"No need to explain, I already know what’s going on with your mistress."
Guangyin was on the verge of collapsing. Saying more always meant making more mistakes, but this time he hadn’t even said anything, yet Zhou Xuan had already deduced everything?
"The space in Jing Country is layered and folded. Your mistress is hidden within the folded space. Once Mingjiang Prefecture is destroyed, the folded spaces within it will unfold. Your mistress will lose her hiding place and her whereabouts will be exposed."
"Yes, our mistress is hidden in the Time Realm. Unfortunately for us, you’ve guessed correctly." Guangyin’s previously relaxed brows completely unfurrowed.
A small error can lead to a massive deviation, and Zhou Xuan’s deduction was tens of thousands of miles away from the truth.
Still, Guangyin was happy to see Zhou Xuan arrive at an erroneous conclusion. "Go ahead and search the folded spaces. If you can find my mistress in any folded space in Jing Country, I’ll change my name to Zhou."
"Is your mistress really just hiding in the Time Realm?"
"Haha, the Time Realm, what a wonderful place. No demigods from the human world who enter the Time Realm ever make it back. My mistress is quite safe being hidden there."
"Oh, so you too believe your mistress is ’hidden,’ don’t you?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I’m just spinning a story to bait you, to sense whether your so-called mistress is openly commanding from the future or like a sewer rat plotting in secret."
The moment Guangyin heard the word "future," his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He struggled to suppress his reaction, feigning nonchalance as he countered, "Future? What future?"
Little did he know, every subtle expression on his face was being analyzed frame by frame by Miss Qiang in Zhou Xuan’s Secret Realm.
"Ah Xuan, your deduction that the mistress is hiding in the future is absolutely correct. When the word ’future’ was mentioned, Guangyin’s expression was noticeably tense, with a slight stiffness. This clearly shows he has a strong reaction to ’future.’"
After acknowledging Miss Qiang’s analysis, Zhou Xuan turned to Guangyin and said, "The past cannot be pursued; it is fated. The future, however, can still be changed; it is impermanent.
"The overarching trajectory of the future will shift due to major events in the present. The cataclysm in Mingjiang Prefecture is one such event capable of altering the future."
"So, my guess is that your mistress is hidden in the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture. But if the current Mingjiang Prefecture is destroyed, will the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture still exist?"
Zhou Xuan’s words carried an oppressive weight. This time, without needing Miss Qiang’s analysis, he could see with his own eyes the despair etched into Guangyin’s expression.
"Which year, exactly, in the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture is your mistress hiding?"
Guangyin fell completely silent this time. He never anticipated that Zhou Xuan could deduce the truth in such a short span of time.
Nonetheless, he remained silent. At this point, the information he held was scarcely more than what Zhou Xuan already knew.
All he knew was that his mistress was hiding in the future, but the exact year, even he was unclear.
"You don’t want to reveal the specific year in Mingjiang Prefecture’s future where your mistress is hiding? Fine. We’ll change the subject."
Zhou Xuan stared at Guangyin and asked, "Your mistress’ prowess clearly surpasses Peng Hou. A fog engulfed Mingjiang Prefecture, severing divine power and obscuring her presence. Such refined mastery probably requires no less than eight incense sticks."
This level of grand technique, Zhou Xuan estimated, couldn’t be achieved even by the mighty Lord Jian, who sat between eighth and ninth ranks.
"If not Lord Jian, then your mistress must wield nine incense sticks worth of power."
When Zhou Xuan mentioned nine incense sticks,
The Music Master and Painter visibly changed their expressions.
Zhou Xuan pressed on, "Nine incense sticks signify a Heavenly Vault God Level entity, capable of slaying Old Gods. Someone with so much divine prominence, hiding in the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture to secretly plot contamination of the Ancestor Dragon—if my guess isn’t wrong, your mistress wouldn’t dare show her true face to the world."
"..." Guangyin’s unease grew as he listened. How did Zhou Xuan manage to guess everything so accurately?
Yet Zhou Xuan wasn’t entirely reliant on guesses. If it hadn’t been for his time spent in Mingjiang Prefecture, battling kidnappers, the Blood Well Society, and the Evil God, alongside his journey to Jing Country’s Time-Space World to gather ample intelligence, he wouldn’t be able to deduce the mistress’ identity so swiftly.
After all, deduction is simply the product of enough premises.
Zhou Xuan added, "The Jing Deng under your mistress once employed the Star Covering Charm. The cooperation between the Kidnapper Hall and your people ran deep. Their method of engraving spirit bones and spirit meat involved carving Star Covering inscriptions.
"Back in the day, Star Covering fell from grace due to an affair with the Sky Dome Buddha — the Seven Leaf Honored One. Their progeny, ’Six Desires,’ brought ruin upon them, leading Jing Country to execute its rightful judgment."
"As a result, the Star Covering Charm became lost to time."
"So here’s the question: where did the kidnappers and Jing Deng obtain the Star Covering inscriptions and Star Covering charm?"
Zhou Xuan sneered coldly and remarked, "Star Covering didn’t truly perish. She is your mistress, hiding in the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture."
This revelation was earth-shattering.
For a moment, the Painter and Music Master were rendered speechless.
The human world’s nine incense deity, Star Covering, from two hundred years ago—she hadn’t died?
"Not only has Star Covering survived, but whether the Seven Leaf Honored One connected to her perished is also up for debate."
Zhou Xuan had once perceived that the force behind the Evil God wasn’t solitary; at least one man and one woman were involved.
The woman was Star Covering. As for the man... Zhou Xuan couldn’t help but suspect him to be the Seven Leaf Honored One who had attained enlightenment at Qiye Temple.
"A former Sky Dome Buddha and a nine-incense deity—why are they hiding in the future’s Mingjiang Prefecture?"