Still lying
The man in black's pupils constricted sharply, his heart filled with horror.
This pale-faced, seemingly frail woman effortlessly caught his long-prepared, sudden sword strike with just two fingers.
Honglian, standing to the side, was also stunned. Her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief. Wait, hadn't she just said that her body was too weak to cultivate? This didn't seem like something someone with no hope of cultivation would do!
The man in black sensed something was wrong and immediately tried to retreat. However, before the faint smile on Yun Qian's lips could fade, a complex and dazzling golden array appeared out of thin air, instantly forming a ring around him. The strange and powerful runes, like living chains, firmly imprisoned him in place, unable to move.
If it weren't for the inn's array reminding her, Yun Qian would have almost forgotten that she too could use her heart as an array.
Honglian stared in shock at the frail, pale woman before her, who looked as if a gust of wind could knock her over. Only now did she realize why her two highly skilled junior brothers had left her alone here so carelessly! All those excuses about her "weak constitution" and "hopelessness in cultivation" were just lies! She had genuinely felt sorry for her just moments before; it was all a complete waste of her feelings!
Yun Qian, of course, was unaware of Hong Lian's inner thoughts. Her gaze fell on the man trapped by the formation, and her voice was calm and unwavering: "What do you intend to do by setting up this formation?"
The man's eyes, hidden behind his mask, were fixed on her. His voice was hoarse: "Your formation is not bad, but..."
Before he could finish speaking, the ground beneath Yun Qian's feet collapsed without warning, and a deep, dark hole suddenly appeared! She lost her balance and, along with Hong Lian who was completely caught off guard, plummeted straight down!
"This entire inn is my array."
A man's ghostly voice rang in her ears, and then his unsettling aura vanished completely from the space.
During the fall, Yun Qian mustered her spiritual power to barely stabilize herself, and also managed to pull the panicked Hong Lian back with her.
With just this simple circulation of spiritual energy, she felt a sharp, throbbing pain in her internal organs, as if she were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand. The damage caused by this tribulation was far more severe than she had anticipated.
With her feet finally touching solid ground, Yun Qian quickly looked around. This seemed to be a huge underground space that had been excavated by humans. The light was dim, the air was cold and damp, and there was a strange smell of earth and decay permeating the air.
At the very center of the space, a jet-black bead floated silently in mid-air. All around, thick, inky black energy surged and billowed, as if drawn by some force, continuously flowing into the bead.
Yun Qian stared at the strange bead, recalling the vengeful spirit Zhi Hua had mentioned. A chill ran down her spine, and the hairs on her body stood on end... Could there really be such a thing in this godforsaken place?
Honglian stood not far behind Yun Qian, her gaze also fixed on the bead, her expression shifting uncertainly. After a few seconds, she approached Yun Qian and asked in a low voice, "Do you know what this is?"
"I don't know," Yun Qian answered crisply. She really didn't know, but the bead looked eerily sinister, just like Little Black.
"What do you mean, 'just like me'? How dare you!" From within the inner palace, Xiao Hei's indignant rebuttal immediately rang out.
Yun Qian stood still, not daring to approach the bead rashly, but silently asking in her mind, "Do you know what this is?"
“Inner core.” Xiao Hei’s voice carried a hint of solemnity. “An inner core that has been removed from the body but is still functioning. Once an inner core leaves the body, it will dissipate within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The fact that this core can remain intact is probably related to this Spirit-Trapping Array. The person who set up the array is constantly summoning vengeful spirits, most likely to nourish this inner core. You must be careful.”
"Hmm." Yun Qian understood.
Now that we know the purpose of the person who set up the formation, things become simpler.
"It doesn't look like a good thing. Let's destroy it first." Yun Qian's gaze fell on the bead that was constantly absorbing black energy. Her tone was calm, but her eyes showed an undeniable determination.
Honglian didn't understand why Yun Qian suddenly wanted to destroy the inner core after only a slight pause, and subconsciously stepped forward to stop her: "Wait! Isn't it too dangerous to destroy it rashly before even figuring out what it is?"
Yun Qian turned around, her pale face somewhat blurred in the dim light: "What are you afraid of?" Before she finished speaking, she clenched her fist in the air, and a long sword, entirely black and shrouded in an ominous aura, suddenly appeared in her hand.
Without Xiao Hei as her hairpin, Yun Qianru's long, ink-black hair instantly cascaded down, making her face appear even paler. The black sword in her hand exuded a chilling sword intent and wisps of black energy, making her look even more eerie than the inner core surrounded by black energy.
Honglian was startled by her sudden change. Her gaze lingered on the strange black sword for a moment before returning to Yun Qian, her tone tinged with fear: "Of course you're not afraid, but I, a mere spider demon, am terrified..."
Yun Qian knew that Hong Lian was still hiding something, so she said no more, raised her hand, and swung her sword. A sword intent shot straight at the floating inner core like an arrow released from a bow!
The next second, the red figure moved with ghostly speed, instantly blocking the inner core!
Honglian gritted her teeth and forcefully took Yun Qian's casual sword strike.
"It can't be destroyed!" Honglian's blood churned from the shock of the sword energy, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her cultivation was far inferior to Yun Qian's, and even this seemingly casual sword strike was enough to seriously injure her.
Despite the excruciating pain, she said urgently, "If you destroy it now, the countless vengeful spirits it has summoned will immediately be freed! Their accumulated resentment and yin energy will erupt in an instant, enough to engulf all the villages nearby! That person lured us here to use us to destroy this inner core and trigger this catastrophe!"
"Inner core?" Yun Qian feigned doubt, her wrist slightly twisting as the sharp tip of the small black sword followed her precisely, pointing at Hong Lian's snow-white neck with chilling murderous intent. "Miss Hong Lian, if you know anything, don't speak now, or you'll truly have no chance."
Honglian closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her eyes held a hint of determination and honesty: "Since I gained sentience, I have been cultivating in this Kangxun Village. In this peaceful and tranquil village, I have absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, bathed in the spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers, and cultivated for hundreds of years until I was able to take human form."
“You are a cultivator, so you should know that we demons can greatly enhance our cultivation by absorbing human essence. But for the past few hundred years, I have never harmed a single villager.” Honglian paused, her voice trembling slightly. “Until one day, this inn appeared out of thin air. On the very night it appeared, every single villager in Kangxun Village died, leaving only a few survivors in this inn.”
“But what’s even stranger is that the next day, the dead villagers reappeared in their original places as usual, setting up stalls, farming, laughing and talking... as if the tragedy of the previous night had never happened, and they were like puppets, repeating their lives before they died.”
“My cultivation is low, and I have been secretly observing this inn for a long time. This inner core belongs to the first cultivator who entered this inn. It was used by the array setter to become the core for containing and transforming Yin energy. I risked sneaking in yesterday, hoping to find out what was going on, but as you can see, I am trapped here. That’s all I know.”
Yun Qian raised an eyebrow, not immediately putting away Xiao Hei. The black longsword sensed its owner's emotions, emitting a deep hum that was particularly clear in the silent underground space. After a long while, Yun Qian finally spoke softly, her gaze sharp as a knife: "You know the first cultivator who came in."
“Yes.” Honglian blurted out as if subconsciously, then pursed her lips, “We…are friends.”
“Friend,” Yun Qian repeated the word, her gaze shifting from Honglian’s face to the inner core that was still slowly circulating and absorbing Yin energy. With a flick of her wrist, the small black sword transformed into a streak of black light and vanished. The suffocating oppressive feeling also dissipated.
Honglian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her back soaked with cold sweat.
Yun Qian calmly took out an ordinary wooden hairpin from her Qiankun bag and tied up her loose long hair again.
She slowly paced around the inner core, examining it closely. The inn was strange in every way, Honglian's words were evasive, and this inner core was even stranger.
Xiao Hei said that the person who set up the formation summoned Yin energy in order to maintain the operation of the inner elixir.
Honglian, however, said that the man in black lured them down so that they would destroy their inner cores.
This Red Lotus is still lying.
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