Brother, how come you're a witch?

Liu Baishuang rested and recuperated for a night at the nearest checkpoint.

As dawn broke the next day, she set off again, somewhat impatiently.

Because of the extremely long sword flight on the first day, Liu Baishuang was very tired. The depletion of her spiritual energy had not been fully replenished during the night's rest, so she was flying slower now.

Looking at the timers between checkpoints, it's surprising that they've fallen to the upper-middle level of previous Extreme Sword Cultivation Challenges.

"Hang in there a little longer."

Liu Baishuang gritted her teeth and flew out again immediately after entering another checkpoint.

She has entered the second half of the second stage of the competition, and Yanshan will arrive in less than an hour.

Ideally, she would arrive at Yanshan ahead of time, search the area thoroughly, find nothing, and then rejoin the main group that had caught up, so that everyone could happily finish the race and return to the sect together.

She sincerely hoped so.

Yanshan was reached in the blink of an eye.

As the sun began to set in the west, the sky remained bright but was already faintly tinged with orange-red.

Liu Baishuang did not immediately enter Yanshan, but instead circled around it several times, using the blood of the Heavenly Demon to summon the demons that should be hiding in the dense forest.

no respond.

Her heart sank, yet she also felt a sense of relief, as if she had expected it.

She knew something must have happened, but she couldn't find anyone to ask for help. She couldn't explain her actions and might even have to cover up what had happened in order to hide her secret.

"ha."

Liu Baishuang gave a self-deprecating laugh, feeling somewhat lonely.

If she still had the communication jade token, she could at least use Li Changsheng's identity to send a text message to remind Su Yan to be careful.

She lowered her flying sword and landed in Yanshan.

Yanshan is a medium-sized checkpoint, guarded by a disciple in the early stage of Core Formation, with no one else nearby.

The Core Formation disciple was quite surprised to see someone fly in, but after recognizing Liu Baishuang, he smiled with relief.

"Junior Sister Liu flies really fast. According to my estimate, it should be at least two more hours before anyone comes in."

"Greetings, senior brother."

Liu Baishuang obediently bowed:

"I traveled an extra hour yesterday, and I'm not feeling well today, so I'm not flying very fast. It should only take you an hour at most to catch up with me, not two."

"Then it's not surprising."

The Core Formation disciple waved his hand:

"However, Junior Sister Liu, you may not know this, but I received a message that the teleportation array from Duanqian Peak to Su Chuan broke down this morning, causing a delay of an hour. The entire competition schedule will have to be postponed."

"Um?"

Liu Baishuang was slightly taken aback. This was good news for her, as it nearly doubled the investigation time.

"Then I'll wait for them at Yanshan. It'll be a good time for me to rest and recuperate."

"Of course you can, but this isn't a major checkpoint at the beginning or end of a stage. It's just a shed at the foot of the mountain, nothing else. Junior Sister Liu, please feel free to do as you please in these mountains."

The Core Formation disciple laughed, saying that he couldn't conduct interviews with the contestants here, nor could he take photos to send back to the main peak.

At most, I would use Fetion to write some text reports.

"I'm sorry to bother you, senior brother."

Liu Baishuang nodded, then said in a joking tone:

"Senior brother, I'm free to do as I please in these mountains. I shouldn't encounter any danger, right?"

"How could that be? The race route has been surveyed by specialists, and any monsters that could threaten you have already been driven away. I've been stationed here for four days and haven't encountered any powerful beings."

The Core Formation disciple shook his head and said:

"The demonic beasts still on this Yan Mountain are all easily dealt with by those in the Foundation Establishment stage."

"What about the area around Yanshan?"

"There are very few demonic beasts around. I've explored several times but haven't seen many. The fellow cultivators who came to survey the race section earlier were truly dedicated."

The Core Formation disciple sighed, then quickly reminded him:

"Junior Sister Liu, don't leave the Yanshan area. Once you leave the checkpoint, your flying sword will start its automatic timer."

"Yes, thank you for reminding me, senior brother."

Liu Baishuang bowed again, then turned and walked towards Yanshan Mountain.

Two hours isn't a long time, but it's enough to thoroughly explore the small Yan Mountain. However, the Core Formation disciples stationed there haven't noticed anything unusual for four whole days. They're afraid that if something really happened, it's happening nearby, not inside Yan Mountain.

Then Liu Baishuang really had no choice; finding even a trace or clue this time would be considered a success.

Feeling slightly uneasy, she began to wander around in the mountains.

I walked up the mountain in circles, spreading my divine sense and constantly sensing whether the blood of the Heavenly Demon was reacting.

It took a long time, until we reached a clearing in the woods near the top of the mountain, but we found nothing unusual. However, we did see a small stone tablet about the height of an adult's calf standing at the edge of the clearing.

Liu Baishuang approached and raised an eyebrow after seeing the words engraved on the stone tablet:

"Is the memorial for my beloved disciple Mo Yu... left here by Elder Chen Yixing?"

So this open space must be the place where Mo Yu was killed by a half-demon beast a year ago.

Liu Baishuang looked around. The place was empty and there was nothing there. The monument was also all alone. There were no remains of Mo Yu under it. It was just a memorial.

Suddenly, Liu Baishuang's gaze stopped, and she noticed a round, snow-white thing peeking out from the grass on the other side of the open space.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a fierce-looking rabbit.

"...Ning Jiu was also corrupted in this area, so there's a rabbit-like demon beast population on Yan Mountain?"

Liu Baishuang frowned slightly, tapping her chin with her finger as if she had thought of something.

It is said that a cunning rabbit has three burrows. Ordinary rabbits are very good at hiding, and rabbit-like monsters are even more naturally inclined to explore hidden places and use them as their hiding places.

If there are any places on Mount Yan that are difficult to discover by ordinary means, these rabbit-like monsters might know about them.

"Give it a try..."

Liu Baishuang sighed softly, having run out of ideas. She took out the snacks she had prepared for the journey from her storage bag and waved them at the rabbit not far away.

The rabbit watched Liu Baishuang warily, but couldn't resist the temptation of food. It jumped out of the grass and took a few steps forward, but then stopped at a certain distance and refused to move.

Liu Baishuang had no choice but to bite her finger, smear her blood on the food, and throw it far away.

The rabbit jumped a few times in fright when the food was thrown at it, but quickly sniffed and moved closer, taking small bites of the food.

"That's strange. Wild beasts usually don't eat food given by cultivators. Could someone have fed it recently?"

Liu Baishuang muttered something under her breath, feeling her blood being swallowed by the rabbit, and her eyes immediately darkened and began to become contaminated.

This rabbit was only at the early stage of Qi Refining and could hardly put up any resistance before being corrupted by the blood of the Heavenly Demon and turned into a half-demon similar to Ning Jiu.

"Such a faint intelligence; does it really know the hidden locations in the mountains?"

Liu Baishuang gave commands to the rabbit using the blood of the Heavenly Demon, but the rabbit could only give vague responses and was unable to communicate effectively.

But it could at least understand a little of what Liu Baishuang meant. After finishing its food, it suddenly jumped up and ran into the forest.

Liu Baishuang immediately followed, chasing the rabbit to several hidden caves and crevices in the mountains, but still found nothing, until she traversed a cliffside bird path clinging to the mountainside...

The connection between the rabbit and Liu Baishuang was suddenly severed.

"Um?"

Liu Baishuang frowned, quickly stepped forward, and arrived at the last place where the rabbit had been.

There is a cave entrance hanging on a cliff, surrounded by lush vegetation. The cave is deep and dark, and you can't see what's inside.

"Zzzzt—"

Liu Baishuang drew her sword and simultaneously pointed forward with her left hand, releasing a illuminating flying flame spell.

The firelight flew into the cave, dispelling the darkness.

then.

Her pupils suddenly dilated.

......

Dawn and dusk intersect.

Figures rode their swords, moving along the horizon where light and shadow were clearly defined.

"Wow, I'm really impressed. It's almost dark and we still haven't reached the finish line of the second stage."

Complaints arose from the flying swords, but the sounds were fragmented by the wind:

"How could the teleportation array malfunction? Were they properly checked before the competition? Are the maintenance teams at Qizhen Peak and Bailian Peak slacking off?"

"You can't really blame them. I heard that a spirit cat sneaked in last night and bit through the rope that was used to transmit spiritual energy through the formation."

"The Cats have made a huge mistake!"

Amidst the commotion, the sword cultivators lost all interest in fighting and flew relatively peacefully.

Su Yan mingled among them, taking out a map to examine it.

Because the formation repairs took an hour, the overall competition schedule was postponed by an hour, but this did not affect the contestants' results.

However, this still has some other effects, such as the fact that they will definitely not be able to reach the checkpoint at the end of the second stage today and will have to spend the night in the middle.

"At this rate, the best rest point for the first team is Yunjian, and for the second team it is Yanshan."

Yanshan?

Su Yan was slightly taken aback. What a coincidence!

His second team was the largest, and with so many cultivators spending the night together on Yan Mountain, it was very inconvenient for him to move around.

"If only Xiao Ye could cover for me."

Su Yan sighed, missing Ye Jingqiu terribly.

This girl started the competition today and charged forward like she was on drugs, leading the first group. She obviously wants to catch up with Liu Baishuang.

I don't know if they caught up or not.

"Team leader, should we rest at Yanshan later, or go for a trip to Yunjian?"

The female team member leaned closer, rubbing against the trail of Su Yan's flying sword:

"Although flying at night in an area without protective arrays is unsafe, we have enough strength to handle it."

"If you can move forward, then move forward." Su Yan raised his chin.

"Let's follow the team leader!"

The other two group members pulled Lu Jing over together, making sounds of progress.

Su Yan gave a helpless twitch of his lips: "Then let's do it at Yanshan."

"Okay!"

As the sun completely set, someone at the front of the line shouted:

"Look! We've arrived at Yanshan."

A solitary mountain stood not far away, and at its foot, disciples stationed there lit fires.

Swords clashed loudly in the crowd. Once they saw where they planned to rest for the night, they prepared to charge forward.

Su Yan immediately landed at the back from the middle, almost as one of the last to land his flying sword. After sheathing his sword, he cupped his hands in greeting to the Core Formation disciples who were calling out to the crowd.

"Excuse me, senior, how long has it been since the first group arrived?"

"They didn't stay long either, only a quarter of an hour faster than you. They left without stopping, probably to rest at the next checkpoint," the Core Formation disciple said.

"What about Liu Baishuang?"

"She arrived much earlier, two hours before you, saying she would rest and recuperate here while waiting for you."

The Core Formation disciple shook his head:

"But I don't know if she's still there. Maybe she ran ahead with the first group?"

"Oh?"

Su Yan raised an eyebrow, thanked the disciple, and then slowly walked into Yan Mountain.

He had a whole night to investigate whether any traces of the Heavenly Demon remained here.

Yanshan is rarely visited by people. The upper part is mostly dense forest with no decent roads. Hundreds of sword cultivators are all crammed together near the foot of the mountain, setting up camp, cooking, maintaining their flying swords, and bragging.

"Come on, I'll cook tonight."

"Wait a moment, I'll go catch two fish. The river below Yanshan connects to Guanyu Valley. I haven't eaten any of the delicious, fat fish there since the sect banned fishing. Tsk tsk."

"Are you out of your mind? This place is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from Guanyu Valley. How could fish swim down here? Someone already went to fish them out, and there was nothing in the river."

"Huh? What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, what are we eating?"

"Isn't there some noodles here?"

"I want meat! Meat! Only by swallowing delicious meat can I infuse my body with strong vitality! Only then can I fly gracefully and brilliantly!"

"Noodles are made from wheat, and wheat has life too. Don't be so speciesist."

"This is different," the monks said...

Su Yan was casually listening to the sword cultivators chatting around him when he suddenly paused, grabbed the sword cultivator who had just spoken, and stared intently at him:

"What did you just say?"

"what?"

The man was startled and hesitated for a moment before saying:

"I just said, fly gracefully..."

"No, it's the previous sentence."

"Ugh, meat! Only by swallowing delicious meat can the body be replenished..."

He had only spoken half of his sentence when the sound of swords whistling through the night sky immediately drew everyone's attention.

The first group, which should have flown ahead, turned back again.

"Huh? That's strange. This challenge has been held eight hundred times, and this is the first time I've seen one flying back."

Some people asked in surprise.

Immediately, the first group of sword cultivators descending from above replied:

"That's right. A huge group of frightened monsters appeared out of nowhere in the previous section. There were too many of them, and rushing over would consume a lot of energy. According to the rules, in this situation, we must return to the nearest checkpoint."

"Wow, is that true? What were the people surveying the race stages doing? They should thoroughly investigate whether the organizing committee was involved in any corruption!"

"Sigh, the world is just a giant makeshift operation; anything can happen."

"Heh, quickly find the senior brothers stationed here and send a message to them. It's not right if they don't give us some compensation for the time they've lost. I'll definitely report them to the sect leader!"

Yanshan suddenly became even more lively, with almost all the contestants gathered there.

Su Yan's thoughts were interrupted. He looked up at the night sky and spotted Ye Jingqiu's figure. The Little Sword Ancestor was hovering in mid-air on his flying sword, looking around as if he was also looking for him.

He was just about to raise his hand to beckon Ye Jingqiu over when he suddenly heard a voice behind him:

"Su Yan".

He turned around and saw a graceful figure standing under a tree not far away, smiling at him while holding a sword.

It was Liu Baishuang, but she had changed into an ordinary inner disciple's robe and used a disguise technique to impersonate 'Su Xue'.

To avoid revealing any flaws in her disguise, she even removed the snow-white tassel that usually hung on the hilt of her sword.

"Senior Sister Liu?"

Su Yan found it strange. Xu Qinglan wasn't here, so what was there to pretend about?

"Um."

Liu Baishuang nodded gently and waved to him:

"Come here."