Granny Jiang did not wait for Bai Heng to reply.
She simply stood beneath the feet of the deity statue.
Moonlight reflected in her turbid eyes. Her voice was aged yet clear.
“You carry Yun Qing’s aura on you.”
Bai Heng’s ears twitched slightly.
Granny Jiang looked at her.
An indescribable expression appeared on her face. It was part nostalgia, part lament.
“It’s very faint now, so faint it’s almost imperceptible. But I have lived for over four hundred and thirty years. Nearly four hundred of those were spent inextricably entangled with that blockhead.”
She paused and slowly sat back down on the stone steps at the base of the statue.
“I have known him since the Qi Refining stage. Back then in Moon Sea, I was a demonic cultivator and he was a rogue cultivator. I chased him, he fled. In the midst of all that chasing and escaping, cursing and fighting, we somehow developed a bit of camaraderie.”
Bai Heng did not interrupt. She simply listened quietly.
Granny Jiang’s gaze seemed to drift somewhere into the void, as if recalling events from long ago.
“Later, he came to Li Kingdom and joined Qingxu Sect. I continued to roam Moon Sea. His cultivation grew stronger, and I did not fall behind. After that, it became his turn to chase and kill me.”
A complex smile curved at the corners of her mouth.
“Righteous and demonic paths are different. He was a Golden Core Elder of Qingxu Sect, while I was a notorious demonic witch of Moon Sea. When we met, we always had to fight. Not fighting would have felt strange.”
“We schemed against each other in various secret realms, and we also supported each other. There were even a few times when we fought with our lives on the line.”
She withdrew her gaze and looked at Bai Heng.
“His aura, his scent—I would not forget it even after another hundred years.”
Bai Heng remained silent for a moment.
“You have been secretly watching over Yun Zhuo all this time.”
It was not a question, but a statement.
Granny Jiang nodded.
“That blockhead Yun Qing would rather leave his son to be raised by a mortal hunter than tell me about it. He probably thought a demonic cultivator like me should stay as far away from his son as possible.”
She sighed, her voice carrying both helplessness and resentment.
“But two years ago, after I heard what happened to him and his wife, I still came looking.”
Bai Heng suddenly recalled Lin Lan’s origins, and things gradually became clear in her mind.
“Lin Lan was also sent here by you.”
Granny Jiang glanced at her with a hint of approval in her eyes.
“That girl was a side matter. Her Lin family had some karmic ties with me from the past, so I had no choice but to save her. After rescuing her, I had nowhere to settle her, so I brought her to this village.”
She paused.
“Only after I returned did I notice something was wrong.”
“The child Yun Zhuo had forgotten many things.”
Bai Heng’s tail tightened slightly.
“There is a seal in his sea of consciousness.”
Granny Jiang nodded.
“You’ve checked it? That seal is quite cleverly placed. If one isn’t looking for it deliberately, it’s almost undetectable. Yun Zhuo has been living peacefully in the village and has never felt anything amiss.”
She looked at Bai Heng with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Do you know what he used to be like?”
Bai Heng did not answer.
Granny Jiang did not need her to. She continued on her own.
“Yun Zhuo grew up by Yun Qing and his wife’s side. He lived in Qingxu Sect for nearly ten years. He knew about cultivation, knew his parents were cultivators, and knew he was the descendant of cultivators.”
“He simply thought his aptitude was insufficient and that he had failed to draw qi into his body.”
“But that child had a good temperament. He never resented heaven or others for it. He was cheerful, optimistic, hardworking, and resilient. After being sent to this village, he learned hunting from Qin Shi and never complained about the hardship.”
Granny Jiang’s voice grew slightly heavier here.
“But after that seal, he forgot all of it.”
“He came to regard Qin Shi as his real father and Qin Yu as his real younger sister. He remembered nothing about cultivation or about his parents.”
Bai Heng listened quietly. Many of the questions in her heart gradually found answers.
“You tried to undo that seal?”
Granny Jiang nodded.
“I did. More than two years ago, when I first discovered the seal, I tried to break it.”
Her expression became grave.
“The seal was set very cleverly. Forcibly breaking it would damage Yun Zhuo’s soul. Moreover, the moment it is touched, the person who placed the seal would immediately sense the location.”
“I didn’t know this at the time. After I made my move, the seal remained unbroken, but I attracted someone.”
Bai Heng’s ears perked up.
“Who?”
Granny Jiang looked at her and spoke slowly.
“A late-stage Golden Core cultivator.”
She paused.
“That person arrived very quickly. The moment I sensed something wrong, his aura had already appeared near the village. I didn’t show myself. I only observed him from afar.”
“He stood outside the village for a long time, as if waiting for something. In the end, he left a single message before turning and leaving.”
Bai Heng asked.
“What did he say?”
Granny Jiang’s voice was calm, as if reciting something inconsequential.
“He said: ‘Don’t meddle in this. Both that child and you can continue to live well.'”
Moonlight poured through the broken roof, illuminating her wrinkled face. Her turbid eyes clearly carried a hint of gravity.
Bai Heng was silent for a moment.
“You don’t know whose side he was on?”
Granny Jiang shook her head.
“I don’t. He concealed his aura extremely well, so I couldn’t tell what technique or school he followed. But a late-stage Golden Core cultivator who can move freely within Li Kingdom is unlikely to be a rootless rogue cultivator.”
She looked at Bai Heng.
“Anyone who can send a late-stage Golden Core cultivator to deliver such a warning must have at least a Nascent Soul expert backing them. It could be Qingxu Sect, the Feng Clan, or some other power.”
“Since they told me not to meddle, I obediently became the mute Old Widow Wu.”
“However, over these past two years, I have gradually figured out some ways to deal with that seal.”
Bai Heng recalled the words Yun Qing had spoken before his death.
Qingxu Sect. The Feng Clan. Personal disciple…
She mentally reviewed these clues but did not speak immediately.
Granny Jiang looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“You little fox are quite calm. Anyone else would have already asked me why I’m telling you all this.”
Bai Heng did not deny it. She simply asked.
“Then why are you telling me all this?”
Granny Jiang gazed at her, her expression gradually softening.
“Because that day, Qin Yun told Lin Lan something.”
She smiled as she spoke.
“The child said he encountered a white fox in the mountains—one that could speak.”
Bai Heng’s ears twitched slightly.
Granny Jiang looked at her, the smile on her lips deepening.
“I know every spirit beast and demon cultivator that has awakened intelligence in these surrounding mountains and forests. There aren’t many, and none of them are foxes.”
“So after Lin Lan told me about it, I paid attention.”
She paused.
“Later, I secretly investigated you. I was very careful and only observed from a distance. But in that one glance, I sensed Yun Qing’s aura on you.”
Her voice grew very soft.
“Although it was extremely faint, I would not mistake it.”
Bai Heng remained silent and offered no explanation.
Granny Jiang did not need one.
“I don’t know who you are, what your relationship with Yun Qing is, or why you came here. But you carry his aura, and you have been staying near this village, secretly watching over Yun Zhuo.”
She looked at Bai Heng with clear, candid eyes.
“That is enough.”
Bai Heng met her gaze for a moment.
“Aren’t you afraid that I was sent by those people?”
Upon hearing this, Granny Jiang suddenly laughed.
The laughter spread across her wrinkled face with a refreshing frankness.
“If those people wanted to harm Yun Zhuo, they would have done so long ago. Why would they need to send a mere second-tier little fox to put on an act?”
She spoke bluntly, leaving Bai Heng with no room to refute.
“Besides.”
Granny Jiang paused, her gaze settling on Bai Heng with both scrutiny and satisfaction.
“The aura on you, little fox, is exceptionally pure and upright. Although I don’t know what technique you cultivate, there isn’t the slightest trace of wickedness or the rigid discipline typical of those from major sects.”
“You are a wild one who found your own path.”
Bai Heng did not respond.
Granny Jiang didn’t mind and continued speaking.
“Speaking of Yun Qing and his wife reminds me of that girl Lin Wan.”
She sighed, her tone complex.
“She truly was a good match for him.”
Bai Heng’s heart stirred.
“You’ve met her?”
Granny Jiang nodded.
“I have. I met Lin Wan after Yun Qing joined Qingxu Sect a hundred years ago. That girl was quite a bit younger than him and her cultivation was lower, but her character and temperament were first-rate.”
She paused, her gaze falling on the broken window faintly illuminated by moonlight.
“She knew about me.”
Bai Heng said nothing.
Granny Jiang’s voice grew softer.
“That blockhead Yun Qing probably told her everything—things he should and shouldn’t have said. Yet Lin Wan never resented me, nor did she care about the past.”
“Sometimes when Yun Qing and I fought each other to a draw, she would step in and save both sides.”
At this point, a complex smile appeared on her lips.
“Her magnanimity was something I could never match.”
Bai Heng listened quietly. She noticed that when speaking of these things, Granny Jiang’s voice had become noticeably younger.
It was no longer the hoarse, aged voice of an old woman, but the mature tone of a woman who had truly lived through those years.
She suddenly understood that this old crone appearance was indeed just a disguise.
How could someone who had been entangled with Yun Qing for nearly four hundred years truly be a decrepit old woman?
Granny Jiang seemed to notice her gaze and smiled.
“What? Do you think this old woman should have been a beauty?”
Bai Heng did not answer.
Granny Jiang did not press further. She simply waved her hand.
“Those are matters from several hundred years ago. There’s no point bringing them up now.”
She paused and looked at Bai Heng, her expression turning serious.
“Alright, I’ve said enough. Is there anything else you want to ask, little fox?”
Bai Heng was silent for a moment.
“Why did you choose to tell me all this?”
Granny Jiang looked at her with candid eyes.
“Because I want you to know that I hold no ill will toward Yun Zhuo. Nor toward you.”
She paused.
“I know you may not fully believe me. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t easily trust someone I just met either.”
“But I have something I can show you.”
As she spoke, she reached into her robes and took out an object.
Under the moonlight, the item emitted a faint, lustrous glow.
It was a jade hairpin.
The hairpin was slender and elegant, with a warm, smooth texture.
The head was carved into a budding lotus flower, the craftsmanship quite exquisite.
Granny Jiang held the jade hairpin in her palm and extended it toward Bai Heng.
“This hairpin originally came as a pair.”
She said softly.
“The other one should be in Yun Qing’s possession.”
Bai Heng’s gaze fell on the jade hairpin, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She recalled the scene in the cave when she had rebuilt the tombstone for Yun Qing.
At that time, she had taken out Lin Wan’s belongings from the storage pouch, including a jade hairpin engraved with delicate floral patterns, which she had placed in Yun Qing’s hands.
The appearance of that hairpin was very similar to the one before her now.
Granny Jiang noticed her reaction and her eyes showed an expression of “as expected.”
“It seems you’ve seen the other one.”
Bai Heng slowly raised her head.
“That hairpin is in Yun Qing’s hands.”
Granny Jiang nodded without speaking.
Moonlight flowed quietly, illuminating the jade hairpin between them.
It was a long while before Bai Heng spoke again.
“Why didn’t you show it earlier?”
Granny Jiang put the hairpin away carefully.
“If I had shown it earlier, you would only have been more wary. One hairpin doesn’t prove anything. Who knows if I simply picked it up somewhere?”
She looked at Bai Heng earnestly.
“I wanted you to know about this hairpin to tell you this:
“Yun Qing and I had many entanglements, but I have never harbored any malice toward his son.”
Bai Heng remained silent.
Granny Jiang did not urge her. She simply sat quietly.
Moonlight streamed through the broken roof, its cool light falling on both the human and the fox.
After a long time, Bai Heng spoke.
“You mentioned earlier that you have found some clues to undoing the seal?”
Granny Jiang nodded.
“Over these past two years, I have been studying that seal. Although I didn’t dare attempt it again, the more I examined it, the more I could discern.”
She looked at Bai Heng with a serious expression.
“When the day comes that I am confident enough, I will try to break it.”
“At that time…”
She paused.
“I will need you to take Yun Zhuo and leave.”
Bai Heng looked at her.
“What about you?”
Granny Jiang smiled.
“I will try to hold them off. Since those people sent someone to deliver a warning, it means they don’t want to make things too big. As long as I can delay them for a short while, you two should be able to get far enough away to be safe.”
She paused.
“You won’t be able to stay in Li Kingdom anymore. At that time, you should head to Moon Sea or the Sulfur Domain. It’s a bit chaotic there, but since righteous and demonic paths are not so strictly divided, it will actually be easier to hide.”
Bai Heng committed these words to memory in silence.
She did not ask whether Granny Jiang could escape unscathed.
Some questions did not need to be asked.
Granny Jiang looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“You little fox are still so composed. I’ve said so much, yet you haven’t asked a single thing about my specific plans?”
Bai Heng did not reply.
Granny Jiang didn’t mind. She simply stood up and brushed the dust off her clothes.
“Alright, that’s enough talk for tonight. You should head back first.”
She looked at Bai Heng, her eyes carrying a trace of entrustment.
“Remember, no matter what happens, do not act rashly. There are quite a few people in this village watching Yun Zhuo. The moment you make a move, they will all know.”
Bai Heng nodded.
She stood up, gave Granny Jiang one final look, and turned toward the entrance.
Just as she reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped.
“Granny Jiang.”
A voice came from behind.
“Hm?”
Bai Heng did not turn around.
“That hairpin… suits you very well.”
With that, she stepped out of the mountain god temple.
Her white figure quickly merged into the moonlight.
Granny Jiang stood beneath the statue, staring in the direction she had disappeared.
She was momentarily stunned.
Then she lowered her head, took out the jade hairpin once more, and looked at it. The corners of her mouth curved up slightly.
“This little fox…”
She said softly.
The moonlight continued to flow quietly.
Inside the dilapidated mountain god temple, only she remained.
Gah with all that waiting I thought she would pull a Sherlock Holmes and assassinate every hostile in their sleep, figure out the seal core and escape with the kid but the resolution was too simple. Of course the only who notices her turns out to be an ally instead of a villain smh. She should enter a Go tournament arc and level up her scheming imo