Chapter 1028: Xuanpin Extra

Chapter 1028: The Mystical Female Side Story

A broad crimson Taoist robe drifted through the forests of Nanping like a patch of scarlet cloud.

It seemed to float quite slowly, yet its speed was exceedingly swift.

Soon, the robe came to a halt before a cavern, above which hung a plaque bearing three vigorous and forceful characters: The Pure Wind Temple.

The Mystical Female gazed intently at the inscription for a long moment, then walked straight inside.

Guarding the entrance within the temple were two Taoists, Changming and Changren, with swords slung across their backs, yet they seemed entirely blind, utterly failing to notice her entrance.

Following the steep rock cavern, the Mystical Female continued her inward journey, until she suddenly halted, as a dense multitude of pupils lit up from the opening seams all over her Taoist robe.

Under the layered and overlapping vision akin to the compound eyes of a fly, the Mystical Female beheld Master You emerging from the rock wall.

Master You appeared to be spying, but as the eyes covering the Mystical Female’s body quickly retracted, the entity seemed dragged by a certain force, sucked into the left sleeve of the robe and thrust out from the right sleeve. The trembling lines upon its form instantly softened by a considerable margin.

Having dealt with these inconsequential matters, the Mystical Female continued her inward progression.

Soon, within the storage room, she caught sight of Li Huowang.

"What does he amount to! He isn't even worth a fart!" Li Huowang's voice shook everyone in the room, for he actually dared to proclaim that Danyangzi was nothing but a fart.

Beholding that face once more, the Mystical Female experienced a sensation both alien and familiar, after all, more than two centuries had elapsed since he had cast her down from the White Jade Capital.

The scene shifted once again, and Li Huowang was already kneeling upon the ground. "Why! Why have I come to this place, yet this sickness still refuses to let me go!!"

Watching him kneel upon the ground in utter despair, the Mystical Female’s heart did not waver in the slightest, for she was no longer the Li Sui of old, but rather the present Mystical Female of the Bureau of Astronomy.

She was not human now, nor was she even a malevolent spirit; owing to excessive assimilation, even her thoughts and external perceptions did not form a single linear thread, but were rather a chaotic and disordered expanse of myriad stars.

Such a mode of thought was naturally incomparably chaotic for a human being, yet she adapted to it with consummate ease, since the Mystical Female now had three hundred and twelve heads at her disposal.

By the time the Mystical Female gathered her focus once more, she found that Li Huowang had arrived at the Anci Nunnery of those filthy nuns.

At this moment, he held a heavy strand of golden Buddhist beads in his hand, speaking of something to Abbess Jingxin before him. "Mom, take this to change for some money, pay off the family debts, and if there is any left, buy our family house back again, I quite like that neighborhood."

Immediately following this, he unfastened the jade pendant from around his neck, slowly stuffing it into the greasy fat of Abbess Jingxin.

"Mom, take this too, it should also fetch some money, even though I know you are an illusion, I still do not wish to see you suffer before me."

After pausing for a moment, Li Huowang seemed to be listening to something, then smiled and said to Abbess Jingxin: "Mmh, yes, Mom, you are real, you aren't an illusion, I was just teasing you a moment ago."

Hearing these words, Abbess Jingxin pressed her palms together and chanted a Buddhist invocation in a drawn-out voice.

Yet right at this moment, Li Huowang slowly withdrew his hand from the folds of fat, but within his hand, which should have been completely empty, he held a button in a death grip.

This scene was witnessed by the Mystical Female, and the Abbess felt it just the same.

This seemed to prove something, yet when Abbess Jingxin recalled the tragic destiny of all Heart-Elements, after a slight hesitation, she reached out and took the button, concealing this secret within her own wrinkles.

In the distance, the Mystical Female made no movement in the face of this scene, remaining like an alien onlooker.

As the dense multitude of eyes hidden within the Taoist robe closed and opened once more, the surroundings transformed into a dense reed marsh.

The various reed stalks were as nothing in her eyes; two li away, she found Li Huowang once again, a long time having passed since the last occurrence at the Anci Nunnery.

She saw a blood-drenched Li Huowang rise to his feet, rip off a man's head, and begin to devour it in great gulps, as though crunching on fruit.

White and red substances squeezed out from the corners of his mouth, hanging upon his clothes.

The Mystical Female knew what Li Huowang was about to do next; next, he would set the entire reed marsh ablaze, which likewise included several hundred members of the Bai family within.

These several hundred people were all Bai Lingmiao's kin, and it was precisely for this reason that a rift would grow between the two of them, remaining unresolved until the very end.

As she felt the surroundings gradually begin to grow burning hot, the Mystical Female discovered black tentacles of her own extending from the Taoist robe, continuously twisting everything around her.

A certain indescribable emotion resurfaced within the Mystical Female's heart, "Why should I hinder a part of this? This is a part of Ji Zai."

"I cannot prevent the appearance of Ji Zai. The Great Dao has fifty paths, Heaven derives forty-nine, and humanity escapes through the remaining one. Without this variable, the White Jade Capital will have even less chance of victory."

The reed marsh was ultimately set ablaze after all, and against the backdrop of the surrounding flames, the red Taoist robe upon the Mystical Female's body appeared even more vivid.

Seeing that everything was normal, the Mystical Female turned to depart, yet right at this moment, a long-absent emotion resurfaced from the depths of her heart once more; after reflecting for a while, she realized this emotion was called sorrow.

"Why should I feel sorrowful? Everything I do lies within the duties of the Bureau of Astronomy!" The Mystical Female spoke to herself, yet no matter how she reasoned, that feeling remained utterly lingering and unerasable.

"Why? Could it be that I am still Li Huowang's daughter? Am I grieving for him?" The Mystical Female was somewhat bewildered.

The Mystical Female searched within her own inner self, but failed to find Li Sui's ten emotions, eight sufferings, three souls, and seven po; apart from memories, Li Sui had completely vanished.

When she collected her wits once more, she found herself standing before Li Huowang yet again.

At this time, it was not yet the period when Li Huowang would come to know the Mystical Female, but it mattered not, because the present Li Huowang was currently plunged into an illusion.

"Pfft," right before the Mystical Female's eyes, Li Huowang raised the dagger in his hand and stabbed it forcefully into the palm of his left hand. "Why does this sensation of pain feel so real?"

The Mystical Female watched Li Huowang pacing back and forth before her eyes; she wished to rid herself of this emotion but was completely unable to do so, and instead, as she watched him self-mutilate, that emotion grew stronger and stronger.

"Am I truly Li Sui?" The Mystical Female turned her head to glance at the Li Sui currently hiding beneath the bed. She was somewhat unable to distinguish.

The Mystical Female walked up to Li Huowang, studying him intently, and after a moment, she hesitantly extended both arms, gently embracing Li Huowang, lightly leaning against his form.

As she caught the scent of the bloody stench from the red Taoist robe upon Li Huowang's body, that sensation within the Mystical Female's heart gradually dissipated.

The Mystical Female was quite certain she was not Li Sui, yet this feeling left her at a loss as to how to explain it.

"It's all fake, it's all fake..." Li Huowang, plunged into bewilderment, continuously repeated at this moment.

Listening to his words, the Mystical Female suddenly felt a sense of relief; she found that she had no need to argue anything with her own body, as her hand gently patted Li Huowang's back.

"Perhaps this is the destiny of a Heart-Element; Heart-Elements can never distinguish clearly. Li Huowang, since I am a Heart-Element just like you, then perhaps I have no need to distinguish things so clearly."

What one was did not matter; that one was the Bureau of Astronomy, and what one was meant to do, was what mattered most.

As she saw several black tentacles crawl out from beneath the bed, the Mystical Female left Li Huowang's embrace, floating upward.

The Mystical Female's body passed through the ceiling, transforming into the appearance of a youth, the appearance of that youth who had been crushed to death when she fell from the sky.

He stood there, watching the distant Li Sui, who bore the appearance of a young girl, striking iron tree blossoms.

Too many people had died, and she wished to strike the tree blossoms to make everyone happy.

When the tree blossoms were finished and Li Sui stopped there with a lonely expression, the Mystical Female walked toward her.

"As expected, it still won't do?"

"Naturally it won't do. Wishing to make them happy is not something that can be achieved merely by striking tree blossoms."

The downcast Li Sui crouched down beside the iron bucket, "My dad isn't happy either, nobody is happy."

"Your dad?" The Mystical Female, in whose mind Li Huowang flashed, crouched down beside her as well, reaching out to gently pick away the molten iron that had cooled into the flesh of her back. "I happen to have a way that can make your dad happy, and can make other people happy too, it's just that the time required is a bit long."

"What way? Who are you?" Li Sui looked at the youth before her with a troubled expression.

The Mystical Female reached out to gently stroke Li Sui's head, "Remember your present choice. You are very simple, but your potential is immense, so when you have the ability to act, remember not to hesitate, though I also know you certainly will not hesitate."

"Sui Sui!" Li Huowang's voice echoed from afar, and the Mystical Female's body dissolved like foam.

"Dad, where are we going?"

"To the sea."

The Mystical Female, having concealed her form, watched the distant figures of the father and daughter.

After a long while, she finally let out a long, deep breath. "At last..."