Cheng Sang wasted no time. As soon as he made the decision, he set off. In a short while, he was already outside Wutong Mountain.
He was different from Zhao Zhao. He wasn't prohibited from going up the mountain. Due to his studies in Kunlun Ruins, he often had to travel back and forth between Wutong Mountain and Kunlun Ruins. So Chong Ming simply gave him a teleportation formation for his convenience in returning to Wutong Mountain.
"Master, Cheng Sang has something to ask an audience with you." Cheng Sang stood outside Chong Ming's courtyard gate, clasped his hands together, and bowed respectfully. His eyes were filled with barely concealed anxiety.
"Come in." Chong Ming's calm voice came from inside the house. Cheng Sang steadied himself and pushed the door open.
Looking at his master, who had his back turned and was leisurely brewing tea, Cheng Sang felt his throat go dry. His master's calm demeanor made it hard for him to figure out what was on his mind.
"You said you had something to ask an audience with me. Has something happened to Zhao Zhao?" Chong Ming, of course, knew that his other disciples had privately contacted Cheng Sang to help Zhao Zhao in the human world. He just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know. Moreover, the task he had assigned to Cheng Sang shouldn't have been completed so soon. It was impossible for him to return to Wutong Mountain at this time.
But now he was here, which could only mean that something had happened to Zhao Zhao.
"Master, I want to ask if you know the true identity of Little Junior Sister." Although he said he wanted to ask, his tone was unusually certain, as if making a statement.
Hearing this, Chong Ming paused. He put down the teacup, turned around, and stared straight at his fifth disciple. His words carried a hint of barely perceptible anger. "Who told you? What do you know?"
Sure enough. His master did know. There must be something strange about Little Junior Sister's identity.
Cheng Sang clenched his fists, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. He looked up and stared directly into Chong Ming's eyes. "Master, is Little Junior Sister the reincarnation of a goddess?"
"A goddess?" Hearing this, the expression between Chong Ming's eyebrows softened a bit. He picked up the teacup on the table again and took a casual sip of tea before slowly saying, "What are you talking nonsense about? Your Little Junior Sister is a demon. Don't you know that?"
Cheng Sang was suddenly stimulated by these words. He was like a lit firecracker, shouting at his master without any scruples and telling him all the things that had happened to Little Junior Sister in detail.
"I didn't know before, so I wasn't on guard at all. I could only watch helplessly as the thing that came out of the wooden carving got into Little Junior Sister's body. That must be the missing part of Zhao Zhao's body... You came to Kunlun Ruins to find me that day and told me to always pay attention to the changes in Little Junior Sister's body, especially the changes in her spiritual power. You must have known it all along, but you said nothing! Do you know how scared I was when I saw Little Junior Sister faint? What if something happened to her? Aren't you worried at all?!"
The more Cheng Sang spoke, the more excited he became. He seemed to be trapped in a state of extreme emotion, and his voice couldn't help but tremble slightly. "And that Taotie. I asked Senior Sister, and it was you who helped Zhao Zhao subdue it, right? When Taotie saw the mark on Zhao Zhao's forehead today, it insisted that she was the goddess of Wuhuang Valley. Did you also know this all along, Master? You know everything but don't want to tell Little Junior Sister anything. You've been keeping her in the dark. Aren't you afraid that one day she'll hate you when she finds out?"
After such a long and accusatory speech, Chong Ming showed no reaction at all. He looked up at his emotional disciple and calmly asked, "Are you done? If you're done, go out."
"Master!" Cheng Sang shouted unwillingly. "I just want to ask one more question. When you picked up Zhao Zhao back then... did you know her true identity? Did you have any... "
"Are you doubting your master?" Chong Ming knew what Cheng Sang wanted to say. He interrupted him coldly. "Your master knows what he's doing. What you should do now is take your master to see Zhao Zhao immediately. No one knows her physical condition better than your master. Do you understand?"
Cheng Sang was speechless. He whispered, "Yes," and then went down Wutong Mountain with Chong Ming.
When they rushed to Zhao Zhao's small apartment, she was still unconscious. However, compared to before, she seemed much more stable. It should be that the spiritual power in her body had gradually calmed down and was gradually merging with the spiritual power from the Nuwa Stone and Su Yuan in her body.
"You two go out and stand guard." Chong Ming sent Cheng Sang and Taotie out. He walked to Zhao Zhao's bedside and looked down at her quietly.
After a long while, Chong Ming sighed helplessly.
He put his index finger and middle finger together, and a stream of spiritual power slowly flowed into Zhao Zhao's forehead along his fingers, causing her originally frowning eyebrows to relax. Her pale face finally had a bit of color.
Cheng Sang was right. Chong Ming did know a lot, but he didn't know everything. For example, what Cheng Sang had just said about the reincarnation of a goddess was something Chong Ming hadn't expected.
That day, he went to Kunlun Ruins to find Cheng Sang and told him to always pay attention to the changes in Zhao Zhao's body and spiritual power because he had anticipated that Zhao Zhao might find a part of the Tree Spirit Heart during this period. But he really didn't expect this day to come so soon. It was a bit beyond his expectations.
Behind all this, there seemed to be an invisible hand pushing things forward.
Now that Zhao Zhao had found a part of the Tree Spirit Heart and recovered a lot of her power, she probably remembered a lot of the sealed memories. The divine bird seal that Chong Ming had placed on her probably wouldn't last long.
He reached out to tuck in the corner of the quilt for Zhao Zhao. Looking at the faint golden light on the back of Zhao Zhao's neck, he thought that the sacred object of the Dong Clan that had been sent into Zhao Zhao's body in the chaos that day had finally played a role. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to sense the existence of that Tree Spirit Heart so quickly.
Time was running out. The truth about Zhao Zhao's identity was gradually being revealed. Everything was developing in the direction Chong Ming had envisioned. He should have been happy. But somehow, the closer he got to the original plan, the more confused Chong Ming became.
Was what he was doing really right? If his elder sister were still alive, would she really be willing to see him do this?
"Master?" A weak voice pulled Chong Ming back to reality. It was Zhao Zhao who had woken up.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere in your body?"
"No." Zhao Zhao shook her head. "But my mind is very confused. It seems that there are a lot of memories that don't belong to me suddenly appearing. Master, what should I do?"
Although Zhao Zhao said these were memories that didn't belong to her, she actually knew very well in her heart that they were probably her own. She just hadn't figured out how to face them because the pictures that suddenly flooded into her mind weren't something to be happy about. They were very painful.
Looking at his little disciple's helpless look, Chong Ming didn't say a word. He got up and went out to pour a glass of water for Zhao Zhao. When he gave the water to Zhao Zhao, he said, "Zhao Zhao, Master has something to tell you. It's about you. Your identity and the heart you were born missing."