“It’s you!” The Yunxiao Sect Master saw Su Zhuyi, his gaze slightly surprised. His heart was filled with anger over the elder’s death, but he still restrained himself somewhat, not directly pressing down on Su Zhuyi with his pressure aura.

He first landed before Yunlin, examined Elder Hua’s wounds, then frowned and asked Su Zhuyi, “Did you kill Elder Hua?”

After examining Elder Hua’s wounds, the Yunxiao Sect Master’s astonishment increased several-fold. Elder Hua had several sword wounds on his body. The other lighter injuries were from Gujian Sect’s famous sword technique, the Tianxuan Nine Swords, but Elder Hua’s fatal wound was not from the Tianxuan sword technique. That sword strike was too powerful – it had pierced through the Nascent Soul stage Elder Hua with one strike. Not only had the sword qi broken through his spiritual energy barrier and all defenses, but it had also penetrated his physical body. Such power – how could a Golden Core stage Su Zhuyi accomplish this? Could there be some misunderstanding?

Although extremely angry, the Yunxiao Sect Master didn’t want to jump to conclusions. He extended his divine consciousness to carefully examine Su Zhuyi, then discovered that she was already at Golden Core Great Perfection, with profound aura throughout her body. She seemed to be unconsciously absorbing spiritual energy, as if faintly forming a spiritual energy vortex – this was a sign of cultivation entering the Great Perfection realm and about to break through to Nascent Soul stage.

Su Zhuyi of Gujian Sect’s Luoxue Peak was truly a heaven-sent genius, actually surpassing even Qin Chuan with his Triple Yang Convergence Constitution.

The current Qin Chuan had gained some opportunities in the secret realm and had just advanced to the fourth layer of the Golden Core stage cultivation.

Su Zhuyi didn’t speak. She directly took out the memory stone she had originally planned to give to the sect master.

She infused spiritual energy into the stone, and the scene from the southern border when the Hua family father and daughter had colluded with the Miao village to raise her as a beauty parasite was directly displayed before everyone. She had re-experienced all these events in the Rebirth Pond, so seeing them again now didn’t evoke much emotion. Only at the very end did she suddenly think that if the Hua family women hadn’t harmed her, she wouldn’t have been severely injured and desperately rushed to Gujian Sect’s Luoxue Peak while heavily wounded, still having to contend with the Longquan Sword. If she hadn’t been injured then, perhaps the love parasite on her body wouldn’t have had the chance to mature.

After all, Miaoshe Shiqi had only planted a tiny insect egg in her body. If she hadn’t been too weak at that time with overly intense emotions, where would that insect egg have had the chance to mature?

“This…”

The Yunxiao Sect Master didn’t speak, while the two elders behind him frowned simultaneously.

It was one thing for Elder Hua and Hua Yining to capture demonic path female cultivators to refine parasites, but in the end, they actually wanted to kill righteous path fellow disciples, and then argued sophistically. Hearing Hua Yining’s words, several powerful members of the Yunxiao Sect felt somewhat embarrassed and didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“This must be fake!” Among the crowd were disciples under Elder Hua. Elder Hua held a very high position in Yunxiao Sect with a good reputation. Apart from spoiling his daughter somewhat, he was very gentle with other disciples and had refined many pills for the sect, earning considerable respect within the sect. Therefore, disciples were already loudly refuting, berating Su Zhuyi and saying the images on the memory stone were false.

But just then, parasite insects flew everywhere in chaotic swarms, the images intermittent. They saw Elder Hua himself pulling a flying treasure, wanting to save the Yunxiao Sect disciples. That scene made people stunned, moved, and worried people, momentarily forgetting to speak. But in the next moment, they saw Elder Hua abandon the flying treasure and crush an escape talisman that would teleport him far away.

He only took Hua Yining with him.

The other Yunxiao Sect disciples were all gnawed into white bones by the parasite insects. The shrill screams stunned all the cultivators present.

“They’re all dead.” After a long while, someone finally spoke. “That was Junior Sister Qihua.”

“Those other two were my senior brothers,” another person said. “They indeed didn’t return from this trip. Master, he…”

He said his senior brothers had met with misfortune and were gone.

At that time, their master’s complexion had been too poor, his body weak, and their junior sister was severely injured and ruined, so they hadn’t dared to ask specifically. They had no idea what their master and senior brothers had encountered on this trip to end up so miserably.

Now, seeing these images, he instinctively felt this was real, not the forgery that fellow disciple had claimed earlier.

Elder Hua abandoning other disciples at the crucial moment to take his beloved daughter Hua Yining was actually understandable – everyone could figure that out. However, in their hearts, it was like a thorn stuck there, making them slightly uncomfortable. But Elder Hua was already dead, so thinking about these things was pointless.

“Did you see?” Su Zhuyi put away the memory stone. “They previously hired Blood Asura assassins to plot against me, and later directly wanted to capture me to refine parasites…” Speaking to this point, Su Zhuyi paused. “If I hadn’t been harmed by them, I wouldn’t have been infected with another type of parasite.”

She looked at the Yunxiao Sect members, but these words were meant for Qin Jianglan to hear.

“Originally, the sect master planned to seek justice for me, but unexpectedly, our sect met with misfortune, and Sect Master Duan also perished. But this debt, I must settle myself.” Su Zhuyi waved the sword in her hand, pointing at Yunlin: “That man surnamed Hua set up a life and death duel with me himself. He lost, so he died.” She coldly swept her gaze around, her flying sword sweeping horizontally. A sword qi flew out in an arc, and a deep sword mark immediately appeared on the ground. Su Zhuyi frowned and called out loudly: “If anyone from your Yunxiao Sect wants to avenge him, then I’ll accompany you to the end!”

“Yunlin…” The Yunxiao Sect Master looked toward Yunlin beside him, his gaze sharp.

Yunlin choked up and said: “Reporting to the Sect Master, Elder Hua indeed established a life and death duel with her, and had me witness it. He said that if he perished, none of us should seek revenge for him.”

“What else?” the Sect Master asked coldly.

Yunlin hesitated slightly, but finally said: “Elder Hua, he… he also asked her to spare Junior Sister Yining’s life.”

As his words fell, the Yunxiao Sect disciples immediately erupted in discussion.

Hua Yining was within the Yunxiao Sect – could she run to the Yunxiao Sect to kill people? They couldn’t even protect one junior sister?

Although it currently appeared that Su Zhuyi was in the right, her manner seemed too arrogant. What did she mean by “if anyone seeks revenge for Elder Hua, she’ll accompany them to the end!” Acting like she didn’t regard any of them as worth considering!

The disciple who had questioned earlier was only at the third layer of Golden Core cultivation. His strength wasn’t sufficient to enter the secret realm – he belonged to the outstanding young disciples who were protected by the sect to gain experience here, similar to Qin Chuan’s status. He was several decades older than Qin Chuan, and if not for Qin Chuan, he would also be a very outstanding young cultivator.

He greatly revered Elder Hua and felt quite indignant in his heart. He knew Su Zhuyi’s true age – it was one thing for Su Zhuyi to show off at Yunxiao Sect last time, one thing for her to be among the outstanding of the younger generation, but for her to be able to kill Elder Hua? This was impossible – she must have used trickery, perhaps secretly poisoning him!

Therefore, he was still stretching his neck and shouting with a red face: “How could Elder Hua lose to you, a mere Golden Core stage cultivator!”

“What, don’t believe it?”

“Want to try?” Su Zhuyi raised her sword, raising her eyebrows at him and crooking her finger. “Come…”

“I’ll beat you until you submit – how about that!”

Her tone was no longer so cold.

Her face even carried a smile. She was already so beautiful as to be impossible to ignore, and now, with less sharpness and coldness on that face, more charm appeared at her brows and eyes. Under the clear, cold moonlight, she appeared even more alluring, her hair casually flowing, blown by the night wind, her face bathed in soft light, plated with silver-gray, her starlike eyes dazzling, the light in her eyes capable of striking people’s hearts.

At this moment she was like a moon spirit enchanting people’s souls. This simple gesture actually stunned that young man, the anger in his heart stuck halfway, suddenly blocked back.

His face grew even redder, whether from anger or something else was unclear.

“Don’t be so arrogant!” He stammered out a shout, then drew his sword. Just as he drew his sword, Qin Chuan suddenly spoke: “I believe it. Senior Brother Zhang Liang, you’re no match for her.”

Qin Chuan wasn’t standing in front – he stood silently at the back of the group. After Su Zhuyi heard his voice, she looked over, following the sound and flashed him an unrestrained, flamboyant smile.

Qin Chuan was slightly stunned, also returning a gentle smile, even showing a shallow dimple on his face.

Just then, Qin Jianglan walked out from the shadows.

He walked forward step by step, standing beside Su Zhuyi.

He only made one sword strike. Songfeng Sword’s sword qi steadily and properly landed on the sword mark Su Zhuyi had just drawn. If Su Zhuyi had just carved out a ravine before them, Qin Jianglan’s sword expanded this ravine into a chasm.

It was as if a cliff had suddenly appeared before them.

This person had casually made one sword strike, yet possessed such power.

“Now, do you believe?” Qin Jianglan didn’t look at anyone, but every Yunxiao Sect cultivator felt his gaze piercing them like a needle point.

The smile on Qin Chuan’s face froze. He silently lowered his head, gripping his sword tightly.

Who was that person? His swordsmanship was formidable to such a degree. Only someone like that could stand beside her?

Qin Chuan kept his head down without speaking. At this time, his master Elder He stepped forward and performed a grand salute to that person.

“Senior, so you’re here as well.” After Elder He bowed, he slowly said, “Thank you for your guidance last time, junior benefited greatly.”

This person had killed so many demonic cultivators last time with just one sword strike. If he had guided Su Zhuyi, it wouldn’t be strange for Su Zhuyi to be able to kill Elder Hua.

“Is that the one?” Elder He had mentioned to the sect master and others the powerful sword cultivator who had appeared at Gujian Sect. He had used Yunxiao Sect sword techniques at that time, so he had always felt this person had deep connections with the Yunxiao Sect. Could he be some reclusive elder from earlier years?

Some Yunxiao Sect elders would leave the sect to wander the world for training after hitting cultivation bottlenecks, with some never returning, so they had made such speculations.

The Sect Master now also stepped forward, bowing respectfully and asking reverently: “May I ask Senior’s distinguished name?”

Qin Jianglan didn’t hide it. He said indifferently: “Qin Jianglan.” His gaze inadvertently swept over Qin Chuan, then settled on Su Zhuyi. He reached out, gently placing his hand on her waist. “Shall we leave first?”

His purpose in coming out was to intimidate Yunxiao Sect, making them not dare use any methods against Su Zhuyi. Because once they made a move, he would stand beside Su Zhuyi.

In the crowd, Qin Chuan suddenly raised his head. He felt as if his heart had been stabbed, inexplicably feeling terrible.

She didn’t want him to be called Qin Jianglan.

It was because there was already a Qin Jianglan in this world.

So that was it. He could understand, but he inexplicably felt a bit wronged. After all, she was his little master, someone he had once worshipped and harbored feelings for.

However, he finally understood how important the person accompanying her was.

In her eyes, Qin Jianglan was irreplaceable.