When they left Ghost Valley Manor, it was noon, and the weather outside was excellent.

Having spent an entire night in a dark environment, Mu Yunjin and the others now found themselves squinting against the bright light outside Ghost Valley Manor.

After adjusting for a while, Mu Yunjin took several deep breaths, turned to look at Chu Li, and asked, “Are we going back now?”

“Yes.” Chu Li nodded, his gaze fixed on Mu Yunjin, filled with tenderness.

On the way to Blue Peak Cliff, Huang Yan was seasick, and with Hua Ying having left early, he refused to travel by water again. The others might not be seasick, but compared to water routes, they still preferred land.

So everyone went up the Blue Peak Cliff together.

The ink qilin and red phoenix had already disappeared, and Mu Yunjin’s red clothes had changed back to her previous black light garment. Now, using her phoenix-tail whip, she flew up with a light and graceful posture.

…

Shortly after, the group arrived at the top of Blue Peak Cliff.

…

…

“Um, I’ll be heading straight back to Xingyao City in a bit, not to Prince Ning’s mansion. If anything comes up, send someone to notify me.” Qu Xinyao spoke with lowered eyes, and as she finished, she specifically looked at Xu Heyu.

This trip to Ghost Valley Cave had yielded some results for her; at least she knew that Xu Heyu had some genuine feelings for her.

“You’re returning to the city alone?” Mu Yunjin looked at Qu Xinyao, her peripheral vision also sweeping over Xu Heyu.

“I’ll go with her. It’s on my way too.” Xu Heyu’s expression was calm, showing no other sentiments.

Hearing this, a flash of joy appeared in Qu Xinyao’s eyes, and she slightly raised the corner of her lips, “Then the silly one and I will be off!”

“Alright, goodbye.” Mu Yunjin waved to them.

They hadn’t prepared many horses for the journey, so on the return trip, Mu Yunjin and Chu Li shared a horse, while Ding Xian, Huang Yan, and Master An each rode their own.

As they were preparing to leave, a white figure appeared at the edge of the cliff. “Prince Ning, Princess Consort…”

Hearing Yun Shuangleng’s voice, the group, about to ride away, paused. Mu Yunjin was the first to turn and look, her gaze toward Yun Shuangleng somewhat complicated.

“What are you doing here?” Huang Yan glared at Yun Shuangleng with annoyance.

On the way there, this woman had acted so obediently and pitifully. They thought she had some deep grudge against the black-robed Feng Lan, but unexpectedly, she was sent by Feng Lan to trick them.

“I…” Yun Shuangleng hesitated, stopping in her tracks, not daring to approach Mu Yunjin and Chu Li.

After a moment, Yun Shuangleng slowly began, “The deep red spirit crocodile pearl was obtained by Feng Che when he brought me to Ghost Valley Cave a year ago.”

“That day, Feng Che and I accidentally entered the deep lake. The original deep red spirit crocodile didn’t have wings. When we intruded that day, we happened to encounter it during its mutation period, which is when its attack ability is at its weakest.”

“Later, when we intruded, it thought we were going to harm it and tried to summon another spirit crocodile. In the emergency, we attacked it, and as it dodged, we accidentally hit its eye, and then a pearl fell from its eye…”

At this point, Yun Shuangleng pressed her lips together and lowered her eyelids, “Later, the black-robed one discovered that Feng Che had brought me into Ghost Valley Cave and learned of our secret relationship. He flew into a rage and, in front of me, used the Cursed Spirit Death Technique to seal Feng Che’s consciousness, making him lie dormant in the ice chamber of Ghost Valley Cave…”

“This time, I indeed happened to overhear Master An’s conversation and learned that you were coming to find the crocodile pearl. But with one pearl in my possession, you could never gather them all.”

“So, I came to the Western Yuan Kingdom in advance, specifically found Feng Lan, told him your plan, and used the pearl I had as a bargain—one pearl in exchange for Feng Che’s awakening.”

“I’m sorry for betraying your trust…” Yun Shuangleng finished and bowed to Chu Li and Mu Yunjin.

Mu Yunjin was somewhat tired. With Chu Li there, she conveniently leaned against his embrace, lazily turning to look at Yun Shuangleng, feeling somewhat complicated inside.

To say Yun Shuangleng was bad, she wasn’t truly bad. After all, if not for her, they might not have found a way through the swamp.

But to say she was good—she had motives and had played them for fools.

Even worse, she almost caused a life-for-life exchange…

“Let’s go.” Chu Li couldn’t be bothered. He lowered his head to whisper in Mu Yunjin’s ear.

“Mm.” Mu Yunjin nodded and withdrew her gaze.

The horse carrying the two of them raised its hooves and slowly moved forward. Behind them, Ding Xian, Huang Yan, and the others also ignored her, riding away on their horses.

Master An had met Yun Shuangleng several times. As he was about to leave, Yun Shuangleng suddenly moved forward and knelt in front of his horse—

“Master An, please help me! Please, please help me awaken Feng Che!”

“I’ve suffered so much this past year and more, please, please help me…” As Yun Shuangleng spoke, she repeatedly knocked her head forcefully, disregarding the gravel on the ground, seeming not to feel even as she split her forehead open.

Before, she thought only the black-robed one could break Feng Che’s spell, but earlier in the deep lake stone chamber, she had heard clearly that both Master An and Mu Yunjin could break this spell…

She dared not beg Mu Yunjin now, so she could only plead with their Southern Court Kingdom’s Imperial Advisor.

“Tsk, take care of yourself.” Master An bypassed her. Though he often appeared unconcerned about anything, if he were to help anyone, it would be Mu Yunjin.

Yun Shuangleng, with tears in her eyes, watched their gradually receding figures. She wiped away her tears, rose, and began running after them.

…

After another full day of travel, they finally arrived outside the secret passage of the abandoned village at night, during the hour of Hai.

“Well, well, we’ve been riding at full speed, yet this girl is still following behind!” Master An dismounted and looked back.

Hearing this, Mu Yunjin also turned to look, her eyes revealing surprise.

To hasten their return, they had used the fastest horse speed and hadn’t stopped to rest along the way. Yet this Yun Shuangleng, on foot, hadn’t been left behind.

Seeing that they had stopped, Yun Shuangleng gasped for breath. Her white cotton boots were worn through, stained with no small amount of blood. On her face, there was also a blood mark from her forehead. The wound on her forehead had congealed, but without timely bandaging, plus a day of travel, it showed signs of infection.

“Hey, what are you looking at? Get out of here, or tomorrow I’ll expose you, the Sacred Maiden of the Southern Court Kingdom, as having an affair with someone from the Witch Tribe!” Huang Yan spoke unpleasantly. If this woman didn’t leave, they couldn’t enter the secret passage.

At this point, all of them had been traveling for days and were exhausted, just wanting to return and rest well.

Yun Shuangleng stepped back, folded her hands together, and bit her lower lip, “Please…”

“Get lost!” Huang Yan was irritated. He raised his hand and sent a palm strike toward Yun Shuangleng.

It wasn’t that he didn’t cherish women, but some jade was not worth pitying!

Yun Shuangleng was hit by the palm wind and fell to the ground. Having traveled for an entire day, she was already extremely weak. Now fallen on the ground, she couldn’t get up for a long time.

After a while, when Yun Shuangleng finally had enough strength to stand up, the area in front was already empty.

…

Upon returning to the mansion, as soon as Mu Yunjin stepped through the door, she began taking off her clothes, her shoes, and dismantling all the equipment she carried, throwing everything directly on the ground.

If possible, she was so tired that she didn’t even want to bathe, just wanting to lie down on the bed and not move.

Chu Li followed behind her, equally tired, changing clothes as soon as he entered. After removing his outer garment, he glanced at Mu Yunjin, who was already slumped in a rocking chair, yawning.

“Come, let’s bathe!”

Chu Li pulled her up and walked toward the hot spring pool.

This time, neither of them had the energy for anything else during the bath. After quickly bathing, they lay on the soft couch and closed their eyes to rest.

A dreamless night.

…

Master An, after leaving the secret passage of Water Cloud Temple, encountered Consort Rong.

“Kongshi, where have you been these past two days?” Consort Rong smiled as she looked at Master An, her eyes cold.

“Nowhere special,” Master An replied.

Hearing this, Consort Rong’s face immediately clouded with anger, causing her to grit her teeth, “Nowhere? Then tell me, why haven’t Chu Li, Mu Yunjin, Ding Xian, Huang Yan, and some people from Phoenix Feather Pavilion been in Butterfly City these past two days?”

After discovering Master An’s absence, she had immediately gone to Prince Ning’s mansion, looked around, but didn’t see Chu Li or Mu Yunjin.

Besides that, she had specifically gone to Xingyao City and River Moon City, only to find that neither Qu Xinyao nor Xu Heyu were in the city!

With so many people absent simultaneously, they must have gone to do something extremely important!

Thinking about it, she could only conclude it was because of the Divine Decree!

“Well, even Water Cloud Temple isn’t peaceful anymore!” Master An had a headache. Ever since the Divine Decree had appeared, this woman, Rong Wanyue, had become increasingly obsessed.

Now, just seeing her made him irritable.

Thinking this, he flashed away, directly leaving the Water Cloud Temple.

Consort Rong was furious, her hands tightly clenched into fists. A thought that had hesitated for days finally crystallized at this moment.

…

Mu Yunjin and Chu Li slept until dusk the next day.

Both were awakened by hunger.

When Mu Yunjin opened her eyes, she felt as if her body was floating in a cloud of cotton, so comfortable that she didn’t want to move at all.

But touching her stomach, she was hungry…

Chu Li had awakened a bit earlier than her and had just put on his clothes. Looking back, he saw Mu Yunjin with her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

“Awake? Hungry?” Chu Li asked her.

“Hungry,” Mu Yunjin answered, then sat up, smoothing her hair, which had become a mess from sleeping.

Seeing her rise, Chu Li reached behind into the wardrobe and casually picked out one of Mu Yunjin’s brocade dresses, throwing it her way, “Get up and eat!”

Mu Yunjin nodded. Her head was still a bit fuzzy from the long sleep. After putting on the clothes, she got out of bed and began to leisurely put on her shoes.

“Chu Li, now that we have both pearls, when will we merge them?”

When Mu Yunjin asked this question, her heart still trembled a bit, because after struggling for the crocodile pearl for so long, she didn’t know if this pearl could draw out the Divine Decree within her body.

If not…

She would still have to wait for death.