Upon hearing this, the three senior brothers quickly exchanged glances. Her words confirmed the existence of the “Godmother” and revealed that she herself was that “Godmother.” After all their efforts, they had finally found her. The three felt their hard work had not been wasted.
Especially Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie. When Yu Qing had first mentioned this Godmother, they had been somewhat doubtful. Now they were completely convinced and could not help but secretly marvel at Yu Qing’s uncanny ability to grasp and pinpoint things.
Gu Qingzhao was the first to respond, “Regarding the existence of the Godmother, I absolutely have not leaked a single word to outsiders.”
Qing Ya, who was still blindfolded, immediately shouted, “Neither have I.”
Yu Qing reached out and pulled the cloth from his face.
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Then that is strange. The relationship between us is known only to the three of us. There should not be a fourth person in this world who knows of it. If the news did not leak from our mouths, then from where did it leak? Whoever leaked it, speak now, and I will be lenient. Otherwise, do not regret it.”
Gu Qingzhao bowed and said, “I absolutely did not leak it.”
Qing Ya also followed suit, “I absolutely did not either.”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “They both say no. Top Scholar, it seems only you can give me the answer. We have reached this point. Surely you would not hide this from me?”
Yu Qing was silent for a moment, then finally said frankly, “It was the two of them who leaked it together.”
At these words, Gu Qingzhao’s expression changed dramatically. She said sharply, “Shiheng, you are slandering me!”
Qing Ya also cried out desperately, “Dog Top Scholar, are you not done yet? Must you keep pushing me to my death? I will not let you go even as a ghost!”
This time he was clearly driven to desperation.
The cold, clear voice of the woman by the lone lamp interrupted, “Why are you in such a hurry? Whether it is nonsense or fact, can you not let him finish explaining?”
Qing and Gu wanted to speak but stopped themselves. In the end, they dared not say anything more. It was clear they both held this Godmother in awe.
After they quieted down, Yu Qing continued, “When we went to Jinghong Palace to request the ‘White Gauze,’ Lord Qing, you said, ‘I really do not understand why the Godmother wants to target him secretly.’ The proprietress said, ‘The Godmother is unwilling to say, so I cannot ask too much.'”
Qing Ya and Gu Qingzhao both looked utterly stunned. The woman in the inner hall, however, remained calm and unperturbed, showing no reaction. She continued to stare at that lone lamp.
Gu Qingzhao suddenly cried out in a frenzy, “No, you were not beside us at the time. When we spoke these words, there could not have been outsiders nearby. If there had been outsiders, we would not have spoken such words. How could you know?”
Yu Qing said calmly, “I walked away, but I looked back.” He paused, then added lightly, “I know lip-reading.”
Nan and Mu exchanged glances, both with questions in their hearts. Did their fifteenth brother know this technique?
But then again, there were traces to follow. They vaguely recalled their master. When their master was alive, he occasionally seemed able to see through their muttering and scold them. At the time, they had wondered and suspected. Could it be, as their fifteenth brother said, lip-reading?
Qing and Gu were both speechless and dumbfounded. Recalling that day, they could not remember whether this Dog Top Scholar had looked back at them. But they remembered that they had indeed questioned the Godmother’s actions, because they truly could not understand what the Godmother meant. With their strength and power, killing this Dog Top Scholar would not be difficult. They did not understand why the Godmother had to go around in circles and use others’ hands.
The woman by the lone lamp spoke again, “Yes. I watched them grow up. I know their temperaments very well. Even if Qing Ya fell into your hands, he should not have betrayed me. So that is how it was. Very well. You two may leave. There is nothing more for you here. I wish to speak with the guests in private. Top Scholar, hand Qing Ya over to Qingzhao so she can take him for treatment.”
Gu Qingzhao bowed, then reached out to Mu Aotie for the man.
But Yu Qing reached out to stop her. He said to the person in the hall, “Before I hand him over, should I not confirm whether the other ring is in your possession?”
Matters had reached this point. Whether or not this was entering the tiger’s den, one thing was certain. If anything changed, they could at least have someone to take down with them. A hostage could not be easily surrendered.
Hearing this, Gu Qingzhao and Qing Ya also looked toward the person guarding the lamp in the inner hall, wondering in their hearts what ring she meant.
The woman by the lone lamp reached out toward them, “Your ring. Bring it here for me to see.”
Yu Qing took out the ring and was about to walk over, but a warning came from the woman inside, “Just throw it over.”
She clearly did not want him to approach.
Yu Qing, who had just taken two steps, stopped. He hesitated, but then flicked the ring out with his fingers.
The woman by the lone lamp made a grasping motion with her five fingers through the air. The ring, which had been about to hit the bead curtain, suddenly veered slightly and passed through the gaps in the beads, landing in her hand.
From this side, they could faintly see her examining the ring before the lamp. After quite a while, they heard her let out a long sigh, “Yes. There is no mistake. It is my ring. After so many years, I have finally seen it again.”
Qing Ya and Gu Qingzhao’s eyes flickered. They thought they had misheard. Their Godmother, who rarely showed emotion in her speech, had actually let out a sigh filled with deep feeling.
The two were clearly full of shock and doubt. How did this Dog Top Scholar come to have the Godmother’s ring? And the Godmother seemed to have known already. Then why did she keep tormenting the Dog Top Scholar?
Wait. The woman by the lone lamp waved her hand and threw it.
Whoosh! The ring shot back through the bead curtain. Yu Qing caught it in one hand, but it was clearly much larger.
He slowly opened his palm. The gazes of the others all fell upon his palm. They saw that the ring had indeed changed. The face of the ring had completely transformed.
Yu Qing examined it. Actually, it had not changed. There was simply an additional ring. Two seemingly identical rings had fitted together into one. The ring face showed two fish swimming in a yin-yang tail-biting pattern.
After examining and feeling it for a while, he pulled hard, and it separated again into two rings with single fish-tail faces.
“When the tide comes, the guest comes. When the tide ebbs, the guest departs. Yin and yang unite. This is called the tide.”
The woman in the hall let out a murmuring voice, faint and distant. One could tell she seemed to have fallen into some kind of reverie.
Qing Ya and Gu Qingzhao grew even more shocked and doubtful. Their Godmother seemed to be showing too much emotion today.
After hearing her words, Yu Qing finally found the difference between the two rings. The inner band of one ring was smooth. The inner band of the other had an engraved line, a circle of yin carving.
He remembered that the original ring had no line on the inner band. That meant the one with the engraving was the one in her possession. The one in his hand should be the so-called “Tide Ring.”
Seeing this, not to mention him, even Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were certain. It was the other ring without a doubt. And whoever could hold this ring, even if she was not the person they were looking for, was certainly related to the purpose of their visit.
Yu Qing let out a breath. He looked at the woman by the lone lamp, then nodded to Mu Aotie, “Give him to her.”
Only then did Mu Aotie release his hold on Qing Ya and hand him over to Gu Qingzhao.
Gu Qingzhao held the large man in her arms. She bowed to the person in the hall, then turned and left.
After hearing the footsteps fade away, Yu Qing asked, “Can we speak here?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Rest assured. I said I would speak with you in private. They will not hear our conversation. Where did you get the Tide Ring in your hand?”
Yu Qing thought for a moment, “It is hard to say. I must first confirm who you are and confirm your relationship with this Ebb Ring before I can decide whether to tell you where the ring came from.”
Nan Zhu, who was at the side, nodded slightly to show his agreement. The place where they had obtained the ring was truly extraordinary. If it were leaked, it would shake heaven and earth.
The woman by the lone lamp said, “You posted search-for-family notices all over the streets. Now that you have seen this Ebb Ring, do you still not know who I am?”
Nan Zhu could not help but interject, “Could you be Li Niang?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “It is I. Before the Immortal Mansion fell silent, fearing that my brother would have difficulty finding me when he came to the Dark Sea again, I urgently sent someone to deliver the Tide Ring to him. I thought that with the Tide Ring in hand, the sea folk would naturally deliver him to the Immortal Mansion to meet me. I never thought that the stars would shift and we would be unable to meet again.”
Despite their suspicions, the three senior brothers were still greatly shocked upon receiving confirmation.
Nan Zhu said in shock and doubt, “You have lived for thousands of years?”
The woman by the lone lamp guarded that lamp, calm and unperturbed, “I am an immortal. I share longevity with heaven and earth. What is living a few thousand years?”
An immortal? The three senior brothers looked at her, both shocked and doubtful.
Nan Zhu could not contain himself, “If you are truly an immortal, what business would the Demon Realm Great Sages and the like have in this world? Why would you need to meet us in secret?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “The purpose of all beings becoming immortals is for longevity, not for fighting and killing. Not all immortals like fighting and killing. What meaning would dominating and ruling like them have for me? You would not understand even if I told you, so why say more? Better to tell me where you got the ring.”
Actually, the answer to the question was obvious, but neither side was willing to tear off the mask directly. Both were making final probes.
Yu Qing still would not easily reveal the place where he had obtained the ring. He asked in return, “You have known we were looking for you all along?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “If I could not notice you with your search-for-family notices printed all over the streets, would I not be blind?”
Yu Qing said, “So after that, we began to encounter trouble. Wang Wentian’s scheme against us was probably related to Qing Ya, was it not? And some of the subsequent troubles.”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “I did not expect you already knew that Qing Ya had me as his Godmother behind him. In that case, what happened afterwards was indeed somewhat unnecessary.”
Yu Qing said, “On the other hand, it was not entirely unnecessary. If not for what happened afterwards, if not for the Lingxi Studio surfacing, I really would not have guessed that the Godmother behind Qing Ya was the Li Niang I was looking for. I really would not have known how long you would keep tormenting me.”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Regarding the Lingxi Studio, or rather matters related to my true identity, Qing Ya and the others know nothing at all. It is just that your abilities exceeded my expectations. I did not expect that your trip to Purple Wave Island would allow you to turn the tables on your hosts and even drag Qing Ya out, leading you to guess that it was related to me.”
Yu Qing said, “That Lingxi Studio was something you deliberately let us find, was it not?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Seeing your movements, about to flee the Sea Market, naturally I had to keep you as guests. Naturally I had to wave it before your eyes for you to see.”
The three senior brothers recalled the scene of the procession banner waving before their eyes. They suddenly felt like fools, being played around without knowing it.
Yu Qing gritted his teeth slightly and said, “Since you gave the ring to your brother, since you knew we came with the ring, you should have known we were sent by your brother. Why did you keep persecuting us?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Who can guarantee that those who come with the ring are definitely sent by my brother? Who can guarantee it is not a trap set by those forces that have been seeking longevity after they got their hands on it? Naturally I had to stir you around, toss you in the wok and stir-fry repeatedly, striving to see clearly any hidden helpers behind you, to confirm whether someone was setting up a trap, before I could decide whether to meet you.”
“Stir-fry?” Nan Zhu recalled their previous dangerous or miserable experiences and let out a dry laugh. “Do you know you nearly killed us?”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “Rest assured. I have been watching you all along. As long as I did not intend for you to die, you naturally would not die.”
Yu Qing said, “Watching us? What about Purple Wave Island? Do not think I do not know. Qing Ya already stood by with folded arms. If not for our quick reactions, we would probably have been killed by Long Xingyun.”
The woman by the lone lamp said, “I told you. There are some matters that even Qing Ya does not know about. Even if he stood by with folded arms, you would not have died. Since I could arrange for you to go to Purple Wave Island, naturally there was someone on Purple Wave Island watching on my behalf. Even if Yin Shanhe made a move, he could not kill you. At the critical moment, someone would naturally step in to save you. Have you not already met him?”
Hearing these words, the three senior brothers were stunned. The same image almost simultaneously flashed through their minds. That old man fishing on the dark seaside.
P.S. During the New Year, a reader who paid respects said the poems the protagonist wrote in the exams were not forceful enough. Do not expect too much from something written and updated on the spot. But I accept the criticism. The poem in Chapter Seventy-Six has been slightly revised with a few characters changed. If there are later passages involving it that I forgot to revise accordingly, everyone can remind me.