Chapter 9: The Clue of the Orange Thread

"Die!"

With a flourish of the Purple Phoenix Twin Spirit Blades, Ye Ziyan leaped up, forgetting that the frost poison had only just been purged and her body remained stiff.

"Thud."

Her leap traced a graceful arc, only to end in an unceremonious fall.

The Yuwen family squad leader let out a mocking laugh. "The little princess of the former Chen, surrender obediently."

"Thump, thump." Several figures emerged from behind, all armed with crossbows and waist-slung steel blades, their eyes gleaming with excitement. "Take her alive!"

"Go!"

Ling Xuan roared, driving the black and white needles. The black needle stirred up a wisp of dark mist, while the white needle carried flees of frost.

"A Lesser Zhou-Tian practitioner trying to join the fray?" The Yuwen leader didn't even glance their way. With a flicker of his blade and two sharp clangs, the needles were knocked away, vanishing into the flowing water.

"This..." Ling Xuan was stunned. The treasures he had just acquired, gone just like that?

"Wasteful!" Ye Ziyan was speechless. Was that really how one used the black and white needles? Better to not use them at all.

Her heart ached, but the situation was dire. She didn't even know the opponent's cultivation level, and she was currently unable to move. As for herself, she was only a Lesser Zhou-Tian, and a newly minted one at that—what could she possibly do?

Enduring the pain, Ling Xuan picked up the crimson needle. The Taiji pearl he had just condensed burst, and the yin and yang energies instantly flooded forth, forming a Lesser Zhou-Tian cycle. A Taiji diagram emerged in his palm, and the yin and yang serpents spun to create a vortex, which Ling Xuan violently flung outward.

"Still trying?" The Yuwen leader laughed, shouting, "Fire!"

"Whoosh!" The arrows flew on command.

With a chime, the crimson needle fell, landing perfectly into the eye of the Yang fish.

A surge of energy erupted. The previously listless little white snake suddenly snapped its eyes open, sprang up, and dove into the pool.

"You're running too?" Ling Xuan was dumbfounded. Was the little snake acting on its own initiative, taking advantage of the chaos to escape?

"Take them alive!" the squad leader roared. "Send them back to Luoyang; there will be heavy rewards!"

Before the words had even died away, a deafening "boom" echoed.

The pool water boiled. A fire serpent, wreathed in a cloud of mist, surged out. With a lash of its tail, three Sui soldiers were swept into the depths. Its maw opened wide, swallowing the laughing Yuwen leader in one gulp, causing the Demon-Suppressing Disk to fall to the ground.

"A Great Shikigami?"

The remaining men, seeing the tide turn, dropped their crossbows and scrambled away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ye Ziyan struggled to her feet. She bit Ling Xuan’s finger, and as her blood touched the Purple Phoenix Twin Spirit Blades embedded in her purple jade phoenix hair ornament, they transformed into a short purple bow. Wrapped in the phantom of a purple phoenix, this was none other than the legendary Purple Phoenix Treasure Bow of the former Chen.

Purple light flickered. The purple phoenix spiraled upward, emitting a high, piercing cry. Crimson arrows, entwined with wisps of purple light, flew forth in rapid succession.

The Spirit Serpent Coiling the Moon mark on her chest pulsed with heat. Before her eyes appeared a vision of a woman in palace attire, carving purple patterns onto the neck of an infant in swaddling clothes, handing the child to Elder Chu with a solemn charge: "Do not let the Nine Phoenixes find her, or her life will be forfeit."

"Mother..." Ye Ziyan’s tears fell as she whispered in a trembling voice.

"Is this the Empress of the former Chen?" Ling Xuan was lost in a daze. Suddenly, a sharp pain flared in his right arm, as if something were burrowing out. He looked down to see a crimson snake mark emerging, and his face turned pale. "How is it manifesting demonic energy?"

When the squad leader had ambushed them, one had appeared; now there was another. His arm already bore two snake marks.

The moment the fire serpent vanished, the little white snake darted back, holding the black, white, and crimson needles in its mouth like a serpent's tongue. It deposited them into the needle case, curled its body, and lay atop the crimson snake mark.

Threads of energy, breathed in and out by the little white snake, permeated the snake mark and flowed into his body. Ling Xuan was astonished. Was this what the Bearded Stranger meant when he said the little snake could help him improve his cultivation?

All nine Sui soldiers had fallen. The Purple Phoenix Treasure Bow split back into the jade ornament and the twin blades. Ye Ziyan hurried over and crouched down. "Are you alright?"

"My lady, could you pick a different place to bite next time? I need these fingers to use the needles!" Seeing Ye Ziyan glare at him, Ling Xuan added, "Or... maybe my lip?"

With a soft "click," the bronze star disk projected a phantom image of Elder Chu. "Slaughter a city to save one, or kill one to save a city?"

"What does that mean?"

Ling Xuan was dazed. Was this really his grandfather?

His grandfather had taught him since childhood that a healer must use a benevolent heart to guide the needles, and that one should control the soul, not enslave it.

He was currently afflicted with the Spirit Serpent Coiling the Moon curse. Although the Bearded Stranger called it a Great Shikigami, he faced the constant risk of demonic corruption, and his arm already bore two crimson marks.

This was what Ye Ziyan meant when she said he couldn't actively mobilize his yin and yang energies within twelve hours.

Yet, if he hadn't mobilized them, the fire serpent wouldn't have appeared to save them.

The fire serpent was formed by the little snake drawing the earth-fire energy from the Yang fish eye, guided by the crimson needle and reflected by the crescent moon birthmark. Ling Xuan understood this clearly, but he also knew it was a sign of his demonic corruption.

Was the choice Elder Chu presented a reflection of his own future demonic state?

After a moment of contemplation, he replied, "Needles divide yin and yang, people have good and evil. Use a benevolent heart to guide the needles, and save oneself from tribulation."

As the words fell, the phantom of Elder Chu dissolved into small characters: "To break the Dark Ice, find all nine needles."

As the characters vanished, the Benevolent Heart needle case drifted slowly, hovering before Ling Xuan as if awaiting inspection.

Ye Ziyan watched with joy. "The needle case has recognized its master? Can the Dark Ice Curse be broken?"

The moment her fingertip touched it, the case turned as hot as a branding iron. The crimson needle hummed, and the silver snake relief on it suddenly raised its head, breaking its bonds. It touched the bronze star disk, etching five words: "Orange needle, appears in Luoyang."

They did not know that the moment the needle case recognized its master, the fallen Demon-Suppressing Disk shattered, and a wisp of black mist escaped, fleeing rapidly.

Outside, a falcon shrieked and flew off, heading straight for the imperial capital, Luoyang.

Ye Ziyan’s purple eyes flashed, and her expression changed drastically. "We must leave, now."

"Find Grandfather first, then the orange needle!"

Clutching the needle case, Ling Xuan discovered a purple-gold token hidden behind it. He quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into his tunic.

With a thunderous roar, just as they emerged from the water, the underground cavern collapsed, and the pool formed a massive whirlpool.

The Spirit Serpent Coiling the Moon suddenly burned with heat. Within the one-eyed vertical pupil of the snake mark and the crescent birthmark, the image of his grandfather appeared, playing a game of chess against someone. The pieces were engraved with the character "Yuwen."

But the person opposite him was shrouded in a golden python robe, their face a blurred, indistinct haze.

"Plop." Ye Ziyan dropped to her knees, bowing heavily. "Father, if your spirit is in heaven, protect us as we seek the nine needles to break the Dark Ice Curse, release the Purple Phoenix, and save Mother."

Ling Xuan reached out, but his mind flashed with the image of a giant purple claw tearing through a crimson serpent. He froze. Was he destined to die at her hands?

"Grumble." His stomach voiced its protest at that moment.

"Hold it in," she scolded softly, but as soon as she spoke, Ye Ziyan’s stomach chimed in with a growl of its own.

To make matters worse, the aroma of roasting meat drifted to their noses, setting their hunger into a frenzy.

"Come and eat, lest you have no strength to run," a voice boomed with a laugh from the woods.

Ye Ziyan jumped up, her face changing. "Run!"

"Can you escape?"

A burly old man stepped out of the woods, stroking his long beard, his face full of smiles as he looked at them.

Ling Xuan quickly bowed, shielding the little white snake. "Sir, my wife and I are lost."

"Heading to the Demon-Suppressing Abyss, that is truly being lost," the old man laughed.

"Demon-Suppressing Abyss? What is that? Is there some misunderstanding, sir?" Ling Xuan bluffed, not knowing where else to find his grandfather. "We are just going to Jiangdu to visit relatives."

The old man nodded with a smile. "Jiangdu is a long way off; you’ll need to eat more, or how will you ever catch up to your grandfather?"

"Who are you?"

Ling Xuan was stunned. How did this old man know Elder Chu? Wasn't his grandfather summoned to the Demon-Suppressing Abyss by some prince? Why would he be detouring to Jiangdu?

"Twice you triggered the power of the little white snake to save yourselves," the old man laughed. "You carry my token in your tunic, yet you don't know who I am?"

What? The little snake’s power was triggered by him? No wonder he had felt a surge of energy earlier.

Pulling out the purple-gold token and seeing the characters on it, Ling Xuan was shocked. "You are the Prince of Changping?"

"Indeed. I am Qiu Rui. I swore a blood oath with your father and am your uncle by marriage," Qiu Rui said, nodding. "But the one who summoned your grandfather was not I, but the Prince of Kaoshan."

The Prince of Kaoshan?

In his memory, the man was loyal to the Great Sui. If he had summoned his grandfather now, was it for Ye Ziyan’s sake? If so, the situation was dire indeed.

Qiu Rui, like the Prince of Kaoshan, was one of the nine legendary elders who founded the Sui Dynasty. Yet, in his memory, this Prince of Changping was also a former general of the Chen.

Since he already knew his grandfather’s identity, his life in hiding, and had come specifically for them—even stooping to swear a blood oath with his father—could it be that he, too, was involved in the matter of the former Chen princess?

Seeing the token of the Prince of Changping hidden behind the needle case, it was clear he knew exactly what had happened in the cavern. Ling Xuan tightened his grip, picked up a blade of grass, and chewed it. "Uncle, are you here to take advantage of our misfortune?"

"Why are you heading to Jiangdu?" Qiu Rui asked with interest. "That old drunkard, the Bearded Stranger, took the great white snake out of the Demon-Suppressing Abyss, and the Prince of Kaoshan is heading to Jiangdu. Do you know what that implies?"

Qiu Rui looked up at the sky and held out his hand. A green falcon swooped down.

"Screech..."

The cry was piercing and high. Its feathers were a mix of green and white as it circled the three of them. Its bright eyes fixed intently on Ling Xuan’s arm.

Ling Xuan’s face turned deathly pale. Qiu Rui had seen everything they had experienced along the way; he knew about the Great Shikigami and Ye Ziyan’s identity.

Was the Prince of Kaoshan heading to Jiangdu to hunt down the Bearded Stranger, or to confirm his grandfather’s identity as the former imperial physician of the Chen?

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his racing heart. He spat out the bitter grass. "Uncle, are you here to take us to the capital to claim a reward?"