“Truly worthy of someone who has cultivated the Jiuyou Realm techniques—so perceptive.”

Mu Jinyue praised with a smile, and with a pinch of her fingers, Pei Zichen’s light sword outside the barrier shattered instantly.

Pei Zichen’s expression turned cold, but Mu Jinyue’s face remained extraordinarily relaxed. She only said, “However, Senior Brother, rest assured, I bear no ill will. It’s just that my spirit roots cannot cultivate, and I happened to obtain the Time-Seeking Mirror, so I sought another path. You and I, Senior Brother, are no different.”

“Do you dare say that the demonic cultivator who helped me retrieve the Su Guangji on the day I fell from the cliff has nothing to do with you?” Pei Zichen asked sharply.

Mu Jinyue blinked, seeming puzzled. “Senior Brother asks strangely—how would I know about a demonic cultivator helping you?”

Pei Zichen didn’t speak, only staring at her in silence.

Mu Jinyue knew he didn’t believe her and sighed. “If Senior Brother doesn’t believe me, so be it. In any case, as long as Senior Brother knows that you and I are friends, not enemies. I only wholeheartedly wish to help Senior Brother.”

“Help me?”

Pei Zichen sneered coldly. “What do you want to help me do?”

“Naturally, to help Senior Brother obtain the God-Slaying Sword and save the True Immortal Realm from fire and water.”

“You have no selfish motives?” Pei Zichen’s tone was cold. Mu Jinyue laughed softly.

“My selfish motives…” Mu Jinyue smiled as she thought about it, then raised her eyes. “Aren’t they the same as Senior Brother’s?”

Pei Zichen’s expression tightened slightly. Mu Jinyue didn’t care at all and said casually, “The True Immortal Realm won’t allow demonic cultivators from the Jiuyou Realm to stay. If Senior Brother still wants to remain by Jiang Zhaoxue’s side, you should keep this secret with me. When you obtain the God-Slaying Sword in the future and sweep across the three realms, at that time, Junior Sister and Senior Brother together—” Mu Jinyue raised her eyes and smiled—”will bring Master and Master’s wife back to Jiuyou together.”

“You’re from the Jiuyou Realm?”

Hearing the word “back,” Pei Zichen frowned.

Mu Jinyue didn’t respond directly. Her expression became indifferent, and she only said, “Senior Brother, having cultivated the Jiuyou Realm’s techniques makes you a person of the Jiuyou Realm. If you want to become a god, you cannot dual-cultivate immortal and demonic paths for a lifetime. Sooner or later, you must make a choice. You cannot stay.”

With that, Mu Jinyue turned around. “I knocked Pei Shulan unconscious. I’ll go back first and say that after you left, someone knocked me out. Just blame it all on the Jiuyou Realm.”

“I won’t go to the Jiuyou Realm.”

Pei Zichen suddenly spoke. Mu Jinyue paused.

With her back to him, after a long while, she laughed mockingly. “Senior Brother, even if you don’t go to the Jiuyou Realm, Master’s wife may not necessarily stay by your side. Master said—” Mu Jinyue turned back to look at him, her words tinged with mockery—”after obtaining the God-Slaying Sword and ending this journey, he will ask the Book of Fate and Ancestor Gujun to find a way to dissolve the Life Attendant Contract between you and Master’s wife. He’ll hand over the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion to you, formally establish a Life Attendant Contract with Master’s wife, and retire with her.”

Each of Mu Jinyue’s words pierced Pei Zichen’s heart. Pei Zichen stared intently at her, only saying, “Master’s wife will leave the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion.”

This made Mu Jinyue raise an eyebrow. “Are you certain?”

Pei Zichen didn’t dare speak. Mu Jinyue walked up to him, leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice. “Senior Brother, a woman’s body is more honest than anything else. If she cared about you even half a bit—” Mu Jinyue leaned near his ear, asking softly—”how would you still possess your primal yang essence?”

“Impudent!”

Hearing this, Pei Zichen shouted sternly. Light swords instantly burst forth from around his body. Mu Jinyue tapped her toes, raised her hand in a spin, and the light swords clattered and broke entirely before Mu Jinyue’s purple light shield.

Only one blood-stained light sword broke through the formation, slashing across Mu Jinyue’s cheek in her horrified gaze.

The moment Mu Jinyue was struck by the blood sword, she instantly vanished without a trace, only transmitting to him, “If you need help, feel free to find me. Tell Jiang Zhaoxue that in five days, place a tracking artifact on me, give me a chance to be caught, and you can trace the God-Slaying Sword. Don’t let others know about this matter, otherwise you and I will both perish together.”

The instant her voice fell, Pei Zichen immediately sensed someone pursuing from behind. He had no time to worry about Mu Jinyue and grabbed a cloak and mask, instantly putting them on. The moment his opponent closed in, he turned and thrust his sword!

It was Jiang Zhaoxue descending on a crane. Startled, Pei Zichen hastily withdrew his sword. Jiang Zhaoxue leaped from the crane, pressing one palm on his shoulder. Pei Zichen quickly protected her in his embrace, and pressed by her, they crashed into a distant tree.

She covered his mouth and hid behind the tree. The Mountain-River Bell instantly activated, and then she sensed Shen Yuqing’s aura arriving!

All this happened extremely fast. Before Pei Zichen could react, Jiang Zhaoxue had already covered his mouth and pressed him against the tree.

Jiang Zhaoxue had obviously arrived in great haste, pressed against his chest, breathing softly and low. Pei Zichen heard Shen Yuqing arrive behind them, one hand still floating emptily at her waist.

He felt the person pressed against his chest. He rarely had such close moments with her in reality. Now that he truly touched her, he discovered that whether in illusions or dreams, it was different from reality.

Her real, tangible body was so burning hot, completely different from the sensation created by divine consciousness in dreams.

His heartbeat couldn’t help but quicken, and he involuntarily wrapped his hand around her waist, tightening it a few degrees.

Jiang Zhaoxue sensed his movement and stiffened momentarily.

Pei Zichen instantly became nervous. He wanted to release his hand, but saw that after her momentary shock, she simply lowered her eyes without speaking.

The two remained silent in this position, listening as Shen Yuqing searched briefly before immediately chasing in the direction of Jiang Zhaoxue’s crane.

After Shen Yuqing left, Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t immediately withdraw. Pei Zichen lowered his eyes, quietly gazing at the pearl ornament on her head.

Standing in his embrace, Jiang Zhaoxue contemplated the current situation.

Earlier, when she passed by Pei Zichen in the sky, she had discovered the person in the forest.

From a distance, she couldn’t see clearly and couldn’t distinguish whether the person was Pei Zichen or that demonic cultivator from the Jiuyou Realm. But when she got closer and saw him fleeing through the forest, she recognized him as Pei Zichen at a glance.

She saw he was staggering and knew he was injured.

Shen Yuqing’s sword wounds were difficult to eliminate. She had to buy him time, so she left in the opposite direction.

Shen Yuqing noticed she hadn’t followed and had cut off the Marriage Fate Contract’s perception, and anxiously pursued her. Unexpectedly, Pei Zichen had actually fought with someone.

The first time he fought, she sensed it and wanted to go check, but Shen Yuqing pursued relentlessly, and she didn’t dare say much.

When Shen Yuqing turned around the second time and stopped chasing her, instead going to find Pei Zichen, she could only arrive first and hide him.

But now that she had hidden him, she found herself somewhat at a loss.

Currently, Pei Zichen wore a disguise for easy transformation. By rights, she shouldn’t recognize this Jiuyou Realm demonic cultivator as her.

So if she didn’t recognize him, why would she save a Jiuyou Realm demonic cultivator?

Pei Zichen obviously thought the same, and actually dared to hold her, quietly waiting for her answer.

After hesitating for a long time, she pretended to be calm as she withdrew from Pei Zichen’s embrace, looked up with a smile. “Senior, we meet again.”

Pei Zichen’s movement paused. In an instant, he realized Jiang Zhaoxue had mistaken him for someone else.

His heart felt slightly bitter, yet also relieved.

Fortunately, Jiang Zhaoxue hadn’t seen his demonic cultivator appearance. This put his heart somewhat at ease.

Seeing him silent, Jiang Zhaoxue knew he had accepted this outcome. She raised her hand in salute. “Thank you for your assistance today, Senior. My dao companion has a blood feud with the Jiuyou Realm. He acted impulsively for a moment. I hope you’ll forgive him.”

Hearing the words “dao companion,” Pei Zichen paused, raised his eyes to look at her, his expression cooling somewhat.

Jiang Zhaoxue felt his displeasure and knew she had said the wrong thing. After thinking, she coughed lightly, condensing magical light in her hand, raising her eyes. “If Senior doesn’t mind, let me treat your wounds?”

This made Pei Zichen hesitate, but Jiang Zhaoxue had already extended her hand.

The magical light fell on Pei Zichen’s shoulder. Pei Zichen felt a warm current spread from his shoulder, covering his entire body.

He raised his eyes to look at the person before him. He had never met her as an equal like this, nor had he ever seen her in such a gentle manner.

He quietly felt the temperature of her spiritual power. When the wound completely healed, Jiang Zhaoxue withdrew, smiled, and said, “Senior, the wound has completely healed. I’ll take my leave first.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue turned to leave. Pei Zichen immediately followed her.

Jiang Zhaoxue was startled, then realized that Pei Zichen would absolutely not feel at ease letting her return alone. She tested, “You want to escort me to a safe place?”

Pei Zichen nodded. Jiang Zhaoxue inclined her head and thanked him. “Many thanks.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue turned forward. Without much thought, she immediately took out her transmission jade token and began looking for Shen Yuqing. “Shen Yuqing?”

However, the transmission jade token showed no response. Jiang Zhaoxue was startled, instinctively sensing something wrong.

Jiang Zhaoxue immediately tried to sense the area, discovering that when her spiritual power and divine consciousness extended out, they lost all perception after less than ten li.

It was as if they had been placed inside a box.

Jiang Zhaoxue thought for a moment and understood. It must be because Pei Zichen had broken the rules to find them, triggering the formation. Now the valley must have been divided into different spatial regions. Just now, Shen Yuqing and she were in one space without perception, but now Shen Yuqing must have gone to another side.

Jiang Zhaoxue felt slightly doubtful. Subconsciously, she formed hand seals, wanting to undo the isolation spell on her Marriage Fate Contract to sense Shen Yuqing. Seeing this, Pei Zichen grabbed her hand.

Jiang Zhaoxue looked up questioningly, and saw Pei Zichen raise his hand, pointing forward.

Jiuyou Realm techniques drew power from all things in heaven and earth, making them more sensitive to “perception.” Pei Zichen must have sensed something.

She carefully felt around and discovered that not far away, spiritual power was rhythmically vibrating.

Jiang Zhaoxue thought for a moment and knew it was Shen Yuqing.

She immediately stood up and moved forward. “Let’s go.”

Pei Zichen followed behind her, not saying a word.

The two walked silently through the forest ahead. After walking for a while, Jiang Zhaoxue felt something was wrong. She looked up at a tree and frowned. “We just passed through here.”

Pei Zichen observed for a moment and drew his sword, slashing directly.

This sword instantly split open a gap. The moment the gap opened, Life-Devouring Beasts poured out like a flood. Jiang Zhaoxue was shocked and retreated. Pei Zichen grabbed her with one hand while light swords spread out overwhelmingly.

Jiang Zhaoxue watched as the light swords forced the Life-Devouring Beasts back all the way, forcibly carving out a path. Jiang Zhaoxue’s hands broke out in cold sweat. Pei Zichen glanced at her, patted her hand, and held it as they moved forward.

Jiang Zhaoxue forced herself to calm down and stepped forward. The moment Pei Zichen led her into the darkness, a dark purple membrane extended forward, blocking all the Life-Devouring Beasts outside.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet. The entire world seemed to contain only the two of them. Life-Devouring Beasts flew and crashed against the membrane one after another, while light swords fell like a magnificent rain.

Pulled along by this person, Jiang Zhaoxue felt as if she were strolling through a corridor. Sword rain fell like waterfalls around them, blood flowed like rivers, while the young man in his long robe held her hand—white jade-like and carrying some warmth—gently.

Her heart gradually settled with fullness, and she was no longer afraid. Involuntarily, her gaze fell on Pei Zichen’s back, always feeling it seemed familiar.

A’Nan couldn’t help but softly exclaim “Ah.”

“Why are you ‘ah-ing’?” Jiang Zhaoxue asked strangely.

A’Nan stared at Pei Zichen’s back, watching, murmuring, “I… I feel like I’ve seen him before…”

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t speak. She understood what A’Nan meant.

Although A’Nan had been sleeping in the space-time rift, she had seen that senior.

This scene, this moment, this current Pei Zichen—he resembled that person too much.

A’Nan was probably influenced by her, so it wasn’t strange.

But she also knew this was probably a deviation in her memory. In truth, during that stretch of road, she was still blind and had never actually seen what that person looked like pulling her forward. How could he resemble Pei Zichen?

She quietly watched Pei Zichen. When the road reached its end, Pei Zichen turned to look at her.

Not far away was the barrier membrane that Shen Yuqing had split open.

This was the gap between spaces. Once Shen Yuqing completely split open the barrier, this space would collapse and couldn’t hold anyone. This was also why Shen Yuqing didn’t dare to act.

Pei Zichen looked at her silently for a moment, finally releasing her. Using a deliberately altered voice, he reminded her, “Mu Jinyue has a problem. I’m leaving you this dagger.”

He raised his hand and used the dagger to cut his palm, sealing a sword formula inside, then handed it to Jiang Zhaoxue. “If she acts against you, you can use this to break the situation.”

Jiang Zhaoxue was startled, accepting the dagger with doubt and uncertainty.

She knew Mu Jinyue had a problem, but why would Pei Zichen give her this dagger stained with his blood?

“She said that in five days, you can place a tracking artifact on her. Give her an opportunity to be captured while acting alone, and you’ll be able to find the God-Slaying Sword. This matter must not be known to Shen Yuqing.”

Pei Zichen was brief and to the point. He didn’t dare say this was what he said, because he couldn’t confirm the truth or falsehood of Mu Jinyue’s words. He could only present it as information for Jiang Zhaoxue to judge.

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue nodded, only saying, “Does Senior have any other instructions?”

Pei Zichen made no sound. He only looked at her quietly.

Seeing him silent, Jiang Zhaoxue inclined her head and said softly, “Since there’s nothing else, then may the mountains be high and the waters long. We’ll meet again if fate allows.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue turned and moved forward.

However, the moment she turned around, Pei Zichen finally couldn’t hold back. He raised his hand and grabbed her.

Jiang Zhaoxue turned back in shock, and the young man kissed her directly!

A kiss like a dragonfly touching water. Jiang Zhaoxue opened her eyes in shock. The barrier beside them suddenly shattered, and Pei Zichen raised his hand and pushed.

As Jiang Zhaoxue fell backward, Shen Yuqing caught her around the waist, quickly retreating from the collapsing space.

Daylight burst forth.

The moment Shen Yuqing landed holding her, he anxiously checked her pulse, urgently asking, “Are you all right?!”

Jiang Zhaoxue felt somewhat uncomfortable as she stood up, hastily saying, “I… I’m fine.”

When she pushed Shen Yuqing away and raised her eyes, he saw Jiang Zhaoxue’s face flushed red, obviously somewhat evasive. He couldn’t help but freeze.

Pei Shulan and Mu Jinyue rushed over from the side. Pei Shulan asked urgently, “Immortal Jiang, are you all right?”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue looked around, only then discovering this was a temple. Ming stood at the temple gate, quietly watching them.

“Where is this?”

Jiang Zhaoxue asked in confusion.

Mu Jinyue came forward and helped Jiang Zhaoxue up. “Master’s wife, please get up first.”

Jiang Zhaoxue rose with Mu Jinyue’s assistance. Shen Yuqing seemed to still be thinking about something.

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t pay attention to him, only turning to look at Mu Jinyue, inquiring, “How did you all get here?”

As she spoke, she pretended not to know about Pei Zichen’s situation and asked in confusion, “Where’s Pei Zichen?”

“He went to find you.” Mu Jinyue asked strangely, “Didn’t you see him?”

“I…”

Before she finished speaking, she felt a spiritual power fluctuation around them. Then she saw Pei Zichen in his crane-embroidered blue robes split open the barrier and enter. After landing, he raised his eyes to look at everyone. After being stunned for a moment, he immediately saluted Jiang Zhaoxue and Shen Yuqing. “Master’s wife, Master.”

“Wow,” Jiang Zhaoxue looked and couldn’t help but secretly communicate with A’Nan. “Good acting.”

“Where did you go?”

Seeing him put on this act, Jiang Zhaoxue quickly cooperated. “Why weren’t you with your junior sister and Madam Pei?”

“Just now, this disciple sensed Master’s wife was in danger and rushed over.”

Pei Zichen spoke half-truths. Shen Yuqing also slowly regained his senses, sheathed his sword, and stood up. He stood beside Jiang Zhaoxue, scrutinizing Pei Zichen as he explained, “But the moment I saw Master’s wife and Master, I felt a spiritual energy tremor, and then Master’s wife and Master disappeared. This disciple was trapped in place for a long time before discovering the abnormality and finally forcibly broke through the space to come here.”

“I see…”

“You abandoned your post.” Shen Yuqing spoke coldly. “Your responsibility on this journey is to protect your junior sister and Madam Pei…”

“That’s enough.”

Hearing him lecture, Jiang Zhaoxue immediately said, “In any case, what’s done is done. There’s no point in you saying more.”

“I’m telling him for next time…”

“Next time, this disciple will do the same.”

Pei Zichen interrupted their conversation. Everyone looked over and saw Pei Zichen calmly say, “This disciple is Master’s wife’s Life Attendant. For this disciple, nothing is more important than Master’s wife’s life.”

Hearing this, Shen Yuqing’s expression grew cold. Pei Zichen raised his eyes without the slightest retreat. “Any task Master assigns me, the premise for this disciple’s completion is that Master’s wife is safe.”

“All right, all right.”

Hearing that this matter would likely lead to another argument, Jiang Zhaoxue quickly mediated. “Let’s look at the situation and discuss what to do.”

As she spoke, Jiang Zhaoxue raised her hand and pushed Shen Yuqing. “Go on, go on, don’t block the doorway.”

Shen Yuqing seemed to be holding back his frustration. Pushed by Jiang Zhaoxue, he went inside. Ming was already sitting by the fire cooking porridge.

Seeing everyone enter, he said indifferently, “I thought you planned to argue until tomorrow.”

“How could that be?” Jiang Zhaoxue smiled as she entered the great hall, moving close to Ming to watch him cook porridge. Seeing it contained ginger paste and minced meat, she couldn’t help but say, “You also like eating ginger paste and minced meat porridge?”

Ming didn’t speak. Pei Zichen glanced over. Jiang Zhaoxue said casually, “Zichen also likes to eat it.”

Ming’s movement paused slightly as he glanced at Pei Zichen.

Everyone entered the room. Shen Yuqing sat beside Jiang Zhaoxue. According to protocol, Pei Zichen could only sit in the position farthest from Jiang Zhaoxue.

But the farthest position, around the fire, happened to be directly across from Jiang Zhaoxue.

He could clearly see Jiang Zhaoxue and Shen Yuqing sitting together. Jiang Zhaoxue was still chatting with Ming. Although Ming appeared impatient, he answered every question.

After everyone sat down, Jiang Zhaoxue looked back, then turned to inquire of Shen Yuqing, “What’s the current situation?”

“After separating from you, I chased your aura. Later, it broke off in a forest. After I chased for a while longer, I discovered I was trapped in a space. I forcibly broke through the space and arrived at this temple. I transmitted messages to everyone using spiritual power vibrations. Later, I first sensed Jinyue approaching, broke through the space for her, and brought her and Madam Pei to the temple. Then I sensed you coming.”

As Shen Yuqing spoke, he seemed to be restraining something. “I sensed you stopped, and there seemed to be someone beside you. I feared someone had taken you hostage, so I forcibly broke through the spatial barrier, wanting to rescue you.”

“I understand.”

Jiang Zhaoxue nodded, discovering that Shen Yuqing’s description was missing one person. She turned to look at Ming beside her. “What about you? How did you get here?”

“After you left, I went forward to find you, discovered this temple, and then could never leave.”

Ming spoke as he casually stirred the porridge in the pot.

Jiang Zhaoxue understood. “In other words, this place is now the origin point. No matter where you go from, you’ll eventually return to this position?”

“You could say that.”

Shen Yuqing spoke, obviously having already tried.

Jiang Zhaoxue sensed the changes in spiritual energy around them, discovering this place was like a box. When touching the boundary, divine consciousness could sense nothing at all.

She remained silent. Pei Shulan couldn’t help feeling somewhat nervous and asked curiously, “Immortal Jiang, what should we do now? Can we not get out?”

“How could that be?”

Jiang Zhaoxue smiled, thinking as she spoke. “As long as it’s a formation, there must be a way to break it.”

“Find the formation’s eye?” Shen Yuqing contemplated.

Jiang Zhaoxue shook her head. Thinking about something, she spoke slowly. “If it were an ordinary formation, naturally we would find the formation’s eye. But this is near the Heavenly Abyss. The Heavenly Abyss is a treasure land naturally formed by heaven and earth. The God-Slaying Sword is concealed by the Heavenly Abyss. Its outer perimeter will naturally also form special spiritual power flows. Formations created by borrowing the power of heaven and earth’s nature make finding the formation’s eye extremely difficult.”

“Then what do we do?” Mu Jinyue became nervous.

Jiang Zhaoxue tapped her knee lightly, continuing, “Therefore, what we should look for isn’t the formation’s eye… What we should look for…”

Jiang Zhaoxue curved her lips. “Is the Heavenly Abyss.”

“The Heavenly Abyss?” Hearing this, Shen Yuqing frowned. “How can we possibly find that?”

The God-Slaying Sword was hidden in the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Pool. If they could find it directly, would they need to go through all this trouble?

“The Heavenly Abyss is a feng shui treasure land. Using the Dragon-Seeking Formation from feng shui, we can find it.”

“But it’s concealed by the formation beneath our feet.” Shen Yuqing pointed out, not understanding. “If we cannot break through the formation beneath our feet, how can we find the Heavenly Abyss?”

“That’s because the concealing formation beneath our feet is stronger than the Dragon-Seeking Formation. If our Dragon-Seeking Formation can be stronger than the maze formation beneath our feet, then the Dragon-Seeking Formation can guide us to find the Heavenly Abyss.”

“How is that possible?” Shen Yuqing still didn’t understand. “The formation beneath our feet borrows the power of heaven and earth…”

“What if we use this object?”

Jiang Zhaoxue turned her hand, and a glazed lamp appeared in her palm.

The base of this lamp was a golden plate. On the golden plate, two dragons were intertwined together, ultimately both holding a pearl in their mouths. A glazed lamp cover enclosed it outside, looking exquisite and beautiful.

The instant he saw this lamp, Shen Yuqing froze. Jiang Zhaoxue smiled at him. “If we have this object, and I wager my fortune with heaven once more, what do you think—what are my chances of winning?”