Chapter 518 – The Shadows Emerge, and an Unexpected Alliance - Part 2

Outside a shadowy carriage, fireflies danced lazily in the grass. Cicadas droned their summer chorus without pause.

Suddenly, someone appeared inside the carriage.

“Gucheng?” a woman called softly.

“It’s me,” Li Yuan replied.

“You’re not staying with Yu’er?” Xie Wei asked.

“She told me to focus on getting you home safely,” Li Yuan said. “She wanted me to see you settled in our new place.”

“Silly girl.” Xie Wei smiled gently.

Li Yuan said nothing more. He leaned against the carriage wall and pulled out the charred wooden token, turning it over in his hand again and again.

After playing with it for the better part of an hour, he finally figured out what it was.

It was exactly like the disciple tokens he’d seen in the cultivation stories from before he crossed into this world. This token held identity information, a communication channel, and a way to

sense

fellow disciples.

If another person nearby carried a token from the same sect, Li Yuan would be able to sense them. And they would sense him too.

Once that mutual presence was confirmed, either party could send a voice message using the token’s magical link.

The catch? Unless the other person deliberately revealed their location, you wouldn’t know where they were, only that they were close. The token didn’t show exact positions.

Still, it was something. It might come in handy.

Li Yuan tucked it away carefully.

After more than two months on the road, he and his sister-in-law finally returned to Gemhill County.

Getting into Silver Creek was relatively easy.

Xie Wei, now dressed as an ordinary woman and wearing a light disguise, attracted no attention. She also obtained a token, proof that she was a registered sixth rank martial artist qualified to cultivate in Gemhill County.

When Li Yuan finally reined in the carriage outside their old residence in Silver Creek, the red-robed beauty inside had already heard the news.

Xie Yu dashed out with excitement lighting up her face. Her lips curved in a bright smile, and her cheeks dimpled with joy.

“Sister!” Xie Yu caught her sister’s hand as she stepped down from the carriage, her voice soft and sweet. “Gucheng already told me everything. From now on, just live with us, okay?”

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

Both Li Yuan and Xie Wei spoke in unison.

Xie Yu blinked, then shot a fierce glare at her husband. “What, you have a problem with my sister now?”

“Not at all,” Li Yuan replied, helpless.

Xie Yu wasn’t done. “Since she’s here, shouldn’t you be off buying groceries and cooking something nice?”

Before he could answer, she tugged on Xie Wei’s hand again and leaned in conspiratorially. “Don’t be shy. There’s a good reason I want you to stay, there’s an excellent place for cultivation here. Easily as good as anything in the Jade Capital. We can train together from now on!”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit...inappropriate?” Xie Wei said, clearly uneasy. “You and your husband...”

“He never comes to the training spot anyway,” Xie Yu said, brushing it off. “It’ll be just the two of us, training together, shopping together, and even sleeping together!”

“I, what about the two of you?”

“He can sleep on another bed.”

The two sisters had been apart for so long that their reunion felt like a dream.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Xie Yu, giddy with joy, dragged her sister under the apricot blossom tree.

Xie Wei immediately sensed the dense blood energy in the air.

“This is Gucheng’s old home?” she asked softly.

“That’s right.” Xie Yu nodded.

Xie Wei fell quiet for a moment, then smiled. “This place...really is wonderful.”

That very day, the two of them began cultivating there.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan went shopping. He brought back pork ribs, lake fish, and a few varieties of mushrooms, and then started cooking.

In the kitchen, he wielded an extraordinarily heavy, high-density cleaver. Each cut wasn’t just a chop, it was a skill in itself. The same immense forces of expansion and compression that powered his deadly martial arts were now hidden within the rhythm of daily cooking, each motion of the blade a quiet echo of world-shaking power.

By evening, the dishes were ready. Mushroom soup. Braised ribs. Pan-fried fish. Simple, home-style fare. But to Xie Yu and Xie Wei, it was a feast.

The Empress Dowager had dined for decades on rare delicacies from across the Great Zhou Empire. But now, sitting in this humble home, she realized nothing compared to a warm bowl of rice and a homemade meal.

She ate several bowls. Even the cold, calculating sharpness that had always lingered in the corners of her eyes softened, replaced by something unmistakably warm.

After dinner, Li Yuan quietly cleaned up, his thoughts drifting toward how he might incorporate the power of the withered flame into his still-unfinished blade skill.

Xie Yu, on the other hand, dragged her sister off to go shopping.

The two of them stayed out late, and when they finally returned, they were faced with a very real, very awkward problem.

Where would everyone sleep?

This was an old house. Aside from the small courtyard, the back garden, and the kitchen hall, there was only one bedroom.

And the kitchen hall was far too narrow for sleeping.

“I’ll get a room at an inn,” Li Yuan offered.

“Absolutely not,” the two women said in unison.

“I’ll stay at the inn,” Xie Wei offered instead. “Tomorrow I’ll find a place next door to rent.”

“No way,” Xie Yu objected. “The neighbors are packed in tight. If you want to rent something, you’ll have to go much farther out. It’d be totally inconvenient.”

The three of them fell silent.

Then Xie Yu said brightly, “The bed’s pretty big. I’ll sleep in the middle. Sister, you take the left side, Gucheng the right. Just for tonight! Tomorrow we’ll go looking together, okay?”

“No way!”

“Absolutely not!”

Li Yuan and Xie Wei rejected the idea in perfect sync.

Both of them looked distinctly guilty under Xie Yu’s gaze, like two cats caught red-pawed sneaking fish from the kitchen.

“Fine then. Gucheng, you can sleep on the floor.” Xie Yu pouted.

“...” Li Yuan didn’t protest. There wasn’t much he could say.

Truthfully, he was a little nervous tonight. He glanced up at Xie Wei, only to find that the ever-composed, politically shrewd Empress Dowager was just as flustered.

Suddenly, Xie Yu narrowed her eyes and gave him a suspicious look. “You two...”

“What about us...?” Li Yuan blinked innocently.

Xie Yu turned to Xie Wei, blinking dramatically. “Sister...aren’t you feeling a little warm?”

Xie Wei took a deep breath, grabbed her younger sister’s hand, and forced a bright laugh.

“What nonsense are you imagining now? I’m the sitting Empress Dowager of the Great Zhou Empire, even fallen from grace, I wouldn't turn around and climb into bed with my own sister’s husband, would I? Would I? Surely not, right? Hahaha...”

She let out a tinkling laugh, eyes gleaming as she looked at Xie Yu.

“Looks like you really did pick the right man. Just look how nervous he is!”

Li Yuan played along, feigning shock. “Wait, Yu’er...you thought I would...with...”

“Alright, alright, stop it!” Xie Yu folded instantly, no match for the two sly old foxes. She was thoroughly bamboozled.

After that initial turbulence, both Li Yuan and Xie Wei slipped seamlessly back into their roles. Now that the stage was set, there was no way they’d let the younger sister sniff out anything suspicious again.

“You two can have the bed tonight. I’ll go outside and practice with my blade. Tomorrow, I’ll build a small shed nearby. Sister-in-law, you can stay there. That solves everything,” Li Yuan said.

“Okay...just be careful.” Xie Yu’s face softened, her hand gently resting over her belly. “You’re going to be a father.”

“Huh..?.” Li Yuan froze, and so did Xie Wei. They both turned their eyes toward her belly.

Li Yuan stepped forward and pulled Xie Yu into his embrace.

Beside them, Xie Wei smiled softly. She let out a long breath, half relief, half resignation, and quietly made a promise to herself. She would cut this doomed entanglement clean. She could not allow herself to fall for that man again.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A few days passed.

Leaves began to yellow. The weather grew cooler.

Gentle warm snow drifted down from the skies, and the fields rang with laughter as farmers harvested their crops beneath the falling flakes.

Then, news arrived from afar.

The Emperor had formed an alliance with the neighbouring six kingdoms. Together, their armies were marching south to hold back the barbarians.

Strangely, after seizing the lands east of Sword Mountain, the barbarians abruptly stopped advancing, as if they were waiting for something.

A small black crow landed on Li Yuan’s shoulder, chirping away excitedly. “There are still dual-entity ghost domains east of Sword Mountain. Naran is using a taboo skill to fracture the domains and absorb their Yin energy to strengthen himself. His method, it’s definitely from the Deathless Tomb. One of their fission arts. Once Sword Mountain is dealt with, he’ll keep heading north.”

“Mhmm.” Li Yuan nodded slightly.

The crow continued, “I’ve also been studying the Heaven Soul Grand Formation! It’s seriously complicated, requires two hearts beating as one to activate it properly. It’s really tough for anyone else to learn, but for me? Hah! Child’s play.”

Li Yuan gave the little crow a fond pat on the head. “My Sheng’er is amazing.”

The crow beamed with pride and kept chattering. “That old geezer keeps asking me to help him again. And Meng Xingxian’s been coming to visit all the time too. Every time, she’s begging me to come out of seclusion.

“Heehee, Papa, your daughter has lots of nicknames now!”

“Crowmother, Lady Divine Crow...”

“Even Sixth Mama bows politely when she sees me!”

The little black crow was chattering happily when she suddenly tilted her head and asked, “Oh right, Papa, is Sixth Mama going to have a baby?”

“Mhm...” Li Yuan nodded.

The crow went on, “Mama said she wants to help raise the child. She says her humanity is rooted in her bond with family, and she hopes this baby will grow close to her too.”

Li Yuan replied, “Alright. When the time comes, just pass on the decree from Yan Yu to your Sixth Mother directly. She’ll come ask me about it, and I’ll convince her.”

He was casually chatting with his daughter, but his mind was elsewhere, distant and distracted. Then, during a lull in the crow’s babbling, he asked abruptly, “Has the King of Chu been around lately?”

“Yup! He drops by to visit Xiang Yan whenever he has free time.”

“Then pull out every single temple guard he’s had contact with,” Li Yuan said suddenly, his voice turning cold. “Bring them all through your mother’s Ghost Prison.”

The little crow froze mid-squawk, blinking. “Papa, what’s wrong?”

“Do you know how the Empress Dowager lost her power?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“You’re old enough now. I’ll tell you.”

Then, Li Yuan laid it all out—how the young Emperor had been systematically ensnared, and how the Empress Dowager was stripped of power. The most unnerving part?

Everyone

around the Emperor had been lying in unison. That kind of orchestration was unnatural. And when Li Yuan later discussed it with Xie Wei, he learned that even some of her most trusted confidants had been part of the deception.

It didn’t sit right.

“Got it, Papa. I’ll ask Old White to handle it.”

“Old Bai?”

“White Impermanence, obviously!”

That very night, Xie Qing’an found an excuse to gather 35 temple guards and stroll with them around the outskirts of the Ghost Prison. Then he quietly dispersed them.

From a nearby mountaintop, Li Yuan leaned against an ancient locust tree and watched the whole thing unfold.

The little crow sat perched on his shoulder, relaying messages as they came.

The report was simple. Nothing suspicious. Every one of them was clean.

“...” Li Yuan frowned slightly. Then he said, “Sheng’er, send some of your crows to the northern side of Sword Mountain. Use that fission art the old man taught you. Devour all the meat fields in the area. Push yourself into the second stage of the Heaven Soul Realm, and once you're there, activate the grand formation. Help your brother take the Central Plains.”

“Huh?” The little crow blinked, momentarily stunned.

Li Yuan chuckled. “Bad people aren’t scary. What’s scary are bad people who stay hidden in the dark. If he won’t come out, we’ll force him to.”

“But if we do force him out...what then?” the crow asked, tapping her glossy beak with the tip of her wing. Her round, jet-black eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“If he shows himself, that becomes the problem of the Deathless Tomb. Not ours. We’ll just watch from the sidelines, and maybe get stronger using their resources while we’re at it. Of course...if we have to make a move, we will. But when that time comes, ask me first.”

“Ooh! Papa is soooo evil and clever!” The little crow was overjoyed.