Crossing through but being struck by lightning

When Cang Jingqi first saw Han Jiang rushing out of the mountains, he thought she was finally safe and could report back to someone.

Unexpectedly, upon closer inspection, it turned out she wasn't Han Jiang.

The spiritual energy is different.

Demons possess demonic energy, while humans possess spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is intertwined with the soul and cannot be altered in any way.

Cang Jingqi was born with an extremely strong ability to sense spiritual power. Since spiritual power is closely related to aura, he could naturally sense a person's spiritual energy as well.

He and Han Jiang weren't exactly friends, but they knew each other. The person in front of him was definitely not the real Han Jiang.

But there were no signs of disguise on this person, which was really strange.

Before their behavior reveals any flaws, let's play along and see what this "fake cold spell" is really up to, and where the original cold spell has gone.

Of course, Han Jiang was unaware of the above.

She was unaware that her identity as a time traveler had been exposed from the very beginning.

Han Jiang changed her hands from being tied in front of her to being tied behind her back, and thought he was really going to untie her ropes.

Cang Jingqi pressed Han Jiang to search halfway up the mountain.

Han Jiang had unspeakable suffering. She ran down the mountain and climbed back up in one night. This time traveler was on the verge of dying from exhaustion.

What's more, she's still a student; the 800-meter run in the physical fitness test could kill her.

Other transmigrators either have a system or a cheat code.

And her? Was she brought here for labor reform?

The cabin was harder to find than she had imagined; it seemed to be deliberately hidden by some force.

"This is it." Although Han Jiang didn't look up when she left the cabin, her memory of the surrounding scenery couldn't be wrong. "How could I not find it?"

Cang Jingqi stopped, tightened the rope, pulled Han Jiang closer, and reached out to probe the air—

The surrounding trees gradually blurred, becoming a black mist before dissipating, and the moonlight slanted towards a dilapidated wooden house.

Cang Jingqi gave Han Jiang a hard push, forcing her to bend over.

The wound on his abdomen was being squeezed, and Han Jiang was shivering with pain.

"No need to act so realistically, just act like a normal hostage," Cang Jingqi said.

"Screw you acting!" Han Jiang was seething with anger. Once she found out who this man was, she was determined to get her revenge.

So a "guard" led a "runaway hostage" back into the cabin.

Another group of people are missing from the room; they must have been seen off again.

"You are—" The guard at the door was surprised by the appearance of the two.

Cang Jingqi said without changing his expression, "We just caught one who tried to escape."

"Well! I knew you wouldn't behave!" The guard clearly recognized Han Jiang, grabbed him, and elbowed him so hard that Han Jiang couldn't straighten up.

Two guards, one tall and one short, approached upon hearing the commotion. The shorter one was the bald man from before. The bald man said, "She actually managed to escape from the group. She's got some skills."

The three guards scrutinized her from head to toe, and one of them suddenly exclaimed, "The token on her waist!"

Han Jiang then noticed that she did indeed have a white jade pendant hanging on her waist, which hadn't fallen off even after running alongside her.

The guard tried to pull it off, but the jade pendant seemed to be bound to his waist by magic and could not be easily removed.

Two guards restrained Han Jiang, and the bald man leaned closer to examine the jade tablet: "Han...Jiang, from...the Four States Sect! She's from the Four States Sect!"

The jade plaque has Han Jiang's name on the front and her sect, the Four Continents Sect, on the back.

"They have to be kept behind separately. The master said that all the people from the three sects will be kept behind and transformed into demons to become an aid in unifying the world!"

The man in black who led the group earlier must be the "adult" they were referring to; "Three Gates" is a collective term for three major sects. Han Jiang's memories gradually became clearer.

She kept giving Cang Jingqi glances, but he never looked at Han Jiang.

"Can cultivators really be transformed into demons?" Cang Jingqi began to probe for information.

"How would we know? Those are matters for the adults."

Several? It seems they have more than one master, and the one who just arrived is just one of them.

"Why bother with all that? Besides, you're not a guard here, what are you doing here? Do you have a new mission?" The bald man was very alert.

Cang Jing said, "I just grabbed a hostage while passing by at the foot of the mountain. Since you've already brought him up, I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, Cang Jingqi really left the wooden house.

Han Jiang tried hard to hide the disbelief in her eyes, as showing it would expose Cang Jingqi. She didn't know what Cang Jingqi was up to, but her trust in him was genuine; he must have some scheme in mind.

The bald man made Han Jiang and the remaining hostages squat together.

Then the guards huddled together and said something.

Han Jiang couldn't hear clearly, and they separated when she tried to get closer.

The bald man somehow produced a piece of cloth and blindfolded Han Jiang, then made Han Jiang stand up and walk out.

The wooden door was opened, and feet stepped on fallen leaves.

His arms were held by two guards, and his back was being pushed forward.

Judging from the footsteps, she had at most three guards with her.

A moment later, the sound of the wooden door closing came from afar, and the two people quickly caught up with Han Jiang.

"Is everything taken care of?" came the bald man's voice.

"Hmm. It will start burning in about 15 minutes."

"Half a quarter of an hour...that's enough. Let's meet up with the adults as soon as possible." He was still bald.

Han Jiang felt a sudden panic: What's burning? The guards who were originally in the wooden house were all there, but where were the hostages inside?

"Hurry up! I'm afraid we won't make it in time!"

An urging voice came from the left side of my ear.

The bald man's voice was calm: "What's there to be afraid of! If the wildfire gets too big, who will care about us?"

"The captain is truly wise; he saw at a glance that that kid wasn't one of ours."

"That's right! The preamble was so obvious, if I hadn't figured it out, wouldn't I have wasted over a decade following the master in the Demon Palace?" the bald man continued. "He wanted to use this little girl to trick people into giving him information to rescue the hostages, so I made him pay up. And he ended up losing everything, what was it again?"

"I've lost my wife..."

"That's right! We've lost both our wife and our army!" The bald man leaned closer to Han Jiang and said, "What a pity for the young lady, she'll be one of our demons from now on! Don't worry, the transformation won't hurt, being a demon is great!"

Han Jiang carefully remembered every word the guards said.

The guards were all demons, and the bald man and the "master" he mentioned were even from the Demon Palace.

"Who wants to be a demon?" Han Jiang retorted.

"Hey! Don't look down on us. From now on, everyone in the world will be demons, and we'll all be the same!"

The bald man kicked the person who had just spoken: "Watch your mouths! Don't talk so much!"

Han Jiang thought to himself, "You've said just as much yourself."

The group stopped after walking for a short while.

"My lord," the bald man said respectfully, then left Han Jiang's side and walked forward.

The whispering sounds drifted into my ears on the wind.

The guards' original intention was to blindfold Han Jiang so she wouldn't remember the way and prevent her from escaping, but now they've actually helped her, because since she can't see, her sense of hearing is amplified.

"...The Four States Sect...brought...hostages...burned...the Second Prince..."

They set fire to the remaining hostages, killing them, and brought Han Jiang from the Four Provinces Sect to see their lord. And who is that Second Prince?

Han Jiang heard someone approaching and almost immediately backed away.

The sword was drawn, a brief cry of surprise rang out, a person fell to the ground, the smell of blood filled the air, a gust of wind rushed towards them, then seemed to be abruptly blocked by a wall, another gust of cold wind swept in from behind, and the ropes binding their hands automatically untied.

Han Jiang hurriedly tore off the cloth covering her eyes.

Several guards had their throats slit in unison, and the bald man lay dead in the distance, his eyes wide open.

It was the first time she had ever seen someone truly die before her eyes. Her stomach churned, and she nearly vomited. Her legs felt like lead, and she was rooted to the spot.

Han Jiang tried to look away, but she couldn't control her gaze. Red blood filled her entire field of vision.

Are you alright?

Who! Extreme panic made Han Jiang lose his judgment, and he couldn't recognize the owner of the voice for a short time.

Turn your head—

The moonlight had almost disappeared, and a bright white light spread across the east.

The inky night was almost over.

In summer, it really does get light exceptionally early.

He has returned to his original appearance, and he can be seen more clearly now than he could in the tent.

He closed his folding fan and asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"

Han Jiang felt that the smile didn't look like a smile at all; his eyes were full of indifference.

She avoided eye contact with Cang Jingqi, her eyes fixed on the mole under his eye, and asked, "Did you kill him?"

"No." His tone was relaxed. "It was their people who killed him. They probably discovered that I had put a tracking spell on your jade pendant, so they silenced him and fled."

Han lowered his head and touched the jade tablet: Tracking Technique.

So he deliberately let them take away the Cold Dew.

"How are the hostages?"

Cang Jing said, "After they took you away, they set fire to the wooden house, thinking we would only be concerned with putting out the fire and would forget about you. Unfortunately, I signed a life-or-death contract to take you back, so I abandoned the hostages to save you."

"What?!" Han Jiang exclaimed, "You didn't save the hostages!"

Cang Jingqi scoffed, "I didn't go."

"You..." Who exactly is this man?

"Pfft! Han Xiaoman, you're not as funny as before. Just because I didn't go to rescue them doesn't mean the others didn't. They were all rescued." Cang Jing scoffed. "Let's go, I'll take you back to the Four Continents Sect."

Cold Descent, also known as Lesser Fullness.

Not many people know this; in Hanjiang's memory, only his master knows it. Is this person his master?

Cang Jingqi spun open his folding fan, the fan surface unfolded and enlarged, and it floated halfway in the air.

As the cold winds descended, I stepped onto the folding fan and carefully sat on its edge.

Cang Jingqi deliberately leaped onto the fan with force, causing the folding fan to shake, and Han Jiang gripped the fan ribs tightly.

After the fan stabilized, it flew up.

Flying on a fan, this is the first time I've ever seen such a cold descent.

She sat on Cang Jingqi's fan, still immersed in the mental shock she had just experienced.

Aside from seeing my grandparents kill chickens and ducks when I was little, I've hardly ever witnessed any killing during the Cold Rain season. Even when I saw dead people, it was only in horror movies. But today, right in front of me, there are several dead bodies.

They're all fake; they're characters in a book, not real people.

Although Han Jiang has good mental fortitude and isn't particularly timid, she still needs some time to adjust.

Seemingly to distract Han Jiang, Cang Jing said, "Anzhou is in rebellion. The rebels have captured a large number of hostages for negotiations. They want to negotiate with the imperial army, hoping to split Anzhou and exchange the hostages for the city's independence, establishing themselves as a small country. Every half hour, twenty hostages are escorted to the military camp. If the negotiations fail, they are killed. Half an hour later, more hostages are escorted until the negotiations end."

“They are awful…” Han Jiang said, calming himself down.

"However, they seem to have a new plan now, and even the demons are involved, so they abandoned the hostages and took you away." Cang Jingqi's words were very deliberate; these were things that the original owner should have known, but he repeated them again.

It seems he's explaining the preface to the current cold snap.

Han Jiang asked, "They said they want to transform me into a demon. Is that feasible?"

Cang Jingqi turned to look at Han Jiang, and through those eyes, it was as if he could see right through her and see a different soul inside.