Chapter 46: I’m being tracked because of my own aura.

Jiu Baiyun watched A Ran’s small figure bustling inside the house, then glanced at the unflappable Su Zhiyun.

After a moment of thought, he made his decision.

“No…”

He muttered to himself, his brows furrowing tightly.

Yun Yao was still severely injured and lying in the small house at the foot of his mountain.

After all, it was Yun Yao who had brought him this news.

Could he really abandon a seriously wounded person alone in that cottage, which was about to become a dangerous place? Jiu Baiyun knew he couldn’t do that.

“Su Zhiyun,” Jiu Baiyun turned quickly to look at her.

“Stay here and look after A Ran. Help her pack. I’m going down the mountain. I’ll be back soon!”

“Down the mountain?!”

Su Zhiyun shot upright from where she had been leaning against the wall, her face full of disbelief.

“What time do you think it is?! Didn’t you hear me say danger is ‘immediately’ upon us?! What could possibly be so important that you have to get it right now? Do you not want to live?!”

Her voice was urgent, thick with anxiety and confusion—even a hint of exasperation.

The glaring red warning on the system panel made every second feel unbearably pressing.

If she didn’t leave soon, she was afraid it would be too late.

“It’s very important! I have to go!”

Jiu Baiyun didn’t explain, and it was hard to go into detail about Yun Yao’s situation.

But he knew time was tight.

Every extra word was a waste.

So without finishing his sentence, Jiu Baiyun had already dashed toward the courtyard gate of the Ancestral Hall, leaving only an afterimage in his wake.

“Jiu Baiyun! You stop right there!”

Su Zhiyun stomped her foot in panic, chasing him to the gate and shouting at his quickly disappearing back, “Have you lost your mind?! We won’t make it in time!!!”

However, Jiu Baiyun’s figure didn’t pause at all; instead, it blended even faster into the mountain path, vanishing behind the dense trees after a few leaps.

“That bastard!!”

Su Zhiyun angrily punched the doorframe, sending wood chips scattering down.

She looked in the direction Jiu Baiyun had disappeared, then turned back to see A Ran still packing inside the house.

She couldn’t help but sigh.

—

Jiu Baiyun moved swiftly along the way.

After confirming no one was around, he even used a bit of Spiritual Energy to go even faster.

Before long, he had rushed back to his own courtyard.

After catching his breath briefly, Jiu Baiyun practically slammed open the door and burst into the room.

Yun Yao was leaning against the head of the bed, her fingers unconsciously stroking the smooth Jade Token.

Her blue-green eyes were slightly unfocused.

The sudden commotion snapped her back to reality.

She looked up and saw Jiu Baiyun standing at the door, his breath short and his forehead still glistening with sweat.

“What’s wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?”

Yun Yao frowned, keenly sensing that the gravity in his expression far exceeded what it had been when he left earlier.

“No time to explain!” Jiu Baiyun spoke rapidly.

“This place might be in trouble much sooner than we thought.”

“I’m planning to head north and flee with the Great Lan Sect. What are you going to do?”

Jiu Baiyun watched Yun Yao, who seemed to be thinking.

He didn’t rush her too much, but after waiting a moment, he continued, “So? Are you coming with us?”

“Us?”

A clear hint of confusion flickered in Yun Yao’s blue-green pupils, as if the word had caught her off guard.

She had just been pulled back from deep thought, her mind still tangled in the disappointment of failing to find “Little White Sister.”

Jiu Baiyun quickly explained, “Yeah, there are two other people. The ones from the Ancestral Hall you went to the day before yesterday. A Ran and Su Zhiyun.”

“They’ll be coming with me, too.”

He paused, as if remembering something, then added, “Oh, right. I never asked—what about the maidservant who was with you?”

“I got separated from her before entering the Forbidden Area… She should be back at the Grand Harmony Sect now, looking for the elders…”

After explaining Xiao Chun’s whereabouts, Yun Yao fell silent again.

Her gaze grew distant, passing over Jiu Baiyun’s shoulder as if piercing through the crude walls to land somewhere far away.

She thought back to that Ancestral Hall.

At the time, when she heard the words “Lord Fox Immortal,” she had almost thought it might be Little White Sister’s shrine.

But in the end, she got nothing.

Still, she quickly recalled the people who had been there.

That little girl named A Ran had left a deep impression on her.

Her eyes were clear, her faith in the “Lord Fox Immortal” pure and fervent—a rare clean look in this corrupt world.

As for this “Su Zhiyun”…

Yun Yao’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, a trace of confusion passing through her blue-green eyes.

She really didn’t remember that name.

When she went there, she’d only had close contact with A Ran.

She hadn’t interacted with anyone else outside the Ancestral Hall, let alone learned their names.

But then…

“How did you know I went to the Ancestral Hall the day before yesterday?”

Yun Yao’s voice was soft, her brow slightly creased with doubt.

She remembered clearly that she hadn’t seen Jiu Baiyun’s shadow at the Ancestral Hall!

Hearing her accusation, Jiu Baiyun was momentarily stunned.

‘Shit! I forgot about that!’

In his rush, he had completely forgotten that he hadn’t actually met Yun Yao that day!

He had even hidden behind the house to avoid her.

The urgency on his face instantly froze, as if someone had hit the pause button, replaced by an embarrassed look of being caught red-handed.

The sweat on his forehead seemed even more prominent.

He instinctively raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, but feeling that it looked too guilty, he stopped mid-motion and stiffly scratched the tip of his nose instead.

“Uh… well…”

He opened his mouth to fabricate an excuse, but facing Yun Yao’s clear, questioning gaze, he felt that lying any further would be too despicable.

Besides, time was too tight for him to come up with a plausible lie.

A brief silence spread through the small room, leaving only Jiu Baiyun’s slightly ragged breathing.

Finally, Jiu Baiyun resigned himself and shrugged helplessly.

“I… I was at the Ancestral Hall.”

His voice was much lower now, slower, clearly lacking confidence.

“I was… behind the house.”

“Oh? So Lord Jiu was deliberately avoiding me?”

Yun Yao’s “Oh?” trailed upward with a hint of playfulness, but her blue-green eyes locked tightly onto Jiu Baiyun.

Jiu Baiyun felt his scalp tingle.

That “Lord Jiu” from her mouth made him extremely uncomfortable.

But he had no intention of admitting it.

Instead, he frowned slightly and changed the subject.

“So why did you come here in the first place?”

Jiu Baiyun’s question caught Yun Yao off guard.

This time, it was her turn to hesitate, hemming and hawing without producing a clear answer.

After struggling for a long while, she finally spat out just one word: “Looking for someone.”

Seeing that he had successfully turned the tables, Jiu Baiyun didn’t intend to let it go.

Besides, he was genuinely curious how Yun Yao had determined that the person she sought was here.

“How are you so sure the person you’re looking for is here?”

Yun Yao hesitated for a long time, then finally sighed and said, “Because the Grand Harmony Sect has a Secret Art that can track the general location of a certain aura.”

Now Jiu Baiyun understood why Yun Yao had come here.

‘So my Fox Demon Transformation aura was being tracked…’