Chapter 2262: Seven-Colored Deer

It did not take long for Progenitor Smoke to lead the two people to the mountain that held Long Ke’s home. There, they found a solemn and majestic palace that fully demonstrated the strength and prestige of the White Dragon Clan.

Lu Yin preferred locations that were more in tune with nature and did not particularly care for such ostentatious designs. Still, there was no denying that such a design delivered a specific message and could even function as a deterrent.

There was no one to be seen in the palace’s main hall. The place was bleak and cold.

From what Lu Yin could see, the hall should be extremely lively, full of guards, maids, and more. But with Long Ke missing, everyone else had seemingly vanished as well.

"I don't like this place," Long Xi slowly said as she stood within the main hall. Her voice echoed throughout the large room. If Progenitor Smoke had not confirmed that there was nothing to worry about, Lu Yin never would have allowed anyone to speak so loudly.

This place was meant to be the core of one of the four ruling powers. It was the home of the patriarch of the White Dragon Clan.

"This place is too cold," Long Xi stated softly.

Lu Yin commented, "There should have been many people filling this place before. But because your father’s missing, there’s no one here now."

Long Xi shook her head before looking over at Lu Yin. Her eyes were filled with conflicting emotions. "That has nothing to do with how cold this place is, as the people that filled this place were too cold as well."

He looked around the hall. "Our family line stole the position of the main family, but we didn’t live here before that. We only moved here after the main family disappeared. My father had this place built and moved in with me and Long Tian. When we moved in, he told me that everything had changed and that I could go wherever I wanted on Dragon Mountain without Fourth Sister escorting me.

"But I liked it better when Fourth Sister was around and when she would take me with her."

Lu Yin sighed. "Long Tian certainly liked what your father said."

Long Xi replied, "His reaction has nothing to do with me. All I knew when I saw this place was that I couldn’t stay here for even a single day."

"So you moved back to the Middle Realm to live?" Lu Yin asked.

Long Xi nodded. "Where’s the place you’re looking for? I’m not very familiar with this place."

Following Long Ke's memories, Lu Yin approached the seventh pillar in the rear of the palace’s main hall. Long Ke’s personal treasury had not been hidden in some remote location, as that was unnecessary. According to Long Ke’s thoughts, the main hall was safer than any sort of hidden area, as the main hall represented the White Dragon Clan, as well as the clan’s main family. As long as Long Ke did not give permission, no one could access the main hall.

On top of that, without his blood, it was impossible for even the guards and protectors to access the patriarch’s hidden wealth.

"Your father certainly knows how to choose a hiding place," Lu Yin said as he pointed to the bottom of the pillar.

Long Xi was not surprised at all. "That’s just how he is."

She then raised a hand, and a drop of blood landed on the stone pillar.

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered as he watched the pillar rise up while the space beneath it started to ripple. This was a hidden world.

In the Fifth Mainland, hidden worlds were mostly used for certain families or powerful groups in the Neoverse to have a safe and protected headquarters, but that was not how they were used in the Perennial World. Instead, the people of the Perennial World preferred to use hidden worlds to protect their wealth. While the Perennial World was a dangerous place, it did not face the same sort of danger as the Neoverse’s Honor Zone. In the Fifth Mainland, entire forces could easily be exterminated if they were not protected within the Neoverse’s Honor Zone. The Fifth Mainland was overseen by the Hall of Honor, but the Hall of Honor was not capable of protecting the entire Fifth Mainland. Things were very different in the Perennial World.

Throughout the past and present, regardless of whether the Perennial World was ruled by the Lu family or the Celestial Frost Sect and the rest of the four ruling powers, the existence of powerful forces such as the Liu and Nong families meant that there was a greater degree of safety and stability within the Perennial World, as the threat was mostly concentrated at the rear battlefield. This meant that hidden worlds were not nearly as important in the Perennial World.

They were not even used to transport troops, as the rear battlefield had other measures that had been used for countless years.

Lu Yin entered the hidden world that was used as a treasury. It was a very small hidden world, so it did not take long for Lu Yin to search through the entire place.

Long Ke had not saved vast amounts of personal wealth, and Lu Yin only found a bit more than two billion star essence. There were other things as well, but nothing that Lu Yin would bother Enhancing to a useful level. He had not wanted to take Long Ke’s personal wealth because of its size, but simply because it was available and better than nothing.

Still, Long Ke had not been the White Dragon Clan’s patriarch for very long, so he had not had the opportunity to gather much wealth.

Lu Yin and Long Xi soon left the main hall. Long Xi asked Progenitor Smoke to take her to her old residence, though that was not the house beside the Hidden Dragon Lake where Lu Yin had briefly stayed.

Hidden Dragon Lake was a place where only direct descendants of the White Dragon Clan were allowed to live. Lu Yin had stayed there briefly under the identity of Long Qi, which had suggested that he had been accepted as a member of the White Dragon Clan’s main family, gaining a greater status. That had also been when Grandmaster Qiu Ling had been asked to accept Long Qi as her apprentice, and the name of Long Qi had grown famous throughout the entire Perennial World.

At that time, Long Qi had certainly possessed the qualifications to live beside Hidden Dragon Lake.

Before that, the place had been Long Xi’s residence, and before her, it had been Long Tian’s home.

Long Xi wanted to visit the place on Dragon Mountain where she had lived before her family stole the position of the clan’s main family. She was most eager to visit that more remote location.

It was another mountain peak, but it was much, much shorter and less impressive than the peak where Long Ke had built his palace. Still, the old family home was also rather close to the blood pool.

The area that surrounded the blood pool, including Long Ke’s palace and the location used for the clan’s ceremony of worshiping the ancestors, was all part of Dragon Mountain’s core. The closer to the center of the mountain one was, the higher the importance of the location.

Long Ke’s branch family had not replaced the main family through pure luck. Long Ke had been the patriarch of the strongest branch family, and they had even surpassed Long Quan’s branch.

When Long Ke had overthrown and replaced the White Dragon Clan’s main family, his family line had abandoned their ancestral home.

He refused to look back, and he insisted on only looking to the future. The fact that Long Ke had hidden his personal treasury in the hall built to house the White Dragon Clan’s main family was enough to show the man’s determination.

The entire mountain was deserted. Long Xi walked ahead of Lu Yin and Progenitor Smoke, visiting familiar courtyards, looking at the flowers and trees she had known years ago, and even seeing many cute, but strange, animals.

Lu Yin glanced to the right. He saw a huge, cat-like creature bounding over. It did not attack, but it simply ran to Long Xi while letting out a joyful cry.

Long Xi’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw the beast running over, and she hugged it. "Nini? Is that you, Nini?"

The big cat continued to let out sounds of happiness as it wagged its tail.

Lu Yin was shocked to see Long Xi happily embracing the big cat and laughing. He had never seen such a relaxed and happy expression on the girl’s face before, and as he watched, another memory appeared in his mind. He saw the image of another girl hugging a big pet and laughing happily as she looked at it. The girl was stunningly beautiful, and Lu Yin briefly believed it to be a memory about Long Xi, only to quickly notice that he was wrong.

The girl in Lu Yin’s memory had the same beautiful face as Long Xi, but she had a completely different temperament. The girl in Lu Yin’s memory was more refined, yet not as cold. Calmer, and also not as naive. She also somehow seemed to have something almost sacred about her, while lacking a certain innocence that Long Xi possessed. There was a feeling of smoke and fire to the girl, and it was possible that the air of sacredness came not from the girl, but from the animal she held; it was a seven-colored deer.

"Seven-colored deer," Lu Yin suddenly said.

Long Xi's expression changed completely, and she went stiff while still holding Nini. She turned to stare at Lu Yin, stunned. "You, did you remember?"

Lu Yin was caught off guard and confused by the question. "What?"

Long Xi stared at Lu Yin. She looked into his eyes, but there was nothing more than confusion. There was no sign of the expected hatred and conflicting emotions. "Do you remember the seven-colored deer?"

Lu Yin nodded as he recalled what he had just seen in his mind. "It's Bai Xian'er's pet."

Long Xi exhaled as she patted the big cat's head. She was still smiling, but it no longer held the pure joy of a moment before.

Bai Xian'er was someone who was admired and worshiped by countless people, yet also hated and despised by just as many.

For Long Xi, Bai Xian’er was someone to hate. "If possible, I will definitely kill her."

The big cat blinked and let out a soft cry, seeming to sense Long Xi's shifting mood. The tail stopped wagging, and the beast rubbed its face against Long Xi’s cheek.

Long Xi gave another little laugh. "It's okay, Nini. Go on and play."

The big cat did not want to leave. Its ears drooped as it licked Long Xi's hand before turning around and walking away. The beast looked back at Long Xi three times before it was out of sight.

"Is that your pet?" Lu Yin asked.

Long Xi seemed to wilt. "You've met her before."

Lu Yin was surprised to learn that Lu Xiaoxuan had met the beast before, as it meant that the cat had lived a very long life despite having no cultivation. It was nothing more than a common animal.

Long Xi grew silent, clearly feeling rather depressed by the various memories.

Lu Yin could sense Long Xi’s mood, though he did not understand it. He just assumed that she was sad after visiting her old home.

They continued to walk around the mountain, and although they had believed the mountain to be entirely deserted, Lu Yin quickly noticed someone. It was an old acquaintance: Long Xi's maid, Xiao Qing.

Long Xi also had not expected to see Xiao Qing on the abandoned mountain. The two women had had a good relationship, but right when Long Xi was about to go up to her old maid, Lu Yin stopped her and gestured for silence.

Within a courtyard, Xiao Qing was unaware that Lu Yin and Long Xi were nearby. The maid was speaking to someone through a communication crystal. "That's everything. The White Dragon Clan has completely locked this down and is forbidding anyone from spreading any information at all."

"Not bad. There’s finally a use to having you in the White Dragon Clan." A voice could be heard from the communication crystal. "Keep watching. The White Dragon Clan won’t let rumors concerning their blood pool spread, so let’s see what sort of price they’ll pay to ensure Virtue Archives’ silence."

"Understood," Xiao Qing replied, "Also, is there any word of my father?"

"You’re in the White Dragon Clan. If there’s no word about Elder Ni Huang, there’s definitely not going to be any word regarding your father. What? Do you think that your father can return before Elder Ni Huang?"

Xiao Qing's face grew pale. "I apologize. I said too much."

"Back when Long Xi first disappeared, people suggested that you be brought back, as you lost your value within the White Dragon Clan. However, many things have happened since then, and we held off on having you return. If you’d been brought back, you would have been sent away with your father or to the rear battlefield. At best, you would be made a common disciple. Right now, you have a new opportunity. Find a chance to get close to that Prof. Hao Yu from Virtue Archives. If at all possible, seduce him. You are quite attractive yourself, and you will get help from our other people inside the White Dragon Clan. Do this, and your status will rise up to match that of your father within the sect."

Xiao Qing hesitated.

"What? You don’t want to do it?"

"No, it’s not that at all! I’m just considering the best way to go about it."

"Do your best. Hao Yu won’t be easily seduced. However, if anyone from the White Dragon Clan discovers what you’re doing, they’ll just say that you’ve spent enough time in a miserable situation and are trying to get away by using Hao Yu’s status."

Xiao Qing gritted her teeth. "I understand. I’ll do my best."

Outside the courtyard, Long Xi's expression grew darker by the moment. She had always put on a show of being cold and arrogant and had only revealed her true self around Xiao Qing. In fact, Long Xi had come to regard Xiao Qing as her own little sister. Even if Long Xi occasionally scolded Xiao Qing, the girl would never receive any true punishment.

However, the truth was that Xiao Qing was a spy sent to the White Dragon Clan by outsiders.

Lu Yin also had not expected to learn about such a thing, but he was not terribly surprised. It was very normal for forces to have spies within rival forces. Since whoever controlled Xiao Qing did not just have one spy within the White Dragon Clan, but rather multiple ones who could help each other with various tasks, Xiao Qing had to have been sent by one of the four ruling powers. The only question was, which one?

"How did she end up as your maid?" Lu Yin asked.

Long Xi answered quietly, "My last maid was allowed to leave Dragon Mountain because she was getting married to an outsider. I happened to see Xiao Qing being bullied by people, but I saw the determination in her eyes, so I decided to make her my maid."

Lu Yin nodded. "An old ruse."

He wanted to say something more, but Long Xi shot into the courtyard and revealed herself to Xiao Qing.