Crush's Cold Senior Sister is Actually Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The Truth Seems to Be Close at Hand, But The Clue is Broken Here.

Ling Qi, Ying Huai Xu: “…”

An Jin had just gotten up in a daze, her hair not yet tied up, her black hair draped over her shoulders, with a few curly strands floating on her forehead. She pulled out a red hair tie from who knows where and gathered her hair with her backhand.

“What are these…?”

An Jin walked to the wooden table, staring at the dozen or so photos arranged neatly on the table. After scanning them back and forth, her eyes suddenly focused.

She seemed to have noticed something. She didn’t even bother to finish tying her hair and quickly reached out to divide the photos into two rows, then flipped the second row over.

She moved so quickly that the hair tie slipped out of her hand and was about to fall to the ground. Ling Qi caught it with a quick hand, sighed lightly and shook her head, walking behind An Jin to help her tie her hair.

Ying Huai Xu, who was next to them, leaned leisurely against the back of her chair, watching the two of them close together with great interest, a faint smile on her lips.

If Ling Qi had seen her expression, she probably would have glared at her again. But unfortunately, the person in question was very seriously studying the long hair in front of her.

“Look here.”

Seeing that one of them was smiling meaningfully and the other was focused on fiddling with her hair, An Jin helplessly reminded them, “These photos look like a formation.”

Ying Huai Xu gave a casual “hmm,” her eyes still fixed on Ling Qi’s hands tying An Jin’s hair, clearly not taking her words seriously.

Ling Qi stood behind An Jin, her view completely blocked. She thought An Jin was talking about the markings, so she explained: “This formation was discovered by Ying… the Vermilion Bird Dao Master in the hot springs. It should have been set by High God Tian Mo, but we can’t tell what kind of formation it is specifically.”

She had only suddenly remembered that Ying Huai Xu was still wearing Yuan Shunhua’s face halfway through her sentence.

After thinking for a moment, she reminded An Jin, “In the future, stay away from Tian Mo Palace. If you happen to run into Shen Tianmo, don’t say too much to her.”

“But Senior Sister…” An Jin’s gaze was still on the photos. She pursed her lips. “When these photos are arranged, they seem to form a perfect circle.”

As soon as her words fell, Ying Huai Xu’s lazy posture suddenly stiffened, and she sat up straight. Ling Qi had just tied a knot with the hair tie, and when she heard this, her hands also froze in the air.

The two of them looked at the photos on the table at the same time. The originally messy photos had been rearranged by An Jin. The corner of each photo was connected, forming a complete oval shape in the middle.

“Puppet Formation?!”

After seeing the formation on the photos, Ying Huai Xu couldn’t help but exclaim. Ling Qi also recognized it at a glance and frowned slightly: “If this is really a Puppet Formation… how could Emperor Qing Yuan’s soul have been scattered back then?”

Listening to their conversation, An Jin realized that this strange oval shape was one of the three ancient evil formations.

She couldn’t help but feel a little curious. In the academy at Chong Guang Palace, Senior Sister Cen was always very secretive about these things. And the last time the Dragon Princess of the East Sea set up the Qiankun Formation, she didn’t have time to look closely before Ling Qi completely destroyed it.

To be precise, this was her first time seeing one of the three evil formations in person.

“Puppet Formation… as the name suggests, once the formation is completed, it can control the will of others and turn immortals, or even High Gods, into its puppets.” Ying Huai Xu’s gaze was fixed on the formation in the photos, afraid of missing a single detail. “The three ancient evil formations are unsolvable unless the master of the formation personally destroys it.”

“But once the formation takes shape, forcibly destroying it will only scatter the soul of the person inside.”

But if Shen Tianmo’s ultimate goal was really to turn Emperor Qing Yuan into a puppet, why would she have actively destroyed the formation?

“Wait a minute…” An Jin raised her hand to ask a question. “Didn’t Senior Sister destroy the Qiankun Formation before?”

She looked at Ling Qi with a confused gaze.

“…”

Ling Qi had almost forgotten about that.

The Dragon Princess incident was so far-reaching that she didn’t know where to start. After thinking for a long time, Ling Qi only managed to squeeze out: “At that time… she was the one who was persuaded by me and actively destroyed the evil formation. I didn’t do it.”

An Jin gave an “oh” in a thoughtful manner and pressed on: “Is there no other way?”

“There is one more.” Ying Huai Xu’s lips curled into a bitter smile as she took over. “The direct bl00d descendant of the formation’s master can personally destroy it.”

But where would they find a child for High God Tian Mo?

The three of them looked at each other, all reading the same helplessness in each other’s eyes.

The truth seemed to be within reach, but the clues were cut off here.

Ying Huai Xu leaned back in her chair again, her gaze moving back and forth over the photos. Ling Qi was still standing behind An Jin, her eyes lowered, lost in thought.

An Jin was a little emotional: “This is quite a coincidence… just like the spiritual swords abandoned in the Sword Tomb. No one can pull the sword out of its sheath unless they are the owner or a direct bl00d relative.”

The same goes for spiritual swords and formations.

The upper realm, which always paid the least attention to bl00d ties, had left one pass after another in the bloodline.

It was a bit ironic.

The room was silent for a long time.

Seeing that they couldn’t analyze anything else, Ying Huai Xu had no choice but to sit up and gather the photos on the table: “Forget it, let’s go back to the upper realm first. We’ll talk about the photos and the Puppet Formation later.”

“The martial arts competition is coming up. If you’re not there, who knows what that High God in Chong Guang Palace will think.”

As Ying Huai Xu spoke, she also neatly arranged the photos and held them in her hand. Just as she was about to get up, she suddenly thought of something and looked up at Ling Qi: “I forgot to ask, why did you come this time?”

“Is the one in the demon realm still refusing to leave?”

Ling Qi’s mouth twitched: “…Yuan Se doesn’t even have a divine bone.”

You snatched all her divine bones, where else could she go?!

To her surprise, Ying Huai Xu gave a speechless smile: “Don’t pin it on me. I already gave her Sister Xi He’s divine bone.”

An Jin and Ling Qi: “???”

“The reason I was so determined to snatch the divine bone from you in the first place was that I was afraid of causing more trouble, wasn’t it?” Ying Huai Xu’s tone was frank. “To avoid any complications, I went to the demon realm the same day I got the divine bone.”

This was unexpected for An Jin. She had worried about this for a long time… But the Demon Lord got the divine bone and left the demon realm, and no one in the vast upper realm even mentioned it?

Thinking of this, An Jin narrowed her eyes, a hint of suspicion flashing in her eyes.

Seeing An Jin’s expression, Ying Huai Xu knew what she was thinking. She sighed helplessly: “Do you really think Yuan Se, as the ruler of the demon realm, can’t even leave her own territory?”

An Jin nodded blankly, with an expression of “sudden realization,” her eyes incredibly clear.

Seeing her believing whatever she was told, Ying Huai Xu rubbed her forehead and turned to look at Ling Qi: “See that? Take some notes.”

The implicit meaning in her tone was very strong.

Pretending to be pitiful isn’t shameful. In front of Yuan Shunhua, pretending to be pitiful and obedient is more useful than anything else—this was a principle that the little black snake had understood from the very first time she stepped through the gate of Wuyou Island.

Although she and An Jin had only met once after her amnesia, it still lingered in her mind to this day.

Seeing Ling Qi shaking her head and not speaking, Ying Huai Xu didn’t care and continued:

“Yuan Se is a homebody to begin with. Back on Wuyou Island, if there were no classes, she could hide in her shell for months without coming out.”

Even now, she found it speechless. Although ancient divine beasts could transform into their original forms, Yuan Se was the only one in a thousand years who would transform to hide every now and then just to avoid seeing strangers.

“I think she’s quite comfortable in the demon realm. All the demon envoys and demon beasts are at her beck and call, someone delivers her takeout, and someone gets her packages… The last time I went to see her, her doorstep was piled high with fried chicken, kebabs, spicy hot pots, and milk tea.”

“…”

“I thought I could trick her into coming to the mortal realm this time.” Ying Huai Xu’s expression was regretful. “I didn’t expect her to rather come find you than leave her lair.”

“After all, times have changed. She can’t use her old identity if she goes out again.” Ling Qi uncharacteristically said a word in defense of Yuan Se, but the person sitting opposite her still pouted and didn’t speak.

The sun outside was scorching hot. Looking out the window, the white light outside was so bright it hurt their eyes.

The few of them got up, ready to say goodbye to Senior Zhao. Pushing the door open, a wave of heat hit them, and the sound of cicadas was non-stop.

There was a bamboo lounge chair on the wooden platform outside the door. The person they were looking for was wearing sunglasses and was lying on it, swaying gently. It was the kind of weather where you would sweat even in a short-sleeved shirt, but the person had wrapped herself tightly, not only with a thin blanket but also with a cup of steaming tea on the armrest.

Hearing the door open, Zhao Han slowly lifted the blanket and stood up from the lounge chair: “Leaving?”

Her expression was not at all surprised, as if she had known from the beginning that they wouldn’t be staying here for long.

An Jin, Ling Qi, and Ying Huai Xu all nodded and thanked her. After exchanging a few polite words, they were about to leave. Before leaving, An Jin kept looking back and finally couldn’t hold back and asked: “Senior Zhao… did you write to Liao Huan saying you were in Jiu Yang Palace because you were afraid she would come to the mortal realm to find you?”

“What letter?”

Zhao Han took off her sunglasses, her expression blank: “I have never sent her anything.”

…

After parting ways with Ying Huai Xu, An Jin finally couldn’t help but ask: “Senior Sister, is there really a problem with the letter Liao Huan received?”

“Most likely someone deliberately designed it to get her to go to Jiu Yang Palace.” Ling Qi nodded and analyzed. “And—”

She turned her head to look at An Jin, her gaze slightly heavy: “That person’s target might not just be Liao Huan… it might be you too.”

“But what’s so special about me that’s worth the other person going to such great lengths?” An Jin frowned in thought. “Could it be Emperor Fo Ling—ouch!”

Halfway through her sentence, an orange suddenly flew through the air and hit An Jin’s forehead. Before An Jin could react, a gust of wind howled, and several figures flashed across the sky one after another.

An old lady’s two baskets of oranges on the street were blown over by the strong wind, and the oranges rolled everywhere. A person walking on the road wasn’t paying attention and stepped on a few of them, crushing them.

Many complaints came from the side. An Jin followed the sound and saw countless stalls that had been affected. A tricycle selling roasted sweet potatoes on the side of the road was completely overturned, and the glowing red charcoal spilled all over the ground. A little girl next to it was splashed by sparks and was hiding in her mother’s arms, crying in fear.

But the culprits of all this chaos, those with innate immortal bones, had long since flown away without a trace.

The old lady was frantically squatting on the ground, picking up oranges. She had just picked up a handful when she turned around and saw that the two baskets had been blown several meters away again.

An Jin was still holding the orange that had hit her, but seeing this scene, she no longer cared about the pain in her forehead. She rushed over, gave the little girl two coconut candies, and then turned and ran to the old lady:

“Wait, let me help you!”