Lu Qiancha rubbed her chin thoughtfully, weighing the small, black Destruction Mushroom in her palm.
It seemed that besides its passive landmine mode, this thing could also be used as an actively thrown grenade.
Unfortunately, the snow rabbit from earlier was too weak, so it was impossible to test the true limit of its power.
Next time, she’d have to find a powerful fierce beast as a target in order to truly assess its combat value.
She suppressed the urge to test it for now, her figure transforming into a streak of flowing light as she soared skyward, speeding toward Shui Xian Palace.
She hadn’t forgotten—today she’d made plans to go shopping with Xunxue, and she still needed to remember to bring back some unique Northern Region Frozen Pear Preserves and Snow Lotus Pastries for her master and junior sisters.
***
On the other side, inside the Yangxin Hall, the atmosphere was heavy.
Ling Muxue stood ramrod straight in the center of the hall, a storm of undisguised murderous intent and ferocity surging in the depths of her eyes. She dropped to one knee and gave a hurried military salute.
“Imperial Father! Please assign an elite unit of Imperial Guards to me. I want to personally arrest Mufeng and bring him to justice!”
Ling Ze sat upright above, his gaze calmly sweeping over his daughter’s nearly out-of-control expression, his voice emotionless. “Arrest him? With what means? Do you even know where that fiend is now?”
“…I do not, Father.”
Ling Muxue pressed her lips tightly together.
“Then do you know what his current cultivation is?” Ling Ze continued to press, his tone growing heavier.
“Peak Unity Realm… probably?” Ling Muxue’s voice was tinged with uncertainty.
“Probably?!”
Ling Ze’s brows furrowed instantly as he rebuked her sternly, “When it comes to intelligence, how can you use words like ‘probably’?! Either it is, or it is not! Vague answers only harm yourself and others!”
Ling Muxue’s body trembled slightly. She gritted her teeth and said, “Peak Unity Realm! I… I’ve investigated his aura before.”
“Heh…” Ling Ze let out a short, cold laugh, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
“Naive. That fiend has already taken Nirvana Elixir—his power has certainly increased! What makes you so sure he’s still at Peak Unity Realm?!”
Ling Muxue was rendered speechless, bowing her head in shame. “I… truly do not know the depth of his current strength.”
“If you do not know his strength, and do not know his whereabouts,”
Ling Ze’s voice suddenly grew louder, adopting an instructive tone as he addressed Ling Muxue.
“How can you speak so rashly about arresting him? Ling Muxue, how can you act so recklessly and impulsively? You must consider not only your own safety, but also all those around you who care for you and rely on you!”
He paused, the pressure in his tone growing heavier. “Think well—if you misjudge his strength and act rashly, dying at the hands of that fiend… how much pain would I feel?”
“And your grandmother… her white hair sending off the black-haired, having just endured the pain of losing her son—how could she bear to lose you as well?!”
His words were like heavy hammers, striking mercilessly at Ling Muxue’s heart.
Ling Ze gazed at her deeply, saying no more, but the profound disappointment in his eyes was even more suffocating than any rebuke.
“Imperial Father! But, but Grandmother can’t wait any longer!” Ling Muxue was frantic, her voice choked with tears.
“If we have to start from scratch searching for clues, how could Grandmother possibly last until then?!”
Hearing his daughter’s words—so fixated on time, yet completely lacking in strategy—the last trace of hope in Ling Ze’s heart was utterly extinguished.
Originally, he had intended to groom Ling Muxue as his successor. But now, it seemed she was unfit for great responsibility—restless in temperament, lacking in planning, acting out of emotion…
This position, in the end, could not be handed to her.
He sighed deeply within, forcibly suppressing the swelling tide of disappointment and helplessness. He stood, turning his back to Ling Muxue, his voice resuming its usual steadiness.
“Enough. I have already found his trail for you.”
He gestured toward the desk. “Take the Tiger Tally and go to the Eastern Pavilion to dispatch a team of Anwei. Go now.”
Ling Muxue jerked her head up, eyes bursting with disbelief and overwhelming joy. Grandmother could be saved! The blood debt of Zhuzi and Xiaoshan could be avenged!
“Thank you for your grace, Imperial Father!” She bowed deeply, her voice trembling with excitement. “Your child will go at once to capture that villain!”
Before she finished speaking, she had already snatched up the Tiger Tally and rushed out of the Yangxin Hall without a backward glance.
Only Ling Ze was left alone in the great hall.
He watched the direction his daughter had vanished, his upright figure seeming exceptionally lonely and desolate within the vast, empty hall.
His eldest son had no aspiration to rule, his second son loved only pleasure and had already been marked as unfit to rule, and his third son was still a child, unable even to take human form, let alone seize authority.
The eldest was heartless, the second incompetent, the third still a child… and now, even this daughter who once held the most promise…
Ling Ze shook his head slowly. Even the yellow-black Imperial Robe seemed to have lost its color, emanating an indescribable exhaustion and desolation.
***
In a remote, abandoned courtyard, Mufeng abruptly halted, a surge of intense unease seizing him.
This place was adjacent to the bustling Western District of the royal city, yet at this moment, it was as silent as a grave.
Even the sound of wind brushing over scattered stones could be heard clearly.
It was too quiet—eerily quiet.
Alarm bells clanged in his heart. He drew the dazzling Ziwu Mandarin-Axe with a swift motion, his vast spiritual sense surging out in all directions like an invisible tide.
But he found nothing.
Within a hundred-zhang radius, he could not sense even the faintest trace of a living being.
Cold sweat instantly soaked Mufeng’s back, a chill shooting straight from his spine to the crown of his head.
Without hesitation, his figure slipped like a ghost toward the nearest shadow, trying to melt into the darkness.
Just as he was about to vanish—
A deadly chill exploded from his chest without warning.
Mufeng’s pupils contracted. Relying on instincts honed by countless life-and-death struggles, he twisted his body into an impossible angle.
Hiss!
A jet-black, deathly spear light shot past his ribs, piercing a massive boulder behind him in an instant.
“Tsk, your reactions aren’t slow.”
A cold voice sounded.
From the shadows, a wolf tribe man clad in black armor slowly stepped out, black hair like ink, his body wreathed in an icy, murderous aura—he was a squad captain among the Anwei of the Eastern Pavilion.
“Late-stage Ascendant?”
Mufeng’s face changed dramatically, shock and fury warring within him. “Damn it, to be caught at this final juncture!”
The last medicinal power of the Nirvana Elixir hadn’t been fully absorbed yet—meeting a strong foe now was disastrous.
Ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
Without hesitation, he swung the Mandarin-Axe, sending a razor-sharp blade light slicing through the air toward his opponent, even as his figure shot in the opposite direction like lightning.
Yet—
“Crack—crack crack—!”
Icy cold instantly spread up from his feet. A layer of crystalline ice, harder than fine steel, trapped his legs on the spot with blinding speed.
He stiffly twisted his head inch by inch. In the wind and snow, that all-too-familiar figure—Ling Muxue—stood holding a Command Talisman that emanated a ghostly blue chill, her gaze fixed coldly on him.
“Mu Xue…”
“Xue… why? I was the one who saved you… have you forgotten everything between us…”
Mufeng’s eyes turned instantly tender and agonized, his voice brimming with emotion, attempting to play on Ling Muxue’s feelings, to rouse her desire and thereby awaken the near-dead Love Gu within her.
“Form the array! Seal him!”
The Anwei squad captain barked a sharp order. Several figures flashed to surround Mufeng, quickly forming a mysterious hand seal. Vast spiritual power poured into Ling Muxue’s freezing force.
Ling Muxue’s knuckles turned white from gripping the Command Talisman so tightly.
She bit her lip hard, completely ignoring Mufeng’s false, sentimental pleas, pouring all her spiritual power into the Command Talisman.
Mufeng’s pleas were abruptly cut off, despair freezing in his eyes like a tangible substance.
The biting cold raced along his body, thickening rapidly—within the blink of an eye, he was transformed into a lifelike ice statue, cold air still emanating from it.
“Take him away. Deliver him to Shui Xian Palace, to Lu Qiancha.” Ling Muxue’s voice was as cold as eternal ice, without a shred of emotion.
She did not even spare a glance at the ice statue, her figure already becoming a streak of flowing light as she sped toward Shui Xian Palace.