Chapter 369 358: Dawn's Farewell to Dusk, Your Farewell to Evening

Firelight bloomed in the night sky, illuminating the beautiful face of Dragon Maiden Ao Yun.

The surrounding flowering trees cast deep, overlapping shadows. Song Ciwan caught a fleeting glimpse from beneath them, and in that single instant, a strange sensation washed over her, as if she were caught in a loop of time.

For a moment, she almost thought she had returned to the past.

The image of the woman under the flowering trees overlapped with a memory from years ago: the distressed young Lady Zhen, emerging from a wooden hut in the Xu Family Mansion, besieged by a garden full of vermin.

But was the woman before her the Dragon Maiden, or was she Lady Zhen?

Or perhaps, was she both the Dragon Maiden and Lady Zhen?

A storm of thoughts raged within Song Ciwan, but her expression remained impassive.

She hadn't revealed her true face to Lady Zhen back then. Therefore, even if this woman really was Lady Zhen, she likely wouldn't recognize her.

And if this wasn't Lady Zhen, then it was even less likely she would be recognized—

Of course, Song Ciwan wasn't showing her real face now, either. She was using an unfamiliar one that only bore a slight resemblance to her true features.

In short, Fairy Song had countless personas. Recognizing her every time was no easy feat.

But this Xizhai was strange in its own way. For instance, the moment Song Ciwan had entered, a voice had announced, "The Human Race's Celestial Pride from the Song Family of Yong State."

Song Ciwan guessed the most likely reason she was on the Celestial Pride List was because she had defeated Tushan Keji.

'Ten years ago, Tushan Keji was 79th on the Celestial Pride List... I wonder what his rank is now? For me to defeat him once and shoot straight to 10th place on the list!'

Song Ciwan hadn't changed her face since defeating Tushan Keji, and she didn't plan to do so anytime soon.

Both the Celestial Pride List and this Xizhai had their own strange qualities, giving Song Ciwan the curious feeling that the world was a wonderfully mysterious place.

She looked toward Ao Yun under the flowering trees. The Dragon Maiden was smiling as she replied to the Eldest Princess, "You know my situation. I've always been unlucky in love, and tonight is Third Sister's wedding banquet. If I didn't come, you'd say I'm a bad friend. But if I do come and show my face openly, it might be seen as inauspicious. I'm in the wrong no matter what I do, so tell me, what should I do?"

Ao Yun's tone was also strangely similar to Lady Zhen's. Yet one was a daughter of the Dragon Race, and the other was merely a mortal, tossed about by the tides of the world. Why were there so many similarities between them?

Song Ciwan believed in coincidences, but she didn't believe the world was full of them.

When things became too coincidental, there was usually a reason.

It was hard to believe that this Dragon Maiden Ao Yun and the Lady Zhen from her past were completely unrelated.

But what exactly was their relationship? And was it something Song Ciwan absolutely had to investigate? That was another matter entirely.

Song Ciwan kept a low profile, standing to one side and listening to the Eldest Princess and Ao Yun converse.

The Eldest Princess scoffed. "Pah!" she huffed. "Lucky, unlucky, what does it matter? Since Third Sister and I invited you, we obviously don't care about that. Besides, for beings like us, what meaning do fate or fortune have? We are free and unfettered in this world. As long as I don't provoke those who can't be provoked... to be frank, neither the Nine Celestial Demon Countries nor the Human Dao Great Zhou will necessarily outlive us!"

She laughed, her smile brilliant and wild. Ao Yun couldn't bring herself to completely spoil her mood.

Ao Yun just smiled faintly. "Sister Jin, the very idea of fate exists because it is so unpredictable. Looking back on my past these last few years, I can't help but feel that a hidden hand was pushing events along."

"I used to think the Three Immortals of Kunlun were the culprits, but after investigating closely... were they really the true masterminds? I fear they themselves were merely pawns in someone else's game, and they didn't even know it!"

'So the Eldest Princess's surname is Jin.'

But that wasn't the important part. What mattered was that Song Ciwan had just gleaned an extremely critical piece of information from Ao Yun's words.

'Ao Yun mentioned the Three Immortals of Kunlun!'

'Why would she mention the Three Immortals of Kunlun?'

'Ao Yun, Dragon Maiden, Lady Zhen, the Three Immortals of Kunlun, unlucky in love, an unpredictable fate...'

Connecting all these keywords forced Song Ciwan to a startling conclusion: Could this Ao Yun be the same Dragon Maiden Ming Zhu from the bottom of Bibo Lake all those years ago?

'The Dragon Maiden from the bottom of Bibo Lake, who was on the verge of becoming a wraith, hadn't actually perished?'

'Even someone as powerful as the Beichen Sword Immortal had failed to destroy her?'

'How did she survive?'

'And how did she come to have Lady Zhen's appearance?'

'Was it possession?'

'A parasitic relationship?'

'An avatar?'

'Or could it be that the Lady Zhen whom Song Ciwan had rescued was, even back then, no longer the real Lady Zhen?'

'The Dragon Maiden hadn't vanished. She had merely used Lady Zhen's mortal body to evade her pursuers, leave Su Yang City, and start a new life?'

Every theory seemed plausible, yet each was also riddled with contradictions and flaws.

Speculation was easy; certainty was not.

As for the fact that the Dragon Maiden from Bibo Lake was named Ming Zhu, while this one was called Ao Yun—that meant nothing.

A person could have countless names, or change them constantly. A name is just a label. Some people could even change their faces whenever they pleased, so what was a mere name?

Even though everything Ao Yun said seemed to indicate she was the Ming Zhu of the past, Song Ciwan—despite all her speculation—couldn't be certain.

The thought process sounded contradictory and convoluted.

To put it simply: in this world, truth and falsehood were hopelessly entangled.

It was best not to jump to conclusions until the very end, when all was revealed.