Now, seeing he could not break through, anxiety surged in his heart.
Suddenly, Su Baishan’s eyes lit up.
He had long noticed that Chao Jinsui was completely motionless—clearly something was wrong with her body!
He simply transformed into a mass of black qi, no longer entangling himself, and lunged straight for Chao Jinsui inside the coffin!
That’s right—the Su family were all half-demons.
The round-faced girl cried out, “Careful!”
The next second, a giant snake suddenly whipped its tail, violently flinging Su Baishan away!
With a thought from Chao Jinsui, the Kunlun Sword suddenly reversed direction, turning into a streak of golden light like a meteor. With thunderous force, it pierced straight through the Su Baishan who had just been flung away—pfft!
Then, with a thud, Su Baishan fell into Xiao Yanjing’s wide-open mouth.
Xiao Yanjing: yue—
Chao Jinsui: “No spitting!”
Su Baishan, dead.
The round-faced girl watching from the side was utterly shocked.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Madam Zi spoke grandly, as if eager to personally avenge her son at once, but in truth, seeing the situation turn unfavorable, she was quietly retreating.
From the moment Yan Xueyi appeared, she had realized he was not human, but of the demon race! And not like the Su family’s half-baked demons, but an extremely powerful one, with a terrifying aura!
Though she did not recognize the Demon Lord, she had heard of several exceedingly powerful and brutal demons. Caught off guard today, she had no desire to face such a formidable enemy.
However, the unfamiliar young demon had a spine-chilling smile at the corner of his lips and blocked her path.
Madam Zi’s heart tightened. Yuanyang City was the Su family’s home ground. For her son’s revival, Madam Zi had ensured everything was foolproof. She had chosen this barren mountain precisely because it gave her something she could rely on.
Suddenly, a great formation beneath her erupted with purple light. Countless yin ghosts crawled out from underground and lunged fiercely toward Yan Xueyi!
She seized the chance to retreat rapidly, attempting to escape with her life!
But the yin ghosts were violently blown away by an overwhelming surge of demonic qi!
Madam Zi herself was seized by an even fiercer demonic force and dragged back, her figure in midair like a bird with broken wings.
Turning her head, she met the sight of ferocious black mist that had formed into a blood-red skull in the air.
—To be honest, with yin ghosts covering the ground and that fiend’s red skull, it was hard to say which was more sinister.
Madam Zi’s body was crushed amid a scream, turning into a wisp of smoke.
Yan Xueyi landed again and lowered his head in thought.
What he had just crushed was not Madam Zi’s true body.
—Even the Gu King was not on her.
They said a cunning rabbit has three burrows; Madam Zi had carried that out thoroughly.
Yan Xueyi frowned.
Just now, he had clearly sensed the sinister aura of the Gu King on Madam Zi. But when he crushed her, he had not sensed even the slightest trace of the Gu King’s existence. Then how exactly had she been controlling the love gu? One had to know—without the Gu King present, no matter how capable Madam Zi was, it would be impossible for her to control it remotely.
Suddenly, he had a guess: Had Madam Zi… refined herself and the Gu King into one entity?
He lowered his head and looked at the hand that had just crushed Madam Zi, suddenly wanting to wash it.
But when he lifted his gaze, the surrounding yin ghosts had already encircled the place.
Only then did Chao Jinsui understand why Madam Zi had chosen this location—because beneath this mountain were buried those who had been drained of their yang energy and, under the refinement of this formation, had turned into yin ghosts!
Across the entire barren mountain, yin ghosts crawled out endlessly.
The Kunlun Sword let out an extremely excited cry. In an instant, golden light burst forth, violently overturning the first row of yin ghosts that lunged forward!
At this time, since Madam Zi was no longer controlling the love gu, more and more people were awakening, their faces drained of color in terror at the dreadful sight!
As the yin ghosts were about to completely surround them, wave after wave surged forward without end!
She opened her eyes. The Kunlun Sword suddenly enlarged, then whistled through the air and plunged toward the ground—
From where the Kunlun Sword struck, the earth split open with a crack, causing the charging yin ghosts to tumble headlong into the massive fissure!
Chao Jinsui shouted: “Can you move? If you can, get up quickly! If you’re dragged down, you’ll become dried corpses!”
The round-faced girl reacted the fastest, drawing her sword with a flash.
She severed the hand of a dried corpse that was about to grab her!
After all, they were cultivators—even those pale-faced courtesans immediately reacted, drawing their weapons and gathering together!
But there were too many dried corpses—
These female cultivators had all been controlled by the love gu before. They would not be able to hold out long.
Chao Jinsui stood up from the coffin. She climbed onto Xiao Yanjing’s body and looked down from above.
Very quickly, she found the formation’s core.
The Kunlun Sword flashed like lightning, plunging straight into a gravestone.
The gravestone shattered into pieces!
Almost instantly, a black grand formation burst with light then broke.
The round-faced girl and the other women all let out sighs of relief.
But just as the endless dried corpses were about to disappear—
A mass of dense black qi appeared, forming into a towering demon of terrifying aura.
Behind him, there was also the phantom of a blood-red skull.
Everyone retreated in unison, eyes filled with despair. Another one had come? And it looked even more sinister than the dried corpses!
Just when everyone thought they would not leave here alive—
She called out, “Yan Xueyi.”
Xiao Yanjing’s true body was enormous. He had been somewhat dazed, only instinctively wanting to help her down.
By the time he came back to his senses, the blood-red skull, upon seeing that cold and aloof sword cultivator—
It turned pink.
Then vanished at the speed of light.
Xiao Yanjing: …..
Everyone else: ……
Just as the two of them and the snake were about to leave, the round-faced girl ran after them and stuffed a jade pendant into Chao Jinsui’s hand.
The round-faced girl had been greatly frightened today, so she was extremely grateful that Chao Jinsui had shielded her earlier—if she had not drawn Madam Zi’s attention, then when Madam Zi discovered someone still awake, she would certainly have killed her without hesitation.
“Thank you, Senior, for saving my life today! I am from the Jade Sword Alliance. If Senior ever needs anything in the future, you can take this jade pendant to the Jade Sword Alliance to find me!”
Chao Jinsui looked at the jade pendant. It indeed bore the mark of the Jade Sword Alliance.
No wonder the round-faced girl had awakened so quickly. With such a background, the cultivation methods she was taught were naturally extraordinary.
Chao Jinsui did not refuse—forming good ties far and wide had been her habit since she became the Young Sect Master of the Kunlun Sword Sect.
She nodded to the round-faced girl.
The round-faced girl had come to Yuanyang City a few days ago for sightseeing. Although she was a sword cultivator, she had a deficiency of qi. Hearing that Yuanyang City had a kind of specially made pill that could make one radiant and improve complexion, she had excitedly spent spirit stones to buy it at a high price.
In the following days, however, she had been muddle-headed, not even knowing what she had done. Though she found it strange, her complexion truly improved day by day, so she never connected it to the pill.
After they returned, Yan Xueyi had Guangping and Hongniang investigate the matter of the pill.
Sure enough, in the spirit medicine shops of Yuanyang City, a certain type of pill had long been popular.
Qi deficiency was a common ailment among many women. For such women, they called it a “Qi-Nourishing Pill”;
For courtesans, who pursued beauty and preservation of youth, the medicine shops called it a “Beauty-Nourishing Pill.”
These pills had been popular for at least over ten years and had already become an old, established brand.
Hongniang visited several medicine shops, and all of them gave these two explanations.
On the other hand, Guangping the monk found nothing at all—after all, being a monk, none of it applied to him.
Hongniang said, “These pills have been sold in large quantities. Certainly more than just forty-odd women have taken them.”
Chao Jinsui frowned. “No. We must destroy that Gu King.”
Yan Xueyi said calmly, “In the short term, Madam Zi will absolutely not show herself again.”
Even if that had not been her true body, Madam Zi must have been seriously injured. She would not come out seeking death. At least within the Su family residence, there were formations similar to a sect-protecting array—she could still hide there for a while.
Sure enough, over the next two days, all of Yuanyang City appeared calm and peaceful.
Of course, only on the surface.
In reality, the once-bustling streets of Yuanyang City had become sparsely populated, and the pleasure houses were all shut tight.
—After all, the women who returned those days had not died. The matter must have already spread.
Previously, so many deaths in Yuanyang City had not drawn attention. But now, people were filled with fear, and all sorts of rumors circulated.
The entire city suddenly became desolate.
The Su family also shut its gates and did not emerge.
Just when it seemed things would drag on like this, unexpectedly, on the second day, the Su family posted notices everywhere, announcing that the selection of a “joy-bringing bride” for the eldest young master would proceed as scheduled.
Chao Jinsui looked at the notice Hongniang had brought back.
She let out a soft laugh. “Madam Zi is quite bold.”
Yan Xueyi sneered. “No. She has no way out and can only take a desperate gamble.”
Madam Zi was very cunning. She must be severely injured. Cultivators who take crooked paths like her—if they do not rely on “special methods” to heal, their strength recovers extremely slowly.
She did not want to sit and wait for death—so she had to take a desperate risk and find a chance to strengthen herself.
Chao Jinsui tapped the notice. “We can sneak in.”
After all, the Su family’s grand formation occupied half of Yuanyang City. Destroying that formation would be far too troublesome. Sneaking in this way would save much more effort.
At this moment, Hongniang and Guangping were playing chess outside when they suddenly sensed the atmosphere inside shift while the two were discussing things calmly—
The Demon Lord suddenly raised his voice: “What? You want to go be the joy-bringing bride?!”
Go be Su Liuyun’s joy-bringing bride?
Over his dead body!
His phoenix eyes narrowed. “No. I’ll go destroy that formation!”
She said calmly, “We still don’t know what exactly is inside the Su family. Guangping said that gu has been raised in the Hehuan Sect for a thousand years—we don’t even know how powerful it is. Why go to the trouble of breaking the formation? It’s better to save the effort and deal directly with the gu!”
—Breaking the formation would not only require enormous effort, it might directly destroy half of Yuanyang City. Who knew how many innocent residents still lived there!
The two of them fell into a standoff.
Hongniang held her breath, and the monk pricked up his ears.
She stared at Yan Xueyi across from her and said helplessly, “Yan Xueyi, if I don’t go be the bride, are you going instead?”
