Madam Meizhuang screamed, "She... she actually gave you the Soul-Chasing Flute..."
Qin Yutong said expressionlessly, "With someone as sinister and vicious as you, there has to be some way to keep you in check. Otherwise, wouldn't you do whatever you pleased?"
Madam Meizhuang clutched her head. The silver mask hid her expression, but her increasingly rapid breathing betrayed her agony.
Qin Yutong asked, "Who killed my mother?"
"It... it was... him..." Madam Meizhuang pointed behind Qin Yutong. Qin Yutong instinctively turned her head slightly. The instant her gaze left Madam Meizhuang, the woman pulled a concealed mechanism. An iron cage dropped from above, trapping Qin Yutong inside. Before Qin Yutong could play the Soul-Chasing Flute again, Madam Meizhuang flung up both hands and hurled several Phosphorus Fire Bombs in rapid succession. Green flames instantly engulfed the entire cage.
Still fearful of the Soul-Chasing Flute, Madam Meizhuang fled immediately after unleashing her barrage, not daring to linger for even a moment. She rushed forward a few steps and rounded the cave entrance. A stone door dropped behind her, completely separating her from Qin Yutong.
Green flames blazed around the iron cage. Amid the fire, a slender figure drew a dagger and cut an opening in the bars. Qin Yutong slowly stepped out of the cage surrounded by phosphorus fire. Her face was scorched into a grotesque patchwork, a truly horrifying sight. Raising a hand, she slowly peeled away the mask ruined by the flames. Not a single tongue of phosphorus fire had clung to her Outer Armor, much less harmed her.
A violent, muffled tremor rose beneath her feet, as though all of Swordheart Cave were shaking and the earth itself were heaving. Qin Yutong's gaze sharpened. The tremor must have come from the direction where Hu Xiaotian and Sword Slave