She walked straight ahead as if she hadn't seen Ye Xianya and the others.

"This is a girl from the Chen family, named Hong'er," said Aunt Cao, dressed in blue.

"Hong'er, where are you going?" Several elderly women rushed forward to stop Hong'er, who stared blankly ahead without saying a word.

"Hong'er!" Aunt Cao waved her hand in front of the little girl, but when she didn't blink and seemed to be in a daze, she quickly turned to Ye Xianya and asked, "Miss Ye, what's wrong with Hong'er? What should we do?"

"Gentlemen, please calm down and step aside. Let Hong'er go, and we'll follow," Ye Xianya said in a low voice.

Fortunately, they arrived in time and just happened to run into the girl as she came out.

Otherwise, she would have had to take Zhengzheng with her to chase after them.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Cao and the others quickly stepped aside.

No one blocked her way, so Hong'er continued walking forward.

The capital city has seven gates, and there is one gate on the west side of the city. Most of the people living in this area go out from this gate.

Hong'er walked slowly along the roadside until she reached the city gate, without stopping at all.

“Miss Ye, could it be… that our missing daughters, like Hong’er, also went out on their own?” Aunt Cao asked with a worried expression.

“That’s right!” Ye Xianya nodded. “However… they didn’t go out on their own. They were controlled and had no choice in what they did.”

The older women became somewhat anxious upon hearing this.

"Aunties, please calm down. I've already calculated it. Your daughters are out of danger for now. We can find them by following Hong'er," Ye Xianya said, trying to reassure everyone.

After hearing this, Aunt Cao and the others finally calmed down and continued to follow Hong'er forward.

Hong'er was a young girl who was not yet married and rarely went out. Today, she had walked such a long way that she was not only covered in sweat, but her cloth shoes also had holes in them. She was also staggering as she walked, and it was clear that she was very tired. But the girl still kept walking forward. Even when she fell to the ground and her exposed toes were scraped and bleeding, she got up and continued walking.

Aunt Cao and the others were terrified.

My own daughter was probably like Hong'er before, out of control, desperately moving forward.

Everyone felt very sorry for them and heartbroken.

After leaving the capital and walking for about ten miles, Hong'er finally stopped.

Ahead, there was a farmhouse with two thatched houses and one brick-and-tile house in the small courtyard.

After circling around the door a few times, Hong'er pushed open the wooden door and went inside.

The young woman's voice soon came from the courtyard.

"Senior sister, your Silk-Pulling Gu King has brought in another little girl, but... she's not pretty enough."

"Then let's lock them in the cellar first," another woman's voice came from below, sounding somewhat impatient.

“Okay,” the young woman replied sweetly.

"Aunt Cao, I'm going in to rescue them. You all wait outside and don't make a sound," Ye Xianya said in a low voice.

"Miss Ye, let's go with you!" Aunt Cao said, though she was a little worried.

Didn't you hear the girl inside complaining that Hong'er wasn't pretty enough?

What do they need beautiful women for?

He definitely has ill intentions!

Besides, their daughter was very likely locked in the cellar, and Aunt Cao and the others were so eager to save her that they couldn't wait to rush in.

"This little courtyard looks ordinary, but it's actually set up with an array. As long as you get within two zhang of the courtyard, the array will be triggered. You don't understand these things, going there will just be suicide." Ye Xianya turned to look at them and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, the elderly women instinctively took a few steps back, no longer daring to follow her.

Ye Xianya quickly stepped forward, avoiding the array set up at the entrance, and pushed open the wooden door to the courtyard.

The young woman who had just locked Hong'er in the cellar came out and was slightly taken aback when she saw Ye Xianya appear at the gate of the courtyard.

"Senior sister, another young girl has arrived. Although she still looks quite young, she is extremely beautiful and should meet your requirements. Come out and take a look!" The young woman in purple excitedly called into the house.

A moment later, a woman dressed in blue, who looked to be in her early twenties, came out. She did not have a married woman's hairstyle, so she was probably not yet married.

The woman's left cheek was covered with scars and bumps, clearly disfigured, which was quite frightening.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Ye Xianya appear at the door.

"Senior sister, this little girl is very beautiful, with fair and delicate skin that seems to break at a touch. She's also at the prime of her youth. Senior sister should be satisfied now, right?" the woman in purple said with a smile.

“Fu’er, this little girl wasn’t brought here by my Thread-Pulling Gu King; she came on her own,” the woman in green said, frowning.

Fu'er was taken aback upon hearing this, then laughed and said, "So what? She's already inside our courtyard, do you think we'd let her escape? Senior Sister, please wait a moment, I'll go and bring her over."

"She was able to enter this courtyard smoothly through the outer array, so she's definitely not an ordinary person. Be careful," her senior sister whispered a warning.

"That formation was just something I set up casually. It can only stop ordinary people and wild cats and dogs in the mountains. Anyone who has been exposed to Taoist arts can avoid it. It's nothing special."

After Fu'er finished speaking, she immediately flew towards Ye Xianya.

Ye Xianya did not resist and let her pull her over.

Fu'er was overjoyed. Looking at her senior sister, she said with a smile, "Senior sister, look, she's just an ordinary person. She probably got lucky and managed to avoid our formation and enter the courtyard."

"Whose daughter are you, and what brings you here?" the woman in green asked Ye Xianya in a deep voice.

"I...I live in a small village about two miles from here. I...I'm a little thirsty. I came in...I came in to ask for a cup of water," Ye Xianya said in a trembling voice, pretending to be very scared.

If she wasn't mistaken, this woman used the Silk-Pulling Gu King to control the young woman and bring her here, intending to have her face changed.

Face swapping is sorcery!

However, she did not detect any demonic aura from the two women, and she was certain that they were human.

Even if they were cultivators, they could not possibly use sorcery to change faces.

Ye Xianya was genuinely curious, which is why she temporarily pretended to be a weak young girl in order to find out the truth about the matter.

To be honest, she learned a lot of mystical arts in her previous life at the Taiyi Sect, but as for face-changing techniques? She didn't know them; the righteous path didn't have such mystical arts at all.

“If that’s the case, then girl, you shouldn’t leave.” Fu’er said with a smile, “My senior sister has already spent more than two months here looking for a suitable face. She finally found one that she likes, so you should stay.”

"I...I'm not drinking any more water." After saying that, Ye Xianya turned and ran away, seemingly terrified.

Fu'er quickly flew over, grabbed her, and turned to the woman in green, saying, "Senior sister, I think it's her. You should quickly perform the ritual to change her face. We need to leave this place as soon as possible and return to the Taoist temple. Otherwise, when Master comes out of his seclusion and finds that we are not in the temple, he will definitely punish us."