He stood at the border for a long time, watching the direction the white figure disappeared, his brows furrowed into a knot.
"Bai Zi Hua wouldn't come to the Demon Realm for no reason," he muttered to himself. "What is he looking for?"
There was nothing in the Demon Realm worthy of a High Immortal from Chang Liu making a personal trip. Unless—
Sha Qian Mo's pupils contracted slightly.
Unless what he was looking for wasn't an object, but a person.
"Hua Qian Gu," he uttered the name, a hint of coldness flashing in his purple eyes.
He turned and rushed back to the Demon Emperor Palace at his fastest speed.
Hua Qian Gu was in the stone chamber, staring blankly while holding Tang Bao's egg.
After the Godhead vibrated last night, she hadn't been herself. Fragments of memories from her previous life surged like a tide, wave after wave, and she couldn't stop them.
She remembered many things—the Pool of Despair Water, the Soul Severing Nail, the pain of seventeen steel nails piercing her body, Bai Zi Hua's indifferent gaze, the moment the Xuanyuan Sword pierced her heart…
"Enough," she shook her head forcefully, trying to cast those images away. "The past life is over, don't think about it anymore."
But those images were etched into her bones, impossible to shake off.
"Hua Qian Gu!"
Sha Qian Mo's voice came from the corridor, urgent and low.
Hua Qian Gu looked up and saw Sha Qian Mo stride into the stone chamber, his expression grim.
"What's wrong?"
"Pack your things, we're leaving." Sha Qian Mo grabbed the bundle on the stone table and began stuffing it.
"Leave? Where are we going?" Hua Qian Gu stood up, completely bewildered.
"Anywhere is fine, we can't stay here anyway." Sha Qian Mo shoved the bundle into her embrace and pulled her wrist, leading her out. "Bai Zi Hua is here."
Hua Qian Gu's heart sank.
"Bai Zi Hua? He came to the Demon Realm?"
"At the border, I stopped him." Sha Qian Mo walked quickly, Hua Qian Gu almost being dragged along. "But he won't give up easily, he'll definitely come again. He seems to be looking for something—no, for someone."
Hua Qian Gu's hands began to tremble.
Looking for someone?
Looking for her.
In her previous life, Bai Zi Hua found her this way—through the resonance of the Life and Death Tribulation. She thought by avoiding Chang Liu and not taking a master this life, she could escape him. But she forgot, the Life and Death Tribulation was destined by the Heavenly Dao; she could hide for a while, but not forever.
"He sensed it," Hua Qian Gu murmured. "He sensed the Life and Death Tribulation."
Sha Qian Mo stopped and looked back at her. "Life and Death Tribulation? You are his Life and Death Tribulation?"
Hua Qian Gu nodded.
Sha Qian Mo's expression grew even more troubled.
"You are his Life and Death Tribulation, and him coming for you means—"
"It means he wants to overcome the tribulation," Hua Qian Gu finished his sentence. "There are only two ways to overcome it—either I die, or he perishes."
Sha Qian Mo gripped her wrist, his strength causing her pain.
"I won't let anyone touch you," his voice was low and firm. "Not even Bai Zi Hua."
"I know," Hua Qian Gu patted his hand. "Let go first, it hurts."
Sha Qian Mo loosened his grip and saw a red mark around her wrist. He frowned but said nothing.
"Let's go," he turned and continued walking. "I'll take you to a safe place."
Sha Qian Mo led Hua Qian Gu through a secret passage.
Beneath the Demon Emperor Palace lay an ancient thousand-year-old path leading to a hidden valley deep within the Demon Realm. It was isolated from the world, unknown even to the guards of the Demon Emperor Palace.
They walked through the secret passage for half an hour before finally emerging from another exit.
Before them lay a verdant valley with streams, flowers, and birdsong, a world away from the dark red wasteland of the Demon Realm.
"What is this place?" Hua Qian Gu asked, looking around in surprise.
"It's a place I used to hide when I was injured," Sha Qian Mo said. "No one knows about it except me. You stay here for a few days, and I'll bring you back after Bai Zi Hua leaves."
Hua Qian Gu nodded and sat down on a stone by the stream.
Sha Qian Mo stood beside her, arms crossed, his purple eyes fixed on the direction of the secret passage, like an alert leopard.
"He won't find this place," he said, as if comforting Hua Qian Gu, or perhaps himself.
"I know," Hua Qian Gu looked down at Tang Bao's egg in her arms. "Thank you, Sha Qian Mo."
"You thanked me again today."
"Because you helped me again."
Sha Qian Mo didn't reply. He squatted down to her level, his purple eyes holding an indescribable emotion.
"Hua Qian Gu, what exactly happened between you and Bai Zi Hua in your previous life?"
Hua Qian Gu was silent for a few seconds, then said, "It's a very complicated story. If there's a chance later, I'll tell you slowly."
"Then it's settled," Sha Qian Mo stood up. "You have to tell me everything, word for word, from now on."
"Okay."
Meanwhile, Bai Zi Hua had not gone far.
He waited on a mountain at the border of the Demon Realm for a long time, until dusk, then quietly infiltrated near the Demon Emperor Palace.
He didn't force his way in—Sha Qian Mo's cultivation was not inferior to his, and a direct confrontation would only result in mutual destruction. He merely observed from afar, using his Divine Sense to probe the interior of the Demon Emperor Palace.
The Demon Emperor Palace was empty.
There was no trace of Sha Qian Mo, nor the aura of the Life and Death Tribulation.
"Gone?" Bai Zi Hua frowned.
He stealthily approached the outer wall of the Demon Emperor Palace, scaled it, and avoided the patrolling Demon Soldiers. The Demon Emperor Palace was vast; it took him a quarter of an hour to find the room from which the aura of the Life and Death Tribulation had emanated.
A stone chamber.
The door was ajar.
Bai Zi Hua pushed the door open; the room was empty. On the stone bed lay neatly folded bedding, on the table was an unfinished bowl of water, and in the corner, a folded cloak.
Someone had lived here.
And they had left not long ago.
Bai Zi Hua walked to the table, picked up the bowl of water, and sniffed it—ordinary spring water. He then picked up the cloak and brought it closer to his nose.
A faint, strange fragrance.
Bai Zi Hua's pupils contracted sharply.
This scent—
He closed his eyes, and an image flashed in his mind: an empty room, a painting on the table depicting a figure standing on the peak of Chang Liu Mountain, and the same strange fragrance in the air.
He opened his eyes abruptly.
That image wasn't conjured from nothing. It was the scene he saw when sensing the Life and Death Tribulation—was it the future, or the past? He didn't know.
But at this moment, standing in this stone chamber, smelling the same scent, that tremor returned.
His heart pounded, fast and heavy.
The aura of the Life and Death Tribulation was here. In this stone chamber. Not long ago.
"I am only one step away from her," Bai Zi Hua murmured.
He turned, walked out of the stone chamber, and followed the corridor all the way to the back door of the Demon Emperor Palace. Outside the back door was the entrance to a secret passage, but it was sealed.
Bai Zi Hua attempted to break the seal and found it was personally set by Sha Qian Mo. With his cultivation, forcibly breaking it would take at least a day.
A day.
Enough time for Sha Qian Mo to move the person away.
Bai Zi Hua withdrew his hand and stood before the entrance to the secret passage, silent for a long time.
"Sha Qian Mo, who exactly are you protecting?"
No one answered him.
The night wind blew across the rooftops of the Demon Emperor Palace, making a whistling sound, like a sigh.
Bai Zi Hua cast one last glance in the direction of the secret passage and turned to leave.
He did not pursue.
It wasn't that he couldn't catch up, but that the time was not yet right.
The Life and Death Tribulation could not be overcome by pursuit alone. What was meant to come, would come.
He just needed to wait.
Hua Qian Gu sat on a stone by the stream and suddenly looked up towards the direction of the secret passage.
"What's wrong?" Sha Qian Mo asked.
"Nothing," Hua Qian Gu lowered her head, hugging the egg tighter. "I just felt... something just passed by."
Sha Qian Mo followed her gaze towards the secret passage, a flicker of complexity in his purple eyes.
"It was the wind," he said.
"Was it?" Hua Qian Gu said softly. "Perhaps."
Neither of them spoke further.
The stream babbled, birds chirped.
The first near-miss had occurred, silently.
【End of Chapter·Comment Section Discussion: Do you hope Bai Zi Hua and Hua Qian Gu meet sooner?】
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