Watching Shen Yuqing walk away, Jiang Zhaoxue finally felt relieved and let out a breath.

Qingye beside her draped a cloak over her shoulders, saying anxiously: “My Lady, please come inside quickly. You’ve been poisoned with Ling Mi San now—you can’t keep going without proper rest. You can’t keep hiding this matter anymore. You must tell the Island Master and the Young Master…”

“Alright, alright.” Jiang Zhaoxue pressed her hand down, saying seriously: “Qingye, I’m very weak right now. Let me sleep.”

“But this matter…”

“I’ll tell them myself.” Jiang Zhaoxue promised Qingye. “I’ll definitely tell my parents and brother. Don’t worry!”

Qingye’s eyes showed complete distrust, but seeing Jiang Zhaoxue’s firm attitude, she couldn’t say much more. She could only let Jiang Zhaoxue push her out the door, instructing: “Then you must tell them! Don’t give the Lord Consort any more face!”

“I know, I know.” Jiang Zhaoxue coaxed her like a child. “I’ll tell them right now. Don’t come in, okay?”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue closed the door. The room finally became quiet.

She walked back to the desk tiredly, sat down rubbing her forehead, and couldn’t help but curse under her breath: “What a mess…”

“Master, you were truly amazing.”

A’Nan’s voice rang out again in her sea of consciousness, full of admiration: “In just an instant, you actually thought of faking illness to successfully avoid Tianming Hall! Now staying on Yunfu Mountain without any restrictions, doesn’t that mean you can leave whenever you want?! What do we do next? Run?!”

“Can’t run.”

Jiang Zhaoxue propped up her forehead, sighing: “With the Sympathetic Heart Contract, there’s nowhere to go.”

“Huh?”

A’Nan was stunned, then belatedly realized: “Oh right, the Sympathetic Heart Contract can sense the other person’s location. As long as he wants to know where you are, he can find out… So what will you do?”

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t answer. She closed her eyes and rested for a long time, roughly sorting through this plot section from those fragmented pieces in the dream.

In the book, this part of the plot looked like this from an overall perspective.

After Mu Jinyue was poisoned by her, Pei Zichen was sent to Wuyue Forest near the Nine Nether Realm border to search for Lingxiao Hua. However, when he reached the Nine Nether Realm boundary marker, a strange formation suddenly activated in Wuyue Forest, and an extremely fierce black snake appeared.

This black snake beat up all the disciples. Anyone entering the formation couldn’t get back out. Just as Lingjian Immortal Pavilion was about to abandon Pei Zichen, Mu Jinyue received the message and risked her life to enter Wuyue Forest to save him.

For Mu Jinyue’s sake, Shen Yuqing had no choice but to take the risk himself.

But Shen Yuqing had just used the Book of Fate and expended spiritual power to preserve Mu Jinyue’s spiritual roots, so his spiritual power was insufficient. He could only fight the black snake to a draw. At the critical moment, Shen Yuqing fled in disarray with Mu Jinyue, leaving Pei Zichen behind to face the already exhausted black snake alone, giving Pei Zichen an opportunity to reap the benefits.

That night, Pei Zichen extracted the treasure Tianji Lingyu from this black snake.

After being poisoned by snake venom and spending a night with Mu Jinyue, Shen Yuqing began to realize he had feelings for Mu Jinyue that transcended the master-disciple relationship.

Mu Jinyue risked her life for Pei Zichen, becoming the white moonlight in Pei Zichen’s heart.

The gears of their three fates began to turn.

As for her?

The book didn’t write about it, but using her brain, she knew that night wouldn’t be easy for her either.

If Shen Yuqing got beaten up, could she escape? She had to bear half of Shen Yuqing’s injuries. Without her, could Shen Yuqing, while severely wounded, still appreciate the female lead’s charm?

That black snake might have slapped him so hard he couldn’t even distinguish between male and female.

“So now you have two paths.”

A’Nan suddenly spoke, pondering: “The first is to change Shen Yuqing. He hasn’t confirmed yet that he likes Mu Jinyue. If you can change his feelings for Mu Jinyue, or even make him fall for you, you can prevent him from standing against the male lead, reversing his fate as a villain, and also saving yourself from death. Plus you’ll gain a happy marriage—love and career all in one hand!”

“You can know what I’m thinking?”

Hearing A’Nan’s words, Jiang Zhaoxue immediately sensed something wrong.

Jiang Zhaoxue had known about the existence of fate beasts since becoming a Fate Master, so she didn’t doubt its authenticity.

It was just that Fate Masters were too rare, and Fate Masters who possessed fate beasts hadn’t been seen in three thousand years. Jiang Zhaoxue’s master had only lived to three hundred years old and only reached the Divine Transformation stage. Jiang Zhaoxue had only read about fate beasts in books, so she didn’t understand their characteristics.

She questioned sternly, and A’Nan fell silent in fright.

Jiang Zhaoxue slammed the table, saying coldly: “Don’t play dead. Can you sense my emotions and know what I’m thinking?”

“Well, I’m in your sea of consciousness, so I can indeed sense it.” A’Nan stammered. “If you don’t want me to… just give me some energy and I can materialize outside.”

Hearing A’Nan’s words, Jiang Zhaoxue pondered for a moment, then infused a stream of spiritual power into her sea of consciousness.

A moment later, Jiang Zhaoxue felt the shape of a bird gradually forming in her sea of consciousness. Then a pitch-black crow appeared before Jiang Zhaoxue.

Jiang Zhaoxue: “…”

Wait, why was her fate beast a crow?! How inauspicious!

As if sensing Jiang Zhaoxue’s thoughts, the bird turned its head sadly, saying miserably: “Fate beasts follow their masters. You’re cannon fodder with bad luck. I can’t help how I turned out.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue took a deep breath and raised her hand: “Not important. Quickly get out of my sea of consciousness!”

“Right away.”

A’Nan was very tactful and immediately flew out of her sea of consciousness, landing on the table surface beside Jiang Zhaoxue, tilting its head: “Okay, now I can only sense emotions like whether you’re happy or sad. Let’s continue discussing important matters. What do you think of my earlier proposal? Please pour me some tea, thank you.”

“Not good.”

Jiang Zhaoxue poured it some tea and pushed it over. A’Nan tilted its head, puzzled: “Then what are you thinking?”

“I can’t possibly put my life in someone else’s hands.” Jiang Zhaoxue thought through it, calmly analyzing: “As long as the Sympathetic Heart Contract exists, I’ll always be passive. Whether I want to change Shen Yuqing, change myself, or even change Pei Zichen, I cannot let the Sympathetic Heart Contract continue to exist.”

“But that thing… isn’t easy to break, is it?”

A’Nan hesitated. It blinked its eyes, desperately recalling: “It seems to be a contract written in the Book of Fate? Can that thing be broken?”

“It can.”

Jiang Zhaoxue spoke with certainty. A’Nan became interested: “How?”

“Two methods. Either use your own life to erase the contract you made. Or use a divine artifact born of heaven and earth,” Jiang Zhaoxue raised her eyes, calmly uttering a name, “Tianji Lingyu.”

“Tianji Lingyu?” A’Nan pondered. “Sounds familiar.”

“Tianji Lingyu is born of heaven and earth, appearing once in countless eons. It contains the purest power of heaven and earth and is the only divine artifact that can dissolve contracts written in the Book of Fate. But as a gift from the Heavenly Dao, only those with great fortune can obtain Tianji Lingyu. And coincidentally…”

“Pei Zichen!!” A’Nan instantly reacted, saying with delight: “It’s tonight—Tianji Lingyu appears tonight!”

“Exactly.”

“So what you wanted to do from the start was to steal Tianji Lingyu?” A’Nan finally realized Jiang Zhaoxue’s plan. He looked back in shock. “You faked illness to buy time. You deliberately reminded Shen Yuqing that you’ll suffer from fire poison tonight, how miserable you’ll be. You even told him that if he comes back to see you tonight it means he likes you—all to make him lower his guard. Everything you did was to make it convenient for you to escape tonight?!”

“Correct.”

“Weren’t you afraid he’d dispel your fire poison just now?”

“That would be even better.” Jiang Zhaoxue drank her tea, analyzing: “Without the fire poison restraining me, I can move more freely. It’s just that Shen Yuqing definitely doesn’t believe I’m truly poisoned with Ling Mi San. He has to leave the fire poison in my body to restrain me and interrogate me. Didn’t you hear what he said? As long as I hand over the antidote, he’ll let bygones be bygones. He’s definitely waiting on Luo Xia Feng for me to admit my mistake and give him the antidote.”

“How are you so smart?” A’Nan looked at Jiang Zhaoxue with eyes full of worship.

Jiang Zhaoxue tucked her hair behind her ear, about to be verbally modest while internally vain, when she heard A’Nan continue: “With such a small brain, it actually works so fast!”

This comment made Jiang Zhaoxue freeze. After a moment, she put down her hand with a cold face: “If you can’t speak properly, you don’t have to speak. Alright.”

Jiang Zhaoxue stood up and began packing everything she needed, organizing while saying: “Stop the nonsense. There are four shichen before my fire poison flares up. We need to hurry to Wuyue Forest now, get Tianji Lingyu, break the Sympathetic Heart Contract, find a place to endure the fire poison attack, then figure out where to go next.”

“Okay, but I have one question.” A’Nan stood on the desk, frowning in deep thought.

Jiang Zhaoxue quickly packed her things, saying directly: “Ask!”

“Isn’t it bad for us to steal the male lead’s things like this?”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue’s movements paused. She turned back somewhat shocked, looking at A’Nan incredulously.

A’Nan was frightened by her gaze and stuttered: “Wh-what?”

“I’m such a person without moral standards, yet I have such a morally upright fate beast?!” Jiang Zhaoxue exclaimed in amazement, changed into a purple dress she never wore, took out a silver mask from the drawer to cover her face, and said mockingly: “Don’t forget he killed me in the book. If you think this thing belongs to him, then he not only has to bear the fortune, but also the karmic debt. What’s wrong with me robbing my enemy?”

As she spoke, Jiang Zhaoxue slammed the cabinet door shut with a “bang,” crouched down to scrape gold powder while saying: “If you think him killing me in the book has nothing to do with him, then what relationship does Tianji Lingyu have with him? I’m taking a divine artifact by my own skill—what’s wrong with that?”

“Makes perfect sense.”

A’Nan was completely convinced by her, then realized: “Then we can not only rob… no, obtain Tianji Lingyu, we can also take many treasures. We know all his opportunities—we’re going to be rich!”

“Isn’t that right?”

Jiang Zhaoxue seemed to have anticipated this long ago. She filled her Qiankun Ring and Qiankun Bracelet to the brim, wearing so much that her hands glittered with gold, forming a stark contrast with the room that had been stripped bare. She smiled: “Our good days are still ahead.”

With that, she turned to look outside the door and called out loudly: “Qingye!”

Qingye had been crouching by the door the whole time. Hearing Jiang Zhaoxue’s call, she quickly entered the room, saying urgently: “My Lady, have you spoken with the Island Master and Young Master?”

“All done.”

Jiang Zhaoxue pulled Qingye into the room, closed the door, draped her own clothes over Qingye, and quickly drew a formation array on the ground.

Qingye watched Jiang Zhaoxue do everything in bewilderment, listening to Jiang Zhaoxue’s instructions: “Qingye, I’m actually not poisoned. Don’t ask too many questions. Just sit here—you can disguise my presence to Shen Yuqing’s senses for seven shichen. Tonight I’m going to do something big. After I succeed, I’ll notify you, and you immediately lead everyone from Yunfu Mountain and our Penglai disciples to leave Lingjian Immortal Pavilion immediately and run toward Penglai.”

“Huh?”

Qingye was confused by this, looking at Jiang Zhaoxue incredulously: “What are you going to do?”

“I’m taking you all back to Penglai.” Jiang Zhaoxue patted Qingye’s shoulder, saying seriously: “You must guard your post well. Don’t let anyone discover I’ve left. Wait for my message.”

“Yes! I’ll await My Lady’s message!”

Qingye spoke excitedly.

Jiang Zhaoxue smiled slightly, then got up and walked to the divination table. She drew her index and middle fingers together in a cutting motion through the air, and a jade divination cylinder inlaid with gemstones and jewels appeared. The cylinder glowed brilliantly in the dark night.

Every Fate Master had several divination tools. Some had turtle shells, some had copper coins, some had yarrow stalks… And Jiang Zhaoxue’s natal tools were this Qiankun Divination Cylinder and a less commonly used Yin-Yang Omen Turtle.

Jiang Zhaoxue raised her hand to brush over the cylinder. Crow feathers obscured the divine light in her eyes as she suddenly transmitted to A’Nan: “A’Nan.”

A’Nan looked up puzzled, and heard Jiang Zhaoxue say: “Tell me… if this is a book, are my loves and hates, everyone’s loves and hates, real? Did I do what I did in the past, and what Shen Yuqing does today, all come from our own hearts?”

A’Nan was stunned. Before it could answer, it heard Jiang Zhaoxue laugh lightly: “Forget it. It doesn’t matter. Staying alive is most important.”

As she spoke, she drew her fingers together in a cutting motion. The cylinder began to shake. Golden formation arrays rippled like water beneath her feet. Spiritual energy surged around her. Jiang Zhaoxue rapidly formed seals with her hands, repeatedly chanting her request in her mind, pouring spiritual power into her palms: “The Heavenly Dao is impermanent, I gamble my fortune with heaven, escape and seek—”

She raised her hand with a flourish. Dharma light brightened in her palm. The Qiankun Divination Cylinder before her spun rapidly. She pressed her hand onto the formation, and the entire array lit up with radiance, surging toward the Qiankun Divination Cylinder: “Go!”

A jade slip flew out from the cylinder, floating bright before Jiang Zhaoxue. Two blood-red ancient characters reading “Supreme Fortune” appeared before Jiang Zhaoxue, looking exceptionally beautiful and lovely.

Jiang Zhaoxue’s eyes showed delight. She turned and called out: “A’Nan!”

A’Nan immediately flew over, landing on her shoulder. Jiang Zhaoxue swept her hand, and the jade slip instantly disappeared. A formation arose beneath her and Qingye’s feet, and then both disappeared together from the room.

When light appeared before their eyes again, Jiang Zhaoxue and A’Nan opened their eyes to find themselves surrounded by forest. Jiang Zhaoxue looked around, feeling the eerie atmosphere.

“This is Wuyue Forest?” A’Nan spoke.

Although it was familiar with the plot in the book, after all, it had just arrived in this world and wasn’t familiar with everything.

Jiang Zhaoxue acknowledged with a sound, took out a compass, calculated the direction, and led A’Nan forward.

Seeing her proceed without hesitation, A’Nan couldn’t help but ask in puzzlement: “Master, where are we going?”

“The Nine Nether Realm boundary marker.”

“Why there?”

“Tianji Lingyu is a gift from the Heavenly Dao. It only appears when it encounters someone with great fortune. In other words, it doesn’t appear randomly but senses Pei Zichen and appears.”

Jiang Zhaoxue recalled the plot, patiently explaining: “So we have to go to the place where Tianji Lingyu appears in the book to wait for Pei Zichen. The book says Tianji Lingyu appeared at the Nine Nether Realm boundary marker. We need to go there.”

“Then why don’t we just follow him directly?” A’Nan found this strange.

“That spirit snake in the book that even Shen Yuqing found troublesome was originally just an ordinary snake. It only became so strong after Tianji Lingyu appeared and it accidentally swallowed the Tianji Lingyu. If we want to obtain Tianji Lingyu, the best timing is the moment it appears. If it gets swallowed by the spirit snake, that would be troublesome.”

Just thinking about a mutated snake that could beat up Shen Yuqing made her head hurt.

“What does this have to do with waiting for Pei Zichen at the boundary marker?” A’Nan tilted its head on her shoulder, not understanding.

“When Tianji Lingyu appears, the spiritual power fluctuation is extremely strong. We need to arrive at where Tianji Lingyu appears in advance and set up a formation that can sense spiritual power fluctuations.” As Jiang Zhaoxue spoke, she emerged from the forest. Before her eyes was an open wilderness. Jiang Zhaoxue held the compass and continued: “Standing at the formation’s eye, any spiritual power fluctuation will be sensed by us first. So we need to come over first to set up the formation. It would be even better if we have time to set up a large formation to kill the spirit snake.”

“Understood.” A’Nan nodded, then looking at this empty ground, found it strange: “How is there such a large clearing in this forest?”

Jiang Zhaoxue glanced at it, put away the compass, then took out the Qiankun Divination Cylinder.

“The Heavenly Dao is impermanent, I gamble my fortune with heaven, supreme great fortune, break the formation—open!”

As she spoke, a “Supreme Fortune” slip flew out from the cylinder. Then A’Nan saw a transparent blue barrier appear before its eyes. Jiang Zhaoxue put away the cylinder and led A’Nan forward: “Let’s go.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue led A’Nan across the barrier. Upon entering the barrier, A’Nan saw that on this wilderness stood a brightly lit dilapidated temple.

The solitary dilapidated temple under the moon seemed to be wreathed in a layer of blue smoke, looking exceptionally eerie. The two walked forward together, stepping into the temple.

This temple was dilapidated, but it had everything it should—offering tables, prayer cushions, lamp stands, and such. A divine altar divided this cramped temple into an outer and inner chamber. On the altar was enshrined a faceless divine statue holding a book in one hand and a brush in the other, its dharma appearance majestic.

“This shrine is dedicated to Haocang Shenjun.”

A’Nan murmured. Jiang Zhaoxue looked up briefly but didn’t say much.

Legend had it that Haocang Shenjun created the world in ancient times, established the mortal realm, took a piece of his heart to transform into the Book of Fate, and recorded birth, aging, sickness, and death, cause and effect, and order in the mortal world. A person’s life was determined by the Book of Fate.

Three thousand years ago, the Book of Fate manifested, appearing in the hands of Lingjian Immortal Pavilion’s founding ancestor Gujun Daoren. Under the guidance of the Book of Fate, Gujun Daoren established Lingjian Immortal Pavilion to maintain the Great Dao of Heavenly Fate. Lingjian Immortal Pavilion became the guardian of the Book of Fate.

Unexpectedly, a thousand years ago, in the Great Wasteland, a person who would later be called Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor appeared. He proclaimed that heavenly fate had no will and man could conquer heaven. To escape the constraints of the Book of Fate, he abandoned spiritual energy cultivation and switched to evil energy. To adapt his cultivation, he created the Nine Nether Realm. Places swallowed by the Nine Nether Realm would have their spiritual energy twisted into evil energy, making it impossible for spiritual energy cultivators to survive. The Nine Nether Realm spent eight hundred years completely devouring the Great Wasteland. Two hundred years ago, it crossed the Cangming Sea, attempting to devour the True Immortal Realm.

Thus occurred the most tragic battle Jiang Zhaoxue remembered in the True Immortal Realm. In that battle, the True Immortal Realm’s elite forces were nearly wiped out. Among Shen Yuqing’s fellow disciples, only he and two junior martial sisters survived.

In the end, Gujun old ancestor rallied the entire realm’s forces to completely defeat that Xuanming Emperor and built a barrier to seal the Nine Nether Realm beyond the Cangming Sea.

The Nine Nether Realm and the True Immortal Realm were like fire and water. Their only consensus was about Haocang Shenjun’s creation of the world.

As the junction between the Nine Nether Realm and the True Immortal Realm, seeing this deity here wasn’t surprising.

It was just—

“Why is it so clean here?” A’Nan wiped the candleholder and frowned. “In this wilderness, is there someone maintaining this dilapidated temple?”

“This isn’t a temple.”

Listening, Jiang Zhaoxue looked at the compass needle spinning wildly and finally confirmed.

She put away the compass, glanced at the beam above, then crouched beneath the beam and began drawing a formation, explaining as she drew: “This is the Nine Nether Realm boundary marker. This temple is an illusion created by the boundary marker. You can only see it after entering the boundary marker’s protective formation. It’s its final layer of disguise.”

“We’re inside the boundary marker now?!” A’Nan was astonished.

Jiang Zhaoxue drew the formation while saying: “You could say that.”

This temple was the boundary marker. Jiang Zhaoxue finally understood why the book described “encountering the black snake at the Nine Nether Realm boundary marker.”

Because Pei Zichen entered this temple.

Tianji Lingyu needed to sense Pei Zichen to appear. So her task tonight was very clear.

Get Pei Zichen into this temple.

As long as he entered the temple, Tianji Lingyu would naturally appear.

If she remembered correctly, although Pei Zichen was touted as having exceptional natural talent, being the sect’s pristine jade, the first Golden Core…

He was still just Golden Core.

A promising future equals being ordinary now. Under her hands, he had basically no power to resist.

As long as she took Tianji Lingyu before Shen Yuqing appeared, this matter was settled!

Jiang Zhaoxue calculated in her heart while quickly setting up the spirit-seeking formation. Then she began drawing another large formation.

Although she had made plans to seize the jade the moment Tianji Lingyu appeared, if she had bad luck and the black snake really swallowed it first, she had to be prepared.

She never fought unprepared battles.

In a direct confrontation with this black snake, she was indeed inferior to Shen Yuqing. But like now, given enough time to draw formations, the outcome was hard to say.

After all, Fate Masters gambled with the Heavenly Dao, borrowing the Heavenly Dao’s power—anything was possible. And when she drew formations, the larger the formation, the higher her chances of winning when gambling with the Heavenly Dao. At this moment, she had sufficient time to set up a large formation that could attempt to kill even a Unity stage cultivator.

While drawing, she pondered—with such an awesome formation, should she wait for Shen Yuqing to come and kill him?

But thinking about the Sympathetic Heart Contract, forget it. She didn’t want to commit suicide.

Jiang Zhaoxue drew formations for a long time, nearly half a shichen. Finally finished.

After sitting down to regulate her breathing and rest for a while, she heard A’Nan get excited: “I hear people’s voices!”

“I hear them too.”

Jiang Zhaoxue kept her eyes closed, continuing to meditate.

Seeing this, A’Nan found it strange: “Eh? Aren’t you going out to look? What if they don’t enter the barrier?”

“Impossible.”

Jiang Zhaoxue spoke with certainty.

According to the book’s description, after Pei Zichen entered the mountains, he encountered ghost walls and was entangled by spirits in the mountains. When he ran to outside this temple barrier, a tree demon appeared and fought with them. During the battle, the tree demon shattered the barrier and slapped Pei Zichen and the others inside.

Now she had already opened the barrier. The tree demon only needed one slap to pat him in.

If this slap was accurate enough, it could directly slap Pei Zichen into the temple.

In the book without her existence, Pei Zichen was still slapped in. Now she had even opened the barrier first, greatly reducing the difficulty. Could Pei Zichen still not get in?

As long as Pei Zichen entered the barrier, she would immediately leap onto the beam.

She had set the formation’s eye on the beam. In the formation’s eye, she could precisely sense all spiritual power fluctuations. Once Pei Zichen entered the temple and Tianji Lingyu moved—she would obtain the jade at the first moment.

Everything was too smooth, too seamless. Just thinking about it made Jiang Zhaoxue smile.

After a while, sounds of “Ah!” “Ah!” “Ahhhhh!!” came from outside. A’Nan said somewhat nervously: “Master, I feel something’s not right.”

Jiang Zhaoxue continued meditating, ignoring this, affecting an air of profundity: “Fate cannot be interfered with too much, or it backfires.”

“No,” A’Nan said urgently, “they’re all being dragged away!”

Jiang Zhaoxue was stunned, then quickly opened her eyes. Looking back, she saw dozens of disciples entangled in tree vines, being dragged toward the forest, getting farther and farther from the temple where she was.

Although these disciples were all resisting with all their might, compared to the tree demon, they were powerless as children.

Jiang Zhaoxue quickly chased to the temple entrance, staring at this scene in shock, couldn’t help but say: “What’s wrong with Lingjian Immortal Pavilion? Are these disciples really this useless?! And Pei Zichen—isn’t he supposed to be the sect’s pristine jade, heaven’s favored son, Sword Trial Assembly champion? He can’t even beat a tree demon—is Zhongzhou finished?!”

“My Lady, stop scolding!”

A’Nan flapped its wings, saying anxiously: “Save them!”

Jiang Zhaoxue was speechless. She observed the situation, quickly analyzing: “We can’t act directly. People interfere with fate too much. Right now, just my appearance has already interfered with fate. I’ll transform and rescue Pei Zichen first and bring him into the barrier. You intercept the tree demon.”

As a demon cultivator, using an animal body to rescue people was the method that interfered least with fate.

A’Nan nodded and immediately rushed out. As a fate beast, it shared Jiang Zhaoxue’s spiritual power. Dealing with a tree demon was no problem.

A’Nan quickly moved into action. Jiang Zhaoxue scanned those disciples being dragged and strung up one by one, beginning to identify Pei Zichen.

Over so many years, she rarely paid attention to males other than Shen Yuqing. She had absolutely no impression of small disciples like Pei Zichen. Now suddenly asked to recognize him, she could only rely on characteristics to identify him.

Fortunately, Pei Zichen was the leader of this mission to find Lingxiao Hua. Lingjian Immortal Pavilion issued a golden mission token to every mission leader as identification. Jiang Zhaoxue scanned with one glance and saw a youth.

This youth wore moon-white robes embroidered with cranes and silver wide-sleeved outer disciple garments. His face looked tender, with a baby face and high ponytail, full of youthful vigor.

He was being dragged by the tree demon, struggling while cursing most fiercely. A golden jade token hung at his waist swaying. He desperately kicked the ground and resisted the vines, fighting back while cursing: “Let go of this young master! You demon, if you dare keep dragging me, this young master will dig out your roots, exterminate your seeds, burn this whole forest, and kill eighteen generations of your ancestors!! Gaowen, this is all your fault! I told you not to run around! You can go die yourself—don’t drag us into it!! I won’t spare you even in death, Gaowen!!”

He had a rich cursing vocabulary, fighting and cursing without even pausing to breathe.

Although Jiang Zhaoxue felt this seemed somewhat different from the Pei Zichen she read about in the text, when she cross-checked the characteristics—youth, beautiful… relatively beautiful face, leader…

That’s right, it was him!

Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t think too much. After sticking a Strength Talisman and an Agility Talisman on herself, she lunged forward, concealed her immortal aura, and transformed into a white tiger rushing toward that youth.

She and A’Nan’s cultivation levels far exceeded the tree demon’s. The tree demon couldn’t see through their true strength at all, thinking they were just two ordinary animals charging over. It sneered coldly, swung “Pei Zichen” up into the air to dodge Jiang Zhaoxue, and rebuked in an androgynous voice: “Little beast, Tree Lord’s meal isn’t for you to eat. Leave quickly and I’ll spare your life!”

Jiang Zhaoxue’s lunge missed, and she immediately pursued closely.

The tree demon sneered coldly, swinging the youth around like teasing a cat, while countless vines lashed toward Jiang Zhaoxue, saying coldly: “Since you seek death, Tree Lord will take you too!”

Jiang Zhaoxue was too lazy to respond. She nimbly dodged the lashing vines, continuously pursuing “Pei Zichen” being swung by the vines.

The youth had long been swung dizzy, shrieking continuously, only knowing to shout: “Help! Help me ahhhhh!!”

Her movements became faster and faster. The vines were forced to dodge again and again with all their might. At the same time, A’Nan also continuously attacked the tree body itself.

The tree demon’s demon heart was within the trunk. As long as it was hollowed out, it would have no power to fight back.

The tree demon dealing with both of them at once, even though these two didn’t use any spiritual power, it still had trouble coping. Its movements became slower and slower, and it began to curse in panic: “Where did these little beasts come from? Do you understand Wuyue Forest’s rules? Since you have spiritual awareness, back down, or don’t blame this seat for being merciless! Back down! Back down!”

The tree demon cursed more and more urgently. Just as Jiang Zhaoxue was about to bite the vine binding “Pei Zichen,” the tree demon finally couldn’t bear it any longer and roared: “Seeking death!”

The moment the sound fell, flames wrapped in blue light suddenly exploded from within the tree demon’s body, surging toward the surroundings like a tsunami. Seeing the fire wave in an instant, A’Nan’s eyes widened in shock, instinctively rushing toward Jiang Zhaoxue, urgently shouting: “This is Nine Nether Nether Fire—run!!”

But it was already too late.

The blue flames crashed into A’Nan’s protective formation, sending it flying to the side. The flames surged forward unimpeded, devouring heaven and earth like a raging dragon rushing before Jiang Zhaoxue.

Jiang Zhaoxue immediately turned back. Her tiger claw lifted—just as a talisman was about to appear, a sword light broke through the air from within the forest!

Wherever it passed, frost and ice followed, chasing the fire wave. The instant before the fire wave engulfed Jiang Zhaoxue, it froze the fire wave into ice.

The wind carried pine fragrance. Time and space seemed to freeze in that moment. Mountains and rivers fell silent. The moon made no sound as it set.

The moonlight was blocked by something. Shadow covered her eyes. Jiang Zhaoxue stretched out her tiger claw and looked up in a daze, only to see not far above her, a youth bathed in moonlight, treading upon waves, gazing down at her.

He wore white robes embroidered with blue cranes—the common disciple uniform—with a silver cloud-patterned outer robe draped over it. Red chest ornaments hung from both sides of the robe. A jade crown bound his long hair high. In his handsome features was the unique spirited air of youth.

He held the returning sword hilt in his backhand. His wide sleeves danced without wind. His jade ornaments remained motionless despite his movement.

The fire wave had become an ice sculpture standing behind him. He blocked all disaster, like a deity descending to the mortal world, gazing down upon all beings.

“Lingjian Immortal Pavilion’s Pei Zichen—” the youth spoke, his ethereal voice like striking jade. With a backhand swing of his sword, the blade pierced through the ice-sealed forest, impaling the tree demon. Everything frozen behind him instantly shattered. Screams echoed through the forest. Everything that shattered transformed into broken ice crystals scattering, reflecting colorful brilliance under the moonlight.

In this moon-colored scene like a dreamlike illusion, the youth gazed at Jiang Zhaoxue. He placed one hand on his chest, thumb and middle finger slightly bent, his body leaning slightly forward in a bow. What should have been a cold tone unconsciously carried a touch of gentleness.

“Greetings to all.”