As the battlefield began to quiet, Lin Xinyi cautiously emerged from the rubble, gazing at the giant dharma idol lying at the foot of the mountain.
The massive green idol had lost its luster, lying still beneath the peak.
‘Yun Yiyi is even more formidable than I imagined…’
During that time, the surroundings were filled with painful screams and continuous pounding sounds.
When Lin Xinyi reached the base of the dharma idol, she could still hear the rhythmic hammering inside, though the screams had ceased as accompaniment.
“That’s enough.”
Lin Xinyi’s voice wasn’t loud, as if she were speaking normally.
Yet, with that one light remark, the continuous hammering ceased upon hearing it.
“If Little Xinyi thinks it’s enough, then it’s enough.”
Yun Yiyi’s calm voice emerged from the dharma idol, followed immediately by a loud crash.
The fragile idol, lacking spiritual power support, began to dissipate.
But Yun Yiyi clearly wouldn’t wait for it to slowly disperse.
She punched directly at the chest area, creating another large hole below the original opening.
The entire dharma idol lost its original solidity, and as if triggering a chain reaction, began to break apart piece by piece.
Yun Yiyi’s figure appeared amidst the collapsing idol.
Seeing her, Lin Xinyi let out a long sigh of relief, since the other looked completely unaffected by the poison.
Lin Xinyi had intended to offer a few words of concern, but was surprised to see that after appearing, Yun Yiyi still stood motionless.
So she said somewhat irritably: “Since it’s already dealt with, why did you stay inside so long? You made me think something happened to you…”
As soon as Lin Xinyi spoke, Yun Yiyi, who had been standing still, suddenly shuddered as if someone had snapped her out of a daze.
She slowly turned around.
“Th-this counts as a friend’s concern?”
“Mm… I suppose so.”
Lin Xinyi looked at Yun Yiyi at that moment.
She didn’t deny what Yun Yiyi had said, but frowned slightly and slowly took two steps back, putting some distance between them.
At the same time, Lin Xinyi also saw Du Mei Zhenren lying at Yun Yiyi’s feet, still vaguely human-shaped, now unrecognizable.
The Du Mei Zhenren who had pushed her to such a limit had been beaten to death here by Yun Yiyi.
“Little Xinyi, does this level suffice to meet the conditions of being your best friend…”
Just as Lin Xinyi was slightly dazed, Yun Yiyi’s trembling voice reached her ears.
Lin Xinyi slowly raised her eyes.
Looking at Yun Yiyi, she noticed the other’s body was trembling slightly.
Lin Xinyi thought that this battle must have taken a lot out of her.
Facing Yun Yiyi’s questioning words, Lin Xinyi smiled slightly.
Then she stepped closer with light steps, as if praising a pet, and answered gently: “Of course, my best friend~”
Yun Yiyi’s body, which had been trembling slightly, immediately stopped at those words, and a sparkle lit up in her eyes.
At that moment, Yun Yiyi’s eyes were full of excitement, and she almost wanted to jump down and give her a big hug.
Lin Xinyi, standing at the foot of the mountain, simply smiled at Yun Yiyi on the boulder and raised her hand in an inviting gesture.
“Then, my best friend, does my answer satisfy you?~”
“Satisfied! Satisfied~!!”
Faced with Lin Xinyi’s gentle words, Yun Yiyi couldn’t resist.
She was so excited that she jumped off the boulder, but just as she was about to embrace the other, her light steps suddenly halted.
Lin Xinyi, standing still, had already prepared for the other to pounce on her, but found that Yun Yiyi, just a few steps away, had stopped.
A hint of confusion appeared in her eyes.
“What? Could it be that your best friend doesn’t satisfy you?”
“No! No! It’s just that I’m…”
Yun Yiyi quickly defended herself after hearing Lin Xinyi’s words, and her eyes flickered.
It was then that Lin Xinyi finally understood what she meant.
Yun Yiyi’s originally clean dharma robe was already stained with blood, and blood was incessantly dripping from her knuckles.
Lin Xinyi saw her hesitation and didn’t give Yun Yiyi much time to think.
Yun Yiyi thought she was too dirty and didn’t want to get close to Lin Xinyi, afraid of being rejected.
But when her wrist was gently grasped, her legs went weak, and she was enveloped in a gentle, fragrant embrace.
“X-Xia Xinyi! I-I’m dirty!”
“Shh, if you want to do it, then do it. What’s all the fuss about…”
Yun Yiyi heard the words at her ear and was held in the embrace.
This Yun Yiyi, who had always been a loner and rarely felt gentleness, once again experienced the wonder of friendship.
‘So this is how it feels to have a best friend…’
Yun Yiyi was clearly completely in Lin Xinyi’s hands.
Even her arms unconsciously wrapped around Lin Xinyi’s willow-like slender waist, burying her head in the warm and gentle embrace.
‘It feels so warm, I want to stay like this forever…’
Lin Xinyi, holding Yun Yiyi tightly, slowly revealed a sinister smile.
That intellectual and gentle demeanor from before was merely a disguise.
If not for that, how could she willingly make the pawn obedient?
‘Just this is enough to satisfy her? This is too easy to use~’
Lin Xinyi usually only extorted things from Yun Yiyi, but today she discovered that the other was even more useful than imagined.
A pawn that could be satisfied with just a few words was even easier than mind-control techniques.
While Lin Xinyi thought this, Yun Yiyi, who was tightly hugging her, had a different thought.
After feeling intoxicating tenderness, a different feeling arose in Yun Yiyi’s heart.
‘But why can’t such a warm and intoxicating touch fill the emptiness in my heart…’
Yun Yiyi slightly opened her eyes.
The satisfied expression gave way to an infinite emptiness, as if she already knew that after experiencing such a warm embrace, she would have to endure the pain of separation.
‘I want to stay like this forever…’
Yun Yiyi’s thoughts were complicated, but she still gently released the other.
Precisely because she let go, she yearned even more for that gentle embrace.
‘No, I can’t act overly excited, or my best friend will hate me…’
Yun Yiyi kept warning herself internally, but at that moment, the corpse on the boulder trembled slightly.
Although Du Mei Zhenren’s face was beaten beyond recognition, the faint twitching of her fingers indicated her tenacious vitality.
‘Why! Why! Why did I encounter that monster! I can’t die, I can’t die, I was so close…’
‘They haven’t noticed me. As long as… as long as part of my body isn’t destroyed, I can still survive…’
Du Mei Zhenren’s fingers twitched as she tried to cling to life.
But at that moment, a snowflake slowly fell before her eyes.
The snowflake was crystalline, fascinating like crystal.
Even Du Mei Zhenren was captivated by the snowflake, momentarily forgetting to escape, only feeling that she had seen such snowflakes somewhere before.
‘Karma…’
Du Mei Zhenren’s thought only flashed for an instant, then her body, like rotten flesh, was completely covered by frost.
At the same time, a crystal-like toe cap slowly stepped onto the ice block, and an ice-blue figure appeared before everyone.
“Elder Lin, interesting things always happen around you…”
Along with Murong Xue’s voice, the original barrier shattered instantly.
The elders of the sect almost immediately sensed the anomaly here.
Almost at the same time, they flew into the air, surrounding the area tightly.
Murong Xue stood on the rock, looking down at the two before her.
She merely glanced at the sunken mountain, then at the blood-soaked Yun Yiyi. Murong Xue understood the general situation but didn’t say much.
Her figure descended slowly with the snowflakes.
“Elder Lin, aren’t you going to explain?..”
Murong Xue didn’t ask the blood-soaked Yun Yiyi.
She immediately fixed her eyes on Lin Xinyi standing beside her.
Faced with Murong Xue’s appearance, Lin Xinyi wasn’t particularly surprised.
After all, the commotion had been so great.
Even with the barrier blocking it, it was only a matter of time before Murong Xue, a Divine Transformation stage cultivator, detected the anomaly with her divine sense.
“However, there was a demon cult spy who tried to ambush me, but I was saved by Elder Yun. Nothing major…”
“Nothing major? Since when does Elder Lin need saving from others? Could it be that your previous injury hasn’t healed yet?”
Lin Xinyi had intended to brush it off with a few casual words, not wanting to say much.
After all, not many knew that her cultivation base hadn’t recovered yet.
If she elaborated on details, she might be found out.
In the cultivation world, one always had to be wary.
But Murong Xue didn’t give her a chance to muddle through.
She directly questioned her, which Lin Xinyi found troublesome.
If the other wanted details, she couldn’t just brush it off with a few words.
“Since when does the Sect Master joke like that? That minor injury has long been cured thanks to your pills, leaving no root cause…”
“Is that so.”
After answering flatly, Murong Xue didn’t ask further.
She just glanced at the corpse frozen into a block of ice at her feet, then waved her hand.
Two elders behind her immediately flew over.
“Have all elders verify the outer and inner disciples of their peaks. Anyone with suspicious background is to be handed over to the Disciplinary Elder for interrogation…”
After saying this, Murong Xue left directly, without any intention of asking Lin Xinyi about the details of the attack, as if she had only asked a trivial question.
Lin Xinyi hadn’t expected the other to leave so easily.
She was about to sigh in relief, but then suddenly thought of something and quickly called out to the departing Murong Xue.
“Sect Master, please wait!”
“Elder Lin, is there something else to say?..”
“It’s nothing for me, but my direct disciple, Qin Huaiyin, was injured by that demon cult spy and poisoned severely.”
“A Nascent Soul stage poison cannot harm your disciple…”