Chapter 364: Keke’s True Identity
"I... I'm really not close with everyone in Azure Cloud Sect at all, and I definitely don't have the ability to manage them. I don't even know how..."
"Then learn."
Keke was a bit surprised that her big brother and Teacher Shion would suddenly think of making her manage Azure Cloud Sect.
Did she look like the kind of person suited for that?
When she got dragged home by her big brother, she asked with some anticipation, "Could it be... big brother and Teacher Shion think I have some talent for management? Suddenly making me manage Azure Cloud Sect or something..."
"This is something only you can do."
Jiang Si said as he turned on the TV.
The news about the gate appearing in West China was now on every channel.
"Only I can do it?"
Keke hesitated for a moment, then a tiny spark of anticipation flickered in her eyes.
She was hoping she might have some leadership talent she hadn't discovered yet—even though she couldn't even manage her classmates, but who knows?
Maybe her big brother and Teacher Shion had found some hidden talent in her, and now they wanted to train her as the successor of Azure Cloud Sect, to keep up with them, to stand shoulder to shoulder with her big brother and Teacher Shion...
Even if she wasn't good at it, she absolutely couldn't let their expectations down. She had to immediately start studying management!
So she said, a bit moved, "I didn't expect big brother and Teacher Shion to think so highly of me..."
"Oh, it's just because you're using Shion's body right now and can't switch back, so you're just filling in for a bit..."
Keke immediately wilted, "Huh? Just filling in?"
"What else did you think?"
"Ahaha." Keke scratched her head, laughed dryly, and glanced at the mirror in the living room.
Even though she was using Teacher Shion's body, she still seemed a bit timid and lacked any presence whatsoever...
"I... I don't know anything. I'm afraid I'll mess up and give it away."
Jiang Si tossed some clothes from the wardrobe to Keke, "It's just a few meetings at the Disaster Control Bureau that you need to attend."
Keke grabbed the clothes her big brother handed her and panicked even more, "That's even worse! I don't know anything! How can I attend Teacher Shion's meetings..."
She was completely clueless about Azure Cloud Sect's situation. She only knew a few true-transmissions and Sister Bingtang.
Jiang Si naturally saw her concern and reassured her, "Don't worry. Shion doesn't know anything either."
Keke was stunned for a long moment at her big brother's words. "Huh? Teacher Shion doesn't know anything either?"
"Yeah."
"Then how does she manage Azure Cloud Sect..."
"She just fights."
Jiang Si said matter-of-factly, "A Sect Master just needs to be the strongest fighter. Everything else gets handled by the subordinates. Don't worry about the meetings—just sit there quietly. You don't have to say a word. Bingtang will handle everything. At most, just nod or shake your head based on Bingtang's cues."
Keke was dumbfounded. After a long pause, she said, "That complicated?"
"What did you think?" Jiang Si chuckled. "Being a leader is that simple—do less, get more. Why do you think so many people are desperate to be bosses or leaders?"
Hearing her big brother's words, Keke suddenly had an epiphany. "But Sister Itaen, as a leader, always handles everything herself and does a lot..."
"That's because she's a lone commander with no subordinates. Kinda pathetic."
"...You'd better not say that in front of her."
Then, remembering how Teacher Shion used to sit seriously in a chair during meetings on TV, looking stern and thoughtful with her feet barely touching the ground—it turned out she was actually clueless.
Keke found it both funny and even more inspiring.
She still didn't know enough about Teacher Shion... She just hoped her relationship with Teacher Shion could be as close as hers with Silver Lotus one day.
Standing in front of the mirror, she looked at Teacher Shion's face. Even putting on makeup felt like it would ruin this face's perfection.
Looking left and right, Keke reached out to touch the face that was now hers. She even opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue to examine it.
She couldn't find a single flaw.
While she was meticulously searching for any flaws on Teacher Shion to better understand this body, Jiang Si spoke up from behind, "What are you doing? Hurry up and change clothes. We need to go to Azure Cloud Sect."
Keke was startled. She turned back to look at her big brother, then at the clothes in her hands.
Wait... This proportion.
She suddenly realized, "Big brother, why do you have Teacher Shion's clothes in your wardrobe?"
"Bingtang gave them to me."
"Oh. Huh?" Keke froze. "Huh—?"
Teacher Shion, big brother, Sister Bingtang... What exactly were you all getting up to while I was away?
Without really thinking, Keke suddenly felt mischievous and said viciously, "Player! Flirting with everyone! Aren't you ashamed in front of my Shion..."
Before she could finish, her big brother grabbed her by the cheek and pulled her over. "Stop messing around! Go change your clothes!"
"Ow, ow, ow! Big brother, go easy!"
When her big brother let go, Keke rubbed her cheek and looked in the mirror.
It was all red, and Keke felt a pang of regret.
What a waste! A brute! A player! No sense of cherishing beauty at all—how could he just crush such a pretty face...
She had originally held a grudge against Teacher Shion for pursuing her big brother, but now Keke felt she completely understood Teacher Shion.
But now it seemed they were getting along again. Adult relationships were way too complicated...
Then Keke showed off a swimsuit to Jiang Si. "Big brother, big brother! What do you think of this swimsuit? Have you ever seen Teacher Shion in a swimsuit?"
There was a hint of showing off in her tone.
Jiang Si didn't even look up as he swept the floor. "I've seen her without clothes."
"...Oh."
She wasn't exactly surprised, but hearing her big brother say it himself still sent a shock through her.
Images of her big brother and Teacher Shion doing all sorts of things immediately flooded her mind. She quickly slapped her own head to stop the wild thoughts.
There were way too many intense scenes in those shojo manga she'd read, making it easy to imagine things.
"So, big brother, what exactly is your relationship with Shion now?"
"Friends."
"Friends, huh..."
After a couple breaks up, shouldn't they be enemies? Or did they go from enemies back to being friendly?
Keke felt an itch of curiosity, like a cat scratching. Usually, in these situations, it would be a stormy night, with two people rekindling old flames...
"And what about Sister Bingtang now?"
Jiang Si wiped up the footprints from after the rain, put the mop back, and habitually wiped down the table—even though it wasn't dirty, since they'd already cleaned up after dinner. "Fiancée."
"Wait! How did it jump straight to fiancée! I thought that was just a joke from that true-transmission! And big brother, you actually accepted it? Then what about Prince Itaen?"
"Same thing."
Keke stared blankly at her big brother.
Big brother, you're such a player!
But out of sibling loyalty, she ultimately held back from calling him out.
"So... if anyone's fine, why not consider Yiyi..."
"Not her."
She wasn't an Azure Cloud Sect disciple, so how would the divorce ceremony work?
But Keke was already getting a bit defensive for her friend. "How come anyone's fine, but Yiyi specifically isn't? What about Miss White Fox? Senior Susan? And... and Little An..."
The more Keke talked, the more shocked she became.
She suddenly realized that almost all the girls around her had designs on her big brother!
Wait... Were they only close to her because of him? Wasn't her personal charm the reason she made so many good friends?
At this thought, Keke felt a bit down, and even Teacher Shion's face started to seem boring.
But she wasn't the type to overthink things.
She quickly snapped out of it. Sure, maybe they started off because of her big brother.
But soon enough, they probably got won over by her charm and became her friends!
Besides, when she and Yiyi became friends, Yiyi didn't even know her big brother. Yiyi was a different story.
It didn't really matter if they approached her because they liked her big brother. Sure, it was a bit sad, but a pragmatic start could still lead to a warm process and result. As long as they got along well, it was all the same.
After all, since the three-year cold war with her big brother, Keke had become much more open-minded about many things and more tolerant in relationships.
Because Keke had grown up.
Sometimes, holding grudges and blaming others in her heart when the truth was different—that just tortured herself and others. Keke absolutely didn't want to repeat that mistake. She didn't care how things started.
She only needed to think about how they would progress and end!
She dawdled as she went to change clothes. Her big brother was still cleaning the living room, clearly not planning to come back for a while. He was putting things away in cabinets and locking them up, securing anything valuable.
All the appliances were unplugged. She'd heard that even if you didn't use them, just having them plugged in wasted electricity. Her big brother was always frugal about that.
"Keke, do you want to be the Sect Master of Azure Cloud Sect?"
Hearing her big brother's sudden question, Keke turned her head to look at him outside. "Hmm... Not really, I guess. Everyone's so amazing. I'm way behind Sister Bingtang and Teacher Shion. And I don't know how..."
"Your Teacher Shion didn't know anything at the start either... Oh, she still doesn't understand management now."
Keke shut up immediately.
She silently grumbled to herself about why he was so harsh on Teacher Shion.
"Management is mostly just putting on a show. That's why everyone says the whole world is just one big circus."
Jiang Si gave his somewhat dense sister a little advice. "It's not about your ability—it's about whether you have the guts."
"Do you think I can do it, big brother?"
"I asked if you wanted to. Don't answer a question with a question."
Keke looked at Teacher Shion in the mirror. She put on a stern face, imitating Teacher Shion's expression.
She forced out her own authority and coldness, trying to look like she had the bearing of a Sect Master. "Of course I want to."
It wasn't that Keke craved power or anything.
Mainly, she wanted to get to know more Azure Cloud Sect disciples, make more friends, and learn more about Teacher Shion.
"Then kill Shion."
Keke was still happily thinking about what she'd do after becoming Sect Master.
But her big brother's words snapped her out of her fantasy.
"Geez, big brother, what are you saying..."
"I'm telling you to kill Shion."
Jiang Si's tone was serious as he finished tidying the room. "Kill Shion and take her place."
Having lived together as siblings for so long, Keke could naturally tell when he was joking or serious.
Besides, Jiang Si rarely joked.
Keke's fingertips traced from Teacher Shion's nose tip, over her lower lip, down to her chin, before she said, somewhat dejectedly, "I'll pass on that..."
"If you can't do it, we'll go our separate ways from now on." Jiang Si casually turned off the TV, his tone casual. "I want you to kill Shion and manage Azure Cloud Sect."
Keke finally realized things weren't that simple. She'd accidentally poked a hornet's nest.
She said, a bit flustered and scared, "I was wrong, big brother. I was just showing off a little and said that offhand. I wasn't serious. Really, I was just talking nonsense. I'm sorry, okay? I'll apologize..."
"I'm serious. And I've been thinking about it for a long time."
Jiang Si stood by the door, looking at Keke. "I let you learn from Shion to become a Magical Girl, not to play house with her. It was so one day you could surpass her, kill her, take her place, and seize Azure Cloud Sect. If you can't do it, I don't plan to waste any more time on you."
The home that had felt warm and safe instantly turned cold, like an endless abyss.
Keke felt like she was suffocating.
She looked at her big brother's expression. It didn't change at all. No hint of a joke, and no chance of him changing his mind.
Her heart sank.
"I really am wrong, big brother. I can't beat Teacher Shion. There's no way I could kill her. She's my teacher..."
"She's not anymore. A long time ago, she said you'd completed your training. The so-called master-disciple relationship ends with the student surpassing the teacher and killing them."
"Even if she's not my teacher, Teacher Shion is still my friend..."
"Does she know she's your friend?"
The house fell into dead silence.
The TV news was unusually lively. The freshly boiled kettle gurgled, steam pouring out. The neighbors outside were still chatting, asking which girl that kid from the Jiang family had brought home to spend the night.
The noise outside barely entered the living room before it was swallowed by the silence.
Keke stood beside Jiang Si, using Shion's body, clutching tightly to her big brother's shirt. After a long time, she said, her eyes tearful, in a small voice, "No, really, big brother. I... I can't do it..."
"I told you, if you can't, then just be a civil servant at the Disaster Control Bureau."
"Go to work, be a Magical Girl."
"Get off work, be an ordinary person."
Jiang Si handed some property documents to Keke. "I've taken care of all the paperwork for you. This house and all the family property are yours. I've dealt with the relatives. If you can't kill Shion and replace her, I won't be coming back. Take care of yourself."
"Why?"
Keke asked painfully. "Why does it have to be this way, big brother? Can't we all just live happily together?"
"Because you're too weak."
Jiang Si answered her almost without thinking. Then he slowly pried Keke's fingers from his shirt, one by one. "Too weak to save anyone. So everything you say is just empty words."
"Come talk about living happily together when you can kill Shion."
Even Keke, under her big brother's provocation, finally couldn't take it anymore.
She punched him in the face to prove her strength. "I'm not weak!"
But that punch hit Jiang Si's face. Half his cheek caved in slightly, and he just turned his head a little before slowly facing Keke again.
"See? You're too weak. Using Shion's body, and that's all the power your punch had?"
Before Keke could respond, Jiang Si punched her in the stomach.
Watching Shion's body curl up, Jiang Si shook his hand.
He'd always wanted to try beating up Shion's Upper Corpse.
Even though it was Keke inside, it felt about the same. Instead, his own fist almost fractured.
"Come talk about not being weak when you can throw a punch like that."
He walked out the door, closed it behind him, and slowly let out a breath.
Then he rubbed his half-disfigured face.
He'd overdone it.
Even though he could control part of Shion's power to stop Keke from using her full strength, it was still powerful. Even Keke, using Shion's body, that punch was no joke. He'd forced himself to take it, but his face was already numb, and his cheekbone was probably shattered...
He should have dodged.
"You really are as ruthless as ever."
A somewhat mocking voice came from beside him. Jiang Si turned to see Prince Itaen leaning against the courtyard wall, arms crossed, watching him coldly, a sarcastic smile on her face.
"Does torturing girls give you that much pleasure?"
"What are you here for?"
"You suddenly dragged my little sister away, and you're asking me why?" The Prince tilted her head to look inside the house.
Keke, using Shion's body, was curled up on the floor, crying.
It was actually pretty satisfying.
Itaen thought. Especially watching that Shion crying and looking pitiful.
That was way too satisfying.
"Since you don't want this little sister, I'll take her."
"Whatever."
"Why are you forcing her?"
"Time's running out."
Itaen looked at Jiang Si. "You're not confident either?"
"It has nothing to do with confidence. It's about Keke's own growth." Jiang Si walked away without looking back. "I've invested time and energy into her. I need returns."
"Such a utilitarian sibling relationship." Prince Itaen sneered.
"Do you have a good relationship with your siblings?"
The Prince, who had always schemed and fought her siblings to the death, was silent for a moment before deciding to change the subject.
"But I can guess what you're thinking. Maybe you should change your communication style a bit? For example, lie to her and say Shion has fallen and is about to become the Beast of Eternity. I think Keke would accept that better."
"Don't you hate being lied to?"
"That's just my own personality."
"Keke is the same."
The Prince paused for a moment before saying softly, "Sometimes... people want to be deceived. It's not that they don't want to be deceived, but they hope you can lie better, so they won't find out."
"I'm not good at lying."
"Hmph, that's true." The Prince looked a bit disdainful but didn't argue. Instead, she watched as Keke got up, quickly recovered her spirits, and started calling someone to discuss what to do. She sighed with some emotion.
"She's really a strong kid, isn't she? You should be proud of her. Your little sister is stronger than any Magical Girl I've ever known. You should cherish her more."
"That's because I raised her."
"You're quite proud of that!" The Prince glared at him. "Just throwing setbacks at her and letting her grow on her own? Most people would just get crushed, you know! Her strength comes from herself, not from your obstacles!"
Jiang Si didn't argue. He just walked toward the street. The Prince followed and asked, "How long are you going to keep it from her?"
"Mind your own business."
"If you're not good at lying, why not just tell Keke?" The Prince followed him, just asking. "You don't bother hiding your identity from anyone else, but you hide it from Keke?"
"Do you have nothing better to do?"
"I just want to know when you're going to tell her who you really are."
Jiang Si paused and glanced at her. "Are you going to help?"
The Prince looked away, still with her usual arrogance and disdain. "Who said I'd help? I just don't want the trouble."
"After it's all over."
"Fine."
The two walked slowly through the streets, people coming and going. In the distance, there was chaos caused by Magical Girls. After the body swaps, quite a few Magical Girls were causing trouble. Especially Beihai's Mochi, who had been swapped.
Almost half of the construction projects had stopped.
The Magical Girl who got swapped into Mochi's body could only reverse her magic. Turning a high-rise into a nine-story tomb was the least of the problems...
The construction crew was blocking the government entrance, but unless they went to the Disaster Control Bureau, it was basically useless.
Magical Girls had already infiltrated many parts of the city. Even with the Bureau trying to suppress the chaos, it inevitably affected normal life.
"Not bad, seeing your world in such chaos. If I were an enemy, a surprise attack right now would get pretty good results."
"What about your Mirror Kingdom people?"
"Mostly dead. My Mirror Beast army was completely wiped out by you too. The system has locked all attack commands for security."
"Useless."
"Whose fault is that!"
Jiang Si tore open a spatial rift in a corner of Beihai, and the Prince of the Mirror Kingdom finally stopped.
Jiang Si looked at her. "Not following?"
"I'm going to take care of Keke." With that, the Prince looked at him. "Jiang Si."
"What?"
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"Why would I kill you? Do I look like the type who enjoys killing?"
"Don't you?"
"Because you're not a threat."
Prince Itaen smiled slightly. "Well, that's quite arrogant. I'll remember this humiliation. One day, I'll defeat you, and I won't kill you either. I'll just kick you aside like a stray dog."
"Oh."
"What do you think of the swimsuit I picked for you?"
"Average."
"Hmph. I purposely picked an average swimsuit just to humiliate you..."
But as soon as Jiang Si left, Prince Itaen immediately opened her system. "System! Didn't I tell you to pick one he'd like!"
[Answer: Jiang Si and you are a perfect match. He, like you, likes to hide his true feelings and is just being stubborn. He definitely likes it a lot, but he'll never admit it in front of you.]
"Hmph, that's quite naive and cute... No, who said I'm stubborn? I'm different from him. I really do hate him!"
[Honestly: Yes, yes, the Prince truly hates him. It's definitely not because she likes him and wants to please him that she carefully picked a swimsuit, or even bought one for herself but was too shy to wear it...]
"That's not for me!"
She had originally wanted to complain to Yiyi and the others.
But then she found out that Yiyi and the rest had already gone to the Magic Kingdom with Teacher Shion, who was now controlling someone else's body.
Although she was a bit sad, Keke was mostly confused.
Why did her big brother suddenly have a relapse and tell her to kill Teacher Shion?
Her big brother was important, and she always listened to him, wanting to be a sister he could be proud of and satisfied with.
But she knew what kind of words to take seriously.
How could she ever kill Teacher Shion!
No matter what, she had to talk to Teacher Shion face to face about this.
But now, the Disaster Control Bureau probably wouldn't help her. Applying to go to the Magic Kingdom under Shion's identity was impossible...
She took out the branch the Incubator had given her—an item that could erase her records on the World Tree—and activated it slightly.
Soon, an Incubator appeared.
"So you've finally made up your mind? To erase your records on the World Tree..."
The Incubator stopped mid-sentence when it saw Shion's face. Sure, it looked pitiful and charming with tears.
But the Incubator's expression looked like it had seen a ghost.
It immediately tried to crawl back!
But Keke grabbed its tail tightly.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I'm just a messenger! Don't kill the messenger! Lady Shion, spare me!"
"I'm Keke! Look closely!"
The Incubator was stunned for a moment. It turned around and stared for a long time before realizing, "Oh! It's the body swap! I didn't realize you got swapped, and with Shion of all people!"
"What exactly is going on?"
"Well... the Magic Kingdom opened a gate and wanted to swap some souls in the new world... Something went wrong somewhere, causing the ability to spread on a large scale. We're investigating the cause..."
Keke sighed, feeling that what her big brother said about the world being a circus was way too accurate. "Is the Magic Kingdom always this lax?"
"Outsourced labor. The Magic Kingdom itself is still quite rigorous and has a craftsman's spirit..."
"Anyway, I need to go to the Magic Kingdom." Keke interrupted him. "Take me there."
"Sure."
Keke blinked. "That simple?"
"Of course. In fact, the Magic Kingdom will help you become even stronger, strong enough to defeat Shion and the Beast of Eternity. As long as you accept the branch and become a Magical Girl not recorded in the World Tree, no matter what reasonable request you have for the Magic Kingdom, we will fulfill it."
Keke was a bit stunned. She looked at the branch in her hand and felt it burning for the first time.
If someone's nice to you for no reason, there's definitely a problem.
The Incubators couldn't be trusted.
"What do you want me to do?"
The Incubator tilted its head and smiled.
"You just need to keep getting stronger. Whether it's the Beast of Eternity or Shion, who's no different from the Beast, you will personally kill them, and you will become the ruler of the Magic Kingdom!"
Keke was confused. Rule the Magic Kingdom? Defeat the Beast of Eternity and Teacher Shion?
What the hell were they talking about?
"I just need to go to the Magic Kingdom. And what does Teacher Shion have to do with this?"
Why did everyone want to kill Teacher Shion? Did her big brother team up with the Incubator?
"Because she is no different from the End. She and her Azure Cloud Sect are shaking the entire World Tree. Not just the present and the past, but the future will be completely severed by them!"
"What does that have to do with..."
"Everything!" The Incubator suddenly got excited, its voice rising. "Magical Girl Ruri, don't you think this world has become ridiculously strange?"
Keke: "Huh? Has it?"
Where was it strange? Wasn't everything normal...
"Magical Girls have been artificially divided into seven levels, with each level subdivided into even smaller ones. These bizarre level names have distorted Magical Girls. More and more of them obsess over leveling up. They no longer care how many people they save, how many miracles they create, or how much redemption they bring. Instead, they focus on how to kill enemies more efficiently, more ruthlessly..."
"The daily topics among girls no longer revolve around cake and afternoon tea. Cake has become a lie."
"Their mouths no longer speak of the joy of saving someone today. All that's left is cold terms like Half-Step, Perfection, Undergoing Tribulation, forging, alchemy. Magic is no longer a miracle that can save everyone. They've defiled it into a tool of destruction, losing all the romance and cuteness of Magical Girls."
"Look at this. Is this normal? None of them act like human beings anymore. Skills like Mediocre Work and Masterpiece are almost extinct. Even the proper Magical Girls at the Disaster Control Bureau now use things like the Great Barren Imprisoning Heaven Finger in battle—skills completely lacking any girlish charm."
"Do you really think this belongs to Magical Girls?"
Keke: "Huh... Isn't all this very Magical Girl..."
"See? You've been corrupted too!" the Incubator shouted.
Then it asked, "Keke, don't you want to resurrect your parents?"
Seeing Keke fall silent, the Incubator continued, "Soon, Magical Girls won't be Magical Girls anymore. They'll be turned into something else. If we let this continue, miracles will keep getting tainted..."
"What happens when miracles are tainted?"
"Your parents in the Magic Kingdom will disappear forever, erased from history, with no past or future. You and your brother will completely forget them."
Keke suddenly remembered her big brother's earlier words.
Was this the real reason her big brother told her to kill Teacher Shion?
Big brother, what exactly are you thinking? Keke really didn't understand...
The Incubator spoke with almost certainty. "But don't worry. You will become the strongest Magical Girl. Jiang Keke, you are the savior personally chosen by the World Tree, the enemy of the End! As long as you're willing, you can personally create a perfect and happy future!"