Fairy, don't be afraid, I'm about to begin my strategy.

"Master He, I have discovered Deacon Zhao's secret!"

Upon hearing this, He Daoren became interested and looked at Shen Mo with a smile, "Oh! Is that really so!"

"This information was obtained at the risk of my life. However, my cultivation is too shallow to investigate further. I can only rely on your methods, Immortal Master."

To gain He Daoren's trust, Shen Mo used every trick in the book, and he felt that his acting skills were becoming more and more mature.

It was another dark, cloudy night when Shen Mo arrived at the steward's courtyard as agreed to meet with Daoist He.

He Daoren glanced at Shen Mo and teased, "Oh, your outfit is quite unique!"

"A little trick, not worth mentioning!"

Shen Mo looked at the lone Daoist He with great doubt, "Immortal Master, are you all alone? That Deacon Zhao is at the Crystallization Realm, is it safe?"

He Daoren, however, appeared confident and said, "Don't worry, I have a brilliant plan!"

Seeing the other party's attitude, Shen Mo could not say anything more and could only lead the way towards the hidden valley.

The two made their way smoothly, passing through the waterfall and arriving at the house in the secluded valley.

Slightly different from Shen Mo's previous visits, tonight the houses were completely dark, with no candlelight.

"It seems Deacon Zhao isn't here tonight, Immortal Master. This makes things convenient for us!"

Shen Mo looked excited. He stopped trying to conceal himself and headed straight for the largest house in the middle.

After a brief search of the area around the house, Shen Mo found no traps or formations and pushed the door open without hesitation.

The interior decoration is extremely simple, with nothing special except for the usual furniture and furnishings.

Unwilling to give up, Shen Mo searched again carefully, even knocking on the walls and floors like he did in TV dramas, but still found nothing.

Although it was a bit of a pity, at least there was still a room full of Gu worms to report, so Shen Mo decided to take He Daoren to investigate.

"Huh, where did everyone go?"

Shen Mo had been so focused on investigating the house that he hadn't noticed He Daoren's movements at all. Now that He Daoren wasn't inside, an ominous premonition arose within him.

Shen Mo was just about to look for that Taoist priest when he pushed open the door and bumped into a strange Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest's robe was somewhat worn, and his expression was blank and very serious. He was coldly staring at Shen Mo.

The sudden encounter startled Shen Mo, who jumped in fright. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Damn, that's not right!"

Realizing something was wrong, Shen Mo tried to escape, but found that the Taoist priest shot out several bursts of energy that instantly locked him in place, rendering him unable to move.

Sighing at his bad luck, Shen Mo, who was bound, caught a glimpse of He Daoren not far away, who was about to call for help, but saw him looking at Shen Mo with a sinister smile.

"That old cunning bastard, He Daoren!"

With a casual wave of his hand, the strange Taoist priest caused Shen Mo's vision to go dark, and he fell into a coma.

In reality, Shen Mo's vision also went dark. After waiting for a long time, he did not receive a death notification. Could it be that the other party did not kill him?

Unable to control his character, Shen Mo didn't rush to revert to a previous save. He wanted to see what tricks He Daoren and Zhao Zhishi were up to.

He had guessed that there were people from the sect behind Steward Zhao, but he didn't expect that Daoist He would be involved in such a coincidence.

As expected, there were no good people in the Lingyun Sect. Shen Mo doubted the Lingyun Sect's reputation as the leader of the righteous path.

When Shen Mo entered the game again, he slowly came to his senses.

The scene before me was very dark, and it took me a while to adjust.

The good news is that he was not injured at all, but his cultivation was sealed and he could not circulate his spiritual energy, which did not affect his activities; the bad news is that Shen Mo has become a prisoner and is locked in a dark cave.

In no time, Shen Mo had figured out the surrounding environment.

What he was certain of was that he was trapped in a cave, surrounded by damp soil, which suggested he was in an underground space. The exit was blocked by a metal fence that was impossible to break without spiritual energy.

Shen Mo turned his gaze to the depths of the cave.

The cave wasn't particularly cramped. Shen Mo groped his way forward, his fingertips still damp and cold, when suddenly he touched a piece of fabric. The next instant, a warm yet firm elasticity traveled up his fingertips, startling him so much that his breath caught in his throat.

It was a corpse, no, it should be a person, since a corpse has no temperature.

Because the cave was pitch black, Shen Mo couldn't make out anything. He groped for the other person's face, trying to wake them up.

This should be the arm, and... well, it's a bit soft. Shen Mo had just touched the other person's face when he heard a weak cough.

"what!"

With a faint gasp, Shen Mo's hands were knocked away, and the other person curled up like a frightened cat and shrank back.

"Who...who are you?"

"Senior Sister Lin?"

He couldn't see the other person's face clearly, but the voice sounded somewhat familiar, so Shen Mo tried to confirm the other person's identity.

"Is that Junior Sister Chen?"

"Yes, it's me!"

Both sides breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their guard.

Ever since Lin Zhixia and Shen Mo investigated that night, she has been preoccupied with the matter and has been restless all day long.

To clear her mind, she chose the most direct method: confronting Deacon Zhao. No one knows how this foolish girl managed to reason with him or appeal to her emotions, but Deacon Zhao, without uttering a word, simply knocked her unconscious.

When Shen Mo learned the details of Lin Zhixia's imprisonment, he sighed inwardly that she was the most foolish and naive person in the Lingyun Sect.

Lin Zhixia was clearly still emotionally affected by the incident, and her muttered complaints were filled with resentment.

"Senior sister, let's think of a way to escape. You don't want to be locked up here forever, do you?"

Lin Zhixia shrunk into a corner, deflated. "My cultivation is restricted; I can't even mobilize a trace of spiritual energy. What other options do I have?"

After carefully examining the cave, Shen Mo collapsed to the ground in disappointment. Apart from the metal fence, there were no other entrances or exits, unless the two of them were prepared to dig through the cave to achieve self-redemption.

After their efforts yielded no results, the two had no choice but to give up.

The sun and moon are invisible in the cave, and the concept of time gradually becomes blurred.

At first, the two tried to find topics to chat about, but as time went on, they eventually fell silent.

Shen Mo was also speechless; who would go to jail for playing games?

Of course, he could choose to revert to a previous save file at any time, but he was very curious about the purpose of He Daoren and Zhao Deacon, and did not want to waste the revert opportunity in such an unclear way.

The other party didn't kill him, only imprisoned him; he believed they must have ulterior motives. Holding his breath, Shen Mo persisted in waiting for the other party to reappear.

They waited for an unknown number of days. They had no food, their cultivation was restricted, and their bodies grew weaker and weaker. They were constantly in a state of half-dream and half-awake.

"Junior Sister Chen..."

Lin Zhixia's voice was barely audible, and her words were fragmented. Because her voice was so weak, Shen Mo had no choice but to bring his ear close to her mouth.

"I might... not be able to hold on much longer, but I never expected that the one who would stay with me until the end would be you."

Shen Mo opened his mouth but didn't know how to reply; any words seemed pale at this moment.

Suddenly, Lin Zhixia rested her head on Shen Mo's chest, using the last bit of strength in her body to hug him tightly.

Shen Mo knew that at this moment, he had become Lin Zhixia's only support.

He was too weak to do anything at that moment, so he simply let his mind go and experience this rare "near-death experience".

At this moment, the game system sent a notification, which Shen Mo opened listlessly: [Congratulations, player, your affinity with Lin Zhixia has reached 40 points.]

This was an unexpected bonus. Lin Zhixia's favorability increased by 10 points during the last night's exploration of the deep valley, and I didn't expect it to increase by another 10 points this time.

Shen Mo glanced at Lin Zhixia, who was on the verge of death beside him, and helplessly prepared to rewind time.

A creaking sound, a jarring metallic clang, interrupted Shen Mo's actions.