hapter 158

After all, those infected with demonic energy, whether human or demon, are not beyond saving. With proper treatment, they can eventually return to normal. Qiao Yan and the spirit fox clan still have a chance, and he couldn’t let this hope be extinguished by his own hands.

In an instant, sword light erupted, but although Xu Ye was quite powerful, he had no intention to kill;

In contrast, the mirror ghosts, numerous and swarming, were filled with murderous intent, seemingly eager to tear them apart.

Xu Ye couldn’t handle so many enemies alone and naturally fell into a disadvantage.

Caught in the fight, he couldn’t look after the fox girl behind him. In just a moment, a blood-covered mirror ghost noticed this gap, and after staring at Qiao Yan for a moment, it lunged at her.

Xu Ye was shocked. “Watch out!”

His heart trembled.

In a split second, he turned around, intending to strike the mirror ghost down, but he saw something unexpected—something he had never imagined.

The mirror ghost stumbled towards Qiao Yan but did not harm her—

Instead, three other mirror ghosts, realizing she was defenseless, swiftly approached her. Just as they were about to strike, it positioned itself in front of the fox girl.

Or rather, it got close to Qiao Yan intentionally to shield her from the fatal attack—

One of the mirror ghost’s claws tore a large chunk of flesh from it.

Both Qiao Yan and Xu Ye were taken aback.

Seeing the other mirror ghosts about to attack again, Xu Ye gritted his teeth, focused his spiritual energy into his sword, and chanted a sword spell, swinging it forcefully.

This strike, imbued with sharp sword energy, swept through the night, the spiritual pressure like a towering wave, sending several mirror ghosts flying several feet away.

Including the one that had shielded Qiao Yan from the fatal blow.

“Miss Qiao, are you alright?”

Xu Ye panted as he looked at Qiao Yan, but she wasn’t looking at him.

She stood there, dazed, her eyes dark and emotionless, staring at the mirror ghost that had been knocked far away by the sword energy.

It had shielded her from that attack, and it was wounded by Xu Ye’s sword energy. It should have been weak and unable to move, yet it was now desperately trying to stand, searching for something on the ground.

Feeling something, Qiao Yan ignored Xu Ye’s warnings and slowly approached it, her mind blank.

In the blood-red night, moonlight fell like shattered droplets, clear and translucent, illuminating the objects scattered before the mirror ghost.

It was a string of almost withered thousand silk tassels, shattered by the sword energy into fragments.

The mirror ghost, kneeling on the ground, seemingly oblivious to its injuries, carefully picked up the fragments and gently placed them in its palm.

Mirror ghosts, transformed by demonic energy, are ugly, twisted, and devoid of emotions. They only know killing and slaughter, without any extraneous feelings or memories of those they once knew.

Moreover, Qiao Yan and it should have never met.

Many questions that had been hidden in her heart were answered with the appearance of the tassels. She stood in the heavy dusk, feeling something pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe.

Qiao Yan had always thought Yan Qing didn’t care about her, trying to find traces of his affection for her.

But the young man was always gentle and shy. Even when she talked to him, he would only lower his head and smile quietly, rarely responding.

After the great battle, their relationship grew even more distant. At that time, Qiao Yan thought, If he doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like me. Once I leave the secret realm, I’m sure I’ll meet many better people; I don’t need him.

Yan Qing must have found her annoying.

She had always clung to him since childhood, while he would only occasionally stand somewhere, watching her from afar. They were so far apart that she couldn’t see his face clearly.

Yan Qing had never said he cared about her.

But why, even now, would he go to such lengths, risking his life, to protect that withered string of tassels?

“Miss Qiao.”

Xu Ye noticed her odd expression and spoke softly, barely audible: “You—you know everything?”

Qiao Yan looked at him steadily.

She wasn’t foolish; she could sense the strangeness in her kin. But the thought was too shocking, and Qiao Yan didn’t want to or couldn’t accept it.

However, as time went on, more and more discrepancies arose.

The deliberate distance of her kin, her mother’s forgetfulness of past events, the eerie mirror ghosts, and the missing Sun Blaze Bow shattered her illusions.

Demonic energy is yin, while righteous energy is yang.

The Sun Blaze Bow couldn’t be replicated by the Water Mirror Formation. Its disappearance clearly indicated that she was on the yin side, the demon side.

Her reason for coming wasn’t really to find the Sun Blaze Bow but to seek the person with the tassels on his wrist.

Seeing it would clarify everything.

Over the past years, she has unknowingly accompanied her enemies, tirelessly helping them recover their spiritual energy, and unknowingly killed her kin.

Everything she had believed was a lie.

Those days spent together, the night talks, the smiles, and the promise to leave the secret realm together and see the fireworks in the southern city…

All lies, and she had become a sinner with blood on her hands, committing unforgivable sins.

“Miss Qiao.”

Xu Ye panicked, saw her eyes reddening, and tried to comfort her.

“Don’t be too sad. Though the Fox clan is tainted by demonic energy, if they leave the secret realm and recover—what’s that sound?”

His words were cut off by a booming sound that echoed through the secret realm.

Xu Ye was puzzled, fearing the demon lord might be attacking. When he looked up outside, he was stunned.

“My God, Miss Qiao, look at the sky!”

Qiao Yan, in a daze, looked up and, through the door, saw a sliver of the sky.

In the next moment, the fox girl was equally stunned.

Night had silently fallen, the sky a deep red and black, everything murky and dark, devoid of light. Yet the moon in the center of the sky suddenly burst into brilliant white light.

The light struggled and fractured, creating cracks that radiated outward like thin lines.

It was like the night wind had scattered stars across the sky, falling like rain and blooming into round flowers on the dark canvas.

“Senior brother, something’s happening in the sky.”

In the secret realm, Ming Kong, peeking out from a cave, shielded his eyes from the bright light, his bald head shining: “A huge amount of spiritual energy is dispersing.”

“Amitabha, the Buddha is merciful.”

Ming Jing, sitting cross-legged on the ground with his hands in prayer, spoke calmly: “There must be a battle somewhere… But who in the secret realm could have such vast spiritual energy?”

“Senior Sister Yun, look!”

In an inconspicuous cave in the mountains, Lin Xun looked up curiously and asked, “What is that?”

Yun Duanyue, lifting the heavy vines, quietly stood beside him, studying it for a while before softly responding, “It looks like fireworks.”

“Fireworks?”

Lin Xun grinned, his eyes brightening.

“It really does!”

“The formation is starting to break.”

Ning Ning sat not far from the pool, with Pei Ji in black beside her. Qi Han was tightly bound, and to prevent his pleas from bothering her, Pei Ji unceremoniously tossed him by the waterfall, leaving him alone with the sound of rushing water.

“Doesn’t it look like fireworks?”

Ning Ning was exhausted, struggling to speak or keep her eyes open, wanting nothing more than to sleep. Her voice grew weaker until it became a gentle breeze in the boy’s ear: “It’s for you; consider it… a reward for saving me. Isn’t it beautiful?”

They were sitting very close, and as Ning Ning suddenly fell asleep, her body tilted forward, but Pei Ji carefully caught her.

He barely used any strength, and after a brief hesitation, he gently shifted her head onto his shoulder.

Then he adjusted a little more until her head was securely resting on his shoulder.

Cheng Ying, in his mind, was both laughing and crying, flailing around: “Pei Xiaoji, you’ve finally grown up! Mommy is so proud!”

Pei Ji replied, “Be quiet.”

Under the starlight that filled the sky, Pei Ji turned his head slightly to look at Ning Ning’s face.

He saw her long, fan-like eyelashes and small, round nose. She seemed to be dreaming of something happy, smiling silently in her sleep.

Pei Ji quietly shifted his gaze away.

When he looked down again, a subtle, gentle smile similar to hers appeared on his lips.

“Why is there such a strange phenomenon in the sky?”

In the abandoned old house, Xu Ye was too stunned to speak, while Qiao Yan, illuminated by the radiant light, opened the letter clenched in her hand.

It was in her mother’s handwriting.

“To my daughter, Qiao Yan:

Seeing these words is like seeing me, so please do not worry.

By the time you read this letter, our battle with the demons should be nearing its end. Forgive my sudden departure, but the Fox clan is on the brink of life and death, and someone must stand up.

To defeat the demons, we need all the spiritual energy within us. It’s a life-or-death gamble, and excluding you is my last selfish act as a mother.

There are many places in this world beyond the secret realm that you haven’t seen—the water towns of the southern city, the buildings of the capital, the snow and clouds accumulated on the celestial path.

If we cannot meet again, then please, on behalf of your father and me, go and see these places.

No matter the outcome, your father and I will always love you.

I’m sorry, we promised to leave here together to see the fireworks, but now I cannot keep that promise.”

The handwriting became blurred by her tears, turning into indistinct ink blots.

Outside the mirror, Qiao Yan took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, which was as bright as day.

Inside the mirror, the demon woman used the last of her strength to lift her eyelids one final time. After a moment of daze, a tearful smile emerged from her eyes.

On both sides of the mirror, in places so close yet so distant, everyone saw the same scene.

The mirror surface cracked, spreading from a single point in the sky like a spider web, quickly extending across the entire sky.

Flowers woven from white light bloomed in various forms, brilliantly lighting up the dome. Accompanied by the thunderous sound of the cracks, they seemed too fantastical to be real.

As they burst one by one, filling the night sky, the Xinghen sword energy also exploded, drawing out dazzling white streams of light.

It was like a real fireworks display, watched by the entire world.