Before seeing this man, Ling Zhishan had never known that masculine vigor could coexist with gentle grace.

Especially those eyes with their purple starlike specks, revealing proud independence and containing a depth that could absorb one’s soul. Looking too long, one would forget to breathe until the chest felt tight…

Cui Xiaoxiao had thought Ling Zhishan would angrily scold them for hiding their identities and deceiving her.

But who would have expected that this future Two Instruments Palace Master, who would be coldly beautiful and unreachably noble two hundred years later, was now just staring blankly at Wei Jie.

That soul-absorbed look was no different from those drunkards surrounding Lady Siling’s carriage… all wearing the same infatuated expression!

Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but be curious – when Ling Zhishan saw her father’s killer Wei Jie in her previous life, had she reacted the same way?

No, at that time Wei Jie had already become demonic, his body beginning to be covered with snake scales. Even if not completely covered, it would have affected his appearance, and he couldn’t have been as handsome and charming as now. It shouldn’t have affected Ling Zhishan’s wholehearted hatred of him.

Even when he was fully covered in snake scales, because he had become the leader of the demonic path, there were still many women who flocked to him. This Wei Jie, no matter which lifetime he experienced, seemed to have good luck with women!

Xiaoxiao thought of how he sweet-talked her, and felt quite uncomfortable, wondering how many women he had practiced with to become so skilled…

But Ling Zhishan’s willpower was really too poor now. If she was so infatuated looking at Wei Jie, what would happen when she later met her true destined partner, Qin Lingxiao?

Just as Xiaoxiao was letting her thoughts wander wildly, Wei Jie gradually frowned.

He had always disliked others staring at his face, even if the other party was a beautiful and alluring woman.

Especially this Ling Zhishan, who, without distinguishing right from wrong, came to capture them for merit just based on official wanted notices, completely forgetting the favor of his exposing Wei Di and saving most disciples of the four great sects.

Looking at it this way, no matter how beautiful she was, she was still an ungrateful, vulgar person!

Ling Zhishan’s infatuated gaze kept sticking to Wei Jie, making him increasingly displeased.

Seeing she wouldn’t withdraw her gaze, he simply picked up a clod of earth, weighed it, then, without ceremony, smacked it against Ling Zhishan’s forehead with a “pop,” causing her head to jerk backward as she cried out “Ah!” in pain.

Ling Zhishan was caught off guard, sand from the dirt clod getting in her eyes. But unable to move, she could only blink frantically with tears streaming, angrily shouting: “Hey, what are you doing!”

Xiaoxiao also snapped back to attention. She never expected Wei Jie to treat Ling Zhishan so rudely.

Wei Jie had a very strange temperament. When they first met, his attitude wasn’t very friendly either. But he had always maintained gentlemanly conduct and took relatively good care of her, giving Xiaoxiao the mistaken impression that he was actually skilled at romantic arts and habitually gentle and considerate.

Thinking carefully, when dealing with other women, Xiaoxiao had never seen him use much charm.

For instance, Yu Ling’er was always made to cry loudly by him. And now, facing such a beautiful and alluring woman as Ling Zhishan, he could still strike without courtesy, truly like a naughty child!

When a disciple was rude, as his master, she couldn’t just ignore it and pretend not to know.

Since Ling Zhishan was crying from the pain in her eyes, Xiaoxiao reached out to remove the talisman from Ling Zhishan and helped her to the stream to rinse her eyes.

While helping Ling Zhishan wash, she said: “Our Talismonger Sect has no enmity with the four great sects. Speaking of which, we, master and disciple, have also helped you before. As for the recent bloody cases in the villages, the perpetrator is someone else. We rushed back to rescue the villagers, too. Please don’t be deceived by villains and delay the important matter of saving people!”

Wei Jie took this opportunity to release the spiritual points of the other Miaoxian Mountain disciples.

The Miaoxian Mountain disciples, having regained their freedom, felt somewhat at a loss. Facing these two legendary demon heads, they didn’t quite know how to act.

Though Ling Zhishan was young now, she wasn’t foolish. She had never seen this master-disciple pair before, so naturally she had just followed what others said.

But now, seeing the so-called great villains of the Talismonger Sect were a pair of young, handsome men and a beautiful woman.

Although Wei Jie had a somewhat wicked personality – what a waste of his handsome appearance – Cui Xiaoxiao, with her kind smile, didn’t seem like a bloodthirsty villain!

At this time, the Miaoxian Mountain disciples quietly reminded Ling Zhishan: “Junior sister, you must not easily believe her words. Know that human hearts are treacherous. Since people all say the murders were committed by this master-disciple pair, there must be some basis for it.”

Seeing there were quite a few troublemakers among the Miaoxian Mountain people, Cui Xiaoxiao also sighed and asked Wei Jie: “How can we prove to them we’re not lying?”

Wei Jie stretched lazily and said casually: “Isn’t that simple?”

Before his words finished, he suddenly struck swiftly, once again knocking down the Miaoxian Mountain people one by one.

After several Miaoxian Mountain blockheads fell with thuds, Wei Jie smiled and crossed his arms: “Deception should be used on those untouchable strong opponents. You all have empty brains, follow what others say, and are as weak as soft-legged chickens – pinch you and you’d die. What’s worth deceiving about you?”

Now those fallen soft-legged chickens from Miaoxian Mountain had faces that were red mixed with black, burning hot like smoked chickens.

Wei Jie’s extremely crude explanation was indeed very suitable for empty-brained people. They lay on the ground, unable to move, shame and anger intertwined, only able to continue glaring. But the two legendary demon heads had demonstrated through action that they could kill without effort and had no need for deception.

For these soft-legged chickens to still put on airs as if facing great enemies would be quite meaningless.

Ling Zhishan was again deeply humiliated by Wei Jie. Now there was no longer amazement or infatuation in her eyes, only unwillingness as she bit her lip and stared at this arrogant and unruly man.

Because she was born beautiful, she had always been the center of attention in her sect. She had never encountered someone like Wei Jie, who was so rude and discourteous to her.

Suppressing the sudden urge to cry, she managed to say: “Just because you two say it’s not you, then it’s not? The bloody case in the neighboring village just happened. There’s always some demon killing innocents. Though we don’t have abilities as great as you two, we also uphold the principle of eliminating the strong and helping the weak. Today, without getting to the bottom of this, we absolutely won’t go back!”

Wei Jie had always been somewhat sharp-tongued toward women other than Cui Xiaoxiao, and even more so toward this Ling Zhishan, who rubbed him the wrong way.

Hearing Ling Zhishan say this, he released the spiritual points of those unlucky Miaoxian Mountain people while exposing Ling Zhishan’s weakness: “I heard Miaoxian Mountain’s new sect leader is the old sect leader’s junior brother. They had a poor relationship when both were alive. You’re leading people down the mountain – is it because you couldn’t stay at Miaoxian Mountain?”

This time, Wei Jie hit Ling Zhishan’s sore spot. Because what he said was right, after suddenly losing her father, she had also become homeless…

Miss Ling’s sore spot was connected to her tear ducts, and these tears came as soon as she mentioned it!

But this Miaoxian Mountain princess cried differently from the fox clan’s crybaby princess.

When Yu Ling’er was made to cry, she would sob as much as she wanted, completely unconcerned about whether she looked beautiful while crying.

Although Ling Zhishan was shedding tears, she made no sobbing sounds, only maintaining an expressionless face with cold, proud eyes, aloof like an ice mountain snow lotus with dewdrops. When tears traced down her smooth face, it truly evoked pity and made one feel guilty.

Unfortunately, Wei Jie had always disliked women crying and sobbing. Though Ling Zhishan cried like a painting, his gaze had already moved elsewhere, only looking toward the quiet village below the mountain.

Cui Xiaoxiao, seeing Ling Zhishan made to cry like this by Wei Jie, silently said in her heart: What a sin!

You must know that although Miss Ling was now like a homeless dog, two hundred years later, she would also be a Palace Master who founded her sect.

As they say, don’t bully the poor youth. If there’s no issue, why make enemies everywhere?

Seeing her disciple start throwing stones in the cesspit again, splashing people, she immediately smoothed things over: “What nonsense! Miss Ling has a heroic and righteous heart. The village below is about to face a catastrophic disaster, and her dedication to the people is the way of immortal heroes!”

As they say, it’s better to resolve enmity than create it. Xiaoxiao knew that in the original trajectory, Wei Jie’s step-by-step path to destruction was closely related to these good disciples of his.

Though Xiaoxiao didn’t particularly like Ling Zhishan either, she felt that since Wei Jie now had no blood feud misunderstanding with Ling Zhishan, there was no need to create more resentment with her.

Saying this also gave Ling Zhishan a way out.

But after giving her the way out, she planned to part ways with the Miaoxian Mountain people, take Wei Jie and bid farewell, quickly entering the village to find Tang Youshu and Yu Ling’er.

But unexpectedly, after they bid farewell and left, the ice mountain snow lotus Ling Zhishan followed them with tears still wet on her face.

“Sect Leader Cui, since you said so, how could I not help you? Besides, whether you’re the murderer or not hasn’t been proven yet. By following you, I can also prove your innocence.”

Xiaoxiao said “Ah!” and turned to see Wei Jie silently half-smirking beside her, seeming to mock her misplaced kindness for getting stuck with another piece of adhesive plaster she couldn’t shake off!

But Xiaoxiao wasn’t afraid of people following. Anyway, this Ling Zhishan wasn’t Lord Can’s person, and she shouldn’t have any connection with the young lord of Lingyun Pavilion now. Since the Miaoxian Mountain people also came to capture the murderer who slaughtered villagers, if they wanted to follow, let them follow.

When they reached the village entrance, the village was still completely quiet.

They chose a relatively high hillside that overlooked the entire village. If any villains broke in from any direction, they could rush there immediately.

Taking this opportunity, Xiaoxiao asked Ling Zhishan: “How did you know we were here?”

Ling Zhishan said: “It was people from Lingyun Pavilion who passed the message to the four great sects and all righteous paths in the world, saying you were lurking here doing evil… They also said… You seem to have cultivated dual cultivation techniques, specifically recruiting strong male disciples…”

Halfway through, Ling Zhishan’s face reddened, realizing she had said something she shouldn’t have, and couldn’t help but quickly glance at the male disciple Wei Jie beside her…

The nearby Miaoxian Mountain disciples all looked at Cui Xiaoxiao with disdain mixed with hidden curiosity.

This demoness, it must be said, really looked pure and beautiful. Though different from their junior sister Ling Zhishan’s bright beauty, someone with Cui Xiaoxiao’s gentle, cute, and bright appearance could win men’s favor more easily.

But one can’t judge by appearance! If not told, who could think that this woman, as sweet and innocent as March daisies, habitually used dual cultivation techniques?

But besides contempt, it also made one involuntarily fantasize: to be cultivated by such a beautiful woman, if not too much and not too harmful to the body, it didn’t seem so unacceptable…

Cui Xiaoxiao hadn’t expected that the upright gentleman pavilion master of Lingyun Pavilion to be so base! Besides framing her for murder, he also slandered her as a succubus!

So when Ling Zhishan hesitated to speak, Xiaoxiao was just angrily amused, looking askance at Ling Zhishan: “Our Talismonger Sect is a prestigious righteous sect! We focus mainly on refining and condensing talismans for cultivation. When have we ever followed the path of the Hehuan Sect? As for the master-disciple relationship, it’s completely proper! Wei Jie! Tell them, have I ever cultivated you?”

Hearing Xiaoxiao angrily deny this, Ling Zhishan couldn’t help but feel happy: this means this seemingly young master and her disciple Wei Jie had a completely innocent relationship!

As for why she was happy, Ling Zhishan herself couldn’t figure it out.

But when Wei Jie heard his master ask him to testify, he wasn’t in a hurry to speak. Instead, while touching his neck and cheeks, he reminisced: “Should be… haven’t been deeply cultivated…”

The places he touched were exactly where Cui Xiaoxiao had just rubbed with her cheek. When he was carrying her earlier, when she couldn’t control herself, she had even nibbled a few times…

This evaluation of “haven’t been deeply cultivated” was truly both honest and smoothly diplomatic.

Ling Zhishan also heard something off about these words and couldn’t help but suspiciously look at Cui Xiaoxiao.

This was a test of face and composure.

Had Xiaoxiao been mixed on the streets all these years for nothing? She put on the kind maternal air of an old aunt, smiling through gritted teeth at Wei Jie: “Jie’er, you’re being naughty again. In front of outsiders, don’t be so mischievous and cause misunderstandings!”

Her face was turned toward Wei Jie, and only he could see the teacher’s pair of bright eyes opened wide, as if charged with Heaven’s Punishment divine power.

If he dared say another wrong word, she’d make sure he was struck by five thunders from heaven!

Wei Jie couldn’t help but laugh, no longer teasing his master: “Master, don’t be angry. When I see Lingyun Pavilion disciples, I’ll ask properly which dog’s mouth spat out such rumors!”

He didn’t smile genuinely often. When his pair of canine teeth showed slightly, it immediately diluted the evil charm about him, making him seem as innocent and cute as a youth…

Ling Zhishan was again stunned, feeling there was such a man in the world that just looking at him gave one the feeling of spring breeze on the face… If one could spend time with such a man daily, even without becoming immortal, the mortal world would become a place worth lingering…

Xiaoxiao knew Qinhe’s background and was too lazy to argue with Ling Zhishan about these rumors. She just focused again on the village below.

The village was so quiet – could it be that the people Wan Lian Shi sent hadn’t come?

Xiaoxiao squinted, carefully watching the village below. Soon, a night watchman hunched over came trembling to the village entrance and hung up lanterns.

Their village was close to the mountain, and now was the season when mountain mushrooms ripened.

Whenever dawn approached, people would go up the mountain to pick mushrooms, usually gathering at the village entrance, so the night watchman would hang lanterns at this time.

Originally, everything was normal, but Xiaoxiao squinted and stared at the two lanterns the night watchman had just hung – how did these lanterns seem different?

Because of the snake-eye lantern encounter in the royal manor’s study, Xiaoxiao paid special attention to such small objects.

She remembered that the village entrance always had two old oil-paper windproof lanterns, and every time villagers went out to pick mushrooms, the village watchman would extinguish the candles, being very frugal.

But now those two lanterns were larger than before, with slightly reddish surfaces, and four fist-thick candles burning inside each – such extravagance was completely unlike poor village behavior.

After the lanterns were lit, the villagers who usually gathered at the village entrance hadn’t come out yet, while the night watchman stood between the two lanterns, took out a handful of paper scraps from a cloth bag, and suddenly scattered them in the wind!

The moment the night watchman raised his hand, Cui Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie both jumped up simultaneously with perfect coordination, rushing toward the night watchman like arrows.

The Ghost Sect was skilled at setting up formations. Though Wan Lian Shi couldn’t match her and Wei Jie in close combat, they might not be able to resist his tricks for setting up illusion formations to harm people.

Just like last time in the illusion formation, if not for Xiaoxiao’s boldness and careful observation, discovering the key to breaking the formation, they would have been trapped to death inside.

Wei Jie was faster. Before he arrived, his qi shield was thrown out first, smashing into the night watchman’s back.

But when the qi shield hit, only a pile of tattered clothes crashed down, as if the clothes contained only air with no person inside.

When Xiaoxiao approached and looked, she found a human skin talisman stuck to the back of the clothes. Wan Lian Shi was controlling this false body remotely to set up the formation.

She quickly looked up at those lanterns. Accompanied by the sizzling sound of lamp oil, the fishy stench emanating from there was very similar to what they had discovered in the phantom city before.

Xiaoxiao took out two silver talismans and threw them at the two lanterns.

Before the silver talismans could touch the lanterns, the outer perimeter of the lanterns immediately flashed with lightning-like barriers, isolating the silver talismans outside.

Xiaoxiao’s talismans were all made from underworld silver ore, inherently possessing the effect of warding off evil and revealing demons. Moreover, the demon-revealing talismans Xiaoxiao used this time would immediately reveal the true form of any demon they attached to.

Now, although the silver talismans couldn’t stick to the lanterns, they at least made the pair of lanterns reveal their true forms.

Ling Zhishan looked up and couldn’t help but gasp.

Those weren’t paper lanterns at all, but two cauldrons formed by countless skulls, suspended high in the air.

At this moment, those skull cauldrons burned corpse oil, emitting scorching heat.

The village, shrouded in this light, was completely red, and the painful wails that had been isolated within the barrier suddenly transmitted as the cauldrons revealed their true forms.

Xiaoxiao knew this evil formation had just been completed, and the villagers inside could still be saved. After exchanging glances with Wei Jie, he handed “Yu Tiandou” to Xiaoxiao again.

Xiaoxiao chanted demon-expelling incantations and fiercely slashed at those two skull cauldrons.

This time, she did break through the barrier surrounding the cauldrons.

Unable to withstand the sword qi, the cauldrons cracked, and torrents of fresh blood surged from the cracks, frightening Ling Zhishan and the Miaoxian Mountain disciples into retreating repeatedly.

At this moment, Xiaoxiao threw demon-revealing talismans again. The silver talismans stuck to the cauldrons, silver light appeared, and the two cauldrons exploded with a bang, scattering like fireworks in the air.

At this time, the village that had been shrouded in ominous red light was finally exposed to the first rays of dawn.

When they quickly entered the village, they found the ground at the village entrance covered with paper figures, which should be the paper scraps that the “night watchman” had scattered.

Cui Xiaoxiao picked up two to look – they were silhouettes of her and Wei Jie, and quite lifelike indeed.

If she guessed correctly, the previous village murders had all been like this. Paper figure people controlled by Wan Lian Shi impersonated her and Wei Jie to commit crimes extensively, which was why eyewitnesses could describe her and Wei Jie’s appearances so precisely.

Just then, several villagers covered in blood crawled out from the courtyards near the village entrance. They struggled to run out for help, but upon seeing Cui Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie’s faces, they seemed to see ghosts, screamed in terror, and struggled back into their houses on all fours.

Xiaoxiao knew they had lost too much blood and couldn’t withstand being frightened. She simply didn’t approach them, just took out several silver talismans and a small furnace from her cloth bag.

This small furnace was passed down from her master. She lit a silver talisman in the furnace – a fire the size of a bean immediately melted the silver talisman into silver liquid. She poured the silver liquid into well water and had Ling Zhishan and the other Miaoxian Mountain disciples help give it to those villagers who had lost too much blood.

If she guessed correctly, Wan Lian Shi used the Blazing Sun Formation. Those two corpse oil cauldrons were the formation’s eye, acting like scorching sun to make people within the formation bleed from their pores like sweating until all blood was drained.

This was also why those villagers who had been drained of blood couldn’t be found with any bleeding wounds – their blood had all been forced out through their pores!

And the blood lost by these villagers was all gathered in those cauldrons for Wan Lian Shi’s use. Previously, when Wan Lian Shi framed and slandered, it was all small-scale.

But this time, certain that Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie were staying here, he was determined to make the charges stick, so he simply planned to massacre the entire village.

The reason Xiaoxiao knew how to break it was that this Blazing Sun Formation was also described in her master’s secret manual.

When Wei Jie went to Lingyun Pavilion years ago and broke their illusion formation, he had also encountered this Blazing Sun Formation. Unfortunately, by then Wei Jie’s entire body had transformed into snake scales with no pores or sweat glands, so this Blazing Sun Formation was useless against him. However, Wei Jie’s side also lost quite a few people then, making him furiously angry and razing Lingyun Pavilion to the ground.

Thinking about it now, Wei Jie had just lost his mother then, his whole person consumed by hatred, deeply despising the four great sects. Combined with encountering such an evil formation, while the one secretly doing evil was supposedly a prestigious sect’s pavilion master, and pampered princes and nobles.

Thinking carefully, Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but feel angry for Wei Jie at that time!

But now, she needed to quickly find her master. Tang Youshu had a weak body and not much blood – if something dangerous happened, then their Lingshan Talismonger Sect would truly lose its founding patriarch and be unable to continue the lineage!

When they reached the courtyard they were renting, Xiaoxiao was surprised to find that all the houses around their courtyard had her silver talismans pasted on them. These silver talismans connected into lines, actually forming the pattern of the Eight Trigrams Yin-Yang formation.

Those paper figures couldn’t enter the formation, only sticking all over the door frames and window cracks of the surrounding houses, making those outer ring houses look like they were made of paper.

When Xiaoxiao entered the courtyard, calling loudly “Master Tang” while trying to pull open the door.

But the door seemed to be barricaded from inside, and no matter how hard Xiaoxiao tried, she couldn’t open it.