Chapter 1008
Chapter 116: Untold Stories
After becoming a Spirit Girl, Hen naturally came into contact with many powerful beings under the peculiar organization known as the “Yin-Yang Division.”
Fortune tellers, diviners, astrologers—regardless of the type, they all essentially peeped into the “Heaven’s Secrets” through observation, deduction, and calculation to look back at the hidden events of the past or predict the future that would soon come.
Hen didn’t understand the art of divination, but it seemed she possessed an intrinsic understanding of this profound secret.
In a sense, she knew everything—more than anyone else.
She recalled many things, understood the respect the world held for the identity of a “Spirit Girl,” and suddenly comprehended her true mission, realizing the source of the urgency that had been nagging her heart.
There was no time left; time had nearly run out.
The Ancient Spirit Realm… was on the brink of destruction.
And she, perhaps, was born for this very reason in this world, not really existing as a human but as one of the trump cards.
At that moment of understanding, everything around her seemed different.
Following the guidance of the “Heaven’s Secrets,” the girl seemed to hear the furious roars of ferocious beasts, the cries of the earth and spirit veins breaking, saw the cataclysmic descent of destruction, prosperity gone, mourning everywhere, and what should have been a peaceful daily life turned into the last countdown to annihilation.
She felt an ancient, profound thought resonating from afar, echoing with her. Although it didn’t bring any substantial change, it made her thoughts and fragmented memories clearer than ever, as if the entire world coalesced before her like a grand chess game.
Everything had already been scripted.
The true prologue to destruction would commence at the final day of the 999th year of the Four Saints’ Era, precisely when that year’s end approached.
And at that time, there was still a whole year until that day arrived.
Hen began to prepare in earnest.
This was the calamity of the entire Ancient Spirit Realm, and the strength of the Western Spirit Kingdom alone was insufficient to cope. Thus, under the guidance of the Heaven’s Secrets, she first contacted the Peach Blossom Peak Master, the Saint Peach Blossom, who resided far in the central region of Cangyun Mountain.
Peach Mu was one of the true guardians hidden in this world, possessing powers that could be considered pinnacle, and she was the most trustworthy ally of Hen as the Spirit Girl.
The other party knew many secrets passed down from ancient times, and just from a hint in the letter, Peach Mu understood Hen’s identity and situation, and they immediately collaborated, with the latter starting to assist her wholeheartedly.
In that year, the two exchanged secret messages frequently, jointly discussing the next plans and steps. Meanwhile, Hen also selected a group of competent individuals with clean backgrounds from her subordinates to form a secret organization, becoming her hidden support in influencing the situation and preparing.
Hen did not inform her close maid, who was also her nominal sister, He Zhu, with whom she grew up.
Not because the girl distrusted her but because He Zhu was a completely ordinary person without training. She was way too easy to monitor and extract information from; the more she knew, the more dangerous it would be for her.
Hen was not devoid of emotions, but it was precisely because she wanted to protect He Zhu that she needed to keep her at a distance, wanting her to remain blissfully ignorant.
Time drew closer day by day in the frenetic preparations.
According to the predictions of the Heaven’s Secrets, the first disaster leading to the destruction of the Ancient Spirit Realm would occur on the final day of the 999th year of the Four Saints’ Era in a small village within Yangyuan County of the Western Spirit Kingdom.
Using the force of a millennium’s worth of Yin, a bizarre and powerful top-tier evil demon would be born that night, causing massive casualties. Following its lead, more and more evil demons would arise, plunging the four countries into chaos once again, reminiscent of the demon chaos a thousand years prior.
Thus, Hen secretly warned the Yin-Yang Division in advance, making them aware of the unusual gathering of Yin energy in the world and dispatching experts to investigate.
But regarding this matter, there was little more she could do—or rather, simply doing this much was sufficient.
Through the warnings of the Heaven’s Secrets and her own observations, Hen knew her identity as the Spirit Girl had already attracted the attention of many with ulterior motives. If she interfered too obviously, it could lead to a deviation in the unfolding of events from what the Heaven’s Secrets predicted, which would not benefit the continuation of her plans.
Having briefly handled the matters at the Yin Extremity Point, the girl made a request to the Holy Monarch to leave the capital and perform a pilgrimage on behalf of the saint.
Of course, the pilgrimage was a pretext; Hen’s actual goal was to use this journey to escape the protection of the capital, serving as bait to lure out those enemies who had been secretly watching her, thereby reducing the potential destruction they could cause in future actions.
At the same time, she herself would shift from the light to the dark, no longer having to worry about many taboos, and could act without restraint.
She needed to find someone.
An existence referred to as the “Destined One.”
Though the Heaven’s Secrets did not reveal the identity of this person, and the girl herself had no idea who it was, she held a strong intuition that perhaps Hen’s most significant purpose for being born into this world, or rather her mission, was to find this Destined One and guide them forward using the “Heaven’s Secrets” she possessed.
This individual was the key to changing the outcome of destruction and… would inevitably descend into the Ancient Spirit Realm on the final day of the last era of the 999th year of the Four Saints’ Era.
However, Hen was unclear about the form in which this Destined One would appear or where they would be specifically located. Thus, during the pilgrimage, she distributed letters widely, continually inquiring with various states and county officials if any strange events had occurred, trying to find clues in this manner.
The report submitted by Prefect Wenfu of Yangyuan County caught the attention of the Spirit Girl.
Although the content of the letter was not extensive, it described two incidents: someone had witnessed the Western Sacred Beast Qilin beneath the Tidal Deep Valley, and on the night of the final day of the 999th year, a certain place in the county saw a golden light soaring into the sky, creating a surreal phenomenon as if day and night had reversed.
As for the first event, Hen already understood its origin through the hints left by the Heaven’s Secrets: it was the ferocious beast Ya Zi, sealed underground in Yangyuan County, about to break free, causing the earth to submerge into the deep sea, resulting in countless deaths—a horrific disaster that was destined to occur.
And she had indeed made arrangements for this matter long ago.
While still in the capital, Hen, using her noble identity as a Spirit Girl, had met several times with Duke Dingyuan, who shared the bloodline of the Holy Monarch and was the uncle of the current Holy Monarch.
Duke Dingyuan had three sons and one daughter; the first three were already on duty in the capital and couldn’t leave, while only his youngest daughter, recently turned sixteen, was the one with the most active mind, a bit rebellious, at that innocent age of wanting to prove herself different.
She bore the family name Yuan and was given the single name Zhi.
On one occasion, while Hen was embroidering alone at home, she had a private chat with this frustrated princess, and upon learning that she had been practicing ancestral mystical arts and was quite confident in her strength, Hen purposefully mentioned the captivating wonders of the outside world to pique the girl’s curiosity.
She especially mentioned Yangyuan County frequently, indicating that there might be hidden sites related to the first Spirit Sage.
This statement held some truth.
Beneath the Tidal Deep Valley, where Ya Zi was sealed, the Sacred Beast Qilin and the first Western Sacred One, Yuan Qianqiu, personally guarded it. However, due to age, the Spirit Sage had long since passed away and could no longer interfere in outside matters to prevent Ya Zi’s rampage.
If left unchecked, a disastrous outcome would be inevitable.
However, if a descendant who inherited the bloodline of the Spirit Sage were to appear there as a temporary vessel, how would the outcome of this matter change?