Interesting.
Very interesting.
She, Jin Ping'er, the Hehuan Sect's Miao Gongzi, had never been one to give up easily.
Back then, Lu Jiuyuan had saved her and stayed by her side for seven days.
She had remembered those seven days for a long time.
Now, she wanted to make them last a lifetime.
As for the fact that he already had someone by his side, well...
Jin Ping'er lifted her eyes and looked at the graceful figure dressed in white as snow.
Then it would come down to what each of them could do.
She rose to her feet, brushed off her skirt, and sauntered over to the two of them.
"Finished talking?" Jin Ping'er asked with a bright smile. "If you are, let's go. If we dawdle any longer, the main force of your Qingyun Sect will notice that three people are missing."
Lu Xueqi stared coldly at her without saying a word.
Lu Jiuyuan glanced at the faint tension between them and rubbed his brow with a headache.
"Let's go, then."
He released his arm from Lu Xueqi's slender waist and took her hand instead.
Lu Xueqi gave a slight start. She lowered her eyes to the hand holding hers, and her expression finally softened a little.
Jin Ping'er glanced at them, her smile unchanged.
The three of them headed out of the forest together.
Wen Min followed at the very back, watching the strange trio ahead of her with a sinking feeling.
One was Senior Sister Lu, cold as ice.
One was Jin Ping'er, smiling like a fox.
And Senior Brother...
Never mind. Senior Brother would know where to draw the line.
When Lu Jiuyuan returned to the group with Jin Ping'er, the entire Qingyun Sect party fell silent.
Hundreds of eyes fell in unison on the woman in pale yellow, then shifted together to Lu Jiuyuan.
Those gazes held surprise and confusion, along with a subtle something that was hard to put into words.
Jin Ping'er, for her part, was perfectly at ease. She followed behind Lu Jiuyuan, a lazy smile playing at her lips as her gaze swept carelessly over the faces of the Qingyun disciples.
The Qingyun disciples present were all clever. Add in her attire and the seductive air that seemed to seep from her very bones, and it was obvious at a glance that she was no member of the righteous path.
"How did Senior Brother Lu end up mixed up with someone from the Demon Sect?"
"But Senior Brother Lu is incredible. He even knows people from the Demon Sect!"
The whispers spread like ripples on water, but everyone kept their voices low.
Xiao Yicai, at the head of the group, heard the murmurs. His brow furrowed slightly as he said in a low voice, "Everyone, we should get moving!"
The others stopped talking and set off again.
Jin Ping'er walked beside Lu Jiuyuan, half a step behind him, while Lu Xueqi walked on his other side.
The three walked shoulder to shoulder. It was a strange sight, but no one dared stare for long.
Walking behind them, Wen Min looked from one to the other and sighed silently.
This trip to the Southern Border was bound to be anything but peaceful.
This trip to the Southern Border was bound to be anything but peaceful.
After flying for a little over half an hour, the land below gradually began to change.
Once they left Qingyun Sect territory, the farther south they went, the more desolate the scenery became.
The once lush forests grew sparse. Weeds choked the fields, and every now and then they spotted a few thatched cottages, all dilapidated and seemingly long abandoned.
As they flew farther, they finally saw people.
On the main road, groups of two or three families were trudging north with their belongings. They carried bundles on their backs and pushed handcarts.
Old men leaned on canes, women carried children, and men shouldered the few possessions they had left.
Every face was etched with exhaustion and fear. Their eyes were vacant, as though something had drained them of all their strength.
"Mother, I can't walk anymore..."
A little girl stumbled along as her mother led her by the hand, her small face deathly pale.
The woman crouched to pick her up, but nearly fell over herself.
Grinding her teeth, she stood and staggered onward.
Wen Min's nose stung as she watched. "How could this happen..."
Jin Ping'er gazed down at the scene. At some point, her smile had faded.
"The demonic beasts of the Southern Border have been growing more restless lately."
Her voice was quiet, her tone light. "They come out every few days to raid villages, steal grain, and devour livestock. Sometimes, they even..."
She trailed off, but everyone understood.
Lu Jiuyuan watched the fleeing villagers below in silence.
He thought of the events in the original story.
Before the Beast God emerged, the demonic beasts of the Southern Border had indeed been active, but the large-scale attacks on humans should not have begun for some time yet.
It seemed the signs of the Beast God's emergence had appeared even earlier than he had expected.
Still, something felt vaguely wrong to him. The situation seemed suspicious somehow.
The group continued onward.
The scenes below grew increasingly horrifying.
As they passed a village, everyone saw it.
The village had been burned to the ground. Charred beams leaned crookedly, jutting up like blackened bones.
Broken pottery, trampled clothes, and dark red stains littered the ground.
There was no one.
Not a single living soul.
The entire village lay silent. Only the wind moaned as it swept through the ruins, like someone weeping.
No one in the group spoke.
Even Wen Min, who was usually the most talkative, fell silent.
They flew on for a while longer when a sudden commotion came from the forest below.
Everyone looked down. Several large trees shook violently in a stretch of dense woods, their leaves and branches rustling down.
A low growl came from somewhere within, rough and hoarse, like stones grinding together. The sound was deeply unsettling.
Then—
"Help!"
A scream shattered the forest's silence.
It was a child's voice, shrill and desperate, choked with sobs.
Everyone turned toward the sound. In a clearing at the edge of the woods, a little girl of seven or eight was running for her life.
Her clothes were tattered, her feet bare, and her hair disheveled. Mud and tears streaked her face.
A demonic beast was chasing her.
It looked like a giant wolf, three or four times the size of an ordinary one, with black scales covering its body and blood-red eyes. Its jaws gaped, revealing rows of white fangs, and drool dripped from the corners of its mouth. It was moving incredibly fast.
The little girl ran too frantically and caught her foot on a tree root, crashing hard to the ground.
She looked back and saw the beast's gaping maw lunging toward her. She squeezed her eyes shut in terror and let out one last scream.
At that very moment, a streak of white light cut across the sky.
It was so fast that most people saw only a blur.
"Clang!!!"
The sound of the Tianya Sword being drawn rang clear as a dragon's cry.
Lu Xueqi dropped from the sky, her white robes billowing, her sword shining like a rainbow.
She stood between the little girl and the beast, the Tianya Sword held across her body. Blue light flowed along the blade in the sunlight, dazzlingly beautiful.
The beast lunged close. When the sword's light fell upon it, fear flashed in its blood-red eyes.
But it had already committed to its charge and could not stop. It could only steel itself and press on.
Lu Xueqi turned her wrist.
The Tianya Sword swept through a perfect arc, its light slashing across like a silken ribbon.
"Awoooo!!!"
With a wretched howl, the beast's massive body was cleaved in two by the sword light, its foul blood spraying across the ground.
The two halves crashed down on either side, making the earth tremble.
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