Gu Yi... is that you?

"Hahahahaha! Lin Yuan, I never thought you'd succumb to demonic corruption. I'd love to see your grandfather's face when he finds out."

Chu Jing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his already twisted face looking even more crazed.

Blood also clung to Lin Yuan's lips. His eyes were tightly shut, a trace of black energy seeped from between his brows, and the spiritual energy in his body ran wild, spilling out from time to time.

Sword in hand, Chu Jing advanced step by step. "If it weren't for you, my father wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't have ended up like this. I've waited three whole years for this moment!"

Hearing his voice, Lin Yuan jerked his head up and swung his sword wildly, but Chu Jing dodged it with ease.

"How does it feel to see nothing? Without your eyes, how are you any different from a useless cripple?"

Chu Jing pointed his sword at Lin Yuan. "Too bad Xiao Cheng and Lin Ning escaped. Otherwise, you could have kept each other company on the road to the underworld!"

With that, he thrust his sword at Lin Yuan...

Clang-

A sound of collision rang out.

Chu Jing's sword stopped an inch from the space between Lin Yuan's brows, unable to advance any farther.

He thrust harder, then drew his sword back.

Clang, clang, clang-

Three more strikes hit the space in front of Lin Yuan, but none could land on him.

"What's going on?" He hacked at Lin Yuan with his sword like a madman.

Chu Jing retreated several steps and stared blankly at the person before him, as though an invisible shield had enclosed Lin Yuan.

The next second, a masked figure suddenly appeared and struck his chest with a palm.

"You're... Gu..."

Chu Jing froze when he recognized the newcomer. By the time he recovered and tried to fight back, Gu Yi's palm had already slammed into him.

He spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot, then collapsed unconscious.

The sword he swung in his haste only severed the jade pendant at Gu Yi's waist.

The instant the jade pendant left Gu Yi's body, Lin Yuan hugged him tightly from behind. "Gu Yi... is that you?"

Gu Yi quickly used his spiritual energy to put the jade pendant into his Qiankun Ring. Without the pendant on him, his aura was fully exposed, allowing Lin Yuan to recognize him at once.

Since he had already been discovered, there was no need to keep pretending. Gu Yi sighed helplessly and said softly, "It's me."

"I knew it. You're still alive!" Lin Yuan was so excited that his words came out in a jumble. He hugged Gu Yi tightly, as though trying to meld him into his own body.

"Lin Yuan, are you hurt?"

Gu Yi struggled to push him away and had only just turned around.

Before Gu Yi could examine his injuries, Lin Yuan's lips descended on his without restraint.

He bit at Gu Yi's lips as if punishing him, while his hand found its familiar way to the waist he had not touched in so long.

"Mm... no..."

Gu Yi pushed hard at him, but no matter how he struggled, he could not break free of Lin Yuan's grip.

Only when his struggles grew weaker and his eyes became slightly unfocused did Lin Yuan ease up a little to let him breathe.

Held tightly in Lin Yuan's arms, Gu Yi was forced to tilt his head back and helplessly endure the kiss filled with longing, desire, and punishment.

"Lin Yuan... let's leave first..."

Gu Yi closed his fingers around the large hand kneading his back and panted beside his ear. "Someone will come after us soon..."

"All right..."

With Gu Yi leading Lin Yuan by the hand, the two fled.

Gu Yi looked around and spotted a cave in a rock face.

It looked like some demonic beast's lair. He and Lin Yuan flew into the cave and found no beast inside; it had probably been killed by the disciples taking part in the hunt earlier.

Gu Yi set up a barrier at the entrance before finally relaxing.

Only when he collected himself and looked at Lin Yuan did he remember that Lin Yuan had kept his eyes closed the entire time.

"Lin Yuan, your eyes?"

Gu Yi reached out and touched his brows and eyes. Had he gone blind again?

"It's only One Leaf Obscures the Eyes."

As he spoke, Lin Yuan caught Gu Yi's hand, pulled him into his arms, and held him tightly.

Hearing "One Leaf Obscures the Eyes," Gu Yi sighed in relief. It was only a spell that temporarily blinded someone and would wear off on its own.

Lin Yuan and the other two had not intended to hunt, but they had encountered a Five-Colored Demon Cloud Eagle.

Lin Ning thought its feathers were beautiful, so she planned to kill it and use its feathers to make magical artifacts.

Unexpectedly, right after they killed the demonic beast, they were surrounded by people in black. The three fought off three waves of them, only to encounter Chu Jing in the end.

Chu Jing's group had strength in numbers, and the three soon began to struggle.

"Xiao Ning, look out!"

Xiao Cheng had just blocked attacks from two people in black when he turned and saw Lin Ning being attacked from both front and rear. With no time to think, he darted in front of her.

Shhk-

The sword plunged straight into Xiao Cheng's shoulder. He let out a muffled groan and pushed Lin Ning away. "Xiao Ning, go!"

Lin Yuan and Chu Jing were locked in a fierce fight. Although Chu Jing's cultivation had been destroyed when he was expelled from the sect, no one knew what sinister cultivation method he had practiced over the past three years. His strength now actually surpassed the golden core stage.

Having failed to advance, Lin Yuan had remained at the early golden core stage. Without Ink Sea, he probably would not have been able to hold his own.

Distracted for a moment by Xiao Cheng's injury, Lin Yuan took a sword slash from Chu Jing across his arm. Blood flowed along the blade and dripped onto the ground.

"Lin Yuan, aren't you a genius? How come you're still at the golden core stage after all these years?" Chu Jing deliberately provoked him, hatred so intense it seemed almost tangible flickering in his eyes.

Lin Yuan looked at him coldly. Suddenly, his aura changed, surging from the early golden core stage to nearly the peak of the golden core stage.

He stopped suppressing his inner demon, and his spiritual energy instantly surged as well.

Bang-

The powerful spiritual energy sent all the people in black flying. Chu Jing thrust his sword into the ground and only barely managed to steady himself.

"Take Eldest Senior Brother and go!"

Lin Yuan shouted and charged at Chu Jing again.

Chu Jing raised his hand and waved it. "One Leaf Obscures the Eyes!"

A flash of green passed through Lin Yuan's eyes, followed immediately by darkness.

Chu Jing dodged Lin Yuan's attack. When he looked back, Lin Ning and Xiao Cheng had already escaped.

Gu Yi and the other two had been staying inside the hollow tree. After receiving Chu Jing's voice transmission, the people in black prepared to join him.

Just then, Xie Wenyun suddenly sighed. "If we let these people kill the Lin siblings from the Qingling Sword Sect, I'm afraid there really will be no room left for reconciliation between the righteous and demonic paths..."

"The Demonic Cult has already killed so many of our righteous disciples. There's long been no room for that!" Jiang Lingzhou muttered.

"No, that's not right..." Gu Yi thought back and suddenly realized something.

"The problem isn't the righteous and demonic paths..."

There had not only been righteous disciples in that pit. A few seemed to have been disciples of the Illusory Demon Sect as well.

One of them had looked particularly familiar to Gu Yi. Wasn't that the Illusory Demon Sect disciple who had spread those sexual rumors?

So this was no conflict between the righteous and demonic paths at all, but a massacre orchestrated entirely by He Yan. His targets were not only those of the righteous path, but everyone here.

As long as all the disciples here died, both the righteous and demonic paths would be severely weakened. Then he could simply say the demonic beasts had done it and that it had nothing to do with him.

Lin Hai had only two grandchildren, Lin Yuan and Lin Ning. If both died here, he certainly would not let the matter rest and would surely go to war with the Demonic Cult. Then the righteous path would be the one to have started the war, and He Yan would only need to sit back and reap the benefits.

"We have to stop them!" Gu Yi said.