A white-haired, red-eyed loli stepped forward with steady steps on slender legs clad in white silk, appearing before the Right Path Flying Chariot Army.
“They sent this to fool us? Damn, what’s going on? The Demoness just sent some brat—”
Someone felt severely insulted and couldn’t help cursing.
But the moment his words faded, the white-haired loli on the ground glanced up at him.
With just that look, the man couldn’t help but gasp. A chill ran down his spine, his legs uncontrollably weakened, and he fell straight from the Flying Chariot in the air, crashing heavily onto the ground.
At that instant, the entire Flying Chariot Army tensed up again. They all stared at the white-haired loli with a new, wary gaze.
“Master… this child’s presence is really off.”
“When did the Demoness get such a powerful disciple?”
The young disciple’s heart began to race just from being caught in the corner of the white-haired loli’s gaze, as if it might leap out of his throat at any moment. He swallowed deeply, trying to calm himself.
The middle-aged man stared blankly at the white-haired loli and didn’t respond to his disciple’s words at first.
He was dazed for a long moment before finally coming to his senses.
“She… is not the Demoness’s disciple,” the middle-aged man said in a deep voice.
The presence of this white-haired loli before them was completely different from the Demoness’s.
If the Demoness exuded a dangerous, lethal aura, then this white-haired loli, who seemed only about ten years old, brought an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Behind her, it was as if a vague, aged old man stood.
The old man squinted, appearing kind and gentle.
But when she was displeased and slowly opened her eyes, the aura emanating from that gaze made everyone dare not show disrespect.
They constantly questioned themselves—had they offended this Senior somewhere?
The middle-aged man felt exactly that at this moment.
***
The next second, the white-haired loli spoke.
“Yang Chong, this is no place for you. Leave quickly.”
Ji Hongye calmly spoke the middle-aged man’s name, advising him kindly.
Although Ji Hongye’s voice was now that of a loli, her steady tone and measured cadence instantly reminded Yang Chong of someone.
“You… you are Lady Ji?!”
Yang Chong said in disbelief.
“What? Lady Ji?!”
“This child… is that Lady Ji?!”
Mentioning “Lady Ji,” these Right Path cultivators could only think of one person.
The current Sword Emperor, the highest-level cultivator in all of Great Yan—Ji Hongye.
To nearly all Right Path cultivators, the now-faded Sword Pavilion might not command much respect, but no one dared to disrespect the Sword Emperor himself.
“Lady Ji, why have you taken this form? And why are you wearing such shameful clothing?”
Yang Chong asked Ji Hongye in confusion.
“Also, this is the Demoness’s Among the Colorful Clouds. Why are you here? Could it be… Lady Ji came to Among the Colorful Clouds before all of us to demand an explanation from the Demoness?”
“Right, if that’s the case, it makes sense.”
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Other than that, they couldn’t think of any reason for Ji Hongye to appear in Among the Colorful Clouds.
However, Ji Hongye denied their speculation.
“I came to Among the Colorful Clouds for my own reasons,” Ji Hongye replied.
“The master of Among the Colorful Clouds has nothing to do with the beast rampage.”
“Honored members of the Blue Feather Sect, Hundred Refinements Valley, Seven Luminaries Pavilion, and Nine Star Tower—would you grant me this face and leave quickly?”
Ji Hongye continued, as if she were the master of Among the Colorful Clouds, issuing an expulsion order to the Flying Chariot Army.
The crowd exchanged glances, momentarily unsure how to respond.
But the next second, a questioning voice rang out.
“Lady Ji, how can you be certain that the beast rampage has nothing to do with the Demoness?”
The speaker was a pale-faced scholar.
He held a feather fan and bore an extraordinary demeanor.
This pale-faced scholar was named An Ru, an advisor to the Heaven-tier force Nine Star Tower. He was resourceful and quick-witted, always able to find clues when others were lost.
Faced with An Ru’s question, Ji Hongye did not reply.
“Since you have no evidence, then Lady Ji’s claim that the Demoness is unrelated to the beast rampage can only have three possibilities,” An Ru continued analyzing.
“The first possibility: Lady Ji fought the Demoness and found that she was indeed innocent. But if Lady Ji truly fought the Demoness, this Among the Colorful Clouds would likely have been razed to the ground, wouldn’t it?”
“The second possibility: After arriving at Among the Colorful Clouds, Lady Ji found that the Demoness was not here. To monopolize the Demoness’s Treasure House, she wants to drive us away.”
“As for the last possibility…”
An Ru smiled meaningfully.
“Could it be that Lady Ji has a favor to ask of the Demoness, and so…”
“An Ru! Enough!”
Suddenly a loud shout interrupted An Ru’s deduction.
The speaker was Yang Chong, Sect Master of the Heaven-tier force Blue Feather Sect.
“The Sword Emperor is respected by the Right Path. You have no right to question her!”
Yang Chong called out to An Ru from afar.
“Sect Master Yang, your thinking is still so traditional and rigid. What a pity,” An Ru shrugged and smiled helplessly.
“Have you never considered why the Everlasting Tribulation Sword, which should have been under the Sword Pavilion’s control, so easily fell into the Demoness’s hands?”
“Besides, haven’t you heard about the Third Disciple of the Sword Pavilion conspiring with the former National Preceptor to secretly dig out the power of the ‘Wuxiang Demonic Art’?”
“The Sword Pavilion today is far from its former glory—blemished and stained.”
“Even that Third Disciple wanted to use crooked methods to restore the Sword Pavilion’s dominance. As the Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion, how could Lady Ji be content with the status quo?”
“Unfortunately, the Sword Pavilion is now tightly suppressed by His Majesty. So who can help the Sword Pavilion? Naturally, it’s the Demoness, whom even His Majesty fears.”
After hearing An Ru’s words, the Right Path cultivators burst into uproar, discussing among themselves.
Yang Chong was also full of disbelief, but An Ru’s analysis was entirely reasonable, leaving him unable to find any flaws for the moment.
“Could it be that Lady Ji… she really teamed up with the Demoness?”
“If that’s the case, isn’t our current situation very dangerous?”
Uneasy voices came from the crowd.
But An Ru’s next words quickly dispelled their worries.
“Rest assured, the Demoness is definitely not in Among the Colorful Clouds right now,” An Ru said with certainty, waving his feather fan and raising the corners of his mouth.
“Lady Ji secretly colluding with the Demoness is a matter shocking enough to shake the entire world. How could it be revealed casually?”
“So, if the Demoness were in Among the Colorful Clouds now, Lady Ji would not have shown herself.”
“The reason Lady Ji is appearing before us now is precisely to stop us on the Demoness’s behalf. If she didn’t, the Demoness might not help her, right?”
An Ru’s analysis was reasonable and well-founded.
For a moment, in the eyes of the Flying Chariot Army, Ji Hongye was no longer the revered Senior.
She was someone who had fallen to the dark side, secretly colluding with the Demoness.
“Lady Ji, so what will you do next?” An Ru raised an eyebrow and asked Ji Hongye meaningfully.
“Will you let us go, and let us expose your collusion with the Demoness to the world? Or will you kill us now to silence us?”
“If you kill us, you’ll surely leave your proud ‘sword marks’ here, right? At that point, the news that the Sword Emperor slaughtered his fellow Daoists will still spread across the world.”
Ji Hongye stood still, silent.
All eyes were fixed on her.
After a moment, she spoke.
“What do you want?”
“Heh, worthy of the Senior—so reasonable.”
An Ru chuckled lightly at her words.
“Although Lady Ji was momentarily blinded and strayed from the path, she is not beyond saving.”
“As long as Lady Ji leaves Among the Colorful Clouds and swears never to leave The Imperial Court for life, we can consider keeping this matter buried, preserving Lady Ji’s and the Sword Pavilion’s innocence and reputation.”
“Lady Ji wouldn’t want the Sword Pavilion’s century of glory to be destroyed in one fell swoop, would she?”
Yang Chong immediately understood An Ru’s intention upon hearing this.
An Ru didn’t care about Ji Hongye’s reputation.
He was giving Ji Hongye a way out, because he was certain Ji Hongye didn’t dare to fight to the death with them.
So, as long as they could get rid of Ji Hongye, they could loot Among the Colorful Clouds while the Demoness was away!
“You mean… if I leave now, you won’t pursue the matter regarding me?”
“Heh… yes, I guarantee it. This is a transaction—using the Demoness’s mountains of treasures to preserve the Sword Pavilion’s eternal reputation.”
The corners of An Ru’s mouth couldn’t stop turning up.
He thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of being intellectually superior, gradually controlling others.
And at this moment, the one he had cornered and forced to obey was none other than the Sword Emperor!
This pleasure of overstepping one’s authority was unprecedented, absolutely exhilarating!
But the next second, An Ru heard an unexpected reply.
“However, I refuse.”
Ji Hongye answered with a calm expression.
“What?!”
An Ru was taken aback.
“In this life, I have disappointed far too many people, but—”
Ji Hongye’s eyes shone with a resolute light as she declared word by word:
“Her alone I must not let down.”
As she spoke, Ji Hongye’s Zhenqi exploded, shaking the entire Mountain Forest.
And the next second, Ji Hongye’s whole body was enveloped in thick white mist, as if she was slowly unlocking the power sealed within herself!
When the white mist dissipated, the Ji Hongye that the Flying Chariot Army remembered had finally returned.
White hair like snow, pupils like blood.
Her tall figure and proud body nearly burst her original clothes, revealing large patches of snow-white skin.
Her long, straight legs were still wrapped in high-quality white silk, the plump thighs slightly constricted, adding to the allure.
In her mature form, Ji Hongye slightly parted her blood-red lips, and the voice that came out was low and mature, lazy but not seductive:
“Fellow Daoists, please forgive my rudeness.”
In an instant, the blade left its sheath.