“If the curse isn’t removed, life will be worse than death.” As Qin Jianglan spoke, the Liuguang Mirror had already appeared in his palm. Dazzling light erupted from the mirror’s surface, its radiance casting shadows on Miaoshe Shiqi’s face, making his entire figure appear translucent. A shadowy form was being extracted from within his body, causing Su Zhuyi to freeze in shock.

Miaoshe Shiqi’s face turned deathly pale, his expression twisted in agony, as if invisible hands were strangling his throat and lifting his entire body into the air. Behind them, Su Qingxun, who had originally intended to approach Qin Jianglan, now had her complexion change as well. Her small mouth fell slightly open, clearly startled by Qin Jianglan’s actions.

In her heart, she had always regarded Qin Jianglan as a cultivator from a righteous sect. But now, his methods were forbidden arts that even demonic path cultivators greatly feared and few could successfully master and perform.

Su Zhuyi’s brows furrowed tightly, her thoughts in turmoil.

Aside from those who willingly sacrificed themselves, the Liuguang Mirror now only collected the souls of fallen beings.

But Miaoshe Shiqi was still alive, and Qin Jianglan wouldn’t let him die. Yet now, was Qin Jianglan truly extracting his soul?

The evil Longquan Sword held countless souls imprisoned within it, but those people had all perished during the sword’s consecration ritual, their primordial spirits sealed within the Longquan Sword afterward. This method was extremely vicious and evil, which is why people would call it the “evil Longquan Sword” when mentioning it.

Now, Qin Jianglan intended to extract Miaoshe Shiqi’s primordial spirit while he was still alive, making his life worse than death. Wouldn’t this be even more terrifying than the Longquan Sword? The demonic path had soul-refining banners that could imprison souls within magical treasures for tempering—the greater the resentment, the stronger the banner’s power. Su Zhuyi had used such treasures before, but she never imagined Qin Jianglan would do such a thing.

Even soul-refining banners operated on the same principle as the Longquan Sword—killing people first, then refining their souls. Such primordial spirits would lose all consciousness, becoming tools that generated resentment to increase the treasure’s power, merging with other souls without retaining individual awareness. But clearly, Qin Jianglan’s current method was different.

Upon seeing him perform such an act, Su Zhuyi’s heart trembled. Her thoughts raced, then she raised her hand to press against Qin Jianglan’s arm, pushing his hand downward.

Su Zhuyi raised an eyebrow and said coolly, “The Liuguang Mirror is meant to form a path of reincarnation—how can it imprison the primordial spirit of a living person?”

Wouldn’t that cause resentment to soar to the heavens?

Qin Jianglan’s hand paused slightly, and the pulling force on the separated primordial spirit lessened. Miaoshe Shiqi barely managed to open his eyes. The golden cicada on his forehead seemed to come alive, the ruby’s light growing stronger at his brow until his eyes appeared shrouded in a layer of blood-red mist.

“If the curse isn’t removed, life will be worse than death? If I want to die, you can’t stop me.” Miaoshe Shiqi’s expression was somewhat crazed, his gaze extremely fierce.

“If I die, someone will surely cut off all emotions and love for my sake. But you can only yearn for what you cannot have. Hahaha!”

Su Zhuyi’s complexion changed slightly. At this moment, Miaoshe Shiqi was still being stubborn, saying such words to provoke Qin Jianglan. She could clearly sense that this Qin Jianglan was somewhat off—he seemed to care only about romantic love, the complete opposite extreme from his former self.

So Miaoshe Shiqi’s words were like adding fuel to the fire.

Qin Jianglan flipped his wrist, using a palm strike to deflect Su Zhuyi’s hand. Immediately after, the light from the Liuguang Mirror suddenly blazed brighter. At this moment, the cursed insect on Miaoshe Shiqi’s forehead truly came alive, breaking free from the silver headband. That golden gleam directly burrowed into Miaoshe Shiqi’s brow.

The Golden Cicada Curse could devour primordial spirits!

Qin Jianglan also knew about the Golden Cicada Curse. He hadn’t expected Miaoshe Shiqi to react so quickly, and to dare let the Golden Cicada Curse devour his primordial spirit. He inverted the mirror’s surface and fell silent.

After the Liuguang Mirror was inverted, Miaoshe Shiqi collapsed to the ground. He gasped heavily, the silver band on his head directly shattering into several pieces. When the silver band fell away, there was a bloody mark on his forehead, and within that bloody mark, a golden curse insect seemed to be swimming.

“Scared?” Miaoshe Shiqi caught his breath slightly. “Want to remove the curse? Kneel before me and beg!”

His face was covered in blood, his forehead still bleeding, his eyes still hazy with blood mist. Though he lay there in such a wretched state, he still arrogantly shouted, “Kneel before me and beg me to remove the curse!”

Did he have to be so suicidal!

Su Zhuyi wanted nothing more than to cover his mouth and cast a silencing spell on him! If you’re not satisfied, then hold it in!

This was what she thought, and this was what she did. She directly silenced Miaoshe Shiqi, then looked toward Qin Jianglan. She saw Qin Jianglan turning to look at her as well, his eyes bright and clear, with what seemed like icy cold light in his pupils.

Even after being silenced, Miaoshe Shiqi didn’t give up. He had cursed insects all over his body, and somehow continued to make sounds from who knows where: “If you want the curse removed, do everything as I say. When I’m satisfied, I’ll remove the curse insects for her.”

Miaoshe Shiqi had figured it out—there was a reason he deliberately provoked Qin Jianglan. He was testing the other’s bottom line.

This person was extremely powerful and unusually wary of love curses.

If he used the love curse as leverage to make him do things for himself, it would save considerable trouble. His revenge plan could also be advanced, and he wouldn’t need to spend so much effort raising the mother curse now. When he had impulsively placed the love curse on Su Zhuyi back then, he never imagined it would have such excellent results. It could be considered an unintentional success.

As for the suffering he endured now, what did it matter?

He had provoked the other so much, yet he still didn’t dare truly kill him. This was enough proof that their love ran deep—he feared his death, feared Su Zhuyi becoming emotionless.

Thinking this, Miaoshe Shiqi even showed a slight smile. But the next moment, someone had grabbed the back of his neck, lifting his entire body into the air, his body also bound by an invisible force.

Though he was suspended in midair, and the surroundings were an ordinary forest, beneath his feet now appeared a lake of azure blue water. The water was crystal clear and transparent, the lake’s surface like a mirror that could reflect his image. He seemed frozen all over, both body and primordial spirit, as if truly immersed in the cool lake water like that reflection.

The cursed insect on his forehead had slowed its movements, as if wrapped by lake water, its spiritual connection no longer as tight as before.

Miaoshe Shiqi looked stunned. It seemed he wasn’t completely without methods—at least now, he had gained slight control over the Golden Cicada Curse. With this thought, Miaoshe Shiqi’s heart sank, for he didn’t truly want to die after all. He must seize the greatest benefits at the most opportune moment, he thought to himself.

Then Miaoshe Shiqi felt himself flying.

More precisely, the person carrying him was flying.

“Let’s go,” Qin Jianglan said. “First, find the Jianmu Tree, then make long-term plans.”

“Oh.” Su Zhuyi’s brows knitted together, but she understood that finding the Jianmu Tree was far more important. If they could completely resolve the love curse, that would naturally be best. But if they couldn’t solve it temporarily, it wasn’t a big problem for her.

Once her cultivation improved, the love curse couldn’t affect her. Watching Miaoshe Shiqi being tormented, she felt little reaction, let alone loving him deeply enough to live or die for him.

Qin Jianglan flew away carrying Miaoshe Shiqi, while Su Zhuyi stood directly on his flying sword. Neither of them paid any attention to Su Qingxun below.

Su Zhuyi had noticed Su Qingxun.

She secretly observed Qin Jianglan’s reaction and discovered that he showed no response to her whatsoever—he didn’t even spare her a glance. This made Su Zhuyi’s heart sink slightly.

In her previous life, Qin Jianglan had been Su Qingxun’s master.

Earlier when encountering old acquaintances from Yunxiao Sect, Qin Jianglan would offer some guidance. Now his former disciple was in such a miserable state, yet he remained completely indifferent?

The changes in him came little by little, as if the Qin Jianglan who had once been righteous was gradually being extracted from this body, leaving behind a Qin Jianglan who only had eyes for her.

Yet she couldn’t sense any demonic energy from him—instead, he seemed lifeless. This change puzzled Su Zhuyi, but her intuition told her something was very wrong. Could it be related to the path of reincarnation within the Liuguang Mirror? After all, what exactly he had encountered when he emerged from the mirror, whether it was truly as he said, whether he was hiding something—Su Zhuyi had no way of knowing.

She would have to watch him carefully recently, hoping nothing would go wrong.

Su Qingxun was the mother whom Miaoshe Shiqi had raised. She still had red thread worms tied around her wrist—curse insects that were spiritually connected to their master. Even though he was now far away, Su Qingxun still couldn’t escape on her own.

Nor could she escape.

Under her skin, within her flesh and blood, were countless insect eggs, as well as mature curse insects already swimming through her body. If she tried to escape, if she tried to escape…

She would be devoured by the curse insects, eaten until nothing remained. At this thought, Su Qingxun felt chilled to the bone. She was severely injured and had been repelled by Qin Jianglan’s spiritual energy barrier, but now she couldn’t rest to heal. The red thread worms guided her toward Miaoshe Shiqi’s direction, and she had no choice but to desperately chase in that direction.

“I cannot die!”

She couldn’t die in such a humble, insignificant way. This shouldn’t be her life.

She wanted to stand beside him wearing beautiful clothes and wielding a sword, not like now, covered in blood and filth, like maggots crawling in and out of a corpse.

An inexplicable hatred in her heart gave Su Qingxun some renewed vigor.

She forced herself to rally and gave chase, but after running for a short while, she could no longer persist.

The curse insects inside her body were frantically tearing at her, as if new insect eggs had successfully hatched. Without Miaoshe Shiqi’s restraint, they stirred restlessly beneath her skin. Could she truly not hold on any longer?

Just as she was about to collapse, Su Qingxun saw a tree appear before her eyes.

The tree was surrounded by swirling black energy, looking somewhat sinister.

A branch lashed out, its tip piercing into her skin. Su Qingxun felt as if power was being injected into her body. She asked somewhat bewildered, “You… you are…?”

“Do you still remember me?”

“I am the tree at the head of Changning Village.” Zhang Enning was dead, but it still lived.

That tree, which had accumulated heaven and earth’s spiritual energy, had already been filled and influenced by resentment. Its master, Zhang Enning, ‘s despair and rage before death had completely transformed it into an evil entity.