"Why?"
Although Zhao Zhao had no intention of returning to the Xuanmen for the time being, her cousin's words out of the blue still made her feel strange.
Was there something wrong with the Xuanmen?
Suddenly, Zhao Zhao remembered her last meeting with Song Yao. Her cousin had seemed rather odd then, too.
What on earth was going on? And she even specifically told Taotie to tell her not to go back...
"I've no idea why," came Taotie's mumbled voice. It was probably gobbling something up. Zhao Zhao heard it let out a satisfied belch, then it continued, "But she told me to tell you not to think too much. She said the Xuanmen is doing just fine. It's just that a bunch of old guys are quarreling. She said you'd be of no help if you went back, and it'd be troublesome for her to look after you."
"..." Well, this reason seemed to make a bit of sense.
"Did cousin say why they're quarreling?"
"No."
It had said a lot, but seemed to have said nothing of real substance.
Zhao Zhao, failing to extract any key information from this conversation, rubbed her head in frustration. She cut off the communication with Taotie and, in her slippers, went to the courtyard gate to study the barrier set up by Su Yuan.
After looking at it for a long time, she couldn't figure it out. Supporting her chin, she suddenly thought of the tutoring classes she had skipped for ages.
"Sigh, just thinking about going to class gives me a headache." This was probably a common affliction of academic underachievers. Zhao Zhao thought she should cherish this happy time when she wasn't being crushed by homework.
Time ticked by. The sun overhead had shifted several angles. Zhao Zhao watched the ants in front of her carry things back and forth several times, but Su Yuan still didn't return. Instead, she waited for her master, who, according to the senior brother, was "missing".
"Master?" Discarding the small stick she had casually picked up from the ground and been idly scratching with, Zhao Zhao stared at Chong Ming, who had suddenly appeared in front of her, in surprise.
Chong Ming looked at her without saying a word. After a moment of silence, Zhao Zhao stood up blankly, nervously rubbing her fingers.
Why did her master seem so serious today? It made him seem so unfamiliar...
Zhao Zhao secretly looked up at Chong Ming in front of her. The next second, her gaze was caught. She had to touch her nose and speak again to ease the awkwardness.
"Master, senior brother said you weren't on Wutong Mountain a few days ago. Where did you go?"
Chong Ming didn't answer her question. Instead, he took a step forward and placed his palm, which felt like it was burning, on the bone at the back of her neck.
"Ouch... it's so hot!"
Zhao Zhao instinctively tried to dodge the heat, but Chong Ming's other hand firmly pressed on her shoulder to stop her.
A few seconds later, Zhao Zhao heard Chong Ming say in a deep voice, "You've fused another fragment."
It was a statement of certainty, not a question, indicating that he was very sure.
"Yes, it was due to some accident." The matter of the Zhuang family was too complicated to explain in detail, so Zhao Zhao skipped it while enduring the pain.
However, Chong Ming didn't seem to intend to delve into the details. He withdrew his palm and asked Zhao Zhao meaningfully, "After retrieving that fragment, did you feel anything strange about yourself?"
Strange things?
Zhao Zhao remembered that strange emotion when she faced Zhuang Ming's mother that day and nodded.
"Yes, but I don't know how to describe it. And Master..." She paused, then looked up at her master and said softly, "She called me the Goddess."
"Zhao Zhao, listen to your master..."
"Master, you know why, don't you?"
Zhao Zhao looked into Chong Ming's golden eyes with double pupils and almost certainly interrupted her master's words.
It was an intuition, an intuition gained from getting along with her master for a hundred years and being familiar with every subtle movement and expression of his.
And Chong Ming had nothing to say to this.
"Master, you've already revealed many truths to me before. Why are you hesitating now? Please tell me, Master. I can bear whatever the reason is."
She was no longer the carefree little tree spirit on Wutong Mountain who knew nothing. She had experienced a lot and grown up a great deal.
Having witnessed so many human grudges and love affairs, Zhao Zhao increasingly understood that she had to bear her own destiny, whether it was good or bad.
Master's concealment might be out of love for her, but she couldn't hide under others' protection all her life and really be a fool who knew nothing.
Her stubborn look fell into Chong Ming's eyes. He let out a soft sigh. "Forget it. I was going to tell you anyway."
With a flickering look in his eyes, he seemed to have made a very difficult decision. His eyes looking at Zhao Zhao were dark and unfathomable.
"I'll send you to the Wuhuang Valley. I'll send you to retrieve your lost past and power."
He knew that the courtyard was surrounded by the barrier set up by the Ying Long. Based on his understanding of his little disciple, if he didn't intervene, his disciple would surely wait here for a long time. And if she were to go to the Wuhuang Valley, she would surely go with that Ying Long.
But it was better that no one else was involved in this matter, not even the Dragon Lord.
"Master, wait. Let me tell Su Yuan. Otherwise, he'll be worried when he comes back and can't find me!" Entangled by a spiritual force, Zhao Zhao hurriedly made a request when she saw the formation mark suddenly appear under her feet.
However, how could Chong Ming agree? He simply waved his hand, opened the teleportation formation and sent her in, casually perfunctorily saying, "I'll tell him for you."
"Master, you must remember!"
After a sudden flash of red light, everything in the courtyard returned to calm. The startled ants scurried around, weak and helpless.
Chong Ming squinted his eyes, stepped on the tiny insects and left.
At this moment, Su Yuan, who had just caught a glimpse of some truth from Zhuang Ming's biological father and was rushing back to the villa, suddenly sensed a reaction from the barrier he had set up when he left. His eyebrows furrowed, and with a gloomy face, he instantly appeared in the villa's courtyard.
Zhao Zhao was gone...
Su Yuan entered the villa but couldn't sense any trace of Zhao Zhao, yet the barrier remained intact.
He knew very well that Zhao Zhao wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, and with Zhao Zhao's magical power, it was impossible for an ordinary person to take her away against her will.
Unless that person was someone she trusted and was close to.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Su Yuan then remembered what that person had said to him:
"I don't know much about the Yue Shu family's affairs. But when we were together, I often heard her say that their family was protected by the Goddess. I used to think she was just joking, but now it seems to be true."
"As for where the Goddess came from, she didn't elaborate. I guess she didn't know much about it either. I just vaguely remember her saying that when she was a child, she once heard her grandfather talking to someone in the study in the middle of the night. He was saying something about recuperation and soul mending... When she curiously peeked in, she was discovered by that person. She said that person's eyes had two pupils."
Double pupils. This made Su Yuan inevitably think of someone - Zhao Zhao's master, Chong Ming.