Little Pink Starfish

The latest issue of the comic laid out all of Fa Ning’s internal struggles—especially his confusion over who this “Ran-niang” really was.

For about half the chapter, Fa Ning agonized over it:
[Who is Ran-niang?]
[That name sounds so familiar.]
[But I don’t have a single clear memory.]
[Who could this person be?]

Readers were practically dying from frustration, itching to jump into the comic and yank Fa Ning’s ear to spell it out for him.

[That person! The one in red clothes!]
[The one Yuan pretended to be back when he was undercover!]
[Holy crap, Sanqing Sect actually has a history with Yuan? Damn.]

Thanks to these comments, Liu An sat stunned in front of the comic for a full minute, then suddenly yelled “AH!” and nearly leapt to his feet.

Ran-niang! Ran-niang is Yuan!!

Liu An’s brain finally connected the dots.

There had always been a story that Yuan had once cross-dressed to infiltrate the Taoist sect for intel… So this was the place?! Damn…

Liu An felt like his worldview had just exploded. He vaguely remembered mocking “Ran-niang” back in the day, laughing at how weak that sect must have been to get infiltrated so easily by a demon.

Despite how ridiculous this whole thing was, Liu An seriously went through and organized the contents of the letters. And the more he organized, the more disturbing truths he uncovered.

Many of the letters dealt with events that had taken place during the war. What made Liu An’s skin crawl was that the person signing as 【Liu】 frequently expressed certain radical thoughts.

Thoughts that couldn’t be spoken aloud—then or now.

In one letter, 【Liu】 wrote to 【Ran】 that he had a bold idea:
“What if we exterminated all the demons—wouldn’t that end the war?”
【Ran】 replied repeatedly urging him to calm down, not to act rashly, and to talk things through more carefully.

Liu An once speculated that this 【Liu】 might be his grandfather or great-grandfather. But from the letters, this was clearly someone… extreme. His way of thinking bore an eerie resemblance to the “pure-blood” faction among the demons—except in reverse. The demons wanted to wipe out all humans, and 【Liu】 wanted to wipe out all demons.

After finishing the letters, Liu An’s mind raced with terrifying possibilities. If, during that era of war, the demon side already had ideas about purging bloodlines… then could it be that some humans harbored similar ideas?

Could 【Liu】 have been one of those advocating for bloodline cleansing?

But since such ideas hadn’t spread widely among humans, perhaps 【Liu】 had been silenced before he could gain traction.

And then there was Ran-niang—if she was actually Yuan, how much did “she” know about 【Liu】? How much intel had Yuan gotten out of him back then?

All of it… was still a mystery.

Liu An tried to ask others for more information, but got nowhere. Everyone he approached either evaded the question or avoided him entirely. Even the old man who had once told him a few things had since fallen ill—now dazed, barely conscious, and unable to recognize people, let alone answer questions.

So for now… everything remained a riddle.

But Liu An wasn’t completely out of options. In the next issue of Demon Chronicles, all the questions he’d had appeared directly in the story.

The comic blurred out some identifying details. At the very least, Liu An’s personal identity wasn’t revealed. In the story, 【Liu】 was portrayed as a mysterious elder completely unrelated to Fa Ning—not a relative or anything like that.

Of course, this was a form of protection. But it also made Liu An start to question 【Liu】’s true status and position.

Before this, Liu An had thought 【Liu】 was just a small character—irrelevant except for the secrets he held. But now, he had second thoughts.

—Because the comic had to hide the connection between 【Liu】 and Fa Ning, this meant 【Liu】 wasn’t just a throwaway character. If he were, why bother writing him in at all? It would only raise suspicion.

So why had Ji Qiu included him?

—Unless Ji Qiu thought this character was truly significant to the story, someone who could become a key to moving the plot forward.

As soon as Liu An thought that, a heavy weight settled on his chest. A sense of dread.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan had just finished reading the latest issue of Demon Chronicles, nodding thoughtfully.

So that’s why those items she’d seen earlier—like the sealed sword and the sealing incantation—were related to Seventeen.

They were probably left behind during Yuan’s time undercover. People might’ve known Ran-niang was a traitor, but after so long, they’d forgotten where those items came from. And that’s how they’d ended up with the ridiculous idea of using Seventeen’s things… to deal with Yuan.

Yuan Yuanyuan had black lines running down her face.
Sanqing Sect, you guys really are a mess. Always up to this kind of nonsense. Classic. No wonder you raised the protagonist—your feng shui was cursed from day one.

If someone asked her about this 【Liu】 character, she’d be in deep trouble—because she knew absolutely nothing. Not even who it was. She just vaguely remembered…

If she wanted to ask someone for the inside story, the first person that came to mind was Seventeen’s old flame—the tavern owner. The boss lady was usually forthcoming, even if she liked to throw in a few “you little rascal” comments here and there… ahem. Still, she could usually be trusted.

So Yuan Yuanyuan went to talk to the boss lady. The two of them started drinking. Halfway through, Yuan Yuanyuan brought up the comic.
“About that 【Liu】 character in the latest issue…”

The boss lady took a sip of her drink and glanced sideways at her.
“What made you bring that up now?”

“…Huh?” Yuan Yuanyuan was startled.

“I thought you were avoiding that subject on purpose,” the boss lady said, pouring another glass. “I didn’t want to upset you, so I never brought it up either. Didn’t expect you to bring it up first.”

“…Oh, well I just… felt like mentioning it today… So, what are your thoughts?”

“What thoughts?” The boss lady raised a brow. “I assumed you were just taking care of an old friend’s child—that’s why you looked after him so much. Was I wrong?”

“No, no! That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Yuan Yuanyuan nodded quickly, though her mind was a total mess.
Wait. Whose kid? Could Seventeen have had another lover at Sanqing Sect? Did they have a kid together? No, no, no—don’t think that way. If that were true, the boss lady would probably murder me on the spot. Must just be a regular old friend… right?

“Since no one’s said anything officially, it’s best not to bring it up now either.” The boss lady poured her another drink. “I don’t know what really happened back then, but if it wasn’t said in the beginning, it’s pointless to say it now. And if you blurt it out, you might piss off that big demon Ji Qiu… Better to keep things the way they are.”

Yuan Yuanyuan nodded as if she understood, though inwardly she was completely lost.
It’s not like I’m refusing to say anything—I literally have nothing to say. I know nothing!

In some sense, maybe this was Ji Qiu’s way of protecting her—picking someone completely clueless like her to play this role. If this were actually Seventeen… things might’ve gotten way more complicated. Then again, Seventeen probably wouldn’t be such a weakling like her.

Yuan Yuanyuan had a few more drinks, when suddenly the boss lady burst out laughing.

Her laughter was like the ringing of silver bells, light and unstoppable. Yuan Yuanyuan turned to her, confused. The boss waved it off, still chuckling uncontrollably.

“What’s so funny? You never laugh like this.” Yuan Yuanyuan asked while munching on some fruit from the tavern.

“You really did a number on Yu Wu…” the boss lady said. “Back then, when we heard he got sealed by a powerful Taoist from Sanqing Sect, we were all shocked. We even tried to guess which amazing master it was. Who would’ve thought—it was you…”

Yuan Yuanyuan choked on a cherry and couldn’t swallow.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

“You okay?” the boss quickly passed her some water. Yuan Yuanyuan took a few sips, then slowly drifted into a daze.

…

Holy crap, that was YOU?!
The Taoist who sealed Yu Wu was Seventeen?!

No wonder Yu Wu hated Yuan so much when he showed up! It all makes sense now! No wonder he kept yelling “traitor!” He probably wanted to kill Yuan with his own hands!

Yuan Yuanyuan felt chills run down her spine as she recalled how Seventeen had once left behind a sealing sword and an incantation at Sanqing Sect…

Ah… no wonder. No wonder Yu Wu always looked like he wanted to kill her on sight.

Now it all made terrifying sense.