Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

"I've arrived, and as you promised, I haven't brought anyone else."

After shaking off the others, Zhang Qiling arrived alone in an unfamiliar valley, her gaze fixed on the towering tree branches not far ahead.

"Aren't you afraid I'll have men all around this area?"

A bare foot peeked out from between the branches. Following the ankle upwards, one could see that the person was wearing an animal skin skirt and was bare-chested, except for their face—which had no facial features whatsoever.

"If I were afraid, I wouldn't have come."

Zhang Qiling looked at the face without features and raised an eyebrow in a provocative manner.

"What exactly did you call me here for?"

As the leaves fell to the ground, the person standing on the branch jumped down without any protection, and the shockwave from the landing, along with the sand and dust on the ground, surged outwards.

"It's not that I need something from you, but rather what exactly do you want to do?"

Zhang Qiling was not disturbed by the shockwave and sandstorm. He slowly walked forward to the person.

"What do I want to do? Don't you know best?" The man stretched out his finger, the force of which pierced Zhang Qiling's heart was tinged with resentment.

"You want the purest Qilin Heart." Zhang Qiling glanced down at his chest. "If you wanted the Qilin Heart, you would have attacked my father and brother back in the primordial era. Why wait for tens of millions of years?"

"Your father's and your brother's Qilin hearts are not as good as yours." Although the man had no facial features, one could hear his contempt and barely perceptible greed for Zhang Qiling's father and brother in his words.

“You want to annihilate all the worlds together and then return to the chaotic era.” Zhang Qiling immediately realized that what this remnant soul of Pangu wanted was not the heart of the Qilin, but the heart of Hua Yu, which was born after being in harmony with the aura of the Heavenly Dao and the Great Dao.

"You want to resurrect Pangu!"

After guessing His intention, Zhang Qiling instantly stepped back, his hand already on his weapon, ready to be drawn as soon as He made a move.

"You're very smart! But what I dislike most is smart people." He followed closely behind Zhang Qiling's back, whispering cold, piercing words in his ear.

"As long as you hand him over to me, and I take his heart, I will return him to you intact, okay? You will suffer no loss, and you will no longer have to endure the pain of separation. Moreover, those two old things, Hongjun and Luohou, will no longer separate you. Isn't that good?" His words stirred up Zhang Qiling's most beautiful fantasy.

Just as He was about to continue recounting his wonderful fantasies about the future, Zhang Qiling interrupted him.

“You have indeed woven a beautiful illusion for me, but that illusion is based on the premise that this world still exists. If…” Zhang Qiling looked down at the red string on her wrist, “If this world collapses, what beauty will remain?”

"Oh, you actually realized that? I didn't expect that!" He seemed surprised that Zhang Qiling wasn't attracted by what he was saying.

"Are you surprised?" Zhang Qiling looked up, her calm, unwavering eyes fixed on the face without features.

"Of course I'm surprised! Haven't you always been separated from him?" He moved from behind Zhang Qiling to the front, his face scanning Zhang Qiling from head to toe like a scanner. "You don't really think I don't know that he wasn't sent to this small world at all!"

After speaking, He ignored Zhang Qiling's shocked face and simply turned into a cloud of smoke, enveloping Zhang Qiling completely.

"From the very beginning, Hongjun and Luohou never intended for him to leave Zixiao Palace. What was brought here by that willow tree was merely a petal carrying a trace of his soul!"

"He is their most important piece in the game against me, how could they possibly put him under my nose so easily?"

"I've been their long-time rival for several generations, so how could I not see through their little schemes?"

Zhang Qiling, her hands clenched tightly in her sleeves, asked in a hoarse voice, "When did you find out about this?"

He transformed back into human form, this time with facial features, and upon closer inspection, his face bore a resemblance to Hua Yu's. "When did you find out about this? I need to think about that carefully!" He rested his chin on one hand, his brows slightly furrowed, and looked at Zhang Qiling with his eyes raised.

He seemed quite troubled, tapping his temple with his finger, his expression full of difficulty. "Let me think! When is it?"

Zhang Qiling carefully observed His every move when he suddenly heard a snap of fingers.

He clasped his hands together, a slight smile on his face, "It was that time when you led the Zhang family to the battlefield to collect corpses, and then were brought back home in glory."

He walked around Zhang Qiling with his hands clasped together, saying, "You shouldn't forget, right? That time, you lost control!" He suddenly leaned close to Zhang Qiling's ear, "Your pure aura, unique to the Qilin clan, leaked out!"

"As far as I know, you don't seem to have come down in your true form. Instead, you projected your soul into the body of a pregnant woman through some medium. The child had already been born with a soul, but it returned to heaven and earth because of your arrival."

Zhang Qiling's eyes were filled with coldness. "That child is now living with his father and mother, and the three of them are very happy!"

Zhang Qiling looked at Him, who was sowing discord and seemed to be stirring up the dark side of his heart, and said, "My arrival has never hurt anyone."

"So what? You didn't hurt anyone, but you did take over someone else's identity, didn't you?" He just shrugged indifferently and said nonchalantly.

Zhang Qiling was still thinking of debating with him again, but He looked up at the other side, a slight smile playing on his lips, "The matter has been taken care of."

He turned to look at Zhang Qiling, "Now that I've accomplished what I wanted to do, I don't need to waste any more words with you!"

Zhang Qiling frowned as she looked at Him who was talking to himself. "What is it! You're stalling for time!" Zhang Qiling suddenly realized what was happening and turned to leave this godforsaken place.

Even if you go back now, what difference will it make?

Zhang Qiling turned to look at Him, only to see Him dissipating bit by bit. "Your arrival has no effect on Him anymore!"

"I look forward to the day you are abandoned again!"

"When that time comes, you'll agree with what I'm telling you now!"

"I can trade with you anytime you want!"

"Little Qilin, it all depends on whether you're willing or not!"