Chapter 97: The Ancestors’ Late-Blooming Rebellion, Part 24

The bonfire in the woods burned steadily, with faint crackling pops from within the flames.

Ling Qiong lay sprawled atop the black snake, while Lou Xingluo sat nearby, head bowed over the Qilin Chart in his hands.

"What do you need that for? You’re not seriously planning to summon something out of it, are you?"

Lou Xingluo lifted his gaze to her. Firelight danced in the depths of his dark eyes as he said slowly, "Regretting giving it to me?"

Ling Qiong shook her head. "I’m just curious."

How could she ever regret giving something to her cub?

Raising cubs was her specialty.

Lou Xingluo lowered his eyes, his fingertips brushing the edge of the Qilin Chart for a while.

He laid it flat in his palm, then slowly raised his hand.

The Qilin Chart floated up from his hand, and golden light gradually seeped out from within, forming one character after another.

Those characters looked as though they had been written by someone with the worst handwriting imaginable, scattered chaotically through the air.

Lou Xingluo lowered his hand, yet the Qilin Chart did not fall. It still hovered steadily in the void.

"Do you know why it’s called the Qilin Chart?" he asked.

It looked more like a stone or a piece of jade; a more fitting name might have been Qilin Stone or Qilin Jade.

Ling Qiong rested her face in her hands and shook her head.

"Because it really is a chart."

"A chart? These are clearly words."

"They only appear in the right place. They won’t show up anywhere else." Lou Xingluo reached out and took the chart back. The golden light and the scattered characters vanished.

After a long silence, he said, "If you find the matching place, it can summon a divine beast."

He should not have told her this.

And yet he found himself unable to stop, unable to resist answering her questions.

Ling Qiong’s eyes lit up. "You want to summon a divine beast?"

Lou Xingluo took that as confirmation.

The girl’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she raised her hand. "I want one too!"

A player’s standard companion had to be arranged!

Lou Xingluo froze. "You want one?"

"Can it only summon one?"

"Not exactly. It just needs a close blood relative, one with the same lineage, like it." Lou Xingluo pointed at the black snake lying on the ground like a mattress.

Being called out, the black snake turned its head and glared at him.

What a bastard!

If it had known back then that he would use it to summon something else, it would rather have died than make a pact with him!

Ignoring the snake’s murderous look, Lou Xingluo went on, "And we still have to find the specific location. It’s rather troublesome."

Ling Qiong’s eyes rolled with thought. "You want to summon a dragon?"

A serpent’s close kin was a dragon, wasn’t it?

Lou Xingluo glanced at her. "Yes."

"Why?"

Lou Xingluo tilted his head back and looked up at the night sky overhead, his expression impossible to read, as if it were sorrow, or perhaps desolation, or cold stillness.

...

For a long time, Fangkong City had been plotting something. Lou Xingluo, though disliked and neglected, did not know the exact details.

During that trial, he had indeed obtained something.

He was framed because his half-brother wanted it, and since he refused to give it up, that incident followed.

After he returned, the city lord learned of it.

As for the death of the second mistress, he did not know what had happened.

By the time he heard the news, the city lord had already issued orders to hunt him down.

If he had not fled, he likely would have died there.

After leaving Fangkong City, he inquired in many places and eventually learned a little, enough to understand why the city lord so desperately wanted the treasure in his possession.

They wanted to use the Qilin Chart to summon a divine beast.

On the Nine Provinces Continent, no divine beast had appeared for a thousand years.

If Fangkong City could obtain even one divine beast, its standing on the continent would rise to a whole new level.

Knowing what they wanted, Lou Xingluo naturally had no intention of giving them their wish.

That was why things had come to this.

He had to get there before Fangkong City did.

Ling Qiong sat up, crossing her legs in front of her and resting her hands on her ankles. She looked at Lou Xingluo earnestly. "With me here, you can."

Lou Xingluo: "..."

Why did her presence have anything to do with whether he could or not?

Lou Xingluo put the Qilin Chart away. "Earlier, when you said I killed someone. What was that about?"

The girl’s eyes widened. "I never said that. It was Jiang He who said it!"

Jiang He: "..." I heard that! And his suspicion wasn’t wrong either. He was the most likely suspect!!

Lou Xingluo: "..." What difference does it make?

He did not bother arguing with Ling Qiong about that. "So, that matter?"

What exactly was going on?

After he left that day, he had first found a safe place to detoxify the poison, and then he had gone on with his own affairs.

Ling Qiong said, "You know about that thing that’s been causing such a stir lately, right?"

Lou Xingluo thought for a moment. "The dried corpses?"

"Yes."

He had heard of it, but had not looked into it carefully.

Still, he was certain that when he left, those two had been perfectly alive.

"What did the bodies look like exactly?"

Ling Qiong described the condition of the corpses to him.

"What are you shaking for?"

She suddenly asked that, leaving Lou Xingluo puzzled.

Ling Qiong pointed at the black snake serving as a cushion. "It’s shaking."

The black snake: "..."

Ling Qiong rested a fingertip against her chin, thinking for a moment, then turned to ask, "Where did you get this snake?"

Lou Xingluo glanced at the black snake and did not hide it. "The Demon-Suppressing Tower."

Ling Qiong had already guessed part of it. Now Lou Xingluo was merely confirming her suspicions.

Lou Xingluo had thought she would say something.

But she said nothing about the Demon-Suppressing Tower.

Ling Qiong gave the black snake a pat. "Do you know who the killer is?"

"..."

The black snake stiffened all over, not moving an inch, committing fully to the act of playing dead.

Ling Qiong arched a brow. "Looks like you do know."

The black snake suddenly shrank. Ling Qiong, caught off guard, lurched straight toward the ground.

Lou Xingluo reflexively reached out to catch her.

A force wrapped around Ling Qiong’s waist, stopping her fall. In the next instant, he exerted a little strength and drew her into his arms.

Ling Qiong instinctively grabbed the front of Lou Xingluo’s robes.

Damn it!

That scared her half to death!

What was that stupid snake doing now?

"Are you all right?"

Ling Qiong covered her chest with one hand and let out a breath, then slowly shook her head. "What kind of fit was that?"

Lou Xingluo looked down. The black snake had already slipped away somewhere to hide, and there was no sign of it.

"It probably knows what kind of thing did this," he said.

"Is it scared?"

"...Doesn’t seem like it." That snake did not look like that when it was frightened.

Besides, it always claimed to be the little tyrant of the Demon-Suppressing Tower, that nobody dared to provoke. How could it be afraid?

"Little Ancestor, are you..." Jiang He came over from the other side, then abruptly stopped mid-sentence.

What had he just seen?!

Why were the little ancestor and that man surnamed Lou holding each other?!

What had happened?!

At that moment, Lou Xingluo seemed to wake all at once and quickly let go of Ling Qiong.

Ling Qiong had been leaning on him just now and had not used any strength at all. Lou Xingluo still had to support her with one hand to keep her from falling.

Ling Qiong looked over in confusion, her tone as casual as ever. "What is it?"

Jiang He swallowed hard and asked stiffly, "Would you... like something to eat?"