The bamboo grove to the south?

Mu Yunjin’s eyes revealed a trace of doubt as she looked at the Phoenix Tail Whip in her hand, which was still wrapped around the neck of the tree person before her. She reckoned he wouldn’t dare to lie.

So she withdrew her whip and started walking down the mountain path.

After taking just a few steps, Mu Yunjin remembered that all these mountaintops had been set with traps. Although she couldn’t see anything amiss in the surroundings, it was still better to be extra cautious.

With that thought, she used her lightness skill to fly down the mountain.

What she didn’t know was that as soon as she left, the only remaining living tree person, just like the tree person before, fell softly to the ground with a dagger in the back of his head.

……

After Mu Yunjin descended the mountain, National Master An also happened to come down from another mountain. Seeing Mu Yunjin, he walked toward her.

“All taken care of?” National Master An asked.

Mu Yunjin nodded slightly and rubbed her temples. “I don’t know the origin of that flute sound from earlier, but I still vaguely feel a headache.”

“Stay vigilant at all times.” National Master An reminded Mu Yunjin, and then added, “What about the Crown Prince Yun? Have you seen him?”

“No, I just came down from the mountain.” Mu Yunjin replied.

National Master An frowned slightly. “The Tiansheng Continent seems to have some conflict with the Crown Prince Yun. Many of his mystical arts cannot be fully utilized here. I wonder where he’s gone now.”

“When you were avoiding the lightning together earlier, did you see which mountain he went to?” Mu Yunjin asked.

“I think… it was that mountain.” National Master An wasn’t certain, pointing to a mountain not far ahead.

Mu Yunjin tilted her head to look. “Let’s go see.”

National Master An nodded.

Walking along the path, Mu Yunjin calculated the time. By now, Daoist Feng Xuan and the others should have already entered Wind Moon Cliff and were on their way to the Tiansheng Continent.

“By the way, when I was on the mountain earlier, a tree person told me that those in black robes are all in the bamboo grove in the southern direction.” Mu Yunjin remembered this detail and lowered her voice, speaking at a volume only the two of them could hear.

Hearing this, National Master An chuckled lightly. “It would be more interesting to wait for them to become impatient and come find us.”

Mu Yunjin curled her lips, her eyes revealing a trace of coldness. “Exactly.”

Upon reaching the mountain, National Master An asked Mu Yunjin to wait at the foot while he went up first to find Yun Lianqing and see what the situation was.

Mu Yunjin had no objection and waited at the bottom of the mountain.

While waiting, Mu Yunjin folded her arms, appearing completely bored, occasionally playing with her fingernails and sometimes looking up to check the surroundings.

After some time passed, National Master An still hadn’t come down from the mountain.

Meanwhile, sounds of fighting came from nearby.

Mu Yunjin’s eyes flickered as she glanced toward the source of the fighting sounds, furrowing her brows. That seemed to be the path from Wind Moon Cliff to the snowy mountain…

Thinking of this, Mu Yunjin clenched her fingers, wanting to run over to take a look, but also worried about not being able to meet up with National Master An later.

After standing in place for a while longer, not only were there still sounds of fighting, but there were also several loud shouts.

Hearing those shouts, Mu Yunjin could no longer stay put and ran toward the direction of the fighting sounds.

……

Shortly after Daoist Feng Xuan and his group entered the Tiansheng Continent, Xiu Mei and Song Chun accidentally fell into a swampy mud pit.

Fortunately, Daoist Feng Xuan reacted quickly and pulled them out.

Most of Xiu Mei and Song Chun’s bodies had sunk into the mud, so the group had to stop for a while, waiting for Song Chun and Xiu Mei to clean the mud and water from their clothes.

After waiting for quite some time, when the mud and water were almost cleaned, Song Chun and Xiu Mei suddenly found their internal energy gradually disappearing, unable to summon even a bit of true qi from their bodies.

Because both had fallen into the swampy mud pit, Daoist Feng Xuan immediately directed his suspicion toward that small patch of swampland.

Seeing that Song Chun and Xiu Mei had lost their internal energy, Daoist Feng Xuan wanted to temporarily place them on the snowy mountain, but those two could not see the snowy mountain at all, no matter what.

This put Daoist Feng Xuan, Hua Ying, Yun Shuangleng, and the others in a difficult position.

Just as they were pondering what to do, a large wave of black-clad people suddenly emerged from the surroundings and attacked them without saying a word.

These black-clad people all had profound internal strength, and their moves were fierce and ruthless, every strike aimed at vital points. It was clear they had undergone special training.

At this moment, Xiu Mei and Song Chun had no internal energy and could only fight with bare hands, which was extremely strenuous.

On the other side, although Daoist Feng Xuan was formidable, he was blocked by more than a dozen black-clad people with superior martial arts. He was busy dealing with them and had no time to look after Song Chun and Xiu Mei.

Hua Ying’s body had not fully recovered, so she could only use some true qi to resist. She didn’t dare rashly activate her poison mist, depleting her energy and becoming a burden.

Yun Shuangleng and Feng Che were also entangled with more than a dozen black-clad people, fighting with all their might.

Xiu Mei, being a crane spirit, had a pair of wings that allowed him to fly. Even if he couldn’t win, he could at least dodge from time to time.

In comparison, Song Chun had a much tougher time. No matter how skilled his fist and foot techniques were, they were no match for the swift and fierce palm winds.

“Bang…” In a moment of carelessness, his chest took a direct palm strike, his body flying backward and spitting several mouthfuls of blood.

Facing such a situation immediately upon entering the Tiansheng Continent was something Daoist Feng Xuan had not anticipated.

Just as the situation looked critical and he was about to consume some of his vital energy to use his most powerful moves to scatter these black-clad people, Mu Yunjin’s figure flashed from the side and joined the melee without a word.

With Mu Yunjin present, Daoist Feng Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Mu Yunjin hadn’t expected the situation to escalate to this point. These black-clad people were of unknown origin, each with agile movements, not at all at a disadvantage.

Glancing to the side, she noticed that Song Chun was already injured and on the ground, while Xiu Mei was constantly flying back and forth to avoid attacks, showing no sign of counterattacking.

What was happening?

Mu Yunjin had no time to ponder the reasons. Her eyes turned as cold as ice as she flew into the air, and the peach blossom mark on her forehead suddenly turned blood-red.

Her delicate jade fingers lightly flicked, and transparent ice needles condensed from her fingertips, rapidly shooting toward several nearby black-clad people.

The black-clad people glimpsed the ice needles and tried to disperse them with palm winds, only to discover that these ice needles were visible but intangible.

The ice needles broke through the palm winds and penetrated the eyes and brows of those black-clad people.

Screams of agony rose one after another.

Mu Yunjin curled her lips, observing the surrounding situation.

These ice needles had once given Autumn Leaf and Black Robe considerable trouble in Thorny Cliff. She wondered what those hiding in the shadows would think upon seeing these ice needles.

“Retreat!” The remaining black-clad people, seeing the unfavorable situation, immediately issued the command.

Hearing this order, all the black-clad people’s figures flashed, and they completely disappeared.

“Naughty girl, it’s fortunate you arrived in time. Otherwise, dealing with these people would have required some effort from me.” Daoist Feng Xuan kicked one of the corpses killed by his palm wind, his face displeased.

“What’s the situation with Song Chun and Xiu Mei?” Mu Yunjin didn’t say much else, glancing to the side.

Hearing this, Daoist Feng Xuan sighed. “As soon as they entered the Tiansheng Continent, they fell into a swamp, and then all their internal energy disappeared.”

“A swamp?” Mu Yunjin was immediately alarmed.

Daoist Feng Xuan nodded. “Having lost their internal energy, they can’t even see such a large snowy mountain.”

“…” Mu Yunjin didn’t respond.

No wonder Yun Lianqing couldn’t see the snowy mountain. Could it be related to him falling into the swamp?

Then wouldn’t his internal energy also be gradually disappearing when he was escaping from the lightning earlier?

“What’s wrong?” Daoist Feng Xuan noticed Mu Yunjin’s odd expression and asked.

Mu Yunjin briefly explained Yun Lianqing’s situation.

After explaining, she licked her somewhat dry lips and posed another question. “In our case, only those who lose their internal energy can’t see the snowy mountain. Then why can’t the opposing side’s people see the snowy mountain either?”

Daoist Feng Xuan shook his head. “This master has been completely confused by this place.”

……

After resolving matters with Daoist Feng Xuan, Mu Yunjin returned to the mountain where National Master An was.

“Could something have happened to my royal brother?” Walking along the path, Yun Shuangleng’s face showed concern, her hands clasped tightly together in anxiety.

Mu Yunjin couldn’t offer any guarantees, since National Master An had yet to send any news.

“Is it this mountain?” Daoist Feng Xuan pointed to the mountain before them.

Mu Yunjin nodded.

“I’ll go up and check the situation.” Feng Che, who had been mostly silent, spoke up and then comfortingly patted Yun Shuangleng’s shoulder.

Yun Shuangleng frowned.

Feng Che smiled at Yun Shuangleng, then ran up the mountain.

After he left, another half hour passed without any news.

“What’s going on with this mountain? Everyone who goes up doesn’t come back down. Logically, with Kong Shi up there, there shouldn’t be any major problems, right?” Daoist Feng Xuan furrowed his brows tightly, his eyes revealing traces of worry.

Mu Yunjin also sensed something was amiss. Feng Che had been up there for half an hour, while National Master An had been gone for more than an hour.

More than an hour, and still not back…

Mu Yunjin had a sense of foreboding.

“This won’t do. I need to go up and see.” Yun Shuangleng, worried about her royal brother and Feng Che, couldn’t wait any longer and made to ascend the mountain.

Mu Yunjin quickly grabbed her, frowning. “Don’t rush.”

“But they’ve been gone for so long, and there hasn’t been any sound from the mountain. Don’t you find it strange?” Yun Shuangleng bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes.

At this moment, a pink figure ran toward them from a distance.

“Master…” Qiqi’s voice came from the side.

Mu Yunjin turned to look.

After Qiqi ran closer, she took several deep breaths. Having stayed on the snowy mountain, her clothes were somewhat damp.

“Master, there’s a problem at the top of this mountain,” Qiqi spoke, pointing at the mountain before them.

Mu Yunjin looked at Qiqi, waiting for her to continue.

“Earlier, when you were being chased by lightning, everything around was dark. We were at the top of the snowy mountain and saw the Crown Prince Yun ascend this mountain.”

“But after he reached the top, the lightning disappeared, and he suddenly vanished as well.”

“Later, we saw National Master An also reach the top, and similarly, in an instant, he vanished into thin air. Lady Qing and I watched from afar, thinking perhaps National Master An had used some mystical art.”

“But just now, seeing Feng Che meet the same fate, we observed for quite a while longer and found that this mountain is truly strange.”