Chapter 115 – Fading Traces (VII)

Chapter 115

Fading Traces (VII)

The old woman’s expression was rather comedic–eyes widened, lips opened into a circle, jaw hanging, the usual. Light, on the other hand, remained expressionless, taking a sip of water–same as me.

“… you’re lying,” she eventually said.

“Light.”

The young girl extended her hand, palm-side-up, and conjured a withering ball of energy. It was as though there were hundreds of tendrils of shadows coalescing into an orb, writhing and dancing, but all under her control.

I’d expected that her going into the Antechamber would have erased her Demonic Qi, but she could still actually summon it–it’s just that she gained the ability to ‘hide’ it and make it seem as though she were using completely normal Qi.

Long Tao had hinted at the fact that there’s probably nobody alive who could see through it, so, you know, not a small thing.

“T-this…” the Madame mumbled, staring at the writhing ball of energy for a long while before exhaling, quickly recovering.

Her somewhat distant and cold eyes turned rather bright all of a sudden as she looked back at me again.

“I understand,” she said. “Though I may have turned my back on the cult, the Demon God… has always been kind to me. If it had not been for him, I would have been executed that day. He even provided this place and a new start for me.”

“You knew my Father?” Light perked up at last, as she always would when her father was brought up.

“Hm,” the Madame smiled, rather kindly at that. “I’ve known him since I was no taller than you, in fact. I was brought before him as a Seedling, and he personally inspected me and confirmed my talents.”

“Woah!” It’s really times like this that remind me that the coldly apathetic girl traveling with me is precisely just that–a girl. “Was Father strong?”

“The strongest person I’ve ever known,” the Madame said with a nod. “I’ve watched him battle hundreds of cultivators at once and come out on top. It is precisely the envy birthed from those losses that caused those vermin to declare a Holy Crusade upon the Demonic Lands. They couldn’t live with the reality that there was someone who defied the Holy Lands and made something of himself by himself, and that he was far stronger than they ever would be.

“Mister Lu… did you rescue the Young Lady?” She turned to me and asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “It was the sect master of the Sword Spirit Sect.”

“Hm? That bloated, ingrate, walking corpse?” she grunted. “Ah. He must have wanted to try using her as a vessel for the Seed. What happened to him?”

“He’s dead.”

“Good,” she nodded. “He should have died many eons ago. I presume you were a Sect Elder?”

“Hm.” It may be a bit stupid to divulge so much… but I did so trusting the system–it was never wrong, even if it was occasionally… vague.

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“What happened?” she asked. “I understand that the Holy Lands facilitated the invasion–as they oft do–but how did the area turn into ruin?”

“The Seed exploded,” I replied simply, offering my own guess. I wasn’t actually sure whether that was true or not, but knowing Hua, he wasn’t going to let the Seed fall into anyone’s hands, and he couldn’t keep his unlocked strength for long. So…

“… haah. So much suffering over such a demure relic,” she said. “What is your plan now?” she added. “Though I’d offer you to stay here, it is… not safe.”

“Because of the chief?” I asked.