Ono didn't know how fast the car was going; all she knew was that the scenery outside the window was blurred into a picture.
A note from the author:
Chapter 105
Finally home, Ono got out of the car feeling dizzy and started vomiting while leaning against the wall.
Xu Yi ignored her and ran straight home.
No one was home. While Xu Yi used her divine sense to search, she also searched every room and found Gu Yueyue's phone on the bedside table in the master bedroom.
Xu Yi tried unlocking the phone with her own birthday and it turned on directly. This was Gu Yueyue's private phone. Apart from a few calls she had made and a few short messages from Xiao Ye, there was nothing else on it.
Xu Yi's colleague, who had put down his phone, also withdrew his divine sense that he had released.
Xiao Ye, supporting himself against the wall, struggled to move his weak legs and finally arrived at Gu Yueyue's house.
"Sister Yue! Xiao Xiao..." Xiao Ye called out twice, but no one answered. She went to the balcony and found Xu Yi sitting there playing with stones.
Ono was furious. "Are you out of your mind? Yue-jie and Xiao-xiao are both gone, and you're still here picking stones?"
Xu Yi ignored her. In her own world, she used to move a few small stones around on the floor.
"Hey, don't scare me!" Ono nudged Xu Yi's shoulder. "Say something, or you'll make me stupid!"
Ono herself was almost at her wit's end, but seeing Xu Yi's dazed and confused state, she surprisingly calmed down.
“Found it, in Cangshan.” Xu Yi picked up the stones and casually put them into his pocket.
"What was found?" Ono asked, somewhat confused.
At the same time, Ono's phone rang. She quickly answered it; it was a call from the property management.
Xu Yi packed some things, filling a backpack to the brim, and was about to leave when Xiao Ye stopped her.
"Where are you going?" Xiao Ye asked, and before she could answer, she continued, "The property management said that Yueyue walked away by herself in the surveillance footage, but it looked a little strange."
Ono received a video on her phone. She opened it and showed it to Xu Yi. "Look, isn't it... a little scary?"
The surveillance footage clearly shows Gu Yueyue leaving alone, dressed very lightly, with a blank expression on her face and her movements appearing quite sluggish.
Viewed through the screen, Gu Yueyue's behavior seemed very strange.
After watching the video, Ono received another message on her phone.
When I opened it, it was still a video sent by the property management.
This time, it was Xiao Xiao who left. The little guy wandered around the neighborhood, and finally, like a puppy that had caught a whiff of her scent, he ran out along the path that Gu Yueyue had just taken.
"Don't make a fuss yet, I'll go check it out." Xu Yi already had a general idea in mind, so she wasn't flustered.
Ono had also watched the video, but she had no idea what had happened. Seeing Xu Yi's confident demeanor only deepened her sense of unease.
Where are you going to look?
"Cangshan Mountain".
Xu Yi returned to her room and found a strand of hair next to Gu Yueyue's pillow. She wrapped it around her little finger and felt a burning heat coming from her fingertip. Soon, a wisp of spiritual energy flowed out from her fingertip, floating in front of Xu Yi like a wisp of green smoke.
"Hey, don't run around. Let's call the police." Ono chased after Xu Yi, grabbing her arm, trying to calm her down. "Don't do anything reckless."
"Don't call the police!" Xu Yi got into the car, somewhat agitated. "The police won't be able to solve this."
"What's wrong?" Ono didn't want to follow her recklessly, but seeing Xu Yi's confident look, she inexplicably trusted her and unconsciously followed her lead.
Xu Yi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to tell the truth: "It's haunted by ghosts; calling the police won't help."
"..."
After Xu Yi finished speaking, she didn't receive a response from Xiao Ye. While waiting for the red light, she glanced at Xiao Ye and saw him looking at her with a complex expression on his face.
“You are the only daughter in the family, but not the only child. Before you were born, your mother was pregnant with two children.”
"However, of those two children, one was miscarried and died, and the other died just a few days after birth."
"As for you, your father passed away when your mother was five months pregnant with you. You also have a grandmother who drowned when you were three years old."
Am I right?
The green light came on, and Xu Yi quickly drove on toward Cangshan Mountain.
Ono's face turned pale. "I... my dad did die young. My grandma also drowned. How did you know?"
Even Yueyue only knew that her father had died early, but never knew the cause of her grandmother's death. How did Xu Yi know?
"I can tell from your face."
Finally on the highway, Xu Yi looked terrible. The temperature had been low lately, and it was unsettling to see Miss Gu walking around in such thin clothes.
"Really?" Ono couldn't believe it. He had lived for more than 20 years and had never encountered such a bizarre thing today.
"So you're saying Sister Yue is in Cangshan? Why is she in Cangshan?" Xiao Ye opened her phone and looked at the map. "It takes four or five hours to drive there. Sister Yue only left this afternoon. How did she get to Cangshan?"
“Even if I explained it to you, you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, she’s already in Cangshan, so she’s not in any danger right now.” Xu Yi was more worried about Gu Yueyue’s safety than she was, so she naturally didn’t dare to talk nonsense.
Ono still didn't understand and was angered by Xu Yi's attitude.
"How can I feel at ease following you all the way to Cangshan if you don't explain this to me clearly?"
"I didn't ask you to come along, you got in the car on your own." Xu Yi raised her hand weakly, biting her fingertip. She had given up this habit for tens of thousands of years, but she didn't expect to do it subconsciously again today.
Ono was a little scared after being yelled at, but still wanted to get to the bottom of things.
"Then tell me clearly, I have friends in Cangshan. If there's no danger, maybe I can ask my friends to help look for them?"
"If all else fails, I can try to contact the local police."
Ono's words made sense. Xu Yi thought for a while and said, "To be precise, Miss Gu was not taken away by anyone, nor was she controlled in any way."
"What's the meaning?"
"The New Year is almost here. You humans have legends about the Nian beast, right?"
"Ah, um. What do you mean by 'our human world'?"
Ono sensed something was off about what Xu Yi was saying, but Xu Yi didn't explain.
"The Nian Beast was sealed by a powerful being tens of thousands of years ago, but the sealing barrier needed to be constantly reinforced and strengthened. However, after the war between immortals and demons 20,000 years ago, the leader of the Loose Cultivator Alliance perished. In order to save her, the righteous path exchanged the spiritual power of this world for ten thousand years with the Heavenly Dao."
"So this world has been without spiritual energy for about 20,000 years. Now that the exchange is over, the Heavenly Dao is once again infusing this world with spiritual energy."
"Humans have a very weak perception of spiritual energy, so when spiritual energy is just beginning to revive, it is difficult for ordinary people to detect it. But it is different for naturally born spiritual creatures. They can detect it immediately."
"It's the end of the year now. Although the Nian beast is still sealed, the seal hasn't been reinforced by any cultivator for tens of thousands of years, and it's already showing signs of loosening. With the infusion of spiritual energy, the Nian beast, although not yet awakened, has already begun to stir unconsciously."
"The aura released when the Nian beast is restless is evil."
Ono was stunned for a long time, as if he had just listened to a narration of a fantasy drama.
"Then, what does this have to do with Sister Yue?" Ono couldn't understand. "Shouldn't this kind of thing be left to the professionals?"
Xu Yi suddenly let out a cold laugh, whether it was mockery or sarcasm, "Probably no one is more professional than her."
"Huh?" Ono was caught off guard. "Then what can we do?"
"You can stay in the car and watch it for me." After explaining to Xiao Ye, Xu Yi felt a little relieved. Actually, it wasn't a big problem, but her sudden disappearance made her feel uneasy.
"Won't something happen to Sister Yue? Does Sister Yue have some other identity?" After listening to Xu Yi's whole story, Xiao Ye thought about the relationships involved based on the story and finally came to a guess.
Xu Yi remained sarcastic, "What could possibly happen to her? She's the most powerful."
Ono sensed something was off about Xu Yi, who was driving beside her. Why did she suddenly become so aggressive in her speech?
"What about Xiaoxiao? Xiaoxiao has also disappeared. Could Xiaoxiao have some other identity?" Based on Xiaoxiao's inexplicable appearance at Gu Yueyue's house and her consistent behavior, Xiaoye made another guess.
"Mm," Xu Yi responded, then added, "Nothing will happen."
What could possibly happen? Even tens of thousands of years ago, no one could wield the Demonic Sword, let alone now, when spiritual energy has just begun to recover. Those who can wield the Demonic Sword are either in heaven or on earth. Those who can walk in the mortal realm are nothing more than her defeated enemies from ten thousand years ago.
"You, why don't you tell me again? I still feel like something's amiss, it all seems so unreal."
Xu Yi had no interest in telling her story to others. She had already revealed the information that needed to be revealed, and Xiao Ye seemed to have calmed down, so she stopped talking.
Xu Yi was worried, but more than that, she felt helpless anger.
Even though she had no memory of it, the long cycle of reincarnation had made Miss Gu forget even herself.
But the mission bestowed upon it by Heaven was not forgotten. The seal on the Nian Beast had only loosened slightly, and it was able to run to Cangshan Mountain on instinct.
"Xu Yi, why do we want to go to Cangshan?" Xiao Ye looked at the map on her phone and searched for some information about Cangshan online. "It seems that a real estate developer has bought Cangshan and plans to develop it into a tourist attraction. Construction is currently underway. Will we be able to get in?"
"Sister Yue, will she be able to get in? Won't she be arrested as a mental patient?"
Ono was worrying about things that weren't her concern.
Xu Yi recalled the news she had heard when she returned to Cangshan last time.
"Cangshan has a special location. Ten thousand years ago, it was a place that connected to the immortal realm. It was rich in spiritual energy and the place that could best sense the Dao of Heaven. Many ferocious beasts and evil spirits were sealed there. Cangshan is also home to the number one sect in the cultivation world, Cangyun Sect. It is more dangerous than anywhere else, but also safer than anywhere else."
"You mean, there's more than one Nian beast there? There are other monsters too?" Ono exclaimed in surprise.
Xu Yi's expression darkened. "Hmm. If we're lucky, this time the barrier might only be weakened by the Nian beast. We can go and bring Miss Gu back."
Ono's voice trembled, "Then, what if we're unlucky?"
"Heh." Xu Yi chuckled. "Order an ice coffin for Miss Gu. Choose the most beautiful one."
Chapter 106
"You've gone too far! How can you have such a sharp tongue?"
Ono wasn't scared by this incident; instead, he was angered by Xu Yi.
Xu Yi chuckled lightly: "I'm very serious."
"What? What do you mean?"
Xu Yi sped up a bit more, "Always selfless, that's the true nature of Miss Gu. We can't control what we think; the outcome depends on how Miss Gu handles things."
Ono didn't understand what he meant, but she sensed that Xu Yi was in a bad mood, so she didn't dare to continue speaking and remained silent.