Chapter 37
Chapter 37: On Edge
Good union?
The name alone left Hu Qing staring into space for a full minute.
What kind of twisted love token was a soul-locking chain?
Luckily, the chain carried fragments of memory—faint, incomplete images that still told a story.
At the beginning, good union hadn’t been a soul-locking chain at all.
There were two people. Both powerful.
They were close—then they weren’t. Something broke.
Then one of them died.
The survivor refused to accept it. He created the chain’s original form and dragged it across the ends of the world, searching for the scattered soul fragments of the one who’d died.
Before it was a soul-locking chain, it was a soul-summoning chain.
And somehow—somehow—he succeeded. The scattered soul returned, gathered piece by piece.
They reconciled.
The living one sent the dead one into reincarnation.
After that, the chain had no purpose left. So he threw it away.
Hu Qing could only gape. “He threw it away?”
She didn’t know if the man—Wu Qing, according to the blur of memory—was absurd or simply too carefree for mortal understanding.
But it made a brutal kind of sense. The chain existed for one reason: to recover one soul. Once that soul was whole and had entered the cycle again, the chain became worthless.
So it was discarded.
“So free and easy,” Hu Qing muttered.
Juan Bu listened to her retelling and actually sounded impressed. “That’s the style of ancient gods.”
Hu Qing blinked. “You’ve seen ancient gods?”
“How could I?” Juan Bu said at once. “I’ve read records. I’ve heard legends. They say ancient gods were all people of wild temperament—free to the bone. They could destroy heaven and earth for a single promise, and they could guard something for ten thousand years because of a single thought.”
Hu Qing: so, emotionally unstable Supermen.
“I don’t even know if those two were men or women,” she said, turning the chain over in her hands. “Brothers, spouses… who knows. But ‘good union’—it sounds like clearing a misunderstanding and becoming even closer.”
She looped the chain once around her wrist and let it fall again. “Good name. May everyone find good union.”
Then she drifted into thought.
Every time Hu Qing went quiet like that, Juan Bu grew nervous. He lived in fear of whatever nonsense her brain might latch onto next.
“You could… cultivate?” he tried.
Hu Qing didn’t hear him.
Juan Bu didn’t dare interrupt for real. What if she stumbled into some sudden inspiration? He could only keep a careful watch on the spirit skiff’s course, making sure it didn’t veer off.
After a long while, Hu Qing finally snapped out of it and stored good union in her dantian.
With merit as a buffer, the chain settled in without trouble.
Bai Wen accepted it. The thunder dragon accepted it. Everyone in there was basically long and strip-shaped anyway.
Even her Nascent Soul Stage little figure, eyes closed, patted the chain like an elder and nodded solemnly.
As for her sea of consciousness… the tools could go in and out if they wanted. Hu Qing just didn’t want to look at the three slackers who’d been useless earlier.
After countless detours and endless circling around trouble, Hu Qing finally reached the edge of heaven’s grace continent where it linked to little li realm.
Not many immortal clans were active on this side. She even spotted familiar faces.
Her mood lifted, and she waved, calling out, “Elder Gan—”
Elder Gan’s hawk-like eyes snapped over.
Pure killing intent.
Hu Qing flinched. “Uncle Gan—what’s going on?”
His eyes were red, the kind of red that came from sleeplessness and pressure and fury all twisted together.
“Ah. Hu Qing.” Elder Gan’s voice came out rough. “You came from inside? Good. Good. It’s good you came back safe.”
Elder Gan was an elder of the Kun Ming Devil Eagle Clan of Huan Mo Heaven. They’d formed ties back in the ancient graveyard—real ties, forged in danger.
And yet this man, usually calm and shrewd, looked like he couldn’t hold himself together.
Hu Qing’s stomach sank. “Did an immortal clan come to force you?”
Elder Gan’s lips moved. His mouth looked dry. Bitter.
He swallowed and said only, “Go back to Zhaohua Sect.”
He wouldn’t answer.
Hu Qing’s heart sank further. She glanced around, eyes sweeping the area.
Was someone watching?
Elder Gan didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t confirm or deny.
Hu Qing drew a slow breath. “Uncle Gan, I’ll head back first. But… which Zhaohua Sect Senior is stationed here? I should greet them.”
“They’re busy,” Elder Gan said. “You little child, don’t add trouble.”
Hu Qing nodded, and a heartbeat later she shot toward little li realm.
Whatever had happened, she had one priority: find Hu Nuan.
She pulled out the Buddhist beads used for contact and pressed them to her lips. “Good girl—are you in the inner sect or at home? I’ll be there in half a month.”
She sent messages to Shui Xin and Hu Hua Hua. Then she sent one to fatherlordChan Ming.
Half a month.
Somewhere inside a Buddhist sect, Shui Xin and Qiao Yu both felt their hearts pounding like war drums—tight, fast, relentless. The pressure in their skulls made their hair feel heavy.
What a coincidence.
Hu Nuan and the others had only just stumbled out of that strange array.
Everyone was alive. No one was hurt.
It was just their appearance…
“May you fend for yourself,” someone muttered, helpless.
Chan Ming held his message jade and replayed Hu Qing’s “I’m coming home” over and over, casting a look of pure pity over the room.
“Grandfather,” Hu Nuan called in a soft, babyish voice.
Chan Ming lifted one hand. “Grandfather needs some peace.”
Hu Nuan’s lips pushed out. “Master—”
Qiao Yu’s face stayed cold. Inside, he felt nothing but numbness. Maybe it was time to throw this disciple away.
“Uncle—” Hu Nuan tried again.
Shui Xin’s mouth went dry. “Your mom will kill me…” He looked around desperately. “Help?”
Chan Ming clearly wasn’t taking responsibility. Qiao Yu was already drowning. Lin Yin and the others were still shaken out of their minds.
As for everyone else—
“Senior Brother?” Shui Xin’s gaze landed on Shui Cong like a lifeline.
Shui Cong smiled mildly. “Everything will pass.”
Shui Xin’s expression twisted. Hu Qing wouldn’t think so.
Half a month. If they ran now… would it be enough?
The news of Hu Qing’s sudden return terrified half the people present. They were so focused on how to explain themselves that they forgot to ask what the children had even gone through.
The others weren’t close enough to pry.
And, honestly, the children were barely standing. They yawned until their eyes watered—then fell asleep on their feet. No one had the heart to question them.
They slept right up until the day Hu Qing came storming in.
One message unanswered was an accident. Two meant trouble.
Hu Qing’s scalp went cold. Sweat broke out on her back.
Had the whole place been wiped out while she was gone?
She immediately contacted Yu Liu Ya.
Yu Liu Ya, of course, knew the situation. The sect had already dispatched people to study the ancient array.
What he didn’t know was that Hu Nuan and the others had already come out.
And thinking about the days Hu Qing had been gone—thinking about how they hadn’t “taken care” of Hu Nuan properly…
Even if it was partly the children’s fault for being little disasters…
Yu Liu Ya still felt guilty.
“Senior Brother.” Hu Qing’s voice came through low and sharp, all threat.
Yu Liu Ya laughed awkwardly. “Haha… ahaha. Well, you know…”
He lowered his voice too, as if that made it safer. “The kids ran into a huge opportunity.”
Hu Qing’s face didn’t change. “Oh. So they caused trouble again.”
She continued coldly, “No one can be reached. What, they fell into another secret realm? Where’s my dad? Did he go in too?”
Yu Liu Ya thought, not for the first time, that Martial Uncle didn’t want to deal with this. Martial Uncle hadn’t gone in at all—he’d shoved the mess onto Yu Liu Ya.
He cleared his throat. “Ah… Martial Uncle’s elder is guarding the entrance.”
“The entrance?” Hu Qing asked, voice dangerous. “Where is it? I’m coming right now.”
Yu Liu Ya wiped sweat from his palms. “It’s at… treasure visage mountain.”
Hu Qing’s fingers tightened. “The exact location.”
Yu Liu Ya gave it fast. He could practically hear Hu Qing grinding her teeth. He knew exactly how she felt about Hu Nuan getting too close to a Buddhist sect.
Tsk.
Qiao Yu, you’re dead.
“Oh, right,” Hu Qing added. “When I came through heaven’s grace continent, there were immortals everywhere. Like fly droppings.”
Yu Liu Ya fell silent for a beat.
“…Yeah,” he said finally. “Exactly like fly droppings.”