Later that day, Chang Yao actually received the Breath-Shielding Pills sent by the Sect Leader’s wife, who stayed to watch her swallow them.
While Chang Yao was hesitating with the pill in her mouth, deciding whether to swallow, the Sect Leader’s wife said: "The seal beneath the Golden Luan Terrace has been fluctuating frequently over the past two days, disturbing the surrounding waters. The sea mist is thicker than usual. You must not go out alone; wait until the mist disperses."
At first, Chang Yao thought this was simply a concern that she might faint somewhere in the fog and be hard to find, given her lack of cultivation.
It wasn't until the Sect Leader’s wife left and Chang Yao realized there were at least three people covertly guarding her courtyard that she sensed something was wrong.
This didn't feel like protection; it felt like surveillance.
Even the attitude of the maidservant bringing tea and fruit into the room had undergone a subtle change.
Everything had been fine yesterday, but today the girl didn't dare look her in the eye. She kept her head low, her every word and gesture laced with a cautiousness that suggested she was afraid of something.
Chang Yao unconsciously touched her face; it wasn't as if she had revealed her true form.
At the thought of her true form, she suddenly understood what was happening.
Thus, as the maidservant prepared to leave, Chang Yao stood up and said: "I suddenly feel a bit unwell. I'd like to ask the Sect Leader’s wife for some medicine."
The maidservant’s hand shook. She hurriedly said: "The sea mist is heavy outside. Please stay in the room; I will go and call the Sect Leader’s wife to come here."
"No need for such trouble," Chang Yao said, walking toward the door.
The maidservant tried to stop her, but was stunned by the look Chang Yao shot her. For a moment, she was unable to move, a chill running down her spine.
The guards outside did not block her exit, but they followed her closely.
As she reached the corridor of the medicine hall, she encountered Xuantian disciples and cultivators from other sects. Many were stealing subtle glances at her. Knowing she currently had no cultivation and was essentially an ordinary person, they didn't bother to hide their whispering.
"I heard the demon mole in Kunlun is the Mistress of Yunshan?"
"Then how is she still walking around like nothing happened?"
"Our Lord Yunshan is protecting his wife. He wouldn't even believe the dying words of his only disciple. He's truly been blinded by beauty, losing his sense of priority."
"Shh, keep your voice down. Perhaps there's some misunderstanding..."
"The Mistress of Yunshan shares a life-and-death bond with our Protector of Xingluo and your Young Master of Bodhi. If they knew you were slandering her behind her back..."
"Hey, this isn't slander. The fact that she's a mole is likely known by everyone in the West Sea by now!"
"Exactly. It's not just us saying it; even the people from Kunlun Yunshan are talking about it. Don't go making complaints to the Young Master!"
"..."
Only then did Chang Yao understand what was happening.
The rumor that she was the mole for Kunlun Yunshan had been widely spread, ensuring that all the disciples and cultivators at the West Sea knew about it.
In just one night—who had done this?
As Chang Yao reached the door of the medicine hall, before she could enter, someone called out to her from behind: "A-Yao."
Song Jixue had arrived at some point.
Chang Yao turned and saw him standing on the corridor with Fu Ji and several leaders of the major immortal sects.
To Song Jixue's left was a blind young man with a lively expression. He waved accurately in Chang Yao's direction and shouted: "Yao-mei, Yao-mei! Ah, it’s been so long, you’re finally willing to come down the mountain! I told you back then, what’s so good about that dump Yunshan? You should have married into our Xingluo Sect to see the world's most unique... Ouch!"
Ren Hong, the Left Protector of the Xingluo Sect, tripped and fell while running. He turned back indignantly to question: "A-Xue, why did you trip me!?"
The Xingluo disciples covered their eyes or looked away, unable to watch their own Left Protector.
"It wasn't me." Song Jixue walked past him without looking, heading straight for Chang Yao.
Fu Ji shook his head helplessly, leaning down to help Ren Hong up. Ren Hong said piteously: "Our Immortal Leader is still the most kind-hearted, knowing how to care for the disabled and help the weak."
After patting down his clothes, Ren Hong turned back to Chang Yao to complain: "Yao-mei! Your husband just tripped me on purpose!"
Everyone knew the Left Protector of Xingluo had the temperament of a child.
However, this shout drew everyone's attention. Even the Sect Leader’s wife, busy in the medicine hall, felt her eyelid twitch and hurriedly put down her herbs to come out.
The expressions of those present were varied. Some were secretly wary, maintaining their distance from Chang Yao, yet they watched as Ren Hong ran toward her with warmth and no reservations.
"As a blind man, you should probably run a bit slower," Chang Yao said to him.
Ren Hong huffed: "My eyes are blind, but my heart isn't. That's very important. Some people have their eyes open, but they are actually blind."
Chang Yao then asked Song Jixue: "Weren't you going to temper the fragments of the Crimson Gold?"
"There's been a disturbance at the Golden Luan Terrace. They fear the seal might open early, so all the items must be taken there to keep watch," Ren Hong chimed in before Song Jixue could speak. He handed his green bamboo staff to Chang Yao, smiling radiantly. "I was just about to go find you and bring you along. This works out perfectly."
Chang Yao looked around and smiled. "You want me to go? Aren't you afraid there will be even more gossip?"
Ren Hong said confidently: "Don't mind them. How could you possibly be a mole sent by the demon race? Back then at the Eternal Sea of Bitterness, you killed several demon kings in a rage for A-Xue's sake. If you were a mole, that price would be too high. I bet you absolutely aren't. If you are a mole, I'll jump off the Golden Luan Terrace into the West Sea to feed the fish on the spot!"
Song Jixue simply took Chang Yao’s hand and walked toward the Golden Luan Terrace.
He said: "Ren Hong cast a divination, and the result wasn't good. I didn't feel comfortable leaving you alone at the Office of the Chief Justice."
Chang Yao said slowly: "When has his astrological divination ever been accurate?"
Back in the Wanxiang Spiritual Realm, they had been quite miserable because of this guy's divinations.
Ren Hong protested from the side: "My divinations are accurate occasionally!"
Chang Yao was curious: "What did you calculate?"
"A-Xue has a 'bloody disaster' coming in the next few days!" Ren Hong opened his hand solemnly. In his white palm, three stars flickering with blue light appeared, forming a strange arc. "I can't tell if it's tomorrow or the day after, but he might breathe his last. So, Yao-mei, you must stay far away from him so you don't get caught in the fallout."
Chang Yao: "..."
For a moment, she didn't know whether to pray for his divination to be accurate or not.
Many people had already arrived at the Golden Luan Terrace.
The Xuantian Sect Leader and Lord Dingkun of Kunlun were working together to suppress the miasma constantly rising from the surroundings. Reaching the terrace required climbing three thousand steps—a long walk for an ordinary person, but only a matter of a few flashes for a cultivator.
The Golden Luan Terrace was located in the center of the small island, surrounded by shrubs, some of which were massive enough to blot out the sun. Around the edge of the circular sacrificial altar stood seventy-eight pale gold dragon pillars, inscribed with sealing incantations. Yet, they could not withstand the miasma released by the demons sealed beneath the Earth Ghost Gate; the pillars were gradually being corroded and surrounded by black energy.
Fu Ji was directing the crowd to set up the tools and vessels needed for the tempering, while Song Jixue discussed the fragments of the Crimson Golden Crow with Ren Hong.
Chang Yao stood at the edge, her hands tucked in her sleeves, quietly looking up at a golden dragon pillar.
The golden dragon's long tail swept across the four seas. Every scale was meticulously carved without omission, appearing lifelike. The dragon's body coiled up the pillar, its sharp claws glinting in the sunlight. The dragon's head sat at the top of the pillar, looking down on the mortal world from a height, meeting her gaze with an arrogant posture.
This wasn't the first time she had seen buildings with carved dragons—the mortal world had many. Both mortals and cultivators respected and worshipped the Golden Dragon as a deity. But the carved dragons here at the Golden Luan Terrace were the most realistic Chang Yao had ever seen.
It was as if every pillar carried a supreme pressure—the lingering breath of an arrogant god remaining in the mortal world.
Is that why the Earth Ghost Gate was sealed here?
However, at this moment, those dazzling golden dragon pillars were wrapped in the black miasma rising slowly from underground, creating a seductive image of a fallen god.
"Yao-mei? Yao-mei! What are you looking at over there? Come over here! The demonic energy is overflowing; stay that close and you might be tainted!" Ren Hong finished his task and waved to her. "A-Xue told me to keep an eye on you. Did you take your Breath-Shielding Pill? If not, I have more here."
Chang Yao withdrew her gaze and walked toward him. "I took it."
"How many? One isn't really enough. The sea mist is thickest here. Come, take three more." Ren Hong took out three Breath-Shielding Pills and handed them to her, saying generously: "Don't be polite. A-Xue said to take as many as I have. I'm not afraid of you eating too many, just afraid you won't eat any."
Chang Yao: "..."
Her killing intent rose once more.
She toyed with a pill, looking at it but not eating it. Instead, she asked Ren Hong: "Do another calculation."
"For what?" Ren Hong looked confused.
Chang Yao: "The astrological divination. The one about the 'bloody disaster'."
"Yao-mei, I do one divination a day. It's not like I can control what I want to calculate; it's about what the stars want to give me." Ren Hong spread his hands innocently. "Simply put, it’s not that I want to see this hex; the stars insisted on forcing it upon me. For our Xingluo Sect, a daily divination is a necessity. That’s why we have 'three thousand worries'—everyone is either bald or has premature white hair. Look at my hair, isn't it much thinner than last year?"
Chang Yao pursed her lips and said nothing, raising her eyes to look at Song Jixue in the center of the Golden Luan Terrace.
Ren Hong stuffed the remaining two pills into her hand and consoled her: "Don't worry. Although my divinations are incredibly precise, A-Xue isn't that easy to kill. He’s a man with one foot in ascension and possesses the Boundless Heart Sword. There are no more than three people in the world today who could kill him, and none of those three have a reason to."
"Besides, a 'bloody disaster' doesn't necessarily mean death. Half-dead is fine, or just bleeding a little is fine. If he accidentally clips his nail while slashing someone with Zhigui and bleeds two drops, the hex counts as fulfilled."
The Earth Ghost Gate was about to be sealed. The time the Demon Emperor had given her was running out.
Ren Hong’s rambling faded into the background for Chang Yao. She stood at the edge of the terrace, staring at the figure ahead. Perhaps because Song Jixue had changed into white robes today, the moment he drew his sword, day and night seemed to flip in her eyes. It was like returning to that night when she was overwhelmed by the white-clad sword cultivator’s killing intent.
Chang Yao looked away, suppressing the sudden surge of fear and killing intent in her heart.
She had never told anyone that the Lord of Wujiu Mountain was actually very afraid of the human sword cultivators.
At sunset, the Lord of Dayin Mountain and his wife also arrived at the West Sea.
Yu Ye had spent a whole day of spiritual power here. Learning that the tempering was finished, he gathered his breath and sheathed his sword. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he glanced at Song Jixue, who was staring at the numerous cracks in the ground.
"You really don't have even a bit of doubt regarding Chang Yao?" Yu Ye asked bluntly.
Song Jixue’s answer was equally blunt: "No."
He knew Chang Yao had an ambiguous relationship with the demon realm and was involved with them, but he was certain she was not the type of person to act as a mole for the Demon Emperor.
It was also because this was the first thing Chang Yao had ever proactively explained.
She had said it wasn't her.
Yu Ye clicked his tongue, a bit irritably. "Then I'll tell everyone who's talking nonsense to shut their mouths."
"Lord Dingkun, Jixue." Yu Ye had only taken a few steps when he was warmly called out by Fu Ji, the Immortal Leader. "Kunlun was previously monitored by the Masked Tree Demon, and we learned it came from Wujiu Mountain in the demon realm. I've just received news regarding Wujiu Mountain. Would you two like to hear it?"
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