Chapter 40: Past Events (Part 1) Turned Upside Down

  Xuan Zhen followed closely behind, carrying the Zi Xuan imperial sword. Before long, they arrived at the center of the mountain valley. At this point, there were gradually more houses, and everywhere could be seen men and women tending to poisonous substances in the fields. As they flew over a vacant lot, many elderly people with advanced age could be seen gathered together, with many jars placed beside them, emitting black vapors. There were also many young people carrying large baskets filled with beautiful flowers and grasses, which seemed to be used for brewing poison.

  The five-colored mist that Li Qianying was standing on flew over the heads of those black witches and went straight to the largest house in the middle of the valley, without stopping for a moment. Along the way, those tribesmen saw it and immediately stopped their work, saluting with their hands on their chests.

  "Why did those people do that?" Xuan Zhen asked after seeing it.

  Zi Xuan tightly grasped his sleeve from behind him, struggling to steady herself while laughing and saying: "That's the etiquette of our Wu tribe, when treating elders or those of higher status, one must do so in this manner."

  Xuan Zhen glanced at her and suddenly smiled: "So you also often show people this courtesy?"

  "No, no! It's just that they often pay their respects to me." Meanwhile, Xuan Zhen didn't notice the even more determined look in Xuān Zhèn's eyes after hearing this.

  The two followed behind and arrived in front of the large wooden house built on high ground in the valley, with an altar in front. The door was wide open, revealing a statue of the goddess Nüwa inside. Lian Qianhe had probably already entered the house, leaving only a five or six-year-old boy standing there waiting for them. As soon as Zi Xuan saw him, he pointed at the child's face and exclaimed, "Ah, another dead man's face! You must be the son of a dead man's face, right? Haha, little dead man's face!"

  Xuan Zhen couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, saying: "Zi Xuan, stop bullying little kids."

  That little boy brushed away the purple grass on his face, glared at her impatiently, and turned to face Xuan Zhen with a straight face: "I'm Li Jiangliu, the son of Da Wu Zhu. My dad told me to wait for you here, follow me." He then turned around and walked towards the back of the wooden house.

  Behind the house, there was originally a small courtyard, and in the courtyard, there was also a piece of land that had been opened up, on which many poisonous flowers and grasses were planted. The colors were more gorgeous than those planted by the witch tribe outside, and the toxicity was obviously stronger. Lijiang River brought them walking past the field, occasionally turning his head to glance at Zixuan, with a somewhat suspicious and vigilant look in his eyes, apparently afraid that she would casually pull out his precious poisonous grass.

  Xuan Zhen turned his head and smiled secretly, glanced at Zi Xuan's gaze staring back at the little boy, and quickly cleared his throat, pushing her to walk forward.

  Li Qianying was already sitting in the main hall waiting when they arrived at the small cottage at the end of the courtyard. As soon as Zi Xuan stepped across the threshold, he heard Li say: "Descendant of Nüwa, you've come here today, I'm afraid Sheng Gu doesn't know about it?"

  Zi Xuan's footsteps paused for a moment, then quickly walked towards an empty chair. Only when she sat down did she smile and say: "I'm already so big, can't I come out and see what's fun outside? The Puppet Granny definitely won't blame me." Before Lian Qianyu could say anything else, she deliberately pouted her small mouth and hummed, "The things your clansmen did to me without courtesy, I haven't even blamed them for yet. You're actually coming to control me? Hmph, if it weren't for the people of your Black Witch clan losing the treasure that Nüwa Niangniang left for me back then, I wouldn't be restricted by Granny and stuck in the temple either!"

  Li Qian's face was slightly gloomy, and he remained silent. Li Jiangliu saw that his father was being scolded by a little girl and couldn't even retort back, standing aside feeling very discontent. He glared at Zi Xuan several times, but didn't expect that Zi Xuan wouldn't back down either. She raised her chin and glared back at him. The two of them exchanged fierce stares, and naturally, they didn't bother to speak anymore.

  Xuan Zhen sat down beside her, his eyes casually returning from the two children to say: "Li Wu Zhu, if it weren't for Zi Xuan's young lady this time, I'm afraid Xuan Zhen would have been buried in this ancient forest of Nanjiang. At such a young age, she has survived well in this place with many poisonous things, and it seems that going elsewhere won't be a big deal."

  Zi Xuan's face lit up with approval, nodding repeatedly. Lijiang Liu, standing beside his father's chair, suddenly rolled his eyes again.

  Li Qian shook his head and stopped talking, saying: "Forget it, I'm a black witch tribe member, it's not convenient for me to ask more about the White Witch Tribe." His gaze circled around the long sword on his back a few times, but he couldn't help asking, "Xuan Zhen Dao Zhang, that hilt... can you take it off and let me see?"

  Xuan Zhen naturally had no objections, and immediately handed over the wooden knife with a small pendant. Li Qianying took it in her hand, stroking the carved patterns on the wooden knife with her fingers, flipping it back and forth several times. A hint of surprise and sadness gradually rose in her eyes as she murmured: "It's really it, it's really it!"

  Lijiang Liu stood beside him and also took a few glances, at this time curiously said: "Dad, isn't this the pendant that you've been hiding in the box and not allowing anyone to touch?" As she spoke, her suspicious and vigilant gaze was divided by half towards Xuanzhen, with an expression on her face that seemed to say "it's no wonder that a bad woman's friend is also not a good person". Xuanzhen could only smile wryly in response.

  "Huh?" Zi Xuan also leaned forward to take a look, "That pendant has always been hanging on Xuān Zhèn's sword hilt, and he didn't come here before, it's impossible for him to have taken the dead man's thing... Ah, I remember now, I thought this pendant looked similar to the one on the dead man's face earlier, could they be from the same person?"

  Li Qianru shook his head and let out a long sigh, the sound of which had already melted away his usual indifference. "This pendant is one of only two in this world, where can it be bought?" He spoke with a sense of helplessness, gazing at the pendant in his hand with an expression of nostalgia and trepidation. Xuan Zhen saw this and was even more perplexed - although the wooden dagger pendant was somewhat special, it didn't seem like anything particularly rare or precious. As the great witch doctor of the Southern Wilderness Black Witch tribe, what treasure couldn't Li Qianru obtain? Why did he place such importance on this small thing?

  Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wonder: "Li Wu Zhu, this pendant only has two, could it be that they are extremely precious... is there some great magical power within?"

  This question made Li Qianyu involuntarily laugh, shaking his head: "It's just an ordinary pendant, the craftsmanship is not very good... but the person who made it put in a lot of effort, running through the entire Sacred Wood Forest to find two branches that grew together on one trunk, cutting them down and carving for months before they took shape. The five-colored silk thread was also personally bought by her from the White Witch tribe's market, and there is a hidden name in this pattern..." He stroked the small wooden knife with floral patterns on one side, whispering softly, "One is carved with 'Qian', one is carved with... carved with 'He'."

  Zi Xuan and Xuan Zhen stared at him blankly, only vaguely understanding that the wooden knife pendant didn't have any extraordinary magical powers. On the other hand, Li Jiang Liu was extremely clever, opening a pair of bright phoenix eyes in surprise and saying: "Crane...Li Qian He? Father, is it Auntie?"

  After a while, Li Qianhe nodded and said in a low voice: "What Jiang Liu said is true. The one who carved this wooden knife and gave me the pendant is... my own sister, Li Qianhe."

  "Who is Lian Qianhe?" Xuan Zhen searched his mind for a long time, but he had never remembered seeing a woman named Lian Qianhe before. He could only look at Lian Qianyu with suspicion and ask: "That... can I see her?"

  Li Qianyu slowly shook his head, with even more sorrow and pain in his eyes. He spoke extremely slowly and softly: "My sister... she's been dead for twelve years."

  At this time, everyone else in the house was shocked, and Zi Xuan furrowed her brow: "Twelve years..." Suddenly enlightened, she exclaimed, "Could it be that one time —"

  "Exactly!" Lian Qiu interrupted her coldly, with two flames suddenly burning in his eyes. "That thing may have passed for twelve years, but in my heart it can never be forgotten. Twelve years ago, a traitor emerged from our Black Witch clan, and to speak of it is shameful - he was even my cousin, named Lian Sha."

  "What about the name of that uncle who was crossed out in the family tree?" Lijiang Liu interjected, a look of surprise on his small face, "But Grandpa said he violated the family rules and..."

  "This shameful thing can't be made public. He didn't just break the clan rules, he committed a great sin and was expelled from the Black Witch Clan." Li Qianyu said with hatred, "My Black Witch Clan has always been on good terms with the White Witch Clan, if it wasn't for him... Hmph, I suppose Sheng Gu has already told the Nuwa descendant about what happened back then. That Li Cha took advantage of their interactions and actually snuck into the Nuwa Temple, stealing the White Witch Clan's most precious treasure - the Five Spirits Pearl!"

  Zi Xuan nodded repeatedly beside him: "Right, right! The puppet granny also said so. At that time, I was seriously ill and she was busy taking care of me. Unnoticed for a moment, the traitor from the Black Witch tribe took advantage of it."

  "Li Cang took the Five Spirits Pearl, which only the descendants of Nüwa could possess, and knowing he wouldn't be tolerated by the Southern Barbarian tribe, he secretly escaped to the Central Plains. When our tribe heard about this, we naturally felt ashamed towards the White Tribe, so we sent out five young experts to capture him, including my sister and me." Li Qianyu recalled the events of many years ago, a hint of excitement appearing on his usually calm face. "The Central Plains were vast, we chased for half a month, from south to north, until we finally found Li Cang's trail in front of a mountain... but it was thanks to a young boy that we were able to catch up to him..."

  Li Qian turned her gaze to Xuanyin's face, and said seriously: "It has been a long time, and it was just a chance encounter. I don't remember the young man's appearance very clearly... But there is one thing that I remember very clearly. On that day, the young man pointed out the direction of Li Jie's escape to us, helping us greatly. My sister took off the wooden knife pendant hanging from her belt and gave it to him as a thank you gift... This wooden knife pendant is this object." As she spoke, she returned the small wooden knife pendant.

  Xuan Zhen took it with a stunned expression, but his mind was a complete blank. Twelve years ago... wasn't it also twelve years ago that he went to Kunlun Mountain? However, no matter how hard he racked his brains, the events of that year only remained as a vast expanse of fog in his memory, dense and impenetrable. Even with vague shadows constantly flashing by, he couldn't recall whether such a thing had happened before.

  On the side, Zi Xuan saw him staring blankly, still thinking about that unfinished past, and hurriedly asked: "What happened later, did you kill that fierce Jie?"

  Lethal Thousand Crane gazed at Xuan Zhen for a moment before continuing slowly, "That night, we ambushed him on the mountain pass. Coincidentally, the expert sent by the White Witch tribe also arrived, and with both sides attacking simultaneously, Lethal Slasher was naturally unable to withstand it. But that scoundrel! Seeing he couldn't win, he used the Five Spirits Pearl as bait, casting a spell to make the five pearls fly in different directions, giving himself an opportunity to escape!"

  "Did he escape then?" Zi Xuan hastily asked.

  "Bandits may escape at any time, and the Five Spirit Pearls have already flown to different places. At this point, we are all hesitant and do not know whether to split up to find the Five Spirit Pearls or continue fighting against Lian Shi. When Lian Shi saw that our offensive had stopped, he immediately wanted to break out of the battle circle. My sister was afraid that he would run away and embarrass our Black Witch clan in front of the White Witch clan, so she rushed forward to block his way... but Lian Shi is the number one master of my clan, how can she alone withstand him?"

  "Could it be..." Xuan Zhen was about to ask, but a glance at the little boy's eyes revealed a sorrowful expression, and he had already guessed the outcome of Lie Qianhe.

  "I was persuading the White Witch tribe to join forces with us to kill Lie Cuo, and my sister wasn't by my side. How could I rush over to protect her? At that time, the red light emitted from Lie Cuo's hands illuminated half of the sky like a wildfire, and my sister... she was pierced through the chest right in front of me by that evil thief! Lie Qian Yu gazed fixedly ahead, his eyes filled with anger and sorrow as if piercing through space and time, once again returning to the night twelve years ago when his younger sister died. "As soon as my sister died, I and the other three made up our minds to avenge her no matter what. But those White Witch tribe people... they only had their hearts set on the five spirit pearls, and didn't care about my sister's death at all! When we four attacked, they took advantage of the opportunity to turn around and leave, abandoning us and my sister's corpse behind!"

  P.S. This chapter doesn't mean to discriminate against the White Tribe, after all, that tribe has produced lovely women like Zhao Ling'er and Lin Qing'er. However, it seems that the people of the White Tribe cherish Nuwa's relics too much, which led to this result, so I've intensified the conflict a bit...