“Demoness Ye Qingluan! You practice the path of slaughter under the guise of a healer. You have deceived the world and stolen fame. Your crimes are unforgivable!”
The voice of Lion King Chunyu Shi was like a rolling lion’s roar, echoing continuously through the mountain forest.
“Today, I will avenge my sworn brother and expose your ugly true face to the public! I will let everyone know that you are no kind-hearted healer, but a Demoness whose hands are stained with blood!”
“Demoness! If you have the guts, stop hiding and face us!”
“You have nowhere left to run!”
The disciples following behind Chunyu Shi also began to clamor, each shouting louder than the last.
All the birds in the mountain forest were startled into flight by their noise.
Ye Qingluan did not appear.
The same large tree from before remained still.
Its long branches, like human arms, twisted at a subtle angle against the trunk, looking like a thinker resting a fist against their chin.
Then, Ye Qingluan’s voice rang out again.
“You are all so noisy. Healing people is just a hobby of mine. While it is true that I have killed quite a few people, it is not as exaggerated as you claim.”
“Exaggerated? You actually have the nerve to call me exaggerated? My sworn brother sincerely tried to get you to stay, yet you cruelly murdered him!”
Chunyu Shi’s eyes were nearly bursting with rage.
“Your sworn brother? Hmm… Oh, you mean that beastly scumbag.”
“What?”
“That guy did try to get me to stay, and his attitude was indeed sincere—sincere enough to make one feel nauseous.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Every day, he would tirelessly try to guess the color of my underwear. When I told him I was going commando, his expression became very unsightly, as if he had lost one of life’s greatest pleasures.”
Ye Qingluan spoke slowly.
“Later, when I was preparing to leave, he sincerely begged me to stay and claimed he was willing to be my exclusive chamber pot with his mouth. So, I killed him. Sigh, it is truly baffling. How could someone be interested in a child-like physique like mine?”
“Wh—this, that is impossible! My sworn brother was not that kind of person!!”
Chunyu Shi was dumbstruck, his face filled with disbelief.
“Since you aren’t a woman, you naturally wouldn’t know his true character.”
“You, you…”
Chunyu Shi was speechless, the muscles in his face trembling.
Noticing the black-robed man and Qi Shang looking at him with strange expressions, Chunyu Shi immediately barked at them, “I—I’m warning you guys, don’t get any ideas! And don’t look at me with those eyes!”
As the saying goes, family scandals should not be aired in public.
However, this public execution by Ye Qingluan had completely stripped away the dignity of Chunyu Shi’s entire family line.
“And the person over there, you’re quite impressive too. You can lie without even blushing.”
Ye Qingluan’s revelations continued.
“After competing with me and losing miserably, you insisted that I possessed Magical Seeds? You clearly did not even have the courage to compete. Just by looking at the plants I cultivated, you knelt and begged me for a few seeds.”
“I already told you there was no such thing, yet you got angry and sent people to capture me? Looking at you now, it seems you have even less hair than before. During the time you couldn’t find me, were you anxious every day, unable to eat or sleep well?”
“You—you Demoness, do not throw dirty water on me! Do not slander a person’s innocence out of thin air!”
Qi Shang immediately became frantic, shouting at the surroundings.
“Old Qi acts upright and honest! Everything you said is slander, pure slander!!”
“Oh my? I only said ‘the person over there.’ I did not mention you by name. Why are you so quick to assume the role?”
“What…”
Ye Qingluan’s voice was lazy, but the mocking tone was exceptionally thick.
It instantly made Qi Shang’s old face turn bright red, making him wish he could dig a hole and crawl into it on the spot.
He had not expected to be outschemed by Ye Qingluan, especially by such a small trick!
Qi Shang and Chunyu Shi exchanged a glance, both feeling extremely awkward.
“As for the last few Demonic Cultivators… I do not think I have seen you. What do you do?”
Ye Qingluan asked the black-robed man curiously.
“You do not need to know what I do. You only need to know that we are the ones who will take your life!”
Seeing that the timing was right, the black-robed man gave a cold laugh.
Suddenly, a burst of Yin Wind blew through the mountains, like wandering souls and wild ghosts scattering in all directions.
After witnessing the black-robed man perform his Demonic Art, Qi Shang and Chunyu Shi were curious about its effects.
They soon discovered that the tree that had been mocking them suddenly stopped moving.
“Heh, I have locked onto the Demoness’s location. She is currently entangled by my Yin Wind Ghost Messenger and cannot escape for the time being. Follow me quickly!”
The black-robed man moved out rapidly, and Qi Shang, Chunyu Shi, and the others followed suit.
By now, they could roughly guess the identity of this black-robed man.
Rumor had it there was a First Seat of a Demonic Sect known as the Ancestral Master of Yin Mountain.
He was skilled in using the Yin Wind to take lives, which clung to the living like vengeful ghosts.
While Ye Qingluan was busy mocking the other two, the black-robed man had quietly deployed the Yin Wind Ghost Messenger throughout the mountain forest and successfully located her.
Now was the time for the three factions to work together and take Ye Qingluan down!
However, in the next second, a miraculous scene occurred.
The Yin Wind Ghost Messenger that the black-robed man had just released suddenly flew over the heads of the three groups.
Whoosh!
“Hmm?”
The black-robed man’s brow furrowed as he realized something was wrong.
Logically, the Yin Wind Ghost Messenger should have been further ahead, entangling Ye Qingluan.
Why had it suddenly doubled back?
Since the Yin Wind Ghost Messenger had already locked onto Ye Qingluan, it was impossible for it to follow the wrong person.
Could it be…
The black-robed man came to a sudden halt and looked back.
He discovered that Ye Qingluan, whom they were trying to capture, had appeared right behind them!
The branches of a large tree had transformed into a palm, holding Ye Qingluan high up.
The Yin Wind Ghost Messenger trailing her did not even have a chance to touch the soles of her bare feet before it was swatted away and dissipated by several nearby vines.
Ye Qingluan sat above them, her two slender white legs dangling in the air, swaying back and forth.
It seemed that if the arc became even slightly larger, the people below would see the mysterious area beneath her skirt.
“This mountain forest is beautiful. I found it with great difficulty, and it is not my place to change it. So, I will just finish you all off here,”
Ye Qingluan said, looking down at the crowd as she perked up slightly.
Just as she said, after bidding farewell to Xiao Zhuzi and leaving Yaoxi Village, Ye Qingluan had accidentally found this quiet mountain forest.
The scenery here was beautiful, a masterpiece of nature, and did not require her to use the power of the Azure Wood Jade to alter it artificially.
But if she continued to hide in the depths, these three factions would surely destroy a portion of the forest to find her.
Ye Qingluan did not wish to see natural beauty ruined by conflict, so she appeared before them.
“Heh, Demoness, we didn’t go looking for you, but you’ve delivered yourself to our door?”
“We might not be your match individually, but with our three factions united, you’d better give up and surrender!”
“Though you do have many people…”
Watching the confident expressions of the people below her, Ye Qingluan curled a strand of her hair around her finger and spoke softly.
“But isn’t this my home field?”