The room was silent, and the dim spiritual lamp was about to go out.
Perhaps because of the sense of security in Ye Anping's arms, or because his body temperature was slightly higher than usual due to his injuries, Feng Yu Die, who was resting on his left shoulder, curled up, closed her eyes, and fell asleep unknowingly.
From time to time, she would mutter in her sleep and rub her cheek against Ye Anping's neck. "Young Master Ye... roasted chicken..."
Ye Anping slept lightly for a while. Then, he opened his eyes slowly and turned his head slightly to the left, seeing Feng Yu Die with a sweet smile on her face.
"Quiet as a virgin, swift as a fool*." This was not a description he gave Feng Yu Die out of thin air.
The slightly messy silver hair, coupled with her delicate face, was extremely beautiful, like a pure white snow lotus in the night, making people want to protect and pamper her.
Ye Anping found himself thinking about a question:
—Was it a bad thing for him to accept Feng Yu Die?
Since he married his sister, Feng Yu Die has said "I like you" countless times.
This silly girl didn't have any schemes or shrewdness in her heart. Moreover, the words she said in front of her master's tombstone didn't sound like a compromise or a lie.
Since Feng Yu Die said so, it meant she really liked him.
Ye Anping stared at her sleeping face for a long time.
It seemed that because of his breath, Feng Yu Die squinted her eyes slightly, and suddenly tightened her grasp on his arm a little as if she was afraid that this gust of wind would blow her Young Master Ye away.
"Huh..."
Ye Anping exhaled lightly and inexplicably felt that this girl was a little cute now...
Anyway, he now had to support his sister, Yunluo, Longling, Yiyi, and Xuanji.
One more person was not a big deal...
As for Gu Mingxin's words...
Thinking of this, Ye Anping tilted his head to look to his right again. However, the moment he turned his head, his heart, which had just calmed down, suddenly tightened again.
Gu Mingxin stared with her round red eyes at him without blinking.
"..."
Seeing that Ye Anping finally turned his head to look at her, Gu Mingxin leaned into Ye Anping's ear and whispered, "Can't sleep?"
"Why are you staring at me?"
"You don't want to practice dual cultivation with me, and you don't allow me to look at you? Woo—"
He felt her teeth slightly nibbling his earlobe.
Following her whisper, Ye Anping's entire body suddenly trembled and felt numb. Before he could come to his senses, he felt a small, icy hand touching his abdomen and slowly moving downward.
"..."
"Ye Anping, you are so bad~ How did you play with my hand before?"
Gu Mingxin smiled coquettishly when she said this, but what followed seemed to be beyond her expectations, and she raised her eyebrows slightly. "So big..."
Ye Anping was about to say something, but he stopped and closed his mouth again.
"In the past, I always heard the female cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Sect talking about it and they wanted it to be big…"
Ye Anping interrupted hurriedly. "Can we change the subject?"
"Well... Isn't flirting like this?"
"Sister Gu, I pushed you into a corner like that in the past, don't you hate me?"
"I hated you~ But who doesn't like a strong and good-looking partner?" Gu Mingxin smirked slightly. "I have always wanted to find a man who is stronger than me, but unfortunately, I haven't met one in so many decades..."
"..."
"Ye Anping, you're the first person who can push me to such a state."
Gu Mingxin licked her lips, as if seeing delicious food, then closed her eyes again and concentrated on feeling the things her palm touched.
Ye Anping's face was expressionless. He only felt a strange spiritual energy that he had never felt before, spreading from bottom to top, all over his body.
Whether it was Pei Lianxue or Xiao Yunluo, their spiritual yin energy was mostly like a clear spring. After entering his meridians, Ye Anping felt like a stream of cool but not cold water flowing through his body.
However, the spiritual energy that now flowed into his meridians was like boiling blood. Not only did it not relieve the restless yang energy, but it seemed to make it surge, causing him to breathe a little faster.
"Huh..."
At this time, it was unknown what kind of beautiful dream Feng Yu Die had, and she rubbed against his cheek sweetly again. "Master Ye, hehehe..."
"..."
Ye Anping turned his head to look at Feng Yu Die, but when he looked back at Gu Mingxin, he saw her slowly let go, move her right hand out of the quilt, bring her index finger at her lips, and lick it with her tongue, tasting it carefully. "Hmm, it tastes weird..."
"Where did you learn this?"
"It's everywhere in the Heavenly Demon Sect. I haven't done it, but I've seen it."
Ye Anping was silent for a moment. Thinking that the sooner he recovered, the sooner they could leave, he didn't say anything and just sighed instead. "Be gentle."
"Hmm~"
Then, Ye Anping relaxed again, closed his eyes, and silently endured this mixed feeling that he couldn't express in words...
… …
Unknowingly, daylight broke and the light rain outside the cave stopped.
After a night of Gu Mingxin's 'treatment', Ye Anping had mostly recovered. While the two girls were still asleep, he gently pulled his numb arms out of theirs, quietly got off the bed, and changed into a spare set of clothes.
Gu Mingxin was also asleep at this time, with a slightly satisfied smile on her face, as if she was happy because she had played with the person she loved.
Ye Anping changed his clothes and looked at the two girls on the big jade sofa. It took him a while to recover from the lingering fragrance on their bodies. There was a little doting in his eyes, but he quickly put his thoughts away and started thinking about business.
Without the Demonic Ghost Formation, Kong Xiangmo had no means of resistance against the Western Region sects' cultivators.
Moreover, based on what he knew about Kong Xiangmo, he certainly wouldn't dare to report this matter to Seven Ghost Tomb.
Not only did he allow a few young cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage to remove the formation without anyone noticing, but he also allowed these young cultivators to slip away.
Even if Kong Xiangmo did not feel ashamed, Ye Anping felt ashamed for him.
Thinking of this, Ye Anping opened the door of the room and prepared to go outside the cave to get some fresh air.
However, as soon as he came into the yard, he saw a man without limbs wriggling under a withered ancient tree in the yard.
If he remembered correctly, this man should be one of the sons of the Great Elder of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
"Are you He Ji... Feng?"
"..."
He Jifeng heard this unfamiliar male voice and struggled to lift his bloodied head. He looked at Ye Anping as if he saw the last glimmer of hope. He cried and pleaded.
"Kill me... Please! Please!!"
"..."
Ye Anping walked over and squatted down, reaching out to check his condition.
Most of his meridians were broken, but the key ones were intact, just enough to keep him alive.
Gu Mingxin was really ruthless. How much did she hate the He family?
Cultivators could not commit suicide by biting their tongues, and because their bodies were forged through practice, a Core Formation-stage cultivator like He Jifeng would not lose too much blood.
Ye Anping thought for a while. He didn't know that the person sent by the Heavenly Demon Sect was He Jifeng, but if Gu Mingxin spared his life, then maybe he could use him.
If his hands and feet were still there, he might barely save his life.
Unfortunately, his hands and feet were gone.
Ye Anping took out two fire talismans from the storage bag and nodded. "Okay."
He Jifeng seemed relieved, and he hurriedly shook his neck and kowtowed to Ye Anping. "...Thank you, Senior!! Thank you, Senior!!"
The next moment, Ye Anping raised his finger, and two fire talismans fell directly on
He Jifeng's forehead. In an instant, the raging fire formed by spiritual power ignited him.
"...Thank you, Senior!! Thank you, Senior... Thank you..."
Amid a burst of heartfelt thanks, He Jifeng gradually turned into ashes and disintegrated under the spiritual fire of the talismans.
As if awakened by He Jifeng's voice, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the cave.
Tap tap—
"Young Master Ye?!!"
Feng Yu Die opened the door and came out in a hurry, her face full of worry. Only when she saw Ye Anping in the yard, the fear on her face disappeared.
She kicked He Jifeng, who was still burning, without caring, and walked straight to Ye Anping. She rubbed her messy hair shyly and giggled: "Hehehe, I thought you were kidnapped..."
"..."
Ye Anping looked at Feng Yu Die's concerned expression and recalled what Gu Mingxin had done last night. For some reason, he felt a little guilty. He looked away and simply raised his hand to help Feng Yu Die tidy up her messy hair.
"Go fix your hair, we'll be on our way soon. The Ghost Spirit Sect's disciples died here, and they are certainly keeping in touch regularly. When they realize that these people here haven't returned, they will definitely send someone to find them."
His tone was so gentle that Feng Yu Die was shocked when she heard it. She tilted her head and sized Ye Anping up from left to right.
"Hmm?"
"What?"
"Young Master Ye, you..."
"Me what?"
"...Nothing, hehe—"
Feng Yu Die smiled and turned around to go back to the house and change her clothes.
However, just as she turned around, Gu Mingxin also walked out of the house and bumped into her head-on. Seeing Feng Yu Die, she showed a sarcastic look, but probably because she was concerned about Ye Anping, she didn't tell her what happened last night. Instead, she greeted her in a friendly manner. "Feng Yu Die, did you sleep well last night?"
?
Feng Yu Die was stunned and narrowed her eyes slightly: "What do you mean?"
"Just saying good morning to you, hehe."
Feng Yu Die hesitated before nodding. "Thank you for your concern."
Ye Anping looked at the two of them, let out a tired sigh, and patted Feng Yu Die's head. "Hurry up and get ready. I'll help you comb your hair."
!
"Eh?"
Hearing this, Feng Yu Die's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked back at Ye Anping, and then immediately showed a smug look to Gu Mingxin. "Humph~"
However, Gu Mingxin looked down on her as if she were a child. "Heh..."
Feng Yu Die ignored her and tentatively reached out to hold Ye Anping's hand. Seeing that he didn't resist her, she was even happier. With a spring in her steps, she pulled him toward another room in the cave mansion, found a place to sit down, and started combing her hair on her back.
Ye Anping shrugged helplessly. He took out a comb from the storage bag, walked behind her, and gently combed her thick silver hair like he used to do for his sister.
"Hehe..."
Ye Anping couldn't help laughing. "What are you laughing at?"
"You are so nice to me today... Hehe~"
… …
Inside Brilliance City.
The sky gradually brightened, and in the ruined city, disciples of the Ghost Spirit Sect patrolled on their swords everywhere. No one had anticipated such a sudden change. Under the demonic spirit and chaotic energy of Kong Xiangmo, half of the Brilliance City had been burned down in just a moment.
In the room at the top of Heavenly Pavilion, jade slips and scrolls were scattered everywhere. Kong Xiangmo, who was wearing the robe of the Ghost Spirit Sect's Elder, had his eyes sunken into his sockets, like an old man with half a foot in the ground.
When the Justice Division withdrew from the Eastern Wall, they left a ruin behind. The Ghost Spirit Sect had to spend a lot of spirit stones to rebuild those cities.
And now, the spirit stones and demonic treasures spent by them, have all gone to waste.
The rebuilt half of the Brilliance City had become a ruin again.
Moreover, according to the disciples' statistics, about two thousand people died in this incident, including several Nascent Soul-stage Elders.
However, the casualties and losses were nothing compared to the destruction of the Demonic Ghost Formation.
This mistake was enough for Seven Ghost Tomb to swallow him whole.
But Kong Xiangmo still had some hope.
Although the man named "Liang Liu" destroyed most of the Demonic Ghost Formation's core with the Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal, after all, this formation was set up by the Ghost Patriarch himself, and it was not a small formation that could be broken overnight.
He had just checked, and the Nine-phase Demonic Ghost Formation could still be repaired.
As long as he could repair the formation before the Western Region immortal cultivators invaded the city, even if he had made a mistake, considering he had been the Great Elder for a thousand years after all, the Ghost Patriarch would not punish him by death.
As for those dead and injured disciples, as long as he caught Gu Mingxin and sent her to Patriarch Yu Yan, he could also make up for his mistakes.
"There is still a chance... there is still a chance! My Kong family is not dead yet!!" Kong Xiangmo kept muttering.
The young servant who was sorting out the files in the room heard him and had an ominous feeling as if a disaster was about to happen.
Suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the room.
Tap, tap, tap—
Kong Xiangmo was delighted. Before the Ghost Spirit Sect disciple entered, he opened the door with his spiritual energy and asked urgently, "Did you catch them?"
"Ah..."
The one who came in was a Foundation Building disciple. He looked at the ferocious face of his Elder and gulped. He knelt on one knee and answered with his hands cupped. "Reporting to the Elder, yesterday, twenty-seven disciples who went to the Eastern Region to search for Liang Liu and the others did not return. Something must have happened."
Kong Xiangmo did not think it was bad news, and he impatiently asked, "Where was that?!"
"At a canyon about three hundred miles east of the Eastern Great Wall."
"Okay! Okay, okay... I'll go there..."
Before he finished speaking, another burst of hurried footsteps came from outside, and another Ghost Spirit Sect disciple in the Foundation Building stage rushed in, sweating profusely.
"Reporting! Great Elder, nearly a hundred immortal flying boats were spotted about twelve hundred miles west of Brilliance City. The immortal boats display flags of many sects of the Western Region, including Black Star Sect."
"What..."
Kong Xiangmo's pupils shrank. He thought that the Black Star Sect would not take action so fast and he would have time to repair the formation. How could they come so quickly?
At this time, another disciple rushed in. "Reporting--! Tens of thousands of beasts are heading to Brilliance City from the southwest."
"Beasts… Beasts?!"
Hearing this news, Kong Xiangmo's pupils had shrunk to the size of a sesame seed, and even his breathing stopped. He couldn't stand firmly, and his body leaned on the table beside him, overturning the book scrolls and jade slips that the servant had just sorted out on the table.
Crash...
Just when the books fell on the wooden floor.
Thunderbolt—
A loud thunder exploded throughout the entire city.
Then, a confident voice shouted from outside the western wall of the city. "Kong, get your ass out here, it's time to die!!"
Hearing this voice, Kong Xiangmo froze for a moment, then quickly stood up and went to the side of the window, looking at the city's western wall. Through the Distant Vision technique, he could see an old man in a purple robe, with silver thunder as armor all over his body, standing above the yellow sand outside the city with his hands behind his back and several immortal cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage around him.
Kong Xiangmo recognized the man as Lei Wanjun, the Great Elder of the Black Star Sect, and he seemed to give up struggling. His hands fell down, and his pupils, which had shrunk into small dots, dilated again.
After a while, Kong Xiangmo glanced at the three Foundation Building disciples on his side and gritted his teeth to calm his trembling.
At least Immortal Matriarch didn't come, right?
She didn't come?!
Haha!! She didn't come!
Lei Wanjun, this stinky dragon breeder, is nothing to be afraid of!
"Uh hahaha…hahahaha…nothing to be afraid of!!! Ahahahaha…"
*The original idiom: "Be still like a virgin, move swiftly like a rabbit." It means that when the army is not in action, it is as quiet as an unmarried woman hiding in her chambers, and when it is in action, it is as agile as a rabbit escaping a trap. Source: Sun Tzu's "The Art of War-Nine Terrains".