Bo Xuenong nodded. “Alright, to the Ji Clan.”
As Bo Xuenong prepared to follow Ji Caiyan, Feng Yingbo glanced at the red sickle not far away and tugged at Ji Caiyan. “Caiyan, this cage is clearly aimed at Xu Hongyong. Aren’t you going to check on your fiancé?”
“Shishu Feng!” Ji Caiyan’s voice suddenly rose sharply, her face twisting slightly. “What kind of thing is he? His life or death has nothing to do with me. A man who kills his wife and daughter—how could he be anything good? He deserves to die.”
Seeing Ji Caiyan angry, Feng Yingbo quickly let go.
She muttered in an extremely soft voice, “I was just saying…”
Ji Caiyan would not truly get angry at Feng Yingbo. Feng Yingbo’s compassion was not for that Xu Hongyong but for the statues filling the courtyard—each containing a living person. But if they tried to save them, those people would only die faster.
Shen Yanting had not said to intervene, so Bo Xuenong certainly would not invite trouble.
Ji Caiyan recalibrated the direction. “That way.”
They had just taken a step with Ji Caiyan leading Bo Xuenong and the others when Bo Xuenong suddenly sensed a burst of sword qi flying toward them. She stepped forward to shield Shen Yanting, her left hand reaching out to yank Ji Caiyan’s arm, pulling her sharply behind her. Her right arm, glowing faintly, blocked in front of her chest.
With a sharp “clang,” a longsword tore open a rift in the air and clashed against a cyan-green longsword, the dispersing sword qi tearing a gash across the back of Bo Xuenong’s hand.
That cyan-green longsword was Feng Yingbo’s Mist Willow Sword. Her lifebound sword lacked Bo Xuenong’s defect and had been drawn the instant danger was detected.
The moment the sword qi collided with the Mist Willow Sword, Feng Yingbo pressed her palm outward against the blade and shoved the Mist Willow Sword forward forcefully.
The Mist Willow Sword glowed with a soft luster in her hand, appearing gentle yet unstoppable as it forced open the rift that had suddenly appeared before them and vanished just as quickly.
Feng Yingbo tossed the Mist Willow Sword into the rift. It disappeared quickly as well, but from the movements of her fingers, it was clear the Mist Willow Sword was battling an unseen foe in a place they could not see. Bo Xuenong had just been about to draw her own lifebound sword when a familiar cold aura suddenly bit into her back.
Bo Xuenong whipped around, her arms guarding her chest. Sure enough, in the next instant, an identical thin rift appeared before her.
A longsword probed out from the thin rift but was suddenly intercepted by Shen Yanting before it could touch Bo Xuenong.
Shen Yanting pinched the sword tip between two fingers and yanked backward sharply. The tiny rift before them instantly enlarged, vaguely revealing a human figure moving inside.
The figure seemed unwilling to emerge and kept retreating.
Seeing she could not win the sword back from Shen Yanting, it simply abandoned the sword in her hand.
Bo Xuenong would not give her a chance to escape. With quick reflexes, she flung out her sleeve. The long sleeve wrapped perfectly around the person’s arm. She tightened it and yanked backward forcefully. The person’s body swayed.
Ji Caiyan hurriedly joined in, but unexpectedly, the person inside had freakish strength. Even with both of them pulling, they could not drag her out.
Shen Yanting lowered her voice and murmured, “Body cultivator.”
She formed a hand seal and slapped it toward the thin rift. The rift suddenly revealed its true form—a barrier formed from layers of stacked black mist that evaded sight, concealing the person inside and allowing attacks from the shadows.
After the barrier was exposed, it quickly dissipated, revealing the true appearance of the person within.
It was actually a young girl—and one very familiar to all of them.
Chen Zhou.
Meanwhile, Feng Yingbo failed to tear through the barrier, but the person she faced was clearly not as formidable as Chen Zhou and did not possess infinite strength as a body cultivator. At this point, she had already forced her opponent out with the Mist Willow Sword. Unexpectedly, the one inside was also an acquaintance—it was Ge Qiqin, who had attempted to assassinate Ji Caiyan a few days earlier.
Feng Yingbo was usually soft-hearted, but she showed no mercy against enemies.
Ge Qiqin’s clothes were all torn, with wounds even on her face and neck. She looked utterly disheveled.
She curled up on the ground, instinctively trying to cover her face.
Before she could successfully shield her face, Bo Xuenong’s voice rang out: “Third Senior Sister.”
Those three words exposed Ge Qiqin’s identity, forcing her to confront them.
Ge Qiqin lowered her hands that had been trying to cover her face and glared resentfully at Ji Caiyan: “Why didn’t you die?”
“So it was indeed you and Chen Zhou who tried to assassinate me that day.” Ji Caiyan leaned closer to Bo Xuenong and looked coldly at Ge Qiqin: “If Eldest Senior Sister hadn’t saved me, I really would have died at your hands.”
Upon hearing that Bo Xuenong had saved Ji Caiyan, Ge Qiqin’s resentful gaze shifted to her: “Eldest Senior Sister, she is your junior sister, but am I not? Don’t you and Elder Shen pride yourselves on being the orthodox inheritors of immortal cultivation? You claim to save the world and pity the weak, so why save such a vicious little person?”
“Who are you calling vicious?” Ji Caiyan snapped sharply: “These years in the Imperial Serenity Sect, I’ve treated you well, yet you’ve tried to assassinate me multiple times and now turn around to slander me as vicious. Ge Qiqin, have you no shame!”
“You stole someone’s husband and caused my mother’s miserable death. Your Ji Clan helped Xu Hongyong hide the truth and aided a tyrant!” Ge Qiqin’s eyes turned blood-red, her raised voice like a shrill bird’s cry—hoarse and piercing, as if it could rupture eardrums, filled with intense hatred and a determination to perish together: “You’re the vicious one! Your Ji Clan is shameless! I want all of you dead!”
A burst of black qi spread from Ge Qiqin, expanding at an alarming speed.
Along with the black qi came an abnormally foul stench of rotting flesh.
The odor filled their nostrils. Bo Xuenong furrowed her brow and immediately covered Shen Yanting’s nose with her hand.
Shen Yanting pushed Bo Xuenong’s hand away.
She pushed her.
Shen Yanting pushed her.
How could Shen Yanting push her?
An inexplicable sense of grievance flooded her heart, making Bo Xuenong feel that something was off.
Before Bo Xuenong could react, Shen Yanting’s voice drifted over: “Xuenong, don’t be bewitched.”
Bo Xuenong’s mind blurred only for an instant before clarity returned swiftly.
Forget pushing her—even if Shen Yanting hit her, it would be justified.
The aura emanating from Ge Qiqin seemed capable of bewitching hearts, making people’s emotions sink into anxiety and easily stirring up resentment. Ye Zhiyao, already afflicted by demonic breath, felt it most acutely. The moment it enveloped her, she charged toward Shen Yanting: “Senior Sister, can you give me your face? You definitely would be willing, right?”
“…”
Only then did Bo Xuenong understand that the evil in Ye Zhiyao’s heart was not mere lust, but an obsession with beauty.
This explained why Ye Zhiyao’s demonic breath only targeted female cultivators.
Ji Caiyan was also somewhat affected. A vine shot out from behind her, tightly wrapping around Ye Zhiyao’s waist. The thorns on the vine pierced Ye Zhiyao’s skin at the waist, and bright red blood slid down the Ghost Moon Vine, dripping down drop by drop.
Perhaps influenced by that unique aura,
Bo Xuenong suddenly found Ye Zhiyao’s blood exceptionally fragrant. It had been a long time since she last sensed such a sweet aroma.
After breaking through to nascent soul, Bo Xuenong had only felt blood smelled particularly appealing right after the breakthrough. Afterward, whenever Shen Yanting was nearby, she first noticed the cold fragrance on Shen Yanting, which overshadowed the blood scent that best satisfied her bloodline’s greed. Today, however, that fragrance was overpowering.
“Shishu, your blood smells so good.” Bo Xuenong involuntarily drew closer to Ye Zhiyao, her throat rolling unconsciously: “Shishu, can I eat you?”
“No.”
Two voices of refusal sounded simultaneously—one from Ji Caiyan, the other from Shen Yanting.
Bo Xuenong was quickly pulled back to Shen Yanting’s side. Inhaling that familiar cold fragrance, her muddled mind gained brief clarity again. She hugged Shen Yanting’s arm and murmured: “Master, you smell good too.”
Seeing Bo Xuenong distance herself from Ye Zhiyao, Ji Caiyan let out a heavy sigh of relief.
She knew there was an issue with Bo Xuenong’s bloodline and hurriedly said: “Senior Sister, if you want to drink blood, I can find someone more…”
Before she could say “suitable,” Ji Caiyan was met with a fierce glare from Shen Yanting.
Ji Caiyan immediately fell silent, shrinking back and not daring to utter another word.
“M-Master…” Bo Xuenong’s mind blurred again. She hugged Shen Yanting’s arm and let out two pained murmurs.
Perhaps because Ye Zhiyao carried demonic breath, and Bo Xuenong’s bloodline also harbored it, that aura affected them the most.
Though Ji Caiyan’s bloodline contained demonic breath too, it also had divine breath that neutralized it, making her the least affected by the aura from Ge Qiqin. Feng Jin and Feng Yingbo experienced brief lapses, but she and Shen Yanting remained exceptionally clear-headed.
