31. Facing the challenge
◎Now, only one final step remains: the divine artifact appears, the villain dies, and she can go home!◎
Yin Li looked up and saw a steep mountain wall in front of her, covered with lush vegetation and nothing particularly remarkable.
He stepped forward and placed his hand on it, activating his divine sense to search. Since the Xuanbing Spirit Pearl reacted so strongly, it should be in this illusion. However, after a long time, he had basically searched the entire mountain but still found no clues.
How could this be? Yin Li narrowed his eyes, then brought the spirit bead at the hilt of the sword closer to himself, carefully sensing it.
No problem, it's just that he's starting it up incorrectly.
The boy's expression hardened, then he seemed to remember something, his brows relaxed, and he prepared to take the next step.
"boom!"
A tremendous sound came from a hundred meters away. The powerful spiritual energy made Yin Li instinctively dodge to the side. He saw that the mountain wall where he had been standing had been blasted into a deep pit, and soil was still falling. This spiritual energy, besides his master's, also came from—Wen Ruyu!
He actually followed us here too.
In the blink of an eye, before Yin Li could make a move, the culprit was already in front of him. Wen Ruyu had several scratches on his body, and his hair was no longer as neatly combed as it had been when he first saw it. Messy strands of hair fell down, but his eyes were extremely greedy, as if he had seen some delicacy and was drooling with covetousness.
"Yin Li, I've been looking for you everywhere."
He coughed, but before he could make a further move, a purple light from afar hurtled toward his heart with lightning speed.
"Wen Ruyu!"
The person being addressed instantly turned sinister. He turned his head and began to mobilize all his spiritual power: "Chu Qingge, you actually betrayed me."
"betray?"
Chu Qingge landed and retrieved her Blood Sword, standing in front of Yin Li. She secretly took a small step to the left, making it easier for him to escape if she launched an attack.
"master······"
Chu Qing's movements naturally did not escape Yin Li's eyes. He felt as if his heart was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, and he was struggling to breathe.
Wen Ruyu should have come to the illusion with me long ago. So, was Master's departure last night not entirely due to my anger, but rather to fight against Wen Ruyu?
No, how would she know what he was going to do? Or perhaps—besides having already guessed the Spirit Pearl, and given the exposure of the demonic energy last time, did Master realize that he was going to seize the Fire Dance Spirit Pearl?
Yin Li was extremely unwilling to admit his own thoughts, because he did not understand what Chu Qingge's purpose was, why she allowed him to hide the spirit pearl, helped him conceal his half-demon bloodline identity, and even had been hypocritical with Wen Ruyu a while ago.
No, no...
Yin Li's mind raced. What did her master want? What did she want?
A thought flashed through Yin Li's mind, but before she could catch it, the powerful pressure from ahead struck again.
"Wen Ruyu, you have committed countless evil deeds, framed your disciple, and your ambition is unforgivable!"
Chu Qing casually cast a protective barrier around the person behind her, and her sword was once again filled with spiritual power as she raised her hand to strike.
"Heh, Chu Qingge, you think you can defeat me by betraying me at the last minute? How naive!"
Wen Ruyu stepped forward and blocked the sword energy that was thrusting down from above. The two were almost evenly matched, and neither of them showed any signs of weakness.
"If you say I am unforgivable, then what about your most beloved disciple, Yin Li? He stole the Spirit Pearl and hid it away, and you, as his master, not only did not stop him, but also helped him cover it up. What a deep master-disciple bond!"
The two exchanged several more rapid blows in the air, their white figures moving so fast that they left afterimages. Wen Ruyu persisted, saying, "But your little disciple is probably not so simple. Be careful not to cut off your own escape route and suffer eternal damnation!"
"I am doomed to eternal damnation, and you deserve to be utterly destroyed!"
Chu Qing, being the Grand Elder, possessed a cultivation level higher than Wen Ruyu. She pressed forward relentlessly, causing Wen Ruyu to involuntarily retreat: "Hua Qi has already summoned all the sects; they are on their way. You cannot escape."
"Escape?" Wen Ruyu spat out a mouthful of blood and chuckled softly, "I never intended to escape. Although I believe I haven't revealed anything to you, it seems you've already guessed my purpose for this trip: Chu Qingge and the Fire Dance Spirit Orb. I'm determined to get them!"
"Arrogant."
The two engaged in combat once more, but this time, Wen Ruyu only defended and did not attack, while his eyes kept glancing at Yin Li in the barrier at the foot of the mountain.
"Yin Li, get out of here by any means necessary!"
A secret voice entered Yin Li's ears, and he immediately understood Chu Qing's meaning.
It's good that the Mystic Ice Spirit Orb can sense the Fire Dance Spirit Orb, but if you want to find the Fire Dance Spirit Orb, you have to follow its nature—use demonic energy.
I see.
Yin Li slowly raised his hand, his spiritual power receded, and a purplish-red aura enveloped his entire body. The thick demonic energy almost made the entire sky fall into an eerie purplish-red light, and the mountain seemed to sense something, trembling slightly. The surrounding rocks and trees were constantly cracking, and yellow soil was falling.
Dark clouds filled the sky, and as the tremors grew more intense, a burst of red light suddenly erupted from the center of the mountain. A powerful suction force pulled the boy, who was emanating demonic energy, into it. Soon, everything around returned to silence.
Wen Ruyu sensed something was wrong early on, but due to Chu Qing's obstruction, he could only watch helplessly as Yin Li was sucked away, while he remained outside.
"So that's how it is, so that's how it is..." He moved his lips, as if he had seen something terrifying, and suddenly laughed.
He let out a muffled laugh from his chest, which grew louder and louder until he became almost delirious, even squeezing out a few tears: "No wonder, no wonder, so he really is a demon."
Wen Ruyu's previous doubts were now all clear. He finally understood why he couldn't find the Fire Dance Spirit Orb or any clues about the artifact when he returned to the secret realm. It turned out that only such powerful demonic energy could activate it.
After he returned, Chu Qingge unusually began picking Sunflower Grass.
The whole thing about disrupting spiritual energy and severing meridians was just a pretext; she was actually trying to help Yin Li suppress demonic energy.
Yin Li, on the other hand, has always been the chosen one.
"Chu Qingge, you knew all along."
"So what if it is, so what if it isn't? You're already in trouble yourself, so give up."
"Stop?" Wen Ruyu calmed down slightly. "What I want, no one can take away from me."
He withdrew his spiritual power, no longer lingering in battle, and calmly looked at the person opposite him, his eyes brewing a storm.
"Chu Qingge, it's not over yet." He casually uttered a sentence, but behind this silence lay countless calculations. Wen Ruyu suddenly smiled knowingly. In that instant, Chu Qing felt a bad premonition rise in her heart, but before she could think about his actions, she saw him disappear in front of her.
What is Wen Ruyu up to?
She wanted to chase after him, but stopped and looked at the cracked mountain wall. The surging demonic energy seemed to have never appeared. Now, Yin Li had embarked on the path he was meant to take.
Now, only one step remains: the divine artifact appears, the villain dies, and she can go home!
——
The area outside the trial grounds was also unsettled. Ever since Wen Ruyu said he had something to take care of, only Xu Zhiqi remained on the entire site.
He didn't quite understand what Wen Ruyu was going to do. When they were cultivating the secret realm barrier together before, she always seemed to want to separate from him. Now she didn't even bother to find a reason.
Something's not right, something's really not right...
However, before he could ponder this, a purplish-red pillar of light suddenly rose in the distant sky, and demonic energy surged outwards in an instant.
Demons! How could demons have infiltrated them!
Looking in this direction, it's the secret realm, and it seems to be the place Wen Ruyu just went.
The panic in his heart instantly reached its peak. Xu Zhiqi hurriedly took out a communication talisman to send a message to Hua Qi and Chu Qingge. He immediately set up a barrier and looked around warily.
Only two days have passed, and the disciples who entered the trial grounds have not yet come out. If demons really appear, what is their purpose? What is Wen Ruyu's true identity in this?
Soon, a figure in pure white appeared in the trial's barrier. The woman's face was cold and stern, her brows tightly furrowed, her expression gloomy.
"Qingge, what are you doing here? This is—"
Chu Qing didn't answer Xu Zhi Qiu first. She looked at the surrounding barrier. Fortunately, if any disciples came out, they wouldn't be disturbed by the evil energy left behind by the demonic energy earlier.
"This matter is complicated, so I'll keep it brief." Chu Qing closed her eyes to organize her thoughts before speaking: "Wen Ruyu is suspected of colluding with the demons to steal the spirit pearl. I stopped him just now, but I don't know where he ran off to afterward."
Seeing Xu Zhiqi's shocked and almost speechless expression, she subtly concealed Yin Li's presence and continued to ask, "Did you also send a message to Elder Hua?"
"Ah!" Xu Zhiqi snapped out of his daze and quickly said seriously, "He has sent word. I guess he is gathering the sect's disciples."
Chu Qing nodded: "Yes, colluding with the demon race is a serious matter. I had some premonitions and clues beforehand, and before the secret realm trial, I had Elder Hua keep an eye on the sect and maintain contact with the other sects so that they could come to our aid in time if there were any problems."
"Good idea!" Xu Zhiqi clenched his fist and slapped his palm. "Now, let's protect the barrier first. The secret realm is unstable, so let the disciples all stop."
Chu Qing paused, thinking that Yin Li should have already entered the place where the Fire Dance Spirit Orb existed and had nothing to do with the trial, so she nodded: "Okay, I'll go reinforce the barrier. Wen Ruyu must still be hiding nearby. We can't let him find a chance to escape."
The two quickly divided the tasks, and with Chu Qing's blessing, the barrier became even more stable. In just a moment, many disciples looked back at the original gathering place, completely bewildered.
"What's wrong now? Is there another problem?"
"Yes, yes, it seems like they suddenly summoned us back."
"There's a barrier around here. Look, that's Elder Qingge. Why is she... reinforcing it?"
For a moment, the disciples were speculating. Chu Qing turned around and looked at them without making a sound. More and more people gathered here, but in the end, no familiar figure appeared.
Yin Li, is it going to succeed?
She lowered her eyes slightly, ignoring the melancholy in her heart, and prepared to face this final battle.
[Author's Note]
This one has a lot of fighting and less interaction between the male and female leads, but it's all to advance the love story later on, hehe. The female lead is a little reluctant to leave, and Yin Li still naively believes his good master is protecting him. Just wait until Chu Qing coldly takes the artifact, and the disciple goes crazy~~~ [Panda head] Please leave more comments, and please add it to your favorites if you pass by~
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