Chapter 261
“I get it. You want her to like you, and you want her to trust you completely, to the point where she can't live without you,” Shengbei said, his tone light and playful in a way that Tu Lan couldn’t quite grasp. “So, do you think she would abandon you?”
“She won’t! As long as I’m always on her side, she won’t leave me! You don’t know, she…” You don’t know that when she faced Mi Yasi, she specifically protected me, but that’s a secret between her and Yu Xunge; she doesn’t tell anyone!
“That’s enough, Tu Lan. You’ve known her for less time than you’ve been alive. You can’t be so greedy. The more precious something is, the harder it is to obtain. You too, Tu Lan. Cherish your feelings; don’t squander them carelessly.”
But now? They had been together in the tower for over two hundred years, longer than her own life. Could she be greedy now?
Tu Lan sighed sadly, transforming into a little bird and perching on Yu Xunge’s head, helping her clean up the battlefield.
Yu Xunge chuckled at her appearance. “What’s wrong? You look so serious!”
Tu Lan ruffled Yu Xunge’s hair to make herself more comfortable and mumbled, “I’m facing some tough problems.”
When a child says they’re facing tough problems, Yu Xunge couldn’t help but laugh for a while. But when she tried to ask more, she couldn’t get it out, so she simply began to recount her identity and experiences from the last reincarnation in her mind.
Tu Lan: “So, you suspect Feng Mu and Feng Cang?”
Yu Xunge: “Yeah, Feng Mu feels so strange to me. It’s like she’s been in there for a long time, as if… the real Feng Mu didn’t die completely, and part of her consciousness still lingers.”
Tu Lan: “What about Feng Cang? Isn’t she still alive?”
Yu Xunge avoided the approaching leader of the oak owl team and looked toward the wooden house atop the mulberry tree not far away. The roof of that house was carved with a maple leaf. She stared for a moment, her tone calm and steady, without a hint of fluctuation. “Feng Cang’s situation is even more troubling. The last look she gave was too strange. Her feelings for Feng Ran are definitely not weaker than those for Feng Mu and Feng Tang, and there’s no conflict of interest between Feng Ran and her. Under what circumstances would someone who loves you deeply look forward to and even rejoice in your death? And Feng Ran is still a spirit.”
Moreover, she had sacrificed half of her wings to resurrect Feng Cang, yet when Feng Cang woke up and saw this, there was a wild joy in her eyes…
She couldn’t help but recall the expression on Feng Cang’s face when she first received the little cookie necklace she made, and the strange request for a little bear cookie necklace later, as well as the hug she received when she told Feng Tang she wanted to learn how to toast and wanted everyone to call her Little Feng Tang.
Everything felt so odd, making her wonder if some of her unintentional actions and lines coincidentally matched things the real Feng Ran had done or said, creating astonishing coincidences.
Were Feng Tang and Feng Cang in the tower really just virtual characters woven from memories?
Most importantly, the tower was open to all alien races, and once inside, these spirits would teach skills. Under what circumstances would a leader of an alien race generously give A-level or even S-level skill books to those who entered the tower? She didn’t believe Feng Tang could have discovered Feng Cang’s abnormalities without realizing she was also a tower climber.
What was the biggest difference between “Feng Ran” and Feng Cang? One was alive, and the other had long since passed away.
Tu Lan instinctively grasped a strand of Yu Xunge’s hair with her little claws. She wasn’t foolish; she quickly understood Yu Xunge’s implication: “You mean, there’s a possibility Feng Ran could be resurrected?”
Yu Xunge sighed. “Yes, and it’s likely related to the blessings of the spirits obtained after entering the tower.”
Tu Lan exclaimed anxiously, “Xue Dui didn’t mention this could happen!”
Noticing Tu Lan’s tension and worry, Yu Xunge reassured her, “He might not have been able to say it, and the way Feng Qie casually gave me the Absolute Clarity back then was already a reminder and help.”
Tu Lan: “Are you sure?”
Yu Xunge: “If the light wings I received after leaving the tower come from Feng Ran… then there’s an eighty percent chance this guess is true.”
Feng Ran would be reborn through the wings of light, living again through her.
The tower’s purpose was not merely to commemorate the spirits of the twelve alien races but to leave a possibility for the resurrection of the oak owl spirits. That thunderous battle song was the oak owls celebrating the imminent rebirth of the spirits.
No wonder the eleven alien races didn’t allow their own kind to enter the tower; perhaps those at the top knew something, but were bound by something like a prohibition, preventing them from speaking openly. Even stranger, they hadn’t pursued the light oak owls.
Tu Lan suddenly exclaimed, “What about your kind…”
Yu Xunge fell silent; that was the most difficult part.
The higher-ups of the eleven alien races couldn’t openly discuss this matter, and she might also have been unknowingly placed under a prohibition.
The fact that she could talk to Tu Lan about this now might be because she hadn’t yet received the spirit’s blessing, or perhaps it was due to the contract she signed with Tu Lan. Maybe once she left the tower, she wouldn’t be able to speak of it at all.
But this actually relieved her; “not being able to say” was the best outcome.
If she could say it, it would be hard for her once she got out.
Tell Ding Hai? That would be like digging a pit for herself. She could claim she wouldn’t be possessed by the oak owl spirits, but outsiders might not believe her.
Not saying anything? Allowing her own side to be infiltrated by outsiders while she remained silent and watched? Whether from an emotional standpoint or a self-interest perspective, she couldn’t do that. Ding Hai was her stronghold; if Blue Star was unstable, she could easily find herself attacked from both sides.
Let’s just use “those who walk in the tower as oak owls for 300 years will have their will weakened and be influenced by the oak owls, becoming assimilated” as the standard answer. This way, Ding Hai would remain cautious and vigilant but wouldn’t go to extremes; at least they wouldn’t have a justifiable reason to eliminate them.
In the end, Xue Dui’s explanation turned out to be the best conclusion.
**Chapter 339: Leaving the Tower - The Fated Savior**
In the following forty days, Yu Xunge kept an incredibly low profile, even avoiding the moonlight, only occasionally inquiring about the traitorous owls.
She discovered that there was only one organization left outside, called “Kill the Colleagues.”
Yu Xunge & Tu Lan: …
They really wanted to know who the leader of this organization was… It couldn’t possibly be Zhao Shuying, right? Hahaha.
After holding it in for a long time, Tu Lan finally couldn’t take it anymore. Since she could return to her pet space at any time, after Yu Xunge mentioned she had switched to a life-saving divine talent skill, Tu Lan flew off to find this organization.
A few days later, she returned through the pet space, her face pale with terror. “It really seems to be Zhao Shuying.”
Yu Xunge: ?
What do you mean “seems”?
Tu Lan pulled out a photo she had taken on her phone, pointing at the oak owl in it. “I asked her who she was, and she said she was Zhao Shuying.”
Yu Xunge leaned in to take a look. The oak owl’s face bore a serene smile that seemed to transcend nature, exuding an aura of “everything is empty” and “I’ve come to terms with it”…
It looked just like that meme of someone in a cotton coat holding a lotus flower, smiling and gazing 45 degrees up at the sky, radiating a particularly kind and peaceful vibe.
Yu Xunge began to worry about Zhao Shuying’s mental state… She couldn’t have been working for three hundred years, could she?
Tu Lan shook her finger. “I asked her, and she said she’s not that crazy. Besides the organization you and Liang Yuchuan formed back then, she usually works for ten years every forty years, spending the other thirty years on cultivation. She doesn’t work a single extra day.”
Cultivation has even come into play.
Calculating it, she must have worked for at least fifty years.
Oh no, her little secretary Zhao has gone mad.
Yu Xunge asked worriedly, “How many people are in that organization called ‘Kill the Colleagues’ now?”
Tu Lan replied, “Just her and Liang Yuchuan.”
She pulled out her phone again to show Yu Xunge another photo. This time, the oak owl didn’t look as serene, but rather quite despondent… The oak owl, wearing snowboard boots, was sitting under a tree, using a dagger to trim her nails. The moment the photo was taken, she lazily lifted her gaze toward the camera, wearing an expression that screamed, “I’ve had enough of life.”
This was clearly Liang Yuchuan adapting to the snowboard she would need after leaving the tower.
Yu Xunge exclaimed, “Is that Liang Yuchuan?!”
Tu Lan put her phone away and chattered about the gossip she had heard: “Every identity she draws is actually pretty good, but she always ends up killing those oak owls with better identities for various reasons. Then her family would intervene to ensure she doesn’t die, and she’d get thrown into prison. Sometimes she manages to escape, sometimes she doesn’t. She said she spends at least half her time in jail, and she’s been in the cells of Tao, Feng, and Song.”
Liang Yuchuan’s identity as “Xing Cu” was quite remarkable. Although she didn’t belong to the three major factions of Feng, Tao, and Song, the Xing lineage of oak owls was also a prominent family, one of the earliest followers of Song Gui.
She’s been in jail for over a hundred and fifty years?
But she didn’t think Liang Yuchuan’s time was wasted. She remembered that there were quite a few experts in jail. Feng Mu and Feng Tang had even discussed whether to let them out to atone for their sins, but Feng Cang said those oak owls were unstable factors and wouldn’t listen. Their identities were complicated, so it was better to keep them locked up until the situation stabilized, and then let their families redeem them with merits.
With Liang Yuchuan’s personality of provoking trouble wherever she went, she wouldn’t be idle.
Tu Lan hugged Yu Xunge’s head, feeling relieved. “I’m glad you’re not crazy.”
Yu Xunge: “…”
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