Mu Yunjin lit the wooden torch she had been carrying, its faint light barely illuminating the path ahead. She took a few steps forward, then turned to Ink Qilin, “Can you sense where Chu Li is?”

Ink Qilin looked at Mu Yunjin with a dejected expression and shook its head.

“You can’t sense his aura?” Mu Yunjin’s heart sank as she questioned Ink Qilin.

This time Ink Qilin nodded.

With this nod, Mu Yunjin felt even more frantic. She clenched her fists and slowly walked into the cave.

Along the way, to avoid being cut by the thorns underfoot, Mu Yunjin walked very carefully, listening for any sounds around her as she moved. But after walking for a long time, she hadn’t heard anything.

“Clang—”

When Mu Yunjin reached a dark passage, focused on observing her surroundings, she didn’t notice what was beneath her feet. She seemed to kick something, making a slight noise.

Her footsteps halted as she looked down, seeing several white objects.

…

…

Mu Yunjin narrowed her eyes and lowered the wooden torch in her hand. When she saw what was on the ground, her pupils dilated in shock, and she instinctively stepped back.

Standing in place, she took several deep breaths to steady herself, then crouched down to look closer.

Counting them, there were three humanoid skeletons on the ground.

Mu Yunjin suddenly felt the surrounding air turn ice-cold. Although she knew these white bones certainly weren’t Chu Li’s, seeing such things inevitably sent chills down her spine.

At this moment, Ink Qilin bit the hem of Mu Yunjin’s dress, pulling her to continue forward.

Mu Yunjin composed herself and walked on.

……

After a long while, Mu Yunjin looked at several forking paths, her steps hesitant.

This Thorny Cliff was another strange and troublesome place.

“Roar…”

“Roar roar…”

In the silent surroundings, an animal’s roar suddenly echoed faintly.

Mu Yunjin glanced to her side. These roars were different from Ink Qilin’s; they sounded more like those of tigers or lions.

Just as she was thinking this, Ink Qilin had already run toward the leftmost path. Mu Yunjin hurriedly ran after it.

The further they ran, the clearer the roars became.

“Ink Qilin, wait!” As they approached the source of the roars, Mu Yunjin called out to Ink Qilin, making it stop first.

Ink Qilin obeyed Mu Yunjin’s words and halted its steps.

Mu Yunjin cautiously approached the cave filled with roars. When she reached the entrance, the clear sounds of fighting came from inside.

Mu Yunjin quietly walked in a little. Fortunately, the thorns here were attached to the walls, with none on the ground, allowing Mu Yunjin to walk more steadily.

Arriving at the cave entrance, through the faint light, Mu Yunjin was shocked by what she saw, staring in disbelief at the scene inside.

About a dozen or twenty white tigers in the cave were frantically pouncing on a purple figure.

That figure was Chu Li, whom Mu Yunjin had been thinking of day and night.

Mu Yunjin looked at Chu Li, her gaze first falling on his pupils. Noticing his empty eyes, unable to focus, she knew Chu Li couldn’t see anything now.

At this moment, several palm strikes suddenly came from around Chu Li.

Mu Yunjin immediately looked toward the direction of the palm strikes. She saw Qiuye and Black Robe standing leisurely in the corner, their lips curled in smiles as they watched Chu Li fighting the white tigers. Occasionally, they would strike out with their palms…

At this moment, Chu Li had to deal with both the tiger pack and the occasional palm strikes coming from all around, plus he couldn’t see anything clearly—it was extremely difficult.

“Damn it!”

Seeing this scene, Mu Yunjin couldn’t hold back anymore. She raised her hand and threw the wooden torch at the thorny vines on the wall.

The thorny vines caught fire immediately, burning over a large area. The previously pitch-black cave was suddenly illuminated!

Mu Yunjin and Ink Qilin rushed into the cave. Ink Qilin pounced toward the white tiger pack to fight, while Mu Yunjin swung her whip and flew toward Qiuye and Black Robe.

When the firelight flared up, Chu Li’s vision was restored in an instant. When his eyes caught sight of Mu Yunjin charging toward Qiuye and Black Robe, his heart tightened.

Qiuye and Black Robe also hadn’t expected Mu Yunjin to suddenly appear. Originally, they had accidentally fallen off the cliff with Chu Li. As they were worrying about how to deal with him, they suddenly discovered that Chu Li’s eyes had become empty down in the ravine.

After testing him a bit, they found that he couldn’t see in the dark environment.

Learning this intelligence, they were excited. When they unexpectedly encountered the white tiger pack, they thought of letting the tigers focus on attacking Chu Li while they occasionally struck out with their palms, thereby depleting Chu Li’s energy before reaping the benefits.

Unexpectedly, Mu Yunjin had come.

When Mu Yunjin concentrated her true energy, she suddenly felt two streams of energy flowing within her body. She felt that one was refined from the Xuanling True Scripture, while the other came from Wind Xuan Daoist’s unique secret method.

These two streams of energy were fortunately both fire-attribute true energy. Although they formed two factions within Mu Yunjin’s body, they didn’t conflict.

At this moment, Mu Yunjin’s heart was filled with anger. When she swung her whip toward Black Robe and Qiuye, she used almost all her strength.

Black Robe and Qiuye dodged to the left and right simultaneously, but they were still hit by the energy carried by the whip. Both immediately felt a burning, stinging sensation in their waists.

“Mu Yunjin, why did you come here?” Chu Li flew to Mu Yunjin’s side, his tone filled with angry concern.

Mu Yunjin heard his slightly panting speech and noticed his poor complexion. She knew he hadn’t rested well for days, and fighting with the white tiger pack had depleted much of Chu Li’s strength and energy. Thinking of this, Mu Yunjin felt immense heartache.

After a pause, her eyes darted toward Black Robe and Qiuye.

“Since we’re all here today, let’s settle this once and for all. I just got the method to activate the Celestial Decree yesterday. If you can defeat me, it’s yours!” After speaking, Mu Yunjin took out a letter from her sleeve and waved it in front of Qiuye and Black Robe.

Black Robe and Qiuye’s eyes immediately reddened, and they raised their palms toward Mu Yunjin without hesitation.

Seeing that she had successfully drawn Black Robe and Qiuye’s attention to herself, Mu Yunjin curled her lips into a smile and activated techniques from the Xuanling True Scripture, preparing to counter Qiuye and Black Robe’s attacks.

When she felt her true energy had condensed to its peak, her chest suddenly felt like it was burning.

Then, accompanied by the roaring flames around, a red light burst from Mu Yunjin’s back—

“Clang clang…”

A phoenix cry echoed through the cave.

The red phoenix flapped its wings as it flew out from Mu Yunjin’s back, soaring into the air, bathed in the surrounding firelight, making the red phoenix appear magnificently glorious and untouchable.

At the same time, a fiery red peach blossom mark appeared on Mu Yunjin’s forehead, and her plain clothes instantly transformed into a stunning red.

At this moment, the phoenix cried, and the Phoenix Girl appeared!

Seeing this scene, Qiuye and Black Robe thought “this is bad” and prepared to retreat, but Mu Yunjin had already attacked first, her eyes filled with killing intent.

Mu Yunjin’s phoenix tail whip now glowed red in her hand, lashing fiercely at Qiuye and Black Robe. Her whip technique was sharp and merciless, leaving no room for escape.

While dodging the phoenix tail whip, Black Robe and Qiuye had already gathered their energy for a palm strike. After exchanging a glance in mid-air, they struck toward Mu Yunjin simultaneously…

Mu Yunjin suddenly retracted her phoenix tail whip and extended her hand. A powerful red fireball appeared in her palm, and then a strong stream of true energy flew out from her sleeve, all pouring into the fireball.

The fireball burned larger and larger. By the time Black Robe and Qiuye’s palm strikes approached, the fireball had become enormous and had surrounded Mu Yunjin, enclosing her within.

Black Robe and Qiuye’s eyelids twitched simultaneously, not understanding what technique this was.

On the side, Chu Li slightly curled his lips.

As Qiuye and Black Robe hesitated, a loud “boom” sounded as the fireball exploded, and the entire cave shook violently!

At the same time, they felt their palm strikes being forcefully rebounded by the fireball, imbued with several times stronger energy than their own.

Immediately, their expressions changed as they flew away to dodge.

Meanwhile, when the two palm strikes hit the walls of the cave, they blasted two large holes, sending up rolling dust.

As Qiuye and Black Robe dodged, before they could recover, Ink Qilin and the red phoenix attacked them from left and right—one spewing ice-blue cold light, the other breathing fire.

Mu Yunjin pursed her lips, giving Qiuye and Black Robe no chance to breathe. Another fire-red mist formed in her palm, ethereal and dreamy.

At the same time, an ice-blue mist slowly poured into the red mist in Mu Yunjin’s palm.

Mu Yunjin glanced at Chu Li, her lips curving into a smile.

When she turned her gaze back to Qiuye and Black Robe, her expression had darkened. She combined the two mists in her palm, forming an immensely powerful force…

“Die!”

As Mu Yunjin spoke, the mist in her palm suddenly transformed into hundreds of thin, invisible ice needles, surrounding Qiuye and Black Robe from all directions, leaving them nowhere to hide.

“Senior Brother, run!” Black Robe shouted, ignoring the several ice needles that had struck him. Enduring the pain, he flew out from the ice needle swarm toward the hole in the wall that Mu Yunjin had blasted earlier.

Qiuye’s reaction was a bit slower. As he tried to fly out after Black Robe, he suddenly felt something gripping his right arm. Looking sideways, he saw Mu Yunjin’s phoenix tail whip wrapped around his arm, immobilizing him.

At the same time, hundreds of fine ice needles pierced his body, causing such intense pain that he felt he would die instantly.

As he struggled to break free from the phoenix tail whip with his last breath, a cold flash appeared to the side, followed by a pain even worse than hundreds of ice needles piercing his body, striking his right arm.

“Thud…”

A bloody arm fell to the ground.

“Clang—”

Chu Li, with a cold face, threw down the bloody dagger in his hand.

“Get lost!” Chu Li’s cold, mocking voice echoed in the cave.

Qiuye, in such pain that he was nearly dead, still held onto his last breath and flew toward the exit to escape…

……

Seeing this scene, Mu Yunjin retracted her phoenix tail whip, her face unable to hide her smile. She turned to look at Chu Li, and was about to call out “Brother Qing” when her body froze, and she felt dizzy.

After the brief dizziness passed, the red light surrounding Mu Yunjin disappeared.

Composing herself, Mu Yunjin rubbed her temples, curled her lips, and looked at the person before her, “Chu Li…”