Chapter 141: Deception

"Are you speaking of the same person? Would Huo Tangsheng really make a move against disciples of the Heaven Origin Sect?" Qu Yiwei asked with feigned astonishment.

Bai Shulan's face instantly flushed crimson, and she retorted, "Of course not! Senior Brother Huo is not that kind of person; he wouldn't stoop to such tactics."

Qu Yiwei's expression turned icy, her gaze sweeping sharply across her. "Therefore, he sent you to do it."

Several flower buds instantly encircled Bai Shulan as Jiang Shuangyan raised an eyebrow, her expression turning wrathful.

"Instead of trusting someone from the Profound Intent Sect, it would be wiser to heed the words of Mo Qingli's disciple for once. Speak! What exactly did Huo Tangsheng send you here to do?"

A single arrow-plum flower stood at a mere fraction of an inch from piercing the bridge of her delicate, exquisite nose.

Bai Shulan's heart hammered violently in her chest, beads of fine sweat breaking out across her smooth, fair forehead.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I didn't want to do this either..."

Disregarding the lethal plum blossoms surrounding her, Bai Shulan suddenly buried her face in her hands and burst into low, bitter sobs.

Jiang Shuangyan's vigilance lessened slightly as she shouted in a shrill voice, "I've long found that scoundrel Huo Tangsheng an eyesore! With that bewitching look of his, anyone can tell at a glance he's no good!"

Qu Yiwei's mouth twitched. Since when was physiognomy a thing in the immortal cultivation world?

You just can't stand him because he's always outshining you!

"I didn't want to do this... I didn't want to harm them... But... But..." Bai Shulan kept her head down, her voice choked with sobs.

"But what?" Jiang Shuangyan waved a delicate hand, recalling the majority of the plum blossom arrows, and took a few steps toward Bai Shulan.

"Don't!" Qu Yiwei had not expected Bai Shulan's tactic to completely disarm Jiang Shuangyan and make her lower her guard.

By the time she called out to stop her, Jiang Shuangyan had already withdrawn most of her encirclement.

A trace of a smile curved Bai Shulan's pink lips. Suddenly, she thrust both palms toward the approaching Jiang Shuangyan, and a mass of cyan-green mist erupted from her palms, instantly enveloping everyone within the cavern and blurring their vision until they could no longer see what was right in front of them.

"Oh no, it's corpse miasma!" Fei Zhongda shouted, swiftly sealing his breath.

At this moment, Yan Xi had already reincarnated and departed, while Little Yan deployed a barrier, enclosing Qu Yiwei within an isolated domain to protect her from the corpse miasma.

Jiang Shuangyan had believed she had thoroughly investigated Bai Shulan's background, but her own overconfidence caused her to face the poisonous palms directly. A wispy, chaotic black aura instantly surfaced on her jade-white face.

"Junior Sister!" Fei Zhongda cried out in alarm. He swept his wide sleeves to disperse the corpse miasma and rushed to her side, saying, "Junior Sister, you've been poisoned! Quickly sit cross-legged and force the corpse poison out of your body!"

With a chaotic breath and unsteady footing, Jiang Shuangyan spat, "Bai Shulan truly is a fine hound for Huo Tangsheng!"

"Junior Sister, say no more! Let's get out of here quickly! Cough, cough!" Amidst his emotional agitation, a wisp of corpse miasma slipped past Fei Zhongda's defenses, immediately tightening his chest with discomfort.

As soon as the cyan-green corpse poison mist was released, Bai Shulan vanished without a trace.

Qu Yiwei saw this clearly, yet she was unable to pursue her.

Mu Yunjin still required her care.

She could not abandon him within the Jade Spirit Secret Realm.

"Cough, cough, cough! Senior Sister, save me..."

"Senior Sister Jiang, Senior Brother Fei, don't leave me! I don't want to die yet!"

"Save me, someone save me!"

Within moments, several disciples of Dark Snail Peak had the misfortune of inhaling the corpse miasma. Thick, toxic green qi rampaged through their meridians, plunging them into excruciating agony.

Qu Yiwei immediately flicked the severed ice-colored silk ribbons. The two colorful ribbons moved at her command as smoothly as her own arms, instantly expanding into two giant nets that scooped up all the spreading toxic qi, swelling into giant, bloated spheres.

"Hurry and go! My magical artifact is damaged and cannot hold out for long!" Moving like a fluttering butterfly, Qu Yiwei escorted all the poisoned disciples out of the danger zone.

Catching sight of this as she was about to turn back to effect rescues, Jiang Shuangyan bit her lower lip and said, "Qu Yiwei, I, Jiang Shuangyan, will remember this debt."

"Junior Sister, let's go!" Recovering from his astonishment at Qu Yiwei's martial prowess, Fei Zhongda supported Jiang Shuangyan as they fled the cave.

A moment later.

Qu Yiwei flashed out of the cavern at lightning speed.

"Master, are you going after them?" Little Yan asked.

Qu Yiwei shook her head. "I have already told Jiang Shuangyan the truth. What to do next is their affair. Let's go find our Junior Apprentice Brother."

...

"Broken... It actually broke!"

Inside a secret chamber within the Profound Intent Sect, a power-wielding man in lavish robes opened his eyes.

Deng Jingying's gaze was bloodthirsty, resembling a man-eating beast in the dim light.

"The Blood Sealing Technique is a long-lost ancient demonic secret art. Exactly who has the ability to break this formation?"

"It seems I'll have to let them out ahead of schedule!"

...

Qu Yiwei placed the unconscious Mu Yunjin behind an unusual hillock of stones. He remained fast asleep, his entire body flushed and burning with intense heat.

"So he's a fire dragon, but why is he still burning up like this after taking human form?"

Qu Yiwei muttered to herself, retrieved a jade bottle filled with spirit spring water from her storage ring, and poured it down Mu Yunjin's throat.

"I hope the spirit spring water has some effect on you."

After finishing the bottle of spirit spring water, Mu Yunjin's body temperature seemed to drop by a few degrees.

Night descended, the firmament darkening like ink.

Qu Yiwei leaped up, settling into the fork of a tree to lie down, looking thoughtfully toward the place where she had escaped from the Taotie.

"Many of the Profound Intent Sect disciples used in the blood sacrifice were key talents heavily nurtured by their sect. Now that most of them have perished in this secret realm, even if they successfully escape the Jade Spirit Secret Realm later, the Heaven Origin Sect will not know peace."

"Where should I go from here... Father, Mother, where are you?"

Staring up at the dark, starless dome of heaven, she unconsciously lapsed into the state of enlightenment of the Ancient Yellow Star Transcendent Immortal Technique.

A vortex of spiritual energy surged wildly around her. The silent night sky whipped up a tempest of spiritual energy, reducing dead tree branches to powder.

It was as if she were the only person left in this heaven and earth.

...

While Qu Yiwei found the night too tranquil, the disciples of the Heaven Origin Sect and the Profound Intent Sect were still fleeing desperately for their lives.

"The Profound Intent Sect people are heading for the Dead Spirit Locking Array!" Xia Changhan observed, discerning their intent.

Wu Qiu immediately replied, "We'll follow them!"

"Agreed!" Qi Yongfeng nodded without objection.

By now, the conflict among the mountain peaks had escalated into a full-scale war between the two sects.

Facing life and death, everyone tacitly chose unity.

"Senior Brother Chi! Senior Brother Chi, what should we do?" However, there was always someone out of tune.

Throughout the journey, Qu Youyou kept chanting Chi Yushu's name.

Although Luo Yingying was also worried about Chi Yushu's safety, she grew utterly annoyed by Qu Youyou's incessant chatter and blurted out, "It is a blessing that Senior Brother Chi is not here! With his strength, unburdened by dead weight like us, he will find a way out sooner or later! You'd better worry about yourself instead!"

"Y-You... Who are you calling dead weight?" Qu Youyou felt those words were a veiled insult directed straight at her.

Running alongside the group, Luo Yingying shrugged. "I'm not aiming at you in particular. I mean everyone present here is dead weight!"