My Husband’s Ascension C61
Chapter 61 Shattered Delusion
Night had already fallen deep, yet the grand hall where the palace banquet was being held still blazed with lamplight, music curling endlessly through the air.
It was said that the Ghost Clan’s flowing feasts could continue day and night for ten full days. Though this was likely a stalling measure in their dealings with the Demon Clan, to Zhao Zhao, it was equally an opportunity to exploit.
After all, so long as she was not noticed by other wandering souls, there was no one better suited than her to conduct a quiet investigation within the palace city.
“Shh, keep your voice down! Clumsy fool, if those ghost servants catch sight of you, when we return you can go beg the Yao King’s forgiveness with your life!”
“The sound of me snapping a branch is nothing compared to you smacking my head! You’re the one who should be quieter!”
“Do you want to save your owner or not?”
“I’ve told you already, she’s not my owner. Don’t lump me in with those Tu Shan arctic foxes; I’m not that kind of yao!”
As she passed through a grove behind one of the side halls beneath the pale moonlight, Zhao Zhao faintly caught the sound of their exchange.
Between the crisscrossing shadows of trees, two figures stood close together, arguing quietly.
Perched in the branches, Li Feng glanced toward the residence said to house Wu-Shaman Xian of Mount Ling, then toward the tightly patrolling ranks of ghost soldiers surrounding her residence. His brows knit tighter with every heartbeat.
Li Feng had always loved a good fight, except when it came to fighting the Ghost Clan.
These eerie creatures never confronted anyone head-on. Instead, they conjured phantom realms with ghostly arts or slipped into hiding, making battle an unsatisfying affair.
If he had not known that only within Mount Ling’s domain could Xie Tanzhao be restored to life sooner, he would never have set foot in this wretched place.
He turned his head toward the woman beside him, his biological elder sister.
“You’ve been watching for ages. Have you figured anything out yet? You’re the foremost general of the Yao Clan, aren’t you? Don’t tell me a handful of ghost foot soldiers is enough to stop you.”
Li Feng’s sister, Fu Xue, lifted the lens from before her eyes and considered for a moment. “Of course I can deal with them, but didn’t you say you were only curious why Wu-Shaman Xian of Mount Ling never showed herself at her own younger sister’s wedding? If we want answers, we can’t alarm them. We’ll have to move in the shadows… Give me a moment to think.”
“Think faster! My legs are going numb from crouching here!”
“What’s the rush?”
Neither of them knew that at this very moment, Zhao Zhao was perched on a branch directly opposite, chin propped in her hands, listening with a bright, amused smile.
She recognized that tone from far away.
To no surprise, it was Li Feng.
And beside him, that valiant, sharp-featured dog yao in crimson robes… from his manner of speaking, she must be his biological elder sister.
Years ago, Li Feng had come from the Yao Realm to Cloudculm Abode for her sake, seeking medicine for the sister who had been poisoned on the battlefield.
After Daoist Ming Jue gave him the antidote, word had it she recovered swiftly. In Fu Xue’s letter, she had even reminded Li Feng to remain in their household and do more work in repayment, considering it the cost of her treatment.
To encounter Li Feng again in a place like this left Zhao Zhao both startled and quietly delighted.
Fu Xue, however, was fully focused on discussing their next route with him. “The Ghost Clan appear and vanish without warning. We must be cautious at every turn. If we want to draw near Wu-Shaman Xian, we take the longest path…And let me remind you once more, your current identity is that of a mere attendant who came with the Yao Realm to observe the ceremony. If you’re caught, rein in that foul temper of yours. You absolutely cannot force your way through. If you provoke a war between the Yao Clan and the Ghost Clan… I will kill you myself and use your head to raise the banner.”
Li Feng gave a careless grunt of acknowledgement only for the crimson-robed dog yao beside him to seize his ear and make him answer properly.
Zhao Zhao rarely saw Li Feng in a moment where he dared not speak his anger aloud. The sight was almost comical, and the heaviness in her heart finally lifted, as though clouds had parted to reveal the moon.
Yet when her gaze drifted toward the direction of Wu-Shaman Xian’s residence, a thread of unease still coiled within her.
Even at the veiled Wu-Shaman’s wedding, she had not appeared. That could only mean she was plotting something in secret. Li Feng and Fu Xue were venturing in so recklessly, she could only hope they would not stumble into danger.
Li Feng and Fu Xue, however, carried far fewer worries.
Once their route was decided, they chose the hour of night when the palace defenses were thinnest and began to slip soundlessly toward Heavenward Watchtower, where Wu-Shaman Xian resided.
They concealed their presence as best they could, yet the closer they drew to Heavenward Watchtower, the more ghost soldiers gathered in its vicinity.
Just as they rounded a great pillar, preparing to move during the brief gap between two patrol shifts, an unusually keen-eyed ghost soldier caught the fleeting shadow of a figure passing by.
In an instant, the entire group turned their heads in unison.
The ghost soldiers’ uniformly synchronized gaze was enough to send a chill crawling up one’s spine.
Yet before Li Feng or Fu Xue could make a move, the willow tree behind those ghost soldiers suddenly stirred despite the absence of any wind.
In the next instant, before the ghostly soldiers could even react, the normally unmoving willow branches began to grow and spread at terrifying speed. They lashed around the soldiers’ ankles and, with a ruthless pull, dragged them straight into the nearby pool.
Within that shallow water lay countless piled bones, and red spider lilies bloomed along its edge, vivid as fresh blood.
Li Feng froze. His mind, usually slow to turn, unexpectedly arrived at the truth in a flash. “…Xie Tanzhao? Is that you, Xie Tanzhao?”
He could only make the connection because, at the night banquet, he had glimpsed the former Dao Lord Tianshu.
At the time, he could not afford to draw attention. Disguised and standing among the Yao Clan’s ranks, he had nevertheless spotted what Xie Lanshu concealed beneath a black fox-fur cloak and the spirit-storing pouch that showed itself only when he moved to walk or take his seat.
The theft of Cloudculm Abode’s sacred spirit tree had already spread throughout the Cultivation Realm. Li Feng did not need more than a moment’s thought to know who was responsible.
If Xie Lanshu carried Xie Tanzhao with him at all times, then he must possess a way to hasten her return to life.
In that case, it was not impossible that she could, after fifty years of cultivation, already separate soul from body.
Just as he suspected, the willow’s supple branches swayed gently up and down, almost like a nod.
For a moment, Li Feng found himself at a loss for words.
“The puppy’s finally found his owner,” Fu Xue teased, stifling a laugh at his side. “What is it, are you about to turn back into your true form and go wagging your tail at her?”
Li Feng: “…I don’t wag my tail.”
But this was hardly the place for catching up. Zhao Zhao tapped a branch toward a certain direction, signaling that someone was approaching; they needed to withdraw at once.
Li Feng understood her meaning, yet instead of retreating, he and Fu Xue charged deeper in.
If she could already separate her soul from her body, didn’t that only prove it all the more? With a bit more effort… she was nearly able to return to life.
Zhao Zhao could not stop them. Seeing this, she could only follow.
As her spirit slipped free of the willow tree, Zhao Zhao, floating in midair, caught sight of a figure eerily similar to her own.
It was the spirit of that girl who had spoken nonsense before Xie Lanshu earlier.
Zhao Zhao watched her as she drifted toward the Heavenward Watchtower where Wu-Shaman Xian resided. Yet behind her, something flashed past in an instant—
A talisman?
Golden sigils flickered briefly at the wandering soul’s back. Zhao Zhao did not practice the art of talismans, but she could not mistake it.
That was unmistakably the work of a cultivator.
Why would Xie Lanshu have set a talisman upon her?
…Had he not believed her after all?
Zhao Zhao pressed her lips together. Whether he believed the girl or not, she understood clearly: to Xie Lanshu, her revival was the one thing he desired most at present. For that goal, any other hatred or enemy could be set aside for the time being.
But for her, it was different.
She would rather wait hundreds of years more before returning to life than watch Mount Ling continue to linger in this world, even with the faintest chance of rising again only to harm more people.
Because among those Mount Ling sought to wound… there was every possibility of someone she held dear.
And so, in the end, they were not walking the same path.
The residence of Wu-Shaman Xian drew closer and closer. After the wandering soul of that girl drifted into the palace tower, Li Feng and Fu Xue had already reached its outer perimeter.
There was no longer much vegetation nearby for Zhao Zhao to take refuge in. Li Feng swept his gaze around and said, “Xie Tanzhao, you stay outside. We’ll go in and see what’s going on.”
At the corner of the wall, a single orchid suddenly trembled violently.
Li Feng found it rather amusing. He crouched beside it and pinched one of its leaves between his fingers. “You really can latch onto any random blade of grass, can’t you? Not bad. Feels like you’re more capable now than when you were alive. The old man said your true body now is some kind of wood-spirit immortal embryo, ridiculously easy to cultivate. Once you revive, your cultivation might end up stronger than mine. Tsk… you’ve really stumbled into outrageous luck*.”
(TLN: ‘Outrageous luck’, or ‘unreal luck’ is 狗屎运, which literally translates to ‘dogshit luck’.)
Zhao Zhao flicked his fingers to brush away his grasp on the leaf, then traced words across the back of his hand with its tip.
“Let me go in. I’m far more suitable.”
Li Feng read aloud the characters she had written on his hand, his brows knitting ever tighter. “No, you don’t even have a physical body. If you were discovered in there, and they shatter your soul, no one could save you. Absolutely not!”
“Miss Immortal Tanzhao does have a point,” Fu Xue interjected after a moment’s thought. “If it’s only to scout the situation, she really is better suited than we are.”
Fu Xue paused, gazing up at the sky. “We’ll wait for you for two hours. Within that time, if you manage to get out, signal us by swaying the tallest tree outside the Heavenward Watchtower, and we will retreat. If two hours pass and you’re still inside, then we’ll go consult that Dao Lord directly.”
The physical form of Zhao Zhao should best reflect her safety.
If anything went wrong, they could confer together on the next course of action.
After a brief hesitation, Zhao Zhao ultimately agreed.
…
The night was thick with clouds, shrouding the bright moonlight.
Li Feng and Fu Xue concealed themselves beneath the eaves at the perimeter of the palace tower, hearts uneasy, eyes fixed on that solitary tree.
Two hours passed swiftly. From beginning to end, the tree had not stirred even once.
Without hesitation, the two of them turned back and made their way to the residence where the Demon Clan guests had taken lodging in the palace city. They had just learned which room belonged to Xie Lanshu when a figure cloaked in black fox fur appeared like a wraith.
“Step aside.”
Li Feng did not budge. Instead, he stepped forward. “Look closely at who I am.”
He had meant to speak of Zhao Zhao, but the other seemed entirely impatient with words and, without warning, drew their sword and swung it toward him.
Startled, Li Feng stumbled back, caught off guard. Anger flared as he recovered. “Are you insane?! I came here to talk about Xie Tanzhao!”
The figure holding the sword regarded him coldly, not a trace of amusement on their face. “So you’re also aware she’s in trouble?”
Though Fu Xue had long heard of the Dao Lord’s renown, seeing him in person this maddened and trigger-happy state caused her to inwardly gape.
She quickly recounted how they had encountered Zhao Zhao. Xie Lanshu’s expression darkened, like a storm about to break.
Fu Xue continued to explain, “By all reason, she is in a state of soul separation. No one should be able to notice her. Even if they do, escape for her would not be difficult. That is why we agreed to let her go. The fact that she has not returned…there may be other reasons. It may not necessarily—”
“Her branches and leaves are withering from dehydration, how can this be another reason?” Xie Lanshu retrieved the spirit-storing pouch from his waist. Within, Zhao Zhao’s physical body could be faintly seen, gradually losing its vitality. “To let someone so weakened, reduced to but a single wisp of a soul, take the lead… your concern for her is hardly more than that.”
Li Feng’s anger flared instantly. “What do you mean by that? Are you saying we cling to life and fear death? If that were the case, would we risk coming here at all!?”
“All of you, shush!” The door to the next room was suddenly thrown open. Yao Ling and Rong Yu, who had inexplicably heard the commotion, stepped out together. “Our first priority is to save Master.”
Hearing those words, Li Feng’s lingering resentment was instantly suppressed. He turned and led the way.
Xie Lanshu followed close behind.
Yao Ling, walking beside him, kept her gaze forward, then suddenly spoke, “Do you really think your feelings for Master make you somehow more superior?”
“Not at all. You’re the one who understands nothing.”
Xie Lanshu had no desire to argue with such a child. He tightened his grip on the spirit-storing pouch.
Yet even if he wished to block it out, Yao Ling’s words pierced into his mind in a way he could not refuse.
“Master has permitted you to keep her at your side, and allowed us to follow you. Yet tonight, she suddenly chose to leave and find her own way. All of it is because you disappointed her, you made her feel you are not someone she can rely upon.”
“Xie Lanshu, you lack even the faintest notion of what it means to love someone.”
