"Fellow Daoist Bai, she is just a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator. Fellow Daoist Shuiyue and Fellow Daoist Chongfeng have also spoken. Why must you be so entangled over such a small matter? This little girl has some connection with me. I imagine even Fellow Daoist Fengyan would not refuse to give me this little bit of face, right?"
"Connected to you…"
For a moment, Bai Yihe, the Third Elder, and even Shuiyue and Chongfeng, who had come for the same purpose, were all stunned.
'Could it be that the person behind Bai Rou is this old ghost Meng? He was the one who called the experts from the Sparrow Plume Pagoda Domain, and when he saw I didn't agree, he acted himself!' Bai Yihe thought. Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivators usually couldn't be bothered with such things.
Shuiyue and Chongfeng were also communicating privately, their hearts filled with the same confusion.
"Could that Zhang Ming be from the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan?"
"I don't know. I've never seen that person either. He actually managed to invite a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator. Why did he still call us here?"
These two were also completely bewildered, not understanding why Zhang Ming would do something so unnecessary. With Meng Shangmo acting, what in this world could he not resolve? Was the favor from their Sparrow Plume Pagoda Domain so worthless? To be used just to be a sidekick, to casually use up such a favor!
Of course, they didn't know that before Li Yan went to the Giant Wood Clan, he wasn't sure if the "Dark Spirit Demon Bat" clan had any experts, or if Meng Zhiyuan had really returned. And in the end, Meng Shangmo hadn't let Li Yan go to the Giant Wood Clan to invite them. He hadn't really wanted to break Bai Yihe's formation.
Before anyone could figure out the situation, Shuang Fengyan suddenly spoke heavily.
"I think it's time to properly resolve the matter of Shuang Qingqing!"
...
By a mountain stream, the spring water made a pleasant tinkling sound. Li Yan and Zhao Min were sitting not far from each other, meditating with their eyes closed.
Suddenly, Li Yan and Zhao Min opened their eyes at the same time. Then, the space beside them fluctuated slightly.
Li Yan reached out and grabbed a twisting Voice Transmission Talisman. He sensed the aura coming from the talisman.
"It's a transmission from Senior Meng!"
Meng Shangmo had given him a total of two Voice Transmission Talismans. He had given one to Shuang Qingqing a few days ago, and kept the other one himself. Li Yan had kept this talisman on his person, not in his storage pouch. This was equivalent to placing a tracking marker on himself. This way, Meng Shangmo could find Li Yan and his companion even more easily.
This wasn't to say that Li Yan completely trusted Meng Shangmo, but at this time, he really needed to borrow the other's strength. Some things could only be done this way.
Li Yan immediately immersed his Divine Sense into the Voice Transmission Talisman. Soon, he looked up, but his face showed a look of astonishment.
"Senior Meng wants us to go to the Tianli Clan. Senior Shuang said she wants to see us, and Senior Meng said we can go without worrying about anything else!"
...
Tianli Clan. In a courtyard, Shuang Qingqing, still dressed in green gauze, sat quietly. She was speaking to Bai Rou with a calm expression, while Bai Rou's face was filled with sorrow.
Suddenly, Shuang Qingqing stopped talking. With a gentle wave of her hand, the courtyard gate opened automatically, and two figures appeared outside.
"You arrived quite quickly. You didn't even go to pay your respects to Meng Shangmo first!"
As the courtyard gate opened, the two figures walked in quickly. A man's voice was the first to be heard.
"Oh, just as we arrived at the Tianli Clan, we received a transmission from Senior Meng. He's speaking with the Great Elder of the Tianli Clan. He told me to come directly here with the others, and to just have someone inform him when we are about to leave!"
The newcomers were none other than Li Yan and Zhao Min. Shuang Qingqing, sitting in the courtyard, nodded at the two of them upon hearing this.
"This Fellow Daoist Meng is really looking out for you. He's waiting here because he doesn't trust Shuang Fengyan. Otherwise, after the previous matter was settled, he could have just taken Bai Rou to find you, and that would have been the end of it. It's just that I asked him if he could let you come over. I have some things I need to say to you in person. I didn't expect him to stay behind as well."
As the courtyard gate opened, Li Yan and the other person also saw Bai Rou standing beside Shuang Qingqing, dressed in white. The moment Bai Rou heard Li Yan's voice, her delicate body trembled slightly. But she quickly seemed to remember something, then bit her lower lip and lowered her head, not looking at the two of them again.
When Li Yan saw the white-robed young woman's largely unchanged face, he smiled as he walked.
"Senior Sister Bai, I didn't expect we would meet here. What a pleasant surprise!"
Hearing Li Yan speak to her, Bai Rou finally looked up. What met her eyes was that dark-skinned youth. It was just that his once long hair was now a short, neat crop, and he had matured a lot.
Looking at that smiling face, Bai Rou's expression became dazed for a moment. Scenes from the Malevolent Spirit Sect and Windy Cool Mountain flashed through her mind, but she quickly calmed down. Then, her gaze also swept over to the plain-looking female cultivator standing next to Li Yan, and a trace of gloom quietly flashed in the depths of her eyes. At the same time, there was a sense of peace, because that junior brother from the past was really still alive.
"Bai Rou pays her respects to the two Martial Uncles!"
The moment she spoke, the smile on Li Yan's face froze. Then, a helpless, bitter smile appeared.
"Senior Sister Bai, your aura is also just a step away from forming a core. This isn't the sect. It feels more natural if we stick to our old way of addressing each other."
"Martial Uncle, Bai Rou must still follow some rules."
For a moment, Li Yan could only shake his head, not knowing how to respond. He knew that when this Senior Sister Bai became stubborn, she was no less so than Zhao Min.
Zhao Min didn't say anything, just nodded at Bai Rou and then stopped along with Li Yan.
"You few can talk later. There will be plenty of time then!"
At this moment, Shuang Qingqing gently tapped the stone table in the courtyard, interrupting their pleasantries.
"Senior, how did it go?"
"With Meng Shangmo's help, it's basically resolved!"
"Ancestor, she has been placed under a restriction by the Great Elder!" Bai Rou suddenly interjected, biting her lip.
"What? A restriction was placed on you? With Senior's cultivation, if you wanted to leave, and with Senior Meng protecting Bai Rou, Senior Shuang should have a good chance of escaping!" Li Yan couldn't help but be surprised.
"Don't overcomplicate things. I did it voluntarily!" Shuang Qingqing said casually, waving her hand.
"Senior, why must you do this!"
Li Yan quickly calmed down from his initial shock. As his thoughts raced, he had already roughly guessed some of the reasons.
"Little fellow, all in all, I still have to thank you for your help this time!" Shuang Qingqing smiled charmingly, seeming to have returned to her old personality.
That day, after she took the Voice Transmission Talisman from Li Yan, she had gone to prepare other things. Cultivators, of course, trusted themselves the most. She would not place all her hopes on others. But the day before yesterday at noon, she had suddenly received a transmission from Meng Shangmo, telling her to go to a certain place. Shuang Fengyan had returned!
At that time, Shuang Fengyan had not yet returned to the Tianli Clan. Others might not have been able to capture his aura, but the moment he entered a ten-thousand-li radius of the Tianli Clan, he was captured by Meng Shangmo, who was secretly protecting Bai Rou. He immediately met with a surprised Shuang Fengyan.
When Shuang Fengyan first heard that Shuang Qingqing had returned to the Tianli Clan, his whole being became unstable. This was more or less what Shuang Qingqing had previously guessed. However, seeing the situation before him, Shuang Fengyan of course knew that this old ghost Meng had come specifically for this matter. There was a lot at stake, so he immediately suppressed the turmoil in his heart. After a brief explanation from the old ghost Meng, Shuang Fengyan's face showed surprise. This old ghost Meng had always been one to not meddle in worldly affairs, let alone such a thankless task. He had actually personally stepped forward for a request from someone who knew Shuang Qingqing. Who was Meng Shangmo? Even he, Shuang Fengyan, had to call him senior back then. If this person wanted to ascend, he could have left long before he himself had even stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm.
Face was a difficult thing to explain. Just like now, if he didn't give it, would the two of them have to fight? Shuang Fengyan really had no confidence against Meng Shangmo. This person rarely acted, especially after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. He knew that in the three Great Wars between Nascent Soul cultivators that the other had participated in, all of Meng Shangmo's enemies seemed to have had their souls annihilated.
However, now being a Great Cultivator himself, Shuang Fengyan still asked what Meng Shangmo would do if he were to fight with Shuang Qingqing. Meng Shangmo only said that he would let them fight, but only after listening to Shuang Qingqing's words before making a decision. This was as far as he would go.
Meng Shangmo's final attitude satisfied Shuang Fengyan somewhat. Thus, he decided that he could hold off on attacking for now…
With Meng Shangmo's presence, the first meeting between Shuang Qingqing and Shuang Fengyan took place. And all of this happened before Shuang Fengyan returned to the clan. After listening carefully to Shuang Qingqing's description, Shuang Fengyan's thoughts did indeed change quite a bit. Some things that he could never figure out before now seemed to have some clues. This made Shuang Fengyan have to reconsider a possibility in his heart: was Bai Fengtian's memory really altered back then?
The Great Elder of the Shuang clan back then had arranged for people to keep an eye on the Bai lineage, but they had never found the reason. Instead, all they saw was Bai Fengtian's lovesick appearance.
There was another crucial point. When Bai Fengtian later ascended to the Immortal Spirit Realm, he ultimately disappeared completely from the spatial node. Since then, no one had ever seen him again.
When a cultivator's memory is altered or erased, a great divine ability cultivator can still detect some problems when the other party's sea of consciousness is turbulent initially. But after a long time, once the sea of consciousness has restabilized, it may completely disappear to outsiders. Only when the person's cultivation reaches the Spirit Transformation stage will they slowly recover on their own. In that case, there would still be a chance to verify it later. However, Bai Fengtian had not ascended, truly cutting off all possibilities.
Of course, Shuang Fengyan couldn't possibly believe Shuang Qingqing just because of her words. With Meng Shangmo guaranteeing that Shuang Qingqing would not escape, he decided to first return to the clan to see the situation, and then make a decision after Shuang Qingqing returned. He wanted to see the attitude of the Bai clansmen towards Shuang Qingqing, hoping to find some problems from it.
Sure enough, when he returned to the clan, Bai Yihe was the first to come and pay his respects. And the first thing he said was not about the other major events that had occurred in the clan over the years, but directly about the matter of Shuang Qingqing. His words were all about immediately finding Shuang Qingqing and killing her to commemorate those clansmen from back then.
In fact, Bai Yihe himself didn't know why the Bai clan had been so indignant about the matter of Shuang Qingqing for generations. The dharma decree he received was to not leave a living soul for Shuang Qingqing or her descendants, to be sure to eliminate them on sight. This was also due to the secret instigation of the Bai clan's Spirit Transformation cultivator who had altered Bai Fengtian's memory. Therefore, in Bai Yihe's view, it was probably due to the obsession of the ancestor Bai Fengtian, who had liked Shen Yuhuan back then.
Moreover, the Bai lineage had indeed been suspected for many years because of this matter, which eventually led to no one being able to ascend to the position of the clan's Great Elder, being deliberately suppressed all along. The high-level insiders of the Bai lineage were even more resentful of this demoness Shuang Qingqing.
Now that the Verdant Continent was on good terms with the Demon Clan, they naturally couldn't go looking for trouble with the demon cultivators. What's more, that would require crossing realms, and they didn't have that much courage!