Chapter 257
Chapter 257: Across the Sea of Stars…
Two people stared at each other through a channel that shouldn’t have existed.
On one end, Bai Li Qing sat in a large office with a computer in front of her and a floor-to-ceiling window behind her, fog rolling outside. On the other, an old immortal sat atop an immortal peak with a spirit-link mirror floating before him and a leisure pavilion behind him, cranes circling in the cloud sea.
Their worlds couldn’t have looked more different.
In truth, they were old acquaintances who’d crossed paths for more than a hundred years.
“That account is brand new,” Immortal Yuan Ling said, stroking his beard, looking genuinely incredulous. “I made it specifically to avoid being recognized so I could have a bit of peace and quiet. Even my closest disciples don’t know about it. Director Bai Li, how did you find out? Don’t tell me the privacy statement on your Border Comms registration page is a scam…”
“It has nothing to do with that,” Bai Li Qing said flatly. “I inferred it. Your accounts have always been easy to infer.”
Immortal Yuan Ling choked a little on his pride.
Bai Li Qing continued as if she hadn’t noticed. “And you’ll understand as soon as I say one thing. Today, someone delivered a special ‘sample’ to the Special Operations Bureau. A mysterious cloth fragment of unknown origin.”
Immortal Yuan Ling’s face lit with sudden understanding. He laughed, beard shaking. “Oh—I know. He sent it to you that quickly? Yes, yes, yes. Recently I met a new online friend. We aren’t familiar yet, but he seems to have… fortune ordinary people don’t. Twice in a row he’s found strange objects so odd that even I couldn’t identify them. Fascinating, really.”
He picked up a tea cup from a jade table beside him and took a pleased sip. “The second time, the object looked very similar to something my senior brother brought back in the past. So he told you about me too, hmm. No wonder.”
Bai Li Qing looked at him in silence for two seconds. Then she asked, “Do you remember the encrypted message the Borderland sent to all high-level parties yesterday? The unprecedented ‘angel fall’ incident.”
Immortal Yuan Ling swallowed quickly and nodded. “Of course. When that news arrived, several old fellows nearly couldn’t sit still. Immortal Maiden Shuang Hua, who’s still in seclusion, almost forced her way out early. It took sectmates, senior brothers, even junior brothers practically pleading with their lives to stop her. The next while is going to be lively. Even if the news doesn’t spread publicly, there won’t be many high-level people across factions who can stay calm…”
Bai Li Qing’s voice didn’t change. “Your new ‘online friend’—the one who delivered the sample early this morning. Yu Sheng is the one who dealt with the dark angels Anka Aila.”
Immortal Yuan Ling’s next sip never reached his mouth.
He spat tea straight out.
“T-this is true?!”
Before Bai Li Qing could respond, he was already waving a hand. “It must be true. You wouldn’t joke about this. This… this is fate. Truly fate…”
He stood up so fast his robe fluttered, pacing in and out of frame. “I should go see him myself. Such an expert must carry heaven’s secrets within him. Meeting him would be good. Yes—I should visit. I should go—”
Then he stopped, frustration crossing his face. “No. No.” He shook his head hard. “The Grand Void Spiritual Axis is at a critical stage of ‘fixing the stars.’ I can’t leave right now. I truly can’t.”
He returned to the jade table and sat down with the speed of someone decades younger. “How about this, Director Bai Li. I’ll send my most trusted disciple. He’ll go and meet this expert…”
Only then did he seem to realize how presumptuous he sounded. His old face turned awkward. “Too rash, too rash. Would your side be willing to make it convenient? I know the angel fall must have the Borderland in chaos, but I have some connection to this expert. I still have to trouble you with this… Of course, it depends on the expert’s attitude. Fighting the dark angels must have cost him dearly. If it isn’t convenient for him, then…”
Bai Li Qing’s expressionless face looked like it was barely holding together. She cut him off before he could drown her in politeness.
“The ‘expert’ you’re talking about is very approachable,” she said. “You’ve chatted with him this much already—you should be able to tell. The Special Operations Bureau can’t control his affairs, so you don’t need to ask me. Just message him directly. If he has no objections, send your disciple over. I can help arrange reception.”
Immortal Yuan Ling stared at her as if he’d frozen. Then he nodded solemnly. “Very well. I’ll discuss it with him. If it works out, I’ll trouble you, Director Bai Li.”
“No need to be so formal,” Bai Li Qing said. “Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain has long been an old friend of the Special Operations Bureau.”
A trace of a smile finally appeared on Immortal Yuan Ling’s face. Before ending the call, he hesitated, then asked with a subtle expression, “…Is my alt really that easy to guess?”
“Very easy,” Bai Li Qing said, dead serious.
Immortal Yuan Ling pinched his beard, thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed like a child who’d just gotten away with something. “Hahaha! That’s fine. That’s fine. I’ll go make another new account…”
…
The superluminal communication across the sea of stars ended. The shimmering light on the spirit-link mirror slowly faded. Immortal Yuan Ling raised a hand, and the treasure mirror floated neatly into his palm.
He swept his hand across the mirror’s surface in the air. With a thought, patterns and words bloomed into view—an interface that looked uncannily like Border Comms. The Special Operations Bureau emblem spread like ink in water, then stabilized.
At the top, it even displayed: Border Comms – cross-boundary edition.
Immortal Yuan Ling tapped and swiped a few times, exhaled softly, tucked the mirror into his sleeve, and lifted his gaze toward the world beyond the pavilion.
Cloud-wrapped mountain paths drifted in the distance. Immortal peaks rose and vanished in the haze.
The old man stared out across the sea of clouds, steadied himself, and called, “Xuan Che!”
His voice wasn’t loud, yet it resonated through the entire cloud sea, echoing across heaven and earth in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, a rosy light rose from a distant peak. It crossed the mist in a breath and landed before him. A handsome young man in a blue brocade robe patterned with cloud motifs condensed out of the light and dropped to one knee.
“Master calls this disciple. What are your orders?”
“Xuan Che,” Immortal Yuan Ling said, “when you went out on errands before, did your passport and Borderland pass expire?”
The young man froze for a heartbeat, then answered quickly, “Not yet, Master.”
“Good.” Immortal Yuan Ling nodded. “Prepare over the next two days. You may need to go to the Borderland soon, and perhaps stay several days.”
Xuan Che blinked, confused. “The Borderland? Master wants me to go and do wha—”
Immortal Yuan Ling’s face turned solemn. “You will go meet an online friend on behalf of your master.”
Xuan Che stared at him.
…
In the attic at Wu Tong Road 66, Yu Sheng sat at the large table he’d once used to make Irene’s body. He was fully focused on sewing a tiny outfit.
It wasn’t easy for a rookie, but the dress itself wasn’t complicated. He only needed to modify a small section. If he took it slow, he could manage.
The real problem was the constant yapping from beside his hands.
Irene sat on the tabletop, chin propped on both palms, watching him work while talking nonstop.
“Hey, Yu Sheng, can you really do this? If you can’t, just get someone to help. I heard Princess Rapunzel can sew…”
“Silly Fox can really eat! Did you see those cafeteria masters’ faces? They were dying. Serving her food is basically hard labor.”
“Why is my account still not unbanned? It’s already the second day. What if I secretly use Foxy’s identification card number to register a new account… Fine, fine, I won’t. Why are you glaring at me?”
“Make me a new body in a couple days, okay? Didn’t we fleece a ton of top-tier alchemy materials from the Special Operations Bureau? Use them for me. This time try making me one that’s, like, 167 centimeters…”
“I’m telling you, I used to have a great figure! Better than Foxy!”
“Hey, Yu Sheng, can you really do this—”
Yu Sheng looked up and glared at the chatterbox.
“If you keep talking, I’m done. You sew it yourself.”
Irene instantly shrank back. “Fine, I won’t talk. Tch.”
Yu Sheng sighed and kept working, altering the doll clothes that had always been uncomfortable to wear.
Irene rested her chin and watched in rare silence, crimson eyes fixed on him. Every now and then, she’d grin for no reason at all.
Then the phone on the table buzzed.
Irene scrambled forward, hugged the phone, glanced at the screen, and held it up with both hands. “For you. A system notification from Border Comms. Looks like you got a message from a stranger.”
“Hold on,” Yu Sheng said. He finished the last stitches, tied off the thread, bit it clean, and put the needle and thread away before taking the phone. “A message from a stranger… Who would message me…”
He unlocked it, tapped into Border Comms, and a new DM popped up immediately.
Yu Sheng took one look at the sender name and went still.
Three Thousand Wayward Disciples.
Two messages.
The first: “Hello, daoist friend. I am Three Thousand Wayward Disciples. This is my new account.”
Yu Sheng stared at it, expression blank.
Then he opened the second message.
“I am deeply interested in the strange items you have discovered in succession, and I have recently heard some things about you as well. I regret that we met too late. I wished to visit in person to discuss certain mysteries of strange objects, but worldly affairs here are many and I truly cannot get away. Fortunately, I have a disciple who will go to the Borderland to handle some matters in the coming days. He is also highly skilled in strange objects and the otherworld. I would like him to visit you. Would that be convenient? If this causes inconvenience, please forgive the intrusion.”
Cold sweat hit Yu Sheng instantly.