The water droplets hanging on the tip of a stalactite were finally pulled by the earth, and the water dripped through the stone, then once again hit the smooth depression of the marble.
The sound of footsteps approaching from far away broke the thousand-year silence in the cave.
Wearing a black long dress, Gu Mingxin walked in from the cave entrance, waved her hand to condense a drop of white light with her spiritual power, and pushed it into the depths of the cave.
Under the light of the spell, a pile of rubble that had been transformed into a nest of insects and rats was reflected into her red eyes.
Gu Mingxin swept her gaze across the broken pieces of stone and finally discerned the formation pattern within. She glanced at Xue'e beside her ear and said, "Finally, something useful."
Xue'e complained and puffed her cheeks, then put theunder her skirt and floated to the formation. She pursed her lips as she sized it up before pointing to two pieces of broken stones beside her.
Gu Mingxin nodded, walked up, and raised her left hand, using her spiritual energy to move the scattered rubble around, building blocks to recreate the appearance of this place from a thousand years ago.
Countless broken stones, supported by the blood-colored spiritual energy, gradually pieced together into five ten-foot-high stone pillars.
The pictographic seals carved by the ancient monks thousands of years ago on the surface of the stone pillars with the spirit blood of ancient beasts also reappeared, glowing with a faint red aura.
Xue'e floated back and forth in front of the five stone pillars, carefully reading the ancient words above. She nodded and said,
"Should?"
Xue'e took out theagain.
"And then?"
"?"
Xue'e licked her finger and turned a page.
Gu Mingxin blinked and tilted her head slightly.
"..."
"..."
Xue'e advised earnestly.
TheSect had already issued a high bounty on Gu Mingxin's head. The other five great demonic sects had also sent people to search for her location on account of Yu Yan.
After listening to Ye Anping and looking for Mo Chi Ling, they ran into several demonic disciples who came over to catch her on the way. Fortunately, Mo Chi Ling appeared in time to take them to the uninhabited blood forest and hide them, otherwise that old man Yu Yan might have already found them.
Xue'e now hoped that Mingxin would obediently stay in the blood forest.
Although it was a bit boring, it was better to be safe!
"When have I ever been afraid?"
Gu Mingxin interrupted coldly, then walked directly to the center of the magic circle, and stretched out her arms to mobilize her blood-demonic spirit.
Seeing that she was still stubborn, Xue'e quickly floated over.
"Xue'e, would you harm me?"
"If there was really a problem with this ancient formation, you wouldn't have brought me here."
Before Xue'e could finish speaking, Gu Mingxin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she opened them suddenly and sent her blood-spiritual energy into the five stone pillars. She used her spiritual sense to activate the array technique.
The ground shook, and the stalactites on the ceiling of the cave fell and broke into pieces on the ground.
Xue'e sighed in resignation.
She felt from the bottom of her heart that it was not a good idea for Gu Mingxin to go to theSect now, but she knew Mingxin's character. If this girl decided to do something, it would be useless no matter how she tried to persuade her.
Since she couldn't persuade her, she would try her best to help her.
Xue'e floated above Gu Mingxin and grabbed her head. Then, she mobilized the black python's spiritual energy to envelop Gu Mingxin, helping her protect her body when she entered the array.
"Alright."
Gu Mingxin quieted her mind and closed her eyes. She allowed the spiritual light from the five stone pillars to swallow her completely...
...
Cicadas were chirping non-stop in the forest by the water when a loud sound was heard that shattered the stones and shook the sky.
A figure appeared in the air and crashed into the bushes, startling birds and small rodents.
Gu Mingxin held her forehead for a long time before she stood up and brushed off the branches and leaves on her body. After looking up at the bright waning moon in the sky, her eyes widened.
The dark clouds in thenever dispersed, and the land was desolate and covered with scars;
Most of thewas covered with yellow sand, and no birds or animals were able to live there;
Thewas covered in snow all year round, and the weather was cold and frozen.
But what she saw now was a vibrant mountain stream under a clear sky as the fragrance of grass and trees filled her nose, refreshing her heart.
Gu Mingxin, who had been struggling in the sea of blood since childhood, was seeing such a spring scene for the first time, and she felt intrigued.
"Is this the… Xue'e?"
Looking left and right and not seeing Xue'e's figure, Gu Mingxin suddenly came back to her senses, and a trace of panic appeared in her eyes. She called out a few more times. "Xue'e… Xue'e!"
Xue'e came out from her forehead and grinned.
"Oh..."
Gu Mingxin immediately returned to her previous cold appearance. Looking at Xue'e carrying on her back the small wooden sword she had helped to carve, she casually changed the subject and asked, "This sword, how did you..."
Xue'e pulled out her sword, then drew a sword flower, frowning.
The wooden sword whizzed through the air.
Gu Mingxin was bewildered. "Didn't you say that neither of you could kill the other?"
"...Which way is theSect?"
Xue'e put the wooden sword on her back and flew crookedly toward the sky. She raised her hand to her forehead and looked around, then pointed to the south, shouting,
Gu Mingxin stepped on the tree trunk, leaped to the top of the tree, and looked in the direction pointed by Xue'e.
At the top of the, a twelve-floor pavilion stood atop a floating black stone. Even though they were a thousand miles away, they could still feel the ten-thousand-year-old heritage of theSect.
"So long-winded..."
Gu Mingxin rolled her eyes and summoned her flying sword, taking off in the direction of theSect.
Xue'e froze for a moment, then hurriedly chased after her.
Xue'e lay on Gu Mingxin's shoulder, nagging endlessly like an old granny sending her daughter to private school for the first time, irritating Gu Mingxin to no end.
However, in the end, she still followed Xue'e's instructions. She retracted her spiritual energy, changed her clothes, and wore a veil. She detected the immortal cultivators' aura and hid her tracks in the forests...
The distance of a thousand miles was covered in nearly two days and one night under Xue'e's lead.
...
An unexpected light rain covered the twelve peaks of theSect with a layer of blurring white mist.
Water drops hung from the willow trees on the streets of the market.
Gu Mingxin changed into a black veiled dress and fanned herself with an oil fan as she walked under the stone archway in the market. On both sides were mostlySect disciples wearing black-and-white robes who came here to buy and sell pills and various items.
Xue'e stood on top of her head with her eyes wide open, helping Gu Mingxin guard against anyone who brushed past her.
This place was less than ten miles away from theSect's main gate. If her identity as a demonic cultivator was exposed, the sect's Elders would arrive in the blink of an eye.
Without Ye Anping to back her up, if theSect Elders discovered her, there was a high probability of killing her.
Gu Mingxin wandered around the busy streets, dazzled by the shops selling all kinds of items. She suddenly felt the curiosity to go in and take a look.
There were also markets in the, but they were permeated with an evil atmosphere. Almost every alley was filled with men and women demonic cultivators who were having sex or human corpses that had been cut in pieces.
Gu Mingxin realized that she had lived for more than twenty years, but she had never visited the market once.
She didn't have many friends in the, and no one invited her.
When she followed her master's arrangement and went toin thewith her junior brother Xu Mo, she planned to go shopping. Still, she didn't expect to have a ‘sweet’ encounter withjust after entering the city and before she had time to settle down.
After that, she and Lu Meimei avoided immortal cities and only stayed in some small villages. They were forced to hide because of Liang Xiaoliu's bounty.
When she and He Jiming followed Elder Fu into the,had already become a ruin...
—"Senior sister, let's try the Narcissus Dew from thein a while, okay? I heard the flavor is quite special."
—"Ah? Alright, there's a new shop next toselling ice cream cakes. Let's go try it. Sister Chen and the others said it tastes good..."
The sisters of theSect walked past Gu Mingxin, laughing and chatting.
Gu Mingxin followed the two with a sidelong glance and suddenly felt that she was a little out of place. She asked in a low voice, "Are Narcissus Dew and Ice Cream Cake some kind of pills used by immortal cultivators for cultivation?"
Xue'e standing on top of her head was stumped by the question. She didn't understand much either. She thought for a while and replied,
"Oh..."
Gu Mingxin could not help but imagine how Ye Anping would accompany that silver fool and that girl who called herself "Liang Xiaoxue" to visit such places from time to time, right?
Ye Anping should have accompanied her to such a place...
Why was Ye Anping the Young Master of theSect? Why couldn't he be the Young Master of theSect from the?
With a dejected sigh, Gu Mingxin silently held her umbrella as she walked down the street in the rain. She listened to couples flirting and laughter between friends and felt as if she was the only one left in the world.
"...We're always together, what's there to talk about?"
...
Xue'e didn't care whether Gu Mingxin listened or not, she just acted as a tour guide, accompanying her with her voice to help her alleviate the loneliness.
However, when Gu Mingxin turned the corner of the street, Xue'e's voice stopped abruptly.
Gu Mingxin, who had been silently counting her steps, suddenly stopped and looked ahead in confusion. She saw a disciple dressed in an inner disciple uniform of theSect blocking her path with his hands behind his back.
The disciple had an ordinary appearance, and his cultivation was only in the middle stage of, but he looked like a normal man in his thirties. His actual age was probably about two hundred.
Gu Mingxin became vigilant, and seeing him staring at her, she frowned. "What do you want?"
"...Senior Gu, right?"
The question shocked Gu Mingxin who widened her eyes and took a step back, looking around. The encounter with "Liang Xiaoliu" in thewas still vivid in her mind.
The disciple looked at her in silence for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "I received a message from Senior Mo two days ago, so I came here to receive you."
"Which Senior Mo?"
"Mo Chi Ling." The disciple replied with a nod. "Senior Mo said that her junior sister will come toSect in a few days to get some Bright Star Spiritual Nectar for her."
As he spoke, the man took out a small storage bag and handed it to Gu Mingxin. "Here is aSect inner disciple uniform and a jade token that I borrowed for you. There are also some magic tools that can help you hide demonic spirit energy. With these, you should be able to enter the sect."
"..."
"However, this is limited to the sect. The Spiritual Nectar is found in the garden at the foot of the. You have to figure out how to get in by yourself."
Gu Mingxin looked at the storage bag he had given her. "Are you an immortal cultivator?"
"Yes, and I am an inner disciple of theSect. A hundred years ago, I owed Senior Mo a favor at the Eastern Great Wall and now I'm repaying it."
Gu Mingxin gave Xue'e a glance, and Xue'e quickly dove into the storage bag to investigate, then rummaged through theSect's cultivator's storage bag at his waist.
Gu Mingxin nodded. "Do you want me to say thank you?"
"No need." The disciple cupped his hands. "I don't want to get too close to demonic cultivators. Although theSpiritual Nectar is precious, it's nothing more than an external item. But..."
"But?"
"I wonder if you could tell me how many people theandSect have sent into the?"
"..."
"When one pest is found in the house, there must be more than one. Previously, the City Lord found the Grand Master of theSect hiding in the city. I just wanted to make some mental preparations."
Frowning, Gu Mingxin replied, "I don't know."
"...Is that so?"
The disciple did not ask any further questions as he nodded and turned to leave.
Seeing him leave, Gu Mingxin hesitated for a moment and stopped him. "Wait a minute."
"Hmm?"
"Um... Is Ye Anping in theSect?"
The disciple deliberated, then replied, "He should arrive today or tomorrow. Earlier, Elder Cao said that they had already arrived at the. The Grand Master of theSect was also discovered by his cultivation partner, and the Grand Elder has already rushed over."
"Alright."
Seeing that Gu Mingxin had nothing else to say, the disciple nodded and quickly left.
Xue'e followed him to take a look, but she came back not long after while scratching the back of her head.
"What's the big deal... Ye Anping also has eyes in the six sects of the demonic sect."
Gu Mingxin nodded, turned around, and left the market on her flying sword. She landed in the forest outside the city and changed into theSect uniform that the disciple had brought her.
However, as if by coincidence, when she just took off the black dress, seven flying swords flew from the west toward theSect mountain gate not far from her.
Following the three cultivators dressed in theSect uniform was a black-haired youth with his hands behind his back.
When Gu Mingxin saw this, she even forgot that she was not wearing clothes. She just stood there in a daze, her eyes slightly narrowed, showing a trace of admiration.
"Hmm?" Xue'e turned her head and saw Ye Anping flying in the distance, and she slightly raised her eyebrows.
She drew out the wooden sword on her back and waved it, her dark eyes radiating anger.
Gu Mingxin ignored her and raised her hand to open her sleeve, revealing her palmless right arm. She controlled her right hand which was thousands of feet away to squeeze...
...
?
On his flying sword, Ye Anping was taken aback. He felt the hand placed inside his sleeve squeeze his arm forcefully. His eyes twitched slightly and he looked around.
Seeing that Zu Lingzhi, Elder Cao, and the Grand First Elder were not paying attention to him, he reached into his sleeve and pinched it back forcefully. Then, he wrote on Gu Mingxin's palm: —
However, after waiting for a while, Gu Mingxin did not respond. She kept pinching him as if she was crazy.
"..."
Ye Anping sighed slightly. Seeing that theSect's main gate was not far away, he took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally.
After entering the sect, he would have to face Zu Yuan directly.
Even if everything was ready and all the conditions were fulfilled, Zu Yuan was still a-stage cultivator. Moreover, he wanted him to give him his spiritual root. It would be a lie to say that he was not nervous at all.
Pei Lianxue saw him frowning and leaned over. "Brother, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Ye Anping answered and suddenly, he saw Xiao Tian sitting with her legs crossed on Feng Yu Die's head, rubbing her left eye and looking confused.
Seeing him look over, Xiao Tian rolled her eyes.
"..."
Ye Anping thought about it. After all, they were standing in front of theSect's main gate. That old man Zu Yuan must have been looking at them a long time ago. It wasn't strange for someone to take a peek.
So, he shrugged to signal her not to think too much.
Not long after, Elder Cao brought him, Pei Lianxue, and the others to the mountain gate. After de-activating the restrictions on the mountain gate with the, she turned around and said, "Lingzhi, lead Young Master Ye up tofirst. The Patriarch has prepared tea and is waiting in the."
"Huh?" Zu Lingzhi was stunned. "Elder Cao, why don't you bring him there? I'll bring Sister Pei and the others to the guest hall..."
"Listen to me. After I send the fewSect disciples to the guest hall, I'll go discuss the matter of the demonic cultivators with Grand Elder Liu. The appearance of theSect Grand Master inis not a small matter. Cockroaches always appear as a nest."
The bearded old man wearing the First Elder uniform beside Elder Cao smiled. "Young man, our Patriarch is quite amiable, don't be so nervous. He just heard about yourenergy and wanted to talk to you."
Ye Anping cupped his hands, smiling. "It's my honor to have a chat with the Patriarch face to face."
"Well, Miss Zu, bring him up."
"Tsk… okay."
Zu Lingzhi nodded reluctantly, raised her head, and reached out. "Young Master Ye, please!"