Tang Muxi’s blood had an excellent effect. Jiang Yin had already mostly recovered when she woke up in the morning. However, due to the disheveled state of her body and the numerous wounds, they did not rush to leave. After taking the medicine, they rested until the afternoon before returning to the forest to look for the corpse of the Soul-Eating Gu.
Jiang Yin’s cultivation was low, so she relied on a spirit stone to draw a haste talisman, allowing her to move quickly. Tang Muxi, following behind, could only watch Jiang Yin’s figure from a distance, unable to catch up.
By the time they arrived at the forest from yesterday, the little spiritual energy in her body was exhausted, and she was panting heavily, bending over to catch her breath. “Senior sister… you’re so fast, much faster than me…”
Tang Muxi didn’t know Jiang Yin had used a haste talisman and thought she had some secret technique or magical treasure. In her heart, she cursed Jiang Yin countless times, but outwardly, she flattered her and showed a silly smile as if she truly bore no grudges.
Her left cheek had a slight red mark from being hit by Jiang Yin that morning. Fortunately, after applying medicine, the swelling had subsided a lot, but speaking still caused her pain.
Jiang Yin looked at her with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, indifferent to the flattery. “Did you see anyone leave when you arrived yesterday?”
Tang Muxi felt nervous under her gaze and quickly answered, “No, when I came over, I only saw a demon attacking you.” She didn’t see any people.
Jiang Yin nodded and didn’t say more, proceeding to inspect the scene. Although the forest was near Tianji Gate, it was on the edge and quite secluded without any trials or teleportation arrays nearby.
Normally, no one would pass by, but when Jiang Yin arrived at the scene again, not only was the corpse of the Soul-Eating Gu gone, but even the bloodstains on the ground had disappeared without a trace. Clearly, someone had cleaned up the scene after they left.
Jiang Yin snorted coldly and asked without hope, “The corpse of the Soul-Eating Gu wasn’t taken by you, was it?” Tang Muxi nodded, and seeing an opportunity, she quickly claimed credit, saying, “Senior sister was seriously injured at the time, and I was focused on healing and detoxifying you, so I didn’t pay attention to those things.”
She even smiled, looking harmless and obedient.
Jiang Yin glanced at her and remained silent, continuing to search the surroundings. Tang Muxi didn’t know what she was looking for but curiously approached and saw her find a trace of extremely faint spiritual power from the roots of a tree, gently holding it in her hand.
Tang Muxi, due to her spiritual root, was familiar with spiritual and demonic energy and could distinguish characteristics that most people couldn’t. After sensing it for a moment, she exclaimed, “Eh, this… this is demonic energy? Someone actually disguised it as spiritual energy.”
Jiang Yin was surprised that she could distinguish it wasn’t spiritual energy and asked, “How do you know?” Tang Muxi stiffened, regretting her quick response, and made up a clumsy excuse,
“Uh… I, I heard it from my master before.” In reality, she had only been in the sect for two months and had barely seen the teaching elder except for the initial acceptance and monthly lectures.
Knowing she didn’t want to reveal more, Jiang Yin didn’t press further but silently noted the detail. “Do you have any spirit stones?” she asked.
“Ah? I do have some…” Tang Muxi was reluctant, as the spirit stones she had were hard-earned and not easily given away.
“What, you don’t want to help me?” Jiang Yin pretended to be aggrieved, “This morning you said you’d listen to me, but it turns out it was all lies.”
Tang Muxi was at a loss, blushing and stammering. Unable to find a reason to refute, she regretted her words from the morning. After hesitating, she slowly took out a small bag of spirit stones, saying, “I… this is all I have…” Unfortunately, before she could finish, Jiang Yin snatched it away without mercy.
Opening the bag and seeing only about thirty low-grade spirit stones and not even half a mid-grade one, Jiang Yin pursed her lips in disdain, “So few.”
Tang Muxi had never seen someone so shameless, taking someone else’s spirit stones and still complaining. With the spirit stones in hand, Jiang Yin began to cast a spell. The person who cleaned the scene was very cautious, leaving only this trace of disguised energy.
Finding the original owner wasn’t something a simple tracking spell could achieve, especially since such spells were too conspicuous and might alert the target. Jiang Yin didn’t want to startle the snake.
She absorbed spiritual power from the spirit stones with one hand while drawing talismans in the air with the other. In a short while, the thirty low-grade spirit stones were completely used up, causing Tang Muxi to watch in pain but not daring to speak. She bit her lip and stared at Jiang Yin’s hand, looking somewhat wronged.
As the spirit stones were exhausted, the spell was completed. The strand of demonic energy emitted a faint light and slowly rose from Jiang Yin’s hand, twisting and turning in a certain direction.
Jiang Yin quickly followed, and Tang Muxi, though reluctant, didn’t dare to delay and hurried after her. The tracking was not smooth, and the strand of demonic energy led them around Tianji Gate for a long time before finally stopping in front of a luxurious mansion in the outer gate.
“This is… Wang Qu’s house?” Tang Muxi couldn’t believe it. Wang Qu was a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment who had damaged his foundation due to excessive consumption of medicinal pills and couldn’t break through.
He had used his connections to secure a managerial position, overseeing various menial disciples. The last time Duan Yurong asked for her help, it was to escape the status of a menial disciple. What Tang Muxi didn’t expect was that Wang Qu had turned to the demonic path and even ordered someone to attempt to kill Jiang Yin.
“Do you have any dealings with him?” Jiang Yin asked, noticing Tang Muxi seemed to know something.
Tang Muxi dared not have any dealings with someone who wanted to kill Jiang Yin and immediately shook her head like a rattle drum, “No, no, how could I possibly know him. I just heard about him from others and have some impression.”
After speaking, Tang Muxi seemed to realize something, widened her eyes, then quickly lowered her head and sneaked a glance at Jiang Yin. Seeing that Jiang Yin hadn’t noticed her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She might know why Wang Qu suddenly wanted to kill Jiang Yin. Could it be because of Duan Yurong, that unlucky child? She had warned her, but why was she still so foolish?
Tang Muxi was anxiously fretting in place, unaware that Jiang Yin had seen everything. However, Jiang Yin didn’t expose her, just silently noted it, waiting to settle accounts later.
“What do we do now? We can’t beat Wang Qu, should we give up?” Tang Muxi was worried and sounded somewhat resigned when she spoke again.
Jiang Yin snorted coldly, “Give up? How could that be possible. Since they’ve decided to make a move against me, they can’t blame me for not being polite.” Saying this, she left without looking back.
Tang Muxi’s mind echoed with the phrase “don’t blame me for not being polite,” feeling somewhat intimidated. She thought about finding an opportunity to warn Duan Yurong, that fool, or else she might really get herself killed.
Jiang Yin didn’t go back directly but turned towards the outer gate. Tang Muxi followed silently, not daring to speak, until Jiang Yin stopped in front of a secluded residence for outer gate disciples.
Then, she couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Senior sister, what are you doing here?” Could it be that she planned to seek help from outer gate disciples to confront Wang Qu for justice?
Jiang Yin seemed to notice her naive thoughts and couldn’t help but twitch her mouth. In her previous life, this person was also foolish, but her schemes were well-planned. How come she now seemed so brainless?
Jiang Yin pursed her lips in disdain. “I remember you said today that the spiritual plants you used to brew the medicine were stolen from the teaching elder’s garden.”
Tang Muxi subconsciously nodded, then immediately shook her head, stubbornly denying, “That wasn’t stealing, I’ll find a way to return them later…” Although she didn’t know when that would be.
Tang Muxi didn’t pay much attention when she picked the spiritual plants, only realizing last night that some were Xuan-grade spiritual plants.
In the cultivation world, although spiritual plants are classified into Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang grades, Heaven-grade plants are extremely rare, and Earth-grade ones are already considered precious treasures.
Xuan-grade plants are mainly used for refining pills below the Nascent Soul stage and are very expensive. Taking Huang-grade herbs wouldn’t be a big deal, and the master wouldn’t blame her too much.
But Xuan-grade was different; if the elder knew she had taken Xuan-grade spiritual plants, even the best temper would be useless. Thinking of this, Tang Muxi couldn’t help but shrink her neck, extremely frightened.
“So you still have some unused ones, right? Give them to me,” Jiang Yin said with a hooked smile.
Tang Muxi hesitated before handing them over. She was the typical good child who felt guilty and scared after doing something wrong.
Seeing Jiang Yin take them all, she weakly advised, “Isn’t this a bit too much…”
If she were discovered, it might be okay for her; at most, she would be punished since she had talent and was the elder’s disciple, who would show mercy.
But if the elder found out it was these outer gate disciples, they might be expelled from the sect. After all, stealing from the medicine garden is an unforgivable crime in any sect.
“Too much?” Jiang Yin seemed to hear something funny, her lips curling coldly, her smile not reaching her eyes, “These people all want to take my life, and you expect me to spare them?”
She found four or five Xuan-grade spiritual plants in her hand, her smile becoming more mocking, “You’re quite bold, even daring to take the high-grade Xuan-grade Fire Heart Grass. Aren’t you afraid of being skinned by the elder? How about I hand these over to the elder, and you take the blame, then I’ll let them off the hook?”
Tang Muxi thought of her master’s Golden Core cultivation and couldn’t help but tremble, shaking her head repeatedly, “No, no need… They deserve it, it’s only right for them to be punished, they had it coming!”
Jiang Yin snorted lightly, no longer arguing, and placed the spiritual plants in the rooms of the people who had attacked her yesterday. She specifically chose the expensive and rare ones, as if she wanted these people to die miserably.
After doing this, she went to the elder’s garden and deliberately left corresponding clues to prevent him from finding out who “stole” them.
If it were an ordinary time, this method might not work. After all, these elders could close up for months or even years at a time and not come out. But now was different; the day after tomorrow was the opening of the Tianji Secret Realm, and before entering the secret realm, the elders and sect leader would come out to give some advice to the disciples.
By then, finding an opportunity to hint a few times, the elder would rush to the garden in a hurry.
Ever since Jiang Yin became the Demon King and dominated the demon world, she hadn’t suffered any humiliation. She had to make these people pay the price. If the elder was lenient and let them off, she wouldn’t mind adding another blow.
As for Wang Qu… Jiang Yin thought of that strand of disguised spiritual power and the Soul-Eating Gu, her smile becoming more playful. No rush, she could settle accounts with him after coming out of the Tianji Secret Realm.
