Chapter 4: When You’re a Spy, Of Course You Need a Persona Everyone Likes

Still… how am I supposed to return to the Primordial Chaos Sect?

After leaving the Supreme Pleasure Sect, Yan Ling pressed onward toward the Primordial Chaos Sect while worrying secretly.

Everyone out there knows I was captured by Evil Cultivators of the Devil Path. If I just stroll back completely unharmed, won’t that look way too suspicious?

She walked and pondered for an entire day without coming up with any good idea.

Just as she was fretting, Hua Wanlou’s sweet, syrupy voice drifted gently out of the emergency contact Jade Slip like clinging vines. “Little one~ I know what you’re worried about. Don’t fret, Big Sister has already arranged everything. Next, all you have to do is follow my script and put on a grand show, and you’ll be invited safely back to the Primordial Chaos Sect~”

“Put on a show? What kind of show?”

“Heehee~ You’ll find out in a moment~”

No sooner had Hua Wanlou’s playful laugh faded than Yan Ling’s vision went black, struck by an irresistible wave of drowsiness.

Before losing consciousness, she vaguely caught sight of a wrinkled old hag standing before her, beaming with a creepy smile.

“This little girl looks like she has decent aptitude. If I take her back and offer her to Lord Flower Immortal, he’ll surely reward me with the spirit nectar that restores youth!!”

Three days later, atop an Altar piled high with white bones, malice and the stench of blood hung thick in the air.

“Behave yourselves! Try to run and I’ll whip your legs broken!”

Several masked men barked harshly with leather whips in hand, brutally herding a group of young boys and girls dressed in plain white sacrificial robes toward the platform at the Altar’s edge.

Beneath the platform grew an utterly bizarre giant flower.

Shaped like an epiphyllum, it towered over two stories tall. Layers of petals unfurled like dark purple silk skirts, and at the flower’s heart gaped a pitch-black maw lined with tens of thousands of writhing, jagged teeth. A single glance was enough to make one’s scalp go numb, to say nothing of being shredded and crushed by those fangs.

Smelling the putrid stench wafting straight into their faces, the Sacrificial Offerings were already scared out of their wits. They wept and wailed, snot and tears running down their faces as they shoved frantically toward the back of the crowd, terrified of being pushed off the platform next.

At that moment of desperate panic, a clear, righteous voice suddenly sliced through the grim air.

“Let go of that girl! Let me go instead!”

Yan Ling stepped forward briskly, shielding the girl standing at the very front who was just moments away from falling off the platform.

This very place was the stage the Supreme Pleasure Sect had tailored specifically for Yan Ling: a living sacrifice Altar where Evil Cultivators fed living people to a demon flower to extract Spirit Qi for cultivation.

According to the plan, she only needed to pretend to be captured and wait for the Primordial Chaos Sect’s Demon-Extermination Squad to swoop in and rescue her, allowing her to return to the sect naturally and without a single flaw.

Still, operating on the principle of making the most of being here, Yan Ling decided to add a little extra flair to her performance.

Because based on the Supreme Pleasure Sect’s intelligence, she knew that the girl she was currently shielding—despite deliberately smearing mud across her cheeks—hid an irrepressible spiritual light in her eyes. She was the inside agent planted here by the Primordial Chaos Sect to breach the Evil Cultivator’s Cave Abode.

Since I’m already here, Yan Ling figured she might as well fleece some emotional energy off this immortal sect disciple to draw a card.

After all, she was a mere Mortal right now and couldn’t afford to miss any chance to improve herself.

Besides, establishing a kind, warmhearted saintess persona would also be hugely beneficial for her future Spy activities.

It was two birds with one stone—she’d be crazy not to do it.

Sure enough, the girl shielded behind Yan Ling gripped her hand tightly. “Little sister! You look a bit younger than me. Dying here would be far too tragic. Let me go first as the offering.”

“Miss, you’re mistaken.” Yet Yan Ling merely shook her head with a resolute expression, putting on the look of someone with nothing left to live for. “My life is already worthless. Let me go first. Perhaps once this flower eats its fill, it might spare you for a while…”

The girl panicked immediately. According to the plan, she was supposed to be the first Sacrificial Offering. If a hostage died before she did, her contribution points for this mission would be docked heavily!

Even more astonishingly, she suddenly realized the girl before her didn’t seem like a mere innocent bystander—she looked weirdly familiar!

Wait! Isn’t this the sect’s missing Prospective True Disciple? So she was kidnapped and brought here?!

Ding~ [System Notification: Host successfully provoked strong astonishment and moderate admiration in the target, drawing [Low-Grade Spirit Qi Talisman Card]*1 (Note: Contains the Spirit Qi of one Spirit Stone).]

Hehe, she took the bait~

Elated by the reward, Yan Ling gloated inwardly. Rushing to her death like that—sure enough, she’s the insider sent by the Primordial Chaos Sect. All that acting wasn’t for nothing. Though this reward is way too stingy! Just one Low-Grade Spirit Stone? Is it because she’s too weak and doesn’t have anything good on her?

Looks like I’ll need to target big shots when I fleece people from now on.

Yet right while Yan Ling was grumbling about the girl’s strength, she suddenly felt a strong tug on her wrist. Her vision blurred, and she was yanked sharply aside.

Immediately afterward, the girl in moon-white robes leaped forward, diving headfirst straight into the Epiphyllum Demon’s gaping, bloody maw.

Crunch… crunch…

The Epiphyllum Demon snapped its petals shut, its vines twitching wildly as if chewing on a particularly tough piece of gristle.

Such a bizarre sight immediately set the guards whispering among themselves.

“Hey, hey, are those two crazy? First time I’ve ever seen offerings fighting over who gets to die first.”

“Who cares, saves us the trouble. We just need to keep watch. If even one escapes, the Old Ancestor will feed us to the Flower Demon.”

“What a shame, though. Pretty little chicks like that, only to look at and not touch, just handed over for free to that Flower Demon. Urgh!”

Suddenly, before the last guard’s lecherous daydream could even finish, his face went deathly pale. His body stiffened, and he collapsed straight onto the ground.

His companions looked over in terror, only to see a gleaming white Flying Sword silently piercing the back of his heart, the Primordial Chaos Emblem on its sword tassel glowing with a cold, sharp light.

“Enemy attack!”

The remaining guards roared in alarm, scrambling to draw their weapons and Magic Treasures into defensive stances.

Yet more than a dozen figures dressed in matching cyan robes shot out from behind the surrounding village cottages like arrows loosed from a bow. With robes fluttering, they instantly encircled the entire Altar, radiating fierce killing intent.

Only then did the old Daoist sitting high in the host’s seat—who had kept his eyes closed in meditation the whole time—slowly lift his gaze. There wasn’t a trace of fear in his eyes as his mouth twisted into a sinister grin, letting out a raspy, eerie chuckle. “You sanctimonious hypocrites really are irritating. Hounding me over and over without end—even if you aren’t sick of it, this old Daoist is.”

“Daoist Bloodwood, today is the day you die!” the black-clad Cultivator at the front barked coldly, raising a hand. “Form the array!”

At his command, the disciples raised their swords toward the sky in unison. Streaks of pale cyan Sword Qi roared skyward, weaving and interlocking in midair into an airtight net of Sword Qi that completely sealed off the space above the Altar.

“The Seamless Heavenly Robe Formation?” Daoist Bloodwood glanced mildly at the airtight Formation Array, his lips curling with disdain. “Too bad this old man never takes the sky road. Earth Escape: Flower-Digging Technique!”

As the last word fell, his fingers blurred as he formed a spell seal.

At the same time, the Epiphyllum Demon abruptly clamped its petals together, its edges transforming into razor-sharp, saw-toothed gears. With a deafening roar, it spun furiously like a giant tunnel-boring machine, twisting down to plunge violently into the earth. Dirt and rocks sprayed into the air, churning like waves.

In the blink of an eye, it was about to burrow underground and vanish without a trace.

Suddenly—

Screech!

A shrill, agonizing wail erupted from the Flower Demon’s mouth. Its burrowing momentum froze abruptly, and the vines around its body thrashed violently before locking completely still.

“What’s going on?!” Daoist Bloodwood’s composure shattered instantly, his face filling with panic.

“This time, you won’t escape!” The black-clad Cultivator had already anticipated this. Slowly raising his sword, he barked out an order. “Disciples of the Primordial Chaos Sect, kill every Evil Cultivator without mercy!”

At his command, the Primordial Chaos disciples charged at the Evil Cultivator lackeys.

The two sides were already mismatched in strength. These Evil Cultivators had only escaped repeatedly before thanks to the Flower Demon’s bizarre burrowing art. Now that their trump card was crippled, cries of agony rang out one after another, and within moments they were all cut down.

In the blink of an eye, Daoist Bloodwood was left completely alone, struggling desperately to parry left and right as his defeat became inevitable. With one momentary lapse, the black-clad Cultivator sliced clean across his throat!

Thud.

As the withered corpse hit the ground, this Evil Cultivator who had plagued the region for so long breathed his last.

“Hmph, did you really think you could evade my Primordial Chaos Sect’s pursuit forever?” The black-clad Cultivator stepped past the corpse, then swung his sword to split open the still-twitching Flower Demon.

The instant the petals parted, a tattered, blood-soaked figure emerged—none other than the girl who had leaped into the flower first. She had jammed a short bronze-coin sword squarely into the vital hinge where the Flower Demon’s teeth met.

“Xia Yinxi, you did very well this time.” The black-clad Cultivator sheathed his sword, his tone full of praise. “It’s all thanks to you risking your life to slip inside the Flower Demon and lock it down. Otherwise, who knows how many more innocent civilians he would have escaped to harm.”

“Martial Uncle flatters me.” The girl staggered out of the giant flower’s body, cupping her fists weakly toward the black-clad Cultivator. “The greatest credit still belongs to Martial Uncle. If you hadn’t slain the Evil Cultivator in time, this disciple would have died sooner or later. I dare not claim the primary merit.”

Martial Uncle nodded with an approving look, then waved a hand, sending two lustrous Elixir Pills floating before her. “Take this Origin-Recovery Pill first. Your injuries aren’t light.”

After Xia Yinxi swallowed one, a soft glow rippled across her body, and her wounds began healing at a visible pace.

Then, with a lively flick of her eyes, she neither swallowed the second pill nor kept it in reserve.

Instead, she held it out before Yan Ling with a gentle smile. “I’m really sorry about earlier. I was in such a rush that I hurt your wrist, didn’t I? So you take this Elixir Pill, Junior Sister Yan Ling~”