The two first went to the underground space of the Crane Temple to take a look, but unfortunately the Fire Eye was no longer there.

The underground space remained unchanged, with thick tree roots coiling around the entrance, but the spores attached to them had disappeared, perhaps absorbed and taken away by the Fire Eye.

Qing and Qirong arrived at the end of the space, where the stone pillar that once imprisoned the divine pearl still remained, and the runes beneath the stone pillar were faintly visible.

“It’s an ancient forbidden seal.” Qi Rong squatted down to examine the seal. “No wonder it could trap the divine pearl.”

Qinghe: "It's actually something from ancient times?"

Qi Rong stood up and nodded to her, saying, "Of course, a single Fire Eye cannot contain ancient artifacts. Even if it did, without a prohibition, it would be impossible to activate the talisman."

Qinghe continued, "So, someone is manipulating it from behind the scenes."

She thought to herself that it was most likely that mysterious person behind the scenes.

It's only a matter of time before we confront the person behind the scenes, but right now the most important thing is to deal with Huoyan to avoid future troubles.

Qinghe: "There are no more clues to be found here, let's go out first."

After emerging from the underground space, Qinghe clearly felt an eerie silence. Looking around, the once bustling and lively Crane Temple was now deserted, and even the Taoist priest who presided over the temple was nowhere to be seen.

The sky was darkening, with dark clouds gathering, a sign that it was going to rain.

The Crane Temple is renowned, and most of the worshippers are visitors from afar. They travel long distances to the Crane Temple, and even on rainy days, they will not leave empty-handed. The fact that it is deserted at this time is truly suspicious.

Qinghe closed her eyes and spread her divine sense, covering a radius of dozens of miles within her field of vision.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked at Qi Rong. "There's no one here. Crane Village is empty."

Qi Rong frowned slightly: "It's best to be careful."

The streets were quiet, and the cool breeze in the air added to the chill.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, blocking out the sunlight completely. The black clouds rolled and piled up silently, like the calm before a storm.

The roadside stalls stood intact by the street, everything neatly arranged, as if waiting for their owners to return.

The street, which usually looked small, suddenly became huge. When I was halfway there, a woman suddenly ran out of a house next door. She was running so fast that she tripped and fell in the middle of the street.

Qing and Qi Rong exchanged a glance. Just now, she clearly did not sense the presence of any living person. What was the deal with this woman who suddenly appeared?

As the two approached, they could faintly hear the woman sobbing softly.

Qinghe didn't reach out to help her up, but said calmly, "Are you alright?"

The woman turned around and looked at Qinghe, the woman who had been abused by her husband before.

Her face was bruised and swollen, and the combination of new and old injuries made her face look bloated and ugly, but you could still see that her complexion was as bluish as the previous child's, as if her yang energy had been drained.

Whether it was Qinghe's imagination or not, she always felt that the woman's eyes were hostile towards her, and there was a strange sense of familiarity about them.

The woman recognized Qinghe and cried even harder, muttering something unintelligible to Qinghe.

She cried bitterly, and Qinghe helplessly stepped forward to help her up, patting the dirt off her and saying, "Don't cry. I warned you to leave him as soon as possible, but you didn't listen."

The woman wiped away her tears and sobbed, "After he woke up that day, he promised me that he would never hit me again, that he would change his ways and live a good life. I... I believed him."

Qinghe thought to herself, "You actually believe such obvious scumbag lines."

The woman continued, "But after two days of quiet, he started gambling again and lost all the money in the house. He wouldn't listen to my advice and started hitting me again. He even tried to take Sansheng to the gambling den to pay off his debts. I risked my life to save Sansheng."

Qinghe glanced at Qirong silently and sent him a divine thought: Gambling kills people.

Qi Rong's lips twitched, and she replied: My gambling den is 100% clean, and there is no selling of children.

Qing rolled her eyes at him and said to the woman, "Where is he? Do you want me to kill him for you? It'll be free."

The woman hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

If Qinghe had known it would be like this, he wouldn't have said anything more and helped the woman into the house.

Qinghe helped her to a chair and looked around the room.

There wasn't much to see. The house was sparsely furnished, practically bare. Anything of value had probably been taken by her husband to sell.

Xiao Sansheng lay on the bed, his steady breathing indicating that he was asleep. Qinghe went over to take a look and, sure enough, Sansheng's face was also pale.

Qinghe stared at it for a while, then sat on the edge of the bed, took Sansheng's wrist and felt his pulse. The pulse was steady, not like he was sick.

"Use your spiritual power to probe his spiritual veins," Qi Rong said from the side.

Qinghe glanced at him. With Qi Rong's strength, it was impossible for her not to see that Sansheng was not a cultivator. However, she said nothing and released her spiritual power to probe into Sansheng's body.

With his spiritual veins blocked and his aptitude mediocre, Qinghe probed all the way to his heart, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

Humans have five meridians, symbolizing the five elements of heaven and earth—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. This is why there are five spiritual roots. The heart is where the five meridians converge, the source of the spirit. At this moment, in the heart of Sansheng, the other four spiritual meridians are normal, but the fire spiritual meridian is missing.

She withdrew her spiritual power and looked at the woman sitting in the chair, sobbing. It was easy to imagine that she was in a similar situation.

She looked at Qi Rong: "You guessed right, but..." She glanced at the woman, then used her divine sense to ask: Why didn't they die?

Qi Rong: Because of the inability to cultivate, the Fiery Eyes are not very useful.

Qinghe understood, and looked at the woman and Sansheng with complicated emotions. For them, not being able to cultivate had actually become a good thing.

He took out a pill to feed to Sansheng, hoping to see if it could replenish the lost spiritual veins.

The moment their lips touched, San Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes bloodshot, and waved his hands toward Qing He!

Qinghe was always sensitive to danger. He suddenly stepped back, swept his sleeve, and the entire bed collapsed and shattered. Before Sansheng's small body could even jump up, he was instantly crushed underneath.

Just as he was about to go forward to take a look, he saw the woman behind him suddenly stand up, her eyes turned blood red, her entire face was as red as if it were on fire, bared her teeth and claws, and roared as she pounced on Qinghe.

Qi Rong waved her hand, and a golden silk net enveloped the woman and pressed her backward, slamming her tightly against the wall with a 'bang'.

The woman opened her mouth wide and tried to bite through the golden net, but the net was too strong, and even though she bit it until it bled, it showed no sign of breaking.

Qinghe looked closely at her eyes and suddenly realized why they looked familiar—they were fiery eyes!

She had no idea that the Fiery Eyes possessed such an ability, capable of concealing itself within a person, controlling their mind, and hiding its own aura.

Qi Rong said calmly, "It's not the real body, but just a wisp of fire soul."

Qinghe's thoughts darkened slightly: "It seems that it has already taken control of the entire Crane Village, as well as the many cultivators attracted by the Divine Pearl."

I just don't know where they are hiding now.