“Wait a moment!” Wen Fei shouted loudly, moving as fast as lightning. In just a few blinks, she was already between the two groups of people.
Tang Muxi and Jiang Yin were both taken aback, not expecting their master to suddenly get up. But since she had already acted, they couldn’t just stand by and watch, so they moved under everyone’s gaze to join their master.
As they passed by the brightly dressed cultivators, Tang Muxi noticed a familiar aura emanating from the ice crystals on their shoulders. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was from the Extreme Cold Ice Pool. While she was feeling puzzled, the Illusion God in her spiritual sea suddenly spoke.
“Don’t you remember, master?” Tang Muxi was startled and asked, “Remember what?” The Illusion God fell silent, looking deeply at the leaves formed by the ice pool, and after a long pause, changed the subject, “They are all from the demon clan. If I’m not mistaken, they are the ‘assistance’ mentioned by Master Wen.”
Tang Muxi suddenly understood, no wonder her master reacted so strongly.
Feng Yuan had been confronting these demon clan members for a while, demanding they produce a pass token, but not only did they not have one, they also refused to leave, which gradually made him angry.
Now seeing Wen Fei, he remembered her and Wen Mingyu’s demon clan identity and almost immediately understood their connection with these people. But not daring to be sure and still harboring anger, he pretended to know nothing and asked irritably, “What business do you have here?”
Wen Fei heard the anger in his voice and knew these fools had probably offended Feng Yuan. She quickly explained, “Sorry to disturb you, these people are guards from my Treasure Pavilion. They were supposed to travel with us, but something went wrong along the way, causing them to fall behind. If there’s been any offense, please forgive us.”
After speaking, she turned her head sharply, glaring at the demon cultivators, and scolded, “Apologize now!”
Wen Fei was the sister of the Western Demon King, a once-famous talent in the demon realm, known by all. But after a sudden disaster struck the demon realm, she disappeared, her life or death unknown.
Lin Anjing had worked under Wen Mingyu for a long time and naturally knew how important this aunt was to the young master. Although he had heard she was found, seeing her again still felt unreal. He stood there in a daze for a long time, unable to react.
Wen Fei frowned, feeling awkward. Tang Muxi, unaware of the situation, saw her master struggling to maintain her expression and flicked a snowball at Lin Anjing’s forehead, signaling him with her eyes not to stand there foolishly.
Lin Anjing snapped back to reality and quickly apologized, “I was rude earlier, please… forgive me.” He rubbed his forehead and glanced at the person who threw the snowball at him.
Wen Fei sighed in relief and took out a piece of Earth-grade Star Spirit Grass from her storage ring, handing it to Feng Yuan, “This is a token of goodwill, please don’t refuse.”
With an apology and a gift of Earth-grade spiritual plant as compensation, it was a very sincere gesture.
Most of Feng Yuan’s anger dissipated, and he put the Star Spirit Grass into his storage treasure, smiling, “So you’re friends from the Treasure Pavilion, it would have been better if you had said so earlier.”
Wen Fei smiled, “It was our oversight not to inform you, causing this unpleasantness.”
Feng Yuan shook his head, not continuing the topic. Seeing Wen Fei about to lead the group inside, he quickly stopped her, “Wait, not all of these people can enter.”
Wen Fei stopped, puzzled, “Do you not trust the Treasure Pavilion?” After apologizing and offering a gift, if that wasn’t enough, even Wen Fei, with her gentle nature, would be a bit upset.
Tang Muxi and the others also frowned, showing some displeasure.
Feng Yuan knew they misunderstood and sighed, explaining, “Earlier, there was a slip of the tongue, and you should know about the missing princess. Now the entire Seven Mysteries City is on alert, with increased guards and many cultivators dispatched to search for the princess. She is the only child of the palace master and the main concubine, her importance is evident.”
“It’s not that we don’t trust the Treasure Pavilion. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t stop you. But at this critical time, we can’t be careless. Not just you, even cultivators from the Incense Valley and other close allies of our Nine Fiends Hall are prohibited from entering. You arrived a few days ago, and I don’t want to make things difficult. But these guards are numerous and arrived after the lockdown…” Feng Yuan’s tone became serious, “I’m afraid I can’t let all of them in.”
Tang Muxi frowned upon hearing this and wanted to say more, but Jiang Yin stopped her before she could speak.
“Don’t say more, the cultivators behind him haven’t even put down their weapons. If we cause trouble here, they might turn hostile,” Jiang Yin explained through voice transmission.
Tang Muxi was troubled, “Then what should we do?” Jiang Yin patted her arm, stepped forward, and asked, “You said you can’t let all of them in, does that mean some can enter with us?”
Feng Yuan understood this was a compromise and nodded, “Yes, all of you are at the Nascent Soul stage or above. Letting all of you into the city would put a lot of pressure on the city’s defenses, and the city lord wouldn’t agree. But if only a small portion enters, they might turn a blind eye.”
Wen Fei also understood and agreed, “Then let’s do as you say. Can we discuss who to bring in?”
Feng Yuan gestured, “Please.”
Wen Fei led the group a little distance away, while Feng Yuan turned around to continue arranging the city’s defenses.
“Aunt! You’re really okay!” Lin Anjing had no blood relation to Wen Fei, but he and Wen Mingyu were childhood friends, very close, so he also called her aunt.
Wen Fei’s mouth twitched at his words, and she slapped the back of his head with a cold face, “What, are you disappointed I’m okay?”
Lin Anjing choked, quickly waving his hands to change his words, “No, no, I’m just surprised.”
This explanation was worse than none.
Wen Fei comforted herself that he was a junior and didn’t argue with him, not continuing the topic, and asked, “How is the demon realm lately? Have the remnants of the demon clan been eradicated?”
Lin Anjing nodded, “Rest assured, aunt. After your incident, Her Majesty personally investigated and dealt with it. Now there are no more remnants of the demon clan in the Western Demon King’s domain, but the Eastern King’s domain is unknown.” He sighed deeply at the end.
The demon clan had long been divided into the Eastern and Western demon realms. Although there were occasional frictions, their relationship had always been good. But recently, the Eastern King’s domain was in turmoil, the Eastern Demon King’s line was weakening, and power was being held by various elders, frequently making small moves against the Western King’s domain, their ambitions clear.
The Western Demon King was powerful and had the World-saving Lamp, so they naturally weren’t afraid. But the Eastern Demon King also had the Eight Trigrams of Heaven and Earth. If one day the artifact fell into the elders’ hands, it would be troublesome.
After all, the World-saving Lamp was mainly for healing and might not be able to compete with the domineering and fierce Eight Trigrams of Heaven and Earth.
Wen Fei also understood the variables in the Eastern King’s domain and didn’t say more.
“You choose two people to enter Seven Mysteries with us, the rest…” Halfway through her sentence, Wen Fei was troubled, unsure how to allocate them.
Without a token, nearby cities couldn’t be entered. They couldn’t let everyone who came to help from afar be left out in the cold.
Tang Muxi understood the difficulty and volunteered, “A few days ago, Sister Mingyu gave me an Immortal Boat, spacious and fully equipped. Why not let the rest stay on the Immortal Boat?”
Wen Fei’s eyes lit up, thinking it was a great idea, and smiled, “Let’s do that!” Seeing Lin Anjing looking at Tang Muxi with confusion, Wen Fei explained with a smile, “I forgot to tell you, this is my new disciple, Tang Muxi. She’s young but already at the Nascent Soul stage, with extraordinary talent. It was thanks to her that I didn’t die in the wilderness, she’s my little cotton-padded jacket.”
Saying this, she forgot that a few days ago, the “little cotton-padded jacket” and Senior Sister had teamed up to annoy her.
Tang Muxi was a bit shy, tugging on Wen Fei’s sleeve, frowning and playfully scolding, “Master, what nonsense are you talking about? Even without me, you would have been fine.”
How could she be fine? Her Dao bones were destroyed, her cultivation was gone, even the green vine was half-dead, unable to exert any power. With a treasure in hand, there was no way to survive in the Ethereal Mountain Range full of demon beasts.
Wen Fei slowly shook her head but didn’t argue with her disciple.
They were chatting enthusiastically, but they overlooked Jiang Yin standing nearby.
Jiang Yin saw her junior sister starting to cling to “Master” again and felt uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and subtly squeezed between the two.
However, there were only a few people talking, so her actions immediately drew everyone’s attention.
“Senior Sister?” Tang Muxi asked suspiciously.
Jiang Yin thickened her skin, pulling her junior sister’s hand away from Wen Fei’s sleeve, holding it with both hands, and said calmly and concisely, “Cold, warm up.”
“Oh…” This explanation could fool the naive Tang Muxi, but not Wen Fei.
Wen Fei immediately saw that this “Senior Sister” was jealous. She initially wanted to tease her to get back at her for the previous days, but thinking it was better not to do something embarrassing in front of the juniors, she suppressed her thoughts and continued the introduction.
“This is Muxi’s Senior Sister, Jiang Yin.” She had a long and detailed praise for Tang Muxi, but when it came to Jiang Yin, it was less than ten words. It was clear she had strong feelings, very perfunctory.
Jiang Yin pretended not to hear the resentment in her words, nodding slightly, “Hello.”
“So it’s Junior Sister and Miss Jiang! An Jing greets you both.” Perhaps her demeanor was too cold, making her seem unapproachable. When Lin Anjing addressed her, he instinctively didn’t dare to call her Senior Sister. But the words “Junior Sister” were spoken with great warmth.
Jiang Yin originally intended to set aside her prejudices and leave a good impression on each other, but now seeing yet another person randomly calling her Junior Sister, her expression turned sour. She let out a cold laugh and tightened her grip on Tang Muxi’s hand.
Tang Muxi felt the oppressive force and immediately understood which three words displeased Senior Sister. She chuckled awkwardly to smooth things over and took out the jade pendant that held the Immortal Boat. “This is the Immortal Boat. Well, it was originally a gift from Sister Mingyu, so technically it’s still something from the Treasure Pavilion.”
“The Immortal Boat is huge, so don’t forget to find a remote place and set up some concealment formations to prevent others from coveting it. Oh, and don’t stay in the top room of the Immortal Boat. That’s for me and Senior Sister, and no one else is allowed in.”
Her attempt to change the subject wasn’t very clever, but unfortunately, Lin Anjing was a bit of a fool. Seeing the delicate little person, who was half a head shorter than him, smiling and giving instructions, his ears turned red. He didn’t dare to meet her gaze and agreed in a daze, not actually listening to anything.
Seeing this, Jiang Yin’s internal alarm bells rang loudly, wishing she could lock her flirtatious Junior Sister in a room so no one could covet her.
