Chapter 558: She Is Your Elder Sister

"Who... are you?"

Tushan Jingci looked coldly at the woman before her, dressed in a Daoist robe, her gaze sharp as a blade.

This woman, in figure and in face, was nearly identical to herself, with no difference whatsoever.

As for whether the other woman had deliberately transformed herself to look like Tushan Jingci?

Tushan Jingci felt that was absolutely impossible.

As a descendant of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan, she had a natural and acute sensitivity to illusory arts.

No one in this world could deceive her eyes through illusion.

"We have met before, fifty years ago, at Tushan." The woman in the Daoist robe spoke slowly, her voice also identical to Tushan Jingci's own.

"Fifty years ago... Tushan..." Confusion rose in Tushan Jingci's eyes but very quickly, her eyes lit up sharply, staring at the other woman in disbelief.

"It was you!"

Tushan Jingci remembered now.

Fifty years before, a woman named Gui Junmeng had personally delivered Xiao Mo's belongings to her.

Only that person had been wearing a veil at the time, and her voice had been deliberately altered as well. She had never seen her true face.

She had never imagined that this woman would look exactly like herself.

"A coincidence?"

Tushan Jingci pondered this privately, but the moment the thought arose, she dismissed it herself.

This could not possibly be mere coincidence.

How could there be two people in this world identical in face, figure, and voice alike?

"Jingci, I know what you are thinking." Gui Junmeng spoke slowly, her gaze calm as she looked at Tushan Jingci. "If I told you... I am you, and you are me... would you believe it?"

Tushan Jingci's brow drew tight, and she said nothing.

"As I thought, you do not believe it." Gui Junmeng gave a light shake of her head and turned the subject, speaking earnestly. "I have come today because I want to take Xiao Mo to the Seeking Immortals Temple."

"If Xiao Mo truly wishes to be united with you in the union of yin and yang, no one should stand in the way, myself included. It is only that I feel... you should not obtain Xiao Mo through this kind of method." Gui Junmeng's gaze settled on the unconscious Xiao Mo, her voice growing quieter without her meaning it to. "This is not right."

"What business is it of yours what I do?" Undisguised killing intent had already risen in Tushan Jingci's eyes. "I do not know who you truly are, but right now, get out of here at once!"

"This time... I do not intend to leave." Gui Junmeng's gaze was calm and unyielding, not the slightest sign of retreat.

"Hmph!"

Tushan Jingci gave a cold snort, and the seven snow-white tails behind her suddenly lashed out, sweeping toward Gui Junmeng together.

Gui Junmeng formed a hand seal with her fingers and casually threw out an ancient mirror.

In an instant, the mirror's surface blazed with light.

Tushan Jingci and Gui Junmeng were both drawn into the mirror simultaneously.

This way, the innocent villagers of Cloud Village would not be harmed.

Otherwise, if two Jade Simplicity-realm cultivators fought at full strength, to say nothing of Cloud Village, the living creatures within a hundred li would very likely be caught in the destruction.

Within the mirror's world, there was only a vast, boundless white sky and an endless, still expanse of water.

Water and sky met, blending into one, with no visible end.

The seven long tails behind Tushan Jingci lashed out with sharp, cutting sounds, striking again and again at Gui Junmeng.

With each violent swing of her tails, the water's surface within the mirrored world rose in massive waves, exploding with one thunderous boom after another.

Facing Tushan Jingci's assault, Gui Junmeng remained calm and composed, her hand forming an incantation.

A circle of black and white flowing bagua patterns manifested around her, steadily protecting her at its center.

No matter how fiercely those seven tails lashed at her, they could not budge Gui Junmeng in the slightest.

Tushan Jingci's brow drew tighter, the chill in her eyes growing more intense.

She stepped forward heavily, and ball after ball of blazing white nine-tailed fox fire manifested from nowhere behind her, the scorching light making the surrounding mist hiss and steam.

"Go!"

Tushan Jingci gave her slender finger a light flick, and the nine-tailed fox fire poured down toward Gui Junmeng like a torrential downpour, blanketing everything.

Gui Junmeng gave her horsetail whisk a light swing, and in an instant, nine towering water gates rose up before her.

The nine-tailed fox fire and the water gates collided violently, and in an instant steam rose and thick white mist filled the entire water's surface, obscuring both women's vision.

Just as Gui Junmeng was looking left and right, the thick mist suddenly split open.

A Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox lunged straight at her.

The fox's fur was snow-white and flawless, without a single stray color, as pure as freshly fallen snow on a winter's day, soft and clean. The perfect curves of her fox body carried an effortless, natural elegance and softness, like the most exquisite creation in all of heaven and earth.

At the center of her fox brow, a pale blue floral mark was set, its pattern resembling both a tasseled fringe and winding, dripping droplets of water, lending her an added air of sanctity.

"Truly beautiful..."

Gui Junmeng paused for a moment, murmuring the genuine admiration from her heart.

In the next instant, Gui Junmeng swung her horsetail whisk, and the incantation for the Five Thunders' True Technique had already completed in her mind.

Immediately after, bolt after bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking down toward Tushan Jingci.

Tushan Jingci nimbly dodged the falling lightning, seized the opportunity, and swung her fox claw fiercely at Gui Junmeng.

Gui Junmeng leapt into the air, her hand rapidly forming another incantation.

Thunder gathered and churned continuously behind her, eventually condensing into a great azure dragon of thunder.

"Suppress." Gui Junmeng's cherry lips parted slightly, uttering only a single word, and the azure dragon lunged straight down in response.

Tushan Jingci raised her snow-white fox head, countless threads of spiritual energy gathering and condensing continuously at her mouth, eventually forming a blazing, dazzling white sphere of light. In an instant, that sphere transformed into a raging pillar of fire, hurling itself at the thunder dragon.

"Ai..." But at that moment, from beyond the mirrored world of flowers and moon, came the gentle sigh of a mature woman. "Stop, both of you. Fight no more."

Immediately after, the pressure of a cultivator at the peak of the Immortal realm descended heavily upon both women.

Whether it was the pillar of fire or the thunder dragon, both dissolved instantly, as though wiped away by a brush dipped in water.

Tushan Jingci and Gui Junmeng left the mirrored world, returning once more to the small courtyard in Cloud Village.

Standing quietly between them was a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her early thirties, still carrying the grace of youth.

"Mother..." Tushan Jingci called softly, full of surprise.

Over these years, her mother had been wandering the world.

She had not seen a trace of her mother in decades.

She never expected her mother would suddenly appear in Cloud Village.

"Jingci, it has been a long time..."

Tushan Xinhua looked steadily at her daughter, her eyes full of tenderness and longing.

"And Junmeng, you too..."

Tushan Xinhua turned her head slowly, her gaze settling on Gui Junmeng, an undisguisable guilt and self-reproach showing in her expression, her voice growing softer without meaning to.

"I never expected... that you too, Junmeng, would have grown so much already."

Gui Junmeng did not respond, only standing quietly where she was, her expression unreadable but her slender hand gripped the horsetail whisk a little tighter without meaning to, her fingertips going faintly pale.

"Junmeng... take Xiao Mo away." Tushan Xinhua said calmly.

"Mother!" Tushan Jingci stepped forward sharply, urgency filling her voice. "I will not let anyone take him away!"

"Jingci..." Tushan Xinhua let out a quiet sigh, carrying both helplessness and heartache. "You... have already done something wrong today."

"How is your daughter wrong?"

Tushan Jingci stepped forward, wanting to move against Gui Junmeng again but the pressure of a cultivator at the peak of the Immortal realm pressed down on her once more.

Tushan Jingci was rendered immobile at once, able only to watch helplessly as a snow-white long tail emerged from beneath her mother's skirt, gently binding Xiao Mo and silently pulling him toward her mother's side.

Tushan Xinhua extended a fingertip and touched it gently to Xiao Mo's brow, then delivered him before Gui Junmeng.

Gui Junmeng extended both arms and took hold of Xiao Mo steadily, cradling him in her embrace.

Her clear eyes blinked as she looked at Tushan Xinhua, confusion in her gaze.

"I hope... that Xiao Mo will be able to make his own choice." Tushan Xinhua said slowly. "Junmeng, what do you think?"

Gui Junmeng glanced down at Xiao Mo in her arms, then raised her head to look at Tushan Xinhua, and finally gave a nod. "Many thanks for the senior's understanding. This one will take Xiao Mo back to Four Void Temple now."

Hearing herself addressed as "senior," Tushan Xinhua gave a small, involuntary pause, complicated feelings rising in her heart, but in the end she only said gently, "Go ahead."

Gui Junmeng, holding Xiao Mo, turned and left, her figure gradually merging into the deep night.

"Mother, who exactly is she?"

The confusion in Tushan Jingci's heart grew ever more pronounced.

"Why does she look exactly like me in face, in figure, even in voice, as though we were cast from the same mold? And why did Mother help her?"

"Your mother was not helping her. As for who she is..." Tushan Xinhua bit her lip lightly, gazing deeply into her daughter's eyes. "In truth, she is the person closest to you in all the world."

"I do not quite understand what Mother means." Tushan Jingci's eyes trembled slightly, her knuckles gripping the hem of her clothing tightly.

"Jingci, your mother remembers, when you were young, you always used to pester me about your father, did you not?" Tushan Xinhua said softly, her tone carrying both remembrance and bitterness.

"Back then, your mother, just like you, fell deeply in love with a man of the human race. That man was your father, a sword cultivator from the Ten Thousand Laws Realm."

She raised her head, looking out at the night, and spoke slowly.

"But your mother falling in love with a human was a great taboo within the Tushan clan, and your father's own sect could not accept our being together either."

"And so, both the Demon Realm and the Ten Thousand Laws Realm pursued us relentlessly, and we wandered together across the world, hiding our identities, wanting only to stay far from the strife of the world and live our quiet lives together."

"Later, your mother became pregnant with you, and we found a quiet place to settle."

Tushan Xinhua paused slightly, her eyes shifting.

"Your mother thought we could finally live a peaceful life, but fate is unpredictable, and no one could have anticipated that your constitution would prove so exceptionally particular. The human and fox bloodlines within you clashed against each other, incompatible as fire and water."

"To save you, your father went alone into a barren wasteland, seeking a way to preserve your life." Tushan Xinhua said gently.

"Fortunately, your father eventually found an ancient treasure that could divide the bloodline within you into two, and once separated, the two of you sisters could both survive."

"Unfortunately, your father was gravely wounded in the process, and passed away not long after, leaving only the two of us behind."

"After that, your mother brought you back to Tushan, and your father's adoptive father, that is, your grandfather, an elder of great renown throughout the Demon Realm, had just come out of seclusion. Through your grandfather's persuasion, the Grand Elder finally agreed to let me give birth to the two of you safely."

"You, who inherited the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox bloodline, remained at my side, while the child who carried the human bloodline was taken away by Daoist Master Yun Xi, who raised her to adulthood."

She looked deeply into Tushan Jingci's eyes and spoke slowly, word by word.

"So, Jingci, strictly speaking, Junmeng is... in truth, your elder sister."

…

At the summit of Four Void Mountain, the night wind stirred gently against the temple's eaves.

The temple's front door was knocked, softly, the sound not loud, yet distinctly clear in the quiet night.

Before long, the door slowly opened.

It was not another disciple who answered, but the abbot of Four Void Temple himself, Master Yuankong.

"Amitabha."

Yuankong looked at the young woman in the Daoist robe before him, and at his own disciple cradled in her arms, pressed his hands together, and murmured the Buddha's name with lowered head. "Benefactress, please follow me." Yuankong's expression was calm as still water, and he asked nothing further.

"Many thanks, master." Gui Junmeng gave a small nod and replied softly, holding Xiao Mo close, and stepped through the temple gate.

Half an incense stick's time later, Gui Junmeng arrived at the courtyard where Xiao Mo lived.

She gently laid Xiao Mo down on the bed, carefully covered him with a thin blanket, gazed at him for a moment, and then turned and walked out of the room.

The moment she stepped outside, she found the old abbot standing quietly in the courtyard, having waited there for some time.

"If the benefactress has nowhere to stay for now, you may take the courtyard next door. It is empty and has never been occupied." Master Yuankong said slowly, his tone kindly and unhurried.

"Many thanks to the master for taking me in." Gui Junmeng gave a bow, then looked up at Yuankong, a note of inquiry in her gaze. "But... does the master not wish to ask about the reasons behind all this?"

"What need is there to ask? What difference would asking make?"

Master Yuankong gave a faint smile.

"To all of you, he may carry another name, another past."

"But to this old monk..."

He turned his head, looking toward the quietly sleeping young monk in the room, his clouded eyes full of tenderness and compassion.

"He has, from beginning to end, only ever been my disciple, the very infant I found at the temple gate."

"Quyin... Quyin..."

He murmured the Dharma name he had personally given, his voice carrying both resignation and a quiet sigh.

"I gave him this name."

"But in the end... the causes and consequences of his previous life could not be resolved after all."

"Perhaps... this is simply my disciple's fate."