As dusk turned to night, Yun Liu returned to his temporary residence in the separate courtyard on Penglai Island.
The moment one foot stepped inside, something felt off.
A faint metallic scent of blood drifted from the dimly lit inner chamber, accompanied by an elusive, sinister spiritual breath.
The warning of danger made his hair stand on end.
Yun Liu instinctively moved to retreat and exit the room, but a sudden chill grazed the back of his neck.
Narrowing his eyes, he saw hair-thin red threads crisscrossing the entire space, forming a heavenly net and earthly snare.
He had unknowingly walked straight into a trap?
The threads were compressed from thick spiritual power, razor-sharp—any misstep would mean a head rolling.
A trap?
Yun Liu’s heart tightened, though confusion outweighed fear.
The person behind this web possessed cultivation far beyond Foundation Establishment.
Moreover, they seemed to understand both him and Yudu quite well, having lain in wait inside the Sundial Immortal Mansion for his arrival.
“No need to be nervous, Mr. Yun.”
At that moment, a second voice sounded in the room, unraveling the mystery.
Who?
Already caught between advancing and retreating, Yun Liu made a guess.
Gritting his teeth, he simply closed the door behind him without alerting the Shadow Sentries.
The soft female voice sounded weak and exhausted.
She clearly knew him, yet it felt strangely unfamiliar.
Fortunately, there was no hostility or killing intent from her side.
The blood threads were merely her defensive perimeter.
“Where is Yu Steward?”
“Last night the royal capital descended into utter chaos and complete paralysis. The Shanhai Pavilion branch also had quite a mess to clean up.”
Yun Liu shook his head, raised both hands to signal that no outsiders were present, and only then did the other party relax, withdrawing the heavenly net woven from blood threads.
“I’m sorry. I failed. This time it was my negligence.”
The voice in the darkness apologized first, sounding genuinely ashamed and shouldering all the blame.
After such a long-laid plan, subduing the Vermilion Bird had failed at the very last step—she could not escape responsibility.
Yun Liu’s eyes brightened as he quietly let out a breath of relief.
It was that demonic woman.
What audacity—to dare flee back to Yudu at a time like this and hide right under the noses of a crowd of right-path cultivators.
But judging from her tone… his own role as a double agent still hadn’t been exposed?
“It’s you. What happened?”
Yun Liu calmly approached the bedroom.
The bloody smell in the inner chamber grew even sharper, a testament to how brutal the battle Ao Tian had glossed over truly was.
Ling Tong had failed to subdue the Fallen Golden Crow, and Ji Xingshu had failed to eliminate the root of the problem.
Both sides had failed, yet the price each paid differed greatly.
Old Mother Ji’s avatar had merely exhausted its spiritual power and temporarily withdrawn, while Ling Tong had narrowly escaped death.
Cough cough…
“Just a small injury. Thanks to the Sacred Fire’s protection, I’m not dead yet.”
Curling up on the bed, Ling Tong struggled to sit up, only to vomit another mouthful of blood onto the floor.
Her voice was filled with pain.
By the moonlight, Yun Liu saw the mysterious woman huddled into a ball.
Her face was covered by black gauze, stained heavily with blood.
He slowly lifted the quilt, and his expression immediately changed.
The woman’s beautiful body was covered in wounds, her clothes in tatters, the bedsheets long since soaked crimson.
Hiss.
This was far beyond “a small injury.”
A quick glance revealed her Qi Sea withered, large sections of meridians damaged—the severity even threatened her Jade Palace Spirit Foundation.
At this moment, even an ordinary Golden Core cultivator might be able to kill this Nascent Soul demonic cultivator!
Yun Liu’s heart raced, temptation stirring within him.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to deliver the finishing blow!
Ao Tian and Ji Xingshu had come so close to killing the Soul Capturing Banner Master—who could have imagined she wouldn’t suspect the mastermind and would actually escape back here, handing them an opportunity for redemption?
A head delivered right to the door.
What now?
Should he find a chance to call people over and hack this demonic woman to pieces?
Letting a tiger return to the mountain would invite endless trouble.
If news of the false Holy Son leaked, the disguise would eventually crumble.
She wasn’t just any Soul Capturing Banner Master—how could an ordinary Nascent Soul demonic cultivator escape from Ji Xingshu’s grasp…?
Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse.
Recalling Ao Tian’s words, Yun Liu—still merely a weak Foundation Establishment cultivator—calmed down in moments.
He suppressed those unrealistic impulses, played along, and probed further.
Yun Liu took out a medicine case, mixed some spiritual medicine, and roughly treated the visible external wounds before speaking gravely, “The moment I saw the sun rise again, I knew something had gone wrong on your side. How did this happen? In East Pole Province, aside from those few reclusive old monsters, who could possibly injure you so badly?”
“Ji! Shi! Yu!”
Ling Tong clutched her chest and spat out the three words, her eyes fixed intently on the white-robed youth, missing not the slightest flicker of oddity.
“What? On what basis…? That child has always been by my side!”
Yun Liu let out a startled cry, looking shocked and bewildered.
Ling Tong remained silent for a moment.
Finding no flaw, she lowered her head and once more went over her one-sided deduction.
“Not Ji Shiyu herself, but someone with countless ties to her! If I guessed correctly, the Sword Sect cauldron furnace you reserved is far from as simple as it appears.”
“In the worst case, she already saw through Madam Jing Rui’s true intentions long ago—even realized I was the fake princess. She’s been playing the pig to eat the tiger, toying with us the entire time, only striking to obstruct at the very last moment!”
“Such a thing is possible!?”
Yun Liu’s face paled, outwardly displaying shock and uncertainty.
Inside, however, he had to expend great effort to keep from bursting into laughter.
As expected of you, my dear daughter!
With Old Mother Ji’s failure, in Ling Tong’s eyes Ji Shiyu had now become a deeply hidden, ruthless figure.
This pot could only be carried by her.
“It’s not just you—even I misjudged her and nearly never made it back. Ji Shiyu is from Tianxian Star Palace, likely the descendant of some supreme existence. Behind her stands a Refining Void realm expert. No wonder her background is so mysterious and her strange techniques and treasures emerge one after another.”
To be toyed with so thoroughly by a pretend-innocent blonde brat, nearly perishing here—Ling Tong was furious beyond measure.
“Refining Void!?”
Yun Liu held his chin, his expression shifting between light and shadow as though worried his identity would be exposed and all prior arrangements would collapse.
“Relax. From what I can see now, she hasn’t reached that level of intelligence yet—she hasn’t seen through your disguise. Otherwise you would have died before me. How could you possibly still be her master and disciple?”
Ling Tong weakly leaned against Yun Liu’s shoulder, whispering comfort as she let the youth continue tending her wounds.
“Makes sense. This time… she wins!”
Soft warmth and fragrance in his arms, seemingly without any defenses.
Yun Liu gritted his teeth, suppressing all sorts of tempting thoughts—poison, sneak attack, and more.
Even now he still didn’t know the true identity of this demonic woman using the alias Ling Tong and the skin of Jing Tan’er.
He dared not act rashly without understanding her depths.
Just a small side mission—the Sorrow of a Fallen Nation—yet the villains involved were terrifyingly formidable!
“Your injuries are too severe. With my current level in the Path of Alchemy, I cannot fully heal you—I can only suppress them somewhat. What do you plan to do next, Banner Master?”
Yun Liu sighed, took out a Spirit Return Pill, and brought it to Ling Tong’s lips.
She extended her tongue to draw it in, even playfully licking his finger before exhaling a warm breath against the youth’s ear.
“Thank you, Holy Son. Right now the most dangerous place is also the safest. I still need to rely on your status to help me escape East Pole Province and board a ship across the Boundless Sea.”
“That’s not difficult. Canghai and I go back a long way—no one dares inspect the ferries at Penglai Island.”
With that, Yun Liu walked toward the door but did not leave.
Instead he set up several simple protective formations to isolate the room from the outside.
“Rest well for now. I’ll stand guard here for you.”
Ling Tong was momentarily stunned, then nodded.
The cold glint in her eyes instantly vanished.
Toward this Holy Son who had appeared out of nowhere, she had harbored suspicions as well.
Just now the two of them had traded superb acting performances.
Had Yun Liu shown the slightest slip—or tried to find an excuse to leave and call others—the outcome would have been a dead end.