“What are you talking about, Elder Long Xingchen?” I said, approaching her with open suspicion.
“Don’t play dumb with me.”
She rose and studied me with real scrutiny.
“I believe you’ve awakened something this clan hasn’t seen in many generations.”
“What do you mean, Elder?”
A small smirk crossed her face.
“No respect for your elders, hm?
Well—everything about you is an anomaly.”
Her words dragged my attention back to the fragmented memories of Zaitian I’d inherited.
“From the Falling Star Omen to the uniqueness of your bloodline.
You really are a mystery box,” she said, studying me slowly.
“What do you mean, Falling Star Omen?” Genuine surprise this time.
“I’m not in a position to answer that—or your current situation, for that matter.”
“But the elders are already waiting to hear what use you’ll be to them.”
“The elders can wait.
I have things to do, Elder Long Xingchen.”
She chuckled, drifting toward the door.
“As for what happened at the Spine today—don’t worry about it for now.”
She paused at the doorway.
“Oh, and you should go see the Patriarch.”
Then she left, whistling, entirely carefree.
I locked the door again and activated the courtyard array.
“System.”
“What actually happened to me back there in the Hall?”
What happened is that the moment I helped unseal your bloodline, even briefly, it went berserk—refused to be sealed back cleanly and ended up ravaging your body in the process.
It’s suppressed for now, sitting somewhere between sealed and unsealed.
“Hmm.
My bloodline really is something else,” I muttered.
“That’s probably why the elders are so fixated on me.”
Elder Long Xingchen suddenly reappeared.
“Before I forget—the Patriarch wants to see you, whenever suits you.
He is your father, after all.”
She said it with a strange note of embarrassment, then vanished again.
I stood there, staring at the spot she’d disappeared from.
“So what exactly was the point of setting up this array earlier?”
I took a deep breath.
“Guess being someone important comes with a packed schedule.”
I set out for the Patriarch’s Chamber, following what I remembered of the route, though I cut through the teleportation room instead—the fastest way there.
“Before I forget, System.”
“Where did you actually come from?
And what’s your purpose—finding me, dragging me into this transmigration in the first place?”
I threw the whole question at it in one breath, already moving toward the teleportation room.
If the System brought me here, that means my embarrassing death was not normal.