After leaving the imperial palace, Lu Li did not immediately return to his room at the Inn.
Instead, he slowed his pace thoughtfully, as if digesting his earlier conversation with the Jin Emperor.
At the same time, he secretly began planning his next steps for the investigation.
Yet he remained unaware that behind him, two ghostly figures concealed beneath the Cognition Modification Barrier were silently trailing him.
Gu Qingying’s brows were tightly knitted, her eyes filled with grave contemplation.
All along the way, she had been repeatedly scrutinizing the origin of that bizarre collective dream.
The Blood Moon Illusion had manifested in the Jin Kingdom decades ahead of schedule, and its scope was so vast that even cultivators were not spared from its disturbances—this could not possibly be a natural occurrence.
There had to be some tremendous force at work behind it.
And considering what Master had mentioned earlier—news of Yin Corpse Sect Disciples frequently operating in the capital of the Jin Kingdom recently—Gu Qingying’s brow furrowed even more deeply.
Mo Qingyou and the Yin Corpse Sect…
What are they plotting in the capital of the Jin Kingdom?
Could it be… they actually intend to force open the Demonic Realm Passage?
But the price and chaos involved would be far too great…
Meanwhile, at Gu Qingying’s side, Gong Shangyu seemed somewhat distracted.
Her gaze seemed to pierce the space around her, still lingering in the Imperial Study she had just left, lingering on that young new emperor of the Jin Kingdom—Zhou Ruolin.
Hiss…
Strange, the more I think about it, the more familiar that Zhou Ruolin looks.
Especially those eyes of his, and the subtle expressions he sometimes revealed as he spoke…
She felt as though she had seen him somewhere before…
Gong Shangyu tried hard to search her memory.
In her previous life, she and her fellow sisters weren’t particularly close, but they had spent a fair amount of time together; she still had some impression of each other’s appearance and temperament.
Suddenly, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, a bold thought flashed through Gong Shangyu’s mind.
She came to an abrupt halt, her pale-pink eyes widening in shock!
“Ah! I got it!”
Gong Shangyu blurted out in a cry of surprise.
Gu Qingying, who had been lost in thought, was startled by Gong Shangyu’s sudden outburst.
Annoyed, she shot her a glare.
“Second Elder Gong! What are you screaming about? What did you realize?”
A mixture of surprise, sudden understanding, and mischievous delight appeared on Gong Shangyu’s face as she leaned closer to Gu Qingying and lowered her voice with a mysterious air.
“Heh heh… Little Junior Sister, tell me, do you still remember the name of your ever-elusive Third Senior Sister from our previous life?”
Gu Qingying was taken aback by the question and unconsciously began to recall.
“Hm? Third Senior Sister? Zhou Ruoxi. Why?”
Gu Qingying didn’t understand why Gong Shangyu suddenly brought up their aloof, nearly invisible Third Senior Sister.
Gong Shangyu’s smile grew even brighter as she continued to lead Gu Qingying on:
“Then let me test you again.
Just now, in the Imperial Study, what was the name of the emperor we met?”
“Zhou Ruolin…”
Gu Qingying replied, a hint of confusion flashing through her purple eyes before she, too, seemed to realize something.
“Zhou Ruoxi… Zhou Ruolin… both surnamed Zhou, both with ‘Ruo’ in their names… Are you saying that the Jin Emperor might be related to Third Senior Sister?”
“Hmph… Related?”
Gong Shangyu sneered, shaking her head as a cunning light flickered in her pink eyes.
“Be bolder! What if… that so-called trusted Jin Emperor, Zhou Ruolin, who ascended to the throne by killing his brother and imprisoning his father, is actually your Third Senior Sister in disguise!”
“What?!”
Gu Qingying was so shocked she nearly bit her tongue, her purple eyes widening as she looked at Gong Shangyu in disbelief.
“Th-this… how could that be possible?”
“How could Zhou Ruoxi possibly be a man? And the new emperor of the Jin Kingdom at that?”
“Hmph… You still won’t believe it if I call you silly! Both of us have managed to disguise ourselves as men, so why couldn’t she do the same?”
Gong Shangyu shot back at Gu Qingying, then began to analyze methodically.
“Think back to our previous lives: you, me, Third and Fourth, we were all ‘picked up’ by Master outside.”
“I was an orphan, you were abandoned by your clan after your spiritual root was dug out. But only Third and Fourth always kept their origins vague and mysterious.”
Gong Shangyu paused before continuing, “Especially Third, Zhou Ruoxi, whose withdrawn personality meant she rarely spoke about her past.”
“But now that I think about it… she was probably of royal blood from the Jin Royal Family! Maybe, because of internal strife or because being female put her at a disadvantage in the royal succession, she was driven out of the palace early—or she ran away on her own—eventually wandering the streets until our softhearted Master picked her up and took her to Duanqing Peak!”
Gu Qingying followed this line of thought, her pupils shrinking slightly.
“So… what you’re saying is, there was no Zhou Ruolin usurping the throne in our previous life because we never learned of Third Senior Sister’s later fate?”
“And this time, since she was reborn and even brought back a System just like us, she used her past life’s experience to overcome danger, disguised herself as a man, manipulated political schemes, and successfully seized the throne, becoming today’s Jin Emperor Zhou Ruolin…”
“Yes! That’s exactly it!”
Gong Shangyu snapped her fingers, very pleased with her own deduction.
“With this, everything makes sense! Why there was no such person as Zhou Ruolin in the Jin Kingdom in our previous life, why this time the imperial succession was so abrupt and bloody, and why that Emperor Zhou Ruolin always feels inexplicably familiar to us!”
Gu Qingying was rocked by this shocking speculation, waves surging in her heart.
If her Second Senior Sister Gong Shangyu’s theory was correct, then Third Senior Sister Zhou Ruoxi… clearly harbored grand ambitions!
She wouldn’t have hidden her name and seized the throne just for riches and glory!
In fact, the reason she called Master to the capital this time was probably because she was plotting against Master as well!
At this moment, Gu Qingying’s imagination was already conjuring up forbidden images of her Third Senior Sister using the might of the Jin Kingdom to suppress Master, forcibly keeping Master Lu Li, a formidable cultivator at the Golden Core stage, in the capital and compelling him to become her husband.
“No matter how much you say, it’s all just conjecture.”
Despite Gong Shangyu’s well-argued analysis, Gu Qingying maintained her composure, refusing to be swayed by Gong Shangyu’s speculation.
Gong Shangyu laughed, “That’s exactly why we need to test her in the Imperial Study! If Zhou Ruolin really is Third Junior Sister in disguise, wouldn’t that be trouble?”
“Oh? And how would we verify it?”
Gu Qingying remained on guard.
“I don’t want to get involved with any man other than Master! What if that guy isn’t Third Senior Sister? Wouldn’t that be awkward?”
“Relax~ you won’t have to touch him.”
Gong Shangyu grinned slyly at Gu Qingying.
“As reborn ones, aren’t we immune to the special abilities of other System holders?”
“I’ll just activate Time Stop Domain and return to the study to see if that guy gets frozen in time. Wouldn’t that be enough?”
Gu Qingying thought her Second Senior Sister’s argument was quite reasonable.
System holders’ abilities were mutually immune—this was something they had already verified.
If Zhou Ruolin was also a reborn System holder, then Gong Shangyu’s Time Stop Domain shouldn’t affect him.
“Mmm… Makes sense! Let’s give it a try!”
Once Gu Qingying agreed to the plan, Gong Shangyu decisively and silently activated the Time Stop Domain again.
With the familiar sound of gears turning, the invisible temporal barrier instantly enveloped everything around them, freezing all things into absolute stillness.
Palace servants in the distance, drifting leaves, even the specks of dust in the air—all were frozen in place.
Gong Shangyu grabbed Gu Qingying’s hand, and the two of them darted forward like blurred shadows, easily bypassing all the immobilized guards and slipping back into the quiet Imperial Study.
At that moment, Zhou Ruolin had just seen Lu Li off and seemed relieved.
Sitting back on the dragon throne, he unconsciously tapped the armrest with his fingers, frowning slightly as he continued to ponder his earlier conversation with Lu Li and the bizarre dream plaguing the city’s populace.
Then, with a subtle fluctuation in time, Zhou Ruolin remained in that very posture—frozen just like everything else in the study.
His tapping fingers were suspended in mid-air, the furrow in his brow fixed on his face, even his gaze becoming unfocused and vacant.
Zhou Ruolin was fully enveloped by the Time Stop Domain, showing no sign of resistance or abnormality.
Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying arrived in the Imperial Study and stared intently at the figure on the throne.
“See!”
Gu Qingying curled her lips, her tone tinged with a subtle relief and a hint of disdain.
“He’s frozen solid, just like those guards outside. Second Senior Sister, you should be satisfied now, right? Clearly… he’s no reborn System holder.”
“Let’s hurry back to the Inn and rest instead of wasting time here.”
Gong Shangyu observed for a moment, confirming that Zhou Ruolin was indeed completely motionless, showing no sign of immunity to Time Stop.
She frowned slightly, but the suspicion in her eyes did not fade.
“Sigh… You’re still too naïve! This only proves that he might not have a System,” Gong Shangyu mused.
“But we can’t rule out the possibility that he’s a reborn person. What if his System is special, or if he simply hasn’t activated it since being reborn? Or… maybe he’s just pretending too well?”
Gong Shangyu stared intently at Zhou Ruolin, her eyes full of vigilance and suspicion.