Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

A celestial peak brimming with spiritual energy, covered in mysterious ice. Climbing the mountain along the winding mountain path feels like ascending icy stairs, with ice blocks suspended in mid-air above the mountain stream.

Although many people wanted to ask Xiao Yunhan for advice and discussion, the vast majority of them did not even have the ability to climb this immortal peak. They would often be forced to retreat halfway up because their spiritual meridians became stiff and their spiritual power could not circulate.

In contrast, the disciples who were responsible for menial tasks were much more at ease here. However, if any sect disciple tried to approach or disturb Xiao Yunhan by taking advantage of their menial task status, they were all frozen into ice blocks and thrown off the cliff.

On this day, a female disciple came to the summit, holding a viewing stone in her hands.

"Senior Sister Xiao, the Immortal Treasure Pavilion has sent over a viewing stone, delivered via spatial teleportation."

Xiao Yunhan did not show herself, but her clear and authoritative voice rang out from the mountaintop.

Who delivered it?

"The signature is Zuo, but I don't know who the person in question is," the female disciple replied respectfully.

Left?

Xiao Yunhan knew who it was, but she had a feeling that the viewing stone that this woman had rushed over was not a good thing. Based on Xiao Yunhan's understanding of her over the years, she was a woman with a problem in her head.

A woman in white robes and silk appeared, raising her slender, pale hand, and a pill appeared before the female disciple—a reward. The Viewing Stone flew into Xiao Yunhan's hand. She waved her hand, signaling the disciple to leave, and said:

"Understood, you step back."

"Thank you, Senior Sister Xiao!" The female disciple put away the pills and left happily.

It has to be said that Zuo Qiuchi is very good at choosing her timing. Xiao Yunhan was already planning to go into seclusion for a while. If she had sent it any later, it would have been hard to say when Xiao Yunhan would have been able to see the Viewing Stone after she came out of seclusion. Xiao Yunhan's choice of this time to go into seclusion was partly due to her desire to avoid suspicion.

After a while, Chu Mingkong will definitely return to Xiling to cause trouble. The Xiao family won't be able to withstand it and might come looking for her. Choosing to go into seclusion in advance is the best solution. Although she didn't publicly take sides for Chu Mingkong, she has already given him the best support she could.

After breaking the restriction left by Zuo Qiuchi on the viewing stone, Xiao Yunhan injected a stream of spiritual power into the viewing stone, and the azure stone reflected the image left by Zuo Qiuchi.

In the scene, Xiao Chumingkong is hugging Zuo Qiuchi and pleadingly saying, "Master Sister, I want to see you change into white socks."

"..."

Xiao Yunhan frowned slightly, her jade-like hands clenched into fists, and blue veins bulged on her fair forehead.

The scene shifts, and Zuo Qiuchi, wearing white stockings, rubs her two stockinged feet on Xiao Chumingkong's face, while the little brother looks on with ecstasy. Then the scene goes black, and what happened in between is unknown.

When the scene reappeared, Xiao Chumingkong was lying on his back in front of the viewing stone, looking like he had been thoroughly played with. Zuo Qiuchi threw a stocking at his face.

Snapped--

Unable to withstand the sudden drop in temperature, the viewing stone turned to dust with a crisp sound.

Xiao Yunhan conjured an icy sword in her palm, and with a burst of rage, she raised her hand and slashed, the extremely cold sword energy sweeping across and splitting a nearby immortal peak in two.

The elder next door: "???"

The female disciple, halfway down the mountain: "???"

Xiao Yunhan's beautiful figure appeared in front of the female disciple, who bowed in fear and confusion.

"Senior Sister Xiao, what are your orders?"

Xiao Yunhan calmed her emotions, took out a bag of spirit stones, placed it in the female disciple's hand, and said:

"I will give this to the elders of the neighboring immortal peak as compensation. Also, starting today, I will close the mountain gate and go into seclusion. You no longer need to come and handle miscellaneous matters; you can cultivate on your own."

Before the female disciple could respond, she was suddenly transported to the foot of the mountain by Xiao Yunhan.

Before long, Xiao Yunhan, who was nominally in seclusion, appeared before Qingse, the branch master of the Immortal Treasure Pavilion.

"Tell me, where are Zuo Qiuchi and Chu Mingkong located? Where did that viewing stone come from?"

----------------

Scent is invisible to ordinary people, but in Chu Mingkong's eyes, it left a continuous trace, which revealed Gu Mei's whereabouts and escape route.

Chu Mingkong first tracked her for a while, then pretended to lose her, making Gu Mei lower her guard, but in reality he always kept a distance from her that was hard to lose.

"I think I've been a bit feverish lately, because I smell pretty strong."

He sighed with mixed feelings. The undead that appeared on the ruins could no longer keep up with him. Those mindless things would stand there blankly when they couldn't find their enemies, and then burrow back into the ground.

Gu Mei was extremely cautious. She couldn't sense Chu Mingkong's presence; the Abyss Injury on his body, to some extent, surpassed the stealth and concealment techniques of many assassins. She could only keep circling around, regardless of whether Chu Mingkong had truly lost her.

When it was almost time, she returned to the ruins, cleaned up the bodies of the two witches, and stood there waiting.

Chu Mingkong followed this old bastard around in circles until he was almost dizzy, and then angrily discovered that Gu Mei had run back to the original spot.

"So what was the point of smelling my own urine for so long... I should have just stayed where I was."

Chu Mingkong was in despair and could only focus his attention on Gu Mei to see what this woman was up to. He had thought that Gu Mei would lead him to find Feng Ying.

"It seems this ruin holds some secrets. When Gu Mei and those two cannon fodder appeared just now, they seemed to have said something about 'totem altar'?"

Gu Mei stood still, seemingly observing the illusions that appeared intermittently around the altar. These illusions were ever-changing, and the figures within them wore clothing styles that were so different that they seemed to represent not so much different regions, but rather different eras.

After countless illusions, the altar illusion once again showed the image of the little girl crying helplessly.

This time, Chu Mingkong witnessed the complete aftermath of this illusion. After the little girl cried out a few times, she actually scared away those Yin Corpses!

He noticed that Gu Mei found the illusion unbelievable and approached the little girl to try to see her face, but she was unsuccessful. The little girl was terrified and buried her face in her knees, not daring to look at the corpses.

Gu Meineng couldn't figure out what was going on until the illusion disappeared.

The illusion of a group of believers bowing and kneeling in prayer reappeared. Without hesitation, Gu Mei placed a brocade pouch in the altar ruins, found a corner, and joined the group of believers in the illusion, kneeling and bowing in prayer.

Her action caused the altar to tremble and shoot out a beam of black light. Chu Mingkong looked up at the sky, which was clear and sunny one second, but turned into a dark night the next.

Ripples spread across the altar, revealing the entrance to a secret realm!

After Gu Mei went inside, Chu Mingkong hesitated whether to follow her in. What if he got caught in a trap?

But seeing that the door was about to close, he gritted his teeth and followed them inside.

Chapter 155 Infiltrating the Enemy's Interior!

After Chu Mingkong infiltrated, he was worried that he might run into the enemy right away, but it seems he was overthinking it.

This grotto was inexplicably dark and damp, filled with violent and restless thunderous energy. This energy struck puddles on the ground and stalactites on the walls, causing them to hiss and emit white smoke. This phenomenon was ubiquitous, filling the entire space with a hazy white mist.

It felt like a sinister, boiling hell.

Chu Mingkong's height was completely swallowed up by the white smoke. Even though there were many people wearing demon masks around, none of them noticed the short outsider.

Suddenly, Chu Mingkong shifted his position and stepped into a puddle, the sound of his foot splashing startling the people walking back and forth.

"What's that sound?!" A man wearing a hideous snake-face mask walked over warily, squatted down, looked around, and groped into the puddle, where he found a piece of gravel.

"Moro, have you discovered anything?"

"It's just a piece of gravel, probably a small stone that was struck by lightning."

Chu Mingkong crouched down against the wall, covering his head and shrinking into a ball to minimize his size.

The reason he moved so recklessly just now was to protect his ox. The lightning energy in this space is unpredictable and generated randomly. Just now, a bolt of lightning energy gathered near his vitals and almost turned him into an electric chicken.

"No, although no one can spot me now, my actions are too unpredictable. If I were struck by lightning out of the blue, I would easily be exposed, making it inconvenient to follow Gu Mei. Even if I can't blend into their group, I need to find a pair of pants to wear!"

Just as he was hesitating whether to grab a piece of clothing and tear off some fabric to use as a loincloth to protect himself, a figure dressed in bone armor and demonic armor appeared in the corner of his eye.

"That set of armor... it was practically made for me."

Chu Mingkong remembered the direction Gu Mei disappeared in, and then followed the person in the deep white bone armor, waiting for him to be alone so he could rob him.

Along the way, Chu Mingkong gained a general understanding of the people here. Although the masks that appeared here were all ferocious like evil ghosts, they could still be roughly divided into different types.

The snake-man masks, which they call "Moro," seem to belong to the low-level ranks here. Even so, these snake-man masked individuals have reached the fourth rank... Fourth-rank minions are unheard of.

The horse-faced mask appears to belong to someone called "Kinnara." Wielding a musical instrument as a weapon, he seems to be a music enthusiast, and his strength is roughly equivalent to Moro's.

The man Chu Mingkong was following was wearing a mask he had never seen before. He held a high position here, and both the Kinnara Mask and the Moro Mask had to nod and greet him.

Furthermore, something else piqued Chu Mingkong's interest: he sensed the aura of the Hehuan Cultivation Technique on this bone-armored man, perhaps he was from the Hehuan Sect.

Finally, Chu Mingkong got his chance to be alone. The man walked to a corner, and Chu Mingkong gathered a faint aura of extreme Yin Fire in his hand. Suddenly, he pounced out of the white mist, and his small hand, like the sharp teeth of a beast, "bite" the man's throat.

Caught off guard, he had no ability to resist.

The man tried to struggle and call for help, but the extreme yin fire spiritual energy had entered his body, and his vocal cords had been burned. He could not unleash his spiritual energy and was already suppressed.

Chu Mingkong usurped the armor, while the original owner had been destroyed by Chu Mingkong using his extreme Yin Fire spiritual energy.

The man had the appearance of a so-called "pretty boy," and he was even dressed up and made up. Chu Mingkong memorized his appearance, and after leaving this strange place, he went to investigate who this man was.

Moreover, Chu Mingkong obtained two storage rings from this person's equipment, and he will check what treasures are inside when he has time.

A person wearing a Moro mask walked over and asked in confusion:

"Lord Ashura, why does this place smell like charred corpses?"

That slick-haired, powder-faced, effeminate "pretty boy"... is it Lord Ashura?

This must be referring to the identity represented by the mask. Chu Mingkong ignored Moro, because this person had been ignoring everyone as he walked by, and Chu Mingkong didn't want to make a sound or do anything unnecessary, lest he expose himself.

He ignored Moro completely and walked straight in the direction where Gu Mei had disappeared.

Protected by armor, Chu Mingkong swaggered around the area and soon discovered a suspicious spot.

“The masked men no longer appear in the area at the fork in the road ahead. I guess it's because the forbidden soldiers are getting close. My status as an Asura shouldn't be low, and I have injuries protecting me, so they shouldn't be able to sense me.”

Thinking back now, I realized that the two sorceresses' masks during the battle at the altar ruins were Kinnara masks, while I hadn't seen Gu Mei's mask before.

Chu Mingkong quietly went to the cave next to the one that resembled a "conference room" and eavesdropped on what was happening inside.

—What's going on with the Heavenly Pole Empire? Why are the emperor's henchmen becoming more and more active? Is he faking illness, or are his henchmen being controlled by someone else?

—It doesn't seem like he's faking illness. The Crown Prince of Xiling left the capital so easily. If the Emperor were faking illness, why would he let him leave?

—Is it possible that the emperor failed to stop her, rather than intentionally letting her go? Well, we've discussed this for a long time, and there's no definitive conclusion. Benzoin, why are you so late?

"Wait a minute, I've only just started listening, and you're already finished?!" Chu Mingkong regretted arriving late. This organization, whose true nature was unknown, was actually discussing matters concerning the Tianji Empire.

—An unexpected incident occurred. The Crown Prince of Xiling stopped me and somehow appeared at the Totem Ruins, but I have already shaken him off.

Chu Mingkong was overjoyed: "That's Gu Mei's voice. Is this old bastard calling for 'benzoin' here?"

How well did you do with the tasks I assigned you?

—It's all done. Prince Kasander, whom we've supported, is perfectly safe and can resonate with the White Tiger totem. In the future, he will provide the Venerable Ones and all the esteemed gentlemen with a wider range of activities.

—Alright, you have done a good job, and a reward should be given to you now, but you are late because you have just been promoted to a higher level, so the reward will be postponed.