Bai Li Gelin suddenly pushed Lu Li away and staggered out of the prison cell. She randomly picked a guard entangled by vines, staring at him with a dazed expression, and asked hoarsely, “Is what she said true? Those two people, a man, and a woman, not yet twenty years old, both wearing black clothes with yellow borders?”
Seeing the guard trembling in fear, she couldn’t help but grip his neck, her voice almost a scream, “Speak quickly! If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll strangle you!”
The guard stammered, “It’s… it’s true! That day they attempted to ambush the Prince, and were killed by his hand…”
Bai Li Gelin shouted fiercely, “I don’t believe it! Where are the bodies?!”
“This lowly one wouldn’t dare lie! That day, I discovered two people missing from the dungeon and reported it to the Prince. The Prince himself said they had tried to ambush him and he had burned them to ashes with that black fire. There were no bodies left!”
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Li Gelin drew her short knife and swung it violently. A cold light flashed, and the guard’s head rolled on the ground, blood spraying out and covering her face. She felt as if her entire body had plunged into an ice cave, with thousands of knives and swords piercing her body. The pain made her vision blur intermittently.
Lu Li quickly stepped forward, unhesitatingly embracing her tightly, trying his best to make his voice sound calm, “This may not be true. If he wanted to use Ye Ye and the others as bait to lure out Jiang Li Fei, why would he kill them? Think about it carefully.”
Bai Li Gelin looked at his face in a daze and said softly, “Really?”
Lan Ya, chained to the Dragon Lock, burst into wild laughter, “Jiang Li Fei? She took the bait long ago! It’s her! The woman the Prince has been obsessing over is her!”
This time, Bai Li Gelin didn’t question her further. She grabbed another guard entangled by vines and hissed, “You speak! Tell me everything that happened! I won’t kill you!”
Before the guard could speak, Lu Li, his face pale, pulled Bai Li Gelin abruptly and spoke urgently, “Immortals are coming! We must leave quickly!”
In her agitated state, Bai Li Gelin paid no attention to this. She just held onto the guard tightly, her nails almost turning over, “Speak quickly! Tell me now!”
Before she could finish speaking, there was a flash of light before her eyes. She and Lu Li found their bodies bound by the Dragon Lock, their spiritual energy completely sealed within. The small green monsters that had been coiled around their bodies immediately turned into paper talismans and fell to the ground. Immediately after, several figures flashed into the dungeon-like lightning – they were a group of elderly immortals from the Wuyue Court. The lead is immortal, his eyes drowsy but his gaze extremely sharp, looked confused when he saw that the two people bound in the dungeon were disciples of the Sea Sect. The immortals couldn’t help but look a bit disappointed.
Immortal Shouzhong smiled and sighed, “This time you didn’t calculate correctly, Cui Xuan. Jiang Li Fei and the others didn’t come to rescue anyone. We’ve waited all these days only to catch two young disciples of the Sea Sect.”
Immortal Cui Xuan also shook his head and sighed. Seeing the dungeon empty except for Princess Lan Ya, his expression suddenly changed drastically. He shouted sternly, “Where are the two people who were imprisoned here earlier?! Where is your Prince?!”
A guard who recognized them immediately said, “Reporting to the esteemed immortals, the two people previously imprisoned in the dungeon were accidentally killed by the Prince when they tried to ambush him. The Prince became depressed because of this and left the palace last night. We don’t know where he went!”
Immortal Cui Xuan laughed in extreme anger, “What a fine ‘accidental killing’! What a fine mad young man!”
Suddenly, they heard Bai Li Gelin’s trembling voice, “Did you see them being killed with your own eyes?! I don’t believe it! My sister wouldn’t die!”
Sister? Immortal Cui Xuan looked at her more closely, noticing that her features were seven or eight parts similar to the female disciple of the Dizang Sect who had been imprisoned in the dungeon earlier. He immediately understood. He had heard earlier that among those close to Jiang Li Fei, there was a disciple of the Sea Sect – it must be her. Unexpectedly, after waiting for so many days, although they didn’t catch Jiang Li Fei, they had caught another good bait.
However, since she was from the Sea Sect, he couldn’t treat her as casually as he would a Mountain Sect disciple. After pondering for a while, he also asked, “Did any of you see them being killed with your own eyes?”
“Well… we didn’t see it…”
Immortal Cui Xuan said calmly, “If you didn’t see it personally, then they may not be dead.”
He opened his palm and pulled out the nameplate from Bai Li Gelin’s bosom, noting down the name. He turned back to Immortal Shouzhong and whispered something. Immortal Shouzhong looked a bit troubled, “The Mountain and Sea Sects are currently joining forces against the enemy. If we detain disciples of the Sea Sect, I’m afraid this matter will be difficult to resolve.”
Immortal Cui Xuan whispered, “Since they are connected to the overseas, the Sea Sect will naturally be concerned. Besides, we only need to lure them out, not execute anyone. I’m not skilled in such negotiations, so I’ll have to leave it to you.”
Immortal Shouzhong nodded and left the dungeon first. The other immortals also walked out one by one. The three Dragon Locks in the dungeon seemed to be carried by invisible hands, floating in mid-air, slowly following behind.
As they left the dungeon, the light of dawn was already spreading across the sky. A whole night had passed so quickly. The faint sound of roosters crowing could be heard in the distance. Immortal Cui Xuan squinted at the horizon and let out a soft “Oh?” before asking, “What time is it now?”
An immortal took out a small hourglass from his sleeve, gazed at it for a moment, and said in surprise, “It’s just the Hour of the Ox, yet the sky is already bright!”
As they spoke, a wild wind slowly rose, and dark clouds surged in from all directions, obscuring the morning light. In an instant, sand and stones were flying about. In this inland area of the Central Lands, in the eighth or ninth month, the wind blowing was a north wind, bone-chillingly cold. The three disciples bound to the Dragon Locks were instantly frozen, their lips turning blue.
In just a moment, large patches of snowflakes fell from the sky like cotton being pulled apart. The immortals immediately changed color – had the violent weather changes already spread to such an inland area of the Central Lands?!
Even more bizarre was that while the sun in the east was obscured by dark clouds, the sky in the west began to glow faintly. Another newborn sun slowly rose from the western horizon, its color as red as blood. The surrounding dark clouds seemed to be burning, all rimmed with a layer of red.
Two suns appeared in the sky! A sign of great calamity! As Immortal Cui Xuan was alarmed, he suddenly felt a talisman in his bosom jumping incessantly. He hurriedly pulled it out to look, only to see a few words written in a grand, flowing script: Heavenly thunder descends, return to the East Sea quickly.
A muffled, strange thunder sound slowly came from afar, like the footsteps of a giant, or like the roar of ten thousand monsters. It came in waves as if all the might of heaven and earth were hidden within, completely different from ordinary thunder, inspiring awe and fear. Even from nearly a thousand miles away, one could feel the ground shaking violently. Paper windows and wooden doors shook as if about to fall off, roof tiles fell in showers, and dust flew everywhere.
Mr. Shen frowned as he gazed far into the distance at the edge of the East Sea coast. There, the entire sky was as dark as if dyed with ink. The countless powerful monsters and fierce beasts that had been hiding along the coast finally began to flee in fear, their demonic aura making people uncomfortable, like being pricked by needles.
He turned back to look at Immortal Shouzhong. At a time like this, he was still bringing up the matter of capturing fugitive disciples of the Wuyue Court. If it weren’t for this old immortal’s high seniority, he would have loudly rebuked him.
“As Elder Shouzhong can see, the heavenly thunder has arrived,” Mr. Shen said calmly. “At present, setting up a spiritual energy net to prevent the heavenly thunder from destroying everything is of utmost importance. What does the elder think? If my Sea Sect disciples have offended in any way, I also ask the elder to be magnanimous. After the sea calamity passes, I will certainly bring them to apologize in person.”
How could Immortal Shouzhong not understand the meaning behind his words? He immediately smiled and said, “Mr. Shen has misunderstood. It’s not that the Sea Sect disciples have caused any offense. It’s just that this matter is as important as the sea calamity… perhaps even more important.”
He explained Jiang Li Fei’s background in detail, all the while observing Mr. Shen’s expression. He saw his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. When he heard that Jiang Li Fei could absorb spiritual energy, he finally couldn’t help but exclaim, “So it’s true!”
Immortal Shouzhong asked in surprise, “Does Mr. Shen know something about this?”
Mr. Shen’s expression became excited, and he said repeatedly, “Indeed! Regarding the woman recorded in that ancient bamboo scroll, our sect also has similar ancient records. Although we don’t know the exact year, there was indeed such a woman. Although the ability to absorb others’ spiritual energy seems invincible, the absorbed energy is not unlimited. The reason the immortals were able to kill that woman back then was that she had already absorbed her fill of spiritual energy. The immortals who arrived later were able to gather and strike her down! I never imagined! There’s such a person from overseas! Where is she now?!”
Immortal Shouzhong smiled and said, “Don’t be hasty, Mr. Shen. When I mentioned borrowing two disciples from your sect earlier, it was precisely for this matter. Currently, she and the Yaksha are hiding in the shadows, and it’s impossible to know their whereabouts. We only know that she might try to leave the Central Lands for overseas during the descent of the heavenly thunder and sea of fire. To lure her out, we need to use some of her acquaintances in the Central Lands.”
Mr. Shen had always been protective of his disciples. Although he was very curious and eager about this strange woman from overseas, he still thought for a moment and said, “Gelin and Lu Li are my favorite disciples. If Jiang Li Fei doesn’t appear, regarding the execution…”
“Of course, we absolutely won’t harm your sect’s disciples,” Immortal Shouzhong clapped his hands and smiled. “Whether the plan succeeds or not, we will certainly ensure your sect’s disciples remain unharmed.”
Mr. Shen let out a long sigh, filled with emotion, “To think such a strange thing could happen! Our immortals of the Central Lands have suffered from the sea calamity for so long, and now, at last, we have an opportunity from overseas!”
“Hehe, well said.”
Suddenly, another elderly voice sounded from above. Mr. Shen and Immortal Shouzhong turned around together to see several immortals with ethereal appearances descending from the sky – they were the founders of the Phoenix Fledgling Academy. Seeing that even the most senior Sang Hua Jun was among them, even Immortal Shouzhong immediately bowed and smiled, “It’s an honor to have Elder Sang Hua here, I’m truly unworthy.”
Sang Hua Jun was the oldest among the current immortals in the Central Lands, having been immortal for nearly fifteen hundred years. He was just one step away from achieving the Great Dao. In recent years, he had been living in seclusion, focusing on breaking through that final step. It was unexpected that the news about Jiang Li Fei could bring him out – it was truly a pleasant surprise.
Although Sang Hua Jun was of great age, his appearance was quite youthful, looking even younger than Mr. Shen. Several strands of clear whiskers hung from his chin, giving him an otherworldly and transcendent air. His voice was also ethereal and elusive: “Several years ago, Zuo Qiu borrowed the twin swords Siming from me, saying it was to protect some academy disciples. I was busy with cultivation and didn’t inquire further about this matter. The other day, I received a letter from Sect Leader Gui Yuan of the Wuyue Court mentioning Jiang Li Fei. Only then did Siming tell me about her entanglement with Zhen Yun Zi in Qing Qiu years ago, and that she still harbors a nine-tailed fox spirit within her. If I had known a few years earlier, there wouldn’t be so much trouble today. It was my oversight.”
Immortal Shouzhong smiled and said, “Elder Sang Hua, there’s no need for self-blame. It’s not too late to know now. We can still witness how people from overseas absorb spiritual energy, broadening our horizons. By the way, why didn’t Master Zuo Qiu come?”
Zhong Nan Jun beside him sighed, “He said he couldn’t bear to come. I don’t understand him.”