Chapter 32: Secrets of the Demon Palace Part 2

Instinct told her the demonic energy was fine, but she knew priorities—and when to obey.

She nodded obediently, muttering under her breath about when the Demon Cultivators would show.

She earned a skeptical cold glare.

Zhan Yujie didn’t trust her.

“She actually suspects me!” Yan Zhichuan fumed inwardly, complaining to the Heavenly Dao System. She actually suspects me!

Heavenly Dao System: “…With what you’ve done, which part deserves trust? If you were from another sect, you’d be blacklisted ages ago.”

True, she’d reached the goal, but the process was a nightmare.

Wrong methods yielding right answers… No, she’d just bullshitted based on results.

Yan Zhichuan wailed inwardly, “Xiao Tian, you disappoint me! Whose system are you? All you do is scam me out of pills—what else are you good for!”

Heavenly Dao System dropped a truth bomb: “…Zhan Yujie’s.”

It was supposed to be, until midway hijacked.

As Yan Zhichuan railed against the traitorous Heavenly Dao System, Zhan Yujie suddenly tensed. “Someone’s coming!”

She swiftly shoved Yan Zhichuan to safety and assumed a battle-ready stance.

Three arrived.

The leader was a loose cultivator marked by the Heavenly Dao System.

The other two were sickly-looking, one tall, one short, drab and unremarkable.

Three against three—should be fine.

Wait, only one’s a Demon Cultivator in disguise.

Yan Zhichuan had no interest in playing any games of exposing identities. She blinked and flashed an enthusiastic, eager smile. “Fellow Daoist, are you injured? I’m a medical cultivator—let me take a look.”

The dusty Short Daoist warily stepped back. But the Demon Cultivator smiled faintly, cupping its hands toward Yan Zhichuan in greeting. “Many thanks, fellow Daoist, but we have our own—”

Before the word “medicine” could leave its mouth, Yan Zhichuan shot forward like an arrow off the string, straight to the back. She pinned the dusty Short Daoist, stuffed a pill into her mouth, and pinched her cheeks shut.

Eat it!

By the time the Short Daoist glared wide-eyed and was forced to swallow the pill, Yan Zhichuan had already retreated in a flash.

She didn’t have that kind of movement technique herself, but no matter—she could copy Zhan Yujie’s.

The Short Daoist wanted to curse.

But as the medicinal power entered her body, the strange energy rippling from her wound and gradually eroding her began to recede. The injury she’d barely been suppressing showed signs of improvement. What this person had shoved into her mouth was genuinely a wondrous elixir.

She glanced at Zhan Yujie and, in deference to the Nine Abyss Sect, finally set aside her suspicions. She quickly sat cross-legged to circulate and refine the medicine.

Zhan Yujie caught the Short Daoist’s glance.

She exhaled a breath of stale air and smoothed things over. “My junior sister was just too eager to help.”

Yan Zhichuan also quickly—and insincerely—muttered an “apology,” then produced another pill and gazed earnestly at the Tall Daoist.

The Tall Daoist glanced at the Short Daoist. Both hailed from White Jade Capital’s Hidden Dragon Division and knew all the details on Zhan Yujie and Chang Zhi.

As for that junior sister—

No portrait matched.

The Nine Abyss Sect sent its peak true inheritors. This one was a medical cultivator, so probably a true inheritor from Medicine Peak?

Thoughts racing, the Tall Daoist accepted the pill from Yan Zhichuan and casually asked, “May I have fellow Daoist’s name?”

Yan Zhichuan beamed with delight. “Yan Zhichuan, true inheritor of Nine Abyss Peak—the treasure that guards the six peaks of the Nine Abyss Sect.”

Zhan Yujie: “…”

The Tall Daoist paused. Yan? From Nine Abyss Peak? Could she be related to the Nine Abyss Sect Leader? Note to self. Her expression remained composed as she smiled her thanks.

Yan Zhichuan waved it off, her eyes sparkling with sly mischief. She looked up at the Demon Cultivator disguised as a Daoist and produced yet another pill.

Seeing both the Tall and Short Daoists swallow their pills, the disguised one harbored no doubts and took its own.

But the pill merely looked pure and ethereal, like a wondrous elixir—it was actually a Demon Disguise Pill that Yan Zhichuan had deliberately disguised. The moment it went down, demonic energy erupted from its body!

The still-meditating Tall and Short Daoists jolted in shock and leaped back.

Zhan Yujie’s Dharma sword sang as it left its sheath, a cold gleam slashing toward the Demon Cultivator.

Chang Zhi was a beat slow; a phoenix cry rang out, its tail feathers blazing like fire.

The Demon Cultivator’s eyelids twitched wildly. How was I exposed? It activated its artifact to block the oncoming sword qi like crashing waves.

It glared wide-eyed at the smug Yan Zhichuan and, in desperation, tried to shift blame. “You poisoned me?”

Yan Zhichuan replied righteously, “What are you saying, fellow Daoist? Those pills took a lot of effort to refine—they cure ailments on contact, an essential treasure for any Xuanmen cultivator! Are you implying there’s something wrong with my medicine? Why are they fine, but you’re not?”

The oblivious Chang Zhi chimed in, “You’re a Demon Cultivator—the medicine naturally doesn’t work on you!”

Mana clashed, sending faint thunderous rumbles echoing. The Demon Cultivator cursed inwardly. Seeing the Tall and Short Daoists frozen in shock and suspicion, offering no help, it could only muster its own power to fend off the merciless strikes from Zhan Yujie and Chang Zhi.

Nine Abyss Peak… Yan.

The Demon Cultivator quickly realized this one was closely tied to Yan Jizhi. It resolved to capture her and make Zhan Yujie hesitate out of fear for the hostage.

It raised a hand; its artifact spun, trailing a streak of fire like a whip, hurtling like lightning straight at Yan Zhichuan.

Yan Zhichuan heard the whistling wind—how could she not know it was a sneak attack?

The shuttle-like artifact pecked at her face. She raised her bare hands like lifting a cauldron and smashed forward.

The Demon Cultivator snorted coldly. Layered afterimages bloomed behind it, illusory and real blurring together.

As long as these afterimages stalled Zhan Yujie for a moment, it could seize the medical cultivator.

It knew Nine Abyss Sect medical cultivators had odd quirks, but they were still medical cultivators. Even if they’d learned offensive Dao arts, what use was that?

Just as it lunged toward Yan Zhichuan, the sharp clang of swords clashing rang out.

Caught off guard, crashing waves of sword qi smashed down on it!

Yan Zhichuan stood atop Cloudy shaped like a sword, Nameless Plainness gripped in her hand.

She raised it, and a brilliant sword beam bloomed, splintering into countless rays like shooting lightning. As they burst, the beams swirled back, converging like tidal waves from all sides.

It was the Suspended River and Four Convergences Sword Formation from the Sword of Nine Abyss.

Wherever the sword beams passed, they swept everything away like wind scattering clouds. The Demon Cultivator hadn’t expected Yan Zhichuan to be a Sword Cultivator too; it was struck squarely. Clusters of Demon Shadows dispersed, its true form tumbling out and slamming into the floor amid a cloud of dust.

“You—you—”

Yan Zhichuan didn’t let it finish before delivering another sword strike.

One blind fool after another. She’s heaven’s proud daughter, not some soft persimmon!

“Fellow Daoist, spare them under your sword,” the Short Daoist suddenly called out to stop her.

Zhan Yujie lowered her gaze to the Daoist, her eyes icy as if appraising.

Fearing she’d be lumped in with the Demon Cultivator, the Short Daoist hurriedly declared her origins to distance herself. “We’re from White Jade Capital. We ran into this thing halfway. It had a lamp that counters those eerie Demon Shadows, so we traveled together.” She paused, then added, “I’m not trying to save the Demon Cultivator—I just want to interrogate it for information. I know a thing or two about extraction.”

Chang Zhi muttered, “I hear White Jade Capital’s Hidden Dragon Division squeezes intel from blood.”

The White Jade Capital Daoists’ faces stiffened; they shot Chang Zhi a speechless glare.

Yan Zhichuan yanked off the Demon Cultivator’s Qiankun Pouch and kicked it over to the Short Daoist.

Sure enough, the pouch held a Demon-Luring Lamp.

Its light emitted a soft glow, as if it had devoured many Demon Shadows.

Yan Zhichuan hefted it in her hand. Still need four more.

The Demon Cultivator panicked at first when Yan Zhichuan took the Demon-Luring Lamp, but when she pulled out three more, it shifted to cold, repeated sneers.

Its voice didn’t last long before the two from White Jade Capital mercilessly dragged it away.

Zhan Yujie paid no mind to the White Jade Capital Daoists’ methods. She watched Yan Zhichuan, belatedly realizing how naturally her junior sister handled all this.

The Demon Disguise Pill could make a Xuanmen Daoist appear wreathed in demonic energy—perfect for infiltrating the Demon Sect, or framing and framing others.

If she’d used it on a Xuanmen Daoist… no crying foul then.

Zhan Yujie tugged at her lips, but couldn’t smile.

She sent a voice transmission. “Junior sister, how many Demon Disguise Pills do you have left? Hard to refine?”

Yan Zhichuan replied, “A few remain. Not hard to refine, but the materials are Demon Creatures—hard to find once we leave the Three Ways River.” She paused, then cheekily added, “Senior sister, do you need some? Better to strike first when out in the world. Rather than wait for accusations, plant the evidence upfront!”

Zhan Yujie ground her molars. “No one’s accusing me.”

Yan Zhichuan glanced up at her, face screaming Really?

Not long ago, her senior sister had been framed by a stranger—her “fiancée.”

And failed family ties, failed friendships awaited.

Zhan Yujie earnestly warned, “Junior sister, use this medicine properly.”

Once they left the Three Ways River, she’d report to the Sect Leader—better to collect them all. Without Demon Creatures, no more refining anyway.

Yan Zhichuan nodded vigorously, eyes shining with sincere light. “I get it. Tell me who to feed it to, senior sister, and I will. No chance for anyone to frame you.”

Zhan Yujie: “…”

Mentally and physically exhausted, she wanted to say more, but seeing Yan Zhichuan’s radiant smile stirred deep bewilderment and helplessness.

In her eyes, I’m some terribly unlucky person.

Zhan Yujie opened her mouth, then after a long pause said, “Then listen to me from now on.”

Yan Zhichuan lit up. “Great! I’ll only listen to you, senior sister.”

Over there, Chang Zhi—mid-grooming Chang Buzhi’s feathers—overheard the odd exchange and glanced toward Yan Zhichuan.

On the Heaven-Penetrating Treasure Mirror, Zhan Yujie’s betrothal to Liu Yanqing had shattered, with rumors from Chongxu Sect unfavorable to Zhan Yujie.

Like, Zhan Yujie was cold-hearted, so Liu Yanqing had taken the wrong path.

Are they both no good? Does Zhan Yujie have someone else?

Chang Zhi startled itself with the thought and clamped a hand over its mouth.

Zhan Yujie couldn’t be like that.