Chapter 251
Chapter 251
I immediately turned and ran back into the room. Taking the largest Longbow down from the wall, I gripped it in both hands and tested it.
The Longbow was still sturdy, and the bowstring remained taut and powerful.
As I turned to leave, I spotted the Golden Mask on the dressing table.
I walked over, picked it up, and put it on.
Once outside the room, I glanced at the leaves of the Wutong Tree again. Far fewer of them were still swaying now.
I patted myself down to make sure I had everything. The Cangwu Nether Seal and Witchcraft Notebook were there, and even the Willow-Twig Bracelet was still around my wrist.
The jade pendant Hu Yulin had given me and the Golden Copper Coin from Liu Junyan both hung around my neck.
I turned and ran behind the waterfall, shutting the stone door behind me.
There was no way I could confront Feng Xianqiu head-on. After all, he had the entire Phoenix Clan behind him.
Fighting him here would only be asking for trouble.
The tea garden behind the waterfall lay on the rear side of Cangwu Mountain, right next to Spirit Butterfly Valley.
A towering peak separated the two, and I had no idea what lay beyond it. Even so, I figured the stone door could hold him off for a while, and my chances of escaping out the back were better than confronting him head-on.
Deep down, though, I knew this was nothing more than a desperate last resort.
My first instinct had told me to avoid him, but as I passed through the waterfall, the cool spray struck my face and shocked me back to my senses.
I remembered what Mom had told me.
She said I could trust the Snow Phoenix Clan completely.
Could I really trust them completely?
Snow Phoenix had betrayed me once for the sake of her entire clan and her ancestor.
And this time, I was facing the Snow Phoenix Clan itself…
As though guided by some telepathic bond, I felt something deep within my soul fill me with immense courage. I turned around, reopened the stone door, and walked back inside.
I returned beneath the Wutong Tree, gripping the Longbow in my left hand and drawing the bowstring with my right as I aimed above, ready to strike at any moment.
The instant I caught even a glimpse of Feng Xianqiu, I would attack.
This Longbow was not Fengwu and might not be able to shoot flames, but I had merged with Mother’s Inner Core and gained a measure of internal energy. I would do everything I could to protect myself.
At the same time, I would give the Snow Phoenix Clan a chance to prove their loyalty.
After all, I bore the responsibility of uniting and restoring the Phoenix Clan. I needed the Snow Phoenix Clan’s strength and support.
This was the perfect opportunity to test them.
Even if I ultimately lost and Feng Xianqiu took me away… In the past, I might have feared that he would capture me and control me with the Symbiotic Curse. But not anymore.
Mom had told me that my sister had no Spiritual Consciousness.
I had already noticed plenty of things that did not add up.
For example, Feng Xianqiu had brought Feng Lishu under his control long ago. Why hadn’t he installed her as Phoenix Master and then ruled from behind the scenes?
If there was something suspicious about Feng Lishu’s identity, why had he created a Feng Lishu at all when he already had my sister’s Fragmented Soul in his grasp?
Mom’s words had finally helped me unravel all the twists and turns.
I was now almost certain that Feng Lishu was not my sister. She was a puppet Feng Xianqiu had created to mislead outsiders.
Feng Lishu had clearly been kept in the dark all this time. Otherwise, her hostility toward me would never have run so deep.
As for why Feng Xianqiu had created a puppet like Feng Lishu when he already controlled my sister’s Fragmented Soul, seemingly going to all that trouble for nothing… it was because my sister had no Spiritual Consciousness.
If he had presented my sister, devoid of Spiritual Consciousness, to the clan back then, how many members of the Phoenix Clan would have supported him? How many would have followed him?
The Symbiotic Curse had been cast on my sister and me as soon as we hatched. That grave wrong had already been committed.
As someone who also understood Witchcraft, Feng Xianqiu’s first thought would naturally have been to conceal the truth and put forward a puppet, then secretly use his own Witchcraft techniques to remedy the situation.
That was why a Symbiotic Curse had appeared on Feng Lishu as well.
The Symbiotic Curse on her hadn’t been cast by the Grand Witch. Feng Xianqiu had cast it!
That was precisely why she had suffered backlash from me so easily.
Because she had never been the one I was truly meant to sustain.
It wasn’t until Feng Lishu became completely useless that Feng Xianqiu decisively discarded her.
The woman in his hands now looked exactly like Feng Lishu, but the soul inside her was my real sister.
She had no Spiritual Consciousness.
That meant even if I fell into Feng Xianqiu’s hands, he wouldn’t kill me.
He would control me and find a way to reverse the Symbiotic Curse so that I could fuse with my sister…
As long as I didn’t die immediately, there was still a chance to escape!
Besides, there was something else.
I had already been inside Cangwu Mountain for more than ten days. How much could have happened outside in that time?
There was no way Liu Junyan would simply send me into Cangwu Mountain and then do nothing.
He would always be my greatest source of confidence.
I trusted him!
I steeled myself for Feng Xianqiu to break in, but to my surprise, he couldn’t make it down at all.
Just as the Wutong Tree’s leaves became covered in snow, they suddenly began rustling again.
Every leaf on the Wutong Tree seemed to tremble.
Snowflakes cascaded down.
They landed on my head, my body, and the ground, then instantly melted into water.
Boom!
A tremendous wave of heat erupted from within the Wutong Tree’s trunk and shot straight upward.
The crimson glow of the Nirvana Fire shone through the leaves, bathing the entire space in red.
The scorching heat turned the freshly melted snow into steam, and it vanished in an instant.
The Wutong Tree’s leaves shed their snowy white coating and returned to a lush, vibrant green, dancing in the wind with a soft rustle.
Then, from among the leaves, a snow-white Little White Bird with three crest feathers on her head came hurtling down. She careened around like a headless fly before finally landing on the ground and transforming into human form.
Who else could it be but Snow Phoenix?
When we had parted at the Pawnshop last time, Snow Phoenix had said she would find somewhere to enter seclusion and recover properly in preparation for rescuing the Snow Phoenix Clan.
A little over two weeks had passed since then. I never expected her to suddenly appear here.
After taking human form, she stared at me for a while.
I couldn’t tell whether my mask had confused her or whether she had sensed my mother’s aura on me.
Then she performed another formal obeisance before me.
This was the third time.
I reached out and pulled her upright. “How did you get down here?”
“The Six Elders of our clan combined their powers and performed a ritual to send me down,” Snow Phoenix said. “The Right Guardian is up there.”
I frowned.
So Feng Xianqiu had indeed forced the Snow Phoenix Clan to come down and break through the Nirvana Fire. Clearly, however, this first Formation wasn’t enough to support Feng Xianqiu’s descent.
Snow Phoenix winked at me, a sly smile playing on her lips. “I couldn’t find a chance to get down here before, but then the Right Guardian handed us the perfect opportunity on a silver platter.”
I asked, “Before you came down, did you already know you couldn’t truly break through the Nirvana Fire?”
“Of course,” Snow Phoenix replied. “If it were that easy, the Right Guardian would have come down long ago. Why would he wait until now? Sister, I can’t stay here for too long or I’ll be burned. The Six Elders can only hold things at bay for so long. I’ll take you out right now.”
I took a step back.
Feng Xianqiu was waiting above, and the Six Elders had been under his control all along.
Was Snow Phoenix really trying to save me by taking me out?
Or was she leading me straight into a trap?