Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The nights in the capital are always a bit cooler than elsewhere.

The Tower of Stars soars into the clouds; it is the closest place to the moon, and also the farthest place from the mundane world.

The Imperial Advisor wore a loose black robe, and her face was still covered by the bronze mask. In her hand, she held a jade cup, which contained not wine, but bitter tea.

She sat on the railing, her legs dangling in mid-air, staring blankly at the brightly lit city below.

Three hundred years.

This city has seen generations of people come and go, but she alone has lived like a stone covered in moss.

With a creak.

The heavy wooden door was pushed open, and a cold wind rushed in, causing the candlelight inside the hall to flicker wildly.

The Imperial Advisor didn't turn around; he simply flicked his finger, and an invisible barrier blocked the wind.

"If Your Majesty can't sleep, go to the harem and find a concubine. Don't come to this old woman's place to bring bad luck."

Her voice was hoarse, carrying a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay.

"Old man, it's been years, and your temper has gotten worse and worse."

A teasing female voice rang out, carrying a familiar languor and a touch of sarcasm.

The Imperial Advisor's hand, which was holding the jade cup, suddenly trembled, and the scalding tea spilled onto the back of her hand, but she was completely unaware.

She stiffly turned her neck, her eyes beneath the bronze mask fixed on the doorway.

There were three people standing there.

Gu Xiang, dressed in black with a long sword at his waist.

Su Qing, dressed in red and barefoot, with her features unchanged.

There was also Li Qingge, who was peeking around, dressed in palace attire, but with a strange smile on her face.

"you……"

The Imperial Advisor stood up, his movement so sudden that he knocked over a small table beside him. A jade cup shattered on the floor with a crisp sound.

"You're not dead?"

These words were spoken to Su Qing.

Su Qing pursed her lips, swaggered in, and without any ceremony, plopped down in the spot where the Grand Preceptor had just been sitting, crossing her legs.

"A scourge can live for a thousand years, but I'm not so easily killed."

Su Qing waved her hand in front of her, looking disgusted.

"What's that smell in this room? It reeks of stale vinegar. Have you been soaking yourself in a vat of vinegar for the past three hundred years?"

The Imperial Advisor ignored her sarcasm.

She walked a few steps to Su Qing, reached out her hand, and wanted to touch Su Qing's face, but stopped in mid-air.

"It's good that you're alive."

The Imperial Advisor withdrew his hand, his voice trembling slightly.

"It's good that you're alive."

She turned her head and looked at Gu Xiang, who had remained silent.

"Lord Gu, you're back too."

Gu Xiang nodded and bowed to the Imperial Preceptor.

"I'm sorry to have troubled the Imperial Advisor."

The Imperial Advisor waved his hand, reverting to his cold and aloof demeanor.

"Now that you're back, you should go and see His Majesty. In the past few years, he's practically turned the whole of Great Zhou upside down in his search for you."

"No need to look anymore, I'm here."

A series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Emperor Li Yu of the Great Zhou Dynasty was dressed in casual clothes, and even his hair ornament was slightly crooked, clearly indicating that he had rushed over after receiving the news.

He rushed into the main hall and saw Gu Xiang and Su Qing, who were unharmed, and his eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"Prime Minister Gu! Miss Su!"

Li Yu rushed over, grabbed Gu Xiang's arm, and shook it hard.

"I knew it! I knew you wouldn't die! Those old ministers kept submitting memorials saying they wanted to build cenotaphs for you, but I burned them all!"

Looking at the man before her, who had grown a beard and possessed the majesty of an emperor, Gu Xiang felt a warmth in her heart.

"Your Majesty, I have returned."

Li Yu wiped her face and then looked at Li Qingge beside her.

"Qingge! You brat, where have you run off to? I sent so many officials to fetch you, but they've all disappeared without a trace. Do you know how worried I was?"

Li Qingge blinked, her expression somewhat subtle.

She didn't say anything, but just shrank back behind Gu Xiang.

"Alright, we can catch up later."

Su Qing interrupted this touching reunion. She took out a lotus seed from her sleeve, which she had smuggled from the underground medicinal field, and casually tossed it into her mouth, chewing it with a crunch.

"Old man, we've come back this time because we have something important to tell you."

Su Qing looked at the Imperial Advisor and put away her playful smile.

"About that deadbeat."

The hall fell into a deathly silence.

The Imperial Advisor swayed, nearly losing her balance. She gripped the railing tightly, her fingernails carving deep marks into the wood.

"Who?"

She asked a single word, her voice so soft it was as if she were afraid of startling something.

"Bhikkhu"

Su Qing uttered those two words.

"He is still alive."

"impossible!"

The Imperial Advisor suddenly raised his head, and a sharp shout came from beneath his bronze mask.

"I watched his spirit lamp go out with my own eyes! I buried his clothes in the imperial mausoleum with my own hands! I also watched Xuan Yin leave with that heart!"

"He's dead! He died three hundred years ago!"

The Imperial Preceptor lost control of his emotions, and his spiritual energy began to surge wildly, causing the curtains in the main hall to flutter wildly.

"If he's not dead, where has he been for the past three hundred years? Why hasn't he come back? Why hasn't he come to see me?!"

"Because he can't get out."

Gu Xiang spoke up.

He took a step forward, his righteous aura surging, suppressing the rampaging spiritual power of the Imperial Preceptor.

"He's in Ghost Cry Valley."

"In that extremely yin place where even the Heavenly Dao cannot see."

"He transformed himself into a living dead, clinging to his last breath with the help of the earth's evil energy and spiritual medicine."

Gu Xiang looked at the Imperial Advisor and said, word by word.

"He's waiting for you."

"Waiting for an opportunity that can break free from fate and allow him to leave Ghost Cry Valley with dignity."

The imperial advisor was stunned.

She stood there blankly, like a sculpture that had lost its soul.

Ghost Cry Valley...

That desolate place within the Great Zhou territory, a place where the cold wind howls year-round and no living person is allowed to enter.

How could he be there?

For the past three hundred years, he has always been on the land of the Great Zhou, only a few hundred miles away from her.

"You're really not lying to me?"

"What...has he become?"

The Imperial Advisor's voice was trembling with sobs.

"It's ugly."

Su Qing said without any mercy.

"Skinless and emaciated, with a large hole in his chest, he looks disgusting."

The Imperial Advisor's body trembled even more violently.

"but……"

Su Qing changed the subject.

"He left you with something to remember him by."

Su Qing turned her head and looked at Li Qingge, who was hiding behind Gu Xiang.

"Girl, stop pretending to be dead, come out and acknowledge your family."

Li Qingge sighed.

She slowly walked out and stood in front of the Imperial Advisor.

At this moment, Li Qingge's demeanor changed drastically.

The princess's original charm and elegance have disappeared, replaced by an ancient and weathered allure.

She looked up at the masked woman in front of her.

There was no unfamiliarity in those eyes, only a deep affection and closeness.

"daughter."

Li Qingge opened her mouth and called out.

That cry of "Mother" stunned everyone present.

Li Yu's eyes widened in disbelief, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

"Qing...Qingge? What did you call the Imperial Advisor? Are you crazy?"

The Imperial Advisor was also stunned.

She looked at Li Qingge, and through that young body, she seemed to see a familiar flame of soul.

That was... the aura of her bloodline.

It is also... the spiritual imprint of a monk.

"Who are you……"

The Imperial Advisor reached out, his hand trembling, wanting to touch Li Qingge's face.

"I am Bi Yao."

Li Qingge—or rather, Bi Yao—took the initiative to grasp the Grand Preceptor's hand and pressed her face against his cool palm.

"Back then, Father took a drop of your heart's blood and melted it into your exquisite heart."

"I grew out of that heart."

"Father said I am his and your child."

The Imperial Advisor's tears finally broke free.

Large drops rolled down the edge of the bronze mask, hitting the floor and spreading out in a puddle of water.

She hugged Bi Yao tightly, as if she wanted to meld this daughter, who was three hundred years late, into her very bones.

"Monk... Yao'er..."

She wept bitterly.

Three hundred years of grievances and three hundred years of loneliness have finally found an outlet at this moment.

Li Yu watched in stunned silence.

He tugged at Gu Xiang's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Prime Minister Gu, what exactly is going on? How did my sister become the Imperial Preceptor's daughter? Doesn't that make me a generation younger for no reason?"

Gu Xiang glanced at him and said calmly, "Your Majesty, that is the daughter of the first emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Bhikkhu. According to seniority, you should call her your ancestor."

Li Yu: "..."

He opened his mouth, but then closed it again.

Fine.

As long as my sister is alright, I'll call her ancestor if I want. Anyway, the seniority system in the Great Zhou royal family is already a complete mess.

After a long while, the Imperial Preceptor finally stopped crying.

She loosened her grip on Biyao and removed the bronze mask from her face.

That was an absolutely beautiful face.

Time has left no trace on her face, but her eyes have shown a great deal of vicissitude.

"I'm going to see him."

The Imperial Advisor stood up, his eyes resolute.

"I'm going to Ghost Cry Valley right now."

"no."

Su Qing and Bi Yao spoke at the same time.

You can't go.

Su Qing stood in front of the Imperial Advisor and said coldly.

"You are bound to the fate of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and also to the karma of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect. If you go, the Heavenly Dao will respond, and a tribulation of lightning will immediately follow."

"At that time, not only will you die, but that old bastard Bhikkhu will also be annihilated."

"Do you want him to have suffered for nothing all those three hundred years?"

The Imperial Advisor paused in his tracks.

She bit her lip hard, and blood seeped out.

"So I'm just going to wait here?"

"Wait."

Gu Xiang stepped forward and took out the Karmic Fire Red Lotus.

The red lotus floated in mid-air, radiating a scorching heat.

"He gave this to me."

Gu Xiang looked at the Imperial Advisor.

He said it was a phoenix rising from the ashes.

"As long as I can fuse with this seed and fully awaken the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, I can break the curse of 'the Phoenix must die'."

"I will personally go to Ghost Cry Valley and bring him out."

The Imperial Advisor gazed at the red lotus, his eyes flashing with light.

That is the origin of a bhikkhu.

It was something he risked his life to protect.

"it is good."

The Imperial Advisor took a deep breath and put his mask back on.

"I'll wait."

"I've waited three hundred years, so what's a little more time?"

She turned around and looked at the cold, clear moon outside the window.

"Gu Xiang, Su Qing."

"I have protected the Zhou dynasty for three hundred years."

"Now, I'm handing it over to you."

Don't let him down.

Gu Xiang gripped the sword tightly in his hand.

"I will not fail in my mission."

Li Yu listened with great excitement.

Although he didn't quite understand what Nirvana Seed or Curse meant, he understood one thing.

That means their ancestors are still alive and will be coming back.

This is fantastic news!

"Prime Minister Gu, what do you need me to do?" Li Yu leaned closer, his face full of excitement. "Should I issue an edict right now to seal off Ghost Cry Valley? Or should I gather all the rare herbs in the country and send them there?"

Gu Xiang glanced at him and shook her head.

"Your Majesty doesn't need to do anything."

"You just need to be a good emperor and let the people of Great Zhou live a good life."

"Leave the rest to me."

Gu Xiang turned to look at Su Qing.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Along the way, from Qingniu Town to Shendu, from Luofengpo to Guikugu.

They experienced life and death, and transcended reincarnation.

Now, I finally stand at the center of this game.

This time, they are no longer pawns.

Rather, it is the player who wields the chess pieces.

To the tune of "Linjiangxian" - Reunion at Zhaixing Tower

Alone I climb the high tower, the wind and dew are cold; I pat the railing, but no one is there.

A pot of turbid wine to face the stars.

Suddenly, I heard voices outside the door, which startled me awake from my dream.

The withered bones and broken souls lie buried underground, yearning for each other but daring not to be close.

Red Lotus Industry forges innocence.

Let us put aside our worries and wait together for the swallows to return in spring.