“Jiayin!” Seeing that the other girl was about to get a nickname even more intimate than her own, Zhi Chang’an couldn’t stay calm.
She hurriedly pulled Wen Jiayin back and whispered in her ear, “Isn’t this your first time meeting her? Isn’t it a bit much to call her that? People might think you’re being rude!”
Most importantly, after all these years of friendship, she was actually losing out to an outsider in terms of how they addressed each other.
She wasn’t having it!
“Ahem, I just slipped up for a second, Miss Bai, don’t mind me.
Then… I’ll just call you Hansu from now on.” Wen Jiayin also realized it wasn’t great—giving someone a nickname on the first day they met, even if it was cute, probably wasn’t the best idea for someone who was clearly the cool beauty type.
She didn’t want to leave a flaky impression.
“And… this is Zhi Chang’an, and this is Li Youxi.
They’re both my fellow disciples.” Wen Jiayin turned to introduce the two beside her.
“As for Miss Bai Hansu, I won’t say much more.
When I was surrounded by demonic cultivators just now, she helped me out.
If it weren’t for her kindness, the three of us would probably be in real danger right now.”
Kindness? I really don’t see this person as the kind-hearted type, Zhi Chang’an thought, refusing to admit she had her own selfish reasons.
Okay, maybe just a little bit selfish, but she genuinely felt that Miss Bai wasn’t as simple as she looked.
In fact, when their eyes met, she even felt a prickling sense of fear all over.
So, from every angle, Bai Hansu was firmly in Zhi Chang’an’s “most dangerous” category.
Meanwhile, the person who actually knew the truth didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about giving special treatment to a certain little girl.
“Miss Zhi, Miss Li.” Bai Hansu’s tone was cool and distant, which actually matched her vibe perfectly.
“Hello.” Zhi Chang’an wasn’t about to be petty and embarrass someone in public.
Even though she was unhappy, she still greeted her politely.
Li Youxi, on the other hand, saw Bai Hansu more as a worthy opponent to challenge.
She wasn’t just okay with her joining, she was all for it.
“By the way, Miss Bai… Hansu, did those demonic cultivators say how many people snuck in this time?”
“They don’t know either.
The demonic cultivators who infiltrated this time are scattered, and they don’t know how many others there are.” Bai Hansu, who had read the memories of the demonic cultivators, was clear about their movements.
Apparently, rumors of a rare treasure appearing in this secret realm had somehow reached a certain Demon Lord, who sent a bunch of people over for his precious son.
Then, the rival Demon Lord Jihun found out and sent people to snatch the treasure, mainly to spite the other guy and maybe grab a few righteous disciples to use as ingredients for alchemy.
Demon Lord Jihun didn’t even know what treasure was in this secret realm.
If he did, he probably wouldn’t have sent just those two brothers.
Of course, maybe he sent more people and just didn’t tell the brothers.
So, at the very least, there were two factions of demonic cultivators in this secret realm.
As for exactly how many, or what identities they were using to sneak in, nobody knew.
“That’s a problem.
Sigh, even if we knew, it’s not like we could get the word out.
Those demonic cultivators have probably already started making their move.” Wen Jiayin sighed.
And sure enough, just as she expected, screams started echoing from all corners of the secret realm—some were being killed, some managed to fight back, but most were being captured alive, since live ones were worth more than dead ones.
“There’s not much chance of getting the message to everyone now.
If only we could get it out of the secret realm.
There’s only one exit, and just the elders from our sect outside would be enough to handle all the demonic cultivators.
If they check everyone coming out one by one, there’s no way anyone could slip through!” Zhi Chang’an clenched her little fists.
But secret realms were cut off from the outside world.
Getting a message out was nearly impossible! At least, the three of them had no way to do it.
“I’ve already notified the people outside.
No need to worry.” Bai Hansu, who had somehow ended up right next to Wen Jiayin, spoke up.
“When?!” Zhi Chang’an was shocked.
“You actually got the message out? Hansu, you’re amazing!” Wen Jiayin exclaimed.
“How did you do it?”
“I just used a special artifact, that’s all.
It’s nothing special,” Bai Hansu said modestly.
“Now we can round up all those nasty demonic cultivators in one go! I wonder how our sect’s disciples are doing.
If I’d known, I would’ve brought Master’s artifact that lets you contact all the disciples through their ID tokens!” Li Youxi really was the Sect Master’s disciple.
Even if she was a bit unreliable, she still thought of all the sect’s disciples in a crisis.
“There’s no point regretting it now.
Let’s head for the Mist Zone.
If that’s where the demonic cultivators are headed, we’ll run into them.” Maybe they could save some fellow disciples in trouble, Wen Jiayin thought.
Maybe Wen Jiayin’s mind had picked up some crow-like bad luck, because even just thinking about it seemed to jinx things! Not long after they set out, they ran right into a disheveled figure.
“Help! Help me!” The girl in front was running for her life, looking a mess, while behind her, a half-phantom demonic cultivator was chasing her like a cat playing with a mouse.
He could’ve caught her easily, but he just wanted to toy with her.
Honestly, some villains die because of their own twisted sense of fun.
If he’d just caught her right away, he wouldn’t have run into a group of people who were basically his worst nightmare.
“Zheng zheng.” The simple guqin rang out with the sound of clashing swords, and a sword gleaming with cold light followed.
Golden-red flames and wild winds combined into a fire tornado that swallowed the demonic cultivator whole.
The demonic cultivator’s screams almost blended into one long wail.
He was really unlucky—he got the VIP treatment none of the others had, getting killed by four people at once.
“Fellow Daoist, are you okay? Wait—Chu Mingqi!” Wen Jiayin hadn’t even recognized the panicked, bedraggled girl at first.
It turned out to be the little princess who usually wouldn’t let a single hair out of place.
Covered in dirt and ash, the contrast was pretty shocking.
Chu Mingqi almost burst into tears.
She’d finally escaped the clutches of a demonic cultivator, only to run into these three? She cared a lot about her image, and now she was a mess in front of Li Youxi, the person she hated most.
She almost wanted to kill her!
“Are you alone? Did everyone else get separated?”
At that, Chu Mingqi froze, not daring to meet Wen Jiayin’s eyes.
She glanced at the dead demonic cultivator nearby, gritted her teeth, and said, “Yeah, just me.”
Bai Hansu’s cold gaze landed on Chu Mingqi, as if she was thinking about something.
“Tch, useless.” Li Youxi had always looked down on Chu Mingqi’s way of doing things, so she took the chance to mock her.
“If you’d put half as much effort into cultivation as you do into flirting, you wouldn’t be getting chased around by a demonic cultivator who hasn’t even reached Foundation Establishment! Good thing you weren’t with anyone else, or you’d have dragged them down with you!”
Chu Mingqi almost ground her teeth to dust, but surprisingly, she didn’t argue with Li Youxi.
Because she had a guilty conscience.
