Tianyan

"A little girl." Xu Yuan paused in surprise at her words, racking his brain for any memories related to that name. Yet after searching through them all, let alone a little girl, there wasn't even a single female by that name. However, while he didn't find a person, he did find a cultivation technique called the Heaven-Deducing Art. Tianyan, Yantian. The Heaven-Deducing Art was not the final one among the only three crimson-grade cultivation arts, because it had never actually been implemented. It hadn't even appeared in the game, only briefly mentioned in passing in the official guidebook. What was the description of the Heaven-Deducing Art again? Xu Yuan furrowed his brow, trying to recall. After pondering for a while, he barely managed to remember its description from the guidebook. Very simple, but utterly domineering: Deducing heavenly secrets. After a brief silence, Xu Yuan asked in a low voice, "A little girl named Tianyan? How did you meet her, and why would you believe what she said?" Ran Qingmo recalled briefly and described simply, "After I reached the third rank, Master had me travel down the mountain. I saved her over at Jiuyuan Gorge, and while I took her along with me afterward, she told me a lot of strange things." "Strange things?" Xu Yuan frowned. "That an earthquake would strike Xizhou Prefecture, snow would fall in the eighth month over Jiuhua City, and the northern frontier would be invaded by the Barbarians right up to the walls of Hanbei City..." "Did all of those things come true?" "Mm." Ran Qingmo nodded. Xu Yuan's eyes gradually turned solemn. He now roughly understood why Ran Qingmo was so certain. He asked softly, "Since she said the Sword Sect would be destroyed, did she say anything else? Um... about the future." "Mm, one more thing." Ran Qingmo nodded. "What?" "Emperor Jiajing will die next year." "..." Xu Yuan's breath caught sharply. His fists tightened slightly as he asked in a deep voice, "Then do you know where she is now?" Ran Qingmo shook her head. "Um... while I was cultivating, she disappeared." Hearing this gave Xu Yuan a headache. A question that had puzzled him in his past life was finally resolved. Ran Qingmo's source of information hadn't been an insider leak from the Chancellor's Manor at all, but someone directly deducing it through a cultivation art that peered into heavenly secrets. Damn it, even he, a transmigrator who once had an omniscient bird's-eye view, didn't know these things, yet this little girl named Tianyan knew. As he learned more and more, Xu Yuan actually felt this world was growing increasingly unfamiliar. First came Qin Weijiu lurking in the shadows, and now this mysterious little girl named Tianyan had popped up from Ran Qingmo. To vanish without a trace while Ran Qingmo was cultivating—if it wasn't due to some special effect of the Heaven-Deducing Art, the little girl's cultivation must have been at least an entire major realm higher than Ran Qingmo's at that time. Even setting cultivation aside, many aspects of this were unsettling. What was this little girl named Tianyan's purpose in telling Ran Qingmo these things? Was it deliberate, or was she simply bestowing an opportunity upon Ran Qingmo? And did such a mysterious little girl harbor hostility toward the Chancellor's Manor? None of this was known. At this moment, Xu Yuan suddenly understood why the old fogies in web novels from his past life loved playing the riddler in front of the protagonists. When your strength was insufficient, even if you knew certain things, you could only gaze up in utter powerlessness. That kind of feeling was truly suffocating and despair-inducing. Of course, Xu Yuan wasn't despairing in the slightest, because he could call for backup. Xu Changge happened to be in Jingjiang Prefecture right now, so he could leave this headache to him. And if his eldest brother couldn't handle it either... Father, save me! With that thought, Xu Yuan suddenly looked at Ran Qingmo and asked, "By the way, do I have your permission to tell Xu Changge about this?" Hearing this, Ran Qingmo immediately stared at Xu Yuan and shook her head. "Can you not tell him?" Xu Yuan said in a low voice, "I'll only mention the little girl named Tianyan." Ran Qingmo stared at Xu Yuan, hesitated for a moment, and still spoke up. "B-But he'll still find out about me." Xu Yuan thought for a moment and roughly understood what she was worried about. He asked point-blank, "Are you worried about letting Xu Changge know that you already know our Chancellor's Manor's plan to destroy the Sword Sect?" Ran Qingmo processed his words for a moment, then lowered her head to look toward her toes—barely able to see them. After remaining quiet for a few breaths, she answered softly, "Mm, yes..." Hearing this, Xu Yuan smiled. "You actually don't need to worry about that." "Why?" Ran Qingmo looked up. "Because he already knows." "..." Ran Qingmo blinked her beautiful eyes a couple of times. The moment she realized what he meant, she tightened her grip on her black sword, immediately preparing to flee. Yet Xu Yuan didn't give her the chance. Right after speaking, he caught her by the wrist. This was easy to deduce. Xu Changge clearly knew that the person who kidnapped him back then was Ran Qingmo, yet he showed no intention whatsoever of investigating her motive. Was that normal? It was anything but normal—in fact, it was abnormal. Xu Yuan had been excluded from the Chancellor's Manor's inner decision-making circle due to his "illustrious" past track record, but his eldest brother was definitely one of the key figures in that inner circle. In other words, Xu Changge was bound to know about the Chancellor's Manor's plan to overthrow the Tianyuan Sword Sect. Since he knew, would it really be difficult to guess why Ran Qingmo, disciple of the Sword Sect Master, had kidnapped him—Xu Changtian—at this exact juncture? Would such a grave leak of secrets be overlooked just for Xu Yuan's sake? What a joke. If his standing was truly that important, his eldest brother wouldn't have strung him up and beaten him in his memories. And there was only one explanation for such an anomaly. His father and brother were plotting things behind his back, and the time had not yet come to completely tear off the veil of civility with the sects of the world. Therefore, Xu Changge chose patience and restraint. Just as he had seized the pretext on Hanging Sky Cliff atop Tianmen Mountain to let this big block of ice get away. Holding Ran Qingmo's fair, slender wrist, Xu Yuan comforted her with a smile, "Don't panic. Xu Changge won't make a move against you right now." Ran Qingmo's eyes remained somewhat wary as she glanced in the direction where Xu Changge had left. "Why?" Xu Yuan said nonchalantly, "Because we aren't ready to wage war against the sects yet. We won't break all ties openly." Ran Qingmo suddenly went quiet, pursing her lips. "Why are you telling me this..." She could roughly understand that his words just now counted as confidential secrets of the Chancellor's Manor. Xu Yuan smiled. "Didn't you tell me about Tianyan as well?" Pausing, he shifted the topic and added with a faintly mocking smile, "Besides, even if you spread the word, no one in the sects will believe you." Ran Qingmo, knowing the truth, had tried to raise the sects' vigilance, yet none of the sects she approached were willing to believe her. In the end, the only one willing to believe her was someone from the Chancellor's Manor—the sects' sworn enemy. He found it thoroughly ironic. "..." Ran Qingmo fell silent at his words. Xu Yuan waited quietly for a while, and seeing that she still didn't speak, he said softly, "If you die at his hands right now, I, Xu Yuan, will be buried alongside you." Ran Qingmo's delicate frame relaxed slightly. She shook her head. "You don't need to be buried with me." Xu Yuan smiled faintly and asked once more, "May I tell Xu Changge about Tianyan?" Ran Qingmo thought for a long time, and this time, she actually nodded. "Okay."