Before the smoke cleared, the center of the explosion was already surrounded by patrol teams in layers.

Yue Cong stared intently at the center of the encirclement, not even realizing when the cat had left his grasp.

Bai Yuanshi sensed the undercurrents outside before the explosion, so he rushed over immediately. He was also surprised when he saw Yun Xian, and then stood beside Yue Cong, looking at the smoke-filled area.

As the smoke cleared, only broken branches of grass and trees and a horrifying pool of blood remained on the open ground.

"What's going on!"

Yue Cong frowned, the patrol team looked at each other, and Yun Xian was also puzzled.

Bai Yuanshi stepped forward, and the patrol team made way for him. He squatted down around the bloodstains, examined them carefully for a while, and then squinted at the half-cut bushes beside him.

A moment later, he reached out and brushed away the surface soil, picked up a human-shaped cloth doll, and took a piece of cloth from the branch that had been cut in two. He stood up and looked at Yue Cong.

"A puppet double?" Yue Cong frowned even more deeply. "Who exactly is this person?"

“Such unorthodox methods are not common. This person may be a rogue cultivator.” As Bai Yuanshi spoke, he turned to look at Yun Xian. At this moment, the scene made him temporarily ignore the sudden appearance of the Qinghui Sect Leader.

"The fabric of this rag feels like the finest Yun brocade, indicating that the intruder is either rich or noble. Furthermore, there are large patches of blood on the rag and the ground, suggesting that the thief was struck by the sword of Sect Leader Yun. She must be seriously injured at this moment. It's just unexpected that she would still have the means to escape under such circumstances."

"The ambush by villains was my mistake, Wen Yuan. Don't worry, Sect Leader Yun, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly!" Yue Cong further stated.

Yunxian simply nodded, but her gaze remained fixed on the puppet, and she said nothing more.

Seeing that he had no objection, Yue Cong gave Bai Yuanshi a wink and turned to deal with it.

The explosion was too loud, and since this place was a gathering place for many sects, the camp of Wenyuan Academy was soon surrounded by people from other sects who came to investigate.

"Sect Leader Yun..." Yue Cong looked at him, unsure whether this master was willing to show himself in public.

Yunxian remained calm and replied indifferently, "It's late, so I won't bother Wenyuan any longer."

Yue Cong breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally seen off this big shot. He put on a smile and saw the person out.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the muddy path, Lu Zhaozhao clutched her chest, gritted her teeth, and ignored the cold sweat on her forehead as she walked briskly through the muddy, wet ground.

The lakeside was full of mud and marshland. Just as Lu Zhaozhao was stabbed by the sword, she suddenly noticed the wet mud not far away. She immediately took out the doll she had prepared before going down the mountain and used a substitution spell to escape.

"What bad luck," Lu Zhaozhao said coldly.

The reason she dared to make a move just now was because she was betting that Yun Xian wouldn't intervene. At first, she thought she had made the right bet, since Yun Xian would disdain to attack someone as insignificant as dust, and Lu Zhaozhao, who could barely be compared to the Nascent Soul stage even after using her cultivation techniques, was undoubtedly that dust.

Unexpectedly, Yun Xian, who clearly had no intention of making a move, suddenly swung his sword at the very moment she was about to escape, so fast that she couldn't react in time.

Unbeknownst to her, the spell she unintentionally cast was a long-forbidden technique. Naturally, she also didn't know that Yun Xian's reason for not killing her was to leave her alive.

By a twist of fate, Lu Zhaozhao managed to escape with her life.

The disturbance just now was quite significant, and the surrounding sects should have been alerted. It's likely that hiding now will be even more difficult.

Lu Zhaozhao ran to a tall reed bed to hide herself, carefully checked the surroundings to make sure no one was behind her, and then released her hand that was tightly covering her wound.

The blood continued to flow. Yun Xian had applied his true energy to the sword, preventing the wound from healing. When she fled earlier, Lu Zhaozhao didn't have time to treat it and was afraid that the bloodstains would reveal her whereabouts, so she could only cover it tightly, which aggravated her injury.

"call……"

Lu Zhaozhao used a dagger to pry open the clothes stuck to her skin, constantly adjusting her breathing. The intense pain shot straight to the top of her head, forcing her to stay awake.

Deep within her skin and flesh, a wisp of residual true energy continued to disrupt her self-healing process. Looking at the flesh and blood around the exposed wound, Lu Zhaozhao could only sigh in relief that Yun Xian had only casually drawn the sword of a disciple nearby, and that the disciple's sword was of poor quality.

In that instant, Ni Ye drew his sword just in time, colliding with the flying blade. In that instant, Lu Zhaozhao immediately felt a sharp pain in her hand and along her entire arm, and instinctively wanted to let go.

Just before the sword detached, she flicked her wrist, using the force of the impact to deflect some of the flying sword's power. However, the difference in strength between her and Yunxian was too great, and the flying sword still reached her.

Fortunately, the overload of true energy and the impact made it too much for the ordinary sword to withstand, so it broke in two. One half was blocked by Ni Ye, while the other half, unable to dodge, pierced through her chest, along with the true energy attached to the sword, and entered her body.

Lu Zhaozhao lifted her clothes; the sword was still halfway inside her body.

She tore off a piece of her sleeve, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, she placed her hand on the exposed part of the sword, closed her fingers, and finally, exerted a sudden force.

Large beads of cold sweat streamed down her face. Lu Zhaozhao bit down hard on the cloth in her mouth in pain, and with another effort, the sword that had been embedded in her body was completely pulled out.

The moment it was pulled out, she bent over in pain, her knees buckling as she knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Clang."

A piece of sword, its surface stained red with blood, fell to the side.

However, she was not skilled in medicine, and could only hope to gradually resolve the disturbance to her internal energy. Therefore, she could only treat the wound with water and then bandage it with cloth.

After doing all this, Lu Zhaozhao collapsed into the reeds.

The combined physical and mental exhaustion left her utterly exhausted, so much so that she didn't even notice a figure approaching as she drifted off to sleep.

Startled awake again, Lu Zhaozhao felt someone touching her body.

A pair of warm, gentle hands rested on her wrists.

Lu Zhaozhao opened her eyes a crack and vaguely saw a blurry figure.

She was a young woman with an ethereal air. She wore a veil and was taking her pulse with her head down, so much so that she didn't even notice when Lu Zhaozhao opened her eyes.

After a while, the woman frowned slightly, seemingly in a dilemma. A moment later, she removed her hand from Lu Zhaozhao's wrist, as if she was about to turn around to check the situation further.

The moment she turned away, Lu Zhaozhao's hand touched the side of Niye.

In the blink of an eye, the sharp blade touched the slender neck of the person in front of him.

Who are you? Why are you here?

Lu Zhaozhao asked in a cold voice.

The person in front of him paused for a moment, chuckled softly, and slowly lifted the veil, revealing an unparalleled beauty beneath.

"Junior Sister Lu, we meet again."