A full moon hung high, the sea of stars brilliant.
Chu Xingchen leaned half against the table, his gaze passing over it to rest on that bright moon.
Whether it was the flower-brocade beauty of the Central Province or the scarred devastation of the Western Niu Continent—if you looked only at the sky in this moment, the moon here was no different from the one over Wanhua Ridge.
No wonder people everywhere loved to entrust their thoughts of home to the bright moon.
Truly, this very moment was just like that moment back then.
The situation still needed time to ferment. The Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's supreme treasure was still on his person—it was a fine tool for concealing his aura, though it placed a heavy burden on his divine sense.
What Wukong and the others needed to do now was nothing more than stay still and quietly wait for the right moment to appear.
Naturally, Chu Xingchen still had an optional branch mission available.
Donggua stood at the doorway, her gaze shifting between suspicion and caution as she surveyed her surroundings. Her fierce eyes turned over and over onto Chu Xingchen, as if she were calculating the odds of a successful strike.
Chu Xingchen had understood the situation from earlier messages—he just hadn't expected his fifth disciple to nearly drive a demon into something close to deranged.
That counted as a kind of skill, too.
Without needing to turn around, Chu Xingchen could sense Donggua's sharp gaze. He spoke in a relaxed tone:
"Lesson one: if you really want to kill someone, the first thing to do is… hide the killing intent in your eyes. Especially when you're preparing to backstab."
"You and I are both cultivators. We don't even need to rest. So tonight is long—finding a good opportunity matters more than acting blindly."
Donggua said nothing, deliberately amplifying her footsteps as she gradually walked toward Chu Xingchen, as if pressing him.
Straight up to an arm's length away.
For cultivators, this was an extremely close distance. Especially since Cui Hao's cultivation was a tier lower—if Donggua made a move, she could kill him in an instant.
As long as his protective magical treasure wasn't passively triggered.
Chu Xingchen still didn't turn around. Instead, he gestured for Donggua to look at the bright moon in the sky:
"What does that moon look like to you?"
"Like the head you're about to have cut off."
"If you're going to talk like that, I've got methods for you."
"You? You can—"
The mocking smile on Donggua's face hadn't even faded when she suddenly felt heaven and earth shift, and her body was being frantically rejected by this world.
A tearing sensation, a heavy dizziness spreading through her entire body. Her form swayed, and she hurriedly reached out to brace herself against the table to steady herself.
What was this?
Donggua's expression went rigid. Her gaze slid sideways toward Chu Xingchen, who looked perfectly at ease.
"How's this technique? If you don't like it, I can switch to another one." Chu Xingchen's smile was gentle. "Or, you can go sit across from me now."
Donggua felt as if her body was nearly being expelled from this world. She was a Spirit Transformation cultivator, and now she couldn't even swallow her own saliva.
And judging by Chu Xingchen's relaxed expression, killing her with this thing would be more than enough.
If she kept pretending to be tough now, she'd truly be making a laughingstock of herself.
Donggua twisted her body, feeling as if heaven and earth were spinning, unable to tell which way was up.
By the time she came to her senses, she didn't know how much time had passed—only to find herself already seated in a chair.
Donggua looked out the window and noticed the moon had shifted a distance, as if quite some time had passed.
What an eerie technique!
Donggua's heart still trembled with fear, but her face remained unmoved as she said:
"I have nothing to talk about with you."
"Naturally we do. There's no need to dwell on the history between us, and I consider that I understand you a little." Chu Xingchen's tone was calm. "If I said you haven't figured out the current situation yet, that would be me questioning your intelligence."
"Xu Linglong clearly won't care about you anymore. You're a little demon who's fallen into our hands—you can't seriously be expecting her to cross mountains and rivers, disregarding all risk, to come save you, can you?"
"You can't possibly be Xu Linglong's biological child, can you?"
"Look at that bright moon. You can see it today, you can see it tomorrow—but how much longer will you get to look at it?"
"I understand that you want to live more than anyone. No matter how great the hatred between us, could it be greater than life and death?"
Donggua was silent for a moment, then said in a firm tone:
"It could."
Chu Xingchen was speechless. Looking at Donggua's expression—as if even swapping lives with him would count as a profit—he didn't know how to respond for a moment.
"Then never mind. Sweet dreams, I suppose."
Chu Xingchen withdrew his expression, then stood up and prepared to head out:
"In consideration of our acquaintance, you can take the paper on the table and write down whatever you want. After you're on your way, I'll be sure to burn it for you. Of course, if you want to write my name—Cui Hao—that's fine too. I'll burn a life-sized dummy down to you to vent your anger."
"And I wish you an easy death. A beautiful death."
With that, Chu Xingchen pushed open the door and left.
Idle chatter was pointless. That meant the time hadn't arrived yet.
Chu Xingchen didn't have the luxury of dumping all his attention onto this little demon. Studying this was better spent researching with the Radiant Buddha on how Mahayana Buddhist teachings could cause an indelible, massive impact on the Buddhist sect.
After all, escape was only the beginning. The real confrontation still lay in matters like these ahead.
Donggua watched Chu Xingchen's departing figure until the door closed. She still hadn't spoken.
Now, the empty room held only her.
Donggua sat in the chair and turned her gaze toward the bright moon hanging high in the sky.
She didn't make any useless attempts to flee.
A Tribulation Transcendence cultivator was in the next room. These walls might as well not exist.
Cui Hao was here. If trading her life could alert the Buddhist cultivators and wipe out everyone here together, that wouldn't be bad.
But… just as Cui Hao had said when they met.
He was Chu Xingchen's disciple, backed by a great sect.
The Buddhist sect most likely wouldn't kill Cui Hao. Instead, they'd send him back safely.
In a trade like that, Cui Hao—the chief culprit—wouldn't die, and she'd still come out at a loss.
Fleeing was naturally out of the question…
Donggua suddenly shivered, remembering something. She drew her divine sense inward to her sea of consciousness and began to manipulate the flower Xu Linglong had left within her divine sea.
Only this time, Donggua didn't blindly call for help or report her location.
Instead, she used her divine sense to continuously repeat a single sentence—Discovered Chu Xingchen's disciple Cui Hao, conspiring and plotting at the Radiant Buddha's location, attempting to flee and escape.
Donggua didn't care whether the Radiant Buddha detected the anomaly in her divine sense. She only cared about seizing this opportunity.
In just a moment, the flower that had shown no response no matter what she did before suddenly seemed to move its petals, faintly and almost imperceptibly.
Donggua's heart suddenly stirred with excitement. Her divine sense carefully observed that flower and its petals as she transmitted another message.
After waiting a moment, the flower's petals indeed trembled with an extremely subtle shake.
This was… a connection had been made?
The Master knew?!
After seeing this, Donggua stopped her movements. Transmitting too many messages would inevitably annoy the Master.
This was enough! This was enough!
Cui Hao's death was approaching!
Outside the room door.
Chu Xingchen stood outside, his expression puzzled and strange as he watched a strand of Donggua's qi drift off into the distance. He had also detected the anomaly in her divine sense.
Could this be Donggua's method of contacting Xu Linglong?
Chu Xingchen quietly observed, first watching Donggua's divine sense depart. But once it exceeded the detection range of the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's supreme treasure, he could no longer observe it.
It looked like relying on this to find Xu Linglong was unlikely.
And… this seemed to require driving it with divine soul. Using it too much would kill her, wouldn't it?
Didn't Donggua know that? Sending telegrams like this?
Soon, Donggua's second wave of divine sense messages followed.
Chu Xingchen didn't hesitate. He decisively attempted to manipulate it—and, unsurprisingly, he could manipulate it without issue.
Moreover… he had roughly captured the frequency of the message the divine sense was trying to transmit.
It was just that the secret technique was different, so it needed to be decrypted to know what message was being sent.
While capturing it, Chu Xingchen also casually tried tugging on that thread of divine sense.
Immediately, Donggua's divine sense became extraordinarily agitated.
As if… she had misunderstood something?
Chu Xingchen stroked his chin, his expression dawning with sudden understanding, yet also thoughtful.
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