnation again?

Before long, Little Green arrived before the formation.

The vast formation was blazing with dazzling light, its patterns flowing like a river of stars, fierce and brilliant.

Though this formation had not, as it had before, indicated Elder Brother Xiao's location with certainty, Little Green, standing there in a daze, already understood in her heart.

Elder Brother Xiao... was not dead.

…

At the border between the Demon Realm and Four Void Temple.

Because this place was not a strategically contested location, and its spiritual energy was not merely modest but rather quite sparse, it had never drawn much attention from any sect or kingdom.

As a result, the towns and villages settled along this border had remained relatively peaceful, largely untouched by the ravages of war.

And because this region bordered the Western Regions, it had, to a degree, developed a certain amount of trade exchange with those lands, and in matters of custom and culture had absorbed some degree of Western Regions influence as well.

And so, on a mountain along this border, stood a temple.

This temple was called Four Void Temple.

Four Void Temple could not be called especially grand or resplendent, nor could its monks be called especially numerous but because the monks of Four Void Temple often went down the mountain to help the villagers and townspeople with illness, to drive away malevolent spirits, and to preside over weddings, funerals, and prayer ceremonies of various kinds.

Over time, the local people came to hold this Four Void Temple in considerable esteem.

The temple's incense offerings were not exactly flourishing, but they were far from meager either.

On this particular day, Four Void Temple's old abbot went down to Cloud Village to help attend to the sick.

The old abbot often went down the mountain to do this sort of work, much like a traveling physician moving through the countryside.

Toward evening, having finished a full day of examining patients, the old abbot finally left the village and made his way slowly back toward the temple but just as the old abbot arrived at the temple gate, he saw a swaddled infant lying quietly beside the entrance, sleeping peacefully.