Donggua quickened her pace, heading straight for the coffin shop Chu Xingchen had described.
Funeral establishments basically offered a one-stop service—paper figures, coffins, candles, everything you could need. If one shop wasn't open, the next one would be, and coffins weren't displayed outside anyway.
A first-time mortal visitor might not actually find the place on their first try.
But for Donggua, this was naturally a trivial matter.
The coffin shop's door was half-closed. Donggua stopped, took a light breath, and then walked in.
The moment Donggua entered, a young man came up to greet her, opening his mouth to say:
"My condolences, sir."
Donggua paused at his words. Was this already sentencing her to death?
But she quickly realized—people who came to a coffin shop to buy things weren't here for a happy occasion, so offering condolences was perfectly normal.
Donggua's spatial ring had been thoroughly confiscated back when Cui Hao captured her, and by the time it reached Wukong's hands, naturally no one was going to equip a prisoner with one.
So at this moment, Donggua took the token Chu Xingchen had given her from her sleeve.
The young man saw the token in Donggua's hand, and his mournful expression instantly vanished. He decisively reached out to take it, probed into it with his divine sense, and then, without saying a word, pulled a talisman from his robes and triggered it with spiritual energy.
After completing all of this, the young man turned without hesitation and headed into the back of the shop.
Leaving Donggua standing in place, watching his departing figure, she quickly called out:
"Don't you have anything to tell me?"
The young man stopped, turned around with a puzzled look at the anxious Donggua, and said with equal confusion:
"Run… quickly?"
The words had barely left his mouth—
Donggua immediately took off running. But she didn't dare use spiritual energy to run. After all, a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator's sweep would light her up like a lantern even without it, and using spiritual energy wouldn't be much different from delivering herself to death.
But Donggua was a Spirit Transformation cultivator at least, and even running on foot her speed was extremely fast. Right now she was heading east just as Chu Xingchen had instructed.
Heading east meant running back the way she came.
Donggua didn't understand why it had to be this way, but she had no other option and could only obediently follow orders.
She ran smoothly along the way, and in just a few breaths Donggua was back near the inn. Since Chu Xingchen hadn't given her a specific rendezvous point, she could only keep running east for now.
But very soon, Donggua stopped in her tracks…
For no other reason.
Right near the inn, on the path Donggua was bound to take—
Chu Xingchen was standing by the roadside buying candied fruit with two monks, and he was still carefully picking and choosing.
Donggua didn't know whether to feel angry or happy in that moment.
Angry, because she'd most likely been played by Cui Hao again and made a laughingstock of. Happy, because at least she'd survived this ordeal, and the matter hadn't been all that dangerous.
Donggua walked up quickly, her face showing no displeasure:
"Were you waiting for me here?"
Chu Xingchen paid for the candied fruit, put the shopkeeper's wrapped package away, and replied casually:
"Partly. But you really did run fast."
Donggua looked at Cui Hao's face and took a deep, heavy breath:
"Then where do we go now? Back to the inn to wait?"
Chu Xingchen looked at Donggua strangely:
"Run, of course. It's very dangerous right now."
Donggua didn't answer, only lowering her gaze to the candied fruit in Chu Xingchen's hand.
The meaning was clear enough—if it was really that dangerous, how was he still leisurely enough to have time to buy candied fruit?
Chu Xingchen didn't answer, only standing there for a moment.
Then, golden Buddhist light suddenly blazed across the sky, and Buddhist inscriptions seemed to descend from the heavens, surrounding them from all directions.
Several Tribulation Transcendence auras swept the area frantically with their divine sense.
Donggua's expression instantly froze.
Chu Xingchen put the candied fruit away in his spatial ring and said calmly:
"Since you've joined our team, you count as one of us now. I told you—I, Cui Hao, never lie to my own people."
"Now you know I was telling the truth, right?" Chu Xingchen gestured for Donggua to look at the Buddhist formation closing in from the sky. "Take a look—isn't it very dangerous now?"
"…It's the truth. Do we need to run now? With this kind of setup… can we really escape? All the Buddhist Tribulation Transcendence cultivators have probably come…"
"Of course we can." Chu Xingchen's words were extremely certain. "The Buddhist sect even lets demons like yours infiltrate as double agents. For an organization like that, it's only reasonable that I'd find a few double agents of my own, right?"
Donggua's expression was rather incredulous. The Buddhist sect was among the Eighteen Immortal Sects—with so many worldly Buddhas, she'd never seen anyone truly defect from the Buddhist path. Her tone was suspicious:
"This… is this reasonable? Aren't you afraid they're faking it to lure people in?"
Chu Xingchen didn't speak, instead looking toward the Radiant Buddha beside him, who was eating candied fruit.
The Radiant Buddha, seeing Chu Xingchen pass the topic to him, didn't let it drop and nodded with equal certainty:
"Fellow Daoist Cui makes a very reasonable point."
Chu Xingchen smiled, then turned and headed toward the edge of the city:
"Let's go. Just remember not to walk too ostentatiously. Other than that, do as you please."
Donggua didn't ask any more questions and gritted her teeth, following after Chu Xingchen.
Tianyan Sect, Peak of One Big Happy Family.
Li Xingtian crossed the corridor, his gaze falling on his third junior sister, who was already seated in her chair with tea brewed and ready.
He paused, looking at Chen Baiqing's grown-up appearance, yet always involuntarily seeing her as a child—holding a book, eating candied fruit, sitting quietly in her chair.
Li Xingtian stepped forward and sat in the chair across from Chen Baiqing:
"Third Junior Sister, is there something you need?"
Chen Baiqing first showed a sweet smile, then poured a cup of the brewed tea for her second senior brother:
"Master has been gone for several days now. Does Second Senior Brother have anything he needs Baiqing to do?"
Li Xingtian held his teacup, looked at Chen Baiqing's expression, and then shook his head lightly:
"No."
"Then is there anything that needs others to do?"
"No, there isn't."
Chen Baiqing nodded in understanding, then pressed further:
"Then has Second Senior Brother dreamed any strange dreams?"
"…I haven't been sleeping, so what dreams would I have?"
Chen Baiqing suggested with a smile:
"Then maybe Second Senior Brother should go take a nap and see if he dreams anything?"
"…"
At this point, Li Xingtian naturally understood the purpose behind his third junior sister calling him over.
Third Junior Sister was inherently clever, and the previous hint had been far too obvious.
Regardless of how her divination worked or how much it might deviate from the actual situation, at least her conclusions about the outcome were accurate.
Li Xingtian spoke seriously: "That wasn't something I learned through dreaming. I don't know the specifics of the situation myself, and I can't control it either. But not having strange dreams is probably a good thing. After all, I only had that dream during that one incident."
Chen Baiqing nodded lightly at his words: "That's good then…"
As she spoke, her gaze lifted again, looking toward Li Xingtian:
"If Second Senior Brother has anything on his mind, it would be better to discuss it with Baiqing first."
Li Xingtian smiled and nodded.
But in his gaze, faintly, he seemed to see that entirely different Chen Baiqing within the River of Time once more.
However, this secret—he would likely have to keep it for the rest of his life.
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