Xu Ximing offline
"I must be overthinking it," Wen Zheng murmured softly.
It is said that Jianmu is an ancient tree that can communicate with the gods and allow people to ascend to heaven in one step, so it cannot be this ordinary and somewhat strange dead tree in front of us.
Banishing the extraneous thoughts from her mind, Wen Zheng took out the Azure Spirit Brocade Brush and drew several demon-slaying talismans. As the brush tip made its final stroke on the paper, golden light appeared, and the cinnabar ignited like boiling flames, setting the blood-red mist on the ground ablaze as well.
"Be careful." Mu Qing pulled Wen Zheng behind her with one hand and used the other hand to make a hand seal and chant a spell to block the flames coming towards them.
Wen Zheng held the Azure Spirit Brocade Brush in her hand. Before she could react, she was standing behind Mu Qing. She looked sideways at the burning talisman, where the mist, like a tide, gradually thinned under the burning flames.
“The demon-slaying talisman works.” After saying that, Wen Zheng continued to draw a few more talismans and threw them out.
The thick fog on the ground slowly burned and thinned as the demon-slaying talisman fell, and its flow toward the hollow of the withered tree accelerated. When Wen Zheng looked down, she could even see the top of her shoes.
Mu Qingling's keen senses detected a gentle breeze blowing from not far away as the fog thinned. It carried a hint of coolness and the smell of blood. He looked in the direction the wind was coming from, but all he could see was darkness.
His turn of the head was so abrupt that Wen Zheng followed his gaze but saw nothing. She asked, "What's wrong?"
Is there a problem?
Mu Qing frowned and said, "I think I smell blood."
After he finished speaking, Wen Zheng's brows furrowed as well: "Something happened outside? I'll speed up the drawing of the talisman."
Wen Zheng could still see the connection between the thinning fog and the bloody smell that Mu Qing sensed. The only thing she could do to help now was to draw more talismans and try to dissipate the fog beneath her feet.
With a flick of her fingertips, more than a dozen talismans floated in mid-air. She drew talismans with one hand and controlled the other talismans to stop under her brush with the other hand.
Wen Zheng moved quickly, her wrists swinging back and forth, and she finished drawing a talisman in the blink of an eye.
After drawing dozens of demon-slaying talismans, Wen Zheng used her spiritual power to send the talismans to a corner where the fog was thick. Then she lit the talismans, and dozens of flames ignited, causing the fog to dissipate faster and faster.
This time, without Mu Qing's reminder, Wen Zheng could see everything that was happening in front of her. Xu Ximing had just pulled out the people he had locked up in the mirror. Each of them was injured, and some were even unconscious.
Xu Ximing, who was dealing with other sect elders and disciples, also noticed the gazes cast by Wen Zheng and Mu Qing. He paused in his work and looked at the two of them suspiciously: "Did they recover so quickly?"
Impossible. His Excellency said that no one can come out.
Xu Ximing comforted himself for a moment and continued what he was doing. He dragged out an older elder, checked his bones and muscles, and then tied him up tightly.
These are his pledge of allegiance to His Majesty; they must be kept tightly bound so he doesn't escape.
Just as he was about to tie up the next one, Mu Qing's sword pierced through. He hurriedly retreated and dodged, stepping over a already tied-up disciple.
The disciple let out a scream, waking up the others who were still unconscious. When they saw the situation before them, they tried to break free of the ropes, but found that they were too weak to move.
"What's going on? I can't use my spiritual power."
"Me too."
"It seems like they've been poisoned again."
The speaker was a disciple who had just escaped from the dungeon, and was lying on the ground groaning in pain.
Wen Zheng walked over and used her knife to cut the ropes binding them, dragging them to a safe place. She then turned to look at Mu Qing and Xu Ximing.
Mu Qing clearly had the upper hand between the two, but Xu Ximing had too many magical techniques and strange moves, so he couldn't defeat him for a while.
Delay could lead to complications, and Wen Zheng, not wanting things to drag on any longer, took out the talisman she had drawn earlier and threw it out.
A small talisman floated in front of Xu Ximing. He took out a mirror to block it. The talisman exploded the moment it touched the mirror, causing many cracks in the mirror.
Xu Ximing was taking out other mirrors to block the sword energy that Mu Qing was attacking when he felt the blood rising in his throat. He turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"Mirror! Come back!"
He roared, and the natal mirror, riddled with countless cracks, returned to his hand. Staring at the spiderweb-like cracks on it, Xu Ximing was utterly enraged. He glared at Wen Zheng, and the mirror in his hand emitted a blinding light as it hurtled towards her.
Just as Mu Qing was about to capture Xu Ximing alive, she saw his movements and was too late to stop him. She shouted at Wen Zheng, "Get out of the way!"
Xu Ximing has almost never made a move in front of outsiders, and few people have seen his attack methods. Mu Qing didn't dare to gamble with Wen Zheng's life, so she unleashed her spiritual power and rushed towards Wen Zheng.
Wen Zheng was drawing talismans on her hand when she caught a glimpse of a light coming towards her out of the corner of her eye. She quickly dodged, but the light seemed to have eyes and kept following her. She used the Speed Talisman twice but still couldn't dodge it.
Helpless, Wen Zheng kept dodging the light flying towards her, while Mu Qing followed behind, trying several times to find an opportunity to draw her sword and deal with the strange light.
The two ran and chased each other, with eerie mirror light flashing in between, making the scene extremely comical for a moment.
Xu Ximing finally managed to get rid of Mu Qing and catch his breath. Seeing the two of them in such a disheveled state, he smiled mockingly: "Don't bother, no one can escape my Mirror Light."
"Immortal Master Mu, your junior sister is about to die!"
His taunts reached everyone's ears, irritating them. The Qingchen Sect elder, who had just woken up, saw the situation before him and wanted to help, but collapsed helplessly to the ground.
"How can you not have any strength?"
Could he have been drugged? Given his cultivation level, ordinary poisons would be ineffective against him.
He turned to look at the people around him, almost all of them just like him, slumped helplessly on the ground, like fish on a chopping board.
Wen Zheng ran very fast. She could feel the mirror light behind her getting closer and closer, but she couldn't shake it off.
The sense of crisis that had been absent from her mind for a long time resurfaced. She inexplicably felt that she couldn't be hit by this mirror light. A sense of irritability and helplessness welled up in her heart. Wen Zheng dodged while thinking of a countermeasure.
Mu Qing chased after Wen Zheng, reaching out to grab the mirror light several times, but it escaped. His expression grew even uglier. He wanted to swing his sword, but was worried about hurting Wen Zheng.
When the two were in a dilemma, Wen Zheng was the first to come up with a solution. She glanced at Xu Ximing, who was standing smugly to the side, turned around, and rushed towards Xu Ximing.
Xu Ximing clutched his natal magic weapon with heartache, cursing at Wen Zheng under his breath, waiting to see how she would die at his hands. In the blink of an eye, Wen Zheng charged at him.
Before Xu Ximing could dodge, he met Wen Zheng's gaze. As their eyes met, the smile on Wen Zheng's lips caught his eye. He was stunned for a moment, and then a beam of light rushed towards him.
Almost instantly, the white mirror light entered Xu Ximing's body. He stood there stunned, looking up at everyone in a daze. He raised one hand, and just as he uttered the word "save," he collapsed to the ground.
Wen Zheng and the others breathed a sigh of relief after fainting, then turned to Mu Qing and asked, "Should we tie him up?"
Xu Ximing's attacks are really hard to defend against, so it's better to tie him up first.
Mu Qing stepped forward, looked Wen Zheng over carefully, and said after seeing that she was not injured, "I'll take care of her, you rest for a while."
Wen Zheng nodded and stood aside to rest, watching Mu Qing tie Xu Ximing up. After he was tied up, Wen Zheng walked over and asked, "Did he faint?"
"Not really." Mu Qing checked Xu Ximing's breathing; it was slow and long, as if he were asleep.
As the two were discussing Xu Ximing's condition, someone said to them, "Some elders and disciples are also missing."
This sound broke everyone's thoughts and silence. Everyone looked around and found that the number of people present did not match the number of people who had originally come to Changsheng Gate. Many people were missing.
Wen Zheng's gaze swept over everyone, and in just one glance, she noticed that Mingxin from Medicine Immortal Valley was missing, as were several other disciples.
"The person is missing. Did Xu Ximing hide him in the mirror?" Wen Zheng asked Mu Qing.
Mu Qing glanced down at the unconscious Xu Ximing, then touched his brow with her hand. A speck of frost landed on Xu Ximing's brow, and he shivered from the cold, but did not wake up.
Mu Qing was stunned. Unconvinced, he tried again, but Xu Ximing remained unconscious. He looked up at Wen Zheng and said, "Xu Ximing seems to be fast asleep."
The technique he used could quickly wake someone up, but Xu Ximing still hadn't woken up after two uses, so something seemed wrong.
Wen Zheng frowned and squatted down beside him, reaching out to pinch Xu Ximing's philtrum: "I'll do it." As soon as she finished speaking, she pinched his philtrum hard.
Xu Ximing's philtrum had turned purple from being pinched, but he still didn't wake up. Wen Zheng sat down beside him, looking dejected, her brows furrowed in a deep knot.
"Is it that mirror light?" Wen Zheng murmured softly.
"It should be," Mu Qing said.
When they arrived earlier, they saw Xu Ximing locking people in the mirror. When they came out, they saw Xu Ximing dragging people out of the mirror. The remaining people should still be locked in the mirror.
How can we get the person out?
Wen Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Go find other disciples of the Longevity Sect and see if they can operate Xu Ximing's mirror."
"I'm afraid that won't work." Mu Qing helped Wen Zheng sit up straight and picked up the mirror that Xu Ximing had dropped. "This mirror is his natal magic weapon. No one but him can use it."
Wen Zheng sighed, "This is troublesome."
There are so many people; we have to rescue them to make a proper report.
Mu Qing carefully examined the mirror, his deep-set eyes showing particular seriousness. He stared at the crack on the mirror and suddenly said, "There is another way."
"What method?"
"Smash the mirror to let those people out, but Xu Ximing will die." After Mu Qing finished speaking, she looked at Wen Zheng and handed over the decision to Wen Zheng.
He knew that Wen Zheng was investigating the relationship between Li Ruyue and Xu Ximing. He kept Xu Ximing around, saying that he couldn't get some information from him, but he couldn't afford to delay the person locked in the mirror.
Mu Qing looked at Wen Zheng, her clear eyes sparkling with starlight, showing no sign of being torn by this choice.
"Then what are we thinking about? Let's smash the mirror!" Wen Zheng picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it hard against the mirror, but the mirror remained undamaged.
Seeing this, Mu Qing chuckled and stopped Wen Zheng from smashing the mirror a second time. He then slashed at it with his sword, and the mirror shattered, sending countless starlight flying out and landing on the ground.
They are the people trapped in the mirror.
The elder of Medicine Immortal Valley, still half-asleep on the ground, felt someone pushing her. She groggily opened her eyes, saw Wen Zheng's face, and frowned, asking, "What's wrong with me?"
Wen Zheng helped her sit up and pointed to the people lying on the ground: "I'm not quite sure either, but we might need Elder's help to get some antidote."
So many people were sleeping on the ground; you'd think they were all dead.
The elder of Medicine Immortal Valley glanced around, her vision blurred. Was she already going to concoct an antidote for someone else when she hadn't even recovered herself?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
