Yunyin Realm, Baiyou Pavilion.
"boom!"
A silk thread suddenly broke, and then a puppet's head rolled to the ground, making a crisp sound.
Hearing the noise, the servant knelt down in front of the door and begged for forgiveness, "Please forgive me, sir! I didn't mean to disturb you!"
As he spoke in panic, the puppet's head rolled along the ground and finally landed beside his knees.
Because of this, the servant's body trembled uncontrollably, and he was filled with fear, fearing that he would suffer the same fate as the puppet before him.
The carved features on the puppet's head were lifelike, but the face, which should have been lively and bright, was gradually turning gray and looked like a dead person.
The servant closed his eyes and dared not look again.
"What did you just say?"
A soft voice came from above the servant's head. Her tone was gentle and her voice was ethereal, like an oriole in a quiet valley.
When the words reached his ears, they actually caused a sense of innocent trance in the servant's mind.
"I just said..." The servant's lips trembled, and he was afraid of what he would say. Cold sweat oozed from his forehead. He took a deep breath and finished the rest of his words, "The law enforcers of the Yan family are here, and they want to investigate all the cultivators in Baiyou Pavilion. I'm here to invite you to the front hall..."
"I understand. I'll go right away."
Finally getting the reply, the servant couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief. But when he raised his eyes again, he caught a glimpse of a figure standing behind him out of the corner of his eye.
Without any movement, the person who was originally in the house suddenly appeared behind him.
The slave froze in place.
She was a beautiful girl, her eyes were like lacquered stars, her lips were as red as rouge, her cheeks were flawless and white as porcelain. Her face was so beautiful that she didn't look like that of an ordinary person on earth. She should be an immortal from the heavens.
She stood behind the servant, took a step outside, and then suddenly remembered something and stopped, "I almost forgot to take it with me."
The servant held his breath, withdrew his gaze, knelt on the ground, and dared not speak.
The girl's footsteps were so light, as if she was walking on clouds. She passed by the servants and returned to the house. When she turned back, there was a doll in her slender white hands.
The doll has a picturesque face, and its eyebrows and eyes are very similar to the girl's, but the expression on its face is one of pain, completely unlike the ethereal and fairy-like look of the girl.
The person and the doll were both wearing exquisite white feather gauze clothes. Their fingers opened and closed slightly, as if something invisible was entangled in them.
The girl left with the doll.
When she left, the slave felt limp all over and knelt on the ground like a puddle of mud.
It was so horrible, what just happened.
I was clearly only here to report to this adult on the orders of the head of the family, but unexpectedly I saw him playing with a doll and the doll's head rolled off.
The servant wiped the sweat off his forehead and was about to leave. Unexpectedly, when he looked up, he saw another terrifying scene.
On the table, there was a small stage made up of puppets. The puppet with a severed head had walked to the side of the stage. It was wearing light yellow clothes, and there was a crack on its chest. It was bleeding like a living thing.
When the blood stopped flowing, the headless puppet fell from the stage and was smashed into pieces.
The slave could no longer control his fear and fled the place in a hurry.
*
The front hall of Baiyou Pavilion.
The head of the Ling family was serving tea to the law enforcers from the Yan family. With a cautious tone and a careful look, he asked the law enforcers from the Yan family why they came.
"It's just routine business." The law enforcer looked serious. He did not reach out to take the tea offered by the Patriarch of the Ling Family. He just urged, "Please gather all the cultivators as soon as possible. We still have many places to investigate."
The head of the Ling family lowered his eyes and said, "I have already asked the servants in the pavilion to invite them."
Many cultivators came to the front hall one after another. They were all disciples of Baiyou Pavilion, and some of them were from the Ling family.
The old forces in the Hidden Cloud Realm all originated from family inheritance and then developed into large forces such as sects. Disciples from the main family will have more outstanding talents than those from other families.
The law enforcer also knew this. He focused most of his attention on the disciples of the Ling family and asked, "Are all the disciples of the Ling family here?"
"Well… "
The head of the Ling family followed his gaze and was about to say something when he saw a girl in a white feather gauze dress appear at the door of the front hall. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "Now everyone is here."
Because she arrived last, the girl stood at the end of the line. She looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, quietly waiting for the inspection of the law enforcers.
Even when it was finally her turn, she asked somewhat confusedly, "What should I do?"
The law enforcer said in a normal tone, "Draw a drop of blood."
The girl did as she was told, and bright red blood beads rolled from her fingertips onto the white jade in the law enforcer's hand, emitting a breath of energy in an instant.
"Foundation Building... Middle Stage?"
The law enforcer's expression showed surprise for the first time. He couldn't help but look up and carefully look at the girl in front of him. How could there be a disciple in the middle stage of foundation building among the disciples of the Ling family
"Yeah." The girl nodded and admitted it frankly.
"She is not talented. She was born without an innate energy and her spiritual roots are mixed. That's why she is only in the middle stage of foundation building. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, sir." The head of the Ling family explained.
"Check it again. I will take the blood myself, and ask this monk to remove the protective spiritual power."
The law enforcers restrained their expressions. The head of the Yan family had ordered that if they encountered any special cases, no matter what kind of special cases they were, they must be carefully investigated.
The head of the Ling family remained silent, his eyes involuntarily looking towards the girl.
The girl looked calm as usual. She stretched out her hand towards the law enforcer and removed the spiritual power that protected her body.
Her fingers were very thin and her skin was very thin. Her fingers were not as rosy as those of ordinary people. She was a little pale and seemed to be a little weak.
The law enforcer used a silver needle to take a drop of blood, and then dripped it on the white jade. The white jade powder immediately emitted a breath.
—Still in the middle stage of foundation building.
Seeing this, the law enforcer stopped questioning and said to the head of the Ling family, "Sorry for disturbing you. Now that the inspection is complete, we will take our leave."
At this point, the investigation from the Yan family was considered to be over.
The head of the Ling family watched the law enforcers go away until they left the gate of Baiyou Pavilion and the pavilion protection formation was activated again. He then retracted his gaze and ordered the rest of the disciples to disperse.
"Cong Wu stays."
The girl paused and turned to look at him.
The doll in her arms also stopped rubbing its fingers. There was a tiny spot on the doll's finger where it was pricked by a needle, and a drop of blood was condensing on it.
After all the irrelevant people left, the head of the Ling family lost his composure and asked her anxiously, "How is the refining of your fairy doll going?"
"It's not going very smoothly. I'm spineless and heartless." The girl named Cong Wu shook her head. Although she was saying discouraging words, her face was very calm.
Instead, the doll in her arms began to cry, even more miserable than before.
The head of the Ling family took a step back, not daring to look at the puppet's face. His tone was a little uneasy, "If you need anything, everyone in the clan will do their best to find it for you. You have to hurry, because time is running out."
"Okay." Ling Congwu responded, and the doll in her arms nodded.
After finishing the important matters, the head of the Ling family hurriedly said, "Then you can go back to the Cloud Tower first, and I won't waste your time."
He didn't want to stay with this person and this couple for even a moment longer.
Ling Congwu turned and left. The evening wind blew through her sleeves, revealing the hand that was stroking the puppet. Her fingers moved slightly, as if she was comforting the crying puppet.
In the front hall, following Ling Congwu's actions, the head of the Ling family felt a palpitation in his chest, and then his eyes gradually became dazed.
He just kept the disciple with poor talent, but what did he scold? He couldn't remember for a moment.
*
Yunhua Realm, Yunxi Secret Realm.
Kill the evildoer with one sword.
Chu Qi used the cleansing technique to wash away the blood on the Gui Yin sword. His eyes swept coldly over Ling Zhihuai's body, and he put the Gui Yin sword back into the scabbard.
The magic sword was sheathed three-quarters, but could not be completely closed.
Wisps of sword energy emanated from the sword's edge, only because the person holding the hilt of the spirit sword had not yet settled his mind.
Chu Qi closed his eyes and calmed the murderous intent in his heart.
If Chu Qi had not stopped the sword energy in time, he would probably have gone astray due to the conflict between the two mental methods.
Ayan is still waiting for him.
You can't get carried away at this time.
Chu Qi circulated his spiritual power, waiting for the medical cultivation method to gain the upper hand, and drew the sword energy out of his body, removing the murderous aura. When his breath stabilized, the Guiyin Sword also turned calm and completely returned to the scabbard.
When he opened his eyes again, the surroundings were still shrouded in the purple formation, and the other cultivators were suppressed by the formation and unable to move.
Without caring about others, Chu Qi turned around and strode towards Yan Jiuge.
There was a prepared antidote in the Qiankun bag. He was busy beheading the villain with his sword and had no time to help Yan Jiuge release the spiritual power suppression of the formation.
The medicine powder poured out and sprinkled on Yan Jiuge's body, emitting little glowing lights.
Yan Jiuge's situation was not very optimistic. He was deeply trapped in a state of insanity, with a pair of eyes dancing with dark golden light and shadows, and even a rune-like mark faintly appearing on his forehead.
Like a seal.
Chu Qi pursed his lips. He once thought that he knew Yan Jiuge well enough. But when the time came, he found that he actually knew very little.
In the past, Chu Qi thought that if Yan Jiuge didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t ask.
Everyone has secrets, including Chu Qi himself, who also has an unspeakable secret.
But not asking doesn't mean he doesn't care.
In his new life, Chu Qi initially thought that as long as he didn't quarrel with Yan Jiuge and they supported each other, the ending would not be like the previous life.
But when Chu Qi was unaware, some evil people repeatedly attacked Yan Jiuge and wanted to take his life. It seemed that there was a ring in the dark, enveloping them, trying to pull them to repeat the same mistakes as in the previous life.
Chu Qi looked deep.
He wouldn't allow that.
His A Yan should use his amazing sword skills to climb to the top of the road, full of vigor and vitality as when he was young, instead of being trapped in the mud like a trapped beast.
Chu Qi placed his hands on Yan Jiuge's, and wanted to use his spiritual power to heal Yan Jiuge. However, the vine ring on his wrist rubbed his wrist with its emerald leaves at this moment, and extended a branch, pointing in the direction of Crescent Lake.
There, the core of the secret realm, like a crescent moon, was quietly hanging in the center of the lake.
The spiritual energy flowing in the vine ring was of great help to Chu Qi, and could even better remove the evil spirit from Yan Jiuge's body.
"You mean to let me touch the core of the secret realm?" Chu Qi lowered his eyes and stared at the vine ring.
The green leaf trembled, as if nodding. The vine ring expressed its closeness.
"Okay." Chu Qi glanced at Yan Jiuge and transferred a spiritual power to him, temporarily stabilizing the evil spirit raging in his body. Then he turned around and went to the center of Crescent Lake first.
As Chu Qi approached the core of the secret realm, the vine ring on his wrist couldn't wait to split into three branches and wrap around the crescent moon.
A steady stream of spiritual energy flows out from the core of the secret realm, along the branches of the vine ring, and replenishes the vine ring itself.
The withered leaves gradually turned emerald green, and the vines also gradually turned from brown to green. It seemed that they were gradually recovering their vitality.
But the core of the secret realm that supplied spiritual energy shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it became a round moon the size of a palm. At this point, the branches wrapped around the round moon retracted and no longer absorbed spiritual energy from it.
The full moon sank back into the lake, and the core of the secret realm returned to where it should be. The passage of time in the Cloud Breath Secret Realm returned to normal.
Chu Qi withdrew his gaze from Crescent Lake and turned his eyes to the vine ring on his wrist.
Undoubtedly, this is a rare treasure that is not inferior to the core of the secret realm.
Let's just regard it as his chance. Once Yan Jiuge's demonic illness is cured, he will find a way to return the vine ring to the Medicine King Valley in the Central Earth of Jiuzhou.
When the place name appeared in his mind, Chu Qi felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart.
When he returns to Tianxuan Sect, he will definitely find out where Yaowang Valley is.
When Chu Qi returned to Yan Jiuge's side with the vine ring, he found someone waiting for him not far away.
"My benefactor, my name is Zhao Si, and you saved me at the entrance of the valley before." The cultivator took the initiative to greet Chu Qi.
At the entrance of the valley, scattered cultivators gathered together to rob.
Chu Qi still remembers it clearly. Actually, he was not saving anyone at that time. He and his fellow disciples passed through the valley and taught those robbers a lesson. He also gave a word of advice to the only medical practitioner. He didn't want to be regarded as a favor by the other party.
"I didn't save you, so you don't have to be so polite." Chu Qi replied, "I don't know what's wrong with you, but I still have to heal the wounds of my fellow disciple A Yan."
When the name came out of his mouth, Chu Qi himself was stunned for a moment. He changed his words midway as if to explain, even though the cultivator opposite him already knew that they were from the same sect.
"I came here to tell you, fellow Daoist, where the center of this formation is... I am weak and cannot break the formation. Fellow Daoist, you go ahead and do your work. There is no rush to break the formation. The injuries of your family and your fellow disciples are more important." Zhao Si answered quickly.
"Okay." Chu Qi nodded. However, when he heard Zhao Si say "your fellow disciple", his ears felt hot for some reason. This statement was a bit strange, probably because of his previous address.
Zhao Si consciously stepped back ten feet so as not to disturb Chu Qi's busy work.
After Ling Zhihuai's death, Zhao Si was the first to regain his mobility, but the other nine doctors who traveled with him looked very ill, and their eyes were still a little dull.
Since no one wanted to talk to Zhao Si, he had to go find Chu Qi.
After setting up an isolation barrier around him, Chu Qi did not waste any more time and began to remove the evil spirit from Yan Jiuge's body.
After the vine ring absorbed the spiritual energy from the core of the secret realm, the speed of clearing away evil spirits increased several times.
But Chu Qi did not expect that Yan Jiuge would wake up early.
The dark golden eyes of the man in front of him flickered, and his eyes were bright and clear. He didn't have time to say anything, but suddenly stretched out his hand and took Chu Qi into his arms.
Chu Qi was stunned when he was hugged tightly.
Although there was a barrier around him, it did not block out people. It was just to keep others away to avoid any accidents during the treatment...
—so people around them might see them hugging each other like this.
Chu Qi thought of this and planned to take a step back.
However, the next moment, a hot breath passed by his ear, Yan Jiuge leaned on his shoulder, his chin resting on his neck, and said hoarsely, "Aqi, don't leave me."
The hair on Yan Jiuge's forehead fell on the tip of Chu Qi's ear. He seemed unable to distinguish between illusion and reality. He used his arms to hold Chu Qi tightly.
Chu Qi no longer cared whether anyone saw him. He held his breath and subconsciously tried to comfort Yan Jiuge, "I didn't leave. I've always been here."
"I've been caught in a terrible illusion."
"I saw you lying in a crystal coffin, and I went to look for all the elixirs in the world."
Chu Qi's eyes widened and his pupils shrank slightly. He was shocked by Yan Jiuge's words and didn't know how to respond for a moment.
This was also Chu Qi’s nightmare.
Yan Jiuge's voice continued, his whisper was close to a murmur, with unspeakable pain, he slowly said the last sentence -
“… but I didn’t find it.”
At this moment, Chu Qi's heart trembled, as if being bitten by thousands of ants, and a dense feeling of bitterness surged up.
"No! You finally found it!"
Chu Qi couldn't help but refute out loud, with a stubborn tone in his voice, "Look, the fake illusion disappears, and the real me is still here."
"Besides, besides—"
Chu Qi hesitated twice, his ears flushed, but he mustered up the courage to say the rest of the words shamelessly, "You're still holding me... This is the real me, isn't it?"
Hearing Chu Qi's words, Yan Jiuge's expression froze, and the craziness in his eyes faded away little by little.
In his arms, the young man was so close to him, and although his ears were red, he still let him hold him obediently and tolerated his transgressions.
The Aqi in front of me now is the real Aqi.
(End of this chapter)