Yun Qingxuan drifted silently through the dark, frigid void.
At that moment, she felt as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.
She suddenly felt like a lonely ghost wandering through this world, with no one to rely on.
From this exchange of messages, she had learned that the Holy Lord Yun Wanchu, whom she had revered, admired, and even felt grateful to, was nothing more than a servant of the Hua Clan—not even a servant, in fact!
And even the Holy Lord Yun Wanchu had been casually discarded, abandoned, treated like a dog!
Then what did that make her, Yun Qingxuan?!
More importantly, even though she now knew the truth, there was nothing she could do to fix things.
Should she tell someone?
How many people would believe her?
Even if they all did, could she escape?
Once an ancestor of that level had set his sights on her, fleeing was out of the question!
Yun Qingxuan had fallen into despair—yet even in the face of her mother's plight and her hatred, she had never once felt so hopeless!
But now, she had nowhere left to turn!
Yun Qingxuan paid no further attention to Hua Yunxiao, because he had already begun sending a message to his daughter.
His daughter, Fairy Li, was the number-one Saintess of Wanli Holy Land!
By now, Yun Qingxuan also knew her true identity.
This time, she had learned far too many secrets.
But she no longer cared about any of them.
"Is there anyone in this world who can help me?"
Yun Qingxuan's heart was filled with sorrow.
Then, a person came to mind—the Heavenly Secrets Master who had effortlessly recognized the Nine Radiance Heart-Inquiry Tea and seen through the secret hidden deep within her heart with just one glance.
"Earlier, he told me not to activate the 'Soul Locking Tower.' So did I happen to activate it this time by sheer chance, and that's how I obtained all this information?"
"Is that why he didn't want me to uncover the secret of the 'Soul Locking Tower'?"
"Or was he also being manipulated, kept in the dark?"
"Isn't he the Heavenly Secrets Master? Isn't he incredibly powerful? Could he really be manipulated, too?"
"Perhaps he can divine things about others, but not about himself?"
"Whatever the truth, he did save me and Qinghong when that 'heaven-descended stele' appeared. This time, I'll test the waters. If it works, then...I'll repay that kindness by doing everything I can to save his life. If he's been lying to me, isn't he very important? Then I'll kill him outright and make the Hua Clan's plot collapse on the spot!"
As Yun Qingxuan pondered, she realized that the moment she thought of Su Li, her figure had crossed through space and appeared in the courtyard where he was.
In this ghostlike, immaterial state, Yun Qingxuan found that if she focused, the courtyards and everything else disappeared from her sight.
That allowed her to see Master Su easily. He was sitting cross-legged in his room, breathing in and out as he cultivated.
As she watched, Yun Qingxuan saw Su Li inexplicably take out six Nine Night Spirit Sunflower Cold Stems and begin divining with them on the spot.
She had seen this method of divination during the day. It was a strange practice Su Li called "fortune-telling."
"What is Master Su doing?"
Yun Qingxuan wondered, but she didn't act rashly. Instead, she watched quietly.
The next moment, the six Nine Night Spirit Sunflower Cold Stems formed a strange arrangement.
Yun Qingxuan couldn't make sense of it, but a short while later, Master Su performed the divination again.
Then she noticed that the results were exactly the same both times!
At that point, she saw Master Su's expression turn unmistakably grim.
Just then, Yun Qingxuan abruptly turned and looked toward the southwest.
From the southwest, a pitch-black bone shaped like a rib shot toward Master Su's brow, carrying an utterly terrifying, deadly force.
Luoxia Barren Mountains, Silent Ancient Temple.
"Settle the spirit, lock the soul!"
Beside Yun Yifan, Zheng Tianyin and Wang Wenyuan deployed the Nine Star Mysterious Array, the Soul Locking Spirit Settling Dragon Imprisoning Array!
At the center of the formation stood a crystal coffin, two meters long, half a meter wide, and more than a meter tall.
Countless runes swam across the coffin like tadpoles.
It looked as though the crystal coffin had sealed living water inside.
"Sacrifice Profound Blood, stain the frost red; sever the Heavenly Dao, derive the four directions!"
Zheng Tianyin held a silver hook and slashed through the great quantity of blood in the crystal coffin. A sheet of it transformed into blood arrows and shot out.
"Hum—"
The blood arrows abruptly stopped in midair before Zheng Tianyin.
He swept his right hand across his forehead and slapped it.
At once, his snow-white forehead turned crimson, and great plumes of white vapor rose from it.
"Subdue the soul, lock the soul, begin the sacrificial refining!"
Wang Wenyuan extended his index finger and released a burst of force. Blood spurted from its tip.
The blood surged through the air like a dragon, leaving rows of runes in its wake before suddenly darting into the crystal coffin.
At that moment, the woman inside the coffin abruptly opened her eyes.
Her eyes were filled with resentment, baleful intent, and a sinister glare.
At the same time, her entire body shuddered, making the crystal coffin around her shake violently.
"Rumble—"
The tremendous noise made the entire Silent Ancient Temple seem on the verge of collapse.
Clods of earth, dust, thatch, and more shook loose and came tumbling down.
But nothing inside the temple stopped. If anything, it grew more violent.
"Crack—"
Suddenly, a blood-red rib burst through the woman's chest and flew out.
The instant it emerged and entered the blood inside the coffin, the rib let out an extremely grating hiss. At the same time, great clouds of black qi rose from the crystal coffin, as if red-hot iron had been plunged into water.
"Whoosh—"
The next moment, the rib flew out of the crystal coffin, now pitch-black and shaped like a ghostly Soul Bone.
At the same time, all the sinister, savage, murderous, and baleful auras it had carried dissipated completely.
"Imperial Lord Yun, we haven't let you down. It's ninety percent complete. Now we just need this Soul Bone to suppress that boy's mutated soul."
"That boy may be powerful enough to defy heaven, but this Soul Bone is made from his mother's bloodline bone. It is bound to his life and death—a shackle between life and death! Suppressing him with it will be effortless!"
Zheng Tianyin and Wang Wenyuan both let out a breath, wiped the sweat and streaks of blood from their foreheads, then bowed slightly and spoke in turn.
"Thank you for your hard work, two Mystics."
Yun Yifan's eyes flashed with brilliant light, his spirit soaring.
Yun Qingxuan watched helplessly as the ghostlike black rib shot toward Master Su's brow. In that instant, her heart sank to the bottom once more.
"Senior Hua and the ancestor behind him have already made their move?! They're going to...wipe everyone out!"
Yun Qingxuan wanted to stop it, but her strength was limited. There was nothing she could do.
But just then, she felt her own ethereal state suddenly grow unbearably heavy!
At the same time, an enormous teapot a hundred meters across appeared before her.
It appeared without warning, like Mount Tai crashing down, and pressed hard upon her.
Yun Qingxuan struggled to lift her head, then saw—to her utter horror—the giant teapot's lidless mouth yawn open and suddenly shine toward the place where Su Li stood.
"Hum—"
In Yun Qingxuan's eyes, the space around Su Li twisted!
The broken rib was just about to pierce Su Li's brow, but it suddenly jolted and was sucked into the teapot.
Then the enormous teapot rapidly shrank, turning into a streak of dark light that shot toward Yun Qingxuan.
A sharp pain stabbed through Yun Qingxuan's brow, and she couldn't help crying out.
"Ah—"
Only after crying out did she realize that no sound had escaped her.
The discomfort she had felt was gone, too.
"Who's there?!"
Just as she was secretly congratulating herself, she suddenly heard Su Li's stern shout.
She instinctively looked over, only to find herself meeting Su Li's icy, indifferent, and unfathomably deep gaze.
Before you continue