Mortal: Junior Sister Song Yu

Song Yu held Xiao Shitou's hand as they walked along the dirt road leading to Black Stone Town.

The afterglow of the setting sun cast long shadows of the two, one large and one small, which, when viewed from behind, revealed a warm and tender scene of mutual dependence.

However, Song Yu's mind was not as calm as it appeared.

Beneath her palm, the small hand was warm and soft, but ever since she agreed to take him in, the pure malice that she had sensed through "Telepathic Connection" had not diminished at all. Instead, it seemed to have found a host and settled down peacefully, with a sense of satisfaction from a successful conspiracy.

A slight chill ran down my arm and into my heart.

This child, from head to toe, is a carefully orchestrated play.

"Fairy sister, you are so kind." Little Stone looked up at her with his tender little face, his clear, bright eyes filled with the unique dependence and admiration of a child. "When Little Stone grows up, he will definitely cultivate hard to protect sister and not let anyone bully you."

"Okay." Song Yu's response was very soft, so soft that it seemed as if it might dissipate in the wind at any moment. She did not look down at that innocent face, her gaze remained fixed on the distant earthen town that was beginning to take shape in the twilight.

Her husband Li Xiao's solemn instructions before his departure, the strangeness of the sect's mission itself, and this "little stone" that seemed to appear out of nowhere—these three things were like three invisible threads, weaving a giant net in her heart, exuding a strong sense of conspiracy.

She didn't know how big this net was, or who it was set up for on the other side.

But she knew she had already stepped into the trap, becoming either the prey or... the hunter.

As darkness fell completely, the two finally arrived at Blackrock Town.

This is a typical market for cultivators. It is not large in scale. Most of the shops on both sides of the street are places that buy materials from demonic beasts and sell low-level pills and talismans. The air is filled with the smell of dust and herbs.

The cultivators coming and going were in a hurry, and their cultivation levels were generally not high, mostly in the Qi Refining stage. Occasionally, one could see one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators, all of whom had solemn expressions.

Song Yu chose the cleanest-looking inn and asked for two superior rooms.

The waiter saw that she had a cool and aloof demeanor. Although she was wearing a veil, her outfit that accentuated her perfect curves and her powerful aura, which she did not reveal, all indicated that she was of extraordinary status. So he treated her with exceptional respect.

"Fairy sister, I...can I share a room with you?"

After settling in, Little Stone stood at Song Yu's door, nervously clutching the hem of his clothes, and asked timidly, "This place is so unfamiliar, I'm all alone... I'm a little scared."

A hint of fear of the unfamiliar environment flickered in his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly, like a frightened little animal about to cry.

If it weren't for his constant, insightful warnings, any soft-hearted woman would probably have immediately pulled him into her arms.

"A real man must learn to be independent."

Song Yu's voice was devoid of emotion. She took out a yellow talisman with a faint spiritual light from her storage bag and handed it to him. "This is a mid-grade defensive talisman called the 'Vajra Talisman.' Stick it on the inside of the door, and it can withstand even a full-force attack from a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator for a while. Get some rest."

After saying that, she slammed the door shut, ruthlessly shutting out the little face that had instantly turned from "admiration" to "disappointment".

Outside the door, the timidity and disappointment on Little Stone's face receded like the tide.

He kept his head down, the shadows obscuring his eyes, only the corners of his lips curving into a cold, incongruous smile that belied his age.

He gently scratched the Vajra talisman in his hand with his fingertips, feeling the spiritual power contained within it, then silently turned around and went into his room.

Song Yu set up several layers of warning and soundproofing arrays in the room before he could relax slightly.

She walked to the table, sat down, poured herself a cup of still-warm tea, and her mind raced with calculations.

The person behind this child is plotting step by step, and their goal is clearly themselves.

Could the strange movements of the monsters in the Blackstone Mine also be part of a scheme targeting them?

Just then, a commotion erupted in the lobby downstairs, interrupting her thoughts.

"Shopkeeper, the best private room! Bring me your finest spirit wine and food. My third brother is tired today and needs a good rest!" A rough, powerful voice rang out.

Song Yu's divine sense stirred slightly, sweeping downwards like mercury spilling onto the ground.

Three imposing cultivators strode into the inn.

The leader was a square-faced, burly man with prominent temples, indicating he was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage; behind him followed a tall, thin man and a man with triangular eyes, who were at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and the early-Foundation Establishment stage, respectively.

These three individuals are considered top-tier experts in a place like Blackstone Town.

But what truly caught Song Yu's attention was the bloodthirstiness and bandit aura emanating from them, which they could not conceal even when they tried to suppress it.

That kind of look is something only someone who has truly tasted blood on the edge of a knife and disregarded life would have.

The three of them were quickly led upstairs by Xiao Er, who hunched over, and into a private room at the end of the corridor.

Song Yu's heart stirred.

She used her divine sense to communicate with the waiter outside the door, asking him to bring some food to her room. Then, with a flicker of her body, she moved like a wisp of weightless smoke, silently passing through the window. With a light touch of her toes on the eaves, she landed on the roof of the inn.

The moonlight was like frost, and the night breeze was slightly cool.

She lowered herself, concealing her aura to the extreme, even her heartbeat became barely perceptible, as if she had merged with the roof tiles.

The private room was directly below her, and a hazy barrier of spiritual light had risen, blocking out all sounds.

Ordinary cultivators who arrive here can only sigh in despair and return empty-handed.

But Song Yu was different.

She closed her eyes slightly, her mind sank into her sea of ​​consciousness, and visualized a bright, clear moon, while the Water Moon Heaven Heart Sutra slowly circulated.

A perfect understanding!

This time, she wasn't trying to sense emotions, but rather pushing this supernatural power to its limit. Her divine sense seemed to transform into invisible and intangible moonlight, gently "penetrating" the soundproof barrier, capturing the most subtle fluctuations of spiritual energy and fragments of communication between divine sense and the barrier.

Inside the private room, the three people's conversation reached her senses intermittently and vaguely.

"...Boss is being way too cautious this time... It's just a run-down mine..."

"...Blackstone Mine is a real goldmine...I heard they've found some good stuff recently..."

"...The inside agents are all arranged...The information is conclusive...What are we waiting for..." It was the voice of the man with the triangular eyes, sounding somewhat impatient.

"Shut up!" the square-faced burly man hissed. "...Wait for the boss's order...on the day we act...kill...not a single one alive!"

"Hehe... I understand... After it's done... the spoils... we brothers will divide them equally!"

The sound was intermittent, as if through a thick curtain of water, but the bloody words "Black Stone Mine," "insider," "kill, leave no one alive," and "divide equally" were like sharp ice picks, piercing Song Yu's mind!

There was definitely a problem!

These desperate criminals have also set their sights on the Blackstone Mine!

Moreover, they have an inside agent in the mine!

Song Yu's heart sank inch by inch.

She didn't listen any further; getting the key information was enough.

She left quietly, just as she had come, and returned to her room.

The waiter just delivered the food.

Song Yu's mind raced, and a bold and efficient plan was already taking shape.

She set out the food and knocked on the door next door.

"Little Stone, come out for dinner."

Little Stone quickly opened the door and saw a table full of delicious food. He cheered and rushed over, grabbing a golden-brown roasted chicken leg and gnawing on it. His mouth was covered in oil, and he looked like a starving child.

Song Yu watched him wolf down his food, but remained unmoved. She simply poured him a glass of water.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, the three cultivators downstairs finished their meal, paid the bill, and left.

Song Yu's divine sense was like an invisible net, firmly locking them in.

After leaving the inn, the three of them did not walk together, but at a fork in the road they tacitly parted ways and went in different directions.

Excellent, just what I wanted.

A cold smile curved Song Yu's lips.

She gently instructed Little Stone, who was still engrossed in eating a chicken leg, "I'm going out to run some errands. After you finish eating, go back to your room and rest. Remember, don't wander off; it's not safe outside."

Before Little Stone could give a vague reply, her figure slowly faded away and disappeared completely from the room.

Night is the best cover.

Song Yu's goal was clear—that triangular-eyed cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

The weakest in cultivation, the most impatient in temperament, and the least vigilant, making them the perfect entry point.

Like a ghost in the night, she followed behind the man without a trace of human presence, passing through several dirty alleys, until she arrived at a secluded and dilapidated courtyard on the edge of town.

The triangular-eyed monk, feeling guilty, glanced around to make sure no one was following him before pushing open the creaking wooden door and going inside.

Song Yu stood quietly outside the courtyard for a moment, making sure there was no one else in the courtyard, and then his hands began to rapidly form hand seals.

One by one, the palm-sized banners, shimmering with a deep blue light, flew out silently, like weary birds returning to their nests, and precisely disappeared into the shadows around the courtyard walls.

The Water Moon Eight Gates Formation!

A simple trapping formation, yet containing the essence of formation techniques, is enough to ensure that those inside cannot escape, and can isolate all fighting fluctuations within a small area.

After doing all this, she swayed as if passing through a curtain of water, directly over the courtyard wall, and appeared in the center of the courtyard.

The triangular-eyed cultivator had just stepped into the dark room and hadn't even had time to light up the surroundings when he suddenly felt an extremely dangerous aura coming from behind him, a aura that made his very soul tremble. The hairs on his body instantly stood on end!

"Who!" He turned around abruptly, his magical power about to erupt like a volcano.

However, all he saw was a pair of clear, deep eyes, in which seemed to reflect a cold, icy moon.

The next moment, an invisible mark formed by the extremely yin and cold power of the moonlight seemed to pierce through the void, ignoring his protective spiritual light, and directly imprinted itself on his dantian!

The Cold Moon Locks the Divine Seal!

"Ugh!" The triangular-eyed cultivator let out a painful groan. He was horrified to discover that his connection with his dantian had been forcibly severed by a cold and domineering force!

The magical power dissipated like a flood bursting its banks, leaving the meridians instantly empty.

He was like a punctured balloon; one moment he was a high and mighty Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the next he was a mortal with no strength to even kill a chicken!

This dramatic fall from grace nearly broke him.

"Who...who are you...?"

He had barely uttered a few words when he looked up in fear and met Song Yu's eyes, which seemed to contain an entire starry sky.

The moon reflects in the sky!

hum!

The triangular-eyed cultivator's head felt as if it had been struck by an invisible hammer, and his consciousness was instantly pulled into an illusion woven from moonlight.

He saw himself back in his hometown of Fengdu Kingdom, with a bonfire blazing, his eldest brother Xiong Kui patting him on the shoulder, his second brother holding a large bowl of strong liquor to his lips, and the laughter of his brothers all around him, discussing how they would pull off a big heist in Xi Kingdom, then retire from crime, go home, get married, and have children...

Just as he was immersed in this most beautiful dream, a gentle and melodious voice, yet with an irresistible magic, resounded in the deepest part of his heart.

"Who is your leader? What's his name? What's his cultivation level?"

"Boss... Boss's name is Xiong Kui... Yes, he's at the Pseudo-Core Formation level..."

The triangular-eyed cultivator answered without any guard in the illusion, his face even showing a hint of awe for his leader.

Song Yu, with his keen intuition, clearly sensed that his soul remained completely still and that he was not lying.

"How many people are there in total? Who is the mole in the mine?"

"There are... six of us in total. Boss Xiong is a fake Core Formation cultivator, his two deputies are late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the three of us are..."

He paused, a hint of confusion on his face. "An inside man... I don't know anything about an inside man. It's top secret. Only the boss has a single line of communication with him..."

"Did you bring those monsters to the mine?" Song Yu asked the question that concerned him most.

"A demonic beast?"

A genuine sense of confusion arose in the triangular-eyed cultivator's mind. "What demonic beasts? When we arrived, we heard that the mine was under attack by demonic beasts... We were even thinking of taking advantage of the chaos to strike and reap the benefits..."

It wasn't them!

Song Yu was startled.

The strange movements of the demonic beasts and this group of cultivators were actually two completely unrelated things!

Things were far more complicated than she had imagined.

She asked a few more questions about the details of their looting plan, and after confirming that the man had been thoroughly exposed, she stopped wasting time.

She slowly withdrew her supernatural powers.

The triangular-eyed cultivator suddenly jolted awake from the illusion, feeling a splitting headache and extreme mental exhaustion, as if his soul had been hollowed out and he hadn't slept for days and nights.

He stared blankly at the empty, dark room, having no recollection of what had just happened. He only remembered pushing the door open and then... then he became incredibly sleepy.

"Strange...why am I so sleepy..."

He shook his groggy head, mumbled something, and then could no longer hold on. He collapsed onto the cold bed and fell into a deep sleep.

With his weak spiritual sense, he was completely unable to detect the faint traces left by "Heavenly Heart Reflecting the Moon". At most, when he woke up the next day, he would feel a little tired, which he would just assume was because he was tired from traveling.

Outside the courtyard, Song Yu raised her hand and waved, and the array flags transformed into streams of light and flew back into her sleeve.

She took one last look at the desolate courtyard, then disappeared into the night and quickly returned to the inn.

Back in her room, she sat at the table, gazing at the pale, crescent moon outside the window, her delicate brows furrowed.

In her mind, three clues coiled like three venomous snakes.

One of them is Little Stone, whose identity is shrouded in mystery and who harbors extreme malice towards him; he is the poison bait aimed at him.

One of them is a bandit gang led by Xiong Kui, a fake cultivator, who is preparing to rob a mine and has an ally inside the mine.

One is a horde of monsters attacking the mine for unknown reasons.

Three seemingly unrelated forces and three undercurrents of clues have all mysteriously converged at this black stone mine.

This is no longer a simple investigation task; it's a vortex, a death vortex capable of strangling anyone.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in her heart.

Abandon the mission?

No, the Blackstone Mine is an important asset of the sect, and we absolutely cannot give it up easily.

To alert the enemy and prompt the sect to send reinforcements?

No, those robbers have an inside man. If we alert them, they'll immediately go into hiding, and the trail will be lost.

Moreover, the person behind Little Stone has not yet shown up, so he cannot easily reveal his hand.

If her husband were here, what would he do?

The image of that person, who was always calm and collected, yet could deliver a thunderous roar in silence, appeared in Song Yu's mind.

He is never afraid of chaos; on the contrary, he is best at finding a glimmer of hope in the chaos and turning the tide of the entire game.

Yes, chaos...

Song Yu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Since these three forces are all mixed up, why not make the situation even more murky?

Those bandits won't make a move for the time being, which gives us some time to use.

The most urgent task is to get to the Blackstone Mine before anyone else can react, and seize the initiative firmly in my own hands!

The first step to breaking the deadlock is to find the mole hidden deep inside the mine!

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.

Song Yu then knocked on Xiao Shitou's door.

"I'm gone."

Her voice was concise and crisp, without a trace of superfluous emotion.

Little Stone rubbed his sleepy eyes and, seeing the unwavering determination in Song Yu's eyes, obediently nodded without asking any further questions.

The two stepped out of the inn, transforming into a streak of cool blue light that tore through the morning mist and sped towards the depths of the Black Stone Mountains.

Song Yu stood in front, his robes fluttering, his gaze clear and resolute.

She glanced at the little stone behind her out of the corner of her eye, who was following closely behind her in the flash of light, still wearing an innocent smile on his face, and a chill ran through her heart.

No matter if the road ahead is a dragon's den or a tiger's lair, Song Yu is determined to brave it today!

Let's see what kind of deity is hidden at the center of this vortex!