Chapter 242

“Wu Shu.”

Ye Zheng's voice drifted into her ear, soft and distant. Wu Shu gave a slight start before asking cautiously, “Ye Zheng?”

“It's me.”

Wu Shu quickly remembered that during the Ability Tournament, Ye Zheng had contacted her through this very same mysterious method. Whether it was an ability or some miraculous artifact, Ye Zheng always seemed to possess a handful of extraordinary means.

“The team is currently resting and regrouping in the Southern District. We plan to take the initiative and launch an attack on Sela tomorrow.” Wu Shu leaned against the wall as she gave her report. “However... their preparations are incredibly lax. They aren't taking this operation seriously at all. Those people the Church sent probably won't even leave the hotel tomorrow.”

“There’s also Roy, Pei Xi’s teammate. He may have a mission of his own. I’ll keep watching.”

“Judging by how things are unfolding, this operation might not only fail to bring down Sela. We could end up getting completely overwhelmed.”

“Ye Zheng, is this part of your plan as well?”

Wu Shu asked with a smile.

“Even a train derails from time to time. As long as those detours don't stop it from reaching its destination, there's no cause for concern.”

“There is no predetermined track. What I can promise is that no matter which direction the train takes, it will ultimately arrive at a satisfactory destination.”

“Perhaps an unforeseen detour will even reveal a shortcut.”

The voice drifting from afar carried a faint distortion, as though filtered through frosted glass. Ye Zheng’s gentle voice had dropped slightly, roughened by a husky edge that lent it a strangely magnetic quality, enough to send a faint shiver through the listener’s ears.

Wu Shu lowered her gaze, deep in thought. She understood exactly what Ye Zheng meant. Variables would always exist. Rather than resisting them, it was better to turn them to one's advantage.

“Tomorrow, a friend of mine will enter the Southern District. Help her complete a certain task.” 

“And lastly, keep yourself safe. I’ll contact you whenever necessary.”

The communication came to an end. Ye Zheng rose from her seat and quietly left the office. Beneath the cover of night, she arrived at the deserted training grounds without a sound, her eyes curving ever so slightly as she looked up at the bright, immaculate moon.

Wu Shu’s report had confirmed her suspicions. The Emperor had only pretended to cooperate with her from the very beginning. On the surface, he had agreed to wait until Sela had been dealt with before making a move. In reality, he had been deceiving Ye Zheng all along, hoping to catch her completely off guard.

The existence of the Dragonic people was a secret she had struggled to protect for a very long time. On one hand, she feared exposing them would plunge the populace into panic and invite the Empire's encirclement and suppression.

On the other hand, before uncovering the truth behind the Demonic Dragon, she herself had remained wary of their power. She feared not only that others might bring them harm, but also that they might one day become a threat to others.

But now, the time had come to wager everything on a single throw of the dice.

Beneath the hazy moonlight, Ye Zheng slowly spread her arms. Gentle streams of water flowed between her palms before cascading downward like a waterfall, sinking into the cold, unyielding earth.

The gray ground gradually darkened, like paper soaked through with water. Centered on where Ye Zheng stood, the spreading darkness expanded in every direction, as though an invisible rainstorm had drenched the training grounds. The earth silently began to churn.

Ye Zheng lifted her right arm and swept it skyward. A colossal torrent of azure force erupted from the ground, surging straight into the night sky. It was dazzling and magnificent, like a river of stars flowing upward against the heavens!

The young woman tilted her head back. Moonlight filtered through the violently surging waters, leaving her tranquil face looking like the serene visage of a goddess resting beneath the depths of a silent lake.

The winding currents surged halfway into the sky before bursting apart like fireworks, dissolving into a fine, unbroken rain that nourished the tender shoots of newly awakened spring.

Over the past several days, through relentless practice, she had gradually mastered the technique of wielding 【Stream】 and 【Mother of All Things】 simultaneously.

Originally, 【Mother of All Things】 required her right hand to physically touch its target before it could be activated. But as 【Mother of All Things】 and 【Stream】 gradually fused together, she could now establish contact through the flowing water itself, then activate 【Mother of All Things】 remotely.

The water was vastly more adaptable and inconspicuous than her own hands. With the aid of 【Mother of All Things】, the true form of 【Stream】 could absorb the surrounding water far more efficiently. Once empowered, it could, in turn, carry 【Mother of All Things】 and draw strength from sources even farther away.

The union of the two was anything but a simple addition. Even Ye Zheng herself couldn't begin to imagine where their true limits lay.

✧✧✧✧✧

Silent black shadows coiled along the frigid walls. Bai Yi stood waiting quietly outside the door. Over the past two days, the Imperial Palace's reception rooms had been busier than ever. The instant the door swung open, the elderly head of the Colonna family stepped out and greeted him.

Bai Yi's eyes darkened ever so slightly. Lately, His Majesty had been growing increasingly close to certain figures within the Church, most likely intending to unite with factions inside it and bring Ye Zheng down from the papal throne.

He let out a quiet sigh before pushing the door open and stepping into the reception room.

Some time later, as the guards stationed at the entrance stifled their yawns, the door opened once again. Bai Yi emerged wearing a grave expression.

Each step of his journey home felt heavier than the last. The Emperor's words continued to echo relentlessly through his mind.

【Wait a little longer. This country will no longer need the Church or the God of Hope. Prepare to swallow the Church whole.】

A conflicted expression settled across his face. His thick, unyielding brows drew together until they nearly formed a knot. The Church's corruption and decay were obvious for anyone to see. Those people had long since abandoned their pure faith in the God of Hope. But what did it mean to say the nation would "no longer need the God of Hope"?

The God of Hope wasn't merely the faith of this nation. It was the ideal its people held sacred. He had grown up listening to the legends of the God of Hope, and later, just as his father had done before him, he passed those sacred tales down to his own children, generation after generation.

The Emperor had personally told him that Pei Xi was the true wielder of the Divine Sword, the one chosen by the god. Overcome with both shock and joy, he devoted the wisdom and experience of an entire lifetime to carefully guiding the boy.

Since childhood, he had dreamed of becoming a hero like the God of Hope. Even if he himself never could, even if his own children never could, so long as his student could grow into such a magnificent figure, he would leave this world without regrets.

His Majesty must've been blinded by his fury toward Ye Zheng. Throughout history, the greatest of all monarchs, Aston XIV, had borne the honorary title of "Guardian of the God of Hope." As the descendant of such a legendary sovereign, how could His Majesty possibly not believe in the God of Hope?

If His Majesty intended to purge the Church through military force, Bai Yi would support him to the very end. After all, the Aston Imperial Family was this nation's true divine representative and protector.

As for Ye Zheng, she understood nothing. She was merely an ignorant girl with a talent for sowing chaos and calamity, a companion of the Demonic Dragon who had betrayed humanity. Just like the traitor from five hundred years ago who had revealed the secret conversations between the God of Hope and the Imperial Family to the Demonic Dragon, she was destined to be forever nailed to the pillar of historical disgrace.

The instant he stepped into the manor, Bai Yi immediately sensed an unusual fluctuation of power. His footsteps halted, and he turned in another direction.

Standing upon the sprawling training grounds was a slender figure. The pure white garments she wore were so brilliant they seemed almost dazzling, even beneath the night sky.

“Bai Muqing, at this hour you should've already returned to your room and gone to sleep.”

Bai Yi stepped onto the training grounds and abruptly realized something was wrong. He lowered his gaze. The weathered ground had somehow become astonishingly smooth, every scrape and crater left behind over countless years having vanished without a trace.

Looking more closely, he realized that every single paving stone across the entire training ground had been flipped over.

Before coming here, he had already questioned those responsible for watching over the training grounds. Not one of them had heard even the faintest sound.

“Muqing, you…”

Bai Yi let out a heavy sigh. There had once been a time when he took immense pride in Bai Muqing's talent. But now, he could no longer tell whether that gift was a blessing bestowed by the gods or a curse laid upon her.

Had she never possessed such extraordinary talent, perhaps Bai Muqing would've lived a peaceful and happy life like the other noble young ladies of the Upper District, just as her mother had, sheltered beneath the prestige and protection of the Bai family.

“…I'm sorry.”

Bai Yi spoke without warning, a flicker of sorrow passing through his eyes.

“Father, I'm glad you've finally realized your mistake. May I go out now?”

Bai Muqing's cool, clear voice carried the faintest trace of confusion as she slowly walked toward him.

Bai Yi fell silent for a moment, nearly choking on his words. “What exactly do you intend to do if you go out now? The last time you openly contradicted His Majesty, the fact that he overlooked your disrespect was already an extraordinary act of tolerance.”

His voice grew quieter. “Had it been anyone else who learned that secret and dared speak against it... if you weren't my daughter... you'd already be dead.”

“The Crown Prince is a creation of dragon bone. The true dragon bones are buried in the Middle and Lower Districts. He wants to kill Ye Zheng.”

“None of that qualifies as a secret.”

“Besides, if Ye Zheng hadn't killed Sykes, I might already have died in that chaos.”

Bai Muqing enunciated every word slowly and deliberately.

“I stopped you! You're the one who insisted on forcing your way in!”

“Are you accusing me, your own father? Why don't you take a good look at yourself? Do you realize how selfish you've been as my daughter?”

“Bai Muqing, haven't we treated you well enough? You didn't wish to marry, so we gave up on forging marital ties with the Imperial Family and sent you to the monastery instead. You wanted to temper yourself and see the world, so I arranged for you to enter the Royal Knight Order...”

“We even gave you as many property deeds and land grants as your elder brother received. Across the entire Upper District, could you find a father who cherishes his daughter more than I do?”

Bai Yi looked at her with undisguised disappointment, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

“Just what is it that you want?”

“…So I still can't go out?”

Bai Muqing's answer left the middle-aged man utterly speechless. He turned away in grim silence, his retreating figure steeped in tightly restrained anger.

Only after sensing that Bai Yi had gone far enough did Bai Muqing slowly lift her head. She couldn't see the moon, yet she could still feel its gentle radiance brushing softly across her cheeks.

Her mother had told her that if she ever left the Bai family without permission, her father would cast her out, erase her name from the family genealogy, confiscate everything that belonged to her, and deny that she was ever his daughter.

Bai Muqing remembered when she had been very young, lying in bed as her father sat beside her, telling her the legends of the God of Hope. Those stories had been her favorite bedtime tales.

From that day onward, her admiration for her father had quietly taken root, growing alongside the heroic legends of the God of Hope deep within her heart. She'd dreamed of becoming the kind of hero her father so often praised, someone who upheld justice and banished darkness just as the God of Hope had. That was why she'd devoted herself to becoming the Church's Saintess.

Then she met Ye Zheng.

A girl who didn't believe in the gods had become the Church's Saintess, the very position Bai Muqing had dreamed of attaining. To the fourteen-year-old Bai Muqing, it had been the cruelest thing that could possibly have happened.

Yet now, looking back on it, the present Bai Muqing felt it had perhaps been the greatest stroke of fortune in her life.

Her father claimed she'd been led astray by Ye Zheng. Bai Muqing understood that she'd never agreed with Ye Zheng on everything. There had always been disagreements between them, and there were still choices Ye Zheng made that she couldn't fully endorse.

But Ye Zheng had taught her one thing that mattered more than anything else. She had shattered the illusion of Bai Muqing's seemingly perfect life and guided her onto a path that was painful, yet unwavering.

Everyone in this world was playing a "role," as though following a script that had long since been written and rehearsed. Bai Yi played the roles of the "good father," the "wise head of the Bai family," and the "loyal general of the empire." She herself played the roles of the "favored child of heaven," the "dutiful daughter," and the "faithful believer."

It was as though only by performing the role the world had assigned her could she earn the right to take root in this land, to bloom among the countless flowers surrounding her.

Yet through her actions, Ye Zheng had shown her something different.

You can step beyond the flowerbed.

You don't have to live the role that others have written for you.

Bai Muqing's lashes quivered faintly, as though a soft white glimmer had flickered through them, scattering the lingering chill of the moonlight.

She no longer cared whether the family cast her out or whether her name remained in the family genealogy.

If, the moment she stepped beyond the roles of "daughter" and "member of the Bai family," her relatives ceased to love her, then what was it they had truly loved all along? Bai Muqing herself, or merely the hollow titles of "daughter" and "family," cherished only because they allowed everyone else to better perform the roles assigned to them?

A sudden coolness gathered beneath her eye. Bai Muqing lifted a hand to touch it.

Had it started to rain?

The rain was light and fleeting, so gentle that it could almost be mistaken for a damp breeze.

The dull ache lingering in her eyes quietly faded amid her confusion. Bai Muqing closed her pale eyes. With a single thought, the vast stretch of earth silently overturned before settling back into its original state.

As long as she had not yet been expelled from the family, she'd make full use of the time she still had to train in earnest. Outside, she would never find another training ground so empty, so expansive, and so sturdily constructed.

Ever since that audience with the Emperor, Bai Muqing had been haunted by an intense premonition urging her to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

✧✧✧✧✧

Today, a fine misting rain drifted over the Southern District of the Lower District.

The team had spent an entire day resting and regrouping. After gathering intelligence through multiple channels and weighing every layer of strategic deliberation, they had finally decided to take the initiative today. Their target was Sela and the followers currently gathered with her at the border of the Southern District.

This rain had come unexpectedly. Fortunately, it was little more than a fine drizzle, delicate as drifting mist, and the droplets falling against their skin felt cool and refreshing.

Pei Xi, however, hated it.

Even though he knew Ye Zheng couldn't possibly appear in the Southern District, and that this gentle rain couldn't suddenly transform into countless threads of water to strangle him, his heart had already developed an instinctive fear and revulsion toward rain and water alike.

Suppressing the strange unease rising within him, he steadied his breathing and adjusted his state of mind.

According to the latest reports, Sela had also brought with her more than a hundred terrifying monsters. Pei Xi knew exactly what those creatures were.

Ye Zheng had failed to accomplish what she'd once promised: protecting both the Fallen Ones and the ordinary people at the same time. The moment Sela lost control, those Fallen Ones would inevitably turn on innocent civilians. To stop her, they would inevitably have to become enemies of those creatures.

…Ye Zheng had only postponed the Western District's dilemma until today. In the end, nothing had truly changed.

At this moment, Pei Xi almost wished Ye Zheng were standing here, so she could witness the consequences of her own mistake with her own eyes. She couldn't control everything!

If Ye Zheng hadn't allowed Sela to take them away, Sela could never have amassed such overwhelming strength so quickly, strength great enough to threaten even Ye Zheng's own authority and position. Those creatures had been forced into becoming Sela's weapons of conquest, ensuring that the innocent women who had once been sacrificed would never truly find peace.

Pei Xi slowly clenched his fists and looked toward the team advancing ahead. They were about to leave the city.

The mistakes of the Western District, the mistakes Ye Zheng had made... he wouldn't hesitate any longer. He would set everything right.

Pei Xi fixed his attention completely on the path before him, never noticing the complicated look Roy cast at him from the side, a fleeting gaze that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

This punitive expedition was tangled with far too many hidden agendas. It was destined to unfold in ways none of them could possibly foresee.