As soon as Ming Li spoke, everyone else tactfully remained still, waiting to watch the drama unfold. She didn’t give Cui Yuanxi much time to think, forcefully dislocating half of Jiang Ying’s arm. With her Qi circulation meridian sealed, Jiang Ying could not make a sound, only opening her mouth in agony.

Jiang Ying looked at Cui Yuanxi with pleading eyes, silently asking: Is that woman’s possession truly more important to you than I am?

She had always known exactly what expression to show to make Cui Yuanxi feel guilty and compromise.

Cui Yuanxi’s face turned extremely unpleasant. His gaze fixed on the black shadow holding Jiang Ying hostage. He raised his hand, originally intending to activate a Qi circulation incantation, but hesitated because of Jiang Ying.

“Release her,” he threatened through gritted teeth.

Ming Li countered, “Then shall I shatter the Seven Star Token right now?”

With those words, the box exploded open with a bang, revealing the black jade token inside. Ming Li made as if to crush it. Cui Yuanxi immediately cast a killing incantation that pierced through Jiang Ying’s shoulder to stop her. No longer concerned about Jiang Ying’s safety, he leaped forward to seize the Seven Star Token.

The red shadow laughed at the sight. “Young Master Cui, your fiancée will be furious!”

Jiang Ying clutched her shoulder where Cui Yuanxi’s killing incantation had pierced through, falling to the ground with disbelief in her eyes. She never imagined Cui Yuanxi would truly dare to harm her. At that moment, Ming Li unsealed Jiang Ying’s Qi circulation meridian, allowing her to resentfully cry out, “Cui Yuanxi! You hurt me for her sake!”

Cui Yuanxi didn’t look back, focusing entirely on seizing the Seven Star Token. The wolf-headed shadow also joined the battle, with all three parties fighting for the token.

The guards tried to join the fight but were blocked by the red shadow. After jumping onto approaching green vines, the shadow cast a killing incantation toward Jiang Ying. Cui Yuanxi caught sight of this from the corner of his eye and turned back to save her. Just as he bent down to help Jiang Ying up, she slapped him hard across the face.

Jiang Ying was furious and somewhat lost her rationality. In that moment earlier, Cui Yuanxi had truly disregarded her life just to retrieve that woman’s Seven Star Token!

The slap was so forceful that everyone else stopped what they were doing to watch the drama unfold.

Ming Li raised an eyebrow at the couple’s reaction, then suddenly noticed Zhou Zixi standing against the wall in the shadows beneath the trees, watching the show. Seeing that Ming Li had spotted him, he winked at her with a half-smile.

Zhou Zixi remarked in a lazy tone, “Quite lively, isn’t it?”

He had also used the Spirit Technique of Dust Concealment. Among those present, only Ming Li could see him. Though Zhou Zixi was merely a shadow that would shatter with one strike, he remained unharmed as his presence hadn’t been exposed.

Facing the angry Jiang Ying, Cui Yuanxi expressionlessly raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. When he looked up, the gleam in his eyes made Jiang Ying’s heart tremble, her fingers quivering involuntarily as reason returned and fear arose.

Cui Yuanxi said to the guard, “Watch her.”

The red shadow, standing on the vines, said sympathetically, “We’re not in a hurry to fight. Young Master Cui, you should placate your fiancée first. It looks like you two are about to turn from lovers to enemies, and I hate breaking up marriages.”

Cui Yuanxi flipped his wrist, and a folding fan fell from his sleeve, opening with a swish. One hundred and eighty black fan ribs spread out, each rib generating another folding fan that hovered in the air, surrounding each black shadow.

Superior Divine Weapon: Flying Stream Fan.

Ming Li was the main target of the Flying Stream Fan because she held the Seven Star Token. Cui Yuanxi pursued her, with each black fan rib imbued with the powerful stellar force of the Boundless Mirror. Just one hit would shatter half of one’s body.

As luck would have it, the wolf-headed shadow was also trying to seize the Seven Star Token. Several times, Cui Yuanxi nearly caught up to Ming Li but was blocked by the wolf-headed shadow, and when the wolf-headed shadow pursued Ming Li, it was in turn blocked by Cui Yuanxi.

The red shadow and the round shadow also had clear objectives, flying toward the Boundless Mirror in the well. The Treasure Display Pavilion guards were no pushovers either. They could control the man-eating vines on the surrounding mountainside to block the intruders, while their curved sabers repeatedly drove back the shadows trying to approach the Boundless Mirror.

Ming Li mocked Cui Yuanxi: “Why is Nan Que so eager to retrieve someone else’s Seven Star Token?”

The fan ribs came with a whistling sound, several times brushing past Ming Li’s throat, but always avoided by her lightning-fast reactions.

Throughout all this, only Zhou Zixi remained composed enough to watch the battle as a spectator. His gaze lazily followed Ming Li: to Cui Yuanxi and the others, Ming Li was just an agile black shadow, but Zhou Zixi could see her clothes fluttering, her black hair sweeping across her face as she turned, and the light and shadows on the ground falling across her skin, revealing the delicate lines of her neck as she leaned back to dodge the fan rib attacks.

He could grasp her neck with one hand. He wondered how it would feel to strangle such a beautiful neck.

It would probably feel good.

Zhou Zixi pondered this, his gaze following Ming Li’s every movement.

Unable to catch Ming Li, the wolf-headed shadow couldn’t help asking, “Then why are you after it?”

Ming Li: “…”

The red shadow by the well replied, “You’re both obsessed with the Seven Star Token; it’s obvious you’re Bei Dou’s people.”

The round shadow stared at the well opening, but addressed the three: “In recent years, Nan Que has bullied Bei Dou terribly. Now that they’ve discovered Nan Que has also stolen the Seven Star Token, they certainly won’t let it go.”

The wolf-headed shadow couldn’t help turning back: “You two shut up! Do you think you can steal the Boundless Mirror by talking more?”

Then he taunted Cui Yuanxi: “Look, your Nan Que has many enemies!”

Cui Yuanxi replied with a grim face, “Bei Dou has no fewer than us.”

Wolf-headed shadow: “I’m not from Bei Dou!”

Ming Li said, “Neither am I.”

After all, she was now a Nan Que disciple, so saying this wasn’t exactly wrong.

Cui Yuanxi certainly didn’t believe her. He suddenly accelerated to block Ming Li. Green vines from the ground reached out to grab her, but were cut off by the wolf-headed shadow. Ming Li didn’t use Qi circulation incantations, as that would expose her identity. At this moment, she bypassed the Pilgrimage Fire, using her Heavy Eyes meridian to cheat the boundary. When Cui Yuanxi passed the wolf-headed shadow and arrived in front of her, she used the Eight-Eyed Demon Pupils.

The black shadow opened vertical pupils that glowed with bewitching light. Cui Yuanxi reacted quickly, immediately breaking his attack. The folding fan appeared in mid-air, cutting off the seal of the Eight-Eyed Demon Pupils.

Ming Li raised an eyebrow at his reaction speed. Suddenly, giant waves rose in the canal where the two were fighting. Splashing water droplets turned into mirror surfaces where the shadows stepped.

All the shadows present changed expression and immediately leaped to avoid the mirror surfaces that formed when water droplets exploded beneath their feet. But no matter where they landed, these droplets would appear precisely.

If they couldn’t outpace the mirrors’ expansion, their true forms would be revealed, directly exposing their identities.

The two by the well retreated the fastest. Cui Yuanxi’s main target was still Ming Li. Now, both the Flying Stream Fan and the Boundless Mirror focused on Ming Li. Zhou Zixi said with a bored expression, “Senior Sister, there’s no use keeping that thing now. If you can’t take it away, just let it break.”

Indeed.

Ming Li only wanted to confirm whether this jade token belonged to Qing Ying. Now that she had the answer she sought, letting the Seven Star Token shatter in Nan Que would also send a signal to the Bei Dou disciples in Zhu Que State.

With Qing Ying’s Seven Star Token being used in Nan Que, Senior Brother Fu Yuan would surely report such an incident to the sect leaders. When her father learned of this, he certainly wouldn’t ignore it.

Just as Ming Li was about to shatter the Seven Star Token, fragments of the Boundless Mirror suddenly flew toward her. If she didn’t retreat now, her Dust Concealment would be revealed.

Zhou Zixi casually crushed one of the fragments. Seeing the Seven Star Token slip from Ming Li’s hand, the wolf-headed shadow swung his blade to try to catch it, but was beaten to it by a flying fan rib.

Cui Yuanxi finally obtained Qing Ying’s Seven Star Token, but due to consuming too much stellar power, his injuries were aggravated. He immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the jade token.

Ming Li: “…”

Wolf-headed shadow: “…”

Bad luck.

Nan Que’s sect-protecting treasure, the supreme-grade divine weapon Boundless Mirror, now played its role, fiercely protecting its master while driving away the intruders who couldn’t face the light. Four black shadows rapidly retreated to the area above the Tidal Lands.

Outside, warning bells had already sounded, and not just in one place.

Across from Eight Departure Peak was Well Mansion. Like Eight Departure Peak, it too had sounded alarms warning of intruders in the forbidden area. The Axle Mansion leader from the Treasure Display Pavilion and Li Yansi both frowned.

Li Yansi: “What’s happening at Well Mansion?”

A red-winged vermilion bird messenger flew out from the void, bringing news from Well Mansion: “Three people have intruded into the Taiwei Forest forbidden area and killed four senior disciples from Well Mansion.”

With disciples killed, the expressions of the Nan Que leaders darkened.

“Ghost Mansion and Zhang Mansion have already gone to Well Mansion. As for us…” Li Yansi watched the four black shadows emerging from the Treasure Display Pavilion with cold eyes. “Let’s deal with these rats first.”

*

One shadow emerging from the Treasure Display Pavilion was the red shadow. Seeing people outside, it continued charging forward without pausing. Close behind was the round shadow. Li Yansi, at the front, raised her hand toward them. The jade beads on her wrist scattered, forcefully blocking the charging red shadow.

But the red shadow showed no fear, its form flickering and suddenly splitting into four or five shadow figures to evade.

The round shadow immediately flattened against the ground, dispersing into small light fragments that scattered. The dozens of wind-stealing birds released by the Axle Mansion leader pursued the small light fragments on the ground, swiftly devouring them. Just as it seemed only one was left, it merged into a large area of tree shadows.

The wind-stealing birds had difficulty distinguishing it as they chased each other among the tree shadows, but by then, the round shadow had reappeared far away.

“After it,” Li Yansi decisively gave chase.

The wolf-headed shadow who rushed out faced the least pressure, as those pursuing him were not at the level of mansion leaders but mainly senior disciples.

The wolf-headed shadow took away most of the firepower. Ming Li came out but didn’t hurry away. Instead, she calmly merged back into the shadows to hide and wait quietly.

Zhou Zixi walked to where she was hiding and said, “Senior Sister, you’re bold. If the Boundless Mirror had followed you out, you wouldn’t be able to leave Eight Departure Peak.”

Ming Li whispered, “You’re stepping on my dress.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zixi moved a step aside.

Fortunately, Ming Li had good luck. The Boundless Mirror didn’t pursue beyond the Tidal Lands, and Cui Yuanxi, who emerged slowly due to his injuries, had things on his mind and didn’t expect anyone to be so bold as to still be waiting there.

Jiang Ying, with half her arm dislocated and her shoulder pierced by the killing incantation, was already pale with pain and drenched in sweat, her clothes half-soaked in blood. Yet she forced herself to walk out of the Treasure Display Pavilion and said to Cui Yuanxi, “About tonight’s matter…”

“Go back and rest first,” Cui Yuanxi said without even looking at her, striding past her and hurrying away.

Jiang Ying seemed unable to believe her eyes, staring at Cui Yuanxi’s hastily departing figure as her gaze gradually turned cold.

Ming Li followed Cui Yuanxi. Earlier, she had been gambling—betting that he hadn’t killed Qing Ying and still kept her Seven Star Token. Combined with his attitude toward Jiang Ying tonight, if Cui Yuanxi had feelings for Qing Ying, in this situation, he would go to check if Qing Ying was still there to reassure himself.

Looking at Cui Yuanxi’s hurried and anxious manner, Ming Li felt she had gambled correctly.

The highest point of Nan Que was opposite Eight Departure Peak. It was the place closest to Zhu Que State city, yet the farthest from the main Nan Que area, right at the very border of Nan Que’s territory.

Because it was a border mountain peak, far from the disciples’ activity areas, normally no one came here. Some Nan Que disciples might have been in Nan Que for decades without ever visiting this place.

The mansion leaders had no reason to come here either, and after Cui Yuanxi set up the prohibition, even fewer would come. In recent years, even birds avoided this area.

Ming Li followed to the foot of the mountain but was blocked by the prohibition and couldn’t enter. She could only watch as Cui Yuanxi’s figure disappeared into the night mist.

She revealed herself in the darkness and walked out, raising her head to look up at the mountain peak. The winding path and towering tree canopies intertwine, with no end in sight, looking upward. This should be the highest point in Nan Que.

As Ming Li was contemplating how to analyze the prohibition before her, she saw Zhou Zixi walking up the stone steps of the mountain. When he reached the high corner, he turned back to look at his senior sister, who was still standing outside the boundary barrier.

Ming Li asked with slight surprise, “How did you…”

Zhou Zixi answered expressionlessly, “Senior Sister, I’m just a shadow now. There are barriers in this world specifically designed to block earth ghosts and shadows, but certainly not the one before you.”

Then, seeming to think of something, he smiled slightly at Ming Li and said, “Shall I go help you see how your little junior sister is doing, the one who’s been physically and emotionally tormented?”

Ming Li answered promptly, “Yes.”

Zhou Zixi stood at the height, slightly raising his chin, and said, “Then, Senior Sister, try asking me nicely.”

Ming Li blinked, surprised to hear Zhou Zixi make such a request.

“Take your time thinking about it,” said the heartless junior brother indifferently. “I’m not in a hurry.”

Ming Li reached out her hand to him and said, “Come out.”

As soon as Zhou Zixi came out from the barrier, Ming Li pulled him over and raised her head to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

A soft, tender kiss.

Ming Li released him and smiled slightly, meeting the earth ghost’s calm eyes. “Go quickly now.”