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

Mingxuan leaned closer to him, tilting his body slightly to the side, and lazily curled his lips, urging him, "Do you also want to be sent up? I can use spiritual fire to build a staircase and send you up with me."

He said that purely because he didn't like Yue Qing'an.

"Sure," Yue Qing'an glanced at him calmly. "Although we're not familiar with each other yet, we'll become acquaintances after I come down, right?"

Mingxuan: "..."

This lame joke left everyone speechless.

Ye Qiao ran upwards, riding the wind. She wasn't afraid of heights before, but she would never dare to go up high. Now, after being repeatedly beaten in the cultivation world for three years, she could remain calm even at a height of 10,000 feet.

Looking at the massive mountain in front of him, Ye Qiao took a picture of it and then waited for his senior brother to put him down.

After Ye Qiao left, Ming Xuan felt a chill run down his spine for some reason. "Do you think our forbidden area is haunted?"

He's afraid of ghosts.

Seeing that no one believed him, he added, "And I also heard what sounded like some noise here."

"That's the sound of flowing water."

Ahead are high mountains, and the sound of mountain springs flowing can be heard immediately by those with sensitive ears.

Mingxuan was suspicious and paranoid, looking more helpless than a dog, as he cautiously peeked out: "Isn't it a ghost?"

Yue Qing'an himself had no reverence for ghosts or gods, nor was he afraid of them. "Be normal. Forbidden areas only have restrictions, not ghosts or monsters."

"But," Zhou Xingyun, who had been silent until now, suddenly pointed behind him and said calmly, "Look behind you."

"???"

……

Ye Qiao had climbed quite high, and looking down, she couldn't see what was happening on the ground. As she descended the ventilation ladder, she heard a series of "Holy crap!" sounds coming from below.

Upon seeing her return, Xue Yu called out affectionately, "Junior Sister, you've split your personality again!!"

"?"

Ye Qiao, still standing on the ventilation stairs, exclaimed, "What?"

Others are still discussing it.

"Was it a distraction?"

"No way, why is she getting distracted up there?"

Seemingly noticing their lack of fear, the thing that looked like Ye Qiao quickly dissolved, first from the face, then the body, and even after melting like wax, it quickly twisted, deformed, and solidified into the appearance of another person.

This time, it was a completely unfamiliar face.

"What the hell is this?!" Mu Chongxi was so shocked by this bizarre scene that he almost punched it to pieces in a fit of rage.

They were certain that what they were seeing was not an illusion, nor a lifeless puppet, but a living person.

That's terrifying.

Suddenly, the unknown creature darted close to Mingxuan, the most timid of the boys. The boy's face turned deathly pale. "Damn it, get away from me!"

Seeing his pathetic state, Ye Qiao jumped down from mid-air. A snow-white sword light descended from the sky, slashing at the unknown creature. Everyone watched as it was split in two, and the black shadow was cleaved in two.

But soon, it solidified into a complete human form.

The other party seemed even more panicked than Mingxuan. Faced with Ye Qiao's attack, it scrambled away.

"Very good," Ye Qiao thought, "it's not a restriction."

Judging from this, the forbidden area of ​​their sect is not to be underestimated either.

"What is that?" Chu Ling was startled.

Xue Yu's voice was light and airy, "Excluding the possibility of restrictions and humans, the other party might be a demon beast named Xing. It is skilled at mimicking human appearances and forms."

Ye Qiao also felt that this beast might be even more afraid than they were. "Why didn't you kill it?"

"Although it doesn't have much offensive capability, it's still difficult to kill. It can accurately mimic human appearances, has a changeable personality, and is good at learning the faces it remembers. If you encounter it, don't believe anything it says; many cultivators have been deceived and killed by it."

"I see." Ye Qiao suddenly lowered her eyes, looking at the beast that was fleeing quickly and about to disappear from their sight, and took out a book from her mustard seed bag.

The pitch-black book floated to her side as she turned the pages with her fingertips. The snow-white pages were instantly stained black as if thick ink had reached out tentacles and pounced on her with lightning speed.

The beast froze the moment its tentacles touched it.

Ye Qiao clearly gave the order, "Come here."

Dark writing knows no category or realm; no one or nothing that is touched by it can escape its reach.

She could sense that it had become stronger than it had been just one day since it came out of the forbidden zone.

Like a puppet on strings, he moved forward and stood before Ye Qiao, his face becoming blank. Ye Qiao asked softly, "Who are you?"

The other party quickly gave the answer: "A demonic beast, its name is Xing."

After receiving the correct answer, Ye Qiao locked it in his domain. The dark book at his fingertips did not retract its control over the beast. Although demonic beasts were not tasty to him, the beast was special and a different story. It could draw power from them to continuously grow stronger.

"What is this?" Almost the instant it was taken out, they sensed a sharp malice.

It is clearly applied indiscriminately to everyone.

"A secret scripture," Ye Qiao explained, bowing her head. "The most prized treasure of the Sword Inquiry Sect."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ye Qiao's divine sense swept over the demons who had followed them in, and they became excited.

It seems they're after the magical artifact.

"This book? Is it a treasure of the Sword Inquiry Sect?" Mu Chongxi craned his neck and examined it carefully for a long time. "Why is it a book? I thought it would be a sword."

Given the Sword Inquiry Sect's penchant for fighting at the drop of a hat, it's hard to imagine them engaging in anything as refined as reading.

"The Sword Inquiry Sect has no shortage of swords. No matter how you look at it, the spiritual weapon won't be a spiritual sword again." After saying this, Yue Qing'an asked, "Then what are its effects?"

"It is obvious that it can control a person's every move, without limiting the level of power or the number of people involved."

If used properly, this magical artifact can send a continuous stream of people to their deaths without anyone noticing.

No wonder it's called an evil artifact.

Chu Ling hissed softly, "It sounds like a very powerful spiritual artifact."

It is powerful, indeed. It has no restrictions on the level of control it can exert, but the thick, pure evil it exudes causes a strong sense of physical discomfort.

Yue Qing'an agreed with her words calmly, "The Sword Inquiry Sect has been ranked number one for thousands of years, so it's normal for their spiritual weapons to be strong."

Unlike the others, Zhou Xingyun's gaze paused slightly. He could sense the changing atmosphere behind him and warned in a voice only they could hear, "There's movement behind us."

"Huh?" Ye Qiao turned her head. Logically speaking, the two people with the most sensitive spiritual senses should be Ming Xuan and Xue Yu.

The eldest brother will discover something beyond Ye Qiao's expectations.

Curious, she lowered her voice and asked, "How did you detect it? With your divine sense?"

In terms of spiritual sense, sword cultivators are not at an advantage. Mu Chongxi and the others were still completely bewildered.

"It's not divine sense, it's aura." After saying that, Zhou Xingyun probably felt that his answer was too indifferent, so he slowly added, "The Zhou family's swordsmanship focuses on assassination, and the training is mostly related to concealing one's aura."

The person following behind couldn't even completely conceal their aura, making it impossible for them to go unnoticed.

From a young age, Zhou Xingyun knew how to conceal his aura to the point of being undetectable and to minimize his own presence.

As Ye Qiao listened, she suddenly realized, "No wonder sometimes I feel like you walk like a female ghost."

She couldn't hear a sound at all. It was understandable that she couldn't hear it when she was in the Foundation Establishment stage, but even those in the Nascent Soul stage or the Divine Transformation stage would ignore the sound of Zhou Xingyun walking.

The female ghost Zhou Xingyun: "..."

"It's an unconscious habit." Zhou Xingyun said expressionlessly, but his voice betrayed his frustration. "She's not a female ghost."

They undergo training, and concealing their presence is almost an unconscious act ingrained in their bones. Assassination requires lightness, and landing must be as nimble as a cat's.

With the aid of the gentle breeze, they became even more elusive, appearing and disappearing without a trace.

Female ghost...

"That's so true." Ye Qiao's description was so apt that Ming Xuan glanced at it and agreed, "I never thought of such a description before."

The eldest brother's high ponytail gives him a youthful look, and he sometimes appears quite innocent when he's lost in thought.

The key is that her temperament gives people a cool and aloof feeling, as if she is detached from worldly affairs. If she lets her hair down, her ethereal appearance makes her look even more like a wandering ghost.

In fact, Mingxuan's psychological trauma from Zhou Xingyun probably stemmed from the latter's cold attitude and his unpredictable movements.

He was one of the earliest members to join the sect. Back then, there were no Xue Yu or Mu Chongxi; it was just him and the senior brother.

When I first met Zhou Xingyun, he was probably only fifteen years old.

The moon was high in the sky. The boy, with his fair skin, sat quietly by Mingxuan's window. He was dressed in white, with long hair flowing in the wind. He just stared at Mingxuan with his dark, expressionless eyes, without saying a word.

It was nighttime, and Mingxuan was idly drawing talismans on the table when he suddenly seemed to sense someone watching him.

He suddenly looked up and met Zhou Xingyun's gaze. The two stared at each other for a long time. Mingxuan's face turned pale, and his hand holding the pen trembled slightly, thinking that thieves had broken into Changming Sect.

Zhou Xingyun, whose natural reactions seemed to be a beat slower, turned around expressionlessly upon realizing that his junior brother had discovered him. He then took such light, almost imperceptible steps that he seemed to float away.

It drifted away...?

Holy crap?

What the hell!

The visual impact of this floating thing was too strong for him.

Mingxuan's brain went blank on the spot. The next day, he hurriedly told Elder Zhao that the Mingzong Sect was haunted and asked to set up an isolation array in his courtyard.

As a result, the wicked Elder Zhao beat him up for not only not paying attention in class but also daring to spread rumors in Changming Sect.

So, his window was still frequently visited by the boy at night. Mingxuan tried to close it, but it was no use. Every time he closed it, the wind would force the window open again. Undeterred, Mingxuan put up talismans.

Then the man broke through the window, poked his head out, and looked at him.

He didn't do anything, he just looked at himself.

Mingxuan was devastated. A few days later, he thought, "Damn it, where did this pervert come from? I know my features are delicate and not the traditional righteous look, but surely I shouldn't be targeted by a pervert?"

It wasn't until he met Zhou Xingyun that he realized that the man wasn't a pervert, but his senior brother.

The reason Zhou Xingyun comes to his courtyard every night to "check in" is because his senior brother is acting on Qin Fanfan's orders.

I'll check on my new junior apprentice every night to see if he's sleeping well.