The daylight hours passed quickly, and before long, it was night.

Zanxing had read through the records the maid brought over several times, but truly found nothing. Li’er Kingdom’s Demon Shark records were written like storybooks – in fact, even storybooks wouldn’t dare write so exaggeratedly. They were just short of praising the old sovereign to the heavens.

Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao hadn’t returned yet. In the evening, Mu Cengxiao had sent another sound transmission saying that Tan Tianxin’s Thousand-Li Demon Toad had discovered a thick demonic aura on a mountain in Li’er Kingdom. The group had followed it up the mountain together. The demonic aura disappeared at a cave entrance, so the sect disciples had entered the cave together, following the Thousand-Li Demon Toad’s clues to find the demon’s lair. It seemed they wouldn’t be returning tonight.

Tian Fangfang and Mendong were also still outside. One of the households they needed to visit was deep in the mangrove forest and extremely difficult to find. The murdered girl only had a mother left, who was now eighty years old and could barely speak clearly. Asking her questions was very difficult – by the time they finished gathering information and returned, it would probably be late at night.

Gu Baiying was in the adjacent room. Since he didn’t want to see Zanxing, she didn’t plan to actively approach him either. She sat at the table, gazing at the dancing flames in the oil lamp, momentarily lost in thought.

After tonight passed, there would only be four days left until the Secret Realm opened. Everyone from the sect was busy catching the Demon Shark – a plot that didn’t exist at all in “Nine Heaven Summit.”

Since arriving in Li’er Kingdom, she had never actively tried to change the plot, so why had the plot still changed?

The red mark on her palm showed no change, but the Xiaoyuan Pearl in her chest also showed no activity whatsoever. This Xiaoyuan Pearl seemed dead again. Zanxing strongly suspected that the supposedly all-powerful golden finger from the original story would only briefly function when her life was in mortal danger.

Not everyone could truly deserve the protagonist’s halo.

Lost in these thoughts, Zanxing unknowingly fell asleep.

In the deep of night, the night wind outside beat against the window, gently pushing it open a crack.

The wind slipped in through the window crack, extinguishing the lamp on the table. The room was instantly plunged into darkness.

A black shadow gradually climbed up through the window crack like flowing water, slowly scaling over the window frame and dropping to the floor. By the faint moonlight, it crept bit by bit toward the person slumped over the table.

The air seemed to grow several degrees colder. The insect chirping in the courtyard had completely disappeared at some point, leaving only deathly silence.

The elongated black shadow spread across the floor like thin paper or a long rope, reaching the table corner and climbing up the table leg bit by bit. The shadow enveloped the entire table as if trying to devour it.

The tentacle-like shadow stopped above the head of the person at the table. A sliver of moonlight reflected on the wall, also clearly illuminating the black shadow on the wall – it was the shape of a withered, sharp claw, reaching ominously and silently toward the person at the table.

“Meow——”

The white cat’s sharp, hoarse cry exploded nearby, piercing through the night’s silence. Zanxing jerked her head up and instinctively drew the Panhua Stick from her waist. She heard a “bang” as the window seemed to be heavily pushed open, and a blurry black shadow swept past the window like a human illusion.

“Uncle!” Zanxing grabbed her stick and ran out. Just as she stepped outside, she saw Gu Baiying rushing out from next door, chasing after that cold, thin wind.

Zanxing’s steps faltered.

People in the adjacent courtyard were also awakened. Soon after, several palace maids came over to ask Zanxing what had happened.

Zanxing shook her head, deflected with a few words to send them away. After a while, she saw Gu Baiying return carrying his silver spear.

“Uncle!” Zanxing stepped forward to meet him, asking: “How did it go? Did you catch up?”

Gu Baiying shook his head, his expression somewhat stern.

The two were silent for a moment. Gu Baiying glanced at her and said, “Come inside to talk.”

Zanxing followed Gu Baiying into the room. Gu Baiying sat down at the table and asked with furrowed brows: “What happened just now?”

“I was waiting at the table for Senior Brother Tian and the others to return. While waiting, I fell asleep. Then…” she said, “I felt like someone had entered my room. I wanted to see clearly who it was, but I couldn’t wake up.” It was as if she’d been trapped in a nightmare, yet she could sense that feeling of being watched, like being coiled by a wet, sticky snake, cold from head to toe.

“I desperately wanted to open my eyes for a look, but my whole body couldn’t move. Then Mimi cried out, and I found I could move again.” Zanxing looked at Gu Baiying: “Uncle, you lost track of that demon – is it very strong?”

Everyone in the Taiyan Sect praised Gu Baiying to the skies, and Zanxing never doubted his cultivation level. But even Gu Baiying couldn’t catch the opponent – could it be a formidable enemy?

Gu Baiying’s gaze turned cold: “I didn’t sense any demonic aura.”

“Not a demon?” Zanxing was stunned: “Then it must be human? But if it’s human, how could Uncle lose track of…”

A cultivator being outmatched by an ordinary person would be quite embarrassing.

“Yang Zanxing, you have the nerve to criticize me?” Gu Baiying flared up. “You’re Xuan Lingzi’s disciple, yet you were pursued by a demon with no ability to fight back. If not for the Yinlang Shi waking you up in time, the Taiyan Sect would have had a disciple killed by a demon before even entering the Secret Realm!”

Zanxing: “……”

Mimi meowed and affectionately rubbed its big head against Gu Baiying’s boot, as if strongly agreeing with his words. Zanxing thought to herself that this little ungrateful creature – she’d fed it so many nutrition pills for nothing, yet it was siding with outsiders.

She wanted to say something, but when she raised her hand, she noticed it was wet. Looking down, she saw that there was somehow a puddle of water on the table. Not just on the table – from the window to the table, the floor was marked with a long trail of wet traces, like marks left by some aquatic creature crawling past.

Zanxing couldn’t help but shiver, saying in a low voice: “Could it be merfolk?”

But if it truly was merfolk, then what was the demon that Tan Tianxin and the others were pursuing? Could this merfolk have duplication abilities? Or were there two demons?

Gu Baiying stared intently at the water traces on the table. After a pause, he reached out to touch the water stain. After a moment, he withdrew his hand and shook his head: “No demonic aura.”

“That’s impossible,” Zanxing said in surprise. “That black shadow just now – now-no matter how you looked at it, it couldn’t have been human.”

Just then, voices came from outside: “Junior Sister! Uncle!”

The two turned around as Mendong and Tian Fangfang walked in from outside.

Both of them still carried the night’s dew on their bodies. Tian Fangfang asked: “It’s so late – why haven’t you two gone to sleep yet?”

“Waiting for you,” Zanxing stood up. “Did you gain anything today?”

Mendong: “No.”

Tian Fangfang: “Yes.”

Gu Baiying said irritably: “Did you or didn’t you?”

Tian Fangfang coughed lightly: “We did, but it doesn’t seem very useful.”