Capter 143

“Therefore,” Ning Ning stood up from the ground, took one last look at the unconscious Mirror Ghost, and continued, “after Qiao Yan’s father sacrificed himself, the two clans quickly went to war. The Fox Clan indeed mustered their full strength to fight, making it difficult for the demon cultivators to withstand and causing them significant damage. They had no choice but to hide in the Water Mirror Formation to survive.”

—To severely wound the demon cultivators, the spirit foxes must have also suffered great losses, depleting their spiritual energy. In their extremely weakened state, they were vulnerable to the demonic energy, which corrupted them into their current form.

The Water Mirror Formation, where yin and yang coexist.

Ning Ning once asked Qiao Yan about the formation, and after a moment of recollection, the little fox told her, “Spiritual energy is yang, and demonic energy is yin. Righteous people can use this formation to trap demonic creatures within the mirror; if the demon clan uses it, they would also place themselves in the Water Mirror, often to avoid enemy attacks, as a means of self-preservation.”

The demon clan can only remain on the yin side of the mirror, so the real Sun Blaze Bow cannot appear in this space.

The ‘Qin Niang’ was well aware of this but did not know the exact situation in the secret chamber due to the lack of a jade pendant.

Perhaps a false bow might appear, in which case Qiao Yan would take it to the yang side and discover the truth.
Or the chamber might be completely empty, providing no explanation for the bow’s whereabouts, which would also raise suspicion.

Regardless of the outcome, it would be unfavorable for the demon cultivators, which is why they tried their best to prevent Qiao Yan from obtaining the jade pendant and urged her to leave as soon as possible.

“Strange.”

The more Ning Ning thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense: ‘Why are the demon clan so concerned about Qiao Yan? Among all the members of the spirit fox clan, why did they specifically leave her alive?’

‘Perhaps it’s not that they “specifically left her”,’ Pei Ji replied coldly, ‘but that “only she” remained.’

Only she—

Ning Ning’s heart skipped a beat.

After the great war, both the fox clan and the demon clan suffered heavy casualties. Those who barely survived were seriously injured and devoid of spiritual energy. Not to mention, the demon cultivators exhausted their remaining strength to create this vast mirror world.

This secret realm might be fictional, but the weak and fragile state of the people in the village could not be an act.

They were completely unfamiliar with the secret realm, and coupled with their frailty, they couldn’t even walk properly. In such a desperate situation, there had to be someone to take on the responsibility of caring for the entire clan.

Qiao Yan was the chosen one.

Or rather, a tool to assist in their recovery.

She grew up in the secret realm, which was well-versed in its geography and the distribution of spiritual plants. Witnessing her father’s death, she was unconscious with a high fever during the decisive battle, unaware of what had happened, making her the perfect tool for them.

Back then, Qiao Yan had personally said that her clan members were gravely injured and weak, barely hanging on to life thanks to the treasures she collected.

In retrospect, it’s deeply ironic.

When Qiao Yan woke up, her family and friends were all critically injured for the sake of the ‘formation.’ She was just a young girl, tirelessly working day and night for the spirit fox clan, not only climbing mountains and traversing the secret realm to find medicinal herbs but also risking her life to retrieve the jade pendant from the western mountain, vowing to eliminate the evil spirits in the mirror.

Unbeknownst to her, everything was a lie. She gave everything to protect those she hated the most; she tried her hardest to eliminate those she loved deeply.

“If they kept Qiao Yan to use her,”

Ning Ning’s voice lowered, her heartbeat loud in her ears, “then her neighbor’s little brother, Xiao Zhao, who was just a baby during the war… why would they keep him?”

The demon clan wouldn’t be merciful enough to raise a child. The only plausible explanation was that the little boy was also a demon cultivator in disguise.

But this leads to another inevitable question.

Pei Ji seemed to have reached the same conclusion. He lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, “The other demon cultivators are still extremely weak, yet he can move around freely, no different from an ordinary person. There might be something fishy about this.”

The thought of the child’s seemingly innocent smile made Ning Ning’s heart race with unease. After a moment, as if a thought struck her, she excitedly tugged at Pei Ji’s sleeve: “Pei Ji, do you remember what Qiao Yan told us about the child?”

Pei Ji looked down at her, silently waiting for her next words.

“She said Xiao Zhao was extremely weak after the great war, just like everyone else in the clan. He almost died several times. Luckily, he recovered after taking some medicine for a while.”

Her fingers were ice-cold as she spoke, but her chest was burning from her pounding heart. As they got closer to the truth, Ning Ning’s words came faster: “If he was also weak due to the war, his condition should be similar to that of other demon cultivators. There are only two possibilities for his quick recovery.”

As she spoke, she made a ‘two’ gesture with her hand and, feeling a chill, subtly moved closer to Pei Ji.