Chapter 1556: It Begins

Feng Qingyou smiled. “You’ll be fine. I share a certain relationship with Fairy Xianyue of the Fate Knowing Palace. I can introduce you when the time comes.”

Holy, you truly have friends all over the world, don’t you?

Ye Qing wasn’t very surprised though. He had been surprised so many times he had grown desensitized to it. Naturally, he happily accepted her offer.

Now that he had an actual clue regarding the Annon Sutra, of course he wasn’t going to give up on it. Although his dependence on the Strange Artifact had decreased massively over the years, it remained his most dependable and trustworthy ally. He only worried about it once in a while because its origins were still unknown.

If he could figure out the Annon Sutra’s roots, whatever might come out of the discovery, it would still answer one of the biggest and long-standing questions in his life.

Therefore, he was definitely paying the Fate Knowing Palace a visit should the opportunity present itself.

After that, the duo chatted for a while longer before returning to their rooms.

They now know where Meng Feixue is, but it was unwise to head to the imperial capital and rescue her with just the two of them.

Therefore, the best solution to their problem was to take control of this mysterious woman and figure out Emperor Jing Run’s plan. Perhaps then a better answer would reveal itself.

Right now, the only thing they could do was wait.

Wait for the fish to take the bait.

For the next few days, Ye Qing had White Robe Demon Master guard the Nanjiang Royal Court to inspect its construction progress and to check if any suspicious person might reveal themselves. As for the Night Bodhisattva, she continued to chant the sutras and reap the power of the people’s faith as usual. It wasn’t a good thing for the people of Nanjiang as a matter of course, but there was no other choice. It would be over in a couple more days anyway.

As for Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou, they entered secluded cultivation and continued solidifying their strength.

The days came and went in the blink of an eye. Ye Qing was practicing when the Night Bodhisattva’s voice reached him, “He’s here, young master.” Ye Qing opened his eyes, and the dark room immediately grew as bright as day.

“Good. Finally.” “He” was the fish they were waiting for, of course.

The fish had taken the bait.

And now, they only needed to wait for the show to begin.

......

At the small hill before the Four Hundred Kilometers Bodhisattva Mountain Range, one man stood tall with his back facing toward the moon.

Well, he wasn’t quite a man.

Yes, he was wearing a traditional male outfit with a jade belt binding his waist. Yes, he was carrying a folding fan and looking every bit the handsome and attractive gentleman.

However, his head was that of a goat.

The goat had a full head of white hair that glowed under the moonlight. He had a pair of spiral-shaped white horns that were covered in pink flowers. They smelled nice. Butterflies could be seen dancing around the flowers.

The goat embodied the word elegance and serenity, but there was no denying that he gave off an evil and bizarre presence as well.

A few breaths later, darkness flickered, and the Night Bodhisattva revealed herself.

“This minor god greets you, envoy.”

The Night Bodhisattva saluted and bowed to the goat-headed man immediately.

The goat-headed man did not turn around to face her. Instead, he asked, “Do you realize your mistake, Night Bodhisattva?”

His voice was gentle, refined, and unhurried. It felt as soothing as a gust of spring wind.

The Night Bodhisattva broke out in cold sweat, however. “What... did this minor god do wrong, envoy? Can you please tell me?” The goat-headed man answered, “My lord commanded you to finish building the sacrificial altar in three months. It is almost time, and yet the altar is still building. Is this not wrong?”

“How can you hope to repent if your slothfulness delayed my lord’s business?”

“This minor god understands. I humbly beg your forgiveness, envoy!” The Night Bodhisattva hurriedly apologized, though she let out a sigh of relief on the inside. She thought that her betrayal had been discovered for a second there, but no, it was just the sacrificial altar.

In fact, she was the one who purposely delayed the construction of the altar a little. Her goal was to bait the goat-headed man to seek her out and punish her.

She wasn’t masochistic, of course. It was because the goat-headed man didn’t always seek her out in person, and he always came and went in a hurry. It was only when he needed to give her a direct order from the mysterious woman that he deigned to summon her for a meeting.

The goat-headed man was powerful. His Magia was also pretty anomalous. If he did not show himself willingly, she would not notice his arrival most of the time.

Although he knew that the goat-headed man would show up very soon, he did not know when he would arrive or whether he would even summon her. If he did not, then her new masters might not be able to capture him.

If they missed out on this chance, then locating the mysterious woman would become even harder then it already was. Naturally, she was the one who would bear the consequences.

For her own sake and to ensure that everything would go as planned, she decided to enact this plan. It was because the task of constructing the sacrificial altar was of paramount importance—the mysterious woman had given her the mission herself after all—and because one of the biggest reasons the goat-headed man came to Nanjiang at all was to supervise its progress. If he noticed that the altar’s construction was lagging behind, he would definitely show up and rebuke her in person.

As long as he showed himself, then he was as good as trapped.

Of course, it didn’t matter even if he escaped. At that point, it would be her masters’ fault, not hers.

See? She wasn’t completely brainless! In fact, everything had gone as planned. The goat-headed man had shown herself in front of her.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the show to begin.

“You may not die, but you will suffer. If you commit a mistake, then you should be punished for it!” Finally, the goat-headed man turned around to face her. As he spoke, a butterfly flew off his head and landed on the Night Bodhisattva’s forehead.

The butterfly flapped its wings and ate through the Night Bodhisattva’s forehead. It then crawled into her mind and slowly fed on it.

“AAAHHHHH!!!”

Mental pain was hundreds, no, thousands of times worse than physical pain. Even a god like the Night Bodhisattva could not withstand it.

What are they waiting for?

The Night Bodhisattva was miffed. She had already lured out the contact, so why weren’t her masters taking action yet? Did they miss her message, or did they simply enjoy watching her suffer?

Pain crushed the rest of her thoughts before she could think more. What came after that was endless, worse-than-death pain.

This lasted an entire teatime, and the Night Bodhisattva screamed for just as long. Finally, the butterfly stopped feeding on her mind and crawled out of the wound on her forehead.

Maybe it was because the butterfly had fed on the Night Bodhisattva’s mind, but it had grown to the size of a palm. It was also covered in colorful, pretty patterns and glowing slightly.

No one noticed that invisible black-and-white qi and cloudy qi were mixed within the light though.

The goat-headed man opened his mouth, and the butterfly flew inside. He slowly chewed it up while wearing an intoxicated expression on his face.