Mu Yunjin didn’t move. When she had just descended, her attention was immediately drawn to the deserted island in front, and she hadn’t properly observed her surroundings.

Now, as she looked carefully, she realized that the place where she stood was as beautiful as an earthly paradise.

Majestic peaks surrounded them, with continuous green pines. Misty clouds shrouded the deep sky, lending the clear, serene lake before them a hazy, dreamlike beauty. Perhaps due to the scarcity of human presence, the place was imbued with a mysterious and ethereal quality.

“No matter how I look at it, this place doesn’t have any semblance of the Gates of Hell,” Mu Yunjin couldn’t help but exclaim, finding it difficult to connect the scene before her with the eighteen levels of hell that Daoist Feng Xuan had described.

Daoist Feng Xuan snorted lightly, “You’re in quite a mood, still having the heart to enjoy the scenery.”

“Hmph, looking won’t kill me!” Mu Yunjin immediately retorted when she saw Daoist Feng Xuan mocking her again.

“Let’s go, they must be getting anxious!” After speaking, Daoist Feng Xuan turned around and led Mu Yunjin toward the position where Qiqi and the others had descended.

After walking a few steps, Daoist Feng Xuan seemed to feel they were going too slowly and turned back to Mu Yunjin, “Walk faster!”

“Why not use lightness skills? Wouldn’t that be quicker?” Mu Yunjin thought of Daoist Feng Xuan’s almost supernatural lightness skill.

“At the foot of Pingfeng Cliff, we’re in someone else’s territory. If you use your true energy, you’ll expose yourself quickly,” Daoist Feng Xuan glanced at Mu Yunjin and quickened his pace.

Mu Yunjin nodded in understanding and jogged behind Daoist Feng Xuan, running forward.

“Caw caw—”

After walking just a few steps, the screech of eagles came from overhead.

Hearing this familiar sound, Mu Yunjin’s scalp tingled. She looked up and saw a dark mass of eagles flying in from the sky, not far away.

“Master, the eagles are coming. You go find Qiqi and the others now. I’ll hold them off here!” After speaking, Mu Yunjin took out the black jade hairpin from her bosom and inserted it into her ponytail.

Daoist Feng Xuan paused for a moment, then immediately nodded. His peripheral vision caught something on the lake surface, and his expression turned serious. “Chu Li and his group have arrived. Find a way to go meet them. If they’re attacked by the eagles while on the lake, that would be troublesome!”

Mu Yunjin looked toward the lake and indeed saw a boat approaching from a distance. She raised her eyes to look at the approaching eagles and noticed that the flock of eagles was also heading toward the lake.

Suddenly, Mu Yunjin’s heart tightened. Using her lightness skill, she flew rapidly toward the boat on the lake.

Seeing her leave, Daoist Feng Xuan immediately turned to go meet Qiqi and the others.

…

Chu Li’s boat was still some distance from the shore.

Although Mu Yunjin was using her lightness skill to fly there, without a foothold to support herself, she couldn’t stay above the lake for too long. Seeing the eagle flock getting closer and closer, Mu Yunjin’s heart was in her throat. She wanted to raise her palm to draw the eagles toward herself, but she was afraid that using her true energy would expose her.

Today was not yet the winter solstice, so the black-robed one should not have gone into seclusion yet.

These eagles were the guardians of Ghost Valley Cave. They must have sensed their presence and flown over in flocks.

Mu Yunjin grew increasingly anxious. Just as she was about to lose her footing and was preparing to jump into the lake to swim over, a figure swam rapidly toward her from the front…

Yes, swam…

Hua Ying, being a snake spirit in her normal state, looked no different from ordinary people when standing on land. But once she came into contact with water, her snake tail would manifest, transforming her into a half-human, half-beast form like Qiqi and the others.

Now, seeing Mu Yunjin flying toward them from afar, and noticing Chu Li preparing to use his true energy to fly out and meet Mu Yunjin, she immediately jumped into the lake. Her legs transformed into a snake tail, and she swam toward Mu Yunjin.

“Master, come quickly, I’ll carry you over,” Hua Ying waved to Mu Yunjin.

Seeing Hua Ying, Mu Yunjin flew down and landed on Hua Ying’s back. Looking down at her, she discovered a black snake tail in the lake water.

Strangely, she suddenly felt that everyone in the Phoenix Feather Pavilion was a treasure.

Xiumei had wings and could fly, Hua Ying could swim in water, Qiqi knew tracking techniques…

As their master, she seemed to be incapable of anything…

By the time Hua Ying successfully brought Mu Yunjin to the side of the boat, a large flock of eagles had also approached the vessel. Mu Yunjin got into the boat, removed the black jade hairpin from her hair, and held it in her palm.

“Caw caw caw—”

The first small group of eagles that approached suddenly howled a few times, flapped their wings, and flew away. The eagles behind surged forward, but eventually they too flapped their wings and departed.

The eagle flock did not retreat completely. They circled above the boat, not approaching Mu Yunjin and her group, but following their vessel.

“Why won’t these eagles leave? If they keep following us like this, we’ll be discovered soon!” Mu Yunjin clutched the black jade hairpin tightly, furrowing her brow.

Chu Li’s eyes flashed, his brows slightly furrowed as he looked at Mu Yunjin, “Didn’t you bring silk thread? Take it out.”

Hearing this, Mu Yunjin took out a large roll of silk thread from her sleeve.

Chu Li took the thread, then took the black jade hairpin from her hand. He firmly tied one end of the black jade hairpin to the silk thread, then unwound the ball of thread. With a flick of his wrist, he held the thread in one hand and tossed the black jade hairpin toward the direction of the eagle flock.

Unable to use true energy for fear of alerting their enemies, they had to resort to this primitive manual method to drive away the eagles.

Chu Li threw it high, and as the black jade hairpin passed through the eagle flock, the eagles scattered in all directions like startled horses. But after a while, they gathered again.

Chu Li threw it back and forth several times. The eagles were frightened away multiple times, but in the end, unable to gain any advantage, the eagles dispersed and flew back in the direction they had come from.

Seeing this, Mu Yunjin twitched the corner of her mouth and glanced at the silk thread in Chu Li’s hand, “I brought it casually yesterday. I didn’t expect it would come in handy!”

“That’s why our Princess is so capable!” Huang Yan had also been surprised for a while that Mu Yunjin would bring something like silk thread when going out.

“Of course!” Mu Yunjin raised her eyebrows, her eyes showing pride. The next second, upon seeing Hua Ying, her eyes revealed deep admiration, “Hua Ying, you’re the most amazing. If it weren’t for you, I would have had to jump into the lake and swim over!”

With the cold weather, if she had swum across the lake, it would have cost her half her life!

Hua Ying’s snake tail had already transformed back into legs. Hearing Mu Yunjin’s praise, she rarely revealed a smile and teased, “Since Master thinks I’m capable, why not promote me to Guardian of the Pavilion too?”

“Absolutely!” Mu Yunjin blinked, and speaking of the Phoenix Feather Pavilion, she needed to make time to check on it.

…

After landing safely, Mu Yunjin led their group toward the direction where Qiqi and the others had descended from the cliff.

By now, Daoist Feng Xuan had already met up with Qiqi and the others. They had watched the extremely dangerous scene in the middle of the lake and had been anxious for Chu Li and his group.

In this place where they temporarily couldn’t use mystical arts, many things were inconvenient to carry out.

The eagles have left like this. Won’t they go report to the black-robed one?” Qiqi couldn’t help but ask. These creatures were raised by the black-robed one. Since the eagle flock had discovered them, the black-robed one should know soon.

“The eagle flock is equivalent to the guards at the foot of Pingfeng Cliff. Once they smell the scent of living beings, they will swarm out to attack. Although they are creatures raised by the black-robed one, when they fail in their attack, they will not report to their master to avoid punishment.”

“Simply put, they are lowly creatures. If they succeed in harming people, they will run to their master for credit. If they fail, they pretend nothing happened,” Daoist Feng Xuan spoke with some mockery.

Qiqi understood and nodded, “These creatures injured us quite severely last time.”

“They’re here!” Qu Xinyao saw several figures approaching and looked toward the group. Upon seeing the figure she wanted to see, her eyes lit up.

…

Everyone had gathered successfully at the foot of Pingfeng Cliff.

“Greetings, esteemed elders. This junior is Yun Shuangleng.” After standing, Yun Shuangleng politely bowed to Daoist Feng Xuan and Qu Xinyao’s group.

Daoist Feng Xuan glanced at her, looking her up and down, “I heard you know some mystical arts?”

Yun Shuangleng nodded.

“Who taught you?” Daoist Feng Xuan asked again. It was somewhat unexpected that the little princess of South Court Country would know mystical arts.

“It was taught to me by Feng Che when he was alive. Rather than calling it mystical arts, it would be more accurate to call it shamanic spirit techniques. That black-robed one is proficient in shamanic spirit techniques. Perhaps I could contend with him for a moment.” When mentioning the black-robed Feng Lan, a cold chill emanated from Yun Shuangleng’s body.

Daoist Feng Xuan made a sound of acknowledgment without saying much more.

Before the winter solstice, Feng Lan had not yet entered the valley for seclusion. Let’s wait here for a while, and then storm Ghost Valley Cave at the hour of Zi tonight!” Feng Xuan spoke.

“That’s perfect. The environment here is nice. I might as well appreciate it a bit.” Mu Yunjin pretended to be relaxed as she walked a few steps to the side and sat down on a flat rock.

The rest of the people also dispersed, but all stayed within this small area, not going far.

Chu Li approached Mu Yunjin, looking down at her, “Has the journey been smooth so far?”

“Mm, what about you all?” Mu Yunjin looked up, meeting Chu Li’s gaze.

Chu Li nodded slightly and sat down beside her, lowering his voice, “The journey here has been suspiciously smooth. We’ll need to be extra cautious on this trip to Ghost Valley Cave.”

Chu Li originally didn’t want to point this out, but he was worried that Mu Yunjin’s recent reckless character might not be careful enough. After some thought, he decided to tell her in advance so she could be more prepared.

“Mm, if we really can’t break into Deep Serene Lake, we can just retreat. There’s no need to push ourselves.” Seeing this large group of people risking their lives for her alone, Mu Yunjin felt a mix of bitter and warm emotions.

In this other world, meeting such a group of companions who would go through life and death for her was indeed her fortune.

Her life wasn’t valuable, and if they really couldn’t get the Crocodile Pearl, that would be that. There was no need to burden so many people.

Chu Li stared at her profile for a long time, then sighed softly. He reached out to hold her hand, enclosing it in his palm, giving her silent comfort.

For a long time, the two nestled together, quietly enjoying this moment of leisure and peace.

…

After quite a while, Yun Shuangleng, who had been sitting alone on the side, walked toward Mu Yunjin and Chu Li. As she approached, she took down the sachet from her waist, untied its string, and took out two black pills from inside…