I saved the entire sect by playing idly by letting things fall apart.

A group of people worked together to forcibly bring Chu Xingzhi back. The most important thing right now was to wake him up. The boy had already been assimilated by at least a third of his original nature. The Immortal Binding Rope tightly bound Chu Xingzhi, preventing him from acting recklessly.

Qi Yu shook the Tranquil Bell in her hand, trying to wake him up.

Obviously, there was no response.

"Get out of the way!" Ye Qiao slapped Chu Xingzhi impatiently. "If you don't wake up soon, your senior brother will despise you."

Chu Xingzhi only barely reacted when he heard the name Ye Qinghan. Ye Qiao had never seen such a brainless person.

Who the hell would believe this? They talked for ages without any reaction, but the mention of Ye Qinghan would snap him out of it for a few seconds.

It's rare to hear of someone successfully breaking free from the spell cast by a phantom ghost. Even pulling someone back is futile. Qi Yuqing almost shook the Mind Bell to pieces, but Chu Xingzhi showed no reaction. For safety's sake, Song Hansheng frowned briefly and suggested, "Leave here first. Go to the eighteenth floor and meet up with them."

The Azure Water Sect and the Moon Clear Sect also went to the eighteenth floor to meet up with the others. Going alone was not a good choice, but Ye Qiao always felt at ease when she was alone. She shook her head and looked at Chu Xingzhi, who was tied up like a wooden doll, and said, "I have other things to do."

See you later.

Now the Ghost King has gathered a group of ghost generals and little ghosts, eager to try and besiege her on the eighteenth floor. The Ghost King is now convinced that she will go to the eighteenth floor, after all, the disciples of the eighteenth floor are all gathered together, which seems to be the safest place.

But Ye Qiao was the type to do things the opposite of what she wanted. She planned to divert attention by having her disciples on the eighteenth floor draw the fire first.

"What should we do about Chu Xingzhi?" Qi Yu frowned. "He still shows no signs of waking up. Would it be more likely if we had Ye Qinghan wake him up?"

"The eighteenth floor will be the final battlefield; it's not safe to take him there," Ye Qiao rejected the idea. She thought for a moment, then added, "Besides, maybe there's still hope?"

She didn't really need the Sword Sect's gratitude, nor did she need to do these things. She was simply unwilling to give up. After all, they had hurt each other for more than a year. Even if there was really no hope, Ye Qiao wanted to drag them up.

The Flying Immortal Sword gently asked her, "Aren't you leaving yet?" It was also asking if she really wanted to stay. Ye Qiao answered yes, and the Flying Immortal Sword granted her wish by forcibly transforming into human form and pulling Chu Xingzhi out for her.

To a large extent, it's because they couldn't bear to.

Ye Qiao didn't remember this part of the plot; it wasn't even mentioned in the novel. But it must have been incredibly desperate—the Ghost King Tower, which forbade turning back, left them with no choice but to remain.

Even if there's no hope of saving him, Ye Qiao still wants to pull him out of it.

Maybe if she's lucky, she'll hear Chu Xingzhi call her "Dad"!

The Qi siblings can freely enter and exit the first eighteen floors. Now it depends on whether they want to or not. Qi Yu thought for a moment, "Let's go back to the eighteenth floor." Following Ye Qiao is too dangerous.

Ye Qiao shrugged. "Then remember to call my second senior brother down to keep me company."

As expected, my second senior brother is still the most reliable.

No matter how dangerous it is, we will never abandon each other.

After dividing into groups, Ye Qiao ran up to the slightly safer fifteenth floor. With the layout open, since the one controlling this place was a spiritual artifact called a tower, why not just go and find the tower spirit directly?

As for the tower's stubborn refusal to show itself, Ye Qiao was already prepared. Just like with the secret realm and the Bright Moon Arrow, they wouldn't understand what despair was unless they were pushed to the limit.

"Third Senior Brother." She shook the jade slip and tried to contact the outside world. There was no signal in the Ghost Realm, and you could only contact someone if you were close by. All her senior brothers had entered the tower, so Xue Yu should be waiting outside the tower as well.

After several failures, Ye Qiao went straight to the first floor and tried to contact the enemy again, this time succeeding.

"Junior Sister?" Xue Yu, outside the tower on the other side, had also tried contacting the jade slip several times without any response. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief after making contact. "Are you on the eighteenth floor?"

He was the only one who didn't enter the Ghost King Tower. Not only him, but the Chengfeng Sect members were also outside. They had originally planned to go in, but Xue Yu went to great lengths to stop them.

Ye Qiao: "I'm on the first floor." There's no signal on the eighteenth floor at all. "How much information about the tower do you know, Third Senior Brother?"

"This tower..." Xue Yu frowned, organized his thoughts, and told his junior sister inside the tower the information he had gathered: "It can move."

"So don't get too close to the tower's perimeter, or you might accidentally get caught in it."

Ye Qiao also discovered this; they were completely forced to be thrown into the eighteenth floor.

Xue Yu continued, "I've heard from people who successfully escaped from the Ghost King Tower that the eighteenth floor is filled with the ghostly aura of the Ghost King, and strange and grotesque monsters are released into the mist."

The so-called escape was nothing more than bait released by the Ghost King and the Tower to entice other cultivators to join in droves.

"Monsters..." Ye Qiao repeated, then, as if remembering something, she looked around the empty first eighteen floors, tapped the ground with her toes, and said, "Don't come in. How about I give some tasks to your people outside?"

"Aren't there demonic beasts in the ghost realm?"

Monsters are everywhere. If controlled properly, they can be a deadly weapon. If the eighteenth level encounters ghost cultivators who have never had contact with monsters, they would not last even three days, let alone half a month.

There's nothing wrong with the Ghost King choosing to use demonic beasts for training when raising Gu.

Since monsters can enter the tower, could she try to cause some trouble as well?

"I think so." Xue Yu recalled briefly: "I remember there are a few places with rare and precious treasures that are guarded by demonic beasts."

Ye Qiao liked Xue Yu's meticulous mind. "Then please catch a female demon beast, make some aphrodisiac pills, lure all the other demon beasts in, and throw them into the tower. I want this tower to know who the father is."

Xue Yu: "..."

He stroked his chin, looked at the jade slip that had been hung up, and muttered to himself, "If I try to capture a demon beast, won't I get captured by one?"

He can't defeat the monsters.

However, Xue Yu was clever enough to know to ask for help. He turned around and casually put away the jade slip, calmly telling Qin Huai, who was not far away, with practiced ease, "The first ten levels of the Ghost King Tower have many rare treasures. It's not impossible for someone with high talent to break through to the next realm overnight. Are you coming or not?"

"Come on." Qin Huai, who was rubbing his hands together, ready to snatch the items, quickly abandoned his initial choice. "What do you need us to do?"

There are no permanent enemies; when faced with mutual interests, who would refuse the option of cooperation?

Not only does he need to improve his cultivation, but his junior brothers do too. Heavenly treasures are the fastest way to improve cultivation. Sooner or later, they will crush the Changming Sect and kick the Wenjian Sect to the ground, becoming number one.

Xue Yu liked talking to decisive people. With his clear and bright eyes, he cheerfully announced, "Then let's start by catching a female demon beast."

Qin Huai wasn't one to complain or talk much. After a moment's thought, he led his junior brothers off in a grand procession to hunt down the female demon beast.

His thinking was simple: since Xue Yu wanted the female demon beasts, he would capture them all if he could see them. As a result, he single-handedly wiped out all the female demon beasts near the Ghost Realm.

Qin Huai earned the nickname "Mother's Sorrow" because of this.

He was unaware that he was about to receive a title. The young man caught dozens of monsters, tightened them all in a beast-catching net, and threw them over: "Here's what you wanted."

Xue Yu quickly issued a second instruction: "Next, you ride the demonic beast. It won't be long before a demonic beast is chasing after you. Don't look back. Just keep going."

Duan Hengdao was speechless. What the hell?

"Why does our senior brother have to ride a demonic beast? Why don't you ride one and run?"

Xue Yu said matter-of-factly, "The Ghost King Tower doesn't welcome weaklings like me who only know how to refine pills. As a strong person, only Qin Huai is welcome." He actually wanted to ride in and have some fun.

The junior sisters seem to be having a lot of fun.

Duan Hengdao was speechless.

……

On the other side, the five sects were having a meeting. Their natal flames flickered, and only a few remained lit. Especially for Ye Qiao and the others, their flames were constantly switching between extinguishing and illuminating.

Xie Chuxue stared at the few lamps, completely puzzled: "These lights are flickering. Are these kids planning to blow up the Ghost King Tower?"

The flickering of the lamp is normal, but what's most troublesome is that one of the lamps in the Sword Inquiry Sect is almost completely out and has never lit up again, which seems to indicate a serious situation.

Xie Chuxue muttered to herself, "This shouldn't be happening."

The Ghost King Tower is inherently risky. According to his memory, a direct disciple did indeed die there. He remained noncommittal about Qin Fanfan wanting to guard the life lamp with other sects.

He knew who had died.

Xie Chuxue thought that with Ye Qiao present for this mission, there wouldn't be any problems.

What exactly happened during that time?

He frowned, fearing something might go wrong, and patted the table to signal the elders of the five sects to look over. He then looked at Elder Zhao of the Changming Sect and said, "Elder, I would like to trouble you to go to the Ghost Realm."

"What are you going to the ghost realm for?"

Xie Chuxue stretched. "Four of my personal natal lamps have gone out. What do you suggest I do?"

Theoretically, it's not exactly extinguished. In the ghost realm, the flames will go out once it enters a particularly threatening area, but they will occasionally light up again, which is quite normal.

Xie Chuxue was still worried. He was not suitable to go to the Ghost Realm. If he was to go, he should be an elder. Changming Sect was the number one sect now. If they sent an elder, other sects would also send their own elders to go.

In his memory, the deceased disciple was from the Sword Inquiry Sect. Xie Chuxue was afraid that the Sword Inquiry Sect would repeat the same mistake, so she couldn't help but encourage other sect elders to go there.

The sect leader of the Sword Inquiry Sect indeed stood up and said in a deep voice, "In that case, we will also send an elder along."

After all, it wasn't just the lamp of the Changming Sect's direct disciple that was extinguished; the other four sects were all wiped out one after another, clearly indicating that they all went in together. So far, only the lamp of the Chengfeng Sect is still lit.

The only lamp in Changming Sect that has never been extinguished is Xue Yu's.

That brat isn't exactly someone you can ignore either.

……