The girl selling goods at the market had never seen money before.

"Don't you understand yet? Eight years ago, before my mother died, she sent me a message saying that Bai Ruolan found a treasure while mining and wanted to keep it for herself, so she killed my parents!"

He roared angrily, "I've been searching for them for so many years, and they've hidden themselves so well... They've never appeared in Star City!"

Volume 1: Chapter 63: The Girl Abandoned by Her Parents

Memories of that day surfaced in Bai Jinxuan's mind.

A light drizzle was falling outside, and she was reading a book about magic in her room on the second floor.

Suddenly, a loud slamming sound came from outside the door.

Xiao Bai Jinxuan was confused, thinking that a robber had broken in, so she quietly pressed herself against the door and opened it a crack.

The father staggered into the basement, looking very distressed.

Seeing this, Bai Jinxuan quickly pushed open the door, grabbed the second-floor railing with both hands, and asked worriedly as he hurried out, "Dad, are you... alright? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

As she spoke, Xiao Bai Jinxuan was about to go downstairs to help her father to rest.

However, upon hearing this, the father suddenly straightened his back and seemed to come back to life.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. What could be wrong with Dad? Xiaoxuan, go back to your room and take a nap. If Dad doesn't come home today, go to the basement where we keep our family photo. There's a birthday present Dad gave you there."

"Oh......"

Although Bai Jinxuan saw her father return with the artifact, the obedient and sensible girl still chose to go back to her room.

Just as she turned around, her father's trembling voice suddenly came from downstairs.

"Xiaoxuan!"

Hearing the call, Bai Jinxuan turned around and looked at her father in confusion: "Dad?"

"Dad has gone to work. Take good care of yourself at home and don't open the door for anyone."

"Okay, I understand. Dad, take care on your journey." Bai Jinxuan smiled innocently as she watched her father leave.

That was the last time Bai Jinxuan saw her father. After that, she heard the news that her parents had died on the fifth underground level.

For eight years, she has been trying to find clues about her parents in both the black market and the underground city, and only today has the matter made some progress.

We must make Ding Hong reveal all the information he knows!

As for what bad things her parents had done, like murder or something, her answer was—impossible.

Bai Jinxuan's will is very firm.

Over the years, she knew best how her parents treated others. If her parents were still alive, they would never have abandoned her and left alone, remaining without any news for a full eight years.

Besides, if they were really as Ding Hong said, his father wouldn't have needed to bring the artifact home at all. His ability to explore the dungeon like this was all thanks to his father.

Therefore, there must be some special reason for them.

Besides, Ding Hong's statement is only one side of the story, and its veracity remains to be confirmed.

What I need to do now is to pry all the information out of him and then completely eliminate him here.

From the moment she first encountered the Undying Society, there was no turning back, let alone the fact that Ding Hong recognized her identity...

This is not something that money can solve; it's a life-or-death battle.

"call--"

Bai Jinxuan took a deep breath, reached out, and pressed her hand to her face.

A gentle breeze blew by, and she felt that her cheeks were no longer burning as before; the wound had probably stopped bleeding.

With a flick of her fingers, she removed the mask of delusion.

Her ordinary face seemed to have been torn off, and at this moment, Bai Jinxuan revealed her true appearance.

The shadowy figure vanished, transforming into a human form, with a clearly visible bloodstain beneath its crimson eyes.

She tucked the mask under her cloak, and the girl, who should have been enjoying her youth and diligently training at school, unleashed a murderous intent far beyond her years.

"Ding Hong, you're dead."

"Okay...that's more like it. I knew you couldn't possibly be so ugly; you were using a disguise...hehe...interesting..."

Ding Hong forced out a hoarse sound from his throat, the pain-inducing drug relentlessly tormenting his mind.

Although he didn't know why Bai Jinxuan wasn't affected, he guessed it was probably due to the effect of some kind of prop.

Shadows... Damn it.

He quickly shoveled a packet of powder from his pocket into his mouth and swallowed it little by little.

The battle is about to break out.

Bai Jinxuan naturally wouldn't let Ding Hong drink the medicine so easily. She took the initiative, moving under him and sharply raising her sword.

"clang!"

The violent collision, accompanied by sparks, was from throwing knives—those poisoned knives that had been hidden under clothing.

Since she didn't know if the poisons and medicines were of the same nature, Bai Jinxuan didn't choose to chase them directly. Instead, she parried them and then sneaked into the shadows to pursue them.

This gave Ding Hong ample time to recover. Even though the pain medication was still taking effect, he was much better than before.

He slapped his forehead, and his thoughts gradually became clear.

His situation was still very dangerous; those skeleton soldiers couldn't hold off the guild. If he continued to fight Bai Jin...

If Xuan continues this fight, he'll be finished once the union members catch up with him.

Having spent so long building the Immortal Society, and just one step away from success, he absolutely cannot die here!

Thinking of this, he continued throwing knives at Bai Jinxuan, then turned and fled.

The two resumed their chase, but this time, they were both injured to varying degrees.

Since Ding Hong doesn't have the ability to evade the monsters' vision like Bai Jinxuan, they inevitably become targets of the predatory plants during this process.

Several Venus flytraps attacked them in succession upon seeing them, and in addition, there were numerous vines blocking the way deep within the dense forest.

Those vines are very similar to those of the Evil Heaven Tree. Once you get close, they will immediately grow into humanoid tree spirits covered in vines, and then extend vines like arms to grab passing creatures and prey on them.

Although these tree spirits are much weaker than the Evil Heaven Tree, the problem is that there are too many of them. Under the vines that almost fill the entire field of vision, there are tree spirits everywhere. When they attack together, it is simply overwhelming.

The moment the ferocious Venus flytrap entered this vine forest, it was grabbed and torn apart by the tree spirits, like being devoured by zombies, and merged into the thick vines.

In this environment, Ding Hong no longer had time to kill Bai Jinxuan; he was already doing his best just dealing with the monsters.

Bai Jinxuan is different; her inability to be targeted also applies to these tree spirits. As long as she enters stealth mode, the tree spirits will not attack her at all.

Therefore, in Ding Hong's eyes, Bai Jinxuan was like a friend of the tree spirit. Every time she slashed, a group of arms followed behind her to connect the subsequent attacks, and the coordination was very tacit.

"Damn it, if that's the case, then I'll just have to force myself to speed up!"

Knowing that this place was not safe to stay in, Ding Hong used his martial arts skills to transform into a little golden man and forcefully broke through the vines.

His golden statue is actually called the Golden Bell Shield. When activated, it not only grants him a large amount of defensive power, but also reflects a portion of the force of any attack he receives.

Of course, powerful martial arts skills are often accompanied by risks. As a commodity that can be purchased, the little golden man has a very obvious drawback: it burns blue mana.

In the state of being a golden statue, Ding Hong's energy would be depleted in just 2 minutes, so he had to take medicine while operating the golden statue.

In this situation, his speed slowed down, and soon Bai Jinxuan caught up with him.

She first slashed at the back of Ding Hong's neck, but failed to break through his defenses. Then she tried to attack the back joint of his leg, but it was still ineffective.

"It's useless, it's useless. You're just hurting yourself by attacking like that."

Seeing Bai Jinxuan's hand trembling as she gripped the sword, Ding Hong smiled happily. He was just a little short of reaching the hidden spot on the second floor.

Only a few people know about that place; it contains a portal that leads directly to the fifth underground level.

Because the portal is bidirectional, this portal has remained undiscovered. In other words, even after reaching the fifth floor, it will still be an undiscovered portal.

Once he reaches the fifth floor, he will no longer have to worry about the guild's pursuers.

As for Bai Jinxuan, if she is smart, she will back down. If she is not smart and insists on coming to the fifth floor to get in the way, then he doesn't mind dealing with Bai Jinxuan first and then looking for clues left by his parents.

"boom--"

Just as he was thinking, an explosion suddenly occurred beneath his feet.

The powerful impact instantly knocked him to the ground.

"It seems your martial arts skills have only given you a layer of shell."

Bai Jinxuan walked through the smoke and splashed slime and predatory plant attractant onto the brilliant humanoid golden light in front of her.

The nearby vines immediately began to stir, with countless tree spirits poking their heads out. Even not far away, a tall Evil Heaven Tree moved its legs, which were made of tentacles, with a "thump, thump, thump..." sound, desperately trying to get closer.

Even more terrifying is that after doing all this, Bai Jinxuan simply vanished on the spot, and in the blink of an eye, Ding Hong was completely surrounded.

"You bastard...you bitch!"

Realizing he was in trouble, Ding Hong cursed angrily and quickly fled to the side farther away from the Evil Heaven Tree.

You know, the Golden Bell Shield can only block the tree spirit's arm, but once the Evil Heaven Tree comes over and its vines entangle him, controlling him, wouldn't he become nourishment here?

As the saying goes, what you fear most is what will happen.

Bai Jinxuan orchestrated this whole thing to use the demons to trap Ding Hong here and kill him.

The Evil Heaven Tree is the finishing touch.

First, the physical resistance of the Evil Sky Tree is difficult to overcome, requiring a mage to effectively damage it. Second, the Evil Sky Tree does not kill its prey directly, but rather gradually weakens its resistance.

Once Ding Hong becomes a weak and helpless lamb, he can rescue her and then easily torture or kill her.

Seeing the other party's terrified expression and their desire to quickly escape the attack range of the Evil Heaven Tree, Bai Jinxuan smiled slightly.

How could I possibly let you get away so easily?!

Three Meow Meow grenades landed in front of him. If he dodged, it would be a waste of time. If he didn't dodge, he would be knocked to the ground and have to get up again, which would be an even bigger waste of time.

Moreover, judging by the timeline, the slime should have started to take effect by now.

With the added mental torture of the pain-inducing drugs, Bai Jinxuan was certain that Ding Hong's speed would only slow down further.

What's the point of being a turtle? The Evil Heavenly Tree is specifically designed to deal with turtles like you!

Just as she was preparing her next move to stop them, the golden figure, radiant with light, soared into the air, illuminating the entire jungle like the sun...

Bai Jinxuan was stunned. Ding Hong was risking his life to avoid being caught by the Evil Heaven Tree.

But that's perfect. If he's in the air, he won't be able to dodge anymore, right? Although the recoil hurts a lot, the impact of this punch will send him flying right in front of Xie Tianshu!

The girl tensed and bent her legs, then leaped up, her right arm fully charged, like Superman, aiming at the golden sun and charging forward.

Ding Hong panicked. He was currently airborne and had no way to dodge the attack. The Evil Heaven Tree was right behind him. If he really took this punch, he would be finished.

Over the years, he has been doing business in the black market and navigating the underground city, so he is very clear about what those captured by the Evil Sky Tree will suffer.

In the past, when talking about Xie Tianshu with some colleagues, they would laugh and say that if a boss who was unwilling to pay was taught a lesson by Xie Tianshu, he would behave. Now that he was actually going to experience this lesson firsthand, he realized how terrifying this punishment was.

Bai Jinxuan... that woman, she's so beautiful, but she's so vicious behind the scenes. No wonder she was targeted by a terrifying organization like Shadow at such a young age and has such a twisted tool.

What to do, what to do, what to do... That's it! She was also airborne when she attacked me. If I just interrupt her attack, wouldn't that be equivalent to canceling out her control?

He acted immediately, took out a small knife from inside his clothes, and threw it with all his might.

Unfortunately, Bai Jinxuan saw his actions clearly.

Having learned a lesson from her experience, Bai Jinxuan learned a trick from her fight with Sun Haoqiang, and now she can use it to deal with that loyal dog's boss.

She clenched her fist, unleashing her energy prematurely, knocking all the knives away.

The remaining shockwaves scattered and slammed directly into Ding Hong's body.

In this way, he wouldn't even have to suffer the backlash. Although the force was slightly weaker, it at least stopped him from continuing to escape.

The Evil Heavenly Tree is coming soon!

The earth-shaking footsteps were extremely oppressive, and Ding Hong's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

He never imagined that one day he would face the predicament that was the subject of a joke at the dinner table. The true nature of the Evil Heaven Tree was far more than just a benevolent transformation potion; in his words, it was a fate worse than death.

We have to escape, we absolutely have to escape! We're just a hair's breadth away from the portal; we can even see its trace on the magic detector!

That place, as long as I can get there...

He gritted his teeth, took out three powerful pills from his pocket, and swallowed them.