In a section of the forest where the ghostly fog had thinned slightly, Lin Xiao broke the silence.
"I wonder," he began, his voice smooth, "if Fellow Daoist Wuchen mentioned the specific nature of this wilderness to you?"
Su Miaoqing frowned, her guard up. "No. We separated the moment we entered this domain. How did you catch up to us so quickly?"
Lin Xiao casually tossed a small stone tablet in his hand. It was a boundary marker, the chilling characters for Wild Dog Ridge carved into the surface—a relic of the Reincarnation Immortal Abode.
"The ones who shattered the Golden Rooster Mountain earlier... that was you two, wasn't it?" Lin Xiao chuckled, his tone laced with a feigned admiration that barely masked his mockery. "Your strength is truly terrifying. You practically slaughtered your way through the ridge. Thanks to your hard work, I crossed the Golden Rooster Mountain without lifting a finger."
Hearing this, Su Miaoqing felt a surge of frustration. They had fought tooth and nail, bleeding for every step, only to pave a smooth road for this hypocrite. She snorted coldly, turning her face away to hide her disgust.
Meanwhile, on another side of the ridge, Xiao Yifeng and his unwanted companion burst out of a ghost-infested village.
Xiao Yifeng had just learned from Mo Shuiyao that the Golden Rooster Mountain’s trials had completely collapsed behind them. The news left him baffled, but he had pressing matters to attend to.
"It seems Yaoyao owes Fellow Daoist Wuchen yet another favor," Mo Shuiyao chirped, ignoring his dark expression. She smiled radiantly, her eyes curving into crescents. "Yaoyao thanks you, truly."
Xiao Yifeng ignored her, stepping onto the air to fly away. But Mo Shuiyao was like a shadow, drifting effortlessly beside him.
"Fellow Daoist Wuchen, did you get separated from your little Junior Sister?" she asked, her voice dripping with honeyed concern. "Isn't it dreadfully boring to walk the Yellow Springs alone? This humble girl is more than willing to accompany you... to relieve your boredom along the way."
She batted her eyelashes, feigning an air of extreme shyness, her posture laden with seductive suggestion.
Xiao Yifeng didn't buy it for a second. He knew exactly what kind of poisonous flower bloomed beneath that beautiful skin.
"This has nothing to do with you. We walk our own paths," Xiao Yifeng replied coldly. He had no desire to provoke this enchantress, but traveling with her was a strategic nightmare; it meant he couldn't use half of his arsenal without exposing his identity.
"Fellow Daoist Wuchen seems to harbor such prejudice against Yaoyao," she sighed, clutching her chest as if wounded. "It breaks my heart. I wonder what this humble girl has done to earn such disdain from a righteous scholar like yourself?"
Her stunning face crumpled into a mask of grievance, a pitiable sight that would have melted the heart of any lesser man.
"I am a disciple of the Ask the Heavens Sect. Fairy Mo is a pearl of the Entangling Pavilion," Xiao Yifeng said, adopting his persona’s arrogant righteousness. "Need I say more? Righteous and Demonic paths do not converge."
"I took Fellow Daoist Wuchen for an unconventional, free-spirited man," Mo Shuiyao laughed softly, the sound like silver bells. "I never expected you to be shackled by such rigid sectarian dogma. We are both trapped within the Reincarnation Immortal Abode... why bother with such petty distinctions?"
Xiao Yifeng knew the truth: she wasn't interested in his company; she was interested in his utility. She had realized he knew the walkthrough for this dungeon.
Currently, he couldn't kill her, and he certainly couldn't outrun her. He was stuck.
A cynical idea formed in his mind.
"Is it not simply that Fairy Mo values my knowledge of this Immortal Abode?" Xiao Yifeng stopped and smiled, though the expression didn't reach his eyes. "If Fairy Mo insists on following me, it is not impossible."
"Oh?" Mo Shuiyao twisted her body slightly, adopting a coy, shy pose that invited wild imagination. "Then... what would Fellow Daoist Wuchen want Yaoyao to do?"
Xiao Yifeng’s gaze turned clinical. He scrutinized her from head to toe, his eyes lingering deliberately on her ample chest and the curve of her hips. He nodded, a meaningful, almost predatory smile playing on his lips.
Mo Shuiyao laughed internally. Men. They are all the same.
"I observe that Fairy Mo possesses a... robust constitution," Xiao Yifeng said, his tone dry. "You have a sturdy build. Excellent material for a meat shield. Since Fairy Mo is willing to offer herself as a Dharma Protector, I would be rude to refuse. When we encounter ghosts ahead, I will leave them to you. I am injured and require time to recuperate."
Mo Shuiyao froze. She had expected a demand for dual cultivation, or perhaps a treasure.
Sturdy build? Meat shield?!
She ground her teeth, her smile twitching. Did he just call her—the seductress of the Entangling Pavilion—"thick"? Was her curvaceous figure nothing more than armor plating to this blockhead?
She began to doubt her own charm. Was she truly invisible to this man?
Forcing down the urge to stab him, she plastered a strained smile onto her face. "In that case... I shall ask Fellow Daoist Wuchen for guidance."
"Excellent." Xiao Yifeng smirked and flew forward.
Why would he refuse a free legendary-tier mercenary?
In this Immortal Abode, the mid-stage Golden Core realm was the ceiling of power. Only Mo Shuiyao, Liu Yue, and Wang Laoxie stood at this peak.
Xiao Yifeng led the way toward the densest concentration of yin energy in the wilderness. His plan was simple: brute force. They would smash through every ghost village they found until the "Ghost Wall" illusion shattered from the overload.
He had explained the theory to Mo Shuiyao, of course. If she didn't understand the plan, she might hesitate at a critical moment, and leaving him stranded in the middle of a ghost swarm would be... awkward.
Understanding that destroying the villages was the fastest key to escaping this loop, Mo Shuiyao had no reason to refuse.
With a mid-stage Golden Core bodyguard, Xiao Yifeng fully embraced the role of the "fox borrowing the tiger's might." Whenever they encountered a village, they charged straight in.
Or rather, she charged in.
Xiao Yifeng stood on the periphery, hands clasped behind his back, watching idly as Mo Shuiyao was swarmed by vengeful spirits. He only lifted a finger to swat away the stray ghosts that targeted him personally.
Mo Shuiyao was furious. This bastard really treated her like a hired thug! Did he have no concept of chivalry? No desire to protect the fairer sex?
Thanks to Mo Shuiyao’s all-out attacks, they tore through village after village like a hot knife through butter. The spatial loop of the Ghost Wall began to destabilize. Realizing that small settlements could not contain them, the realm shifted.
Soon, a behemoth of a village materialized ahead.
It appeared abruptly, a sprawling fortress of the dead that seemed to have existed there for eternity. White lanterns hung high from every eave, casting a sickly pale light. The air was filled with the cacophony of a bustling, invisible crowd.
The temperature plummeted. A mournful Yin wind howled through the structures, biting into the bone.
Mo Shuiyao glanced at Xiao Yifeng, suppressing a sigh. As annoying as he was, his intelligence was accurate. Without him, she would still be running in circles.
Xiao Yifeng narrowed his eyes. "If we can slaughter our way out of this massive stronghold, the interference will break. We will have a clear path."
"If we don't," he added calmly, "we will be circling until we die of exhaustion."
Mo Shuiyao stared at the distant stockade. She could sense over a dozen powerful Golden Core signatures inside. And in the center... a terrifying presence at the peak of the Golden Core realm.
She laughed bitterly.
"Fellow Daoist Wuchen, are you insane? We are going to charge that?" Her voice trembled slightly. "I count eighteen Golden Core auras. Eighteen! Are you certain we can handle this?"
"If Fairy Mo is afraid, you are free to retreat," Xiao Yifeng goaded her with a smile. "We don't need to kill them all. We only need to cause enough chaos to disrupt the formation anchoring this area. With the combined might of our two great sects... can we not traverse a mere village?"
"Fine," Mo Shuiyao gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing. "I hope your confidence is well-founded, Fellow Daoist Wuchen. This humble girl will trust you... just this once."
In truth, without Mo Shuiyao, Xiao Yifeng would never have chosen this strategy. It was fast, but it was suicidal for a lone cultivator. His original plan was to skirt the edges, playing a game of cat and mouse until the realm ejected him.
But now, he had a weapon.
They rested outside the village perimeter, meditating until their spiritual energy peaked.
"Fellow Daoist Wuchen," Mo Shuiyao asked, eyeing him suspiciously, "you will take action this time, correct?"
"Fairy Mo, rest assured. I will not hold back," Xiao Yifeng promised solemnly.
Satisfied, Mo Shuiyao hesitated no longer. She transformed into a streak of pink light, diving straight into the heart of the village.
Xiao Yifeng didn't lag behind. He unleashed his stockpile. Countless Talismans erupted around him like a storm of golden hornets—he was emptying his inventory for this. He followed closely in Mo Shuiyao's wake, plunging into the darkness.
The evil spirits within the village reacted instantly.
Shrieks of the damned tore through the air. Countless fierce ghosts, their faces twisted into masks of agony and malice, rose like a swarm of locusts to intercept them.
Mo Shuiyao’s eyes turned cold.
Her short dagger shot from her hand, expanding mid-air into a colossal sword of light that cleaved a path through the vanguard of ghosts.
Then, with a delicate shout, a crescent-shaped ring detached from her wrist.
It spun around her, a blur of golden light.
The Moon Blade.
The crescent blade radiated a soft, ethereal moonlight that belied its sharpness. It was a harvest scythe for the dead; any ghost it touched was instantly sheared in two, their essence dissipating into smoke.
Xiao Yifeng’s pupils constricted as he watched the weapon work.
A High Grade Immortal Artifact.
He hadn't expected Mo Shuiyao to wield such a treasure at the Golden Core stage. It seemed the "Fairy" of the Entangling Pavilion was finally done playing games.
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