Chapter 213: The Letter
Since the events of yesterday, Bai Xiaoyao had locked herself in her room.
She was deeply worried about Luo Wusheng’s safety and eager to know his whereabouts, yet she was also painfully aware of her own powerlessness.
Given the circumstances, it was almost impossible for her to locate her senior brother, who had disappeared due to the teleportation.
So, she could only keep telling herself—just as the courtesan of Red Blossom Pavilion had assured her—that her senior brother had prepared for this in advance and would be fine. It was the only way she could keep her growing anxiety in check.
Instead of drowning in helplessness, she threw herself into another task: piecing together everything that had happened since her senior brother left the Three Thousand Demon Domain.
The feeling of powerlessness she had experienced yesterday, watching events unfold before her eyes, only strengthened her resolve.
Rather than lamenting her inability to help, she was determined to do something useful for her senior brother.
That was why she had personally announced the temporary closure of the Demon Artifact Pavilion yesterday.
After such a shocking incident, many people would undoubtedly flock to the pavilion—but most would be nothing more than idle gawkers. Keeping the doors open would only waste manpower.
Besides, among the entire staff, only the artifact refiners were still capable of working as usual.
Even Bai Xiaoyao herself had only just realized how much her senior brother had come to mean to her.
At this moment, she slowly rose from her bed.
Her weary eyes swept across the room before she raised a delicate hand.
With a surge of spiritual energy, the chaotic room gradually returned to a semblance of order.
Then, she reached for her storage bag.
A small white wooden token landed on the desk before her.
The Holy Maiden Token.
As she gazed at this symbol of her status within the Demon Sect, a complicated emotion flickered in her eyes.
‘If everything is as I suspect…’
After spending an entire day meticulously connecting the dots, she had finally arrived at a theory she had never before considered.
She placed two fingers lightly on the token, channeling her spiritual energy into it.
Under normal circumstances, this Holy Maiden Token should have shattered at that very moment, alerting the Demon Sect Master—the man who had abandoned his disciples to fend for themselves.
In theory, this token was meant to be used in times of crisis to summon an elder of the sect.
But neither Luo Wusheng nor Bai Xiaoyao had ever been certain whether their so-called “master” would actually respond.
At first, cracks indeed began to spread across the white wooden token.
But then—a sudden change occurred.
A radiant light burst forth from the Holy Maiden Token, and in an instant, all the cracks vanished.
Immediately after, spatial ripples appeared beside the token, spitting out two letters.
Bai Xiaoyao did not immediately reach for them.
Instead, she lifted the token between her fingers, her expression growing even more complicated—yet also strangely at peace.
“He refuses to show himself, yet he does not remain completely unresponsive… Is this his silent confirmation that all my suspicions are correct?”
“So it’s true… From the very beginning, Master has been orchestrating events from behind the scenes, planning things my senior brother and I were never meant to know—including what happened yesterday…”
She murmured to herself, momentarily dazed.
Then, her gaze shifted to the two letters that had suddenly appeared.
The fact that they had materialized due to the Holy Maiden Token’s activation meant only one thing—her master had used some kind of spell to send them.
Yet, as she examined them closely, she sensed a familiar aura.
‘It’s hers?’
Her heart began to race.
There had been one lingering frustration in her mind ever since yesterday’s events.
Yes—she had regretted, more than once, that she had been too obedient yesterday.
If only she had insisted—like a certain Sword Sect genius had—on entering that special space where her senior brother had vanished.
If her theory was correct, then whoever entered that space would have been teleported along with Luo Wusheng at the end of the tribulation.
Which meant…
Her good friend might be with her senior brother right now.
“Two letters… One from her and one from my senior brother? But why do they both only carry her aura?”
And more importantly—
Why had her elusive, ever-unpredictable master chosen this exact moment to place these letters before her?
Was he… trying to distract her?
If that was the goal, then it had certainly succeeded.
Bai Xiaoyao took a slow, deep breath.
No one understood better than she did just how desperately she wanted news of her senior brother.
And yet, for some inexplicable reason, another emotion stirred within her heart—one she could not quite name.
‘I want to stay by Senior Brother’s side too…’
Regretful, the young demoness flicked her fingers, opening both envelopes at once. Two folded letters fluttered out.
Upon seeing the small sword insignia drawn on the back of one letter, she instinctively reached for the other one first.
Her eyes landed on the first line:
[This is a letter from your senior brother. He is not with me at the moment, so I am delivering it on his behalf… Below is what he asked me to tell you.]
At those words, Bai Xiaoyao inexplicably felt a wave of relief.
Perhaps it was because, from this single sentence alone, she could already deduce that her senior brother was safe and sound.
Her gaze moved further down.
The letter was not long, merely recounting Luo Wusheng’s words from Lu Yuli’s perspective.
The first piece of information was the most crucial:
Neither of them had encountered any significant danger—they were safe and currently in Sword Province.
“They ended up in Sword Province… and Senior Brother even gained some new opportunities, advancing his cultivation further… but still hasn’t reached the Nascent Soul Realm?”
She gently wiped away a single tear that had formed at the corner of her eye, a result of the relief flooding through her.
A slight frown formed on her delicate face.
“But… if he has already reached the peak of the Golden Core realm, then any further breakthrough should have led to Nascent Soul, shouldn’t it?”
Still, according to the letter, Luo Wusheng would explain everything in detail once he returned to Wangcheng.
Bai Xiaoyao decided not to dwell on it for now.
More than cultivation levels or breakthroughs, the most important thing was that her senior brother was unharmed.
‘As expected of Senior Brother…’
A small smile tugged at her lips as she continued reading.
“Hmm… Prepare for the transaction between the Demon Artifact Pavilion and the Immortal Nation? He really doesn’t let people rest, does he? Even in times like these, he’s still thinking about business…”
But in a way, that only made the letter more authentic.
It was short, and she finished reading it quickly. But Bai Xiaoyao’s mood was completely different from when she had started.
‘…It would have been even better if he had written the letter himself.’
Holding the letter in her hands, she reread the final lines where her senior brother reassured her not to worry and urged her to focus on her cultivation.
With a light sigh, she picked up the second letter.
[Bai Xiaoyao—]
The first two words instantly made her expression turn strange.
And the more she read, the stranger her expression became.
That unexplainable feeling in her heart grew stronger.
At some point, the delicate threads of her artifact had already wrapped themselves around her fingers.
Her grip on the letter stiffened, and after a long pause, the parchment slipped from her fingers.
“According to this letter, she should have already returned to the Sword Sect by now, right…?”
Her voice was eerily calm as she murmured to herself.
With a wave of her hand, two blank sheets of paper landed on her desk.
She was going to write a reply—one letter for a certain someone to deliver to her senior brother, updating him on what she had uncovered today.
As for the other letter…
<+>
Sword Province, outside a secluded cave.
Luo Wusheng shivered violently.
At that very moment, the last traces of special nether blood within his body had been completely refined.
Yet, for some reason, a sudden chill ran down his spine.
—Why did it feel like something ominous was approaching?