The Illusion God rarely took on a human form in the past, but in recent months, she was awakened by her master and forced to learn the habits of cultivators, so her speed at dressing wasn’t fast. Changing into new clothes inside and out, she felt uncomfortable everywhere. Although the color of this new outfit was nice, the style was overly complicated, with intricate decorations at the waist and cuffs, far more luxurious than the previous one.
The Illusion God found it hard to understand the purpose of such clothing. It looked good, but wouldn’t it be annoying to dress so elaborately every day? She stood in front of the mirror, turning around and examining herself for a long time before she barely got used to it.
“Master, I’m ready.” The Illusion God finally adjusted her collar, tied a knot in her long black hair, and walked out of the inner room.
The hall was empty and silent, with nothing but neatly arranged tables, chairs, and screens.
The Illusion God couldn’t find any trace of her master, so she called out loudly twice and pushed the door open: “Master? Where are you?” However, the surroundings were incredibly quiet, with only her voice echoing.
Startled, the Illusion God spread out her divine sense, only to find that Tang Muxi’s presence had long disappeared.
Tang Muxi felt as if she had fallen asleep, her head muddled and her eyelids heavy. She wanted to open her eyes but couldn’t wake up, her body more exhausted than ever before. She sensed someone carrying her away, moving so gently that no one was alerted. Even in her hazy consciousness, she heard snippets of conversation from the street.
The noise was loud, but there was little spiritual energy fluctuation.
Tang Muxi guessed that this place should be somewhere in the outer city.
The person’s power was filled with a murderous aura, serious and cold. Although not as menacing as Senior Sister, it still exerted a strong oppressive feeling, like a towering mountain pressing down on her.
This sharp and undeniable aura was something she had experienced a few days ago, from someone lurking in the shadows, watching her closely.
Tang Muxi instinctively felt something was wrong, realizing that her spiritual energy was blocked and seemed to be sealed. She quickly tried to secretly circulate her spells to break free.
However, as soon as her spiritual energy slightly fluctuated, a cold and slightly obsessive voice sounded in her ear.
“Don’t move, or I’ll take your life.”
As soon as the words fell, a sharp dagger pressed against her neck.
The metal was cold, full of murderous intent, and she could faintly smell the stench of blood, suggesting that this dagger had recently taken someone’s life.
Tang Muxi’s body stiffened, knowing she wasn’t joking, and she immediately stopped moving.
“I… I won’t move.”
After saying that, she tensed her body, holding her breath, afraid that this person would get upset and cut her fragile neck with the blade.
Fortunately, the person, although extremely cold, didn’t have a penchant for torturing others. Seeing that Tang Muxi was indeed obedient, she withdrew the dagger, turned around, and went back to her own business.
Tang Muxi felt the cold blade being removed, and her heart, which had been hanging high, finally settled down.
Her spiritual energy was sealed, making escape impossible, but on the contrary, her five senses were still intact. Despite her body still being a bit tired from the illusion spell earlier, she could move freely.
Tang Muxi didn’t dare to be too conspicuous, only quietly opening her eyes to observe her surroundings.
This was a dilapidated old house, dirty and messy except for the clean straw mat she was sitting on.
The roof had holes, and the thatch rustled in the cold wind. The doors and windows were tightly shut, decayed and dilapidated, with not even a decent table or chair inside.
If it weren’t for the fact that she could see the protective array covering the Seven Mysteries through the holes in the roof, it would be hard to imagine that such a shabby place wasn’t in the wilderness.
Tang Muxi shrank her body, hugging her legs and moving slightly on the straw mat, afraid that bugs might crawl onto her.
After looking around, Tang Muxi’s attention was quickly drawn to another woman in the room.
The woman wore a dark gray robe, with a coarse cloak draped over her shoulders. She was tall, with her hair tied up with a wooden hairpin. From behind, she looked no different from the common people in the city, but her every move inadvertently revealed a hint of authority, making it clear she wasn’t an ordinary person.
Tang Muxi watched her calmly cut open her wrist, pouring large amounts of blood into a “puppet,” feeling both fear and a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Puppet technique…” Zhou Qin paused her actions, slowly turning around, her gaze casually falling on Tang Muxi. “You know about it?”
She didn’t hide her appearance, seemingly indifferent. But her eyes glowed with a cold purple light, like a ghost crawling out of the abyss, terrifying and soul-stirring.
Tang Muxi was stunned at first glance, taking a step back without daring to speak.
Zhou Qin belatedly realized that her eyes had scared the other person. She instinctively raised her hand to cover them but suddenly remembered something and lost interest, turning back to continue making the puppet.
Her technique wasn’t as advanced as Jiang Yin’s, unable to create a substitute with just essence blood.
After releasing a large amount of blood, Zhou Qin cut off a lock of black hair and threw it in, imprinting a formation and injecting spiritual energy. She refined it repeatedly until the puppet barely took shape.
At this rate, it would take another two or three days for the puppet to be indistinguishable from the real thing.
Zhou Qin felt impatient, thinking of the Panlong capital, and her anxiety reached its peak.
“You went to Panlong.” She put down the puppet, turning to stare intently at Tang Muxi. If observed closely, one would notice that the purple light in her eyes had been hidden.
But her aura was so gloomy that Tang Muxi didn’t notice this detail at all.
You? Tang Muxi couldn’t help but tremble slightly, “She is my Senior Sister, and the other is my master.”
“Master…” Zhou Qin was taken aback, unable to resist softly repeating the word.
As these two familiar words rolled off her tongue, a long-lost emotion suddenly rose in her heart.
—Purple is the color of auspiciousness, the aura of a king. Qin’er will become a ruler who commands the world.
That was the only person who didn’t dislike the purple glow in her eyes.
Zhou Qin suppressed her inner turmoil, pinching her brow, forcing herself to calm down. “What’s the situation in Panlong?”
Tang Muxi sensed the coldness in the other person’s tone, unsure of what she had done to provoke her, and spoke even more cautiously, “The capital is sealed, and the commoners and rogue cultivators are gathered and won’t disperse. As for inside the city, we haven’t found a way to enter yet.”
“You naturally can’t get in.” Zhou Qin sneered, “She set up the formation herself with a strange stone seal. Without the Floating Dust Umbrella or the Unity Order, no one can enter or exit.”
“Floating Dust Umbrella, Unity Order?” Tang Muxi was puzzled, “You know how to enter the capital?”
Zhou Qin gave her a sidelong glance but didn’t answer.
She didn’t speak, and Tang Muxi didn’t dare to ask further, only silently noting it in her heart.
Afterward, Zhou Qin asked about some matters related to the capital. Tang Muxi, knowing only a limited amount, could only answer a small portion. She worried about this for a while, but it turned out she was overthinking it.
After listening, Zhou Qin turned and left the Thorn House, destination unknown.
On the other side, the Illusion God, upon realizing her master was missing, immediately used the master-servant contract to search for her. She had witnessed her master leave in front of her thousands of years ago and couldn’t let it happen again. She was the only magical artifact in the world personally forged by a divine being, made from a piece of celestial bone, originally one with her master. Therefore, even though Zhou Qin had deliberately set up a maze with the Floating Dust Umbrella, it couldn’t stop the Illusion God’s search. In less than half an hour, she pinpointed the location to a dilapidated courtyard on the south side of the outer city.
The Floating Dust Umbrella was a heavenly-grade artifact, incredibly powerful. Although the Illusion God wasn’t afraid, she was worried about her master’s condition and didn’t dare to act rashly. As soon as she found the location, she sent a message to Jiang Yin and Wen Fei.
In the Exquisite Delicacies House, Jiang Yin absentmindedly looked at the various delicacies in front of her but hadn’t tasted a single bite. She occasionally glanced at the empty seat beside her. She had successfully kept Lin Anjing away from her junior sister, not even letting him sit at this table. But for some reason, she still felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen.
Half an hour had passed, and her junior sister and the Illusion God still hadn’t appeared. Jiang Yin began to let her imagination run wild.
Just as she was about to lose her patience, a paper crane formed by spiritual power flew into her hand, with a few large words written on it.
“Master in danger, hurry to the south side of the outer city!” Jiang Yin’s expression changed, and she flew out the window with the Imprisoning Demon Sword in hand.
Wen Mingyu, seeing this, frowned: “Why did Miss Jiang leave so suddenly? Could it be she can’t let go of her junior sister?” Wen Fei, recalling her drastic change in expression, felt a bit worried: “Aunt, go check it out, and you calm everyone down.” Then she hurriedly followed.
In just a moment, two people left in a hurry, and the guests at the banquet frequently glanced over, speculating about what might have happened.
Lin Anjing approached Wen Mingyu and quietly asked, “What happened?” Wen Mingyu shook her head, signaling him not to speak, then stood up to explain: “Aunt and Miss Jiang have something to attend to outside, they’ll be back soon, don’t panic. Exquisite Delicacies House has a feast of delicacies, don’t waste it.”
After she spoke, everyone calmed down a bit and continued to enjoy the food with laughter and conversation. However, Bai Ling frowned, full of disbelief.
“Liar.”
Wen Mingyu wasn’t embarrassed when called out, smiling as she ruffled her hair: “Don’t worry, Aunt’s cultivation is high, and Jiang Yin holds a divine artifact, no one can harm them.”
Bai Ling thought this made sense and felt a bit more at ease.
After leaving the Exquisite Delicacies House, Jiang Yin followed the spirit crane straight to the outer city and quickly reached the Illusion God’s location.
“Where is she?” As soon as she stopped, she grabbed the Illusion God and asked urgently.
Wen Fei followed closely behind, seeing the desolate and dilapidated surroundings, she also had a bad feeling, her face solemn and silent.
“This time it was my oversight. Someone took the opportunity to capture the master while I was changing clothes, and now she’s inside the house. But the entire courtyard is shrouded by an unknown heavenly-grade artifact, and I’m afraid of alerting the enemy, so I’ve been guarding here without daring to enter.” The Illusion God was full of guilt. If it weren’t for her momentary vanity, wanting to change clothes on the way back, she wouldn’t have given the person in the shadows a chance.
Hearing this, Jiang Yin was also frustrated, having only focused on guarding against Lin Anjing, she forgot about this hidden threat.
Upon hearing about the heavenly-grade artifact, both she and Wen Fei looked serious, standing in the cold night wind, troubled and anxious.
