Chapter 26: Luo Yunlan’s Investigation Results

Meanwhile.

Deep within the Luo residence, in a secluded chamber.

Luo Yunlan sat at a desk piled high with papers, clutching a scroll, her gaze dark.

“The Li family… so it’s you.”

Her fingers tightened, crumpling the scroll.

Luo Yunlan had stayed behind instead of joining Luo Jiutian in the Qingyun Secret Realm to investigate the true culprit and mastermind behind the snowy night ambush from her previous life.

All clues pointed to one place—

The Li family.

Staring at the scattered papers, her breathing grew uneven. The emotions buried deep within her seemed to break free, surging outward.

She recalled that moment from her past life.

Luo Jiutian, dying in her arms, spoke words that shattered her heart, yet his eyes still held a smile.

Countless nights after, she woke from that scene.

White snow, red blood, and those eyes, gentle even in death, gazing at her.

The memory lingered like a dull knife, carving at her heart.

Now, with the culprit revealed, her long-suppressed rage was ready to erupt.

She stood, voice laced with unmasked killing intent: “Go to the Li family. Kill them all.”

But as she took a step, she froze.

“Don’t be rash,” she said softly to herself.

She turned her head, eyes sharp: “They killed Xiaotian, and you’re still holding back?”

“I know. But this is more complicated than you think.”

She stood still, a flicker of doubt in her eyes: “How so?”

Luo Yunlan returned to the desk, picking up the topmost paper.

“Look.” Her voice was low. “If I hadn’t dug into these records, I’d have missed this detail.”

She gripped the paper’s edge, scanning the notes.

“In recent years, Li family members have been disappearing. Some vanished on missions, others sent to odd locations, never returning. A few had their records erased entirely.

Strangely, the Li family never investigated or issued search orders, as if those missing were insignificant.”

She pointed to another sheet: “From that point, the core members’ cultivation began rising steadily, without stagnation.

Take the Li Patriarch. In three months, he jumped from early to late Nascent Soul—too fast.

Among the four patriarchs, he’s the least gifted.

Even our father, Luo Changqing, with far superior talent, took over twenty years to go from early to mid Nascent Soul, with resource support.”

“Are you saying… they’re using some shady method to cultivate?”

“I can’t be sure,” Luo Yunlan said quietly. “But when you put the ‘disappearances’ and ‘breakthroughs’ together, it’s hard to believe they’re unrelated.

The Li family couldn’t have such means on their own. There’s likely another force at play.”

“It’s just a theory for now.” Her fingers tapped the desk. “If a mysterious force can break bottlenecks and boost cultivation at a cost, those ‘missing’ people might be that cost.”

“Have you found something?”

Luo Yunlan didn’t answer, her gaze fixed on a stack of papers.

After a moment, she spoke slowly: “I suspect the ambush wasn’t just the Li family’s doing.”

She paused, continuing: “Our trip in the last life was a Luo family secret, known only to core members. Yet the Li family ambushed us, meaning they either had our itinerary or… someone guided them.”

“You’re saying… the Luo family’s not clean either?”

She nodded lightly, fingers absently tracing the paper’s edge.

“Without an insider, they couldn’t have known our location.”

“But…” her voice lowered, “it’s likely more than that. The Li family’s cautious, yet their attack was decisive, as if ordered in advance.”

“It feels like a carefully laid trap. If there’s a hand manipulating things, and that hand is the force behind the Li family, that’s the real problem.”

She exhaled slowly: “That’s why I told you not to act rashly. With your cultivation, wiping out the Li family overnight is easy, but if there’s a mastermind, they’ll cut ties and vanish, making it impossible to dig deeper.”

Her fist clenched: “I want them all—mastermind, traitor, Li family. Not one escapes.”

She fell silent.

After a while, her fingers loosened, and she took a deep breath, burying her emotions.

She adjusted her sleeves, walking to a bronze mirror.

The blurry surface reflected her still figure.

She stared at herself, unmoving.

Then, a crimson hue crept into her eyes, spreading slowly.

Luo Yunlan lowered her head, undoing her hairpin, fingers gliding through her hair, voice soft: “Soon, I’ll see Xiaotian again.”

She hugged herself tightly, eyes closed, trying to recall the warmth of Luo Jiutian’s last embrace. Her fingers trembled, a strange smile curving her lips, her breathing quickening.

“Just once…” she murmured, “even just once…”

“I want to feel his presence again, get closer, closer… maybe this time…”

Her mirror image’s expression hardened: “Be serious.”

Luo Yunlan blinked, then laughed: “I’m just talking.”

“You know if you’re ‘just talking,’” the reflection snapped. “Act like that, and you’ll scare Xiaotian off.”

Luo Yunlan snorted at the mirror, chin raised: “Look who’s high and mighty. Don’t you get the most excited when you see him?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. At least I know restraint, unlike you, clinging to him.”

“Tch, you want to just as much. Prim and proper outside, but your head’s full of wild thoughts,” Luo Yunlan muttered, tapping the mirror.

“Shut up.”

“Nope.” She chuckled. “Weren’t you all about restraint? Then why were you staring at his lips last time?”

“I was… observing his emotional state.”

“Right, right, you’re always right.”

Their lively banter echoed in the chamber, as if two people were arguing.

But in reality—

The room held only Luo Yunlan, alone.