Chapter 94: The Map (4/4)

My brother is under his control. What can I do? the blood demon cried out in anguish.

Your brother? Wasnt Tao Shengwang only blessed with a daughter? the bald man asked, lifting a brow in surprise.

He was born to the woman my father kept in a side house. It was hidden all along. After she gave birth to my brother, she died. I raised him myself. He is the only bloodline left in the Tao family. For his sake, I would do anything, even if heaven struck me down and I fell into the eighteenth level of hell, the blood demon said, and streams of blood rolled from her eyes.

Where is your brother now? the bald man asked.

I dont know, the blood demon answered.

Then how do you know hes still alive? he asked again.

He showed me a video of my brother, she said.

The bald man searched the phone taken from Huo Mingzhong and indeed found several videos.

But after watching them, his expression grew heavier and heavier.

Youve been deceived. These are composite videos. The background is Min Mountain, yes, but it is Min Mountain from more than ten years ago. That Cloudscape Temple on the mountain behind it was torn down long ago, he said. Tao Le'er had been suppressed in the Demon-Suppressing Tower for more than ten years, and she did not know that modern video synthesis could be made nearly flawless to an untrained eye.

The blood demon instantly flew into a rage. Impossible! Youre lying. My brother is still alive. He must still be alive!

Its easy to prove the video is fake, the bald man said.

Soon enough, he used satellite maps to prove that his words were true, and the blood demon nearly collapsed.

I will kill him. I will kill him! she roared, glaring at Huo Mingzhong with hatred.

He is nothing more than a tool, at most a somewhat higher-grade one. If you truly want revenge, then tell us the Huos plan and cooperate with us, the bald man said.

The blood demon already loathed Huo Mingzhong to the core. If not for her brother, how could she have endured his coercion? But now that she discovered it had all been lies, and that her brother might already have fallen victim to his poison hand, she intended to drag the entire Huo family down to be buried with them.

To put it plainly, the Huo familys plan was just a beauty trap: they wanted the blood demon to don a human skin and pose as Lu Zhiro, in order to approach the eldest son of the Chi family, Chi Feng.

But the plan went awry. Chi Feng was cold toward her, while Chi Yan, that good-for-nothing fool, fell madly in love with her.

Huo Mingzhong wanted her to get involved with Chi Yan, because he had laid another hand in reserve: the highest realm of the Tao familys skin-changing art, the Soul-Giving Art of Painted Skin. If five human skins forged from the blood of yin-born infants and baleful qi were infused with a Five-Calamity Yin Spirit, they could change form in endless ways.

Once that human skin had been animated and brought back to the Chi family by Chi Yan, it would be enough to bewitch Chi Feng and thereby achieve the goal of controlling the Chi family.

As for the Five-Calamity Yin Spirit, it could only be found among the women of the Huo family. Huo Sirui had been chosen. She was of Huo blood, and through the bloodline secret arts, she could be completely controlled.

...

I drank with Ye Cheng all night. To my surprise, he did not cry, nor did he mention Qingqing, as though, if he simply did not speak of it, he could erase that terrible nightmare entirely.

Madman, another round. Today I dont believe I cant drink you under the table... Ye Cheng raised his cup, but before he could finish, he crashed face-first onto the table. I clearly saw tears sliding from beneath his tightly shut eyes.

A cigarette clamped between my teeth, I did not know why, but the more I drank, the clearer-headed I became.

Just then, someone appeared in the seat beside me. It was the bald man from the Nine Bureau, named Su He, the head of the intelligence division of the Ninth Bureau.

Su He poured himself a cup of liquor and drank it. Qin, you seem to have many doubts.

Im just curious. The Huo family colludes with a cult and seeks to overturn the world. Why do they still exist? I asked.

There is no evidence, he said. Besides, its not the fashion nowadays to punish an entire clan for one persons crime. You cant just execute the whole family because one member of the Huo family committed a crime.

I gave a cold laugh. Does politics need evidence?

Su He smiled wryly. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt.

Hypocritical bastards, I cursed, and downed another cup. Last time it was Huo Siyu colluding with the Monastic Society; this time it was Huo Mingzhong controlling the Blood Spirit Cult, and yet the Huo familys foundation still stood as firm as a mountain.

Youre not wrong. Its just that too many things are involved. Things cannot be allowed to descend into chaos now, Su He said.

Then the blood demon was released from the Demon-Suppressing Tower, which means someone in the Nine Bureau has a problem, I said.

The internal affairs of the Nine Bureau will be dealt with by someone else. You dont need to worry about it. As for this case, from this moment on I am taking it over. Whatever you hear or guess in the future, treat it as if you know nothing, Su He said.

I cant be bothered to care anyway. Just dont forget the mission contribution points, I said with a shrug.

You wont be shortchanged, he replied. He stood to leave, then paused and said, One more thing. That Huo girl cant return to the Huo family for now. Let her go with you to Western Liang.

With that, Su He vanished, as though he had never been there.

The next day, I returned to my home in Linjiang, only to find an extra tail behind me.

Huo Sirui may have been hit hard by the blow, for not a trace of pride remained in her. She stayed silent the entire journey and did not say a single word.

I went into my parents room, while Huo Sirui went off to shower.

I sat down at the desk, picked up the photo frame, and reached out to wipe the glass.

Dad, Mom, its been so long since I properly spoke with you. Now lets have a good talk. There is so much I want to tell you, and of course, so much that confuses me. If only you could answer me... I murmured, holding the frame in both hands.

I told them about what I had experienced lately, the people I had met, and the feelings stirring in my heart.

As I spoke, a spirit emerged from the jade talisman at my chest. It was Li Ling'er, who had not appeared for some time.

I did not pay her any mind, simply kept rambling on. Truth be told, this was nothing like me at all.

Li Ling'er sat nearby with her chin resting in her hands, seeming utterly absorbed.

At that moment, Huo Sirui stood naked before the bathroom mirror, staring blankly at her reflection.

Suddenly, she reached out and touched the deep bite mark on her left breast. Even after all this time, it had not faded. On the contrary, it had become even clearer.

That scene played once more in her mind.

And so did the ten exchanges between that man and Shangguan Qinghong. The difference was an entire great realm, every strike seeming capable of destroying him, and yet he somehow rose again and again from what should have been impossible.

He coughed blood, but there was a smile at the corner of his mouth, and his gaze was like a sword.

In truth, ever since that day, she had often remembered those scenes.

Fate is ever-changing. She had fallen from the clouds, and the kinship she cherished shattered in her heart like foam. It turned out that the Huo family was not the noble, illustrious house of her imagination, a clan of loyal virtue through the generations. For a certain purpose, they could even sacrifice their own flesh and blood.

She did not know where she should go from here. Following that man might perhaps be the only sliver of light left in her heart.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone seemed to be knocking at the door outside, but no one went to open it.

Huo Sirui put on my bathrobe, glanced at the tightly closed bedroom door, and went to answer.

At the door stood a beautiful woman in business attire, her face cold and expressionless.

Who are you looking for? Huo Sirui asked.

Xu Baor stared at Huo Sirui, then suddenly turned and left without saying a word.

The moment she turned away, Xu Baoer felt her nose sting and her eyes turn sour.

She did not understand why that was, nor why she had turned and walked away so abruptly. Just as she herself did not understand why she had rushed over here to look for him in the first place.

Huo Sirui closed the door and looked thoughtfully at the bathrobe she was wearing.

By then, I had nearly finished recounting everything that had happened during this period.

Just as I was setting the frame back in its place, my fingers brushed against something raised along the back of it.

I lifted the frame before me and turned it over, opening the backing board.

Then, between the photograph and the backboard, I found a piece of animal hide, likely folded from some beast skin.

I spread it open and saw that it was incomplete. Lines were drawn across it, resembling mountains and rivers. It looked like a map.

It seems to be only a fraction of the whole. What is this supposed to be? A treasure map? I thought, taking out my phone and beginning to compare the map against mountains and rivers that might match it.

After searching for quite a while, I found nothing that lined up.

I carefully put it away. It was left behind by my parents, so it could not possibly be something useless.

Three days later, I bade farewell to the people of Group Three, then indulged in one last desperate, lingering embrace with Chi Yun, who was about to be transferred to the Ninth Bureau. After that, I set out once more for Western Liang with Huo Sirui.

I did not know that not long after I left, the eldest son of the Chi family, Chi Feng, became engaged to a mysterious woman, and kept the affair very low-key.