Chapter 259: Persona Cheng Lingshuang: Five Hundred Years of Free Edge of Taixu Exp
"Miss Cheng Lingshuang might be saying all those awful things, but looking at Miss Fu Hua, it really doesn’t seem like she’s angry..."
Compared to Bronya’s attempt to logically calculate motives, Seele was much more adept at reading emotional atmospheres. She quietly observed the serene expression on Fu Hua’s face and whispered her conclusion to Kiana and Bronya.
"I have no interest in hearing about your centuries-old drama," Ren interrupted, furrowing his brow as Lingshuang’s tangent continued to derail the conversation. He bluntly presented her with two options. "If you want to fight, draw your sword. If you don’t, step aside and let us into the cabin."
If he were still in the early stages of building his team and strength, Ren wouldn’t have minded patiently sitting down and listening to Lingshuang spill the tea on her ancient martial arts sect drama.
But now? His core build was essentially complete. The only missing pieces were the Will Seeds of Lust and Vanity, and he already had solid leads on both.
He didn’t have any pressing need to hunt down the true Cheng Lingshuang’s Palace. Therefore, faced with a five-hundred-year-old ghost desperate to vent her emotional baggage, Ren mercilessly chose to skip the dialogue.
Besides, instead of trauma-dumping on a total stranger like him, Lingshuang was better off venting all her ancient feuds and petty grudges to her actual disciple, Sushang, who had finally regained her true consciousness.
"My, my. Kids these days are far too impatient."
Sensing Ren’s firm rejection, Lingshuang sighed in mock defeat. She bent down, casually plucking the wooden chopstick from the dirt.
As she dusted it off, she casually raised her leg and mercilessly punted the unconscious Cognitive Otto to the side, treating the Overseer of Schicksal like a stray trash bag blocking the doorway.
Then, she stepped aside, clearing the path into the cabin.
"Come in if you want. It’s been far too long since I had a cup of tea with my Master anyway."
Tossing that remark over her shoulder, Lingshuang smoothly turned and walked inside. She immediately began rummaging through cabinets and tossing boxes aside, hunting for her hidden stash of premium tea leaves.
Ren glanced at Fu Hua.
The martial artist avoided his gaze. Instead of meeting his eyes, she stared silently at the dirt beneath her feet, entirely leaving the decision up to the leader of the Phantom Thieves.
Observing her reaction, Ren more or less grasped her stance.
It was true that Lingshuang had literally murdered Fu Hua once. But surprisingly, Fu Hua’s attitude toward this treacherous, unfilial disciple didn’t harbor enough hatred to instantly attack her on sight. Even now, she hadn’t directed a single ounce of killing intent toward the younger woman.
Since this was fundamentally Fu Hua’s family drama, and the literal murder victim wasn’t looking for revenge, Ren saw no reason to act offended on her behalf. As long as Lingshuang didn’t actively draw her sword, he was perfectly fine bypassing this independent, wild Shadow.
With the entire Phantom Thieves squad piling in, the already cramped rustic cabin instantly felt suffocatingly packed.
Sushang had originally intended to drag the unconscious Otto to the bed, but given the sheer lack of space, she unceremoniously abandoned the fake, cognitive Rakshasa on the floor to free up seating for the living, breathing Phantom Thieves.
Watching Fu Hua cradle the cup of freshly brewed tea, take a small sip, and softly relax her brow, Lingshuang’s entire demeanor visibly loosened.
"Even though five centuries have passed, I am truly glad to see you again, Master... and to see that you are doing well. This unfilial disciple has no face to beg for your forgiveness. If you still harbor anger in your heart, please, punish me however you see fit. Even if you wish to grind my bones to dust and scatter my ashes, I will gladly accept it."
Lingshuang knelt on the wooden floorboards, speaking softly to the martial artist, who firmly pressed her lips together.
Lingshuang knew that her act of backstabbing her mentor meant she deserved the death of a thousand cuts. But seeing Fu Hua now—free from her demonic obsession, finally acting like a normal human—she felt zero regret for what she did. She was simply willing to accept whatever execution her Master deemed appropriate.
"...There is no need for that," Fu Hua replied, setting down her teacup.
She gently shook her head, her face finally settling into total calmness. She had clearly reconciled how she wanted to treat the phantom kneeling before her.
"The passage of time has been vast. The true you has long since passed away. The you before me is merely the inheritor of Lingshuang’s memories and will. You owe me nothing, and you have wronged me in no way."
Fu Hua paused. "Furthermore... that experience was, in many ways, a blessing in disguise. It freed me from the curse of the SWARA. It prevented me from wandering the martial world for another five centuries, slaughtering those who succumbed to demonic possession... just like I did to all your parents."
"Slaughtered for demonic possession... Miss Lingshuang’s parents?!"
Hearing Fu Hua drop that bombshell with the casual, breezy tone of someone discussing the weather, Seele and Bronya’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. They stared at the immortal with absolute, unadulterated disbelief.
Well! No wonder Miss Lingshuang backstabbed and murdered Fu Hua after becoming her disciple! That makes perfect sense!
The grudge of murdering someone’s parents was irreconcilable. As orphans, Seele and Bronya craved the warmth of family far more intensely than normal people. Because of that, Bronya found Fu Hua’s thought process utterly incomprehensible.
You literally murdered their parents, and you still had the absolute audacity to take the victims’ children in as your disciples and raise them?!
And looking at Lingshuang and Sushang, it was obvious Fu Hua hadn’t held back. She genuinely taught them the absolute pinnacle of her martial arts—to the point where they grew strong enough to successfully murder the legendary grandmaster who founded the sect!
Given that Fu Hua had literally slaughtered her parents, the fact that Lingshuang—who had successfully exacted her revenge—was currently kneeling and offering her life up for judgment was shockingly noble.
Hearing the casual, horrifying lore drop, even Ren—who had just successfully rummaged the second Will Seed of Lust from under Sushang’s bed—couldn’t help but shoot Fu Hua an utterly appalled look.
Ren knew Fu Hua’s mindset was rigid and uncompromising, but he had never imagined it was this catastrophically dense.
However, amidst his shock, Ren also felt a massive wave of relief regarding her integration into the team.
If Fu Hua could this easily forgive a disciple who literally orchestrated her assassination to avenge her murdered parents, then Ren was entirely in the clear.
He hadn’t dealt any permanent damage to Fu Hua; at worst, he had essentially put her under a very polite house arrest. There was absolutely no reason for her to hold a grudge against him.
Sinking his consciousness into the golden crystal in his hand, Ren carefully reviewed the memory inscribed within the Will Seed.
The memory contained no critical clues or spicy scenarios. It merely documented a moment where Sushang and Otto, while traveling to this cabin, encountered a burly, giant of a man.
Both of them were utterly defeated by the man—who happened to be another of Fu Hua’s disciples, Ma Feima—and were subsequently dragged back to this cabin by him to recover from their injuries.
"Fu Hua, are you finished on your end? It’s about time we head to the final Will Seed’s location."
Pocketing the second Will Seed, Ren turned back to Fu Hua.
The atmosphere between her and Lingshuang was incredibly bizarre. The vast majority of the time was spent in suffocating silence. Occasionally, Lingshuang would initiate a few words, and Fu Hua would offer a dull, one-sentence reply.
If Ren just left them to their own devices, he strongly suspected they could sit there in this agonizingly weird dynamic for an entire day.
"Wait a moment. I heard from Master that you are the reason she was able to enter Sushang’s Palace. Thus, you are the reason I was able to see her again and resolve my lingering regrets... I absolutely must express my gratitude to you."
Lingshuang slapped her knees and stood up from the floor. She adopted a thoughtful expression, pondering how to reward Ren for delivering Fu Hua to her doorstep.
"..."
Lingshuang flashed a wicked, sly grin, entirely ignoring the shrill, frantic shrieking of her disciple beside her.
"After much deliberation, the only reward I can truly offer you... is myself."
"Are you offering to become my Persona?" Ren asked bluntly, entirely unfazed by her deliberately provocative phrasing. "However, I don’t really need any random Will Seeds or Treasures right now. Rather than infiltrating an unfamiliar Palace from scratch, I’d rather just delve deeper into Mementos."
To forge the Sinful Shell, he only needed to collect one set of Will Seeds for each of the Deadly Sins. Quantity didn’t matter. Collecting multiple sets of the same sin wouldn’t increase the bullet’s damage output.
What the bullet ultimately needed was the immense, apocalyptic power of his currently unawakened ultimate Persona, Satanael.
Once he collected the Lust Seeds from Sushang’s Palace and the Vanity Seeds scattered across the Elysian Realm, he had absolutely no need to ever infiltrate a Palace again.
Unless it was a Palace directly linked to a Herrscher or ultimate entity, the mundane Treasures hidden inside regular Palaces held zero appeal for him.
The same applied to Lingshuang’s theoretical Palace.
Sure, she had an exceptionally good character model, but Ren didn’t feel an absolute, burning need to catch her like a Pokémon.
"Infiltrate an unfamiliar Palace? What are you talking about?"
Lingshuang’s face immediately morphed into genuine, innocent confusion. She tilted her head, her silver-white hair spilling over her shoulder.
"I said I’m giving myself to you. That obviously means I’m giving myself to you right now. Why on earth would I make you run all the way to some unfamiliar Palace?"
As she spoke, Lingshuang’s body dissolved into a blindingly beautiful, frost-white sword gleam. Without radiating a single shred of hostility or sharp intent, the light surged forward, sinking directly into Ren’s chest.
[Kallen. Care to explain?]
Sensing the addition of a brand-new Persona in his compendium, Ren kept his face completely neutral. Internally, however, he was mercilessly interrogating the Kaslana saintess.
Lingshuang was in the exact same state Kallen had been in Yae Sakura’s Palace—an independent, wild Shadow projection. Yet Lingshuang was able to instantly and effortlessly merge into his compendium!
When Ren recruited Kallen, he had to physically break into the Kaslana Palace, and fight a brutal, exhausting boss battle against a god-tier shadow (not Really) just to earn her loyalty.
But this time? He didn’t even have the intention of capturing Lingshuang. She literally threw herself at his feet and shoved herself into his Persona roster completely free of charge.
[Well... um... cough! Personas are different from one another!] Kallen stammered, her voice echoing awkwardly in his mind. [Besides, recruiting me led you to discover the Kaslana Palace! That was a huge win, right? Ahahaha...]
Watching Lingshuang casually achieve what she fundamentally couldn’t, Kallen nervously laughed, frantically trying to dodge the interrogation.
"Did Lingshuang... become your Persona, Joker?"
Witnessing the phenomenon firsthand, a trace of deep relief surfaced in Fu Hua’s eyes. She voluntarily broke her silence, addressing Ren. "That is good. If she is willing to lend you her power to save the world, my heart is much more at ease."
"Wait, Joker, if you recruit a Persona, you gain access to their skills, right?" Fu Hua noted. "Lingshuang was the most prodigious among my seven disciples. Her mastery over the Edge of Taixu was peerless. If you can directly assimilate her centuries of cultivation experience, it should massively elevate your overall combat prowess."
"True! Very true! Master had completely mastered the ultimate secret technique: the Eminence!" Sushang nodded vigorously, eager to chime in.
As Lingshuang’s literal disciple—and someone who had fought a deathmatch against Fu Hua—she was more than qualified to review the martial art. "If Master actually got serious and went all out, even Grandmaster Jingwei couldn’t guarantee a win against her!"
"Wow... Must be nice. Must be really nice," Sushang muttered, her tone rapidly turning incredibly sour.
"According to Grandmaster Jingwei, Young Master Zhou Ke basically just got a magical power transfer from my Master! I had to bust my ass every single day, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, getting absolutely tortured by her training! I can’t believe she just instantly handed you all her power on a silver platter!"
Staring at the boy who had just effortlessly acquired five hundred years of her Master’s grinding experience entirely for free, Sushang, the legitimate, orthodox heir to the technique, felt her heart twist with profound, agonizing jealousy.
