The Aloof Master Relies on This Cat's Kisses to Survive - Chapter 39

The West Lake Deceptive Nightmare

What awaited Ming Xi was, of course, not an old friend.

The Dongfang family’s mobilization of their entire clan to besiege and kill the Spirit Mountain God Lord was an event known to all the world, yet the underlying reasons were understood by very few.

Was it to rid the people of a scourge?

But how could the Spirit Mountain God Lord be considered a scourge?

The Spirit Mountain God Lord did not choose that title for herself, and whether the mountain-guarding Dream Beast counted as a disaster was a matter of varying opinions among the common folk.

To put it simply, she was like the rain: if you needed her, she was salvation; if you didn’t, she was destruction.

The world relied on the blessings of Spirit Mountain but feared the God Lord’s whims. The rules of the mortal realm could not govern her, yet her Spirit Mountain had to be shared with the world.

What was the logic in that?

There was no logic.

So, regardless of the titles bestowed upon her, the rain does not care if you need it or not; it falls where it pleases and as heavily as it desires.

Those with capability would take the blessings; those without would suffer the disaster and endure it.

In this light, the Dongfang clan’s siege of the Spirit Mountain God Lord was certainly not for the stability of the human world. The human world had never been stable simply because it was the human world.

“Which… genius of the Dongfang clan?” Ji Wu frowned, finally showing some expression.

Her participation in the siege back then had been accidental. Although the Grandmaster and Ming Xi had always been at odds, it would have been impossible for Ji Wu to deliberately plot the death of this Dream Beast.

By the time she was informed that Ming Xi was slaughtering in the Imperial City, half of the populace had already perished in the Dream Fire.

Ji Wu acted because Ming Xi had lost herself to bloodlust; she had to be stopped.

That was all.

“What was the name… Dongfang something Gu, I think. Someone who seemed quite highly regarded.” When Xiao Xiyue was captured and taken to the Dongfang clan’s dungeon, that genius of the Dongfang clan was already dead, so she had naturally never met her.

The members of the Dongfang clan were secretive when mentioning her. It was only because the jailers occasionally let it slip that the name stuck in Xiao Xiyue’s memory.

“Dongfang Konggu.”

A sharp voice suddenly appeared in the corridor.

Then came the sound of light footsteps—not like a human’s, but those of a very light animal.

It was a crane.

Ji Wu kept a few in her back garden as well; the Dongfang clan had always favored cranes—noble, elegant, cold, and refined.

“Where did you come from!” Xiao Xiyue took a step back, then felt that as a demon dragon, there was no need to fear a bird. Feeling a bit embarrassed by her retreat, she raised her voice and asked, “This is the seabed of the Dragon Palace. How can there be a crane here?”

“In a dream, anything is possible, you stupid dragon.” The crane’s voice was unpleasant, overly sharp, yet its tone was heavy and its pace sluggish.

She walked up to the two of them and stopped. “Dongfang Konggu—do you remember her?”

“Dongfang Konggu… of course I remember.” Ji Wu’s frown deepened.

“Ah? You know her? Don’t tell me you’re also named Dongfang?” Xiao Xiyue took another step back, bumping directly into the palace wall where sea sand was trickling down.

It was cold, but nowhere near as cold as the two… figures before her.

Xiao Xiyue looked back and forth between the person and the crane. Although Ji Wu’s aura far surpassed that of the bird, the crane carried a strange sense of detachment that was identical to the feeling Ji Wu projected.

It was as if they came from the same place.

“I knew her,” Ji Wu did not deny it.

Dongfang Konggu was Ji Wu’s disciple.

She was indeed a genius, the designated next head of the Dongfang clan, and Dongfang Qianyao’s aunt. She was superior in every aspect.

Ji Wu had taught Dongfang Konggu techniques for many years. That woman’s swordsmanship had also been guided by Ji Wu. She was incredibly intelligent, with potential far greater than that of the current Dongfang Qianyao.

No, she was stronger than any member of the Dongfang clan or disciple of the Xuanling Sect.

But she was dead.

“It seemed to be some kind of struggle? I saw them being very secretive when they talked about it. In short, Dongfang Konggu’s death was suspicious. Some elder or matriarch feared the Spirit Mountain God Lord would find out the truth and retaliate, so they struck at the God Lord first.” Xiao Xiyue had no affection for either the Dongfang family or Spirit Mountain; the grudge between the two sides was merely casual gossip to her.

Yet it made Ji Wu very uncomfortable.

Dongfang Konggu was not killed by Ming Xi.

But years ago, when the Dongfang clan found Ji Wu in her secluded cultivation, they told her that Dongfang Konggu had died at the hands of the Dream Beast while trying to stop it from massacring the city.

Ji Wu had long ignored worldly affairs and did not carry her clan name, all for the sake of worldly fairness—so that the Dongfang clan could shed the halo of the Grandmaster’s protection and develop on their own.

But blood is thick, after all. Ji Wu rarely doubted what the clan told her.

Dongfang Konggu had a lively personality, quite unlike Ji Wu. Ji Wu had never known that she was friends with Ming Xi.

Thinking about it now, it made sense. That child’s way of speaking was often unrestrained and imaginative; she surely would have gotten along well with that rebellious beast.

Ji Wu’s heart was in turmoil. She couldn’t help but ask, “What else do you know? Tell me everything.”

“…Oh.” Xiao Xiyue was about to ask “By what right?”, but when she looked at Ji Wu, she was cowed by her pressure. She immediately dropped the thought of arguing and obediently continued, “I really don’t know how she died, but that Spirit Mountain God Lord figured it out instantly.”

“Of course. When she arrived and didn’t find the person she sought, she naturally went looking.” The suddenly appeared crane spoke up, as if afraid of being ignored.

After the Spirit Mountain God Lord walked into the Dongfang clan’s trap, she became impatient after hearing just a few lines of the beautiful lies they had prepared for her.

The Dream Beast of those years was clearly not as “simple” as she was now. She didn’t care to listen to nonsense; she simply took control of a Dongfang clansman at random, forcibly entered their dream consciousness, and understood the truth of the matter in an instant.

“The Spirit Mountain God Lord was enraged and began to kill immediately. The first to suffer were, of course, us,” the Crane Immortal said with great resentment. “Spirit beasts rely on spiritual energy to gain intelligence, so naturally, we are most constrained by Spirit Mountain. However, it wasn’t her who killed us.”

The Imperial City was filled with prominent figures, and everyone kept one or two spirit beasts as guardians or mounts. When danger came, they were the ones pushed out to face the disaster.

This crane was one of them. “You are also ruthless. What difference is there between you and that Spirit Mountain God Lord?”

The crane looked at Ji Wu. It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.

In the eyes of a spirit beast, there was no difference between a sweep of Dream Fire and a sword strike that split it in half.

Ji Wu did not dispute this. “You are the Nightmare Demon of this instance.”

“The resentment of spirit beasts.” The Crane Immortal tilted its elegant, long neck. “Actually, I don’t quite like it. All that resentment made me filthy, covered in black energy and smelling terrible.”

It died very suddenly. When it was resurrected as the primary subject of the Resentment Dream, it was dazed. Then, the resentment dreams of countless other spirit beasts flooded into the Crane Immortal’s consciousness, forcing its resentment to grow wildly until it became a Nightmare Demon.

A Nightmare Demon that could stir a gale of sinister wind with a single flap of its wings.

“Why? Why summon you?” Xiao Xiyue was confused. “Wait, that wind…”

That sinister wind could cause spirit beasts to lose control and demons to go berserk, so—

“Is my mother’s consciousness also upon you?” Xiao Xiyue stepped forward quickly. “Call her out, I beg you!”

“Maybe it is, but I am powerless now. I am only myself.” The Crane Immortal shook its head and stretched its wings to preen its feathers. “I died. The resentment has dissipated.”

It had been struck down by Ji Wu the moment it appeared. Now, the High Priest was merely using the resentful breath of various spirit beasts to prop up the Resentment Dream.

The Crane Immortal had consciousness within the dream only because it was the vessel for the Nightmare Demon. That was all.

“You were a spirit beast of the Dongfang clan. Do you know the truth of Dongfang Konggu’s death?” Ji Wu asked only this.

The two Resentment Dreams designed by the High Priest must have an intent. She was leading Ji Wu and Ming Xi to West Lake to discover something.

Perhaps it was related to Dongfang Konggu.

“She didn’t follow the rules.” The Crane Immortal found the texture of the Dragon Palace’s green bricks uncomfortable—too slippery. “She didn’t listen to admonitions, and she was too outstanding. The Dongfang family had a love-hate relationship with her.”

They loved her extraordinary talent; if nurtured well, the world would have another ‘Grandmaster,’ and one named Dongfang at that.

They hated that she wasn’t as “obedient” as the original Ji Wu, who dutifully followed the path of righteousness and lived for so long in a law-abiding manner, never doubting a word the Dongfang clan said.

“So they killed her? Huh?” Xiao Xiyue didn’t understand. “Surely not?”

“I am just a spirit beast. How much do you think I can know? I only saw Dongfang Konggu many times because I belonged to the Dongfang clan. She was not my master.” The Crane Immortal pecked at a shell on the stairs.

Tsk. Fake. No meat inside, and it was inlaid so tightly as if it were some treasure. The crane was unhappy.

“But she was very good to us spirit beasts.”

The Crane Immortal glanced toward the far end of the corridor. There was nothing there, just like the many spirit beasts.

The moment of gaining intelligence is very sudden. For no reason, a spirit beast simply gains consciousness.

And then, humans come to train them, telling them: “You belong to this person” or “You are the guardian beast of this family.”

“You live for me. If I am in danger, you protect me, even if it means sacrificing yourself.”

“You must be loyal, brave, and obedient.”

“Be good.”

“Then why did I need intelligence in the first place?” the Crane Immortal asked. It wasn’t directed at anyone, nor did it require an answer.

To let you think, yet restrict how you think.

It didn’t understand why before, but now it suddenly realized because of Dongfang Konggu.

The Dongfang clan wanted her to be excellent, hoped she would be extremely excellent, yet restricted her from being excellent for certain goals, or being excellent within certain boundaries.

Humans and spirit beasts aren’t that different after all.

“First the resentment of a genius, then the indignation of spirit beasts,” Ji Wu murmured to herself.

The High Priest had designed the two Nightmare Demons, Zhubai and the Crane Immortal. Looking back, both were related to Dongfang Konggu, yet also unrelated.

The Zhubai were naturally talented but lacked stamina, ultimately unable to ascend. Spirit beasts gained intelligence but still had to depend on humans, living their entire lives only for protection.

Neither of these was the tragedy of Dongfang Konggu herself. Her talent and comprehension were immense; Ji Wu had no doubt that she would have one day attained the Dao and ascended, so she would not become a “Zhubai.”

And as a human, Dongfang Konggu would not share the fate of a spirit beast.

But she empathized deeply with them. So much so that her opinions clashed with other members of the Dongfang clan, and she was branded with the warning sign of being “unruly.”

She was also friends with the Spirit Mountain Dream Beast, which meant that on top of her naturally high spiritual talent, she would also enjoy the unique favor of Spirit Mountain.

How dangerous that was—uncontrolled talent and excellence.

But how precious it was. The world needs such people—those who can truly empathize with suffering and who possess the capability to act.

Dongfang Konggu had the ability that Ji Wu lacked; she was someone who could truly save the world.

Yet she was killed by a family that claimed to be saviors of the world.

Ji Wu’s brow remained tightly furrowed. She hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Even when she was counter-attacked by Ming Xi and bound by the Heart-Linking Covenant, her Daoist heart had never wavered.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Had she… misunderstood many things, and many people?

She couldn’t even see herself clearly.