Chapter 161 The Hairline Will Recede Sooner or Later
The man stood in front of the stone gate on the far right. His short stature was accompanied by a large bulge on his back, making him look strange and distorted. He looked around and then fixed his gaze on the newcomer, Mu Jianjian, letting out a cryptic laugh.
The old woman covered her mouth and coughed a few times. "It's been a long time since we've seen Jiang Xing. Has he possessed another new body?"
Jiangxing Old Monster.
Mu Jianjian recalled her first encounter with Qiu Bin in the secret realm. At that time, it was Qu Yang, the disciple of Jiang Xing Laoguai, who possessed Qiu Bin's body and parasitized her. This caused her to lower her guard after killing Qiu Bin, not expecting that there was still someone hiding inside her.
Jiang Xing, the old monster, remained calm, his bent back seemingly struggling to straighten. He did not answer, but that did not stop the old woman from speaking intermittently.
After the old woman said a few more words, the last tall woman appeared in the stone door to Mu Jianjian's left, and all five of the "oddballs" were now present.
Except for Mu Jianjian, all five of them have cultivation levels approaching the upper or even perfect Core Formation stage. Each of them possesses a unique secret technique and has dominated Yingzhou for a century, becoming a local tyrant.
According to the original setting, Yingzhou is ruled by the Demon Lord Nangong Yining. Although the "Five Monsters" who live in different places are not directly subordinate to Nangong Yining, they still have to come and oversee the grand banquet for the world today.
Mu Jianjian guessed that Nangong Yining had summoned them here most likely because of a problem with their senior brother.
Before she could think further, a man dressed in a magnificent deep purple brocade robe appeared in the previously empty space in front of the five stone gates. The man was tall and slender with a high nose bridge, his lips were tightly pressed into a straight line, and a blood-red glint flashed deep in his dark pupils. His whole body exuded a cold and aloof aura.
Back then, after Chi Qiong led a group of demonic cultivators to wreak havoc on the continent and was defeated by righteous cultivators, Nangong Yining appeared in everyone's sight. He used ruthless and iron-fisted methods to seize the opportunity and became the new Demon Lord. He has now broken through to the Nascent Soul stage for more than a hundred years.
From the outside perspective, among the seven major powers on the continent, Yingzhou was the most prominent and thus the most hated. This sentiment reached its peak after Chi Qiongyi's death. However, Nangong Yining found a balance during this period. After making a deal with other powers, he took down the "Five Eccentrics" and brought Yingzhou back to a peaceful life.
Mu Jianjian recalled the meager knowledge she had about Yingzhou's past and desperately wanted to ignore the gaze that Nangong Yining had cast upon her.
It's just like when a teacher poses a question in class and is about to call on a student to answer.
Even though she had a human skin mask on her face, Mu Jianjian was still uneasy. She wished she could shrink into a crack in the ground. Even though reason told her that infiltrating the inside was the right choice by accident, she was still extremely unwilling.
Mu Jianjian decided that if she ever encountered Ye Xuanzhi at a banquet in the future, she would definitely beat him up a few times to vent her anger at being tricked!
"Please explain Jingxuyuan."
Sure enough, the next second, Nangong Yining raised a question about the frequent changes of the owner of Jingxu Garden.
Mu Jianjian was prepared for this. She used her inner energy to compress her throat and then deliberately produced a hoarse tone to obscure her age.
She recounted what had happened, deeply expressing her grief and indignation at the deaths of Cai Hua and Feng Laiyun, her voice incredibly moving.
Nangong Yining finally interrupted her impatiently, "Did anyone else come after that?"
He didn't care who became the master of Jingxu Garden, since he held the "Five Eccentrics" token and could command and control them.
Compared to this, Nangong Yining cared more about the matter of "Manluo" and the Upper Realm. Although it was said to the outside world that the two had a fight and were burned to death in the medicine-making secret room, after investigation, the traces of Jingxuyuan's medicine-making were erased, and the people there also lost contact.
Mu Jianjian shook her head.
Nangong Yining frowned. "Forget it, we'll talk about this after the banquet. The reason I summoned you here today is to have you kill Chi Qiong's old subordinates in the next few days and take the secret technique he was preparing for Chi Wenqing and give it to me."
Mu Jianjian breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Nangong Yining had finally shifted his attention away from her.
As she had guessed, they coveted Chi Qiong's secret techniques, lured people here under the pretext of Chi Wenqing, and then murdered and robbed them.
After Nangong Yining finished speaking, he disappeared from the main hall. Before Mu Jianjian could react, the people in front of the stone gate also disappeared.
What's going on?
How does she get there now?
Should we use a token?
Mu Jianjian was filled with questions. She was about to take out the token and try injecting her true energy again, but when she found that it was useless, she decided to use the most primitive method to walk out of the stone door behind her.
The tall woman on the left side of the main hall turned her gaze to her and spoke.
"The 'Five Oddities' token needs to be secured with a talisman in place before it can be returned to the original location using true energy."
"Okay, thank you." Mu Jianjian nodded thoughtfully. She remembered that the other person was called "Mirror-Folding Woman" among the "Five Eccentrics". She didn't appear in the main or side quests, so she didn't know much about her.
However, since she hadn't secured the position earlier, it seems she really has no choice but to go back.
Mu Jianjian turned around and walked through the stone gate. She was humming a song and seemed very relaxed, but suddenly she saw a reflection refracted in the stone wall, pointing directly at her face!
Quickly realizing what was happening, she took a deep breath and ran outside. Turning her head to look at the woman in the mirror rushing towards her, she finally understood why the other woman had stopped—
They're waiting here to kill her!
"Did I offend you?" Mu Jianjian shouted as she ran, not forgetting to yell back, "No, do you think I know you?"
The only answers she received were the deafening roar of surging internal energy colliding and the pounding of her own heart.
Mu Jianjian cursed inwardly, for the person opposite her was a Core Formation Perfection expert in his prime!
How do I fight?
Her eyes must have seen a glimmer of light appear at the end of the dark corridor in front of her, and she couldn't wait to embrace the light again. But she stumbled as if she stepped on something, and when she looked down, she saw her own reflection.
Mirror?
Mu Jianjian pondered the other party's secret technique, but her reflection suddenly rose into a physical form beneath her feet, blocking her path!
She raised her hand, intending to raise the Yellow Spring Water Droplets, but suddenly remembered that water is reflective and can reflect shadows!
Helpless, Mu Jianjian frowned, took out the Morning and Evening Hairpin, and after passing her own shadow, used all her true energy to strike the stone wall behind her. As the secret passage collapsed, a huge roar was heard, and dust and smoke scattered, blocking the path behind her.
it's over?
The woman who folded the mirror could have used the mannequin created by the mirror to attack herself, but why didn't she do so?
The timing of her entire secret technique release was very strange, as if...
It's normal to know how to use something but not be proficient at it.
Aside from the initial reminder he gave her, he didn't say a word afterward, acting like a machine carrying out a task.
Mu Jianjian looked away from the collapsed area with lingering fear, knowing that the other party would not chase after her for the time being, so she walked towards the light and returned to the warm sunshine, feeling the long-lost sunshine on her body.
After carefully avoiding the coming and going cultivators in the palace, Mu Jianjian quickly darted back to her courtyard in the Xuan Shuang Sect residence, and swiftly took out the "Rhythm Ink" to begin sewing.
[Won't you take a rest, host?]
The system itself looks exhausted. One thing after another, big and small, happened all night long, and the host never stopped. Now, it even has to alter clothes for the upcoming banquet.
At this moment, Mu Jianjian's mind went completely blank. After taking off the human skin mask and the black robe, she thought that if she continued to work at such a high intensity, her hairline would eventually recede and she would become bald.
"I am very exhausted right now. Maybe you are right. I should have let Qu You watch over me in the formation and then just give up."
A monk's body, a mortal's mind.
Mu Jianjian couldn't help but shed tears. She sat cross-legged on the bed, covered in dust, holding a needle and thread in one hand and a dress in the other. Just as she inserted a few needles, she heard the sound of the wooden door behind the screen being opened.
She stared blankly up at the screen and saw Sang Wanyue appear behind it, her face full of anxiety. The moment she saw her, she pulled her into her arms, her body trembling slightly.
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