Inside the Red Snow Gate, on the Thousand Silk Path.

The little white fox turned around and around in the tunnels but couldn’t find anyone. She was quite annoyed. Maintaining the skin puppet spirit consumed a significant amount of spiritual energy. Ling Luo could get out now if she dispelled her form, but that would leave Yue Liangze alone inside.

If someone took advantage of her absence to harm Yue Liangze, she wouldn’t be able to tolerate it.

So after getting tired of searching, she settled in a corner, using her paws to dig in the snow, drawing and building snowmen.

The changes in the Thousand Silk Path were most likely Wu Xu’s mischief, attempting to provoke the Sacred Sword Sect disciples. But he ended up getting caught eavesdropping with his skin puppet spirit, suffering more losses than gains.

When Yue Liangze finally found Ling Luo, the white fox was elegantly crouching on top of a snow monster as tall as two people. Looking at the man who had arrived late, the white fox tilted her eyes, her expression haughty.

Yue Liangze examined her masterpiece, his gaze slowly moving upward, and asked the white fox, “Did you build this?”

White fox: “I’ve built it this high, and only now have you found me.”

After speaking, she also found it strange why she was so certain Yue Liangze would come looking for her.

Seeing that she was fine, Yue Liangze reached out his hand and said, “Come down, it’s cold up there.”

The white fox gracefully leaped onto his shoulder and pressed her cold paws against his face.

She had collected all the snow in this area. Ling Luo pressed his face and said, “Do you know how long it took me to pile it this high with my fox paws?”

Yue Liangze scooped her into his arms, holding her paws to warm them, “Next time, I’ll find you sooner.”

He left with Ling Luo, who asked, “Do you know the way out?”

“No,” Yue Liangze said, “We won’t leave for now. Let’s go back to find Mu Xujing.”

“Why look for him? If he wants to die, let him,” Ling Luo snorted, “Fulfill his wish.”

Yue Liangze said, “If he truly wanted to die, why didn’t he tell the Three Mountains and Moon Palace people that he killed him, but only told me?”

When consciousness is in a skin puppet spirit, there’s a shared sensation. The white fox’s paws were icy cold from building snow, so Ling Luo burrowed into Yue Liangze’s embrace to warm them.

While climbing up, she said, “Troublesome. He’s just like you.”

With thoughts that need to be guessed, refusing to speak no matter what.

Yue Liangze stroked her snow-cold body and asked softly, “Like me in what way?”

Troublesome?

The white fox climbed up and hugged his neck, nuzzling against his warmth. Yue Liangze felt his heart tingling from the nuzzling.

Ling Luo didn’t answer him, but instead asked mysteriously, “Then do you know the way back?”

Yue Liangze: “I made marks.”

With his other hand, he took out the Flying Cloud Listener: “Although the Thousand Silk Path blocks the Listening Talismans, it doesn’t work on the Flying Cloud Listener. I still received a message from my senior brother.”

Ling Luo snorted with laughter, “Perhaps they’ve never detained Sacred Sword Sect people here before, and few people have Flying Cloud Listeners, so they couldn’t target it specifically.”

The white fox poked her head to look at the Flying Cloud Listener: “What did your senior brother say?”

Yue Liangze: “The Moon Palace has summoned Elder Fan from Tianji Island’s eastern region to use the Three Seals to discern truth from falsehood.”

The white fox didn’t speak, only blinked her eyes.

The Three Seals again.

With Tianji’s arrival on this journey, Yun Shouxi should also make his appearance.

“If he killed the person, interrogation with the Three Seals would directly determine his guilt,” Yue Liangze said. “But it’s still better to know what happened that night. He wouldn’t kill someone without reason.”

Ling Luo: “If he refuses to tell, what can you do?”

Yue Liangze: “Didn’t you say before? There are many ways to know a person’s memories, over a hundred curse techniques alone.”

It took some time to return, but fortunately, they didn’t take a wrong turn.

Yue Liangze pushed open the prison room door again but didn’t see Mu Xujing.

“He’s probably been taken into the formation to be punished,” the white fox stood on his shoulder surveying the room. “Is whether Mu Xujing lives or dies really that important to you?”

The white fox quietly watched him.

Yue Liangze stood at the door and said quietly, “I’m somewhat annoyed by him.”

The white fox had a stunned expression.

“A-annoyed?”

Yue Liangze made an affirming sound and added, “His current state annoys me greatly.”

Ling Luo understood immediately.

Mu Xujing had decided to walk a path of self-destruction, and no one could persuade him to turn back—such obstinacy.

Despite someone wanting to offer help, he refused to acknowledge it.

Yue Liangze wasn’t someone who liked to meddle in others’ affairs, but initially, he saw his past self in Mu Xujing and felt a connection, which was why he paid more attention.

The white fox blinked, thinking perhaps he had carried over his resentment toward himself from his previous life.

These words dampened the little white fox’s arrogant spirit somewhat, and afterward, she lay quietly on his shoulder without speaking.

After a while, Yue Liangze said, “If maintaining the skin puppet spirit is tiring you, you can dispel it first.”

The little white fox bristled, rising to smear his face with her paw: “Who do you think you’re looking down on!”

Yue Liangze caught her paw and explained, “I saw you weren’t talking, thought you were tired.”

The white fox said angrily, “Just because I’m not talking, you don’t know how to talk to me?”

Yue Liangze asked, “What do you want to hear?”

Ling Luo: “Why did you become a disciple at Tianji?”

Yue Liangze: “…”

“Why do you only eat food you prepare yourself?”

“…”

“Why was your spiritual power so weak when you were at Tianji?”

“Why did you break into Tianji’s forbidden area, the Half-Immortal Tomb? What did the Sect Leader tell you?”

“…”

“What is your relationship with Qing Shun?”

Yue Liangze remained silent.

The white fox struggled out of his arms back to his shoulder, snorting, “Forget it, expecting you to tell me these things is even harder than getting Mu Xujing to return right now!”

Just as she finished speaking, the chains in the prison room clanged, and the formation flashed briefly, returning Mu Xujing.

Ling Luo: “…”

Yue Liangze stroked the white fox’s head, smoothing her fur.

The white fox pointed at Mu Xujing, fuming, “Go back! Who asked you to come out!”

Mu Xujing, who had just come out to catch his breath: “…”

He looked fine on the outside, with no visible blood, but Ling Luo and Yue Liangze could see the black bloodlines pulsing and surging on his neck. The Moon Palace’s blood curse torture was also world-renowned.

He looked at the man and fox, and said in a hoarse voice, “Why did you come back?”

“Someone rotated the Thousand Silk Path, so we can’t leave for now,” Yue Liangze said quietly. “The Moon Palace has summoned Elder Fan from East Island Tianji to use the Three Seals to discern truth from falsehood.”

Ling Luo asked him, “Do you know about the Three Seals?”

Mu Xujing remained silent.

Ling Luo then said, “He doesn’t know.”

Yue Liangze explained, “The Divine Martial Three Seals have the power to distinguish truth from lies. Truth remains unharmed, but with lies, the Three Seals will take a part of your body.”

Mu Xujing lowered his eyes, indifferently asking, “So what?”

“You’ll first lose part of your body to the Three Seals, then be handed over to Qishan, at the mercy of the enraged Cui Huowu’s countless tortures. He’s despicable and will use any method,” Ling Luo said. “He wants you to suffer, won’t let you die, and everyone associated with you will face Qishan’s wrath. No one will have it easy.”

“You won’t find release, but will sink deeper and deeper.”

This was certainly not the outcome Mu Xujing wanted.

He slowly raised his eyes to look at the white fox. Those eyes had always been filled with deep melancholy, like the sky beyond the snow line.

Ling Luo said, “I’ll help you evade the Three Seals’ interrogation, and you tell me what happened.”

Yue Liangze turned his head to look at the white fox.

Years ago, Ling Luo had also been interrogated by the Three Seals, but how she escaped remains unknown to this day.

Mu Xujing was silent for a moment, then said hoarsely, “I did kill him. Knowing this, you still want to help me?”

He looked at Yue Liangze when asking this.

Because Yue Liangze was a Sacred Sword Sect disciple, he had come to judge based on the petition.

Before Yue Liangze could answer, the white fox arrogantly said, “Why do you care about him? I’ll help if I want to, the Sacred Sword Sect has no say in it.”

“They use the Three Seals to judge, and the results of the Three Seals’ interrogation will be the truth,” Ling Luo said. “If I say you didn’t kill him, then you didn’t kill him.”

Mu Xujing had a very special impression of Ling Luo.

At the Golden Luan Pool Banquet battle, he had felt this person’s strength. On the night of the cherry forest duel, he discovered this person was different from other immortal sect disciples—seemingly docile but actually arrogant and even very rebellious.

In Mu Xujing’s eyes, Yue Liangze had a certain coolness, like a mysterious reclusive expert.

But when he was with Ling Luo, Mu Xujing felt that the reclusive immortal aura around Yue Liangze disappeared, transformed into a rebellious swordsman following a young lady on a bold journey across the world.

It seemed that even if the sky fell, these two wouldn’t be afraid.

Mu Xujing lowered his head, concealing the darkness in his eyes, and said softly, “Mu Jingyi wanted him dead, so I killed him.”

Mu Jingyi was the Lord of the Mu Family.

He was also the previous Palace Master, the second brother of his father Mu Qiao, making him his second uncle both in name and by blood.

But Mu Xujing feared this second uncle.

All his unwillingness to admit defeat and youthful edges had been ground away by Mu Jingyi.

He said, “Qishan has a treasure that, when used with the Moon Palace’s forbidden curse, can bring the dead back to life.”

All major immortal sects had treasures, and quite a few at that, but it was the first time they’d heard of one that could bring the dead back to life when combined with the Moon Palace’s forbidden curse.

Yue Liangze looked at him with some surprise, but the white fox at his side sat elegantly without showing any astonishment.

Qishan’s treasure, the Flying Thunder Pearl, contained a ferry boat that could traverse the Nine Depths of the Yellow Springs.

But its function wasn’t resurrection, rather life extension. For someone on the verge of death, by using the ferry in the Flying Thunder Pearl to trap any one of the three souls and seven spirits, they could cling to life for a long time.

In her previous life, Chu Yi was caught stealing the Flying Thunder Pearl from Qishan, which led to those events afterward.

Yue Liangze asked, “Did Mu Jingyi want to steal the treasure?”

Mu Xujing said, “Mu Jingyi only recently discovered that Qishan’s Flying Thunder Pearl could be useful to him. Somehow he heard that Cui Shou carried the Flying Thunder Pearl with him. On the day of the flower banquet, he arranged to drink and talk with Cui Shou. To please him, he sent three young girls to Cui Shou’s room.”

The white fox gave a cold snort, disdainful.

Mu Xujing continued without expression, “He knew about Cui Shou’s fondness for young girls and planned for the girls to steal the Pearl while Cui Shou was enjoying himself with them. But during their conversation, Cui Shou guessed what Mu Jingyi wanted the Flying Thunder Pearl for, so Mu Jingyi wanted him dead.”

Ling Luo asked, “Mu Jingyi is meticulous in everything he does. The killing of Cui Shou wouldn’t be careless. How did the Wushan Holy Maiden see it?”

“I went too early,” Mu Xujing said indifferently. “Mu Jingyi planned to have Cui Shou die from a curse while he was with the young girls. I didn’t let the girls go.”

For these two years, he had been kept by Mu Jingyi’s side. It was Mu Jingyi who taught him how to survive cruelly and how to be a cruel person.

Mu Xujing had learned.

That night, as he passed by the house, he saw the girl locked inside quietly move a stool, step on it, and stretch to reach the windowsill. She pushed open the window to gaze at the beautiful starry sky.

Those clean eyes were filled with the amazement of first seeing the brilliant stars and the cherishing intent to preserve this beautiful scene.

The last time Mu Xujing had seen such a gaze was from Jiang Miao during a rare outing.

She had seen the cherry forest of Taichu in the Western Sea.

At that time, every glance she took at the cherry blossoms was earnest and treasured.

So that night, he made a decision.

He would kill Cui Shou before the young girls were sent to him.

For the first time, Mu Xujing defied Mu Jingyi’s orders. He knew the consequence of betraying Mu Jingyi would be death, yet he still did it.