"Beat them up!" Pei Qing hesitated for a moment, then sneered. "Then, Junior Brother... we're going in." Of the five major sects in the Righteous Path Alliance, these two ranked among the top five sects in the Ten Lands of Jiuzhou. Apart from the wild cultivators who'd stumbled onto the path by chance, there probably wasn't a Cultivator in the Ten Lands of Jiuzhou who didn't know their names. Pei Qing raised a hand to stop him. "Ha." "What should we do?" Pei Qing glanced at Zuo Yanfei and Tang Ruowei. "Besides, miss, you can't take a demon's word at face value. Whether there's a problem or not, we should capture these demons and take them back to Dingguo first, then decide what to do." "Heh. In a world this vast, there are bound to be a few people with similar builds." Pei Qing spoke as if he had a death wish. "I've long heard that none can surpass the Qingming Sword Technique. Today, I, a Virtual Core, would like to test your swordsmanship, miss." "Pei Dao, don't do anything reckless." Seeing that no one had taken the bait, Tang Ruowei curled her lip and gave a very quiet scoff. Zuo Yanfei, meanwhile, cupped her hands toward the other four Cultivators and said, "I'm Zuo Yanfei, a first-class soldier of the Divine Martial Heavenly Army. This is Tang Ruowei, a disciple of the Azure Nether Sword Sect. May I ask which sect you four come from?" "Then let me blast it with magic again." The White Fox immediately grew flustered. "Everyone, we came here only to investigate the case of Dingguo's Crown Prince." The other three were startled and quickly scattered. In the next instant, the earth burst apart, and Tang Ruowei and Zuo Yanfei appeared where they had been. He waved a hand, and the other three Cultivators closed in, watching Zuo Yanfei and Tang Ruowei like predators eyeing their prey. "Have a nice trip." ... Zuo Yanfei raised an eyebrow, drew two pistols from beneath her skirt, joined them together, and held them one-handed behind her. "Get ready..." Behind the stone statue of Dingguo's late emperor, four Cultivators stood surrounding a burrow at its base. Zuo Yanfei cupped her hands. "Even your father wouldn't dare say that to my face. You've got more guts than he does." "But this fellow here looks very much like the one who ambushed us on the canal that day." "Two heroines!" Another disciple formed a Magic Incantation with his fingers, and a faint red light welled up at his fingertips. The White Fox froze for a moment. Just then, another man, who'd been silent until now, suddenly called out, "Careful! Something's about to crawl out!" "This is the stone statue of Dingguo's late emperor, a symbol of the Dingguo imperial family. Our sect hasn't yet reached the point of disregarding the Dingguo royal family." The White Fox immediately bowed to Zuo Yanfei and Tang Ruowei. "Please, I'm counting on you!" "So, you two intend to protect those demons?" "There are four people outside: two mid-stage Foundation Establishment, one late-stage Foundation Establishment, and one peak Foundation Establishment Virtual Core. Looks like the Golden Core Cultivators haven't arrived yet." The foxes gave the little Qi Refining Stage Cultivator who'd suddenly started ordering everyone around a strange look. The White Fox pointed at his own head and asked, "Is something wrong with your skull?" Zuo Yanfei asked coldly. Hearing those two names, the Cultivators around them were all startled. He waved at the foxes. "Go hide inside." "I'll say this first: blades and swords have no eyes. I've probably already killed one of your people. My master never taught me how to hold back. He said that no matter what, I should protect myself first—even if that means beating my enemy to death. If we really fight, I can't guarantee you'll make it out alive..." "Looks like we've been spotted." Tang Ruowei sighed and spread her hands. "What are you doing?" Bai Qiuran gave her a sidelong glance and said wistfully, "I remember that when I was a kid and had nothing to entertain myself, my favorite thing was finding an anthill on the mountain and pissing into it, or lighting a fire at the entrance and fanning smoke inside to smoke the ants out..." "We'll honor our promise." They were disciples of Baiyue Temple, here to hunt down these Shapeshift demons on behalf of several elders of their sect. "Senior Brother Pei Qing, there's movement underground!" "Can't we just stay in the burrow and not come out?" Bai Qiuran raised a finger, Sword Qi flickering at its tip, and said, "You came from the Demon Realm to hang around the Ten Lands of Jiuzhou. Didn't your old man warn you to watch out for Qi Refining Stage disciples of the Azure Nether Sword Sect?" Zuo Yanfei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she snapped them open and thrust her spear toward the silent disciple, the weapon darting like a swimming dragon. "All right, since we've come this far..." Bai Qiuran smiled. The fire-element Cultivator who had ambushed Tang Ruowei and Zuo Yanfei on the canal was here too. He turned to the man beside him and asked, "Senior Brother Pei Qing, are you sure this is the place?" "After questioning them, we don't think the demons inside killed the Crown Prince." Tang Ruowei glanced at Bai Qiuran. "Heh." "Oh?" "Looks like you don't understand all this beating around the bush. Good thing I don't like it either, so I'll be direct: the demons here are innocent, and the ones inside have important identities. I hope you and your people know when to back off." Pei Qing laughed loudly and said, "We're here for the same case. The demon that killed the Crown Prince is hiding beneath this statue. Why don't you join forces with us and capture these Yao Mo?" "Perfect." "You two are inexperienced and kindhearted. When you're out adventuring, it's easy for demons to mislead you. Don't worry, we won't hurt you. At most, we'll capture you and have your sect elders come collect you." "The Divine Martial Heavenly Army? The Azure Nether Sword Sect?" Bai Qiuran waved with a smile, watching Tang Ruowei and Zuo Yanfei vanish into the burrow amid the Spirit Light of the spell. Then his smile faded, leaving him with a lazy expression. "Ruowei, beat them up!" "Senior Brother Pei Qing, are you sure it's here?" Pei Qing spoke as he stepped forward. Zuo Yanfei glanced at the foxes and said calmly, "Ruowei, you and I will go out and draw them away. With your Earth Escape Technique, you should be able to get away. Junior Brother Bai, stay with the foxes. Once we've drawn those people away, you can all run together." Zuo Yanfei closed her eyes and used a secret technique of the Divine Martial Heavenly Army to investigate. "Let's go." The four Baiyue Temple disciples across from them quietly spread out. Pei Yuan and Pei Qing faced Tang Ruowei, while the hot-tempered Pei Dao and another disciple faced Zuo Yanfei. "Seriously, are you four sure you won't reconsider?" "So you think that even the names of the Azure Nether Sword Sect and the Divine Martial Heavenly Army can't protect a few innocent demons?" The man who'd been asked held an Eight Trigrams-shaped compass. Its needle pointed unwaveringly toward the statue. The man lowered his gaze to the compass in his hand, then replied, "According to the tracking results from the Magic Treasure our master gave us, the demonic aura disappeared here." The White Fox asked. Zuo Yanfei gave Pei Yuan a cool glance.
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