Truly unexpected, completely unexpected.

“What does this mean?” Nine Phoenix, who had just praised the Heavenly Mechanism Book’s conscience, pointed at herself in disbelief and laughed coldly: “You mean to obtain the Secret Realm Abyss’s opportunities, I must first complete this mission?”

Shan Shu sighed softly: “If nothing unexpected happens, that’s about right.”

Xue Yu’s gaze swept around the dark space. She could tell this was a temporarily created small space. Light seemed swallowed by an invisible giant mouth, stingily leaving only a trace of faint illumination – enough to see people’s eyes but not discern specific contours.

If her guess was correct, they could only be considered to have half a foot in the Secret Realm Abyss. As Nine Phoenix said, without completing this mission, even if they weren’t thrown out, they shouldn’t expect any top-tier opportunities.

A choice laid out openly for people to comprehend themselves.

This wasn’t the first time Xue Yu felt that the Heavenly Mechanism Book and Fusang Tree were almost forcefully pushing them forward.

Logically, these two items lived as long as heaven itself, existing since ancient times as sacred objects. In their eyes, time should be unchanging, most useless, and most redundant. Yet now they appeared so urgent.

The Feiyun Peak that occurred once every five hundred years had never been early or late, but for them it came early. The Secret Realm Abyss was the same. Combined with her previous life’s circumstances, Xue Yu had an unsettling intuition.

As if in the near future, some irreparable situation would arise, and they were the key to resolving it, needing rapid growth and strength.

Xue Yu looked at that illuminated five-star mission with only one ambiguous character, her brow involuntarily furrowing.

She had to admit this differed from her expectations.

Having witnessed scenes from a thousand years later, after returning, she had always been on guard and prepared.

In her view, the previous life’s situation occurred because the clans had many conflicts – the Demon Capital sulked and ignored affairs, Sacred Lands remained aloof without action, and the imperial court’s attitude grew increasingly sharp. These had existed for long periods, deeply rooted and impossible to eliminate overnight.

She could only start with herself, reorganizing Yedu, strictly investigating wrongful cases in the mortal realm, while requiring Xihe, Chi Shui and other places to treat all equally. For more measures, she originally planned to wait for the right timing before discussing with various territories.

For instance, when wrongful cases truly decreased to a certain degree, demon affairs should still be handled by the Demon Capital. Also, she planned to establish hundreds of “Help Arrays” in the mortal realm – any demons or ghosts driven to desperation could use these arrays to tell their difficulties to the Sacred Lands, which would then notify local enforcement halls to handle matters.

This way, the mortal realm could reduce many unnecessary disputes.

All this required time. She originally thought she had much time left – at most a thousand years, at least seven hundred. But the Fusang Tree and Heavenly Mechanism Book’s actions undoubtedly negated her thinking.

Then what else could there be?

What else could it be?

Was the three territories’ turmoil advancing, or were there other unexpected complications?

Xue Yu pressed her brow and spoke in the narrow, cramped small space: “Everyone state your names, let’s count the numbers.”

The Demon Capital was wealthy and could avoid missions by pouring out mountains of spirit stones, but couldn’t ignore the Secret Realm Abyss’s opportunities. Nine Phoenix recognized reality and said reluctantly, “Demon Capital Nine Phoenix family.”

Shan Shu, Shen Jingshi, and Su You spoke one by one.

Next came a particularly familiar voice: “Ji Tingxi, Xihe.”

“Kunlun, Lu Qin.” This voice sounded like bitter laughter no matter how you heard it.

In the darkness, someone casually played with silver bells on their wrist, the sound crisp: “Honestly, this is my first time taking a four-star or higher mission. The gap is quite large – still quite uncomfortable.”

It was Yin Ling.

“Wonderful.” Nine Phoenix listened to this string of self-introductions, her mouth corners moving: “So among the Demon Capital’s five great families, I’m the only one.”

Having to rely on others while being outnumbered – she experienced this feeling today.

“Eight people.” Xue Yu counted, then took out a spiritual talisman, wanting to ask about Chao Hua and Chou Li’s situation, but after tapping several times with her finger, there was no response.

She stopped her movements, paused, and voiced her speculation: “Can’t contact them. Probably similar to us – each has their own missions, and both sides can’t communicate. Most likely, we won’t encounter them later in the Secret Realm Abyss either.”

Equivalent to the Fusang Tree dividing areas in advance, mixing up a thousand people, separating, regrouping, and placing them in different environments according to missions.

“Let’s all accept the mission.” Shan Shu’s voice was extremely peaceful, carrying a particularly comforting, gentle quality in the darkness: “There’s no other way.”

By now, it wasn’t a question of wanting to accept or not, but if they didn’t want to waste ten years, they had to grit their teeth and complete this mission.

No choice.

The group extended their hands at varying speeds. After Nine Phoenix moodily withdrew her finger, the Heavenly Mechanism Book cheerfully rustled twice, then vibrated out eight tokens with hazy luster. The tokens were adorned with long tassels below, colored like they’d been soaked in blood – a vivid red. When they all trembled together, they seemed to form a oppressive, stifling small array.

Speaking of arrays, everyone looked toward Xue Yu.

Xue Yu shook her head and was first to take one token, borrowing that bit of scattered light to vaguely make out the writing above.

—Xue Yu, Demon Slayer Family, no relatives.

Besides this, there was a line of small text below the token.

—Identity cards temporarily cannot be shown to outsiders, cannot reveal your identity.

“Demon.” Xue Yu’s fingertip slowly covered that character, her eyelashes slightly lowered, looking thoughtfully toward the others.

With demon slayers, there must naturally be demons, but they didn’t know each other’s identities – meaning they couldn’t even determine the most basic enemy and ally camps.

The atmosphere suddenly fell into eerie silence.

Among the eight, Nine Phoenix was a novice who’d never done a single mission. Seeing these restrictions of “this won’t work, that won’t work,” she hissed while enduring: “No way, a five-star mission with just one character? Don’t know the causes and effects, don’t know what to do in the end – so doing missions relies on guessing or gambling?”

“This is all our first time encountering five-star missions.” Shan Shu good-naturedly answered her question: “We probably need to find clues ourselves. There will be hints, otherwise we’d have no way to start.”

“The space is collapsing.” Xue Yu first sensed the spiritual power rippling in mid-air. Looking at her feet, her lips moved slightly: “Let’s talk after getting out.”

As her words fell, heavenly light shone in inch by inch. Everyone couldn’t help but squint, while Su You unexpectedly turned his head to look back.

The real Secret Realm Abyss was like a slowly unrolling scroll. After extracting from darkness, it revealed its original contours with perfect clarity.

It was an extraordinarily magnificent city. It was nighttime, with millions of flower lanterns passing through rows of solemn palaces, winding around crowded, endlessly lively river bridges. Looking down from above, the entire city resembled a huge open whisk, beginning at the imperial palace and ending at the broken-tail high mountains outside the city.

Xue Yu and the others touched ground with their toes, falling silently like autumn leaves.

Their landing place was a three-entrance, three-exit courtyard. Everything in the courtyard was normal, except the dilapidated three-story small bamboo building behind looked out of place, like a foxtail grass abruptly placed in an exquisite vase.

Outside the door, a steward walked bent over while quietly scolding a servant-like man: “More hindrance than help – at this critical moment, you still delay things. If the masters blame us, don’t say I won’t give you a way to live.”

Looking up, he saw the “masters” with various expressions standing in a row. The steward hurried forward, wrinkles squeezed into an ingratiating flower. He bowed toward Lu Qin: “Master, everything ordered earlier is prepared, but there was a slight problem transporting the Fire Tree – I’m afraid it’ll be delayed another day.”

Lu Qin stood in place for a long while, then stiffly said with unchanged expression: “Understood. Go down.”

The steward bowed and withdrew. The courtyard returned to water-like silence. Several people looked around simultaneously. Finally, Yin Ling sat on a stone stool and asked: “Among us, does anyone know what ‘Mei’ is?”

Everyone else shook their heads. Only Shan Shu and Xue Yu exchanged glances. The former organized his thoughts, explained the circumstances once, then said: “We searched many ancient books but never found its origins.”

“Let’s search the entire courtyard first.” Xue Yu walked toward that small bamboo building first: “After finding useful materials, we’ll go out to the streets and understand our current environment.”

“Alright.” After experiencing initial shock and disbelief, Nine Phoenix now accepted the situation. She waved her sleeves: “I’ll say upfront – this is my first time taking a Heavenly Mechanism Book mission. I probably can’t help much at first. If you find clues and need me to do something, just speak up.”

“Finishing the mission early means seeking opportunities early.”

Ji Tingxi glanced over, following Xue Yu and Su You toward the small bamboo building while saying, “Oh, didn’t expect our Miss Nine Phoenix to have such awareness.”

“You just ascended to Holy Son position – naturally, there’s much you don’t know.” Nine Phoenix had never lost in verbal sparring, immediately retorting. Ji Tingxi was choked speechless.

Nine Phoenix lifted her skirt to cross the threshold, looking toward Shan Shu and Yin Ling, lowering her voice: “Among these people, who completes such missions fastest?”

Among the eight, Nine Phoenix had traveled with Xue Yu and Shan Shu, which counted as some connection. Therefore, whenever Nine Phoenix spoke, Shan Shu would respond. Logically, Sacred Land inheritors and Demon Capital family leaders generally wouldn’t get too close, but seeing Nine Phoenix’s “eager to learn” eyes, Shan Shu remembered what she’d said when handling the Luozhou Feitian Map mission with Xue Yu.

—”I’m not good at conversation or dealing with people. Deliberately approaching would seem ulterior, but if possible, Sacred Land inheritors should improve relations with Demon Capital families. In the future, we might need to solve many things together.”

—”Not submissive flattery – this is merely to ensure that when things really happen, with two of us speaking, the Demon Capital side can listen.”

This five-star mission only had Nine Phoenix mixed among them – this was the Fusang Tree’s arrangement.

Xue Yu’s words had once again proven prophetic.

Shan Shu paused, carefully explaining: “Yin Ling has the best luck among us – her missions are either two-and-a-half or three stars. Ji Tingxi’s luck is also good, mostly drawing three to four-star missions. The rest of us – me, Lu Qin, Xue Yu – don’t have great luck and have all drawn four-and-a-half-star missions.”

Nine Phoenix’s mouth twitched: “That makes my luck the worst.”

First mission being five stars – the Heavenly Mechanism Book wasn’t biased, it was wicked.

Seeing Shan Shu about to elaborate on those painful memories, Lu Qin quickly waved his hands: “Don’t mention me, don’t mention me. I’m not qualified to handle four-and-a-half-star missions, really.”

Yin Ling specialized in exposing people’s embarrassments, smiling at Nine Phoenix: “You don’t know – our young Kunlun master was quite impressive. Back then, with his power, he got Xue Yu to substitute for the Human Emperor’s palace. Afterward, feeling too ashamed to face people, he shut himself away for two whole months. Now he gets nervous seeing Xue Yu.”

“There’s such a thing?” Nine Phoenix raised her eyebrows, scanning Lu Qin several times.

The latter covered half his face, weakly wailing: “When will you all forget this matter?”

Seeing him fall into painful memories again, Shan Shu smiled kindly and concluded, bringing the conversation back: “For such high-difficulty missions, we still have to look at those two up front.”

“I think so too.” Nine Phoenix stared at Xue Yu and Su You’s backs for a long while, saying matter-of-factly: “They have that expert aura from storybooks.”

At this, several people couldn’t help but smile.

The three-story bamboo building’s door was pushed open with a creak. Xue Yu listened to the increasingly friendly conversation behind her, her shoulders relaxing slightly. She turned to the person beside her: “Nineteen, you stay on the first floor. I’ll go to the second. If there are clues, find me anytime.”

“Alright.” Because of a long-missed intimate address, the young man’s profile lifted slightly, revealing clean, handsome contours.

Half an hour passed. The eight people thoroughly searched every inch of the small bamboo building inside and out. Confirming no omissions, they gathered in groups around the stone table in the courtyard. On the table lay a half-written paper and two letters sealed with golden thread.

The latter two letters couldn’t be opened, sealed with some mysterious ancient array. Even Xue Yu didn’t dare act rashly without certainty, fearing unexpected consequences and alerting their quarry.

So the obvious clue was only that paper.

Xue Yu concentrated on the paper in her hands, reading that passage repeatedly two or three times.

The paper showed vigorous calligraphy, strength penetrating the paper.

—【Under the Emperor’s feet, incidents frequently occur. People in the capital are panic-stricken, everyone in danger. His Majesty personally opened the altar, commanding the Imperial Observatory to investigate for three nights, then issued two secret edicts the next day.】

—【Demoness Zi Peng emerges from Qiongzhou Demon Island and will arrive in the capital in half a month to marry Marquis Ding Jiang. This woman is greatly significant, related to His Majesty’s plans. Marquis Ding Jiang voluntarily serves as bait, reporting upward that on the wedding night, when the demoness and her trusted followers are unprepared, he will unite with seven masters of the Demon Slaying Bureau to perform soul-stealing techniques.】

—【This plan, delayed for decades, finally receives approval. Heart filled with unease, half joy mixed with worry.】

After the word “worry” was a long pause, spreading into a dark, heavy ink blot, worry leaping off the paper.

Xue Yu placed the paper on the table for the others to read one by one.

“I can’t make heads or tails of it.” Nine Phoenix rubbed her brow: “I get annoyed seeing these roundabout demon and ghost elimination things.”

“The seven masters of the Demon Slaying Bureau mentioned in this paper should correspond to seven of us.”

Xue Yu pondered long, taking paper and brush from inside, dipping the half-dry ink and drawing a line on paper, analyzing calmly: “From available information, fifteen days later is a crucial point and key turning point for solving our mystery.”

“On Marquis Ding Jiang and the demoness’s wedding night, we perform soul-stealing techniques. What we obtain might be the key to opening these two letters.”

“Now demons have appeared, but what ‘Mei’ is remains unknown.” Xue Yu wrote these two characters separately: “During these fifteen days, we need to understand our environment, this Qiongzhou demoness’s background, and why the people are restless and His Majesty is furious.”

Borrowing light from two flower lanterns in the corner, her peripheral vision swept over the other seven people: “Who is Marquis Ding Jiang?”

Everyone immediately looked left and right, denials sounding continuously. Just as Xue Yu couldn’t help frowning, Su You stepped forward half a step, meeting her gaze and softly articulating: “Me.”

Xue Yu’s gaze slightly condensed.

She hadn’t expected it to be him, or rather, when seeing the word “marriage,” she’d subconsciously excluded him.

Under weak lamplight, the young man’s features were almost provocatively beautiful, his lips colored with rouge, his cheeks transparently pale. His entire face was a contradictory color clash of extremes – heart-stopping, brilliant, and pure.

Hard to imagine what such a person would look like in wedding clothes.

Xue Yu’s movements paused. She set down her brush, then looked up, carefully examining his eyes.

Still that obedient, pure brightness – whatever she asked, he answered, never seeming to learn concealment.

As long as the mission required it, let alone being a groom, even if it cost his life, he seemingly wouldn’t say a word of resistance.

After a long while, she nodded: “Understood.”

Finished speaking, she held those two letters of moderate thickness and sat aside, as if falling into some contemplation.

Seeing this, Lu Qin, Shen Jingshi, and others swarmed up, surrounding the stone table with various opinions, unleashing their imaginations. They grew increasingly outrageous until they realized something was wrong and all fell silent.

When the moon hung high, Xue Yu suddenly stood. She lowered her eyes, pressing the envelopes in her hands onto the table with neither light nor heavy force, but it drew the others’ attention.

She rubbed her eyes and said: “I’ll go look for other clues.”

Watching the departing figure, Nine Phoenix elbowed Shen Jingshi: “See that? See that? She became unhappy immediately.”

Shan Shu looked at the two who’d quickly become familiar, also glanced over, then shook her head: “A-Yu has that temperament – just appears colder on the surface, but there’s no other meaning.”

“That’s different.” Nine Phoenix was certain: “Don’t doubt it – I’ve never been wrong about this.”

Their words sentence by sentence merged into the wind, reaching his ears. Su You’s slender knuckles were slightly clenched, then suddenly relaxed with a low trailing sound, his eyebrows and eyes curving into a brilliant arc.

Yes.

That momentary unguarded emotion from her – he felt it too.

Dense eyelashes trembled uncontrollably. Su You looked up at the three-story bamboo building, thinking.

Perhaps. His unchanging infatuation, his desperate pursuit, had finally received a hint of unclear response.

Meanwhile, Shen Jingshi waved his sleeve at Su You, silently mouthing urgently: “Go quickly, go now!”