The second time Qin Lingxiao saw Lord Can, this prince had already become a regent, entering the capital to assist the young child emperor.

At that time, Wei Jie’s demon cult was growing increasingly powerful and had even destroyed the Four Great Sects.

Qin Lingxiao, seeking revenge, concealed his identity and lurked among the demon head’s followers.

At that time, he happened to accompany Wei Jie into the capital, only to discover that Wei Jie wanted to negotiate with Lord Can. As for what they discussed privately during their meeting, Qin Lingxiao had no way of knowing.

When Qin Lingxiao saw Lord Can again, he was very nervous, fearing that Lord Can would recognize him and expose his identity as the Young Pavilion Master of Lingyun Pavilion in front of Wei Jie.

Unexpectedly, although Lord Can recognized him, he covered for him.

Afterward, Lord Can said this was to make up for his past soft-heartedness, which had led to the tragic death of the righteous path of the Tianxin Sect.

As for the reason Wei Jie met with Lord Can, Lord Can explained that he was coerced by Wei Jie to secretly open the national treasury so that Wei Jie could expand his demon palace.

Such arrogant and unreasonable demands were indeed something Wei Jie would make.

The final meeting was after Qin Lingxiao killed Wei Jie and established the Jiuxuan Sword Sect.

Lord Can sent someone to deliver a plaque with four characters, “Subduing Demons, Promoting Good,” personally written by His Majesty at the time.

This plaque was later hung in the main hall of the Jiuxuan Sword Sect.

In any case, although Qin Lingxiao looked down on this kind of gentle, soft prince, his impression of Lord Can wasn’t too bad.

After all, he was following the path of cultivation and would have no further contact with worldly princes.

However, he later heard that this Lord Can had achieved immortality. His estranged senior brother Tang Youshu had even come to ask him what he thought about this matter.

Qin Lingxiao had always disdained such folk rumors that spread through hearsay.

How could he view it? Naturally, he didn’t believe it. Throughout history, there had always been many rumors of royal descendants ascending to immortality, mostly fabricated by their descendants to deify their ancestors and fool the people.

But now Cui Xiaoxiao spoke with conviction, firmly asserting that this Lord harbored ill intentions and used his subordinates, the strange scholars, to stir up trouble everywhere. Qin Lingxiao’s first instinct was to find it laughable.

He wouldn’t believe a single word this female swindler said anymore!

So he coldly said to Cui Xiaoxiao: “What puppet poison? I’ve never even heard of such a thing. Now that you’ve come, such evil things have emerged. It’s probably related to you!”

Seeing that he didn’t believe her, Cui Xiaoxiao ordered people to bring over the little foxes that hadn’t been buried yet, letting him see whether these foxes had died from being poisoned.

Qin Lingxiao had originally dismissed Cui Xiaoxiao’s actions with disdain, thinking she was making unnecessary efforts.

But when he saw those little foxes bleeding from their seven orifices, he was stunned.

At first glance, these little foxes bleeding from their seven orifices should have been the result of Numei’s song shattering their meridians, but if you looked carefully, what came from their mouths was all ink-black blood…

Just then, the bald black fox ordered clan members to cut open the chest of one of the little foxes.

The fox’s heart had been drilled full of holes by something unknown – it was horrifying!

Cui Xiaoxiao noticed Qin Lingxiao’s strange behavior. He seemed to have seen something, so she probed: “How is it? What do you see?”

Qin Lingxiao’s handsome eyes stared intently at that black blood, muttering to himself: “They… how are they so similar to the death of the Tianxin Sect master back then…”

Qin Lingxiao had seen such a death before, and it was etched in his memory.

When the Tianxin Sect master died tragically in the forest by Autumn Water Pool, he had also died spitting black blood. Afterward, when people examined the corpse, they said the master and several elders’ heart meridians seemed to have been severed.

It was just that at the time, the Four Great Sects all concluded this was the work of that evil mother and son. Numei’s song shattering heart meridians was her usual killing technique!

And Numei had also died under the siege of Tianxin Sect and the other three sects. Wei Jie had witnessed his mother’s death with his own eyes, immediately went mad and became demonic, and killed countless disciples from the Four Great Sects who came chasing.

After committing such bloodshed, Wei Jie fled with the fox clan and his disciples.

Now Wei Jie wasn’t here, but the tragedy of the past was repeating.

If Numei had killed these little foxes, would the fox clan easily let her go?

Could it be, as Cui Xiaoxiao said, that there were hidden details about the events of the past?

No matter how Xiaoxiao questioned him afterward, Qin Lingxiao remained silent and said nothing more, just taking another deep look at those little fox corpses.

Finally, Qin Lingxiao seemed to think of something, his expression suddenly changed, and he turned and quickly sped away, with those Lingyun Pavilion disciples naturally following him.

Cui Xiaoxiao was also pondering what Qin Lingxiao had just said.

He said the death of the Tianxin Sect master back then was the same as these little foxes?

That meant the Tianxin Sect master hadn’t died at Wei Jie’s hands at all, but had long been infected with puppet poison and had happened to die when the poison pierced his heart!

If this were true, whether Siling died in Luoyi City or not, wasn’t Wei Jie destined to bear this blame?

Just then, Siling, who had been standing at the back with her face covered by a veil, spoke up: “Sect Leader Cui, if you leave the city, wouldn’t that leave A’Jie alone in Luoyi? I’m worried about him, so I won’t go with you. Until we meet again, please take care!”

After speaking, without waiting for Xiaoxiao to respond, she also turned and sped away.

Unable to call back Numei, Xiaoxiao sat down on a large rock by the roadside.

She needed to catch her breath first, or she might choke herself to death in this era, two hundred years ago.

After working so hard for so long, how did things seem to suddenly bounce back to their original trajectory?

If Siling returned to Luoyi City, she might very well die in the city.

Of course, this had nothing to do with her. She just needed to take the fox clan and find Lingshan, then live in seclusion.

As for the fate of Wei Jie and his mother, that wasn’t for her to control.

Yu Ling’er reluctantly gazed at Qin Lingxiao’s retreating figure until she could no longer see him, then came to her senses and muttered to herself: “Strange, where is Young Master Qin going? Isn’t Lingyun Pavilion in the western mountain canyon? Why is he heading east?”

Cui Xiaoxiao heard her words and looked up.

Indeed! Qin Lingxiao and Siling, one after the other, were heading in the direction they had traveled back from the east.

Luoyi City was in that direction…

Yu Ling’er saw that Xiaoxiao remained silent and asked again: “Are we going to Lingshan? But I just looked at our clan’s map, and there’s no mountain called Lingshan in the central region you mentioned!”

Xiaoxiao finally caught her breath. She stood up and patted her skirt, then pointed east: “Never mind Lingshan for now… We’re returning to Luoyi!”

She had no choice – she couldn’t tie up Siling and forbid her from saving her son.

Now seeing various forces converging on Luoyi City, how could she, the instigator of this chaos, stay out of it?

Buddha said: If I don’t enter hell, sooner or later I’ll be dragged in anyway.

Since that was the case, she might as well jump in boldly and see if she could help that mother and son fight their way out.

The fox clan had no objections to Xiaoxiao’s proposal. Especially when they heard that Lord Can was also in Luoyi City, each one bared their fox teeth and kept grinding them.

Several foxes’ lives were enough for them to remember for a thousand years. If they could find the culprit during this trip to the city, they would tear him to pieces!

Although Xiaoxiao had dawdled on her way here, she was racing against time on the return journey.

Each fox clan member revealed their true form, and the largest five-tailed fox was as big as a donkey. Xiaoxiao rode it, feeling the wind rushing past her ears and unable to see the scenery clearly along the way. In one night, they returned to the outskirts of Luoyi City.

Luoyi City was a prosperous metropolis, usually bustling with constant merchant traffic.

When Cui Xiaoxiao came to the city gates again, the sun was already setting in the west.

The city gates had long been tightly closed, and whether due to the reflection of the fire clouds or not, the entire city appeared crimson red.

Xiaoxiao’s eyes had special abilities, and she felt that above Luoyi City, demonic energy seemed to soar to the sky. Looking for too long even caused a stinging sensation.

At this time, Qin Lingxiao arrived with a group of Lingyun Pavilion disciples.

When he saw Cui Xiaoxiao leading the fox clan standing outside the city, he looked surprised: “How did you come back again?”

Cui Xiaoxiao couldn’t even explain to herself why she had returned, so how could she explain it to him? She deflected: “Didn’t you also rush back? Do you also have urgent business?”

Qin Lingxiao was indeed anxious.

Right at the foot of Tuyun Mountain, when he suddenly discovered that the death of the Tianxin Sect master years ago was full of suspicious points, he suddenly thought of a critical matter – in the original timeline, two hundred years ago, he and his father had arrived after the other three great sects.

So when they arrived, Lord Can’s birthday banquet had already been disrupted, and the Lingyun Pavilion disciples naturally hadn’t attended the feast and couldn’t have been poisoned.

But this time, because he wanted to intercept Cui Xiaoxiao, he had separated from his father Qinhe early. His father had already joined up with the Tianxin Sect and the other three great sects much earlier.

When he left, his father had still received Lord Can’s invitation.

If nothing unexpected happened, his father must have attended the birthday banquet together with the Tianxin Sect master!

If the Tianxin Sect master had been murdered by Lord Can back then, his father… wouldn’t he be in danger!

That’s why Qin Lingxiao’s expression had suddenly changed, and he had rushed back in such haste.

Now, there were too many anomalies that hadn’t appeared two hundred years ago.

This made Qin Lingxiao’s heart tighten again, feeling that he couldn’t control the situation, only wanting to enter the city quickly to investigate.

However, Xiaoxiao stopped him, pointing toward the city gate: “No! Look! The entire city has been closed. If Lord Can has set a trap, entering the city now might alert him. We should go to Autumn Water Pool first to take a look.”

But Qin Lingxiao pointed at the city gate: “What are you talking about? Look, isn’t the city gate wide open?”

Xiaoxiao looked back and indeed, the previously tightly closed city gate was now wide open, with even scattered pedestrians passing through.

Qin Lingxiao was about to step forward. Xiaoxiao still grabbed his hand: “Something’s wrong!”

Her eyes stared straight at the city gate ahead, not noticing at all that she had improperly grabbed Qin Lingxiao’s hand.

The usually aloof and cold Young Pavilion Master looked down at the girl forcefully gripping his soft hand, surprisingly didn’t break free, and slowed his pace to ask: “What’s wrong?”

Cui Xiaoxiao then realized her impropriety and quickly let go, saying urgently, “I remember that Luoyi City closes its gates at sunset. It’s long past the second quarter of the Wei hour now. How could the city gate still be wide open? There must be deception here!”

After hearing her words, Qin Lingxiao focused his attention on the city gate again.

But the city looked just like usual Luoyi City, with pedestrians visible walking inside the gate. There had been precedents for extending gate closure times before. Whenever there were celebrations like the city lord’s birthday, the whole city would celebrate together, and closing the gates later was quite normal.

Qin Lingxiao felt Xiaoxiao was being overly cautious.

Moreover, he had already been to Autumn Water Pool earlier, where there were corpses and scattered cups and plates everywhere.

The entire lake island looked as if it were stained with blood, but there wasn’t a single living person.

He had searched everywhere but didn’t see his father, which is why he rushed to Luoyi City again.

No matter what, he was determined to enter this city!

Thinking this, he couldn’t be bothered to think more, pushed past Xiaoxiao, and led his people into the city.

Xiaoxiao and the fox clan had rushed all the way, but never saw Siling. She also suspected that Siling had already entered the city.

After seeing Qin Lingxiao enter the city with the Lingyun Pavilion people, Xiaoxiao bit her lip, took out a bundle of blank yellow grass paper from her backpack, bit her finger, and quickly drew more than a dozen talismans.

After distributing the talismans to several fox clan members who would follow her into the city, she said to Yu Ling’er: “You have the spirit stone hidden on you, so don’t enter the city. Just wait here for us.”

Seeing Yu Ling’er nod, Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, gripped the “Yu Tiandou” at her waist, and headed toward the open gate with several young fox clan members of considerable cultivation.

After entering the city gate, it was the usual scene of a city at sunset and dusk. Some shops hadn’t closed yet, and there were still pedestrians walking on the streets.

But Xiaoxiao felt something indescribably strange. After walking a few more steps, she saw several stone tablets.

The names of the streets were carved on them. Xiaoxiao had originally glanced at them casually, but then she refocused her wandering gaze…

These characters… why were they reversed?

Xiaoxiao suddenly realized what had been wrong earlier. Thinking of this, she quickly walked back a few steps.

She clearly remembered that on the left side of the main street, in the direction of entering the city, there was a delicious hot noodle shop. The owner was enthusiastic, and the hot noodles contained tiger-skin eggs that were marinated on the outside but had soft yolks inside.

During those days, she lived in Luoyi. When she didn’t know what to eat, she would take Wei Jie and the others there for hot noodles.

When she saw that street corner, Xiaoxiao slowly widened her eyes and stood still.

The shop that should have been on the left side of the street had somehow moved to the right!

Not just this one shop – all the trees and shops on the entire street seemed to have undergone a great cosmic shift, changing positions!

Just then, Qin Lingxiao saw her following and turned back to ask what was wrong.

Cui Xiaoxiao looked around and finally concluded: “What we entered… isn’t Luoyi City at all!”

What? Qin Lingxiao didn’t believe this. He hadn’t seen any other cities along the way, and if this wasn’t Luoyi City, where else could it be?

Xiaoxiao pointed to the surrounding markets: “The shops and houses here are opposite to the real Luoyi City… Look at the setting sun in the sky!”

Qin Lingxiao looked up and saw that the sun, which should have been setting in the west, was now slowly setting toward the eastern mountains, finally hanging motionless on the mountaintop, emitting only dim red light.

This place was a trap! He and Xiaoxiao looked at each other, then immediately led people quickly toward the city gate.

But just as they reached the city gate, they ran head-on into Yu Ling’er and the others who were entering.

Seeing her come in, Xiaoxiao said urgently, “Why did you come in? Didn’t I tell you to wait outside the city?”

Yu Ling’er blinked her big eyes innocently: “But… just now you were standing at the city gate waving at me, telling me to come in. It’s okay, I left mother and some clan members outside.”

Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together and suddenly reached toward Yu Ling’er’s navel area.

Only after feeling the abundant spiritual power of the spirit stone through her clothes did she confirm that Yu Ling’er wasn’t fake.

She should explain their current situation to everyone.

“Everyone, we may have mistakenly entered a mirror city…”

Yu Ling’er heard this and repeated in confusion: “Mirror city?”

Xiaoxiao nodded. During these past few days lying in the carriage with nothing to do, she had done only one thing – reread the manuals she had previously skimmed through from beginning to end.

Previously, the senior brothers and sisters in the sect had all complained that their master loved writing long-winded nonsense, while the essential principles of talisman crafting only took up a few pages.

But now Xiaoxiao was especially grateful for her master’s foot-binding-cloth-like daily manuals, which had allowed her to discern many secrets.

Her master had once written that after Master Wei Jie established the demon cult at Ghost Stone Cliff, he wanted to eliminate the Four Great Sects. But on his way to Lingyun Pavilion, he mistakenly entered a palace that looked exactly like Lingyun Pavilion.

He was lost in that palace for a long time, experiencing countless near-death situations before finally escaping.

At that time, Wei Jie told Tang Youshu that this was mirror illusion magic, like using a bronze mirror to reflect and project the image of palaces or cities.

But once you stepped into it, you also became a person in the mirror image, and truth and falsehood could no longer be distinguished…

Unfortunately, her master’s Spring and Autumn writing style was as long and foul as foot-binding cloth, completely lacking priorities.

Such adventurous tales of the master were dismissed with just a few careless strokes.

Now, seeing the strange situation in this Luoyi City, Xiaoxiao immediately remembered this passage.

However, it was still a long time before Wei Jie would encounter the mirror city.

For some unknown reason, such an illusory city had appeared here so early!

Qin Lingxiao, who had also traveled back from two hundred years later, didn’t know about the mirror city.

Of course, these events happened before he became Wei Jie’s disciple, so it was normal for him not to know.

However, after hearing Xiaoxiao’s brief explanation, Qin Lingxiao also noticed the strangeness of this city – it was too quiet!

Even during closing time at sunset, the streets shouldn’t be so silent!

Moreover, when Yu Ling’er had seen “Cui Xiaoxiao” waving at her at the city gate, signaling her to come in, she hadn’t heard that “Xiaoxiao” speak.

Perhaps, as Xiaoxiao said, everything here was just reflected mirror images! So there was form but no sound.

Since this place was a trap, they naturally couldn’t stay. Thinking this, Qin Lingxiao rushed toward the city gate first.

But when he reached the gate, the wide-open city gate seemed to have an invisible wall. No matter how hard Qin Lingxiao struck, he couldn’t break it, much less get out.

Xiaoxiao said thoughtfully: “Since this is a mirror image, we need to first find that ‘mirror.’ Otherwise, we’ll become mirror people and be trapped here to death…”

Saying this, she divided the people around her, sending them to examine the four corners of the city to look for flaws that could break through the illusory city.

The Lingyun Pavilion disciples were very dissatisfied with Cui Xiaoxiao’s presumptuous decisions, saying coldly, “Do you think you’re our sect leader? How dare you command us?”

Xiaoxiao was too lazy to argue with these troublesome brats, only looking at Qin Lingxiao: “Although your Lingyun Pavilion disciples are skilled at fasting, they occasionally need to drink dew and eat flowers. But everything in this mirror city is false – there isn’t even a single leaf. If you don’t want to get out and prefer to starve to death here, you don’t need to act together with us. Each to their own!”

“Oh my, Xiaoxiao, what you said is true!”

It turned out Yu Ling’er hadn’t been able to eat properly and, seeing the familiar hot noodle stand by the street, couldn’t help but sit down.

But when she picked up the bowl, she couldn’t feel the aroma and heat of the noodle soup inside. When she picked up a tiger-skin egg from the soup to take a bite, she cried out and bit her tongue!

She came over with a bitter face and said to Qin Lingxiao, “If we don’t get out soon, we really will starve to death here!”

Qin Lingxiao surveyed the eerie city around them and finally instructed his subordinates: “For now, follow Sect Leader Cui’s commands. Leaving here is most important.”

After everyone reached consensus, Xiaoxiao began dividing people into groups and dispersing them to the four corners of the city for action.

However, when Xiaoxiao handed out yellow paper talismans to the Lingyun Pavilion people, none of the disciples accepted them.

This time, without anyone speaking, just looking at those white-robed disciples’ contemptuous and mocking expressions, Xiaoxiao understood that she had offended the great sect again!

The prestigious Lingyun Pavilion cultivated the way of qi and sword – why would they need talismans from a lowly talisman sect for protection?

So when Qin Lingxiao slowly reached out to accept her talisman, Xiaoxiao had already tactfully tucked the remaining talismans back into her bosom.

As a result, the Young Pavilion Master’s hand awkwardly remained suspended in mid-air, his handsome eyes glaring fiercely at Xiaoxiao, quite displeased.

Fortunately, Yu Ling’er was understanding and gave her benefactor a way out, quickly untying the water gourd from her waist and placing it in Qin Lingxiao’s suspended hand.

“Young Pavilion Master, I see you didn’t bring water. Take this – it can also help with hunger.”

But Qin Lingxiao didn’t appreciate it, coldly throwing the water gourd back to Yu Ling’er, then saying to Xiaoxiao: “To prevent you from playing tricks, I want to be in the same group as you!”

After speaking, he left two capable subordinates and had the other disciples follow several fox clan members to the west and north of the city.

Yu Ling’er was afraid of the dark and only felt safe following Xiaoxiao. Also, she didn’t feel comfortable with Qin Lingxiao being alone with Xiaoxiao, so she went with Xiaoxiao too.

Xiaoxiao didn’t mind, but deciding which direction to go was another problem.

She thought for a moment, then took out a palm-sized turtle shell from her bosom – this was something her master had passed down to her along with the manuals.

She had Yu Ling’er put two copper coins into the shell, shook it, then carefully examined the hexagram formed by the thrown coins.

The coins pointed east when thrown – could this indicate they should go east?

Yu Ling’er looked worshipful, probably not expecting Xiaoxiao to have such abilities. She eagerly asked: “How is it? Is the east very auspicious?”

Xiaoxiao nodded with satisfaction: “It’s truly a rarely seen extremely inauspicious hexagram!”

Yu Ling’er’s face fell, and she quickly said: “Then let’s not go east!”

Cui Xiaoxiao put away the turtle shell, disagreeing: “You don’t understand. My master’s turtle shell has never been accurate. When my fellow disciples and I went down the mountain, we used this shell to determine direction. It showed great fortune then, but who knew…”

At this point, Xiaoxiao couldn’t continue. Who knew this turtle shell had led her two hundred years ago, taking Wei Jie’s disasters and heavenly tribulations, and now, because she couldn’t rest easy about him, she’d entered this ghost city.

This showed the turtle shell’s hexagrams should be read in reverse. Since it showed great misfortune in the east, they should go east! Perhaps the east would bring fortune after extreme adversity!

Qin Lingxiao had always sneered at such divination and talisman practices. Watching Xiaoxiao shake the turtle shell like a fortune teller, he remained coldly silent.

So Xiaoxiao made the decision, and their group headed east.

The eastern direction led to a Temple of the God of Wealth. Throughout the journey, Xiaoxiao found nothing suspicious. Everything in this illusory city was so realistic that, apart from food and water being inedible, there wasn’t much difference.

Creating such a city required not only magical artifacts but also powerful spiritual energy for support. She wondered who had such abilities.

What was the purpose of creating such a city?

Just then, Qin Lingxiao, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. Xiaoxiao almost bumped into his back and couldn’t help asking: “Why did you stop?”

Qin Lingxiao stared straight ahead and said urgently: “Look… what is that?”

Xiaoxiao and Yu Ling’er looked over Qin Lingxiao’s shoulder… and saw another group of people walking toward them.

Leading them was a tall, handsome young man in white robes, followed by two girls – one delicate and lively, one sweet…

Looking at them, Xiaoxiao felt like she was looking in a mirror!

Weren’t those people walking toward them exactly their group?