Shrouding the Heavens: The Years I Was the Female Emperor's Strictest Master, Chapter 6

That lackey of the Human Emperor Hall had been kept for so long. It was time to put him to use...

Inside the ring, amid void and chaos.

Once he was certain the danger had moved far away, Tan Lin released the [Inverted All-Causes Vision] state.

In an instant, the crimson-gray mist shrouding his remnant soul spread out. One Causal Line after another reappeared across the barrier of the All-Causes Soul Pearl.

At that moment.

Outside, the little girl with pigtails seemed to recall something. She cautiously called toward the Bronze Ring:

"Are... are you still there?"

Hearing her, Tan Lin did not respond at once. His main consciousness remained within the copper fragment, painfully fiddling with the Deep Crimson Light Point in his palm, which had visibly dimmed.

It was worth mentioning that, while in the [Inverted All-Causes Vision] state, those Causal Lines had not truly vanished.

This was merely a concealment ability brought about by the Soul Pearl's transformation. It could flawlessly hide one's existence from the "experiences" of selected causal targets for a time.

As the Soul Pearl's host, he could still see those invisible threads in this state. That was why he could continue tracking the gray-robed Daoist's movements and avoid misfortune.

The cost, however, was that maintaining this state consumed Deep Crimson Light Points at twice the rate of the normal [All-Cause Vision] state!

And if too many causal targets were involved, or their cultivation was too high, the consumption would increase accordingly.

After such a long time, even without examining it closely, Tan Lin could easily tell through his remnant soul's ordinary vision that the Deep Crimson Light Point had dimmed considerably.

But compared to surviving this crisis, it had all been worth it.

Weren't Causal Light Points meant to be nurtured and accumulated for critical moments like this?

What troubled him now was that, with his true soul incomplete, he could not reincarnate even if the Soul Pearl possessed sufficient power!

His true soul from his previous life had been affected by his Primordial Spirit and shattered together with it by the Undying Heavenly Blade. Only this remnant of his true self, carrying the Soul Pearl, had escaped disaster through weapon dissolution.

The other fragments of his true soul had scattered in all directions. Aside from a very few exceptional pieces, most had either fused with artifacts and given rise to artifact spirits, or merged with plants, trees, fish, and insects, granting them intelligence and turning them into spirits and monsters...

Earlier, by connecting his consciousness to the external Dao marks and combining that with the Soul Pearl's perception, he had already determined the locations of many scattered remnant soul fragments. Yet the largest incomplete fragment of his true soul was within the Human Emperor Hall's lineage in the Central Plains, and he had no idea what state it was in.

Retrieving it, repairing it, and merging it into this remnant soul of his true self would likely be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

The Human Emperor Hall was a trap. His old enemy was waiting for him to walk into it, yet he had no other choice.

"I can only make that my final objective. First, I'll retrieve the other tiny soul fragments scattered and broken across heaven and earth..."

As his thoughts turned, Tan Lin gradually formed a plan.

Naturally, he could not do without the help of that future Female Emperor in her childhood.

"Are... are you gone?"

Outside, after calling for a while without receiving an answer, a faint, almost imperceptible sense of loss filled Nannan's voice.

When she had first learned that the inexplicable voice came from within the Bronze Ring, she had already felt an inexplicable closeness toward it.

After all, this was the only thing her brother had left her...

But the necessary wariness she had developed over the past few years kept her from easily trusting the other party.

Yet when the spirit of the ring stopped responding, she inexplicably felt empty again.

She was terrified that it was all flowers in a mirror, the moon in water—nothing but a dream in the end.

The conversation they had had on the way to this abandoned brick kiln still seemed to echo in her mind:

"Little girl, do you want revenge?"

"Who? Who's speaking?"

"Hehe, you're so clever. You must have guessed by now that your brother did not die in battle, right?"

"Who exactly are you? Are you really inside the ring?!"

"Who I am is unimportant. What matters is..."

Drip...

The loneliness of the empty brick kiln seeped into her, and she could not help thinking of the brother with whom she had once depended on each other for survival.

When her brother had been around, life had been poor, but she had truly lived without a care.

In the years since her brother was taken away, she had been forced to live independently. Life had become even harder. She had experienced much, witnessed this world's filth, and been forced to mature rapidly in just a few short years.

She had begged for food and lived as a beggar...

During several winters, if not for villagers giving her two meals, she might not have lived long enough to receive the terrible news of her brother's "death in battle."

If that had happened, perhaps... that would have been fine too?

Thinking that, she remembered that her brother was already dead, that she had not even seen him one last time, and silent tears began to fall.

Pat...

A tear slid down her thin cheek and shattered on the ground.

No matter how precocious she was, she was still only eight or nine years old.

"After all this time, why haven't you treated the whip wounds on your back? What were you shouting at the air just now? Was that fun?"

Suddenly, the indifferent voice of the ring spirit sounded beside her ear once more:

"Didn't I make myself clear earlier?"

"Hehe, with your frail body, if you get infected after being drenched in the rain, a serious illness could take your little life. If you die, don't tell me you expect me to avenge your brother for you?"

At that moment, Tan Lin seemed like a man without pity or emotion. Every word he spoke was barbed.

She was his opportunity to repair his remnant soul. He had to spur her to grow as quickly as possible; he could not afford to go soft on her.

As for "the spirit of the ring," that was the identity he had told her when she was still in the mud outside the post station. It was just that, in those circumstances, she had thought she was hearing things.

Now that the danger had passed, it was time to guide her into forging a deeper causal connection with him.

"I... sob, I thought you... you were gone. I remembered some things... and forgot. Please... please don't be angry. I'll take care of it right away..."

Nannan had not yet recovered from the sorrow of missing her brother. She choked on sobs and could not stop or control herself.

Still sobbing, she stood from beside the bonfire. Then she swiftly took off her ragged clothes and used a clean strip of cloth dipped in boiled water from the clay pot to treat her wounds.

Bestowing the Name Qingjue

Rustle, rustle...

Before long, Nannan had simply treated her whip wounds. She put on the clothes drying beside the bonfire, then held the "Devouring Source Scripture" she had obtained from the gray-robed Daoist and began reading by the firelight.

The abandoned brick kiln was utterly quiet. Only the rain, the crackling firewood, and the sound of her turning pages could be heard.

For some reason, the spirit of the ring had fallen silent again.

She was very self-aware. Since they were not familiar with one another, she did not take the initiative to disturb him.

But his silence also meant that she could not take the chance to ask him more questions about cultivation.

Rustle...

As she turned the pages, she had never been as desperate as she was now to embark upon the path of cultivation.

When her brother had been taken away by people from the Feathered Immortal Dynasty, that sense of helplessness had been the beginning of her understanding of cultivation's importance.

In this world, only one's own power and strength mattered. Otherwise, one would merely become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!

And to cultivate, one at least had to know how to read, understand the structure of the human body, the paths of its meridians, and the locations of its acupoints, right?

That was why, amid her years of begging, she had begun sneaking into private schools to listen to lessons and bask in the light of education.

But at the time, she still cherished the hope that her brother might one day be released after his conscription. Though she had worked hard to approach the path of cultivation, she was a Mortal Body without any "immortal affinity." The cultivators who had come to the village to select immortal seedlings had all looked down on her.

No matter how she begged, every one of them gave the same answer.

She had no affinity with the Dao and would achieve little in her life.

Later, forced by the need to survive, she missed many lessons at the private school. Even now, she could not recognize more than half the characters. Her studies became intermittent, and she gradually grew discouraged, often sitting for most of the day beneath the tree where her brother had been taken away.

Crackle, crackle...

The firewood in the bonfire continued to burst and crack, but the sound of pages turning did not resume.

After all this time, the booklet was still open to its first page.

"Are you there? I... can I take you as my master?"

After a while, the girl's timid, anxious voice finally sounded:

"Can you teach me how to recognize these characters?"

Her freshly washed little face was rosy. Though her cheeks were thin and she was somewhat malnourished, it was not hard to see that she would grow into a beauty. No wonder she smeared charcoal ash and mud over herself outside, making herself look filthy.

"Oh? You want to take me as your master? Just to learn a few characters? Do you know what taking a master means?"

Within the ring, the corner of Tan Lin's mouth lifted slightly.

The reason he had not rushed earlier was because he was certain she would come looking for him herself. The deeper causal bond established that way would be different.

He would gain more from it and occupy the dominant position.

"I... I know. A master for a day is a father for life?"

Nannan gathered her courage and slowly spoke toward the ring.

"Hehe, that is the kind of master found in the mortal world. You are about to step onto the path of cultivation. A cultivation master is different..."

Tan Lin spoke faintly. Seeing that the girl only half understood, he did not elaborate further and instead asked:

"At the tea stall, you wanted to take that Daoist as your master and asked him to teach you cultivation. What did he do?"

Hearing that, Nannan froze.

"That old grandpa said he never accepted disciples, so he took my Divine Source and gave me this booklet?"

"Does that way of doing things seem familiar? Like the merchants crowding the city, or the vendors hawking their wares..."

Tan Lin guided her step by step.

Nannan listened silently. Only after he finished did she say thoughtfully:

"It was buying and selling... no, a transaction?"

"Excellent."

Seeing that she had finally grasped the key point, Tan Lin laughed and applauded within the ring.

But before he could continue, the girl misunderstood him. She lightly bit her lip and lowered her head in dejection.

"You don't want to take me as your disciple either? But I have nothing left now..."

Tan Lin could not help falling speechless at that, then said:

"You are mistaken. What I mean is that since it was a transaction between you and that Daoist, you owe him nothing. Besides, that cultivation method harbors evil intentions..."

"Nannan knows. That old grandpa wasn't a good person, but he was the first person to make Nannan feel that the door to cultivation might not truly be closed to her..."

In the firelight, a flickering glow shone in the little girl's thin face. Her small face was filled with yearning for cultivation.

She spoke with great seriousness.

Her crisp voice softly echoed through the kiln, causing Tan Lin's remnant soul inside the ring to fall silent for a moment.

This child's disposition was more obsessive and clear-sighted than he had expected.

Just as the gray-robed Daoist had said, she truly possessed discerning eyes, and her mind was keen far beyond that of children her age.

"Having hope is naturally a good thing."

Tan Lin's voice was calm and cold, without the slightest hint of praise, as though he were simply stating an objective fact:

"But if that hope itself is poisoned bait, and you still blindly swallow it, then you will be doomed beyond redemption."

Nannan raised her head, her little hand unconsciously clenching the corner of her clothes.