The Holy Mother Is Actually Me?

At the border between Great Zhen and Great Li, a caravan that looked fairly capable was crossing the frontier, transporting a batch of materials unique to Great Li toward Great Zhen.

Inside the ebony carriage, the space looked several times larger than it did from outside. A sixteen-year-old girl sat frowning over a thick ledger. Its dreary contents made her drowsy.

Just then, someone knocked on the carriage door.

"Come in, Uncle Fu."

An elderly man with graying hair and a kindly face entered the carriage and gave her a respectful bow.

"Miss, there's news."

"Oh? How did it go?" The girl immediately perked up and set down the ledger.

"That Cècè girl did indeed enter the Wasteland with her silly-looking guard."

"I knew she wasn't an ordinary person—and neither is her guard." The girl was delighted.

The old man nodded in agreement.

"Her guard is clearly only at the Returning Aperture stage, yet his Blood Essence is stronger than that of an ordinary Blood Sea Realm body cultivator. It's also exceptionally pure and vigorous. Talent alone can't explain it. Only certain major forces or special places could possibly produce someone like him.

"And that Cècè girl is even less ordinary. I only probed her slightly, yet I nearly alerted her. Strangely, I sensed that she was also within the third rank.

"I've observed her before. When she speaks, she occasionally carries a trace of the accent from the western part of the Kuihou Kingdom. Her conduct, her manner of dealing with people, even the way she sits, stands, and walks, all carry something of a courtesan from the Kuihou Kingdom. It's no longer obvious now, and she's become much more uninhibited. I imagine she fell into hardship when she was young and was once trained as a courtesan."

"How could those courtesans compare with Big Sister Cècè?" The girl's brows furrowed slightly as she immediately retorted.

"You're right, Miss. There's truly no comparison..." The old man gave a faint, wry smile and shook his head. The confidence and assurance the woman occasionally revealed without meaning to were indeed things ordinary people could never possess.

"All right, Uncle Fu. Give the order: the moment we receive a letter from Big Sister Cècè, bring it to me."

The contact address Cècè had left was a small shop in the Three-Forked Lands. Uncle Fu knew perfectly well that leaving a contact address in a place like that was practically the same as leaving none at all.

But Cècè had claimed that her hometown was a small city in the western part of the Kuihou Kingdom, and that was absolutely true. They couldn't ask whether the address she had left was fake—that would be terribly rude.

So, to ensure that she would not lose contact with the sister she had felt an instant kinship with, the girl had generously given her three communication flying swords developed by Lihuo Academy. They could transmit messages across five thousand li and were worth quite a fortune.

A wealthy young lady who had never left home meeting a close female friend on her first outing and becoming a little generous was perfectly reasonable.

A day later, a sword light appeared on the horizon. In the blink of an eye, it became a streak of light and fell toward the caravan.

Uncle Fu raised a hand. The sword light dispersed in his palm, transforming into a letter.

The girl took the letter and hurriedly opened it.

"Dear Sister Tianxin, I have safely returned home after our parting several days ago.

"Thinking of our farewell, I know you must have been worried about me. Our Young Master learned that I had met a friend with whom I felt an instant kinship and was overjoyed. He also said that he should ease my friend's worries, so I have written to report my safety.

"I heard this is your first time leaving home, so I have one thing to tell you. Disasters have been occurring frequently of late, and evil people have been making a spectacle of themselves. Please take good care of yourself.

"When spring comes, I will visit you again and tell you how much I have missed you.

"Stay well.

"Cècè, on a windless, snowless night."

Gu Tianxin looked at the delicate handwriting, which carried a hint of strength, and a smile unconsciously spread across her face.

"Uncle Fu, I told you, didn't I? As long as Big Sister Cècè reached home safely, she would certainly write to report her safety. She's rather worried about mine, too."

Uncle Fu smiled. He glanced at the spiritual radiance that had dispersed from the communication flying sword but had yet to fully gather itself, and said meaningfully, "This communication flying sword disintegrated after only one use. Five thousand li, too. If we had left even one day later and continued north, we might not have received it."

"Uncle Fu, let's keep going. I want to write Big Sister Cècè a reply."

Uncle Fu smiled, went outside, and directed the caravan onward. Before long, they began seeing refugees one after another.

As the saying went, the Wasteland's cold winds would not sensibly remain confined to the Wasteland. The parts of Great Zhen near the Wasteland were bound to be affected, and much more severely than western Great Li.

The people of Great Zhen had simply grown used to every winter being cold. This year was a little colder, but it was still within many people's ability to endure.

The refugees by the roadside were poor families who truly could no longer survive.

And there were such people every year.

As they traveled, a slogan suddenly reached them from ahead.

"When the Red Sun calamity ends, the White Sun shall rise!"

A group of refugees had gathered ahead. One of them, dressed just as shabbily as the others but in very thick clothes, held up a crudely printed blue book. His expression was feverish as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Heaven has sent down a revelation! The White Sun Holy Mother is about to descend! Heaven's punishment is coming! Only members of the Holy Cult can escape this suffering!"

After shouting several times and seeing that the refugees did not seem particularly moved, he stuffed the blue book back into his clothes. Then he tore open his padded coat with great care, exposing the white cotton inside.

"See this? I used to be just like you, nearly freezing to death by the roadside. Then I met a Holy Envoy of the Holy Cult, who bestowed this padded coat on me. That was how I escaped death by freezing. See? The finest cotton—so warm! I even had breakfast today. I drank two bowls of porridge, the kind thick enough that chopsticks could stand upright in it!"

Only then did the refugees' eyes show a trace of change.

A husband and wife with their children could not help asking, "Really? Chopsticks can stand upright, and you had two bowls?"

"Of course! Once you join my Holy Cult, you and I will all be one family. How could we let our family go hungry?" The man nodded repeatedly, barely short of pointing at the heavens and swearing an oath.

By then, the caravan had finally passed the spot.

Uncle Fu came over and looked at the man recruiting followers. With a kindly face and a warm smile, he asked, "Brother, my young lady heard that you're helping the poor here and admires you greatly. She wanted to ask whether you might exchange that scripture with us."

Uncle Fu took out a gold bead the size of a soybean and handed it over.

The man's eyes lit up at the sight of gold. He immediately nodded and handed Uncle Fu the blue book from his clothes.

Uncle Fu thanked him and returned to the carriage.

The blue book was placed on the table. Its cover read White Sun Secret Record. After opening it and skimming through a few pages, they found that the paper was rough and inferior, but the printing was quite clear, and the book itself was fairly new.

It contained a few simple prescriptions from wandering physicians, as well as assorted bits of common knowledge that ordinary people could indeed use.

But most of it consisted of hidden propaganda. The scriptures ran contrary to orthodox teachings, the incantations were bizarre and their purpose unclear, and there were even more slogans. In summary, after joining the cult, one only had to chant scriptures, burn incense, and worship every day to receive the protection of the White Sun Holy Mother.

After death, one's soul would be guided by the Holy Mountain and enjoy blessings there. Even if one unfortunately starved to death, one would not become a Starvation Ghost. Instead, the Holy Mother would bestow her blessing, transforming one into a Hungry Ghost that could eat. In the Holy Mountain, one would have a place to live and food to sustain oneself.

Uncle Fu read a few pages, and his brows immediately drew tightly together.

"Great Li has a prince who widely practices benevolent governance. These White Sun heretics can't deceive its common people, so they've come to Great Zhen to spread lies and confuse the masses. And they've already revised their scriptures and printed them into books so quickly, even adding the newly appeared Hungry Ghosts..."

"They're that audacious?" The girl was somewhat shocked. She hurriedly flipped to that page and glanced over it. It really was as he said. Even the appearance of the Hungry Ghosts had become the White Sun Holy Mother's accomplishment in serving the Dao and finding a ray of hope for the Starvation Ghosts.

"They truly are outrageously bold." Uncle Fu was sincerely impressed by them this time.

He glanced at the girl, who still had not finished writing her reply, pointed at the book, and said, "If you really don't know what to write, take this book with you. Since that flying sword can only be used once, you can send more things with it."

"That's right. I'll tell her what I encountered, and about the local customs, too." The girl nodded, agreeing with Uncle Fu's suggestion.

Uncle Fu smiled and nodded. He took the book and letter and left the carriage.

After thinking for a moment, he took out four flying swords. He activated one, turning it into a ball of spiritual radiance, then stuffed the other three flying swords, the scripture, and the letter into it. The radiance then became a streak of light and shot into the sky.

The caravan continued onward. Even after reaching the towns, they could still hear cultists outside shouting slogans and making a spectacle of themselves in the streets at night.

The next day, Uncle Fu found Gu Tianxin.

"Miss, we should head back. White Sun Evil Sacrifice is rampant within Great Zhen and has already gained a certain foothold. I'm afraid the White Sun heretics from Great Li have all come to Great Zhen. It isn't very safe here anymore."

Seeing that Gu Tianxin did not seem particularly moved, Uncle Fu immediately added, "Besides, if we continue north, we'll exceed five thousand li. Your reply might not reach her."

"All right. Once we finish trading the goods, we'll go back."

At Jinlan Mountain, Cècè watched the streak of light falling from the sky and reached out to catch it. The light transformed into several objects in her palm, then shattered and dispersed.

In the distance, Old Yang lifted his eyelids and muttered in a low voice, "What a wastrel."

Cècè looked at the three flying swords and laughed as well. She really was no ordinary wastrel.

She glanced at the letter. It contained only the usual pleasantries and greetings, with an added note that, while traveling through Great Zhen, she had seen people recruiting followers. She had exchanged for their scripture and been greatly shocked after reading it. She felt it was the most interesting thing she had seen on the road since their parting, so she had sent it straight to Cècè.

Cècè flipped through the scripture. As she read, her brows rose slightly, and killing intent stirred in her eyes.

"Young Master, take a look at this."

Yu Ziqing took the scripture and began flipping through it from the first page. His expression was natural as he commented on it.

"Setting aside all those jumbled brainwashing techniques, this scripture does contain some useful things. Those little prescriptions could still be quite helpful to ordinary poor families..."

After making a few casual comments, Yu Ziqing reached the later pages and laughed in anger.

"Oh, wow. The White Sun heretics' ability to ride the wave is as superb as ever, and their angles are as devious as ever.

"Last time, they rode on the Wasteland's disaster. This time, they even dared to ride on the Hungry Ghosts. They've gone so far as to take full credit for it, turning it into the achievement of their Holy Mother."

The Jinlan Mountain he had risked his life to retrieve corresponded to the Holy Mountain in the scripture.

The trees he had painstakingly planted as a dwelling place for the Hungry Ghosts, and the charity he had given them, corresponded to the blessings the Holy Mother had bestowed upon the Hungry Ghosts in the scripture.

Thinking of this, Yu Ziqing set down the scripture and looked up at Cècè with an expression that said he had figured it all out.

"Do you think it's possible that this Holy Mother is actually me?"

Today I'm taking Big Orange to the hospital again, so I'm posting them together.