He had never believed in such things, yet at this moment, he wanted to devoutly pray to heaven once.

His hands had just clasped together when they were forcefully pulled apart by that drunk person. Her shouting could practically pierce his eardrums.

“Why are you sleeping? Why are you sleeping? Look quickly! Little Perspective! Tomboy! Cake Girl!”

“Yes, Little Perspective Tomboy Cake Girl. I see them, quite bright.” He gently coaxed her, frowning, not understanding who these strange names referred to—they sounded like nicknames, women’s nicknames.

Her sisters?

“Little Perspective!” Jing Hengbo frantically jumped and waved at a passing meteor. “Do you know? Sister is going to dominate Dahuang! Sister became a queen! Sister descended from heaven with everyone bowing down, wherever she goes peach blossoms bloom! Come quickly and learn from sister…”

He pulled down her hand, but she stubbornly raised it again. A second meteor flashed by, particularly bright, like a whistling sword thrust fiercely over the mountain.

“Tomboy!” Jing Hengbo’s shouts grew louder. “Hahaha sister became a queen! Sister dominates Dahuang! Sister is now the most awesome among you all! Do you submit or not? Do you submit or not? Come quickly and call me Your Majesty Queen, and I’ll reward you with ten thousand dozens of handsome men! Then you won’t worry about not being able to marry! Ahahahaha…”

“How many is ten thousand dozens of handsome men?” He asked quietly behind her.

“Ten thousand times twelve!” She laughed smugly. “One hundred twenty thousand! Hahahaha, Tomboy, shouldn’t you thank me?”

He silently calculated the total number of men in Dahuang…

“Little Cake!” She suddenly cried out in delight. He looked up to see a meteor dodging and flashing across the horizon.

“Hahaha I knew it was you!” She pointed at that seemingly sneaky meteor, laughing so hard she swayed back and forth. “Such behavior! Always so crafty! Hey, where are you going? Let me tell you, sister became a queen! Sister has imperial chefs! From now on I won’t have to beg you to cook or steal your food anymore. You won’t be able to show off anymore. Where are you going? Come to Dahuang! I’ll allow you to apprentice under my imperial chef, and give you a chance to make cakes in the future! Hahahaha…”

Wind swept across the wilderness, howling like crying, scattering her laughter. In the wild grass and smoke, her laughter scattered everywhere—wild and cleansing, endless. Hearing it, one would think this person must have lived a carefree life, never experiencing wind and rain, raised like a greenhouse flower.

He no longer looked up, lost in thought, gently covering her neck with his hand. Her collar had somehow come undone again during all that jumping.

That large wave of meteors fell like countless white threads, tearing through the deep blue-green sky at this moment, disappearing at the horizon’s other end.

“Don’t go, don’t go…” She was still laughing, waving and chasing the starlight, as if trying to grasp all that was flowing away.

Her laughter somehow turned into sobbing whimpers.

“Little Perspective, don’t go, stop and help me look… look at these heartless people, see how black their hearts are… show me him, see what his heart is made of—diamond? Marble? Granite…”

His hand reaching to stroke her hair stopped, suspended in mid-air for a moment, then slowly fell to his chest.

His chest—beneath his clothes was false skin, beneath the false skin was…

A crack appeared on his surface, in his heart, in the long tormented years. Then torn apart again and again in each encounter, whether intentional or not.

When pain reached its extreme, it became numbness—not like the person before him who could cry freely.

“Tomboy, don’t go…” She had tired of jumping and showing off, kneeling on the ground, clutching the cold withered grass. “Sister won’t show off anymore, sister won’t mock you anymore. Sister tells you sister isn’t doing that well actually… You can laugh at me, it doesn’t matter. Come restore me, help me restore to the beginning. No, restore to the research institute. Let’s go back, not be queens, not be emperors, do nothing, encounter nothing… or you restore me, I want to be the original Jing Hengbo…”

She’d rather not have encountered anything.

She’d rather return to the very beginning.

Her original self—bright and innocent, not understanding this world’s love and hate, not bearing this road’s blood and blades.

His body trembled slightly, sliding backward, also kneeling on the cold ground.

A trace of blood silently stained his lips. He raised his hand to gently wipe it away.

The most heart-destroying pain in this world was having the person you deeply love wish they could forget you.

More than that—her crying in pain before you while you could only stay silent behind her, unable to give a warm, frontal embrace.

…

The last trace of starlight was about to fade.

She reached out grasping, unable to hold this autumn night’s cold, lonely wind.

“Little Cake! Come back!” She crawled a few steps forward, reaching futilely to scratch at the air as that streak of starlight leaked through her fingers.

“Come back and help me see clearly how many things in this Dahuang we can’t see clearly. See clearly the road back. Let’s go back together, okay? Go back together, okay?”

Her body gradually lowered, leaning against the cold earth. Her throat made broken sounds—unclear if it was singing or crying. On the dark soil, grass roots broke inch by inch, revealing pale white tips.

This road of endurance, a heart full of concerns, hot blood swallowed long ago, pressed in the deepest part of her heart, covered with laughter and play. Until this day when cold wine ignited it, rushing from her chest, borrowing this sky full of starfire to cry out at the universe’s end.

A pair of hands reached over, gently pulling her. Unable to lift her up, they gave up, fumbling to cushion under her face so it wouldn’t be scraped by small stones on the ground.

In that instant, flowing hot tears soaked through his palm.

Those scalding drops flowing across his palm made his whole body tremble as if burned by hot streams.

Under the vast dark sky with flying nebulae, beneath the clear azure firmament, in the wilderness among wild grass, he gently covered her kneeling form with his body.

Even if just blocking the cold wind from all directions for a moment, it was good.

Even if embracing with backs turned for this moment, it was good.

He and she sat possessing all under heaven, walking on peaks, yet couldn’t walk into life’s completeness, couldn’t taste the ordinary happiness of this mortal world.

She pressed against those warm palms as if her heart found refuge. Her long-suppressed emotions all transformed into torrential liquid at her eyes, flowing across palms, across sleeves, across his dark hair hanging down as he pressed tightly against her face.

Those dark strands dampened by tears gradually lost their color, showing moonlight-like silver-white.

She occasionally turned her face and seemed to see this, couldn’t help but freeze, stopping her crying. After several loud sobs, she reached to catch his hair to look.

He suddenly realized, straightened up, and his hair slipped from her fingers.

She sat straight, hands supporting herself on the ground, staring blankly and tiredly at the ground, her mind completely blank.

He also sat up straight. Turning slightly, cold light flashed from a thin blade in his fingers, and those silver-white hair tips fell cleanly away.

Wind blew, scattering them into heaven and earth, disappearing.

Just as she turned around, he had already put away the thin blade, a pair of eyes meeting hers, dark and forthright.

Her gaze fell on his neat black hair, somewhat confused, as if unable to understand, yet seeming to understand that what happened just now was only illusion.

The next moment, she swayed and fell on his lap.

He caught her with both hands. She closed her eyes, murmuring: “Little Perspective, Tomboy, Little Cake, come come come, let’s fight three hundred more rounds…”

She rolled a few times on his lap, mumbling incoherently, then turned over to sleep.

This was her drunk rhythm—make a fuss then sleep.

He gently embraced her with his arms, turning her to face northwest.

She quickly drifted in dreams. In her dreams there was no queen, no state preceptor, no Dahuang—only that small dormitory in the research institute, three best friends and one Yaoji, steaming hot food, a group of people bumping heads fighting over hot pot.

Life she had once found unbearably tedious now seemed so warm and precious.

She smiled with tears.

“So wonderful…”

Beautiful dreams made her reluctant to wake, but in the dream, someone was always behind her, a voice quietly telling her: “Hengbo, in the future, if we ultimately cannot be together, remember to never look for me.”

In her dream, she vaguely opened her eyes and saw at the horizon’s end, in the northwest direction, those layered hazy clouds had somehow been blown away, revealing a snow-white peak.

…

This dream couldn’t be completed.

She couldn’t sleep long. Suddenly feeling a chill approaching, she opened her eyes then quickly closed them.

So bright, so dazzling.

Something unknown ahead was flashing, piercing enough to make one dizzy and sick. It was all around them, and when she raised her hand to block the light, she was horrified to discover the light seemed to have penetrating power, illuminating her palm ghastly white.

A chill eerily pressed closer. After drinking, she felt cold and found it unbearable, shivering violently and murmuring: “So cold…”

It was slightly warmer behind her. She turned her head to see Master Mu’s face, his silver mask reflecting silvery snow light, lips pressed flat, seeming… in a very bad mood.

“What’s wrong…” she asked in confusion, feeling her body weak and powerless.

“Can you teleport now?” he asked her.

Jing Hengbo tested and nodded, then shook her head: “Can’t go far.”

She squinted around the wilderness. Those bright white dots in the distance formed a circle. If these were all people, it meant they were already surrounded.

This wilderness was originally open in all directions, anywhere you could run, but now with such a grand surrounding formation, nowhere could be escaped. Because they’d surrounded at a very far distance, her current teleportation couldn’t move outside the encirclement range—it would only deliver herself faster into the surrounding circle.

She found it strange—shouldn’t assassination be done by quietly sneaking in and suddenly striking? How were these people afraid of not being known, surrounding from far away and using bright light to wake people up? Too arrogant, right?

Also, did these people know her abilities? Pulling the encirclement so far precisely controlled her teleportation.

“Seems like assassins,” she whispered to him, though calling them assassins seemed insulting to assassins—were there such pretentious assassins who still hadn’t struck?

Behind her was very warm, his body blocking the chill. She wanted to move away, but he pressed her shoulder, so she didn’t move. Drunk people are lazy.

“Don’t insult assassins,” he replied.

She laughed, feeling they thought alike.

“What’s the plan?” She was somewhat worried. “I’m drunk, you’re injured and can’t walk. We seem to both be at our worst states right now…”

“Wait and see,” he said expressionlessly. “They have many tricks—might as well watch first.” While speaking, he removed his cloak and wrapped her tightly.

Her sluggish mind turned before reacting: “You recognize them?”

“Recalling rumors about a certain sect,” he said. “Can’t be sure. Look.”

She turned and her eyes widened in shock.

The distant white dots remained, but nearby suddenly appeared another circle of white dots, as if growing from the grassland—a ghastly white expanse. Right in front of her, about ten zhang away, that patch of still-green grass suddenly had its tops cut uniformly.

The cleared ground exposed dark soil, then crystal light gradually flickered as if ice was forming there.

Ice continued condensing, cylindrical shapes slowly building upward, then branching out, branches extending twigs, twigs growing leaves…

A tree thick enough to embrace, made of ice, slowly condensed before her amazed gaze.

This scene was undeniably beautiful—crystal ice spiraling upward in moonlight, the entire tree transparent and clear, reflecting sky colors with ghostly blue light, each leaf delicate and translucent like carved crystal, reflecting pale blue moonlight.

Jing Hengbo felt this scene was as beautiful as special effects 3D animation from the modern world—the American-made kind.

Such a scene, if ordinary people encountered it, would probably kneel in worship. Jing Hengbo and Master Mu just watched quietly.

The tree had completely formed, then beneath its roots, faint white mist began emerging.

“We can leave now,” Master Mu whispered in her ear. “Three li away is a small river, four li away is forest. Beyond the forest are mountains with deep ravines and tunnels. Below the mountain is a small village. Where do you want to go?”

“Too beautiful, let me watch a bit more,” she said, eyes sparkling.

He seemed to sigh, somewhat helpless, somewhat indulgent.

The ice tree’s shadow reflected in his pupils. His eye color was very cold and disgusted, as if seeing the most unwanted, unclean thing in the world.

White mist rose beneath the ice tree, quickly condensing into more ice and snow, like countless white ribbons, or as if someone was unrolling a great white carpet, silently spreading forward from the tree roots, reaching directly to Jing Hengbo and Master Mu’s feet.

If someone looked down from above now, they’d see the ice tree in the wilderness center with white ice roads spreading like ribbons in circular radial patterns in all directions, like a radiating sun carved into the vast earth.

“Beautiful!” Jing Hengbo praised.

Playing god and ghost to this level was truly divine-class.

Finally all the scenery was set. Just as she prepared to escape, suddenly the ice tree trunk creaked open a door.

A person walked out from within the door, coming gracefully along the long-spread snow carpet.

Jing Hengbo was stunned, not expecting this entrance style.

She had clearly watched when the ice tree condensed—how hadn’t she seen a person hiding inside? Was she too drunk and seeing things?

The ice tree was crystal clear, the snow road like carpet. That person emerged from the ice tree, steadily walking on the snow carpet with noble bearing, fluttering robes, imposing with immortal air.

From afar he sparkled like the ice tree, indistinguishable in form and features. Only when closer could one discover this person wasn’t tall but well-proportioned, wearing clothes of special material that gleamed silver, so he could hide in the ice tree without immediate detection.

But Jing Hengbo knew when the ice tree was condensing, this person definitely wasn’t there. He had quickly approached from behind the tree after the ice tree completed and ice carpet spread while others’ attention was on the ground, using the tree body as cover to make a hole in the tree and emerge. It was just a sleight-of-hand trick.

Of course, ordinary people couldn’t figure it out immediately and would only feel the ice tree formed from nothing while this person emerged from within—naturally either god or demon.

Temperature was dropping all around. That person walked coldly forward, voice stern and cold: “Heavenly Gate Divine Envoy Namuer…”

Jing Hengbo shivered, feeling her stomach churning uncomfortably. Suddenly she rushed forward, shouting loudly: “Black Wood Ear! Behold my Demon King’s blood… blech!”

Before finishing, she retched, the wine and food from her stomach splashing directly onto that person’s face.

Sour wine smell shot skyward. That person never expected such a beauty would pull this move, too flustered to maintain posture, hastily retreating.

As he retreated, Jing Hengbo had already grabbed Master Mu’s hand: “Go!”

The next moment she’d already flashed past the ice tree with Master Mu, waving her hand mid-air. A stone flew up, crashing into the ice tree with a crack, destroying half of it.

“Blasphemy against the divine tree and angel—you seek death!” Angry roars came from behind, approaching quickly.

Simultaneously, distant white dots were also rapidly approaching as the encirclement tightened.

Jing Hengbo waved her hand again. Countless ice fragments from the shattered tree whooshed up like meteors crossing the sky, shooting directly at those approaching white-robed people.

“Give me your life!” A violent shout almost at her ear—that Namuer from the ice tree had quite excellent lightness skills.

Jing Hengbo felt coldness at her shoulder, sharp wind assaulting her body. Namuer’s ice-cold hand viciously grabbed toward her back.

Ahead, those responsible for the encirclement drew swords like lightning. Amid ringing sounds, they shattered the ice pieces and fragments. The sword light’s momentum continued, converging into a white rainbow whistling toward her front!

Attacked front and back with no escape.

The person behind had already let out a cold laugh—how many who disrespected Heavenly Gate had died under such pincer attacks.

Using divine illusion to shock others, then striking while they were shocked—this was one of Heavenly Gate’s wonderful tricks. Of course, when encountering those not deceived by divine illusions, Heavenly Gate had more meticulous means to deal with them.

He seemed to see Jing Hengbo with large holes pierced front and back…

Ice wind and snow light collided and intersected, almost obscuring Jing Hengbo’s figure caught between them.

At the moment of complete collision, Namuer suddenly discovered Jing Hengbo’s shadow seemed to flicker.

This flicker was too fast and subtle, looking like shadows wavering in water, not seeming real.

He had no time to think.

The next moment—bang!

His ice claw struck a solid chest.

He showed joy, then changed color… How was it a chest?

A solid chest belonging to a man.

How wasn’t it a back?

The ice wind and snow shadows stopped, ice pieces pattering down. He looked up to see facing him and colliding with him was a registered disciple who’d come with him.

His hand was inserted into the other’s chest while that person’s sword hung in mid-air, his face still showing half the wild joy of “hit the target,” now turned to horror, making his expression grotesque and heart-chilling.

“How could it be you!” Namuer roared angrily, but didn’t pull his hand from the other’s chest. In extreme anger, his hand ruthlessly thrust deeper and grabbed.

Screams pierced the wilderness silence. When Namuer’s hand emerged, his palm held a bloody, still-beating heart.

He fiercely threw the heart to the ground.

“The fate of useless trash!”

The surrounding white-robed people were all registered disciples, ranked below his outer disciple status. They all silently bowed their heads without speaking.

On the ground, that wrongly killed youth had a large hole in his chest like a mouth crying to heaven.

From the farther encirclement, someone was signaling: “They’re in the river!”

Namuer’s boot viciously trampled the heart on the ground: “Chase!”

…

Over this wilderness were countless ghostly white-robed people.

Jing Hengbo felt Heavenly Gate’s first skill was playing god and ghost, second was human wave tactics, third was martial arts.

If divine miracles couldn’t fool you, they’d crush you with human waves.

She expressed admiration for this—both arrogant and shameless, truly extraordinary methods.

“Splash!” She entered the ice-cold river water.

“Um… sorry,” she apologized groggily to Master Mu on her back. “…Uh, when I’m drunk, I seem to have trouble controlling direction…”

She felt somewhat regretful. At Seven Peaks Mountain, she’d had no chance to drink, so hadn’t trained her ability to control post-drinking teleportation.

Master Mu’s internal injuries hadn’t healed—soaking in this cold water probably wasn’t pleasant.

He patted her neck, a warm flow entering. She burped, feeling the chest tightness and nausea much better.

“That move just now was excellent,” he said softly.

She grinned, quite pleased like being praised by a teacher. After laughing, she suddenly felt something wrong—why did this guy’s tone sound so old-fashioned? Did he really think he was her teacher?

She raised her eyebrows and curled her lips: “Of course, I’m always more outstanding than you.”

He smiled and said: “Absolutely, so now I prostrate myself before you.”

“As you should.” She was smugly pleased, then suddenly felt something was off—prostrate? Shouldn’t it be prostrate on the back? And which five parts?

Her mind suddenly wandered to inexplicable places. She began to feel somewhat uncomfortable on her back, suddenly becoming aware of the clear, pleasant scent of the man behind her. The river water was ice-cold, yet his breath brushed hotly against her ear.

She suddenly shook her head forcefully, nearly throwing him off her back.

“What’s wrong?” He steadied her shoulder and asked.

The strange feeling in her heart grew stronger, but there was no time to answer now. Figures flashed as they approached the riverbank. A white shadow shot forward like lightning—just a moment ago it was several zhang away, and in the blink of an eye it was nearly upon them.

“Freeze the ice!” Namuer commanded loudly before arriving, his voice cold with killing intent.

The white-robed people who reached the riverbank formed a circle, all extending their swords downward into the water.

“Crack.” A light sound as white cold air steamed up. The river surface quickly froze, the ice spreading with jagged edges like countless ice swords converging from all directions toward Jing Hengbo and Master Mu in the river’s center.

An abstract painting unfolded across the river surface: snow-white background with crisscrossing fine lines and irregular edges, rapidly closing toward the center.

Jing Hengbo would be unable to swim. The ice was too thin for her to climb onto, and if she tried to leap skyward, she’d be pierced by sword light waiting above. If she stayed in the water, she’d be pierced by ice swords spreading like lightning through the water.

No matter how you looked at it, this was a death trap.

Namuer finally revealed a sinister smile.

He seemed to see again the bodies of these two people pierced by the river’s swords.

No matter how good their lightness skills, no matter that they could escape from his hands in an instant and make him accidentally kill his subordinate—how could they use lightness skills in river water?

Three zhang, two zhang, one zhang.

The river’s ice surface drew closer and closer to Jing Hengbo at the center.

“So dizzy… these white flashing swords make me even dizzier…” Jing Hengbo murmured. “…Hold tight!”

The next moment, with a splash, she appeared at the riverbank, behind those white-robed people.

Master Mu raised his hand, and the row of white-robed people still concentrating on freezing the river water felt a chill at their backs.

They looked down in shock to see bloody ice spikes protruding from their chests.

These people tried to turn around, not understanding how the attack suddenly came from behind. But they would never be able to turn around again in this lifetime.

“Splash, splash”—the sound of bodies falling continuously. A row of people collapsed into the river, shattering the ice surface and sinking to the bottom.

Namuer was still on the opposite bank, staring blankly at the empty river center and the corpses fallen by the riverside with half their bodies inserted into the water, his face looking as if he’d been slapped dozens of times.

“How could this happen!” He finally lost composure and roared.

Everyone held their swords in confusion, not understanding what had occurred. Clearly they’d seen those two people in the river center the moment before, and the next moment they saw their own people’s corpses fallen in a row.

For that instant, these Heavenly Gate registered disciples almost thought the elders and guardians from their sect had arrived.

If not their sect’s immortal-like figures, where in this world could such divine powers come from?

Namuer rushed to those corpses to examine the wounds, his expression growing even uglier.

These people died from ice spikes piercing their hearts. The opponent’s technique showed no particular distinction, just extreme sharpness and viciousness. Even the weapons used mimicked their style—condensing ice into spikes.

It was simply insulting.

He raised his head to see the wilderness before him. Wind swept across vastly, but those two were nowhere to be seen.

Speed like ghosts…

Impossible!

There weren’t many hiding places nearby—they were still in the area!

He suddenly stood up, eyes fierce: “Search!”

…

A shadow swept by like wind, then suddenly stopped.

“Oh no, I can’t take it anymore. I really want to throw up.” Jing Hengbo’s weakened voice came from the wind. “Where is this?”

“A nearby nameless small mountain.” Master Mu’s voice remained steady. “How are you?”

“Not good.” Jing Hengbo supported herself on her knees, head hanging. “So cold.”

Master Mu took her hand and checked her pulse, frowning. “Your problem isn’t the alcohol… you’ve accumulated too much cold qi in your body. Tonight, stimulated by that group’s ice-cold qi, it’s flaring up.”

Jing Hengbo nodded. She knew what was happening—it had little to do with alcohol. When Yelu Qi left, he’d warned her. After a month in the snowy valley, running around outside daily, invaded by cold qi, her body hadn’t undergone similar tempering before and had unknowingly been affected by cold, planting the root of illness. Yelu Qi had reminded her to recuperate before descending the mountain, but she hadn’t taken it to heart. The suppressed cause would eventually be triggered—tonight’s ice and snow cold qi was that trigger.

Seeing her listless appearance, his eyes grew slightly somber—he’d noticed the cold poison in her body and deliberately used alcohol to try drawing it out, not expecting such coincidence in encountering that Heavenly Gate group.

He reached to take her hand again. This time she reacted quickly, immediately pulling away: “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer. Jing Hengbo snorted: “Don’t infuse me with true qi. Your martial arts seem to be of the ice-cold type too—no benefit to me.”

He remained silent for a moment, then said: “I have dual-type true qi. You needn’t worry.”

She looked at him in surprise: “Are you bullying me for being uneducated? Dual-type true qi? From your tone, the other type is yang-fire? Ice-cold true qi and yang-fire true qi can’t coexist, otherwise it will eventually cause martial artists to have cultivation deviation. Even someone like me who’s only practiced martial arts for half a year knows this common sense. Stop joking.”

Master Mu didn’t argue further, seeming to ponder something, then said: “Tonight they’ll fight to the death.”

“You know who they are?”

He paused before saying: “From their methods, they seem like Nine Heavens Gate.”

“That name is legendary…” She sighed. “Just like I imagined. But why are they looking for me instead of Yelu Qi? I didn’t kill the Third Young Master.”

“Who is the Third Young Master?”

“Yelu family’s Third Young Master, a Nine Heavens Gate disciple. Yelu Qi injured him, affecting some plan of Nine Heavens Gate. The Third Young Master said Nine Heavens Gate would definitely retaliate. But the retaliation came to me—very strange. Also, how did they know I was here?”

“Perhaps… they’re looking for me…” Master Mu said softly, his eyes flickering.

“What did you say?” Jing Hengbo didn’t hear clearly.

“I was just thinking, regardless of who they’re looking for or whether they’re right, given their style, once they act they won’t give up. Tonight is a death trap.”

“Not even asking questions, just killing on sight—I don’t like this style.” She sneered. “I don’t want them to return alive either.”

“Our words are somewhat arrogant.” He smiled lightly. “One injured, one sick, facing many opponents. Escaping might be easy, but how to leave none alive?”

She turned to look at him. In the darkness, only his silver mask gleamed faintly, the rest hidden in shadow. She should be wary of such a person, but somehow she couldn’t summon alertness or killing intent.

His lip color was somewhat pale, her spirit also quite listless. This was a terrible moment, but equally inexplicably, she felt no fear or tension. It seemed that with this person beside her, even if he couldn’t help, her heart was steady.

This feeling hadn’t occurred for a long time. For a long period, she’d felt like a lonely ghost—seemingly surrounded by crowds, but they were all transparent shadows. Only she could see her own existence.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” She smiled, listening to sounds carried on the wind. “They’re approaching quickly.”

White shadows had already appeared faintly in the dark thickets.

“There’s a deep ravine nearby with scattered rocks at the bottom…” He pointed in a direction, saying softly, “Be careful.”

She nodded. Shouts came from the thickets ahead: “They’re there!”

Jing Hengbo didn’t move immediately, waiting until the frontmost person was about to see them before suddenly grabbing Master Mu’s hand: “Go!”

The next moment she appeared before a slope, fallen leaves rustling and breaking under her feet as she swayed unsteadily.

She was starting to run a fever, her body burning hot yet shivering from cold.

Master Mu put a pill in her mouth, saying: “The cold qi must ultimately be expelled. Medicine can only strengthen your foundation temporarily—it won’t have much immediate effect.”

When the body needed to make adjustments, medicine had limited effect. Moreover, expelling it was good—forcibly suppressing it would only cause a more violent outbreak next time. She nodded, understanding this principle.

But during this period of cold qi outbreak, how to escape and kill people?

Looking down, she saw a steep slope before them, growing steeper as it descended into a deep ravine. The ravine reeked of rotting leaves, and in the decaying green, pale phosphorescent bone light flickered faintly—many had clearly perished in this ravine.

Vertigo from weightlessness hit her. Her head spun and she pitched forward, caught just in time by him.

Only then did she realize this teleportation had been very dangerous—they were right at the ravine’s edge.

There were some stones at the ravine’s edge with scratch marks on them. The area above the ravine was also sloped, making it easy for people to slip on fallen leaves or lose their footing and slide down to the bottom. These edge stones were the last hope of escape for those unlucky people. The obvious scratch marks showed how many had missed their chance here, and how many had escaped.

Pursuers approached from above, white shadows flashing.

“We can pretend to slip…” She stared at those stones, saying slowly, “I’ll be on top, you below…”

He seemed to guess her thoughts, nodding lightly but saying: “I should be on top, you below. You don’t have enough strength.”

She felt this conversation seemed wrong somehow, but had no energy to think about it now. Shivering, she nodded and said: “Then you’re on top.”

“Is that settled then?”

“Mm.”

Something still seemed wrong…

He moved over and grabbed a protruding stone. She climbed down using his body and grabbed his ankles.

The two posed as if they’d slipped into the ravine, caught the cliff stone just in time, and were struggling to escape.

It seemed like natural coordination, like minds thinking as one—from beginning to end, they didn’t even need to discuss it.

As she slid down from his back, her feverish body brought acute tactile sensations to his skin. He even felt something hot and full gently squeeze along his back, instantly like lightning passing through. His back seemed to catch fire too, burning all the way to his heart. He couldn’t help trembling and nearly lost his grip.

She slid downward somewhat dizzily, hugging his leg and inching down bit by bit. Sick people had dulled perceptions—she didn’t think there was anything wrong with this position. But his whole body tensed as if wrapped by soft snakes and silk, gracefully coiling. Every pore seemed to respond to that soft body, even his bones felt weak. His leg couldn’t help trembling, then trembling again.

“Your legs are so long and straight…” This lustful woman didn’t forget to evaluate his physique even now, then made an “eh” sound: “Hey, your leg seems to have reactions. Maybe you’re not completely paralyzed! There’s a chance to treat it!”

“My legs were poisoned in youth,” he said. “With the poison drawn out, I might indeed be able to stand.”

She hugged his leg and hummed acknowledgment, her voice soft. He tried hard to control himself, hoping he wouldn’t tremble more because of this, or the reaction wouldn’t be limited to just his leg.

His free hand flicked toward the ground ahead, creating a scratch mark that looked like traces left by someone sliding down.

Footsteps sounded above as people emerged from the forest.

Given the previous lesson of losing a whole row at once, this time Namuer no longer deployed large numbers, deciding to implement gradual strikes by sending people in batches to approach the target.

The first two registered disciples to emerge had the best lightness skills. Coming from the darkness, they first saw the ground scratches and said happily: “Seems like they rolled down!” Then they saw hands gripping tightly to stones at the ravine’s edge.

“Still trying to survive?” The two registered disciples sneered, flashing forward. While still airborne they’d drawn swords, slashing from afar at Master Mu’s hands gripping the stone.

To ensure success with one strike, this sword used full force. Their forms flew through the air, planning to land at the ravine’s edge.

Airborne with fluttering robes and hanging belts, they seemed to have immortal air.

Just as the sword light was about to reach his hands, the disciples grinned wickedly, waiting for wrists to be severed and two people to fall screaming.

They suddenly felt their belts being forcefully yanked.

Airborne forms were hard to control. This yank immediately made them fly three feet further forward.

Three feet over the ravine.

“Whoosh.” They flew over Master Mu’s head, sword light scraping on stone with sparks flying.

Jing Hengbo looked up and laughed hoarsely: “Such beautiful flying!”

“Help—” The cry cut off as two heavy crashes came from below, with some rotten leaves splashing upward.

Not even a scream—the ravine bottom was indeed full of broken stones under the leaves. Both died instantly.

Jing Hengbo chuckled.

“Are you tired?” She looked up to ask Master Mu.

Hanging two people with one hand couldn’t be sustained long.

“Shh, they’re coming!”

Two more people charged out. Having heard the earlier strange sounds, they refused to approach by flying.

They quickly ran close, stepping on a nearby stone and raising swords to chop.

The stone along with surrounding soil suddenly collapsed. They slid down with squeaking sounds, hurriedly swinging swords to pierce the earth slope and slow their slide.

But their swords suddenly flew up. By then it was too late to leap up—they slid to the bottom with screams, with a faint “thud” sound, presumably hitting the stones below.

The ravine was steep and deep with tremendous impact—if not dead, they’d be crippled.

Before these two’s screams ended, several more people charged from above. Though they hadn’t seen the fate of the previous two batches, they could confirm it was dire. This time they simply didn’t approach closely, standing in a line from far away. The two behind pressed against the back of the one in front, who swung his long sword, condensing qi into ice. A brilliant ice sword, sinuous like a snow dragon, shot from the sword tip directly toward Master Mu’s head.

This was Heavenly Gate’s combined sword-controlling technique. When registered disciples lacked sufficient power, combining forces could extend ice swords from sword tips, reaching enemies according to will—specifically for long-distance killing.

Jing Hengbo heard sharp air-cutting sounds above and asked with some concern: “How is it?”

Master Mu didn’t answer.

For an instant his eyes were extremely deep and dark, looking past the people before him toward the forest depths where Namuer’s figure appeared and disappeared.

He seemed to be thinking, deciding something.