In the blink of an eye, it was midnight. The lights in **White Moon Town** went out one by one as every household closed the doors and windows to avoid the drifting snow on the streets.
Only the east side of the town was still lit.
There was a small guest house with about thirty tables set for the wedding banquet. Most of the people who attended were residents of **White Moon Town**, including the lady shopkeeper of the *Traveler's Pavilion*.
At the top of the slightly taller tile pavilion in the middle of the town, stood Ye Anping with a bamboo hat on his head and a white scarf on his face, looking at the guests in the yard drinking and chatting happily with the insight of a *Core Formation* stage cultivator.
He had a hunch that the demonic cultivator who imitated Wu You would appear at the wedding banquet to infect some of the people with parasites.However, after staring from the top of the pavilion for two hours, Ye Anping did not see anything wrong with the people attending the banquet.
He muttered to himself, "Am I overthinking? Or underestimating the enemy? That demonic cultivator isn't as stupid as I thought?"
Ye Anping frowned, thinking for a while, then looked up at the silver moon half covered by dark clouds.
Seeing that it was getting late and he probably wouldn't see anything here, he turned around and rushed back along the roof toward the *Traveler's Pavilion*.
The door of the *Traveler's Pavilion* had been boarded up. The lights in Pei Lianxue's bedroom on the second floor had also been turned off, so they must have already gone to rest.
Ye Anping landed lightly on the roof and padded over to Xu Xiyue's room. He listened for a while and saw that there was only the sound of even breathing in the room. With a slight smile on his lips, he turned over, pushed open the window, and jumped in.
Xu Xiyue was already sleeping soundly under the covers.Ye Anping looked around the room and noticed that Xu Xiyue had forgotten to put away her diary again, so he stepped to the wooden table and opened it.
*"Cold Heavenly Calendar, the second day of the eighth month.*
*Today, three beautiful Core Formation stage immortals came to the Traveler's Pavilion. They are Senior Ye's wives, and they told me that Senior Ye is beating up girls. Moreover, Senior Ye knew they were coming, but he was hiding from them, which was very suspicious. I will definitely help my sister tear off his disguise!"*
"..."
The first part was fine...
But what did it mean to help her sister tear off his disguise?
Ye Anping smiled stiffly, looked back at Xu Xiyue who was sleeping soundly, and suddenly felt helpless. Could it be that he was regarded as a bad guy who came to hit on Xu Mulan?
"Hiss..."
He sighed softly and was about to close the diary, but when he turned his head, he saw a golden face in front of him, staring at him with a "Ye Tianchong" accusing look.
"..."
*"Anping... You came to a teenage girl's bedroom in the middle of the night to read her diary?"*
"...Just taking a look along the way."
Xiao Tian narrowed her eyes. She floated above Xu Xiyue, sized her up, and then floated back. *"Anping, Miss Xiao, Miss Li, Miss Yun, and the others are okay. They either have family backgrounds or good qualifications. How did you fall for this ordinary girl with two spiritual roots?"*
Ye Anping looked at the sleeping Xu Xiyue and said honestly, "It's a dream from my childhood. Didn't you and Sister Feng ask me how I always knew what was going to happen in advance?"
*"Eh?"*
He pointed at Xu Xiyue on the bed. "She told me."
After all, she was the promoter of the *Heavenly Sword Fantasy* game, the person who had witnessed the life of Feng Yu Die and the players in the game, and likewise, the compiler of the book *Heavenly Sword Fantasy*.
Of course, Ye Anping did not say the last sentence.
Xiao Tian didn't understand. What did he mean by this girl telling him? She looked confused and circled around Xu Xiyue again. However, no matter how she looked at her, Xu Xiyue was just an ordinary girl with good looks and dual spiritual roots...
At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, immediately alerting Ye Anping.
He narrowed his eyes and quickly closed the diary. Then, he flipped out of the window and hung upside down on the roof, observing the situation in the room through the crack in the window.
*Knock knock---*
"..."
*Knock knock knock---*
"..."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Xu Xiyue, who was suddenly awakened, squinted her eyes and got off the bed in a daze, putting her boots on.
"Who is it? It's so late... Haa---"
Xu Xiyue yawned, spotted the diary on the table, and tilted her head slightly.
She vaguely remembered that before she went to bed last night, she had placed the diary in the center of the table. Why was it crooked?
Did someone sneak in?
So suspicious...
*Stare---*
*Knock knock---*
There were two more knocks on the door.
Xu Xiyue came to her senses and walked to the door, opening it and peeking out.
The lady shopkeeper, now wearing a red dress, stood in front of her room, smelling of wine and sauce and looking like she had just returned from the wedding banquet in the east of the town.
Earlier, the lady shopkeeper had told her that she was going to the wedding banquet in the evening and asked her to look after the *Traveler's Pavilion*.
"Boss, didn't you say you would drink until tomorrow morning? Why are you back now? Is something wrong?"
"Senior Ye is waiting for you in the forest behind."
Outside the window, Ye Anping, who was hanging upside down like a bat on the eaves, frowned when he heard this, and instantly realized that the shopkeeper was most likely infected.
Xiao Tian, who was standing next to Xu Xiyue, narrowed her eyes and sized up the lady shopkeeper. Her eyes immediately widened and she jumped back to Ye Anping's side in panic.
*"Anping!! That shopkeeper is infected!"*
"...Hmm."
Ye Anping nodded to her. He thought about it for a while and decided not to take action for the time being.
Making a move now would undoubtedly alert the enemy. He only needed to protect Xu Xiyue.
Looking at the lady boss at the door, Xu Xiyue frowned, as if she was a little dissatisfied, and nodded. "Okay! I got it. I'll get dressed and come over."
"Uhm..."
Ye Anping had no intention of peeking at Xu Xiyue changing clothes. He exerted strength on his legs and climbed up the house. "Xiao Tian, go get Feng Roasted Chicken."
?
Ignoring Xiao Tian's confused expression, Ye Anping turned around after he finished speaking, jumped to the *Wanderer's House* across the street, and climbed in through the window.
"Longling..."
Li Longling seemed to have been waiting for a long time. She was sitting at the table, gently stroking the Fire Phoenix's tail feathers.
"How is it?"
"Follow me, hide in the forest, and use the Fire Phoenix to watch from the sky. There are too many ways for the demonic cultivator to escape, they might not be able to catch him."
"Well... carry me on your flying sword."
"..."
Didn't you fly the sword so naturally earlier in the day?
Ye Anping sighed softly as he walked over, picked Li Longling up from her seat, and brought her out the window. They landed on the roof of the *Traveler's Pavilion* and waited for the two to come out.
...
Not long after, Xu Xiyue, wrapped up in a thick cotton coat, walked out of the house. Seeing the lady shopkeeper waiting for her at the door, she was a little confused.
"Boss, I can go by myself. You should go and rest."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, the lady shopkeeper gently took her hand and pulled her down the stairs of the inn to the lobby before heading toward the backyard.
"Boss?"
"Senior Ye is waiting for you in the forest behind."
"I know. I can go by myself."
"Hmm..."
Although the lady shopkeeper nodded, she still didn't let go of Xu Xiyue's hand.
Xu Xiyue narrowed her eyes. "Boss?"
"Senior Ye is waiting for you in the forest behind."
"..."
When the lady shopkeeper repeated this sentence for the third time, Xu Xiyue already understood. Yesterday morning, when her sister came to talk to Senior Ye about the case, Senior Ye mentioned something about toxic parasites and demonic cultivators...
Although she didn't say a word at the time, she listened very carefully.
Senior Ye deduced that the demonic cultivator would poison the girls' relatives and ordered them to deliver the teenage girls to him.
"Help... woo woo..."
She wanted to call Pei Lianxue and the other two, but when she said the first sentence, the lady shopkeeper covered her mouth, picked her up, and ran quickly into the cedar forest.
*Tap-tap-tap--*
The running strength of the *Foundation Building* cultivators was not low. Xu Xiyue had already reached the depths of the snow forest in just a moment of distraction.
"Woo woo..."
After the lady shopkeeper carried her for a while, she suddenly stopped and threw her directly onto the snow on the ground.
*Plop---*
Xu Xiyue opened her mouth wide to take a deep breath, and suddenly, she saw a man standing beside her with a cloak covering his entire body.
Apart from the man, there were also two *Qi Refining* cultivators about the same age as her, being held by their own mothers. It seemed they had been caught in the same situation as her.
One of the little girls was surprised to see Xu Xiyue, and she quickly waved to greet her. "Sister Xu, you're here too?"
"..."
Seeing that the other two girls didn't seem to understand what happened, Xu Xiyue bit her lip slightly and shifted her gaze to the long pipe at the waist of the lady shopkeeper.
She had heard the shopkeeper say that it was a magic tool that could bewitch people.
If she didn't do something, this man would likely take her and the other two girls away.
Xu Xiyue was silent for a while. She quietly picked up a handful of snow on the ground and prepared herself.
The hooded man glanced at her, reached out in his sleeve, took out something that made a "hissing" sound, and walked toward the girl who had just greeted Xu Xiyue.
Seeing that his attention was not on her, Xu Xiyue immediately stood up and smashed the snow in her hand in the lady shopkeeper's face.
*Puff---*
Then, seizing the opportunity, she reached out and took the long pipe from her waist, put it in her mouth, inhaling and exhaling in the man's direction.
A pale pink spiritual mist instantly spread like a signal flare, forming an extremely obvious beacon in the snowy forest.
Xu Xiyue held her breath and ran toward the positions of the two girls she had memorized before, grabbed one in each hand, and shouted. "Follow me!!!"
Then, she led the two of them, rushing into the depths of the forest.
Although the two little girls only inhaled a mouthful of spiritual mist, their cultivation was too low after all, and they were directly bewitched by Xu Xiyue.
Hearing her order, the two unconsciously followed her steps.
However, in the next moment, the light pink spiritual mist that had originally spread out in the forest, rotated and quickly contracted toward a central point.
The hooded man inhaled all the spiritual mist and looked in the direction where Xu Xiyue and the other two escaped. A playful smile appeared on his lips under the hood.
"Heh? What a delightful girl. Much more adorable than those who cry incessantly."
After saying that, the man's figure turned into a shadow and chased after Xu Xiyue and the others.
Xu Xiyue, who was running fast through the forest, knew that they could not outrun that man.
Although she couldn't see through his cultivation just now, she could feel that it was definitely much higher than hers.
Right now, she could only pray that Senior Ye or his three wives would discover that she was missing and come to save them.
Xu Xiyue had only heard that one of Senior Ye's wives was Young Lady Xiao of the ***Black Star*** Sect. She didn't know the names of the other two, so she could only shout loudly. "Senior Xiao!!! Young Lady of the ***Black Star*** Sect!!! We are here!!"
"Senior Xiao!!!"
However, when she shouted for the second time, Xu Xiyue suddenly felt a gust of cold wind coming from behind her. She turned around and saw that the hooded man had already arrived behind them.
A hand with a scorpion tattoo reached toward her face.
Xu Xiyue's eyes widened as she gritted her teeth and shouted again. "Xiao... woooo--"
However, before she could say her last sentence, those hands grabbed her face like a shroud.
A trace of fear finally flashed in Xu Xiyue's eyes.
"Where are you going, little girl..."
And right at this time, Xu Xiyue suddenly heard a clear voice inside her mind.
*---"Hit him with the pipe."*
Senior Ye's voice...
Xu Xiyue didn't hesitate at all, and she immediately raised the pipe in her right hand and smashed it on the hooded man's head.
*Whoosh---*
The hooded man glanced at it and laughed. "Little girl, this is not a sword..."
*Swish---*
A palm-sized ice-blue sword energy passed by Xu Xiyue's ear and landed directly on the hooded man's shoulder.
Blood splattered on the ground, spreading on a red seven-foot-long line.
The hooded man's right hand, which had grabbed Xu Xiyue's cheek, was directly severed from his body.
Xu Xiyue didn't freeze. She grabbed the man's hand and pulled it off her face. Then, she grabbed the other two girls beside her and continued to run toward the inn.
"Run!"
However, somehow, one of the girls twisted her ankle and fell to the ground.
"Ah?"
Xu Xiyue was taken aback for a moment and ordered the other girl to run forward. Then, she went back a few steps and pulled up the fallen girl with all her might.
At this moment, the hooded man finally realized that there was someone else hiding in the forest and looked around warily.
However, after scanning with his spiritual sense, he did not notice anyone else other than himself and the three girls.
After a moment of silence, a pair of fly-like eyes under the hood glared at Xu Xiyue, who was facing away from him, as if he was irritated. He waved his hand and released a centipede covered with blades from his sleeve.
Hearing the disgusting "clicking" sounds behind her gradually approaching, Xu Xiyue didn't dare to look back, just put her head down, closed her eyes, and pulled the girl beside her to run full speed forward.
The next moment.
*Poof---*
She felt herself crashing into someone's arms.
Pei Lianxue held her shoulders and raised her right hand, shooting out a silver sword from her storage bag.
"It's alright."
Pei Lianxue comforted her without any intonation as she looked at the blade centipede rushing toward her, and her figure holding the sword swayed.
*Swish---*
A silver thread glowing with spiritual light flashed from the centipede's head to its tail.
The blade centipede disintegrated into countless pieces in midair. The purple poisonous blood was blown away by the sword's energy and fell on the surrounding cedars, corroding small holes in the tree trunks in just a moment.
The hooded man's eyes widened when he saw this scene, but the next moment, he heard a mocking voice in his ear.
"Where are you looking? Hey!"
"Hiss--"
*Swish---*
The hooded man hastily sidestepped to dodge, yet a golden light flashed, and the remaining left arm and half of his chest directly separated and fell off his body.
Feng Yu Die originally wanted to capitalize on the victory and cut off both of his legs as well.
But unexpectedly, a huge ant head emerged from the hooded man's severed left chest, opening its mouth and lunging toward her.
"Hiss--"
This was the first time Feng Yu Die had seen such an insect suddenly appear from a body. However, although she was flustered, she did not panic. She raised her sword and split the ant's head in half.
Because she was afraid of the poison, she jumped away to avoid the ant's brain matter after splitting it.
The hooded man finally had some breathing space. He suddenly lowered himself to the ground, as if he wanted to use an escape technique.
However, the moment his knees touched the ground...
*Rumble---*
White light flashed in the sky, and then a bolt of lightning descended from above and swallowed him whole.
Hidden in another corner of the forest, Xiao Yunluo, who hadn't yet had time to put on her undergarments and was only wrapped in an outer robe, held her clothes, and with the other hand, pointed in front of her body and used her spiritual power to draw a talisman.
"Detain!"
As the command was given, the talisman instantly changed into a golden chain and flew into the lightning.
The sound of chains clattering rang out, but Xiao Yunluo frowned tightly. With a wave of her hand, the lightning bolt that had just engulfed the man instantly disappeared.
And at the same time as the thunderbolt, the hooded man's body also disappeared.
"Eh?" Feng Yu Die stared blankly for a while, then raised her eyebrows and shouted to Xiao Yunluo. "Sister Xiao, did you blast him to pieces? Didn't Sister Pei say to try to catch him alive?"
"..."
Xiao Yunluo walked out of the forest barefoot and looked at the snow pit on the ground created by the lightning.
"He wasn't blasted to pieces. He ran away."
"Ah? How did he run away?"
"How would I know! The soul-binding spell didn't catch him..."
Pei Lianxue also came over with Xu Xiyue and the other two. She squatted down, touched the blood on the ground, and licked it.
"It's not human blood..."
"..."
"..."
Hearing this, Feng Yu Die and Xiao Yunluo froze on the spot as if they wanted to ask, *Sister Pei, how can you taste this?*
"Well, brother taught me."
"Then, what should we do now..."
"I can find him." Pei Lianxue shook her head slightly. "I'll take them back to the inn, you go into the forest and bring the shopkeeper and the others back... Don't hurt them, and keep the poisonous insects. I need them..."
"Oh..."
