A violent explosion echoed from the back mountain, scattering countless birds into flight.
The Jiang mansion, being closest to the back mountain, shook continuously. The calligraphy and paintings by famous artists hanging on the walls fell, unable to withstand the tremors. Porcelain pieces rolled across the floor, their shattering sounds unending.
The citizens of Yujiang City felt it too, their faces filled with panic.
"What's happening? Is it an earthquake?"
"I don't know! Heavens, everything was fine just now. I hope nothing terrible happens!"
"..."
The terror lasted only briefly before the strange phenomenon disappeared, returning everything to tranquility.
Many citizens who had run into the streets looked at each other in confusion, then gazed up at the sky.
The sky above was a pristine blue, with wisps of thin white clouds floating at the edges like soft feathers.
It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine. Yet the light couldn't penetrate Qi Wan's chamber.
Thick black curtains blocked every window in the room.
Qi Wan slowly stood up from the carpet, head bowed.
Part of her consciousness had been in the paper figure, and with its destruction, that consciousness should have returned to her body. But Qi Wan didn't want it back.
She destroyed that portion of her consciousness, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Jiang Cheng was truly dead now.
She felt much lighter, but a large void had formed in her heart.
The fragments of memories were like knives, carving out her heart piece by piece. The pain was indescribable, like being slowly sliced to death.
That person was just... gone.
He had such a promising future at the Jade Clarity Sect, yet he unhesitatingly left with her, choosing to live in seclusion with her in this small city.
When others refused to let her research forbidden arrays, he didn't mind. Instead, he helped her test them.
He said he believed she would always maintain her righteous heart.
He was that kind of person - gentle, passionate, sincere.
She had personally destroyed his last chance at life.
No, it wasn't her, it wasn't her.
Qi Wan shook her head instinctively.
"Qi Wan, how could you, how could you—" Bing Lian knew what the disturbance meant. She backed away in disbelief, "How could you actually go through with it?"
Qi Wan looked at her hands, softly denying: "No! Jiang Cheng told me himself. He said if one day someone entered the array's core, it meant he didn't want to wait anymore. He couldn't wait through another three years, and told me to do it. He told me to do this..."
"You're just deceiving yourself! You're the one who didn't want to wait, you personally cut off Jiang Cheng's chance at rebirth! The righteous path could never accept your evil arrays. The demon realm is where you belong, why are you still so stubborn!" Bing Lian was exasperated. She grieved for the array that had taken countless resources, and for the spirit stones, connections, and talents it had brought to the demon realm. "Weren't you the one who let those people into the array's core? How else could they have entered the underground palace and reached the core alive! Qi Wan, you let them in! You killed Jiang Cheng for your so-called righteous path! But your righteous path has no place for you!"
"Silence!" Qi Wan's eyes flashed as she struck Bing Lian with her palm.
With a thud, Bing Lian hit the wall and slid to the ground, coughing up blood.
Within the Jiang mansion, no one was Qi Wan's match. The Demon Lord had sent many people, but Qi Wan only kept those of lower cultivation, sending all others back.
Relying on her evil arrays that only she understood, Qi Wan had forced the Demon Lord to make concessions all these years.
"Lady Bing Lian!" Qing Bai rushed in with others.
He went to help Bing Lian while the other guards in blue surrounded Qi Wan, watching her nervously.
Qi Wan stood there, seemingly lost in her crumbling world, alternating between crying and laughing. She looked at those around her, muttering: "Everyone's here... good." Qi Wan turned to Bing Lian, "Didn't you say the demon realm is where I belong? Very well, then you can all accompany Jiang Cheng with me, hahahahaha..."
Bing Lian lowered her eyes.
The Earth Fruit Tree couldn't fall into others' hands.
Without further hesitation, she pulled Qing Bai in front of her to block Qi Wan's line of sight, while her other hand tore open her own chest and pulled out her beating heart.
However, her heart...
It wasn't red, but deep black.
Black demonic energy swirled around her fingertips, and a black demon worm crawled out from her heart onto her palm.
Bing Lian's face was pale as she gently blew on the demon worm: "Go!"
The worm flew up, too tiny to be noticed.
It flew to Qi Wan, who was blind with rage, and burrowed into her skin, traveling through her blood vessels and meridians straight toward her consciousness sea.
Bing Lian sat on the ground.
She closed her eyes, her pale lips rapidly chanting incantations as black mist gathered around her spellcasting fingers.
Qi Wan suddenly froze in place.
Her alluring eyes, neither drunk nor sober, filled completely with black as she stared blankly at Bing Lian.
Bing Lian said weakly: "Go, kill those in the array's core, retrieve the Earth Fruit Tree, and give it to the Demon Lord."
Qi Wan accepted the command and left.
Shortly after Qi Wan's departure, Bing Lian collapsed and her body dissolved into a pool of black water.
Yujiang City was just an obscure small city, one of countless similar cities across the Nine Provinces Continent. It wasn't even marked on the continent's maps.
Yu Qing had never heard of this place before.
He was at the Yuan Ying stage and could fly, but only to places he knew.
With no choice, Yu Qing had to stop and fly intermittently, asking for directions along the way.
Few people knew the way to Yujiang City, which delayed Yu Qing somewhat, but when he arrived, he was extremely surprised.
Such a small place actually had a city protection array!
And this array seemed vaguely familiar to Yu Qing. Some of its details shared similarities with the Jade Clarity Sect's mountain protection array.
The city protection array was activated, preventing teleportation in or out. One could only enter or exit through the city gates.
No wonder he hadn't received any messages from Jian Huan these days - the array blocked the Xuantian Mirror completely.
Yu Qing could break it and was very tempted to do so, as the array was quite ingenious.
But concerned about his disciple Jian Huan, he suppressed his strong desire to break the array and instead teleported through the city gate without alerting anyone.
As soon as he entered, Yu Qing immediately sensed something unusual.
He detected a trace of demonic energy!
Yu Qing focused and flew directly toward the source of the demonic energy.
A woman in red flashed past, about to step into void space to escape.
A green bamboo section appeared in his hand, and using the bamboo as a brush, he inscribed several magical symbols in the space before the woman in red.
The woman's movement faltered, and she was forced to stay.
She turned around, her black eyes staring directly at Yu Qing who had blocked her path.
"Qi Wanyi?" Yu Qing couldn't help but exclaim, even more surprised than when he saw the city protection array.
Qi Wan showed no reaction to this name she had used at the Jade Clarity Sect, nor did she react to Yu Qing.
She, or rather it, only had the task left by Bing Lian.
Kill anyone who blocks the way!
Qi Wan moved in close, striking at Yu Qing with her palm.
Yu Qing dodged and carefully observed this former sect sister from his memories.
Her eyes had no light, only darkness.
Every move she made carried killing intent, yet she neither dodged nor avoided his counterattacks, as if she felt no pain. Her entire being seemed vacant.
She was already dead.
Yu Qing felt a bitter taste in his heart. He exhaled, focused his mind, and no longer held back.
After sending a message to Yu Qing, Baili Dao wrote a note for Zhao Shi and left a spirit pill.
In the message, he told Zhao Shi to go to Azure Dragon City to find Master Chu, work as a servant first, then take the spirit pill and learn some martial arts.
After leaving the note, Baili Dao returned to Yujiang City.
He didn't dare enter the city, instead hiding in the woods outside, anxiously waiting for Elder Yu Qing.
But when Yu Qing silently entered through the city gate, Baili Dao didn't notice.
When Yu Qing fought with Qi Wan, splitting open a space to fight her to avoid harming the city's citizens, Baili Dao didn't notice.
Even after Yu Qing had finished fighting with Qi Wan, Baili Dao still hadn't noticed.
...
It wasn't until dozens of cultivators from the Imperial Pacification Office rushed to the scene that Baili Dao finally noticed.
The Imperial Pacification Office's people quickly took control of the city gate, placed the city lord's guards under house arrest, surrounded the Jiang mansion, and pursued the fleeing Jiang household servants.
Baili Dao was overjoyed!
He rushed through the city gate, heading straight for the Jiang mansion to find Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi.
He found them, but the two were lying unconscious on a bed in one of the Jiang mansion's guest rooms.
Baili Dao was shocked and asked the woman in white robes nearby: "What happened to them?!"
The female cultivator in white robes replied, "When Elder Yu arrived at the formation site, Junior Sister Jian and Senior Brother Shen had already fainted there. We still don't know exactly what happened. However, they are not seriously injured - they're just exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. They probably haven't gotten much sleep these past ten days."
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