“What wind has blown Young Master Yun to my sect today?”
Yan Qingli invited Yun Heng inside and gestured for the other disciples to leave.
She was not actually familiar with Yun Heng.
It was simply that the name of the Changsheng Yun family was too great, and Yun Heng was someone who was frequently active in the middle and lower six provinces.
Many powerful cultivators possessed Yun Heng’s portrait, hence her recognition.
“Yunmeng is indeed prone to wind and rain. This junior was entrusted by an old acquaintance to come and ‘bring extra layers’ for the Valley Master.”
Yan Qingli, who was brewing tea for Yun Heng, paused.
Soon, she smiled and shook her head. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have mentioned that matter to him. I’ve troubled you, Young Master.”
Yun Heng took the tea cup but did not rush to drink. Instead, he calmly fixed his gaze on Yan Qingli’s face.
“The situation is pressing and leaves no room for excessive tact. If this were for the sake of the ‘greater good,’ then the one sitting here right now would not be this junior, but the Fanged Hound.”
Yan Qingli’s fingertips paused slightly. She raised her eyes to look at Yun Heng, her gaze seemingly measuring him.
The young man’s features were exceptionally clear. Even for an elder like Yan Qingli, who had lived for more than a thousand years, it was difficult to glimpse even a hint of ulterior motives.
Should she believe him?
Ought she to believe him?
Yan Qingli’s knowledge of Yun Heng came almost entirely from hearsay. She had been quite startled when Yun Heng had come to “challenge” the sect with Jiang Keke a few days ago, thinking her little secret had been discovered.
However, Yun Heng had performed the role of a “profligate young master” on the spot, which had put her much more at ease.
But looking at him now, that “profligate young master” persona was clearly just a disguise Yun Heng had adopted for fun. His true personality should be this confident appearance he wore now.
Yan Qingli actually did not know how to handle people with this kind of personality, especially those from the upper three provinces.
After all, Liuli Valley had been in seclusion for many years. Although it was titled one of the three top sects of Yunmeng Prefecture, almost everyone in the prefecture knew that Liuli Valley was currently purely a “retirement sect.”
From top to bottom, they had no ambition, and the Sect Master was merely at the Integration Stage.
To be honest, Yan Qingli did not want to trust Yun Heng. But if she chose not to trust him, how would she handle “her”?
Yan Qingli was very clear about the upper limits of her own strength. If Xuan Sun truly wanted to act, she would definitely be defeated within ten moves.
Even if—taking a step back—she managed to defeat Xuan Sun, what about the other high-level officials of the demon inspection department? What about those Tribulation Transcendence and Great Convergence stage masters?
What if Xuan Sun went into a killing frenzy and simply wiped out every cultivator in Liuli Valley?
After a long silence, Yan Qingli sighed and made her decision. She raised her hand, preparing to add another layer of protection to the surrounding barrier, but was stopped by Yun Heng.
“I have more experience in how to conceal the aura of the demon race. Let me do it.”
Before Yan Qingli could react to the deeper meaning in Yun Heng’s words, she saw him lightly tap the tea with his index finger.
Then, using the water droplets as a brush, he outlined a profound array that Yan Qingli had never seen before in just five breaths.
Because Yun Heng did not use much spiritual energy, his movements were not particularly large.
At the very least, he did not have the hand speed that left afterimages, which Yan Qingli associated with high-level array masters or talisman cultivators.
Yet, the array he drew seemed to extend automatically from the first stroke—like water, like branches, nimble and expressive.
It was as if… he had drawn it tens of thousands of times before.
“…As expected of someone from the Changsheng Yun family. Such attainment in arrays is truly enviable,” Yan Qingli praised in a low voice.
“It’s not worth mentioning.”
Yun Heng withdrew his hand, a hint of melancholy flashing in his eyes. Actually, until one month ago, he thought he would never use this array again in this lifetime.
However, the node he had tried so hard to avoid was, in the end, unable to escape the destiny of the interwoven threads.
“Follow me.”
Yan Qingli stood up and led Yun Heng deep into the waterside pavilion. She pointed her fingers like a sword, and in the next second, the barrier rippled open at her fingertips.
Under the shade of flowers, a girl in tattered clothes curled up with her knees hugged to her chest, sleeping in the shadows between two stones.
Upon hearing the movement, she opened her eyes instantly. Almost instinctively, she arched her body, her claws digging deeply into the mud.
Her eyes were the amber color unique to the demon race, and there were scale patterns on her forehead that seemed to have never faded.
She relaxed slightly upon seeing Yan Qingli, but her body tensed again the moment she saw Yun Heng and Jiang Keke.
Like a wild cat.
“Don’t be afraid. This is Young Master Yun. He’s… here to help you.”
Yan Qingli’s tone was as gentle as a mother coaxing a child. She tentatively took two steps forward, opening her arms, hoping the girl would run over to her for help just as before.
Although the girl did show a moment of hesitation, she seemed to fear these two strangers more than she trusted Yan Qingli.
So, every time Yan Qingli took a step forward, the girl took a step back, baring her teeth and letting out a low, hoarse hiss.
Her backward posture was also very strange. Her limbs were not entirely on the ground, and her claws only hooked into the mud with her fingertips. She looked like a lion or tiger, yet also like a fledgling bird or a kangaroo.
Jiang Keke could not say for sure; she looked like a bit of everything.
“I’ll go to the entrance and keep watch for you.”
Jiang Keke turned away with a frown. She did not like seeing such sights because they made her feel pity for no reason.
But why should the human race pity the demon race? Jiang Keke did not want to pity or feel sorry for her, so she simply chose to close her eyes and not look.
Once Jiang Keke left, Yan Qingli returned to Yun Heng’s side.
“Young Master Yun, as you can see, she is extremely aggressive right now. If we can’t—”
Before she could finish, Yan Qingli stopped. She saw that Yun Heng seemed to have a headache and was rubbing his brow.
If she looked closely, she could even see fine beads of sweat breaking out on Yun Heng’s forehead.
“Are you feeling unwell?” Yan Qingli hesitated for a moment before offering a word of concern.
For some reason, Yun Heng’s face had grown much paler, and his breathing was no longer as steady as before, becoming very turbulent.
“…It’s nothing.”
Yun Heng bit the tip of his tongue hard, forcing himself to calm down. He did not understand why his body would suddenly have such a severe reaction.
Because he had never come into contact with this “other flood dragon” in his past life.
Yun Heng only knew about the girl before him from snippets of what Ling Yao had said, but it seemed she had died suddenly after only a few hundred years.
‘It feels a bit like something related to “providence”… but with my current cultivation, I can’t capture it at all…’
Taking a deep breath, Yun Heng first took out a spirit awakening pill from his storage bag and swallowed it. Once his condition had recovered slightly, he took out the six-vane transformation pill that he had also thought he would never need in this lifetime.
Looking at this pellet overflowing with medicinal fragrance, Yun Heng looked down for a long while before wrapping it in a piece of gauze and gently placing it on the ground. Then, Yun Heng looked calmly at the girl.
The girl looked back at him. Seeming to catch the medicinal scent, her nose twitched, and she suddenly froze.
Just as Yun Heng was about to say something, she suddenly jumped and pounced straight toward him. However, she was not snatching the elixir.
Instead, under the pair’s shocked gazes, she performed an action that completely defied her previous behavioral logic—she turned the most vulnerable part of her neck to the side, pressing it gently against the cold ground, and stared at Yun Heng without blinking.
“You, fragrant. Not hurt.”