Playing Mind Games

"I don't know either."

Pang Jian shook his head, his face a mask of bewilderment.

He only remembered that when the Eye of Imprint suddenly underwent a strange transformation and began searching the crowd for someone to pour information into, the Bronze Tablet his father had left him suddenly turned scalding hot.

That was all.

Naturally, he would not share his secrets with anyone present, so he could only respond by claiming ignorance.

"You don't know? The Blood Moon's Eye of Imprint wouldn't choose a guy like you for no reason, would it?" Shangguan Qin refused to let it go.

"Enough!" Zhou Qingchen gave a light cough, cutting off Shangguan Qin's clamor, and said solemnly, "Pang Jian, did you see any other images after that?"

"Other images?"

Pang Jian thought carefully and said, "After the vines killed the Blood Moon practitioners and rapidly devoured their flesh and blood, they retracted back into the ground fissures. Just like now, the vines have eaten all the people from the Shangguan Family, so they should be retreating underground as well."

The expressions of everyone present turned grim.

"Was there anything else?" Zhou Qingchen asked, his mood heavy.

"After that, the next image I saw was you arriving here first," Pang Jian replied.

Once these words were spoken, it meant the loop was complete; the scenes Pang Jian had seen from the Eye of Imprint afterward were all events that Zhou Qingchen himself had experienced.

The young master of the Zhou Family pondered, recalling how Pang Jian had miraculously remained unaffected when the Demonic Sound erupted in the stone pile, as well as the special favor shown by the Eye of Imprint.

He guessed that there must be some profound mystery about Pang Jian that he could not fathom; otherwise, there was no logical explanation.

"It should be safe over there now."

While everyone was lost in thought, Pang Jian spoke up again, saying to Shangguan Qin, "If you go back now, you should be able to safely collect the belongings left behind by your Shangguan Family's deceased."

Shangguan Qin's face, usually delicate and beautiful, was filled with panic and helplessness. She had not yet recovered from the terror and said coldly, "I won't believe a single word you say!"

She held deep prejudices against Pang Jian and harbored thoughts of finding a way to capture him and pry the secrets from his heart.

Pang Jian seemed not to notice her prejudice and said, "I am willing to go back and retrieve the items left by your Shangguan Family servants for you."

The hatred in Shangguan Qin's eyes did not diminish in the slightest as she gritted her teeth and said, "Would you be that kind?"

"You can come with me," Pang Jian proposed.

Shangguan Qin hesitated, a look of indecision in her eyes, but she quickly said coldly, "I don't trust you."

"What about the rest of you? If anyone doesn't believe me, you can come back and take a look with me," Pang Jian said, looking at the group.

Zhou Qingchen was surprised. Just as he was about to say he would go back with Pang Jian, he noticed Ning Yao speaking up and fell silent.

"I'll go with you."

Unexpectedly, Ning Yao, who had barely spoken the entire time, took the initiative.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Ning Yao explained calmly, "It's not that I don't trust Pang Jian, I just feel there might still be danger over there, so it would be more appropriate for me to accompany him."

"Xiao Yao, the situation over there is still unclear. Isn't it a bit unwise for you to go back now?" Ning Yuanshan said, his face full of worry.

"It's fine. If Pang Jian dares to go, what do I have to be afraid of?"

Ning Yao rode her warhorse close to Pang Jian, patted the horse's forehead, and whispered a few words into its ear.

Immediately after, she sat up straight, her chest slightly heaving, and suddenly said, "I'm riding with you."

Without waiting for Pang Jian's response, she leaped up, her graceful figure landing lightly behind him, sharing his horse.

The bamboo basket Pang Jian carried on his back sat between them, acting as a barrier so they wouldn't be too close.

Her two hands rested quite naturally on his waist, and she urged, "Let's go."

Pang Jian's body and the expression on his face stiffened noticeably.

Because as Ning Yao's hands landed on his waist, the spiritual energy belonging to her surged secretly in her palms, indicating that this girl had no good intentions at all.

Sitting on the same horse, Pang Jian felt anything but pleasure; he felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

"Why aren't we moving?" Ning Yao asked impatiently, her voice cold.

The spiritual energy in her fair, jade-like hands became increasingly turbulent and active, as if a dormant venomous snake were about to strike.

A chill ran through Pang Jian's heart. Without a word, he pulled the reins and spurred the horse toward the location of the Heavenly Phoenix Remains.

"Miss Ning, let me give you a friendly reminder: Pang Jian is a guide familiar with the Cenji Mountains, and I am very fond of him. I hope you take good care of him," Zhou Qingchen shouted loudly. "If you don't take good care of him, I'm afraid we won't be able to look after Uncle Yuanshan here either."

Ning Yuanshan's expression changed abruptly.

He never expected that Zhou Qingchen would use his own life as a threat at a time like this to protect Pang Jian and prevent Ning Yao from killing him.

"He is a guide hired by my Ning Family. I know his importance; I don't need you to remind me, Young Master Zhou," Ning Yao snorted coldly.

Zhou Qingchen smiled and said, "That's good then."

"Clop, clop!"

Amidst the rhythmic sound of hooves, Pang Jian rode the chestnut warhorse, gradually disappearing from everyone's sight.

"Nephew Zhou, Pang Jian is just a hunter from the mountains. Is it really necessary to make such a big fuss over him?"

After Ning Yao and Pang Jian had left, Ning Yuanshan said with a bitter, awkward expression, "Using me to threaten Xiao Yao—isn't that a bit of an overreaction?"

The others also felt puzzled and could not help but prick up their ears, eager to hear Zhou Qingchen's answer.

Even Han Duping and the servants of the Zhou Family found it inconceivable, given the special regard Zhou Qingchen had shown Pang Jian.

"It is the hunter you speak of who just saved all of our lives!" Zhou Qingchen dropped his polite facade, his expression cold and stern. "To repay kindness with gratitude—is such a simple principle something I, your junior, must teach you? If not for Pang Jian's timely warning, did you really think our Zhou Family, or you and Ning Yao, could have left alive?"

Ning Yuanshan was left speechless by the rebuke. Upon self-reflection, he realized that he was indeed in the wrong.

It was only because they were accustomed to looking down from on high, never deigning to notice those they deemed beneath their status, that they felt everything was a matter of course.

Take Liu Qi, for instance, or those who had followed them and died in the pile of stones.

In his eyes, Pang Jian was not even as important as Liu Qi, which was why he could not accept Zhou Qingchen using him to threaten his niece.

"The one who truly played a role was not that little hunter, but our Blood Moon's Eye of Imprint!" Shangguan Qin shrieked in anger.

"Without him, the Eye of Imprint would have chosen me. Once I obtained the critical information, I would have also warned everyone to evacuate quickly. Furthermore, had I been the one to receive the message, Luo Meng would not have died, and the others from my Shangguan Family would not have died either!"

In her heart, because Pang Jian had gained the recognition of the Eye of Imprint, she shifted all the blame onto him.

"Senior Shangguan."

Zhou Qingchen's face turned cold. He no longer addressed her as "Aunt Qin," but rebuked her bluntly: "By what right do you assume the Eye of Imprint should have chosen you? Although you practice the Blood Wheel Technique, the entry-level art of the Blood Moon, you have never passed the Blood Moon's tests. You are not a practitioner of the Blood Moon at all!"

"The only reason you can practice the Blood Wheel Technique is that the elders of your Shangguan Family bestowed this manual upon you in private."

Sitting tall on a pitch-black warhorse, Zhou Qingchen huffed and sneered again: "Even I do not believe the world should revolve around me; what makes you think you would be favored by the Eye of Imprint?"

"And don't talk to me about 'our Blood Moon.' Senior Shangguan, only when you are truly entered into the official registry of the Blood Moon of the Upper Realm, just as I have been, will you have the qualifications to use the word 'our'!"

Shangguan Qin's face turned a sickly shade of pale and red under his verbal assault.

She suddenly realized that although the young master of the Zhou Family had always been courteous and addressed her as "Aunt Qin," there was still a significant gap between her Shangguan Family and the Zhou Family.

Furthermore, since she had not received the recognition of the Blood Moon and was not acknowledged as a member, she indeed had no right to refer to the Blood Moon as "us."

Zhou Qingchen was truly one of the top geniuses of the Fourth Realm; he had been recruited by Red Mountain shortly after birth, and his name had long since been recorded in the Red Mountain registry.

Her Shangguan Family could not compare to the Zhou Family, she could not compare to Zhou Qingchen, and the power she currently wielded was also inferior.

Thus, she could only forcibly suppress her anger and fall into a helpless silence.

On the other side.

Pang Jian, his body stiff, felt that if the two hands Ning Yao rested on his waist were to uncontrollably erupt with spiritual energy, his internal organs would be shattered to pieces.

Throughout the journey, sweat had been lightly beading on Pang Jian's forehead, and he remained in a state of high tension.

"Pang Jian, you must remember: you are taking the money of my Ning Family, not that of Zhou Qingchen."

Only after they were out of sight of the others did Pang Jian hear Ning Yao whisper a cold snort into his ear.

"When danger suddenly emerged, you should have come to me first and let us leave with you! You take my Ning Family's money and ride my Ning Family's warhorse, yet you chose to warn Zhou Qingchen first!"

Ning Yao's delicate hand tightened slightly, pinching the flesh on both sides of Pang Jian's waist, causing him to gasp in pain.

Pang Jian, wincing and baring his teeth, feared that if Ning Yao secretly released her spiritual energy through her fingertips, he would drop dead on the spot.

Fortunately, Ning Yao only pinched him hard; though the pain was unbearable, he knew she was merely teaching him a lesson and did not truly want his life.

"The Gray Ape is my friend. After I explicitly stated that, it was Zhou Qingchen who did his best to protect it for me. You, and your uncle, didn't say a word," Pang Jian said in a low voice.

"It is your friend, not mine. What does that have to do with me?" Ning Yao sneered.

Pang Jian said no more.

Soon, the warhorse returned to the brutal scene.

A thick, pungent stench of blood permeated the space ahead. Once Pang Jian stopped, he immediately saw the largest skeleton of them all.

The blood-stained remains belonged to Luo Meng; his internal organs and flesh were entirely gone, his bones were covered in gore, and his eyeballs had been carried away by vines, leaving empty, despair-filled sockets.

The vines had only devoured the flesh; the items commonly used by Luo Meng and the Shangguan Family members, along with the gold and silver ornaments they wore, were left untouched, scattered beside the bones.

Ning Yao covered her nose and gave Pang Jian a push, saying with disgust, "Go and collect the belongings for Shangguan Qin."

She was fastidious by nature and found the blood-stained items too repulsive; she would not deign to do it herself while Pang Jian was there.

"Very well."

Pang Jian, having anticipated this, leaped off the horse. Ignoring the bloodstains on the artifacts, he gathered them and tied them together with a hemp rope.

Ning Yao remained on her horse, watching him while casting glances toward the withered bones and the Indeterminate Ferry.

She felt certain that Pang Jian had his own agenda in returning and that it was definitely not out of kindness toward Shangguan Qin.

"I intend to go inside the Indeterminate Ferry and take a look," Pang Jian suddenly said.

Ning Yao's heart stirred. As I thought, she mused, though she feigned surprise and asked, "The Indeterminate Ferry? Everyone who went to explore it before is already dead. Are you sure you want to go?"

Pang Jian nodded. "Those people died because the Eye of Imprint required blood; it was a bloody sacrifice. Now that the Eye of Imprint has exploded and vanished, the cabin is naturally safe."

With that, he made as if to head over there.

"I'll go take a look!"

Ning Yao suddenly dismounted, gliding over the narrow fissures in the earth and moving rapidly toward the Blood Moon's "Indeterminate Ferry."

She commanded in an unquestionable tone, "You are to stay here. If there is any unusual movement outside, you must notify me immediately!"

"Fine." Pang Jian frowned.

Ning Yao turned her head and saw Pang Jian's dejected expression, becoming even more convinced that inside the Indeterminate Ferry lay a rare treasure left behind by the Blood Moon, and that Pang Jian had already learned of it through his Eye of Imprint, which was why he insisted on returning.

"Not much of a person, yet plenty of schemes."

Ning Yao muttered to herself, feeling that this quiet youth, perhaps due to spending a long time mingling in the Cenji Mountains and pitting his wits against those veteran hunters, did not seem simple or honest in the slightest.

Two chapters have been posted; everyone, please remember to vote!