Deep Spring at Bronze Sparrow Locks the Two Qiaos

"Makes sense!" Brother Red Chicken was the first to agree with Sun Miaomiao's guess. "I think it's in this painting too. That Huo Zhengkui treasured it so much—the Holy Plate fragment has to be inside." World Returns to Fire nodded. "Brother Red Chicken has a point. It seems the Holy Plate fragment is definitely not in the painting." Zhao Chenghuang concurred. "Not in the painting." Sun Miaomiao had originally felt quite confident, but seeing Brother Red Chicken so certain, she pressed her lips together. If even Brother Red Chicken could figure it out, that meant the fragment wasn't in the scroll. Zhang Yuanqing added, "Since Brother Red Chicken has spoken, we can rule out the scroll." Brother Red Chicken stood there dumbfounded, looking like a child abandoned by the entire world. Guan Ya gave Brother Red Chicken a look of mixed pity and amusement. "Finally, my time to shine. With the Knight's prop as proof, Lady JoJo shouldn't be lying. Since she doesn't know where the Holy Plate fragment is either, Mr. Huo must have wanted to test us. If it's a test, Mr. Huo would have certainly left us clues. For starters, he wouldn't leave the Holy Plate fragment in such an obvious place, so the scroll can be ruled out. We can search around the house. Hmm, Lady JoJo, did Mr. Huo like keeping a diary?" People of that era loved writing essays and diaries, and some even used newspapers like message boards to trade insults. The tabby shook its head. "Mr. Huo didn't like keeping a diary." Zhang Yuanqing was just about to say, *Who writes a diary if they're respectable?* when the tabby changed the subject: "Mistress liked keeping a diary." Zhang Yuanqing pivoted just as smoothly. "Keeping a diary is great! All respectable people love keeping diaries. But there's no need to look for it. I have another Holy Plate fragment. The fragments resonate with each other. As long as I hold it, I can find the other piece." With that, he took out the engraved, fan-shaped bronze piece. Based on Fu Qingyang's past experience, the Holy Plate fragments could sense one another. So before exploring the labyrinth, he had already asked Fu Qingyang for the unsealed fragment. Although the successor Knight carried a fragment as well, those four fragments were still sealed; until their seals were broken, they wouldn't resonate with each other. Fu Qingyang had only sensed the Holy Plate fragment sealed inside the Zhou Ji Phoenix Zun after slashing open the seal on his own piece. And Zhang Yuanqing was certain that the piece in Zhai Cai's hands remained sealed. Seeing their guild leader produce the Holy Plate fragment, Brother Red Chicken beamed, looking thoroughly relieved. "Awesome! Now we don't have to use our brains." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Holding the Holy Plate fragment, Zhang Yuanqing paced through the ground-floor hall, touching the objects inside one by one—tables, chairs, sofas, hanging paintings, potted plants, and ornaments. "Looks like the Holy Plate fragment isn't on the first floor. Lady JoJo, would it be convenient for us to go upstairs?" Zhang Yuanqing smiled. The tabby nodded. The group bustled upstairs in high spirits. The second floor housed the master bedroom, a study, a tea room, a room filled with fresh flowers and green grass, and two antique rooms. One room held Chinese antiques, and the other held European antiques. Neither props nor materials were in sight. Like a feng shui master, Zhang Yuanqing walked a circle around the second floor with the fan-shaped bronze piece in his hand, but he didn't sense any resonance. His expression grew awkward. "It's not on the second floor either? Lady JoJo, can we check the third floor?" The graceful tabby bobbed its head. The group hurried up to the third floor, but after another round of searching, they still found no sign of the Holy Plate fragment. Brother Red Chicken spoke his mind bluntly. "Is your fragment fake? Are you up to this or what?!" While the others weren't as tactless as a Fire Mage, their eyes were already tinged with suspicion as they looked at Zhang Yuanqing. "How about... we check the two annex buildings next door?" Zhang Yuanqing suggested with an embarrassed grimace. The tabby shook its head. "Those two chimney-like towers are warehouses where Old Berent stored materials and props. There are no belongings of Mistress or Mr. Huo inside. Besides, the main house and the two annexes aren't connected. You'd have to go outside, but Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao won't listen to me. Their duty is to kill anyone who trespasses. Old Berent is the only person Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao recognize." "Then... then let's check the diary after all..." Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself that this made no sense. Fu Qingyang had personally verified that when Holy Plate fragments drew near, they would resonate. Could old Mr. Huo Zhengkui have applied a double seal to the fragment in this manor just to test future generations, preventing it from resonating? If that were the case, having Little Doubi use Treasure Seeking would be useless too—the little guy would probably crawl straight toward Old Berent's storehouse. The tabby turned toward the staircase. "Follow me. Mistress's notebook is in the bedroom." The group followed the tabby back down to the second floor and entered a room steeped in the atmosphere of the Republican era. The tabby leaped onto a red-lacquered vanity table and patted the surface. "The notebook is in the drawer." Zhang Yuanqing walked over to the vanity table, pulled open the drawer, and indeed found a notebook with a black cover. Untouched for years, it had gathered a light layer of dust. "Old Berent never read this notebook?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, blowing the dust away. The tabby said flatly, "I wouldn't let him. Besides, Old Berent was a Thunder Mage—an upright one at that." Guan Ya, Zhao Chenghuang, Sun Miaomiao, and World Returns to Fire swarmed over. Brother Red Chicken, well aware that deciphering texts wasn't his forte, trotted off toward the antique rooms. "Don't steal anything in there!" World Returns to Fire warned. If they angered the tabby, none of them would have an easy time. "I know what I'm doing," Brother Red Chicken retorted petulantly. *Do you really take me for an idiot? Could an idiot reach the Saint rank?* Zhang Yuanqing flipped open the notebook and began reading the entries. *March 16, 1927: Arrested during a student demonstration. Mr. Huo rescued me, but I will not thank him, for he is a lackey of the Free Confederation, sent by their president to China to sponsor Chiang Kai-shek. China must be sovereign and independent, beholden to no person and no foreign power. China needs a revolution, yet Chiang Kai-shek seeks to slaughter the revolutionary masses; he is a traitor and a criminal against the revolution. Alas, he is surrounded by too many powerful experts. I cannot approach him, let alone assassinate him. There are simply too few Night Walkers.* *March 20: The students are on strike. Nothing of note today. While sitting idly in a teahouse, I ran into Mr. Huo by chance. When I asked why he saved me, he said I bore an uncanny resemblance to his late wife. Bah! Shameless lecher. I stood up and walked away without acknowledging him further. Silence is the highest form of contempt.* *April 8: Mr. Huo is truly an extraordinary man. The stories of his life would enchant most women in the world, and I am no exception.* *A shameless lecher on one page, and an extraordinary man on the next? Miss Lu, what on earth happened during those two weeks? Did he look like your late husband too?* Zhang Yuanqing roasted her mercilessly in his mind. Considering Lu Yueshuang was young and still a student back then, while Huo Zhengkui was already a widower and undoubtedly well along in years, it was only natural that the young girl had been swept off her feet by an older man. *April 20: Mr. Huo's mission in China has ended. He told me he will return to the Free Confederation by the end of the month, and he invited me to accompany him to that beautiful country. I did not want to leave my homeland, even if it has been battered by the flames of war. But Mr. Huo said that going to the Free Confederation would allow me to better complete my studies and learn more advanced knowledge and ideas, so that I might achieve great things and save the nation. Furthermore, while the rest of the world is engulfed in war, the Free Confederation is a rare sanctuary. At the same time, the Free Confederation's stance can sway the global situation. If I truly wish to save my homeland, going there is an excellent choice... He convinced me. I must take Little Li with me.* At some point, the tabby had hopped onto Zhang Yuanqing's back. Its voice carried a mix of sorrow and fondness. "Little Li is me. I was the one who accompanied Mistress to the Free Confederation back then." What followed were notes and reflections on the voyage across the ocean. *May 7: Finally arrived in New York. I stepped foot in this beautiful country and was arranged to stay at an estate in Queens. It turns out Mr. Huo is the boss of the largest syndicate in Chinatown and a financier of the president. He has been actively lobbying the Free Confederation government to provide China with guns, artillery, and airplanes to aid in the war against Japan. All along, I believed he was a 'lackey' serving the Free Confederation government. I misjudged him.* *He does not want me by his side because Heaven's Punishment and certain anti-Chinese syndicates view him as an archenemy. He fears dragging me into danger.* *May 18: He enrolled me in New York University, a world-renowned institution. I must study for the rise of my motherland.* The subsequent pages detailed Lu Yueshuang's experiences studying in the Free Confederation. She gave impassioned speeches at the university, denouncing the atrocities committed by the island nation, but the response was underwhelming. The arrogant white chocolates cared little about China's plight; their eyes were glued entirely to the European continent. They would burn with righteous indignation over the slaughter of a wandering people, yet treat the Japanese military's massacres in China as nothing more than a routine part of war. Lu Yueshuang's fiery passion gradually cooled under the weight of harsh reality, but she never gave up. Instead, she continuously rallied Chinese immigrants to stage protests and denounce the crimes of the Japanese military. In secret, she also had to prepare for her monthly Spirit Realm dungeons. Through his personal connections, Huo Zhengkui gathered numerous dungeon guides for Wood Monsters on her behalf. Combined with her own intelligence and exceptional talent, she leveled up steadily. Every weekend, Huo Zhengkui would visit Lu Yueshuang at the manor. They discussed literature and the war, debated how best to save their country, and occasionally had fierce arguments that ended on bitter notes. Yet after every quarrel, Huo Zhengkui would return the following weekend bearing fresh flowers and gifts, while Lu Yueshuang would prepare her signature pastries and pull him into word games and riddles. Every trivial detail had been recorded in the notebook. Their disputes only ceased when Huo Zhengkui proposed his strategy of "controlling the president to save the nation." In his grand design, he would do everything possible to drag the Free Confederation into the war, shifting the global balance to save China indirectly. Moreover, Huo Zhengkui believed this went along with the inevitable flow of history and held an exceedingly high chance of success. Years later, Little Boy was dropped on the island nation, World War II ended, and the Chinese civil war broke out. The red tide swept across the divine land, liberating the whole nation, bringing light, and establishing a new government. Lu Yueshuang and Huo Zhengkui lived peacefully for a time. Once the new regime stabilized, Huo Zhengkui actively reached out to the Chinese government, hoping to help establish an official organization for Chinese Spirit Walkers. However, the authorities politely declined. At the time, the Chinese government did not trust Huo Zhengkui and remained deeply wary of him. Although this overseas Chinese had made contributions during World War II, the White Sun and Blue Sky regime had been in power back then. Huo Zhengkui did not give up. According to Lu Yueshuang's notebook, he visited China three times in succession, laying out the pros and cons in the hopes of establishing an official organization as soon as possible to recruit and regulate the growing ranks of Spirit Walkers. Perhaps because the societal issues arising from the growing number of Spirit Walkers were becoming increasingly apparent, the Chinese government extended an invitation to Huo Zhengkui after those three polite refusals, asking him to come to China and assist in building the official organization. Back then, Huo Zhengkui was an eighth-grade Dominator, ranking among the top ten strongest experts in the entire country. He commanded numerous troops and capable generals, possessed vast experience, and held ties to the Free Confederation—Heaven's Punishment could effectively deter domestic Spirit Walkers. He was the ideal candidate to build an official organization. Yet when Huo Zhengkui rushed eagerly to China, what awaited him was a perilous assassination attempt that nearly claimed his life. Afterward, the Free Confederation government recalled Huo Zhengkui and refused to recognize the Chinese government. Relations between the two nations broke down completely. Huo Zhengkui returned to the Free Confederation disheartened and died inside a Spirit Realm dungeon in 1960. Following his death, Lu Yueshuang rarely wrote in her notebook again. The following year, she too returned to the Spirit Realm. The pasts of two Dominators were preserved on these pages—a lifetime of glory and hardship captured in just a few thousand words. Regarding the assassination attempt on Huo Zhengkui, Lu Yueshuang had left a single sentence in her notes: *Suspected to be the work of the Same Boat Society.* "The Same Boat Society?" Zhang Yuanqing said in astonishment. "How come I've never heard of this organization?" Huo Zhengkui was already a Dominator at the time. To assassinate an eighth-grade Dominator and nearly succeed meant that the Same Boat Society must have housed multiple Dominators within its ranks. Yet he had never heard of such a faction. Since the founding of New China, no epoch-spanning war had broken out among the Spirit Walkers of the Second District; the annihilation of the Chu family twenty-one years ago had already been the largest conflict between the orthodox and evil factions. A massive organization like the Same Boat Society couldn't have simply vanished without a trace. "Have any of you heard of it?" He looked at his teammates. As a Night Walker who had been practicing for only half a year, he might still lack breadth of knowledge, but his teammates were all seasoned veterans. Guan Ya and the others shook their heads one after another, indicating that they had never heard of the Same Boat Society either. *Then that makes it even stranger,* Zhang Yuanqing thought. "Ahem!" World Returns to Fire coughed. "Let's shelve the matter of the Same Boat Society for now. We came here to find the Holy Plate fragment." He turned to Guan Ya. Guan Ya answered without hesitation: "The items Senior Lu spent considerable ink describing in her notebook that are present in the manor are porcelain, a music box, a tulip badge, agarwood, and aged tangerine peel..." So the group brought out porcelain, a music box, and a tulip badge from the antique rooms, along with a jar of rotted aged tangerine peel and a jar of agarwood shavings that had grown increasingly fragrant over time. Guan Ya drew her bronze sword. Under everyone's watchful eyes, she focused her sword Qi and slashed toward the rim of a porcelain vessel. She missed! Taking a deep breath, she concentrated her focus and struck with a second slash. The porcelain still showed no reaction. Guan Ya immediately stated, "I can guarantee the sword Qi hit it." "It hit, all right. Look, it even scraped off the glaze," Sun Miaomiao said. A white nick showed along the rim of the porcelain where the glaze had been accidentally scraped off. Not every swordsman was named Fu Qingyang. The tabby gave no comment, watching in silence. Guan Ya proceeded to slash at the other pieces of porcelain in the same manner. Without exception, none showed any reaction. She then used the same method on the music box, the jars containing the aged tangerine peel and agarwood shavings, and the tulip badge, coming up completely empty-handed. "None of them seem to be it!" Brother Red Chicken grew anxious. "Your deductions aren't working, Guan Ya!" The tabby looked even more anxious. "Why don't you try thinking of another way?" Guan Ya furrowed her brows in deep thought. Picking up the notebook again, she skimmed through it rapidly. A moment later, a look of certainty crossed her face. "I know now. 'Deep spring at Bronze Sparrow locks the two Qiaos.' That line appears four times in Senior Lu's notebook, and one of those occurrences was after Mr. Huo returned to the Spirit Realm. Self-deprecating humor in her youth is understandable, but at that point in time, there was no reason to repeat such words unless she was deliberately leaving a clue." "The two Wood Monsters outside are Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao!" Brother Red Chicken had a rare flash of brilliance. World Returns to Fire had an epiphany. "No wonder the fragments couldn't resonate—it's not inside the house... Which means a fierce battle is unavoidable." The group felt a mixture of worry and joy: joy that they had finally deduced where the fragment was, and worry that the two Wood Monsters outside were far too powerful—Dominator-grade treants cultivated by Lu Yueshuang. This had to be Huo Zhengkui's final test for posterity. Zhao Chenghuang declared at once, "Wake the Knight and prepare for battle." "Wait!" Zhang Yuanqing called out, halting them with a frown. "I don't think that's right." "What's not right?" Zhao Chenghuang asked. Zhang Yuanqing pondered aloud, "Senior Lu was an artsy young woman who loved word games and riddles. The Wood Monsters in the courtyard are named Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. If she directly hinted at 'Deep spring at Bronze Sparrow locks the two Qiaos' in her notebook, wouldn't that be far too shallow and simple?" "Then what's your take?" Guan Ya asked in return. From a psychological profiling standpoint, Yuanshi made sense. But her limited knowledge of classical literature told her that 'the two Qiaos' directly corresponded to Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. "Let's approach this like solving a riddle!" Zhang Yuanqing said. "'Deep spring at Bronze Sparrow locks the two Qiaos.' The two Qiaos are people, while the Bronze Sparrow refers to the Bronze Sparrow Terrace built by that rascal Cao Cao. So the key elements in this line must be the two Qiaos and the Bronze Sparrow Terrace. "If the two Qiaos refer to the two Wood Monsters, what does the Bronze Sparrow Terrace refer to?" "This manor, of course," Brother Red Chicken said. "Isn't that stating the obvious? Everyone knows the fragment is in the manor—why would that need a riddle?" Zhang Yuanqing rolled his eyes. Just then, he looked over at the tabby, who was listening intently with keen interest, and an idea struck him. "Lady JoJo's name transliterates to Qiao Qiao in Chinese, and Qiao Qiao is the two Qiaos! Which means the Bronze Sparrow Terrace... refers to Lady JoJo's cat bed!" The tabby had been listening with great relish, looking quite amused: (^w^) Upon hearing him point the finger straight at its bed, its expression instantly turned into: ^^ "Lady JoJo, do you have a cat bed?" Zhang Yuanqing asked enthusiastically. "Well, yes, but I don't want to take you there..." the tabby grumbled. With its tail drooping, it padded toward the bedroom door. "Follow me!" The group followed it out of the second-floor bedroom and up the stairs to the third floor. The tabby pointed toward a square hatch in the ceiling. "My bed is in the attic. I didn't like living with Mr. Huo and Mistress—they were too noisy. I prefer lazily basking in the sun all by myself." "Why didn't you bring us up here earlier?" Zhang Yuanqing grumbled. "Who would've thought Mistress sealed the fragment into my bed?" The tabby leaped into the air like a pouncing tiger and smacked Zhang Yuanqing across the face. "Don't you dare ruin my bed!" *This cat has quite the temper...* Zhang Yuanqing felt as though he had been hit by a truck; his cheek stung with fiery pain. He turned back to look at his teammates. "If the fragment is in Lady JoJo's bed, we won't need to trouble Guan Ya. I can use the resonance between the fragments to extract it." As they spoke, the tabby sprang gracefully upward, bumped open the hatch, and slipped into the attic. Zhang Yuanqing leaped up, caught the edge of the ceiling hatch, and hoisted himself through. The attic was roughly one and a half meters high and fairly spacious. The floor was clean and free of dust. Overhead was a triangular roof truss, with a small window set into the wall. Beside the window stood a vintage wooden alcove bed. The alcove bed was one meter long and half a meter tall—delightfully miniature. It even featured a proper little mosquito net and was lined with soft cushions. This was Lady JoJo's private domain. As an intensely territorial tabby that cherished its solitude, the moment it entered, it fixed an unblinking glare on Zhang Yuanqing. "Finish up quickly and get out of my room." Zhang Yuanqing hunched over as he moved forward. Reaching the miniature alcove bed, he took out his fragment once more. This time, the alcove bed shook violently. The fragment concealed inside began resonating with the one in his hand. *It really is here!* Overjoyed, Zhang Yuanqing immediately drew the Purple Thunder Hammer. Under Lady JoJo's suddenly vigilant gaze, he used the triangular spike at the base of the handle to score a deep gouge across the bedframe. —The triangular spike possessed an armor-piercing property. A deep incision split the wooden bedframe. The seal instantly shattered, and motes of brilliant light spilled forth before converging into a fan-shaped bronze piece. Zhang Yuanqing was ecstatic. "Found it!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than he felt a surge of murderous intent behind him. Turning his head, he saw Lady JoJo leap like a pouncing tiger, lunging straight for his face. "That was the bed Mistress made for me with her own hands!"