When Jing Hui heard the name Tao Tuantuan, his body froze in place. The expression on his face seemed to solidify for a long moment before he finally spoke with a trembling voice.
“Tao Tuantuan?”
His voice drifted as if from a great distance.
“Is it the Wenchang Noble, Tao Tuantuan of the Peach Clan?”
Chen Zhou nodded. “You know her? She is only eight hundred years old, and you have been dead for a thousand. How do you know her?”
“Eight hundred?” Jing Hui shook his head. “Impossible. Tao Tuantuan was Duke Wen’s most prized student. Duke Wen held her in very high regard when he was alive, meticulously nurturing her and treating her as his own.”
“I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. The year the Golden Buddha descended, Tao Tuantuan was already nearly two hundred years old.”
“If she lived until now, she should be about one thousand two hundred years old.”
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
Jing Hui nodded emphatically. “I am certain.”
“I have met that girl.”
“Back then, she was only a hundred or so years old—just a small child by the standards of the Peach Clan—but she was already capable of helping Duke Wen handle administrative affairs.”
“She would look over every single document that Duke Wen reviewed.”
“Duke Wen said that the girl’s eyes were better than his. Problems he could not see, she could spot with a single glance.”
Jing Hui paused for a moment, as if lost in memory.
“Once, when Tianchi Province was suffering from a grain famine, the inventory reports from various cities and strongholds did not add up. Duke Wen spent several days calculating but could not make sense of it.”
“Tao Tuantuan took the records, flipped through them twice, and pointed at a page, saying, ‘Master, this number has been altered.’”
“Duke Wen immediately sent people to investigate. It was soon discovered that the officials in charge of the granaries had embezzled the grain and doctored the ledgers.”
“How old was she then? Just over a hundred. In any other demon race, she would still be a babe who understood nothing.”
Jing Hui sighed.
“Duke Wen later told me that this girl’s future was limitless. She could see the writer’s memories and certain images within the text. Given time, she would surely inherit his mantle.”
“I did not believe it at the time. No matter how talented, she was far too young. The birth of a powerhouse always requires the accumulation of a long period of time.”
“Later, there was a time when a plague broke out in Tianchi Province. Every city was fighting over medicine, and everything was a mess.”
“Duke Wen fell ill, leaving no one to take charge, and several of his deputies were arguing amongst themselves.”
“Tao Tuantuan stood up and straightened everything out with just a few words.”
“She arranged everything clearly—which city should get medicine first, which city could wait, and which city needed reinforcements.”
“Duke Martial was also present at the time. He told me afterward that the girl was truly extraordinary and that Duke Wen finally had a worthy successor.”
After Jing Hui finished speaking, he looked at Chen Zhou.
“If it is truly her, she would indeed never betray you to become a lackey for Wan Xiu.”
“Tao Tuantuan... is she still alive?”
Chen Zhou remained silent for a while before speaking.
“Unfortunately, she just died.”
With that, Chen Zhou raised his hand and pointed into the distance.
Wu Gou sat cross legged in the center of the ruins. Golden Buddhist light surged from his body, forming a hemispherical barrier that protected the sacrificial souls brought back from the depths and the surviving little demons.
Outside the barrier, a group of souls was constantly flying around Wu Gou.
Those souls took various forms—some were missing limbs, some were missing half their faces, some were charred black, and some were still oozing blood.
Jing Hui followed Chen Zhou’s finger and looked over.
He saw a soul with disheveled hair, baring her teeth and glaring at Wu Gou. Blood overflowed from the corners of her mouth, and her face was hideously distorted.
Yet Jing Hui recognized her at a single glance.
Though her features were twisted and filled with hatred and malice, the faint resemblance to her former self remained.
The little girl who used to stand by Duke Wen’s side, quietly reading through the documents.
Jing Hui felt as if he had been struck by lightning, freezing where he stood.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his throat felt as though it were blocked by something, and he could make no sound.
It was only after a long while that he spoke with a trembling voice.
“How could this be...”
“How could she...”
Chen Zhou looked at him and said calmly, “In the battle underground, Tao Tuantuan activated the power of Wenchang—Manifesting Speech into Law. Using the hatred accumulated over a thousand years as a catalyst and the altered constitutions of the sacrifices, who had long consumed special mushrooms, she forced Wan Xiu to become riddled with holes after he absorbed them.”
“Without her, we would not have succeeded so easily.”
After listening, Jing Hui remained silent for a long time.
He looked at the hideously distorted soul in the distance, watching her snarl and roar at Wu Gou, watching her repeatedly try to pounce on the Buddhist light only to be repelled.
He suddenly remembered Duke Wen—the pride in his voice when he said “this girl’s future was limitless,” and the expectation when he said “she would surely inherit my mantle.”
He had heard that Duke Wen eventually died in the underground prison. The old peach tree that lived for the sun, dying in the flames of an execution.
Jing Hui closed his eyes.
He had originally felt that his wishes were fulfilled.
He had seen the descendant of Duke Wu and the descendant of Duke Martial. He knew they had not been completely wiped out and that their bloodlines still remained in the world.
He thought he could pass away in peace.
But hearing Chen Zhou’s words, he felt he had no face to meet Duke Wen in the afterlife.
A thousand years later, not a single member of the Peach Clan was left alive. Duke Wen’s most prized student had been displaced, struggling in despair for a millennium, only to die such a miserable death.
In the distance, Tao Tuantuan’s soul suddenly stopped roaring.
She turned her head and looked toward Jing Hui.
A flash of predatory light suddenly flickered in those clouded eyes.
Then, she let out a piercing, angry howl and lunged toward Jing Hui.
The Buddhist light blocked her, throwing her back.
But she did not give up. She lunged again, and was thrown back again.
Again and again.
She was like a beast trapped in a cage, desperately battering against the bars, wanting to rush out and tear apart the person she had hated for a thousand years.
Wu Gou quickly grabbed her, chanting under his breath. Golden Buddhist light surged from his palm, enveloping Tao Tuantuan’s soul.
The verses of the Cleansing Heart Mantra echoed through the air, spreading like ripples on water to soothe her agitated spirit.
Tao Tuantuan struggled a few times before slowly quieting down.
But her eyes remained fixed on Jing Hui, filled with nothing but hatred.
Wu Gou breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Jing Hui, saying with some embarrassment, “These souls that became sacrifices were all refined by Wan Xiu. They have no sanity left and act entirely on obsession.”
“This female benefactor was likely too agitated upon seeing you, so she could not restrain herself.”
“Please do not take offense.”
Jing Hui shook his head. “I do not. She has every right to hate me.”
Chen Zhou brought forth his Bone Incarnation, and Jian Huaishuang regained control of the body before speaking calmly.
“Tao Tuantuan was actually branded by Qing Lu long ago; she was a destined sacrifice.”
“After the Royal Capital fell a thousand years ago, most of the former subjects were imprisoned in the underground prison.”
“But because of Tao Tuantuan’s unique destiny, Wan Xiu singled her out.”
“Wan Xiu spent two hundred years refining her, twisting her perception until she believed that everything she did was of her own original will.”
“However, Tao Tuantuan’s willpower was very strong, and Duke Wen’s teachings were deeply rooted. It was difficult to completely warp her.”
“He spent two hundred years slowly wearing her down, bit by bit, before her perception was fully overturned.”
“Then he threw Tao Tuantuan into the underground city, letting her use the identity of a little demon to help him cultivate sacrifices there, waiting for the ritual a thousand years later.”
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