Yangzhou City, inside the City Lord’s Mansion.
As Lu Li and his disciples departed, the City Lord’s Mansion immediately sank into overwhelming sorrow.
The night wind howled, stirring up a few charred ashes on the ground, swirling upward into the night sky.
However, whether it was Lu Li and his disciples leaving or the deeply mourning Ruan family and the remaining direct lineage of the Zhao family, none of them noticed.
Beneath the highest rooftop of the Zhao family mansion, a shadow nearly blending into the night loomed silently, watching everything below.
The dark figure’s form was graceful, face obscured by the rooftop’s shadow, making it impossible to see clearly.
Only a pair of emerald green eyes occasionally shifted, flashing a depth and chill like a millennia-old cold pool.
This was none other than Mo Qing, who had earlier used a space-type treasure to break through Gong Shangyu’s time stop with System Authority before Gong Shangyu could find Gu Qingying, forcibly escaping the dungeon ahead.
Mo Qing looked down on everything below with neither pity nor joy in her eyes.
She had already been watching the battle between Lu Li and Zhao Zongchang, witnessing everything that happened in the courtyard in detail.
Looking at the charred bodies embracing, the weeping Ruan family, and the patch of ground cleansed by Purification Power, Mo Qing’s lips curved slightly into an indescribable expression—part mockery, part faint sympathy and regret.
“Sigh… Why bother? If you had fled with me during the retreat earlier, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out like this?”
“I told you before, living caught between the righteous path and the demonic path like you is destined to be short-lived…”
Mo Qing’s voice lowered gradually until it was nearly silent, her lips curling into a self-mocking bitter smile.
After all, while her words seemed to target Zhao Zongchang, in reality, they were no less true for herself.
Then, from her high vantage point, Mo Qing reluctantly cast one last glance at Lu Li’s retreating figure, determination flickering faintly in her eyes.
“Master, your disciple has been unfilial. Please forgive my recklessness! To create a timeline where you can survive…”
“Even if I bear the scorn and shatter completely, I can only grit my teeth and do it. After all, I cannot turn back now…”
With that, Mo Qing bowed deeply toward Lu Li’s departing back.
Then, her figure flickered like a breeze, dissolving into the rooftop shadows as if she had never been there.
***
Two days later, inside Yangzhou City.
With Zhao Zongchang dead, the children imprisoned were gradually returned home with the help of the Pill Refining Pavilion, reuniting with their parents.
After learning the truth, the Jin Kingdom court publicly stripped Zhao Zongchang of his official title and rank.
However, since the Ruan family and the Zhao family were unaware of Zhao Zongchang’s collusion with the demonic sect, they were spared from being implicated.
Even the position of City Lord was still taken up by a collateral branch of the Zhao family.
As Zhao Zongchang’s wife, Lady Ruan was ignorant of his plans but was nonetheless overwhelmed with guilt.
After burying her husband and daughter, Lady Ruan decided to shave her head and become a nun, devoting the rest of her life to copying scriptures and chanting sutras to atone for her husband’s sins.
At the same time, with Zhao Zongchang’s death and the departure of the demonic cultists from the Corpse Refining Sect, the earth’s veins and evil energy in Yangzhou City were cleansed anew by Lu Li and the Jin Kingdom court, gradually returning to clarity.
However, the citizens still suffering from strange illnesses required ongoing treatment from the Pill Refining Pavilion.
Meanwhile, the Jin Kingdom court and Pill Refining Pavilion led reconstruction efforts for buildings collapsed by the recent earthquake.
Because of their meritorious service in subduing demons, Lu Li and Gu Qingying received official recognition and praise from the Jin Kingdom court—not only for themselves but for the entire Xuling Sect.
In fact, this should have marked the end of the investigation into the Yangzhou City incident.
Yet for Lu Li and his disciples, Zhao Zongchang’s death only deepened the mystery.
Since Zhao Zongchang’s demise, Lu Li and his disciples had spent two days in a secret chamber beneath the Zhao family estate, investigating leads related to the traitors who assisted him in Corpse Refining.
However, after two days, they found no relevant clues.
They had no choice but to package the existing evidence and send it back to the sect’s Meritorious Service Hall, hoping others would continue the investigation.
Still, beyond all this, there were greater doubts weighing on Lu Li and his disciples.
The biggest question in Lu Li’s heart was the identity of the suspected Xuling Sect traitor from the Corpse Refining Sect’s puppeteer.
Gong Shangyu remained obsessed with the suspected reincarnated fourth junior sister—an evil cultivator immune to his time-stop System.
Gu Qingying wondered why, since that day, Gu Hongchen within her had become silent, as if asleep.
Yet Lu Li and his two disciples had no idea these doubts troubling them all stemmed from a single source…
***
After two days of fruitless investigation in Yangzhou, Lu Li and his disciples prepared to leave and return to the sect to report.
Facing the deadly threat of the System, Lu Li urgently wanted to return and use the merits earned from this mission to obtain pills to strengthen Gu Qingying, enabling himself to advance to Jindan.
Thus, after spending several days in Yangzhou, Lu Li decisively refused the enthusiastic pleas of the locals to stay longer and resolutely planned to depart with his disciples on the morning of the third day.
On the day Lu Li and Gu Qingying prepared to leave, the new City Lord of Yangzhou stood side by side with the Pill Refining Pavilion’s acting Pavilion Master—Wu Steward disguised as Gong Shangyu.
Behind them stood many citizens and Pill Refining Pavilion cultivators who had come to see them off.
The people brought all kinds of gifts, mostly local specialties and plaques of gratitude, their faces radiating sincere appreciation.
“Immortal Lu, the people of Yangzhou are deeply grateful and cannot repay your kindness! Please accept these humble gifts!”
The new City Lord cupped his hands respectfully.
Wu Steward stepped forward, smiling as he recited the lines arranged by Pavilion Master Gong Shangyu.
“Master Lu, Gu Xiaoyou, the entire Pill Refining Pavilion is deeply thankful for your assistance. Should you require anything in the future, we will stand ready without hesitation.”
Lu Li, clad in a green robe, stood on the deck of the spirit vessel, his expression calm as he bowed slightly to the crowd below.
“Hehe~ No need for such formalities. Subduing demons and exorcising evil is the duty of cultivators.”
“Yangzhou City has been reborn after this disaster. I hope everyone will unite and rebuild the homeland together.”
Lu Li’s clear words carried a calming strength that drew grateful responses from below.
Gu Qingying stood beside Lu Li, her purple eyes constantly scanning the crowd of well-wishers.
She searched for a long time but did not see the pink figure who always waved a fan and smiled like a sly fox.
“Hmm? Strange… Where could Gong Lao’er be today?”
Gu Qingying muttered in her heart.
Knowing her second senior sister’s love for stirring up trouble and showing off before Master, Gu Qingying was certain she would never miss such a farewell event.
“Hmm… When things are abnormal, there must be a demon! That guy is definitely up to something again!”
Thinking this, Gu Qingying quietly activated her divine sense to scan the surroundings, still finding no sign of Gong Shangyu.
The uneasy feeling in her heart grew stronger.
Just then, after the pleasantries ended, Lu Li suddenly turned around and waved his sleeve, activating the spirit vessel to break through the void and depart!
Seeing that their troublesome second senior sister showed no sign of trying to jump aboard or cling desperately to Master as they left Yangzhou City—now reduced to a tiny black dot in the distance—Gu Qingying breathed a sigh of relief.
“Phew… Glad she didn’t come.”
“Though I don’t know what that pink-haired fox Gong Shangyu is thinking…”
“As long as she doesn’t cling to us and disturb Master and me, that’s fine~”
With that thought, Gu Qingying’s lips curved into a smug smile.
But just as she relaxed and pushed open the cabin door to rest inside the ship—
“Yo~ Finally came up? Dragging your feet, I was about to let my tea go cold.”
A familiar, lazy, teasing voice suddenly rang out inside the cabin.
***
Gu Qingying snapped her head up, seeing Gong Shangyu—who had been missing all this time—now comfortably lounging in the soft chair inside the spirit vessel cabin.
He crossed his legs and held a steaming cup of Spirit Tea, grinning at Gu Qingying by the door.
“Gong Shangyu! You… how did you get here?”
Gu Qingying widened her eyes in surprise.
Meanwhile, Gong Shangyu, who had packed up his luggage, entrusted Wu Steward with the affairs after leaving the Pill Refining Pavilion, and secretly sneaked into the spirit vessel cabin last night, answered matter-of-factly to his junior sister.
“Take the stairs~ What else could I do?”