Chapter 352: Lost Pearl

For five years, much has changed and yet none at the same time. The children of the Celestial Dragon Sect had grown up into fine young adults. All except the one who left her longevity locket behind.

Seasons came and seasons left. Yet, under the persimmon tree, Yan Ping remained the same. In spring, she would be covered by flower petals. In autumn, the fallen leaves would surround her. In winter, snow would pile so high on her that if nobody visited to brush it off her, she would have turned into a living block of ice underneath.

Everyone would remember the name Anji but almost nobody dared refer to her by name for the pain of losing her too soon was simply too fresh.

For the Mystical Qilin Sect, they remember her as the ninth sect leader. Even if Anji had never truly succeeded Yan Ping in a handing-over ceremony, her accomplishments were no less important than Yan Ping’s. By ending the war, she had every right to be a sect leader and not a mere successor.

In the Celestial Dragon Sect, which slowly picked up the pieces left behind, Anji was now part of their ancestral hall. Her portraits were hung alongside the ancestors, but her room was left as it was. Every year, they would host a persimmon festival under her tree on the day of her accession, and nobody referred to it as death within the sect. She was hailed as a war hero on the same level as Zhao Mingfeng to honour her feats and passed on as a legend to all new disciples enrolling in their sect.

As for the Rainbow Alliance, the sect leaders continued to meet up casually over the years, scattered all over the place. With Hong Nian Niang gallivanting and Chen Zhong in official retirement, they had more time to maintain ties with the other busy sects.

The busiest had to be the Heavenly Phoenix Sect. In five years, right after Liu Guiya’s return, Liu Yanxia handed the sect leader position back to her aunt. The alliance observed how a true phoenix purged her sect of rotten blood and rebirthed it. In a mere five years, the Heavenly Phoenix Sect regained its former glory and even adopted the pieces of Hong Nian Niang’s operations.

Bai Dajin, having received severe injuries from his time in the war, spent most of his days drinking and playing go instead of brandishing his sabre. He was a frequent travel buddy with Chen Zhong and frequently crossed paths with Gu Ying, who had become a rogue hero.

The hole that Anji left behind in everyone’s hearts never closed. However, with the common loss of their beloved child, many have started accepting that they have lives to continue living well. It was what Anji wanted for them after all.

For five years after Anji’s death, the permission trees she planted did not bear fruit. Not even the best gardeners or researchers specialising in spiritual agriculture could figure out why.

One night, Yan Ping witnessed something. A new dragon was born, and a golden pearl was in his mouth as he descended from the heavens. Unfortunately, he dropped his pearl at a strangely familiar location right before he entered the imperial palace in Chang’an.

For the first time in five years, Yan Ping’s heart started to feel alive again. She moved from her meditative position under the tree and dusted off the heap of dead leaves. It would soon be autumn, and after five years of praying, she finally had an answer.

"Sect leader?!" Alarmed by the appearance of the woman whom they thought would never move again, Senior Researcher Ke jumped.

The reappearance of their sect leader became a sect-wide alert. Elders and senior researchers dropped their projects to greet Yan Ping. However, the prophet only had one thing on her mind.

"Locate all the leaders of the Rainbow Alliance," she instructed. "Tell them to gather under the Persimmon Tree in the Celestial Dragon Sect. Send a message to the Imperial Palace as well. I will visit them with a new prophecy."

A new prophecy?! Suddenly, the reappearance of their sect leader felt like foreboding news. The last time Yan Ping decided to involve herself in mortal affairs outside of the sect, it was for war. The war had ended only five years ago. While many of the Mystical Qilin Sect members had worked on their shortcomings exposed by the recent war, they were nowhere near recovered enough to start another one.

"Set up a teleportation array for me to the Celestial Dragon Sect immediately," Yan Ping snapped.

In a timid voice, Senior Researcher Ke nodded. With the experience she gained and the insights of soul arts, her point-to-point teleportation technology had improved by leaps and bounds. Although it was still costly to teleport long distances, they found a shortcut to help souls traverse miles instantly.

"Sect Leader... are we going to war again?" someone asked, clearly anxious about the new, unknown prophecy.

This time, there was a smile so small that those standing further away would have missed it.

"No," she clarified. "No wars this time. Not for a long time. But we must make haste and prepare for a new era. A dragon has fallen and lost his pearl. We should help the new dragon locate it."

Unsure what it meant, the researchers could only take Yan Ping’s word for it. As long as it was not a war, they could handle whatever came their way.

Setting up a soul teleportation array chamber, Senior Researcher Ke briefly explained how the spell worked. Someone in the Celestial Dragon Sect had been informed to receive the new transmission, and Yan Ping would be able to manifest in a spiritual puppet on arrival. The Mystical Qilin Sect developed this new spiritual puppet soul manipulation technology right after the war to make up for their weak physical prowess, and it was proving handy now.

Yan Ping made no comment about the strange marionette technology. Even in her statue-like state for the last five years, she had been paying attention to the matters within her sect. This was not the worst idea they came up with. Whoever decided to test the effects of adding crushed chilli seeds to explosive tags to cause more effective explosive range was an idiot who she would have personally evicted from the sect if she weren’t grieving.

Sitting in the array and dismissing everything else for later, Yan Ping felt the spell gently envelop her body and pull her spirit into a new vessel. It was a strange feeling, but being in a spiritual puppet allowed her to see things physically for the first time. It was a weird sensation, and Yan Ping thought she would never be able to experience new things at her age. Yet, like Anji, life was constantly full of surprises.