Chapter 141: Consultation

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A perpetual mist shrouded the endless mountain forest, and yet none of the small town residents who made their living hunting, logging, and gathering herbs dared to step even halfway into these woods.

This vast forest bore a name as formidable as its presence.

The Mist Spirit Forest.

As one ascended through the Mist Spirit Forest, the fog thickened noticeably. The dense haze obscured even the reeds on the ground, presenting an endless expanse of whiteness.

It was not just the usual wild beasts one needed to beware of in common forests; here, one misstep could easily lead to getting lost.

Yet, despite this harsh and scarcely trodden environment, faint traces of human footsteps could still be glimpsed along the winding, overgrown mountain paths.

Passing through jagged cliffs and rocky outcrops and traveling upward for an unknown length of time, the fog gradually thinned, replaced by layers of swirling mist and clouds, making it difficult to discern whether it was fog, clouds, or a blend of both.

Eventually, one reached a broad cliff top, vast and shrouded in haze, where nothing could be seen. But piercing through the mist, one could discern a young woman lying quietly on the ground, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old.

Her features were unremarkable, with a few freckles on her cheeks, slender build, and long fingers. She wore simple cloth garments with blue shoes. Her eyes were closed tightly, but her face occasionally betrayed flickers of emotion — joy, anger, sorrow.

The only difference from the townsfolk was her fair, delicate complexion and her unusually moonlit-white hair.

"Qinghua! Qinghua! Qinghua!" came three hurried calls echoing across the vast cliff, followed by a slightly childish voice calling to its companion, "Little Gray Fox, I can't see the way. Lead me to find Sister Qinghua."

"Jiu~"

A short fox cry sounded, and silence returned to the cliff.

Whether from the call or some other cause, the cloth-clad woman lying on the ground began to relax her expression, her tightly shut eyes slowly opening as if awakening.

A gentle breeze stirred the mist.

Revealing a fleeting glimpse of the cliff’s surface.

A massive peach blossom tree grew atop the cliff, about three meters from where the woman lay. A petal slid down from the lush branches, carried by the wind, vivid as rouge, landing gently on her cheek like a blush.

Around this peach blossom tree, shrouded in mist, various meditation cushions of different shapes and colors were faintly discernible.

The woman’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly as her eyes opened, revealing an aged weariness that belied her youthful face—a deep loneliness and confusion in her gaze.

She slowly sat up, quietly watching the swirling clouds around her.

"Jiu jiu~"

Suddenly, a little gray fox leaped from the mist into her arms. Its intelligent eyes gazed at her, its furry paws playing with the petal that had fallen from her cheek.

"Little Gray Fox, slow down!"

As the mist parted slightly, another figure emerged—a boy about eight or nine years old, with a round face like a goose egg, dark reddish skin, dressed in coarse hemp clothes and straw sandals.

"Sister Qinghua! So you’re really here!"

The boy’s face lit with joy upon seeing her sit up. As he stepped forward, their eyes met, and the deep weariness and loneliness in her gaze made the boy hesitate, fear creeping in.

This fear was the same as when he first met her a few days ago.

"What do you want from me?"

The woman smiled faintly, her eyes narrowing gently. Her warm smile and familiar voice dispelled the boy’s sudden fear.

"Sister Qinghua, a very beautiful lady came to the town this morning looking for you!"

The boy struggled to find words to describe the beautiful lady who had arrived earlier, finally deciding to say simply, “very beautiful.”

"Does that beautiful lady have the surname Mu?"

Qinghua gently stroked the fur of the little gray fox in her arms, her eyes narrowing so that no one could guess her thoughts. She softly asked the boy.

"Eh?!"

The boy was stunned, his admiration for Qinghua growing even stronger. "Sister Qinghua, how do you know the beautiful lady’s surname is Mu? But you haven’t descended from this cliff top in a long time. How do you know her?"

"That’s a secret."

Qinghua loosened her grip slightly and silently took a talisman from the thick fur of the little gray fox in her arms.

The gray fox, once very clingy to Qinghua, immediately jumped out of her arms and ran under the large peach blossom tree, leaping onto a toppled jade altar, licking its fur while warily watching Qinghua.

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Qinghua ruffled the boy’s hair and looked up at the mist, her narrowed eyes gradually opening. The weariness and loneliness vanished, replaced by a trace of melancholy as she gazed down at the petals drifting to the ground.

She began to walk slowly forward, passing through the mist until she reached the cliff’s edge, where a deep abyss roared below. One more step and she would plunge to her death.

"Sister Qinghua!!! That beautiful lady said if you don’t come down, you’ll never get back what you lost!"

The boy’s innocent voice came from behind the mist. Without the little gray fox to guide him, despite the short distance, he could not find Qinghua amid the swirling clouds.

A cold breeze blew up from the abyss. Qinghua’s right foot had already stepped into empty air, and her left foot was poised on tiptoe. Cloud patterns glowed faintly on the sides of her blue shoes.

"Since I met that damned man on Sangyu Island a year ago, nothing has gone right," Qinghua muttered through gritted teeth.

"Sister Qinghua, what’s wrong?" The boy finally pierced through the mist and found her, tugging gently on her robe.

"Nothing. Let’s go down."

She turned silently, producing a long, pale cloth from her arms. With a gentle shake, she took out a dragon-patterned silver pot.

Pointing the pot’s spout at the surrounding mist, the clouds were instantly drawn in, revealing the cliff top in clear detail.

Underneath the stout peach blossom tree, various meditation cushions surrounded the bodies of demons, each marked on the head with a blazing red bamboo leaf seal.

The collapsed jade altar tilted, revealing only unknown black powder and ashes scattered about, along with white bones of some creature.

"After all the trouble, losing both men and soldiers, I have to find some way to make up the loss."

Qinghua pried the trembling boy’s hands away, then took from the pale cloth a bronze vessel and walked toward the demon corpses beneath the peach tree.

The Mist Spirit Forest stretches northward for hundreds of miles, wrapped in fog. But not all mountain forests on Cloud Mist Mountain are part of the Mist Spirit Forest. Besides the ever-present eerie fog, the mountain also holds rare herbs and fine timber, so many villages and towns lie at its base.

However, these settlements intentionally keep their distance from the southernmost hundred-mile stretch of the Mist Spirit Forest, as no one who enters there has ever returned alive.

Among these villages, one small town stood out.

Bufeng Town.

Apart from a weathered stone stele at the town’s entrance, barely bearing the characters for “Bufeng,” the town’s origins were lost to time.

Bufeng Town was notable not only for being the closest settlement to the Mist Spirit Forest but also for being the first town established at the foot of Cloud Mist Mountain. Its name was peculiar, too.

While most common folk hoped for bountiful harvests, Bufeng Town was named “Bufeng” — literally “spreading abundance” — yet it was one of the wealthiest towns in the area. No one knew who erected the stone stele at the entrance, nor did anyone attempt to change the town’s name.

“Miss Mu, are you sure you want to keep waiting?”

In a spacious hall, a young woman clad in a flowing cloud-white dress sat at the head of a table, sipping tea. The steam rising from the cup could not obscure her delicate beauty.

Her long black hair was tied simply into a bun, a few strands framing her face like a new moon, her eyebrows arched gracefully.

Her eyes were clear and cool like autumn water, her skin smooth as jade, lips soft as pale cherry blossoms. The cloud-white gown accentuated her ethereal elegance, as if untouched by the earthly world.

Standing beside her was a middle-aged man in plain clothes, slightly stout with a short beard. Compared to the graceful woman, he looked ordinary—like a steward.

“Miss Mu, you recently descended from the Mist Spirit Forest with Lord Zhong and the others. Could it be there’s still more going on in the forest...?”

The man, disliking the sunlight, shifted to the other side of the woman, half stepping into the shadows, speaking softly.

“County Magistrate Shen, it’s better not to ask what need not be asked.”

The young woman gently rotated her teacup, lowering her gaze to calm the swirling steam.

“Understood,” the man replied quietly.

“There will be no more rituals in the Mist Spirit Forest of Guangwan County. The people may gather herbs, harvest timber, hunt, and farm within the forest now.”

The woman set down her cup and slowly rose. Sunlight bathed her face, adding a touch of warmth to her otherworldly aura.

“Miss Mu, are you sure there will be no more rituals?”

The man instinctively followed her steps, but as he stepped fully into the sunlight, his body emitted a sizzling sound as if burning.

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“After the recent disturbances, even if there were to be rituals, they certainly will not be held within Guangwan County,” the woman said calmly, shaking her head and looking up at the sky.

“Could it be that the higher-ups have already decided to abandon this place?” The man seemed to sense something. Fighting through the pain, he asked anxiously.

“Whether to abandon it or not is not for me to decide.”

She raised a hand and pointed. Instantly, the clear sky was veiled by clouds, drowning the sunlight. The man’s burning sensations gradually eased.

“Miss Mu, you already have the Star Official Ji Shui Leopard as your mysterious spirit. Surely you have some standing even before those young lords?” The man bowed slightly, his tone imploring.

“To them, I am nothing but a pawn—a temporarily useful one. But even the most useful pawn cannot speak.”

She turned and sat back down, picking up her tea cup. The tea had cooled slightly.

“Pawn...” The man chuckled bitterly and sat down heavily, his head drooping. “But these people are not cold pawns. They are living, breathing souls.”

“Life has value. Ants have life too, but who cares about ants?”

She swirled her cup, and droplets of tea seemed to float midair like guided spirits, drifting to the man’s burning wounds.

“But they are not ants.”

Looking down at his healing burns, the man stood and returned to her side, smiling wryly.

“Whether they are or aren’t, that’s not for us to decide.”

She glanced toward the hall’s entrance where a figure had just entered calmly.

The woman in simple cloth—the same one from the cliff top—walked in and looked up at the young woman seated at the center of the hall.

“Why are you alone? Where are your masters?”

“Lord Zhong said if you want to recover what’s yours, you must do something for him,” the young woman said, meeting her gaze.

“What?”

The cloth-clad woman frowned.

“It’s simple. Go to Nanxi County and kill someone.”

The young woman spoke calmly.

The cloth-clad woman scoffed. “The people you can’t kill, you think I can? If I were stronger, would I have let you steal my treasures?”

“He wears a conspicuous red robe embroidered with cranes, and is quite handsome. He should still be near Mount Qingtan.”

The young woman paid no mind to whether the cloth-clad woman agreed. She looked up, her eyes turning indigo, and emitted a strange whistle.

A shadow darkened the sky of the courtyard.

A bird-beast covered in smooth, shining blue feathers landed in the yard. Its massive body filled the space of the modest courtyard.

Its pair of intelligent blue eyes scanned the surroundings.

The young woman rose gracefully. Mist swirled around her feet as she floated to the back of the blue-winged bird-beast and sat cross-legged.

“Lord Zhong said that if you kill him, not only will your things be returned, but one of your wishes will be granted,” she said calmly, looking down at the cloth-clad woman.

The bird-beast took to the air, its blue wings stirring a cool breeze, then vanished like a streak of blue shadow.

“Blue Feather Spirit Bird—truly, the Southern Wilderness is home to many wondrous beasts. But she’s fast too,” the cloth-clad woman muttered.

Her hands, hidden behind her back, had silently produced a bird-catching net. The handle was inscribed with ancient, obscure runes.

“If this lady needs, I can arrange carriage and horses first,” the middle-aged man in the shadows said, bowing to the cloth-clad woman in the courtyard.

“I can barely keep myself safe. I’ll go alone,” she muttered, glancing at the man before turning and leaving the courtyard.

The cloth-clad woman did not want more watchers. She had already decided to investigate the matter herself.

If she couldn’t defeat that person, she would run. If she could, she would use him as leverage to reclaim her treasures.