Chapter 259: How Many Are There?

　　“Can you repeat that? Xing’er is gone!?” the queen shrieked.

　　“Yes.” The newly elected female emissary to take over for Xiahou Shan dared not look at the queen. “It was Guardian Xie who said so. Does Your Highness want to call him over?”

　　“Call him!”

　　“Okay.”

　　After some moments, Xie Zhanghui came in.

　　“Greetings, Your Highness.”

　　“Get up.” The queen didn’t even care about the courtesy and went straight to the point. “What do you mean by ‘Xing’er is gone’?”

　　Xie Zhanghui didn’t dare to hide from her and told her everything.

　　The queen fumed with anger, face turning red. “This bastard! Does he know what situation he’s in? He broke through all of a sudden that day, but with his unstable basics, he nearly became paralyzed! If not for the Grand Elder, he would be dead right now! He only just recovered and is going to break through soon, yet now he’s acting like a monkey!”

　　Xie Zhanghui looked at his feet, not daring to speak up for Xie Lianzhen.

　　Besides, what she said was absolutely right!

　　A sudden breakthrough may cause obsession, which was way more dangerous than a failed breakthrough. It may cause one to be paralyzed, and there was no cure for it. Since he was still riled up from that incident, it was best to break through to the Spirit Realm right now. Dragging it out may lead to unexpected consequences. What if he could never breakthrough in the future?

　　“Your Highness,” Xie Zhanghui asked carefully, “what do we do now?”

　　“What can we do? Find him!” The queen rubbed her temples, feeling dizzy. “Where’s Xiahou Shan?”

　　“Reporting to Your Highness, Emissary Xiahou went to find Miss Lu as Your Highness instructed,” the female emissary replied.

　　Realizing that she was so angry that she couldn’t think properly, the queen looked down in deep thought for a moment. “Inform her about this and ask her to search for both of them.”

　　“Yes.”

　　The female emissary went off, leaving only Xie Zhanghui and the queen in the palace.

　　The queen placed her brush aside and signalled Xie Zhanghui to come over. “Come here.”

　　“Yes.” Xie Zhanghui nodded and went to the table.

　　The queen signalled him to come nearer and whispered, “Did his illness act up recently?”

　　Xie Zhanghui shook his head. “Probably not.”

　　“Probably?” The queen was unhappy with his answer.

　　Xie Zhanghui nodded. “Young Master has been in a good mood recently, and normally it won’t act up. But after that day, Young Master started doing things quite differently. Even this servant does not know how to describe it.”

　　“Oh? Different how?” Even though they had made up, the queen was busy with her work, so there weren’t many chances to meet her son. Xie Zhanghui, who was with Xie Lianzhen 24/7, would know him better.

　　Xie Zhanghui bit his lips. “I don’t really know… it just feels different.”

　　“Is it him?”

　　Xie Zhanghui shook his head. “It doesn’t seem like it.”

　　The queen sighed and buried her face in her hands. She felt like her brain was going to burst soon.

　　This son is sure here to take revenge. Can’t he be more peaceful? Everything seems to be okay, and all of a sudden, here’s another matter.

　　But no matter what, the problem still had to be solved.

　　“What do you mean by ‘it doesn’t seem like it’?”

　　Xie Zhanghui blinked his eyes. He then carefully said his thoughts, “Your Highness, your servant thinks that it might be another one.”

　　The queen stared at him blankly. She felt like she was going to faint soon.

　　Another one? That means…

　　She recalled the day where Xie Lianzhen went crazy. The expression in his eyes looked like a different person, one that she had never met.

　　“How long?” The queen’s voice became hoarse.

　　“I have never seen him before,” Xie Zhanghui answered. “The first time was when Young Master recovered.”

　　The queen felt her head ringing. So that means it wasn’t Xie Lianzhen who recovered, and he may have even gotten worse?

　　She leaned on her chair, feeling dead.

　　“You…” After a while, the queen found her voice again. “Zhanghui, go get him back.”

　　“Your Highness.” Xie Lianzhen looked at her with wide eyes. He had only been Xie Lianzhen’s servant, and no one else. The queen never instructed him to do things not related to Xie Lianzhen because they had been trying to separate the different identities, but now…

　　“I can’t let him go on like this anymore.” The queen gritted her teeth. “No matter who the hell he is, bring him back!”

　　Her tone showed how determined the queen was.

　　Xie Zhanghui looked down. “Yes.”

　　…

　　Going back to Seventh Truth Platform, Xie Zhanghui sighed when he saw the empty wheelchair.

　　He slowly pushed the door to the secret chamber, where every generation of Alioth Star-Lord went into seclusion.

　　Behind the stone walls, there was a seclusion room connected to the hill.

　　In the simple and crude stone-wall room, a black robe was placed on the stone bed.

　　He took the black robe and fiddled with it, his mind wandering elsewhere.

　　In the past, his young master he would always enter this room and leave from the other door, and Xie Zhanghui pretended that he didn’t notice anything. He just continued to serve Xie Lianzhen alone.

　　But this time around, the other party don’t even bother to hide his actions and disappeared right in front of his eyes.

　　There was still something that he didn’t tell the queen, which was that the two different identities, while they may be very different in terms of characteristics, had something similar about them.

　　Both of them had the same person in their heart.

　　Xie Zhanghui once thought that, with this similarity, they could finally combine into one. However, it seemed the situation was becoming more and messier.

　　Who’s the new one? Is this trip going to be good for Young Master, or will it lead to more destruction?

　　…

　　“Get up, get up!” a voice rang beside Ying’s ears.

　　This made Ying fume with anger. Who’s so blind as to disturb me when I’m sleeping? I’ll kill you in…

　　Wait, where the heck am I?

　　She sat up abruptly.

　　She looked around. It was a very shabby hall, floor covered with straw mats, and there were some others like her, lying on the floor.

　　What’s going on?

　　Following that, she realized that her mystic force was all gone!

　　Ying looked up, face turning as pale as a sheet of paper. What did it mean to be a martial artist without mystic force? It was just waiting to get slaughtered!

　　She slowly recalled what happened. She participated in the Jasper Sun Mountain competition, representing the Pure White Grace Pavilion. She went through the test and went to a cave underwater….

　　So, it was that mirror? I’m here, so where are the others?

　　“Yo!” Someone popped out behind her.

　　Ying nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned back and realized it was Lu Mingshu.

　　Ying heaved a sigh of relief. “Can you not do that?” she whispered.

　　“You frightened? You have no guts.” Lu Mingshu smirked.

　　Both of them looked ridiculous currently.

　　Ying’s black clothes were covered with mud. It was even worse for Lu Mingshu; her light green skirt was dirt-stained and all worn-out, the arrogance and aura she used to have nowhere to be seen. It was shabby even compared to a poor village girl!

　　Ying side-eyed her in disgust.

　　As if able to read her mind, Lu Mingshu sighed, “Look at Ling Wuxia before commenting on me.”

　　Ling Wuxia’s here?

　　Ying looked over to the direction that Lu Mingshu was pointing. Ling Wuxia was standing in a corner. She had been wearing white, and since her clothes had a lot of light muslin, the sight was even more unbearable.

　　What would they think if they saw the successor disciple of Ancient Jade Summit in this state?

　　Ying laughed in her heart.