She was Cui Shi’s daughter?
The thought was offered so lightly and offhandedly by Fuqi, yet Lang Jiuchuan felt her whole being go numb, her mind buzzing and resonating in empty blankness.
She thought back to the very first time she had laid eyes on Cui Shi — a feeling caught between familiarity and strangeness, and what she could not forget above all else was that sense of a blood tie. And so when Cui Shi had always insisted that the original soul of this body was not her own birth child — how could that be? If not her own birth child, how could such a bond exist?
Now that Fuqi had given voice to this, she understood — that tie had already transcended blood. It was the destiny between mother and daughter; a bond that could not be severed.
But was it possible?
Was it impossible?
Two small figures in Lang Jiuchuan’s heart fought and quarreled without cease, leaving her inner world in churning chaos. She looked at Fuqi and the others and forced the corners of her mouth into a thin, strained smile. “Surely not? This is so melodramatic — it has already curdled into something thick.”
How could there be such an absurd thing in this world?
“Everyone says these eyes of mine are the very image of Lang Zhengfan’s, and that my features bear some resemblance to Cui Shi’s as well. So how could this body possibly not be their child?”
A’Piao was quiet for a moment, then said, “Have you ever considered — perhaps, originally, this body only bore a slight resemblance to them. It was only after you entered it that, as you gradually fused with the body, you began to grow more and more like yourself. Because the master soul of this body is you. The soul alone shapes the features. A person’s every emotion, every expression, every movement influences the face — the longer you are fused with this body, the more you come to resemble yourself. Perhaps you might think back: in the very beginning, did they truly think you resembled them so much?”
Lang Jiuchuan felt a wave of disorientation wash over her at this. She instinctively tried to trace her own origins.
She had entered this world as a fragmented soul to begin with — incomplete, her memories long scattered. Her past lives were already forgotten. Where she had come from — she truly did not know.
If she truly was the Lang Family’s daughter, then who had swapped out the child — silently, invisibly, as though it had never happened? No — that would have had to be someone versed in the arcane arts. Without the arcane arts, it would have been impossible to make every member of the Lang Family believe without question that she was the original child.
A simple illusion technique could settle the matter. How straightforward.
If this was truly what had happened, then what had the person behind it gone to all this elaborate trouble to accomplish?
She had this level of skill — surely she had not simply been born with it? However talented she was, talent still had to be shaped through careful instruction from the time she was learning to speak, in order to be transformed into true power.
So her origins — could it truly be that she was Cui Shi’s daughter, that she was the true Lang Jiuchuan?
Fuqi saw that Lang Jiuchuan had an expression of blankness and disorientation, as though she could not absorb what had been said — looking for all the world like a young girl with no experience of the world, rather than the heaven-defying Celestial Master she was. He said, “This is only conjecture. There is no need to take it too much to heart. The truth will have its day of revelation. The so-called question of origins — as Shifu A’Piao said, approaching it from the Rong Family’s direction, even if one cannot unravel everything, one can at least catch a partial glimpse. One cannot see the full leopard through a single tube, but it is a beginning.”
As he spoke, he also sent a glance A’Piao’s way.
A’Piao immediately followed his lead and nodded. “Exactly — look, originally we knew nothing at all, yet now we are gradually feeling our way toward the edges of the truth. Given time, it will present itself to you completely. There will be time enough to anguish over it then.”
Fuqi made a face.
Was that any way to comfort someone?
He shot A’Piao a glare and said, “What Shifu A’Piao means is that there is no point in agonizing over something not yet fully confirmed — it is not worth it. In truth, many things leave traces that can be followed. The Rong Family is a very good starting point. Break through their defenses and press inside, and you can dig out the truth you are looking for.”
A’Piao nodded vigorously, then felt something was not quite right — he was the shifu, after all, thank you very much. And Fuqi had dared to glare at him?
Audacious disciple! The nerve!
Lang Jiuchuan slowly regained her composure. She recalled that when she had returned to the mortal world, it was Panguan Cui who had personally seen her off on her way up — and even though she had been unwilling to take on such a ravaged body, he had insisted it was the most compatible vessel for her and had stuffed her into it by sheer force of will.
It seemed she would have to go and catch up with Panguan Cui.
Meanwhile, in the underworld, Panguan Cui was walking along without a care, when he abruptly tripped and fell flat on his face in a most undignified sprawl. He picked himself up, looked in the direction of the Ghost Gate, and felt a cold premonition. Inauspicious — deeply inauspicious. He needed to request leave from his superior, King Yama, and make himself scarce before disaster found him.
Lang Jiuchuan said to A’Piao, “Since the Rong Family’s young master has suffered a qi deviation and is now in closed-door seclusion, let us force her out. Only then can we draw out more information. Beyond that — let us first proceed on the assumption that this body of mine shares bloodline ties with the Rong Family. That means we must investigate the Rong Family’s past. After all, a bloodline like this existed quietly among ordinary people for years without incident, only to be tracked down and violently mutilated without warning — there must be hidden circumstances behind it.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Let me ask you — what is the Rong Family’s standing among the major Xuan clan families now? Already at the weakest end. Their cultivation roots and seeds have produced nothing but that one young master. If someone from the clan were to produce a bloodline of exceptional quality, would they let it slip away?”
Fuqi, having come from a great household, understood something of the darker scheming within elite families, and he grasped the implication quickly. “You mean the person who swapped out the child — the higher-ups in the Rong Family do not know?”
A’Piao cast Fuqi a sidelong glance. This disciple really did like to steal credit.
“Not entirely informed — at least the people at the top do not know. Otherwise they would never have stood by and watched a bloodline that could strengthen their clan go to waste elsewhere. Especially since this body may also possess what they call a cultivation root.” Lang Jiuchuan gave a cold laugh. “But the Rong young master and her mother — that is another matter. Pavilion Master Gong has already confirmed it outright. The half-portrait you gave me earlier is of the Rong Family’s Fourth Madam — Xiyun.”
A’Piao said, “Very well. We investigate this Xiyun first. Even the Xuan clan has its share of backroom scheming in the inner quarters — she, as the young master’s mother, would be no exception. As for forcing the young master out — what is the plan there?”
Lang Jiuchuan’s brow arched upward. “The more they wish to conceal it, the more we help them spread the word. If news that the Rong young master has suffered a qi deviation and lost her cultivation root were to reach the ears of the other Xuan clan families — how do you think they would react? Or what about the Rong Family’s own clan members who have been kept in the dark — what would they think? People always strive to climb higher; capable birds choose the finest branches to perch on. They will do very well at acting on human nature. The Rong Family wants stability — so we let it fall into chaos. That is how we create more opportunities for ourselves.”
Her voice was cold. Neither A’Piao nor Fuqi spoke, but both understood clearly in their hearts — this child was furious.
And rightly so. This child had never been easy to deal with to begin with. Now, with the discovery that her own origins might be entangled with the Rong Family — she likely wanted to tear the Rong Family apart right then and there.
It was only that she could still restrain herself. As for the day she could no longer hold back — wait and see.
The Rong Family would one day have its eyes pecked out by a hawk.
After finishing her discussion with A’Piao, Lang Jiuchuan left, taking Fuqi with her and helping herself on the way out to a good supply of materials for crafting paper figures. Merit incense — surely it was worth at least a set or two of materials for paper figure bodies.
A’Piao watched her go, then took Lang Jiuchuan’s entrusted items and the merit incense and walked through the hidden door at the back of the main hall. He had expected things to proceed as before — handed off to a ghost guard for the exchange — but this time, the Master himself had summoned him to come in person.
One door connected two worlds.
A’Piao knelt and paid his respects properly, then offered up what Lang Jiuchuan had asked him to pass along.
Feng Ya asked about what the two of them had spoken of. When he received the item, he was still for a moment, then looked at A’Piao — his gaze carrying faint traces of helplessness and something like a quiet sigh, the look of someone grieving over a piece of iron that refused to become steel.
A’Piao: ?
What did Master’s expression mean, looking at him like he was a fool?