Mu Yunjin paused for a moment, then glanced at Qiqi and lowered her voice, “Let’s go up and take a look.”

Following the direction Qiqi was pointing, Mu Yunjin’s heart sank deeper with each step, fearing that what she dreaded might come to pass. Seeing that Ding Xian had earlier fallen into a difficult battle alone, she knew something must have happened here.

As they walked, a group of black-clothed men suddenly appeared from all directions, surrounding Mu Yunjin and Qiqi.

Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes slightly, and then Rong Min, dressed in a brocade blue robe, slowly emerged from among the black-clothed men. When he saw Mu Yunjin surrounded in the center, his eyes immediately turned blood-red.

“Why are you alone?” Meeting Rong Min face-to-face for the first time, Mu Yunjin took the initiative and questioned him first.

Rong Min glanced at Mu Yunjin, suddenly sneering coldly, knowing she was trying to get information from him. He raised his eyebrows and placed his hands behind his back, “Mu Yunjin, don’t you think there are some accounts between us that need to be settled?”

This woman, before him, had first killed his Thousand Leaf assassins, then destroyed the Flower Moon Pavilion and Moon Flower Pavilion that he had established with Chu Qingqiang, and later rescued Rong Jiu, interfering with his nearly completed grand plan.

Counting it all up, this woman truly deserved to die!

Mu Yunjin roughly counted the number of black-clothed men, about a hundred at this time. A confrontation would not give her the upper hand, and besides, she didn’t know Chu Li’s current situation and didn’t want to waste time here.

…

…

“Have you seen Chu Li?” Mu Yunjin couldn’t help but ask, avoiding Rong Min’s words and continuing her questioning.

Rong Min laughed coldly, his eyes full of mockery, “What do you think?”

“Talking to you is tiresome!” Mu Yunjin said helplessly, the phoenix-tail whip on her wrist itching to strike. She estimated that a fierce battle was unavoidable today.

Suddenly, she regretted not having followed Chu Li earlier.

At this moment, they were standing at the foot of a cliff, surrounded by mountains and water. If the air hadn’t been filled with murderous intent, this would have been a perfect place to appreciate the scenery.

Mu Yunjin’s peripheral vision once again caught sight of those bloodstains by the stream. Her brow furrowed, but she couldn’t reveal too much concern for Chu Li in front of Rong Min.

Qiqi moved a few steps closer to Mu Yunjin and used Fengyu Pavilion’s internal secret sound technique to transmit a message to her, “Master, people are fighting on the cliff.”

Mu Yunjin was startled, raised her eyelids slightly, and looked up toward the cliff.

Seeing her gaze fall on the cliff, Rong Min didn’t conceal anything and spoke slowly, “Chu Li has been poisoned by this prince’s exclusive secret poison and is now entangled with my subordinates.”

“This prince originally wanted to finish him off personally, but upon sensing your arrival, I felt that the grudge between you and me is more significant.” Rong Min’s lips curled into a smile, revealing the killing intent in his eyes.

“You say Chu Li is poisoned?” Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes, her heart tightening, unsure whether to believe Rong Min’s words.

If Rong Min was here, then where was Chu Qing?

Logically, before Chu Li took action, he should have had foolproof strategies and preparations. How could he be easily seen through by Rong Min and Chu Qing?

Or perhaps, she had been deifying Chu Li all along…

Undeniably, Mu Yunjin’s mind was in chaos now.

“You’re facing death yourself, yet you’re still concerned about others’ lives. It doesn’t matter though; you star-crossed lovers will soon meet in the underworld.” Rong Min gave a signal to the black-clothed men beside him.

The black-clothed men were well-trained, each with profound inner strength. Mu Yunjin could now sense the true qi coming from all directions, directly targeting her heart and lungs.

Qiqi stood calmly in place. As soon as she had noticed things were not looking good earlier, she had secretly activated Fengyu Pavilion’s spirit signal. Now all subordinates of Fengyu Pavilion had received the command and were rushing toward the Southern Court Nation.

Ding Xian and Song Chun, having just dealt with those few black-clothed men, rushed over. Seeing the large group of black-clothed men here, they were greatly alarmed and rushed to Mu Yunjin’s side.

Seeing Ding Xian arrive, Mu Yunjin immediately turned to ask, “Where’s Chu Li?”

Ding Xian’s expression froze as he looked at Mu Yunjin, “Wang Fei, the situation here is perilous. You should leave first.”

Originally, Mu Yunjin had held onto a glimmer of hope, but hearing Ding Xian speak like this, her heart became even more tangled. Now, as she looked at Rong Min, her eyes were filled with killing intent.

Bastard, daring to hurt her man—tired of living!

Mu Yunjin uncoiled the phoenix-tail whip from her wrist, flicked it with a twist, and struck at Rong Min, who was at the forefront.

Seeing Mu Yunjin take the initiative, the battle that had been on the verge of erupting formally began. All the black-clothed men surged forward, and Ding Xian and the others immediately joined the fight.

Rong Min had long wanted to meet Mu Yunjin in battle. He was curious to know just how skilled this woman was, and why both the Thousand Leaf assassins and the royal hidden guards sent to assassinate Rong Jiu had died at her hands.

As Mu Yunjin’s first whip came at him, Rong Min easily dodged, but when the whip hit the ground, it kicked up thick dust, leaving a thin, long pit in the originally flat ground.

This demonstrated the incredible force of that whip strike.

Seeing this, Rong Min knew not to underestimate this woman.

Mu Yunjin lashed her whip continuously. From the moment Rong Min dodged her first strike without directly confronting her, she estimated that his hand-to-hand combat skills were probably average.

However, this man was skilled in using poison, which warranted caution.

On the side, Ding Xian, Song Chun, and others who had already gone through one battle were now facing about a hundred enemies, and inevitably felt their strength insufficient despite their will.

But Qiqi and Xiumei were each fighting ten enemies at once, appearing relaxed. Qiqi’s hands had now transformed into sharp cat claws, fiercely sweeping at the black-clothed men.

Xiumei’s pair of wings was now revealed, constantly flapping, temporarily preventing the black-clothed men from approaching.

Seeing that side barely managing against the black-clothed men, Mu Yunjin wanted to end her fight quickly, but Rong Min kept dodging without directly confronting her, which angered her.

A strong energy surged from her dantian, and Mu Yunjin’s eyes turned dark. The phoenix-tail whip that was about to be wielded was withdrawn back to her wrist, while a ball of red fire formed in her palm.

Rong Min also noticed the change in Mu Yunjin. Recalling the recent rumors about the Phoenix Woman, he was horrified. The poison powder between his fingers flowed out, spraying toward Mu Yunjin.

Mu Yunjin had been guarding against Rong Min using poison. Now seeing him sprinkle powder, the fireball in her palm struck out at the same time, dispersing the powder and directly targeting Rong Min’s face.

Rong Min instinctively tried to dodge but found the fire’s speed too fast to avoid. It hit his abdomen, throwing him several meters away. His body crashed against a large tree, causing him to spit several mouthfuls of blood. The jade crown on his topknot was shattered, and his hair fell loose, appearing utterly disheveled.

This woman was truly terrifyingly powerful.

When Mu Yunjin came back to her senses, she looked at her hands, then at Rong Min. She tilted her head, pursed her lips, and wondered why she always unconsciously used moves from the Xuanling True Scripture.

On the other side, seeing Rong Min injured, the black-clothed men all changed direction and attacked Mu Yunjin. Unable to respond to so many people, she was just about to dodge when suddenly a figure leaped behind one of the black-clothed men. Then a flash of sharp light swept by, and that black-clothed man slowly fell to the ground, the skin on his back completely torn off, bloody and mangled.

Everyone, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, instinctively looked toward where the black-clothed man had been attacked from.

They saw that in this open countryside, another group had arrived unnoticed. Each of them had a peculiar appearance, seeming to be half-human, half-beast, extraordinarily mysterious.

The one who had torn off the back of the black-clothed man was a half-man, half-lion figure. His face was lion-like, extremely stern, with sharp teeth bared, glaring at the surrounding black-clothed men.

“Brother Lei Yan, you’re amazing!” Qiqi excitedly bounded over, grabbing the half-man, half-lion’s arm with intimate familiarity in her eyes.

The one called Lei Yan put away his stern expression and smiled at Qiqi.

Mu Yunjin estimated that this group was from Fengyu Pavilion. Looking around, she saw lion spirits, snake spirits, white bear spirits, and other spiritual beasts. Mu Yunjin scratched her face, feeling as if she ruled over an… animal kingdom.

Rong Min hadn’t expected such a strong group to appear suddenly, and these people all had varied appearances, almost none of them qualifying as human.

Realizing the situation was precarious, he wanted to leave immediately.

“Trying to run?” The snake spirit Hua Ying sensed Rong Min’s intention to flee, flicked her tongue, and spat a mouthful of venom at him.

Hit by the venom, even Rong Min, skilled in using poison, couldn’t identify what kind of poison this was. When he tried to leave, he found his entire body had begun to go limp.

“Sister Hua Ying is a five-step snake. Try walking if you dare!” Qiqi raised an eyebrow.

Seeing that they had temporarily controlled Rong Min, Qiqi brought the Fengyu Pavilion members to meet Mu Yunjin. “This is the master you’ve all been eagerly wanting to meet.”

The Fengyu Pavilion members looked at Mu Yunjin, then showed surprise in their eyes, carefully examining her up and down.

“Stop looking. The master is human, not half-human, half-beast like us,” Qiqi interrupted, explaining to the Fengyu Pavilion members.

Hearing this, they immediately understood and said in unison, “Fengyu Pavilion subordinates pay respects to the master.”

Mu Yunjin was startled by such a unified voice, awkwardly tugged at the corner of her mouth, nodded, and said, “At ease…”

After briefly greeting the Fengyu Pavilion members, the poisoned Rong Min was still lying limp on the ground, his hatred for Mu Yunjin intensifying.

This woman was truly the nemesis of his grand ambitions!

“Where is Chu Li?” Mu Yunjin asked Rong Min again, seeing him weak and barely alive, knowing it was the best time to question him.

Rong Min remained silent.

“Hmph, poisoned by my snake venom, yet still so arrogant?” Hua Ying scoffed disdainfully, smiled coldly, and flicked her tongue at Rong Min again.

Rong Min shrank in fear. “On the cliff…”

Mu Yunjin immediately used her lightness skill, heading toward the cliff behind her. Only Hua Ying and Xiumei remained at the original spot, while the rest all followed behind Mu Yunjin.

Having witnessed Hua Ying’s snake venom, none of the remaining black-clothed men dared to approach her.

……

Mu Yunjin quickly headed to the top of the cliff. Earlier, she had heard Qiqi say there were people on the cliff, and then heard Rong Min say Chu Li was poisoned. Now her heart was anxious, wishing to reach the cliff top immediately.

As Mu Yunjin flew toward the cliff, rocks kept falling from above. Several hit her, leaving marks on her arms and face.

When Mu Yunjin finally reached the cliff top, she saw about a dozen black-clothed men fighting with a person in a purple brocade robe. The purple-robed person was severely injured, leaving bloody footprints with each step, his footing unsteady, yet still fighting against the black-clothed men.

Mu Yunjin was stunned for a moment, looking at the person in purple clothes. The clothes were Chu Li’s, the face was also Chu Li’s, but this silhouette was not Chu Li…

As she was thinking, Ding Xian and Song Chun had already stepped forward.

Mu Yunjin immediately reacted, pulled out her phoenix-tail whip, and joined the battle. The Fengyu Pavilion subordinates behind her also eagerly joined in.

What had been a battle with a predetermined outcome suddenly reversed its course.

In the shadows, a black figure saw the scene before him and quietly left…

The dozen or so black-clothed men were annihilated in an instant.

The purple-clad man now also collapsed softly. Mu Yunjin stepped forward to support him, then felt a flash before her eyes—the originally cold and handsome face of Chu Li suddenly changed into Huang Yan’s delicate and gentle face.

“It’s you…” Mu Yunjin was surprised that Huang Yan would appear here.

“Madam, this humble one is poisoned…” Seeing Mu Yunjin arrive, Huang Yan seemed to have found a savior. During the hard fight just now, he thought he was certainly doomed.

Unexpectedly, Mu Yunjin appeared in time. But he had already been poisoned severely and didn’t know if he could survive this time.

This time, Master Huang had fallen into trouble!