As soon as Qiqi finished speaking, the atmosphere suddenly turned quiet and eerie.

After a long while, Mu Yunjin lightly bit her lip and spoke softly, “I’ll go up and take a look.”

“Absolutely not!” Daoist Feng Xuan frowned deeply, refusing outright.

Even Kong Shi hadn’t come down from this mountain. If this naughty girl went up, who knew what might happen to her? It would be difficult to explain to Chu Li then.

Thinking of Chu Li, Daoist Feng Xuan’s brows furrowed even more. He wondered what thorny issue had arisen at Murong’s place that kept Chu Li away for so long…

“How about I fly up and take a look? I’ll just circle the outside,” Xiu Mei suggested.

“That works. Xiu Mei has wings, so he doesn’t need to go up the mountain to see the situation at the top,” Qiqi’s eyes lit up as she agreed with Xiu Mei’s proposal.

The others nearby also had no objections.

After all, at this point, this seemed to be the most feasible approach.

With everyone in agreement, Xiu Mei flew up toward the mountain.

As Xiu Mei ascended, everyone’s gaze fixed firmly on him, watching as he flew higher and higher.

When Xiu Mei reached the edge of the mountaintop, he flew a bit higher, first looking around from his position, then circling the summit once.

After a while, Xiu Mei began flying back toward the ground.

As he was flying at the midpoint of the mountain, a volley of feathered arrows suddenly shot out from the mountainside, densely heading toward Xiu Mei.

With no internal energy left except for his ability to fly, and the arrows coming so suddenly, Xiu Mei had nowhere to dodge. His golden wings were hit by several arrows at once, causing him to lose balance and fall rapidly.

“Ah!!” Qiqi screamed.

Mu Yunjin’s eyes narrowed, revealing a bloodthirsty gleam. Suddenly, a red light flashed from her back as the Fire Phoenix emerged with a long cry, surrounded by blazing flames, and flew toward the falling Xiu Mei.

Simultaneously, without any hesitation, Mu Yunjin turned and swiftly ascended the mountain.

The Fire Phoenix caught Xiu Mei steadily and carried him to the ground.

“Xiu Mei, are you alright…”

The group gathered around him.

……

When Mu Yunjin reached the middle of the mountain, she also encountered a volley of arrows.

The arrows flew with incredible speed from the bushes on both sides, blocking Mu Yunjin’s path.

Before Mu Yunjin could draw her Phoenix Tail Whip, a flash of fire came from behind her, burning all the arrows to ashes.

“Luan’er, thank you,” Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow and smiled at the Fire Phoenix now following behind her, then continued running up the mountain.

The Fire Phoenix followed closely behind Mu Yunjin.

With the Fire Phoenix’s company, the path to the summit became particularly smooth.

As she was about to reach the top, Mu Yunjin slowed her pace. All three people had disappeared at the summit one after another, likely falling into some hidden trap.

“Qiang qiang…”

The Fire Phoenix let out a cry and suddenly bit onto Mu Yunjin’s skirt hem.

Mu Yunjin paused and turned to look at the Fire Phoenix.

The Fire Phoenix had also landed, folding its colorful wings, and held onto Mu Yunjin’s clothes with no intention of letting go.

“What’s wrong? Don’t want me to go up?” Mu Yunjin lowered her gaze and spoke.

The Fire Phoenix nodded, looking at Mu Yunjin with concerned eyes.

“It seems you know what trick awaits at the top of the mountain?” Mu Yunjin asked again.

Hearing this, the Fire Phoenix lowered its eyes, avoiding Mu Yunjin’s gaze.

Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow, observing the phoenix’s reaction. It likely knew something, which meant there was hope…

“Then tell me quickly. This is crucial, and we can’t afford to waste a moment,” Mu Yunjin’s expression became somewhat more serious.

Having just arrived at the Tiansheng Continent, they hadn’t even directly encountered their enemies yet, and already they faced such vexing situations. Who knew what else awaited them.

The Fire Phoenix ultimately couldn’t defy Mu Yunjin’s wishes. It released her clothes, took a few steps forward, and flew up again, beating its wings.

Amidst the bright red light, the Fire Phoenix spewed a wisp of red smoke from its mouth. As the smoke drifted toward the summit, it rapidly condensed into a ring of flames around the ground at the top.

The ring of flames burned fiercely.

After a moment, the flames grew weaker, and black mist began rising steadily, completely enveloping the flames. The black mist drifted to the surroundings, cold and ghostly.

Mu Yunjin looked at the circle emitting black mist. Perhaps the flames spewed by the azure phoenix had revealed the true form of this black mist.

“Qiang qiang…”

The Fire Phoenix called out again, its wings flapping to uproot a small tree nearby, which fell into the circle of black mist.

It vanished into thin air…

“So you’re saying they all fell there?” Mu Yunjin frowned.

But what was beneath this black mist?

Was it like the Buddha statue in the Water Cloud Temple, leading to another space, or was it just a crevice in the mountain…

Mu Yunjin felt she had encountered another difficult problem.

“Mu Yunjin, even you have moments of difficulty,” a familiar yet cold voice came from nearby.

Hearing this voice, Mu Yunjin first furrowed her brows, then turned her head. Seeing the person slowly emerge from behind a boulder, she showed a flash of surprise that quickly disappeared.

“Qin Muyue, weren’t you dead? Am I now speaking with a human or a ghost?” Mu Yunjin spoke mockingly, looking at the approaching figure dressed in a deep purple gown with a black veil covering her face.

“Dead? Haha, did you see my corpse with your own eyes?” Qin Muyue laughed coldly, her eyes flashing with ruthlessness.

When Mu Yunjin first saw Qin Muyue, she thought it might be Leng Yuan, but in just a brief moment, she dismissed that thought.

Leng Yuan wasn’t like this.

The person before her was truly Qin Muyue, genuine and unmistakable.

“I indeed almost died at your hands, but heaven was kind to me. Just before death, I was saved…”

“Back then, Master Autumn Leaf and Master Feng Lan both died once by your hand, but later we all lived on just fine…”

“Mu Yunjin, do you understand? Even heaven couldn’t bear to watch anymore and spared our lives to properly deal with a demoness like you!”

Qin Muyue spoke through gritted teeth, looking at Mu Yunjin’s stunningly beautiful face before her, wishing she could immediately tear it off!

Her face was now completely ruined, and she spent her days hiding in this desolate place, veiling her face, not daring to reveal her appearance. Meanwhile, Mu Yunjin was parading around, enjoying the limelight!

Mu Yunjin couldn’t be bothered to waste words with Qin Muyue. She could only sigh inwardly at Yun Lianqing’s misfortune—first falling into a swamp and losing his internal power, then while running from lightning, randomly climbing a mountain that happened to be Qin Muyue’s stronghold…

This probability…

She was utterly impressed by such bad luck!

But with Qin Muyue now present, finding the three men would be exceedingly difficult.

The only thing she could do first was to eliminate this woman.

It was truly annoying—wasn’t Qin Muyue supposed to have festering, suppurating wounds? How could she have survived and recovered…

Which master had accomplished this feat?

Seeing the rich thoughts in Mu Yunjin’s eyes, Qin Muyue assumed she was plotting against her and became more cautious.

“Since you’ve come to rescue them, I might as well give you some hints, lest you blame this old friend for not being considerate.” Qin Muyue changed her tone, stroking a strand of her hair.

“All three of them fell there. Below is filled with miasma; ordinary people can’t survive more than three hours. Calculating from now, it’s already been over two hours.”

“If you can’t rescue them within an hour, these three people will die without a burial place.”

After speaking, Qin Muyue added, “Don’t think about killing me. If you kill me, they will all accompany me in death.”

Mu Yunjin clenched her fingers, and in the next moment, she unexpectedly smiled.

That smile was cold yet incomparably beautiful. Then, her gaze moved up and down flirtatiously, examining Qin Muyue.

Qin Muyue didn’t know what game Mu Yunjin was playing, and inexplicable goosebumps rose on her arms.

Mu Yunjin had dealt with Qin Muyue before and knew her temperament and bottom lines…

Now, she was going to break through Qin Muyue’s bottom line…

With that thought, her eyes narrowed, and several golden threads tied around her wrist flew out, quickly binding Qin Muyue’s body.

Just as Qin Muyue was about to mobilize her internal energy, the Fire Phoenix flapped its wings and forcefully fanned her against the boulder she had emerged from.

“Hiss…” Qin Muyue’s back slammed hard against the rock, and she let out a pained groan.

She tugged at the golden threads, but found they were made of some unknown material. Though her hands were cut by the threads, she couldn’t break them.

With the Fire Phoenix nearby, Qin Muyue didn’t make any further moves.

However, she was confident that Mu Yunjin wouldn’t dare kill her now.

Seeing Qin Muyue still looking at her calmly, Mu Yunjin smiled playfully, slowly approached, and removed a hairpin from her head.

Qin Muyue was slightly startled.

Without saying much, after removing the hairpin, Mu Yunjin quickly slashed at Qin Muyue’s outer garment…

With a “rip,” Qin Muyue’s outer robe was instantly torn by the sharp hairpin.

Mu Yunjin moved quickly, and in a short time, she had slashed through both Qin Muyue’s outer robe and undergarments, then pulled out the torn pieces and tossed them aside with a wave of her hand.

The Fire Phoenix collaborated perfectly, opening its mouth to spew flames at the torn pieces.

Soon, Qin Muyue was stripped by Mu Yunjin down to just her chest binding and underpants.

“Mu Yunjin, you!” Qin Muyue had never imagined Mu Yunjin would use such base tactics, actually stripping her clothes one by one.

And she couldn’t move at all.

It was infuriating. She had calculated everything, believing Mu Yunjin would prioritize the lives of the three men and thus show weakness to obtain the method of saving them. She never thought Mu Yunjin would be so shameless!

“What about me? Though Miss Qin’s face is disfigured, her body is still smooth, tsk tsk tsk…” Mu Yunjin reached out her hand, lightly stroking Qin Muyue’s shoulder.

Then, her fingertips hooked onto the ties of Qin Muyue’s chest binding.

“There seem to be quite a few men nearby who have been lying in ambush for so many days. I wonder if they’re thirsty…” Mu Yunjin’s words carried deep implications.

As she spoke, her fingertips pulled, and half of Qin Muyue’s clothes were untied.

Qin Muyue glared fiercely at Mu Yunjin, gritting her teeth. “Mu Yunjin, if you dare to act recklessly, you can forget about saving those three people!”

As soon as these words were spoken, Qin Muyue felt a chill in her chest.

The only clothing covering her upper body had been pulled down by Mu Yunjin.

In an instant, Qin Muyue’s face turned pale.

Mu Yunjin still held Qin Muyue’s chest binding in her hand, her eyes showing contempt. “I’ll give you one more chance. Think carefully about what you want to tell me, otherwise, you won’t be keeping your pants either…”