It was late at night by the time they returned to Xueji Peak.
The spirit light lanterns at the mountain gate were still lit, their pale halos swaying gently in the night wind. They cast a fine, silvery glow over the thin layer of dew on the stone steps.
The two climbed the steps, their footsteps sounding exceptionally clear in the silent mountain path, yet neither of them spoke.
Instead of returning to their courtyards, they went straight to the main hall.
Inside the hall, Liu Ningshuang had not yet retired. She sat at her desk flipping through an old scroll. Hearing their footsteps, she looked up, her gaze lingering on the two for a moment.
“Are you injured?”
“No,” Lu Xueqing said. “But we found something in the northern section of the mountain range.”
Liu Ningshuang set down the bamboo slips and motioned for them to sit. Bai Qingxue took the fragment of the storage bag from her own storage bag, placed it on the desk, and pushed it toward Liu Ningshuang.
Liu Ningshuang picked up the fragment, turned it over to inspect it, and then asked, “Where did you find this?”
“In a cave deep in the northern section,” Lu Xueqing took over. “The cave walls were carved with the runes of a Soul Control Formation, much larger than the one from six months ago, but it had already been destroyed. We found this fragment by a pond deep within the cave.”
Liu Ningshuang did not immediately respond.
She held the fragment close to the candle flame, carefully examining the distorted beast horn pattern. The candlelight danced over the dark red lines, making the reversed horn flicker in and out of the shadows. Then, Liu Ningshuang’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Do you recognize this pattern, Elder?” Bai Qingxue asked.
Liu Ningshuang remained silent for a few moments.
She placed the fragment on the desk and leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the candle flame as if she were reminiscing about something.
After a while, Liu Ningshuang spoke. “The Northern Region Demonic Sect.”
“During the ancient era, there was a demonic power in the Northern Region that used a beast horn as its emblem. They did not cultivate spiritual power. Instead, they specialized in refining monster spirit marrow, relying on devouring the essence of monsters to increase their cultivation. At their peak, they refined a type of pill called Beast Essence Pills. Using monster spirit marrow as a catalyst, these pills forcibly raised a cultivator’s level, but the price was having one’s mind eroded by bestial nature, eventually turning into a half-human, half-beast monster.”
Hearing this, Bai Qingxue’s brow furrowed.
“A thousand years ago, this demonic sect launched a massive invasion of the Eastern Region. The various sects joined forces to resist, fighting for nearly a century before finally driving them out. After that war, the demonic sect vanished. Most records of them in the Eastern Region’s archives were burned, leaving only scattered fragments.”
“Then this storage bag fragment...” Lu Xueqing pointed to the remnant on the desk.
“It should be something they left behind,” Liu Ningshuang’s gaze fell on the distorted beast horn. “As for it being in the northern section of the Luoyun Mountain Range, that is certainly no accident.”
Bai Qingxue looked up, waiting for her to continue.
Liu Ningshuang picked up the fragment again, her fingertip tracing the reversed beast horn pattern.
“During the chaotic war of that era, the demonic sect planted ‘seeds’ throughout the Eastern Region.”
“These so-called seeds are the core spiritual materials for refining Beast Essence Pills. Each seed requires centuries to mature. Once mature, the raw materials for refining a large number of Beast Essence Pills can be extracted from them.”
Hearing this, Lu Xueqing asked, “So, Elder, the Soul Control Formation wasn't meant to control monsters, but to use their monster spirit marrow to nourish those so-called seeds?”
Liu Ningshuang glanced at her, neither nodding nor denying it.
“But Elder, there is another group of people trying to stop them,” Lu Xueqing continued.
Liu Ningshuang placed the fragment back on the desk and tapped her finger lightly on the surface.
“It is possible that internal problems arose within the demonic sect,” Liu Ningshuang said. “But regardless, the seeds are still beneath the Luoyun Mountain Range. That is what they are truly looking for.”
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Lu Xueqing gripped her sleeve, then let go. “Elder, do you need us to continue the investigation?”
“No.” Liu Ningshuang’s tone left no room for negotiation. “Your cultivation is insufficient. The opponent is a demonic sect that has survived since ancient times; they are not something you can handle. I will report this to the Peak Master and let the sect decide. You are not to go any deeper.”
Lu Xueqing opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing the look in Liu Ningshuang’s eyes, she swallowed her words.
After all, it wasn't a suggestion; it was an order.
Liu Ningshuang stood up and tucked the fragment into her sleeve.
“Go back and rest. Do not mention this to anyone.”
“Yes.”
Bai Qingxue and Lu Xueqing rose at the same time, bowed, and exited the main hall.
The hall doors closed behind them. By now, the moonlight was mostly obscured by thin clouds. The spirit light lanterns on either side of the stone steps swayed gently in the night wind, stretching their shadows long and short.
Lu Xueqing walked ahead. After a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
“Junior Sister Bai.”
Bai Qingxue stopped and looked at her.
Lu Xueqing didn't turn around; she just stood there with her back to Bai Qingxue. The wind blew her hair slightly, revealing a small patch of her fair neck behind her ear.
“When you were in the hall just now,” her voice was very soft, as if carried by the wind, “what were you thinking when you heard all that?”
Bai Qingxue was silent for a moment.
A sliver of moonlight leaked from behind the clouds, falling onto the stone steps between them—pale, clear, and cool.
“I was thinking about the ‘seeds’,” Bai Qingxue answered calmly.
Lu Xueqing waited for a moment, and seeing there was no further explanation, she gave a soft reply. “...I see.”
Then she continued forward, her pace slightly slower than before.
Bai Qingxue followed two steps behind her.
One in front, one behind, they walked along the silent mountain path. The spirit light lanterns receded one by one beside them, pulling their shadows from behind to the front, and then from the front to the back, like two silent fish swimming through the depths of the bluestone water.
At the fork in the path, Lu Xueqing stopped.
“Junior Sister Bai, I'll see you tomorrow,” she said, without turning back.
“Mm.”
Lu Xueqing went left.
Bai Qingxue went right.
The two sets of footsteps gradually drifted apart in different directions, swallowed by the night wind, so light it was as if nothing had been left behind.
Yet the distance of those two steps on the stone steps took a long time for the wind to fill.
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