Chapter 508: Gradually Approaching the Truth

Chapter 508: The Truth Gradually Draws Near

The next morning, several young maidservants trudged hundreds of miles with great hardship to attend to the Emperor and the Holy Envoy’s daily needs, their faces mournful the entire way.

Who could understand the pain of a working person?

It sounded like they were being sent back to sleep, allowed to slack off and laze about—how considerate of their subordinates, they thought. But in truth, if they dared to be absent the next day, they wouldn’t dare at all. Even if there was nothing to do, they had to show their faces. Yet these hundreds of miles, back and forth, even with their light-footed skills or lightness gu, left them utterly exhausted.

To arrive early, they had to rise before dawn.

Might as well have let us serve in the bedchamber—once it’s over, we could sleep well.

Grumbling inwardly, they arrived at the place and saw at a glance that the window was open. Sisi sat by the window before a mirror, and Zhao Changhe stood behind her, watching as he combed her hair.

Seeing their queen’s face full of little joys, the maidservants exchanged glances, not daring to approach and pay respects, feeling as if their presence was utterly unnecessary.

“What are you skulking about for?” Sisi drawled lazily. “Send someone to fetch our map.”

Maidservant: “...Please, just go back to sleep. Even if you made the whole Holy Mountain hear it, no one would laugh.”

At that moment, the soul of a maidservant in the outlying town and mountain village awakened—they would become turncoats.

Then Zhao Changhe walked out and handed each of them a small lump of “jelly.”

The maidservants pinched the bouncy little balls in their hands, puzzled. Were you demonstrating the feel of Her Majesty’s skin?

Zhao Changhe said apologetically, “I’m sorry for your trouble running around... but there are other reasons we’re staying here, and it’s inconvenient to move. The map should be the last errand I trouble you with. From now on, you don’t need to come over. We have plenty of food here and can manage on our own. These energy crystals are good for cultivation, consider them compensation.”

The maidservants’ eyes sparkled. Before they could say anything, Sisi came out of the house, protectively taking his arm: “Don’t go selling favors here—it’s useless anyway. Our Spirit Clan’s rule is one husband, one wife. Don’t think this is a brothel!”

The maidservants all turned their heads, watching the queen’s bluff.

One husband, one wife, my foot—that was for the commoners. Which chieftain didn’t have a harem of concubines? The poor fools believed it and thought themselves righteous.

But then again, the system did decree one wife, and the wife’s status was high. Combined with the clan’s openness and lack of rigid moral codes, if two people fancied each other, they’d invite each other into their tent. So usually, they’d bind hearts with gu.

They wondered if Her Majesty had used gu on him... probably didn’t dare to on the Holy Envoy. But if she hadn’t, and he toyed with her and then abandoned her, wouldn’t that be tragic?

But having taken the Holy Envoy’s jelly bribe, the young girls couldn’t say much. Instead, they all vied energetically for the task of running back to fetch the map. It highlighted that work wasn’t something no one would do—as long as you paid.

Zhao Changhe returned to sit on that platform to meditate. He always felt this platform couldn’t be just a decoration; it must have meaning. If he observed and contemplated here long enough, he would eventually find the truth.

Sisi came behind him, reached out to comb his long hair, and tied it up: “You gave out those energy crystals, but I didn’t get any...”

“...You’ve been stuffed like a cream puff, and you still complain?”

“What’s a cream puff?”

“It’s like your flower cakes and insect cakes, only filled with fresh milk.”

Sisi’s mind turned several times before she caught the meaning. She laughed, leaning on his back, whispering in his ear: “Don’t tell me that stuff is your crystals. If you gave them to them, is that flirting?”

“No, no. Those are actually energy crystals from some treasure... But I’ve absorbed a lot of that energy, so dual cultivation with me would have the same effect. I’m not going to dual cultivate with them.”

“Heh... don’t you dare. They’re sly. If you do, and get gu’d, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Zhao Changhe finally turned to look at her.

Sisi lowered her head to tie his hair, saying casually, “I’ve put gu on you too.”

“Oh? When?”

“Not that day. Yesterday. You like stuffing cream puffs, huh? Regret it?”

Zhao Changhe didn’t care; he just smiled. “What kind of gu?”

Sisi, disappointed that he didn’t jump or change color, pouted. “The kind you like.”

“Pain transfer?”

“Sharing gu, not transfer... It just lets me feel your pain.” Sisi spoke as if it were a trivial matter. “You’ll leave eventually, but I can’t go with you... No matter where you are, at the ends of the earth, I need to know if you’re hurt, if something’s happened—like I’m right there with you... If you die in pain, I’ll die in pain with you.”

Zhao Changhe watched her tying his hair, saying nothing.

Recently, he’d learned about so-called heart-bond gu—where both parties feel each other’s joys, sorrows, and even thoughts, and the stronger version, life-bond gu, where if one dies, the other dies too. Both types, to varying degrees, were filled with a twisted possessiveness.

But this sharing gu was the opposite—one-way. Even if she hurt, he wouldn’t feel it. But if he hurt, she would writhe in pain thousands of miles away.

This heart, knotted a thousand times, could no longer be played as a game.

Zhao Changhe sighed. “Why do this?”

Sisi acted as if nothing was wrong: “I’ve never used it before, didn’t know it shares more than just pain. Now I know... Don’t you like it when you pinch yourself and make me jump? Satisfies your lordship’s kink, doesn’t it?”

As she spoke, she finished tying his hair. Sisi jumped back, laughing. “I’ll get you some cakes—all bugs. Eat them and die.”

...

A morning of contemplation yielded nothing.

Still, this kind of reclusive cultivation wasn’t without benefits. Zhao Changhe had always grown through battle; he rarely had time for quiet meditation. In the past, focusing on external techniques didn’t matter, but now that his internal energy had advanced, quiet cultivation had become relatively important.

He could feel the two strands of energy, entangled like a spiral, gradually taking shape.

This shape, though ordinary at first glance, was actually quite profound.

In ancient Chinese mythology, there were images of Fuxi and Nüwa intertwined in a spiral. Modern science confirms that human genes also have a spiral structure.

This form might represent a primordial form of life, and also a concrete manifestation of yin-yang philosophy.

Zhao Changhe clearly felt that the second secret treasury was just a thin layer away. He even had a premonition that even if he found nothing special, just meditating and accumulating here for a year or two might naturally break through.

After all, not every barrier required sudden enlightenment; accumulation from quantitative change could also lead to qualitative change. It was just that he had always pursued efficiency and rarely experienced such a process of accumulation leading to transformation.

Sisi also sat beside him, cultivating, digesting what she had gained from last night’s cream puff experience.

Generally, dual cultivation was mutual progress, but her cultivation was now far behind Zhao Changhe’s. She had just broken through the first secret treasury, while he was on the verge of the second—a full level difference. In dual cultivation, she could provide him relatively little help, while he gave her a significant boost. So Sisi set aside her romantic mood and cultivated quietly.

At noon, the young maidservants returned with the map. Zhao Changhe spread it out and compared it with the “Mountain and River Atlas.”

Due to differences in precision, the two maps didn’t match exactly, but they generally corresponded.

Indeed, since the last era, Xuanwu had known what the Spirit Clan’s secret realm looked like. Or rather, in its eyes, this plate was the Spirit Clan; anything beyond might not be.

What was the basis for this judgment? Was it a continental plate?

Zhao Changhe frowned, staring intently at the two maps, comparing them. He half-listened to Sisi’s conversation with the maidservants: “Go, go, go. From now on, change your clothes. If any of you dares to show your waist or legs in front of him again, I’ll beat you to death!”

“Heh... why don’t you ask the Holy Envoy himself? Maybe he likes to look. Before, we saw him sneaking glances at your feet—we all knew.”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

“That’s because he likes looking at mine. What’s it to you?” Sisi retorted stubbornly. “With your looks, even if you lay flat and straight, he wouldn’t give you a second glance.”

“Really? I don’t believe it. How about we try tonight?”

“Get lost! Do you think I won’t burn you to death?”

Zhao Changhe’s expression gradually changed.

Lay flat and straight?

Looking at these two maps side by side, didn’t they resemble a person lying down?

“A great shaman who stands tall between heaven and earth, one hand grasping the sun, the other the moon, breathing hurricanes...”

The Spirit Clan’s ancestor might not be buried in the mountains, nor in the heavens above.

What if this entire small world was the transformation of the Spirit Clan’s ancestor? Wouldn’t that explain all the confusion?