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"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get down there."

Liuli was thoroughly annoyed and stepped forward to give Mei a kick in the butt.

However, the latter wasn’t angry at all. She actively threw herself off the cliff, even having the leisure to turn around and make a mischievous face at Liuli.

At the cliff’s edge, Liuli stood silently. Only when Mei’s figure completely disappeared into the mist did her anxious heart finally settle.

And with the most talkative plum demon’s exit, the entire atmosphere at Demon Abyss Cliff somehow fell into silence.

At some point, Zichen felt a chill down his back and took the initiative to speak:

"Holy Maiden Liuli, since Yuyan has already fallen off the cliff, my mission here is complete. I’ll leave the rest for you to handle."

He spoke with some respect while performing what looked like a proper Western Region salute.

However, just as Zichen was about to turn and leave, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of bloody red light behind him—

"?!!!"

Zichen was startled and quickly turned to draw his sword.

But the red-dressed Holy Maiden didn’t attack. She merely squinted her heterochromatic eyes, one red pupil glowing with demonic light as it stared at Zichen’s body.

"Holy Maiden Liuli... What, what do you mean by this?"

Zichen retreated while staying alert against this inexplicably excited evil cult demoness whose eyes were glowing red.

For a moment, Zichen felt that there wasn’t much killing intent in the red-dressed Holy Maiden’s eyes, but rather a kind of obsession and affection that made his skin crawl.

But the strange thing was, Zichen had spent his entire life active in the northern Jianlan Sect. Today was also his first time encountering Liuli on a Western Region battlefield.

Why was Liuli suddenly staring at him with such obsession?

Thud.

Lost in confused thoughts, Zichen’s retreating back suddenly bumped into someone’s solid chest.

For a moment, Zichen felt his head buzzing.

As if he’d seen a ghost, he trembled as he looked back, only to meet the gaze of a certain handsome young man in white robes.

The young man’s gaze was clear and gentle, exactly like that of a refined and kind good student.

"Who, who are you—?!"

"Wait, where did you two even come from?!"

Zichen was startled and quickly backed away several steps, putting distance between himself and the white-robed youth who had appeared out of nowhere, as well as the red foxgirl who had poked her head out from behind the boy without any presence.

But just then, the red-dressed Holy Maiden standing at the cliff’s edge also smiled coldly, slowly raising her right hand beneath her evening gown’s long sleeves—

"No!!!!!!"

"You can’t just cross the river and demolish the bridge like this!"

"If my master learns that you Full Moon Sect people conduct business with such complete lack of integrity, our Jianlan Sect will absolutely never cooperate with you rabble again!"

...

...

...

"Holy Son of Jianlan Sect, Mr. Zichen."

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Yino. I’m a sword cultivator from Wuji Sect, and also the personal junior disciple of Wuji Sect’s Sword Leader, Yuyan."

"All these years, Senior Sister has led me into the sect, taught me swordsmanship, and given me... cough... If it weren’t for Senior Sister personally coming to recruit me back then, I, Yino, might still be a small fry in the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, bowing and scraping while washing my aunt’s feet! "

"You know, I have always respected my Senior Sister above all else. In my heart, Senior Sister is like a white moonlight, a beautiful white... leg. I won’t allow her to suffer the slightest harm—even a single fallen strand of hair would cause me heartache."

"And you, despicable Zichen—you, as a righteous Holy Son, actually conspired with these two evil cult demonesses to harm my wife... ah no, my most respected Senior Sister!"

"So, you see..."

"This is me seeking revenge for your plot against my Senior Sister. What does it have to do with the Full Moon Sect’s Holy Maiden Liuli?"

...

Perhaps taking down Yuyan would require three Divine Transformation plus Lily working together.

But taking down Zichen would be much simpler.

In fact... Yino wouldn’t even need to lift a finger—just Liuli and Jinyue working in combination would be enough to control Zichen.

During this time, Liuli was responsible for deploying poisoned thorn vines to debuff Zichen, while Jinyue used illusion techniques to confuse his movements.

"You ungrateful, faithless cultists! I should have helped Lady Yuyan kill you all from the start!!"

Even bound by vines, Zichen—dressed in his Jianlan Sect robes—continued cursing viciously.

Yino couldn’t stand it anymore, so he gathered all his cultivation, clenched his fist, and delivered a powerful blow to the man’s abdomen.

Thump—!

The terrifying force landed, producing only a muffled grunt from Zichen’s throat.

Almost instantly, the previously foul-mouthed Jianlan Sect Holy Son’s face turned pale, becoming considerably more docile.

"Ugh!"

The delayed reaction from the heavy abdominal blow hit him, and Zichen unexpectedly spat up a large mouthful of blood.

However, Yino felt somewhat surprised and blinked slightly, instinctively dodging to the side.

"I’m only at late Core Formation stage now. How can you, a Divine Transformation stage, not even handle my full-strength punch?"

Rather than mocking, Yino was genuinely curious this time.

Could it be... Even setting aside my past-life memories and combat experience, am i already quite formidable in terms of raw power?

"Ugh..."

Zichen was in too much pain to speak. Bound alone, he writhed and groaned for a long time.

A moment of silence.

When Zichen looked up at Yino again, his gaze had cleared considerably:

"Young hero... spare my life..."

"See, now you can speak properly."

Yino smiled warmly, his expression appearing kind and amiable.

Beside him, Liuli and Jinyue stood like left and right guardians, while the petite Lily simply crowded in front of Yino, swaying the little sprout on her head.

For a moment, Yino felt somewhat cramped.

"I, I have lots of money, my master is a Jianlan Sect elder... I’m also the Jianlan Sect Holy Son. As long as you don’t kill me, whatever demands you have, just name them..."

Zichen was in agony, but seeing the situation, he still negotiated with Yino obediently.

He truly couldn’t understand how the illustrious Full Moon Sect Holy Maiden now called this righteous young man Master upon meeting him! Even that guardian spirit of Azure Forest stuck to him calling him Brother.