Chapter 6: Seven Days Later, Her Soul Will Be Vanished
The moon is exceptionally bright tonight; its pale light shines through the shadows of the trees, casting a chilling and eerie glow.
The chilling sound grew closer and closer.
The other end of the chain seemed to be dragging something heavy, making a dragging sound.
At the same time, a blurry figure appeared in the fog, approaching from afar.
Upon seeing that black robe again, Ye Li felt a chill run down her spine.
Even if she could only see his back, she could recognize him!
It was the masked man who tortured and killed her!
Ye Li was far ahead of her peers and had never tasted defeat.
But when facing him, she was powerless to fight back.
"I have no grudge against you, why are you trying to kill me?"
He didn't answer, but tightened the chains and strangled her without hesitation.
The pain of death made Ye Li tremble uncontrollably when she saw him again, and her body instinctively wanted to escape.
But when she saw what was wrapped around the other end of the chain, she froze in place.
It was a woman, her limbs limp and broken.
As the woman was being dragged along, she turned around, and a familiar face came into view.
When Ye Li met the woman's unseeing, lifeless eyes, her pupils dilated.
She was being dragged along by the chains!
Ye Li shuddered as she watched her body being pulled into the cave entrance.
What could possibly make him not only kill her, but also take her body?
The sound of chains grew fainter and fainter, and Ye Li followed after them.
Below the cave entrance are bottomless stone steps, seemingly leading to the earth's core.
She hesitated for a few seconds, but still chose to venture into the lion's den.
She couldn't die without knowing why; she needed to find out why he killed her and what he intended to do to her body.
After descending for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw the light of candlelight and could faintly hear voices.
At the end of the stone steps was a huge stone chamber, and on the circular altar in the very center, her body was placed in an extremely twisted and bizarre posture.
The masked man stood before the altar, with an ordinary-looking middle-aged man beside him.
Unlike the lifeless masked man, Ye Li could tell that this person was a Daoist cultivator.
Perhaps it was because his appearance was too ordinary, but she felt he looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
The middle-aged Taoist priest respectfully said to the masked man, "The reason why the physical body is incorruptible is due to the incompleteness of the soul, and we cannot continue for the time being."
The masked man did not answer, but raised his hand and placed a strangely shaped incense burner on top of the corpse's hair.
A hoarse voice rang out, "If the incense burner does not burn out, your soul will be scattered in seven days."
Soul scattered and spirit dispersed...
Ye Li took two steps back, a sense of panic spreading through her heart.
As soon as she moved, the demon mask that had been staring at the altar suddenly turned towards the direction where her soul was.
In the dim candlelight, the grotesque mask exuded an eerie aura.
In an instant, Ye Li was frozen in place, unable to move.
A few seconds later, he looked away.
After this shock, Ye Li dared not linger any longer and quickly left the cave entrance.
When she calmed down, she realized it was raining outside.
At this moment, the camphor forest has returned to its familiar state.
She realized something, turned around, and the cave she had come out of was gone.
If it weren't for the lingering fear within her, she would have thought that everything that had just happened was just a dream.
In hindsight, I realized that the Fog Camphor Forest should have two entrances.
A peaceful place without danger.
The other one is fraught with danger.
...
When Ye Li returned to the Tianmen Sect, it was getting light.
Her heart was still shrouded in darkness, unable to find peace for a long time.
If she understood correctly, that incense burner could make her soul disappear within seven days.
In other words, if no one finds her body after seven days, she will have completely disappeared from the world.
She was unwilling to accept it.
Unfortunately, as a soul, she could do nothing but place her hopes on three days later.
If she doesn't appear in the Discipline Hall, they should be able to guess that something has happened to her. Even if they can't guess, they will still go and bring her back to apologize for disobeying their master's orders.
That way, she could be saved.
-
During the three days that Ye Li was missing, the Lotus Sect was peaceful and quiet.
Yuan Ce slept until noon every day, then lazily gestured a few times before going to read the storybooks Su Ying'er had brought from the mortal realm.
Mo Hannian started going out more often. Ye Li repeatedly reminded him that the Gu worms liked sweets and that he should avoid certain foods, but he would still try some when Su Ying'er brought him sweets.
Su Ying'er propped her chin on her hand and tilted her head to look at him, "Is it delicious, Fifth Senior Brother?"
Mo Hannian nodded. "I have never eaten such delicious snacks before."
Su Ying'er said with heartache, "I really don't know what kind of hardship Fifth Senior Brother had in the past. Second Senior Sister always told you that this is not allowed and that is not allowed, but you did everything she said, Fifth Senior Brother, and you still didn't recover."
“When I was in the mortal realm, I often heard people say that as long as you are in a good mood, any illness will get better. I think that your condition worsened because you were controlled too much by your second senior sister and had too many worries. But it will be different from now on. Ying’er will make you delicious sweets every day. When you are in a good mood, your illness will naturally get better.”
Looking at Ying'er's cheerful and lovely face, Mo Hannian truly felt that the knot in his heart had been loosened a lot, and he began to believe Su Ying'er's baseless statement.
"Sakura, if only you had appeared sooner."
If Ying'er had appeared earlier, he would not have suffered for so many years, and as Ying'er said, as long as he was in a good mood, what was there to fear about the Gu poison?
After Mo Hannian finished her dessert, she noticed that Lu Ziting's portion on the table was still untouched. "Where is Senior Brother?"
Su Ying'er pouted, "Who knows? These past few days, Senior Brother has been staying indoors all the time. Maybe it's because Second Senior Sister is going to be expelled from the sect tomorrow after taking vows, and he's feeling bad about it."
Mo Hannian's brows furrowed. "Since Senior Brother has already decided to sever all ties with Second Senior Sister, it's unfair to you to continue this entanglement. I'll go and call him over to keep you company."
"Oh, it's alright. I'm not the second senior sister, I don't have to compete with you. But you can go and invite him. It's the sixth senior brother's birthday at the end of the month, we need to discuss how to properly celebrate with him."
...
Hearing this, Ye Li, who was following them to gather information, looked into the distance.
Eighteen years old. Time flies so fast.
When Yuan Ce was twelve years old, Ye Li discovered that he was born with a rebellious bone structure. Only by establishing a foundation before his bones completely closed at the age of eighteen could he defy fate and change his destiny.
She had thought of telling her master about this, but if the matter were to be publicized, Yuan Ce would be unable to enter the inner sect.
Inner sect and outer sect—a difference of one word, yet worlds apart. He might still have hope in the inner sect, but in the outer sect, he was destined to be a cripple.
Breakthroughs in cultivation depend on chance; haste makes waste. If someone knows they have unusual aptitude and panics, they will only achieve half the results with twice the effort.
So Ye Li made a decision: she would keep this a secret and help Yuan Ce!
From that day on, Ye Li would take Yuan Ce to practice swordsmanship and cultivation before dawn every day, and no matter how much Yuan Ce begged and pleaded, she would not let him rest for a single day.
Gradually, Yuan Ce stopped pleading, and instead looked at her with increasing disgust. Over the past year, that disgust turned into hatred.
According to her original plan, Yuan Ce would definitely break through to the Foundation Establishment stage before his birthday, but now...
"birthday?"
Hearing this, Yuan Ce, who was dozing against the railing of the waterside pavilion, put down his storybook and came over, asking, "Is this for my birthday?"
Su Ying'er said playfully, "Of course, Ying'er remembers Sixth Senior Brother's birthday perfectly, and dares not forget it for a moment."
Yuan Ce exclaimed excitedly, "Junior Sister Ying'er is still the best to me! This time, without that old hag staring at me with a deadpan expression, I'm going to have a blast until my birthday!"
Ye Li coldly observed Yuan Ce's smug expression, completely unaware of how heartbroken he would be on his birthday.
However, she didn't have time to listen to Yuan Ce's heartless words right now; her top priority was to find Da Hei.
Unable to hear any news here, she followed Mo Hannian to Lu Ziting's courtyard.
Lu Ziting's behavior lately has been quite strange. Instead of taking advantage of her absence to get close to Su Ying'er, he hides in his room every day.
When Mo Hannian knocked on the door, Ye Li decided to go in first to see what Lu Ziting was up to.
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