By the time Mu Yunjin noticed the dark shadow approaching, her heart sank. Just as she was about to counter with her elbow, she remembered her condition made fighting inconvenient, so she quickly dodged away from the figure.

When she came to her senses and saw who had been standing behind her, Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes.

“Witch, you’ve truly come to seek death!” Daoist Qiuye, who had been standing behind Mu Yunjin, spoke with utter contempt.

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously quiet military headquarters was filled with the sound of footsteps. By the time Mu Yunjin realized what was happening, she was already surrounded by soldiers.

Looking around, there was a sea of black, making it impossible to count their numbers.

At the same time, Chu Qing and Qin Muyue, who had walked away earlier, returned, slowly making their way through the crowd to stand before Mu Yunjin, looking at her with ambiguous smiles.

Seeing this situation, Mu Yunjin didn’t know how to criticize herself.

She had just arrived and was already discovered, causing such a commotion. She was getting worse at this.

“Mistress!” Qiqi and Huaying noticed something was wrong and ran over. Seeing the scene before them, they immediately rushed into the crowd, positioning themselves in front of Mu Yunjin.

…

…

Qin Muyue curled her lips. “Mu Yunjin, the Mu family never treated you well. From what I know, your fifth sister often joined Mu Lingzhu in bullying you. Why bother coming here to throw away your life?”

“Weren’t you hoping I would come? Now that I’m here, why say such things?” Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow, casting a cool glance at Qin Muyue.

“Heh…” Qin Muyue let out a mocking laugh, turning to look at a soldier. “Go bring them over.”

The soldier nodded, pushed through the crowd, and left.

Surrounded by the crowd, especially with Daoist Qiuye present, Mu Yunjin felt somewhat unsettled inside, but her exterior remained calm and indifferent, as if she didn’t consider any of these people worthy of concern.

Today, Grandma Yu hadn’t given her spiritual power, so she had no protection and couldn’t easily engage in combat with these people.

For now, she could only stall for time.

Soon, the soldier who had left returned, followed by several other soldiers escorting two figures.

As they approached, a wretched cry came through, “Wuwu, Third Sister, save us…”

Mu Xiarou looked at Mu Yunjin with excitement, tears falling uncontrollably. She wanted to get closer to Mu Yunjin but was firmly held by the soldiers, unable to move even half a step.

“Xiarou, don’t cry!” Luo Ningyu commanded from the side.

Mu Yunjin glanced at Mu Xiarou and Luo Ningyu. After a few months apart, the mother and daughter hadn’t changed much. They must have been living quite well in Lin Yin City.

She just hadn’t expected such a sudden change in Lin Yin City.

Although Mu Xiarou was trembling with fear, she obediently listened to Luo Ningyu, biting her lip to stop crying while looking pleadingly at Mu Yunjin.

Qin Muyue cast a cold glance at Mu Xiarou and Luo Ningyu, then sneered and looked at Mu Yunjin. “Mu Yunjin, do you want to save them?”

“Your conditions,” Mu Yunjin uttered four words, staring at Qin Muyue.

Qin Muyue smiled and looked toward Daoist Qiuye standing nearby. “Master…”

Daoist Qiuye lowered his eyes, took out the Divine Decree from his sleeve, and held it between his fingers. “Give us the method to activate the Divine Decree.”

Mu Yunjin looked at the Divine Decree, an expression of mockery appearing on her face. These people truly thought the Divine Decree was theirs.

Now, with just a slight curl of her finger, the Divine Decree would surely return to her palm.

“I don’t know the method to activate the Divine Decree either. Otherwise, with it in my possession for so long, wouldn’t I have summoned the undead soldiers by now?” Mu Yunjin responded lazily.

In fact, since obtaining the Divine Decree, she had never considered summoning the undead soldiers.

“Mu Yunjin, I advise you not to refuse the easy way only to suffer the hard way. Today, tens of thousands of elite soldiers have surrounded you. There’s no escape!” Qin Muyue glared at Mu Yunjin.

What she hated most about Mu Yunjin was her casual attitude.

Her face never seemed to show panic or fear, as if everything was under her control.

Why was that?

Wasn’t she the most insignificant nobody from Minister Mu’s household?

Wasn’t she an ignorant, cowardly, and useless good-for-nothing without the slightest bit of talent?

Why had all the glory fallen upon her one day?

Even the stunning Phoenix Lady identity was hers. Why was all this happening?

And the man she had loved since childhood never looked at her again after Mu Yunjin appeared.

Why was fate so unfair?

The more she thought about it, the more irritated Qin Muyue became, a trace of demonic energy flashing in her eyes.

Qiqi and Huaying observed the situation for a while. Especially Huaying, who was sensitive to evil energy, noticed something wrong with Qin Muyue and lifted her chin to look coldly at her.

“What’s the use of tens of thousands of elite soldiers? We of Phoenix Feather Pavilion have never feared such things.” After speaking, Huaying had already taken out the porcelain bottle filled with snake venom, making as if to open the lid.

Mu Yunjin gripped Huaying’s wrist, shaking her head to indicate that she shouldn’t act yet.

Seeing the situation become tense, Luo Ningyu bit her lip, her body tight with tension, and painfully spoke out, “Yunjin, go back! You don’t need to risk yourself here for us, mother and daughter. We… Ah…”

Before she could finish, a cold flash of light appeared, and Luo Ningyu let out a miserable scream.

By the time everyone realized what had happened, two bloody gashes had appeared on Luo Ningyu’s fair face. She painfully covered her face as bright red blood dripped down.

“Mother!” Mu Xiarou’s eyes widened as she cried out.

“Clang—” Qin Muyue threw down the blood-stained dagger and coldly swept her gaze over Luo Ningyu. “Speak again, and I’ll twist your head right off!”

Luo Ningyu’s face turned deathly pale as she tightly covered her face, no longer daring to speak.

Mu Yunjin’s gaze grew colder, realizing she now stood in an extremely passive position, at the mercy of others. Her eyes narrowed as she tightly clenched her fists.

“Alright, after all, we’re all family. Why the need for violence? Sixth Brother’s wife, it’s cold out. Why not go inside to talk?” Chu Qing, who had been silent until now, smiled slightly and looked at Mu Yunjin.

Mu Yunjin naturally refused to go. With these people, only fists could talk; nothing else would matter.

With things as they were tonight, it seemed impossible to escape without a hard fight.

“Witch, do you truly refuse to reveal the method of activation?” Daoist Qiuye waved the Divine Decree in his hand.

“You keep calling me ‘witch’—why would I be stupid enough to activate it for you?” Mu Yunjin’s face darkened.

Finally, she added to Daoist Qiuye, “You old undying thing!”

“Seeking death!” Daoist Qiuye had long been unable to contain his desire to attack Mu Yunjin. Now with her direct provocation, the rage in his heart was difficult to suppress. He channeled his true energy and struck toward Mu Yunjin.

Qin Muyue had also been holding back for a long time. For her, the method to activate the Divine Decree was secondary; taking Mu Yunjin’s life was the primary goal.

At this moment, she seemed to reach an unspoken agreement with Daoist Qiuye, and both attacked Mu Yunjin simultaneously.

Huaying reacted first, preparing to open the porcelain bottle when a flying dart came her way, preventing her from opening it. Looking sideways, she saw it was Chu Qing with a grim face.

Qiqi had already positioned herself in front of Mu Yunjin, blocking Qin Muyue’s attack.

Qiuye circumvented Qiqi, directly facing Mu Yunjin.

Mu Yunjin drew out her Phoenix Tail Whip, facing Qiuye, continuously dodging without directly attacking.

Since learning of Mu Yunjin’s Phoenix Lady identity, Qiuye had always been wary of her. Now, seeing her constantly evading his attacks, his heart suddenly sank, unable to decipher Mu Yunjin’s behavior.

After several rounds, Qiuye had executed many techniques, all of which missed. After a while, he began to feel his energy waning.

Qiqi was also fighting with great difficulty on her side, seemingly unable to hold her own. Qin Muyue had indeed practiced some demonic art; her attacks were vicious, and her internal energy was several times more profound than before.

As the fight continued, Qiqi gradually shifted from offensive confrontation to evasive defense.

Huaying, skilled in using poison, was not proficient in close combat. After exchanging a few moves with Chu Qing, whenever she tried to summon her poison mist, Chu Qing would recognize and counter it, leaving her unable to deploy her poison despite fighting for so long.

At this moment, Daoist Qiuye suddenly exclaimed—

“This witch is pregnant!”

Hearing Qiuye’s words, Mu Yunjin was slightly stunned. Looking down at her abdomen, she realized that throughout the evasion process, she had been unconsciously protecting her belly.

Damn, she had been careless!

When Qin Muyue heard Qiuye’s words, she looked at Mu Yunjin’s abdomen, and a surge of rage filled her. The force in her hand intensified as she struck Qiqi with her palm, sending her flying.

Qiqi took the palm strike, spat blood, and fell to the ground.

Qin Muyue flew to stand before Mu Yunjin, her eyes fixated on Mu Yunjin’s abdomen. “Mu Yunjin, you dare to be pregnant! You dare to carry Chu Li’s child! I’ll kill you! I’ll make you die twice over! I want you and the child in your belly to die before me!”

A dark light flashed in Qin Muyue’s eyes. With several furious shouts, her hair flew wildly, and black energy swirled in her palm as she attacked Mu Yunjin frantically.

Mu Yunjin’s heart sank, silently acknowledging that Qin Muyue’s martial skills had indeed improved significantly.

With this palm strike, even if she dodged, she would be caught by the powerful palm wind. There was no escape.

……

Just as the palm wind was about to hit, Mu Yunjin instinctively was about to channel her true energy to counter Qin Muyue’s attack, a qilin’s roar pierced the clouds, echoing throughout the military headquarters.

“Aoao…”

Then, at the critical moment, a black shadow positioned itself in front of Mu Yunjin, spewing ice-blue cold light that blocked Qin Muyue’s incoming palm wind.

The collision of two powerful forces made the earth tremble!

“Black Qilin!” Mu Yunjin looked with delight at the suddenly arrived Black Qilin, instinctively glancing around. If the Black Qilin was here, did that mean Chu Li had arrived too?

“Awu…” The Black Qilin, seeing Mu Yunjin, docilely rubbed its head against her leg, completely different from its earth-shaking presence just moments ago.

Qin Muyue was already seeing red, her gaze darkly settling on Mu Yunjin. “Mu Yunjin, if you have the ability, come fight me yourself. Having a beast help you—what kind of skill is that?”