The headquarters of Mistveil Pavilion in Yunzhou was currently in a difficult situation.
In the past, it had been the nineteenth-ranked sect among the human race.
Relying on the relationship between Pei Yunqing and Chu Mo, it had acted like a colossal beast that dominated Yunzhou.
But now, the scandals that had broken out one after another in Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect had already spread throughout the entire cultivation world.
Mistveil Pavilion was like a wounded giant beast that had collapsed with a crash.
The bloody scent wafting from the wounds on its body attracted packs of wolves circling greedily around it.
They were all waiting to feast on its flesh.
Elder Li let out a long sigh.
She gazed at the now-empty council hall, and a throbbing pain pulsed at her temples.
It was often said that husband and wife were like birds in the same forest.
When disaster struck, they flew their separate ways.
When the news of Pei Yunqing’s failure first returned, the people of Mistveil Pavilion had still been filled with righteous indignation, cursing it as nothing but rumors.
But as the people sent to Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect completely lost contact, the self-deceiving facade was ruthlessly torn apart.
The true thoughts hidden beneath were exposed as well.
In just a few days, some people were clamoring to divide the assets and flee.
Others were secretly colluding with other sect forces, plotting to seize power and usurp authority.
Under the seemingly respectable empty shell that Mistveil Pavilion was barely maintaining, the inside had already rotted and stank.
“These people…”
Elder Li shook her head helplessly.
As a veteran who had served through two generations of leadership, she was currently the person with the highest status in Mistveil Pavilion.
Yet precisely because of this, she felt especially powerless and despairing.
A house whose foundations were already beginning to shake and which was leaking wind from all sides—how could an old woman like her, with half her body already buried in the earth, possibly repair it?
Elder Li walked out of the council hall.
The dim yellow sunset stretched her shadow into fragmented pieces.
An infinite desolation surged within her heart.
Ever since Pei Ruanyan had taken power, Mistveil Pavilion had been stepping deeper and deeper into the abyss.
She had tried to resist.
She had wanted to support Xiao Qinghuan.
But in the end, Elder Li had fallen from the once-glorious core circle and become a completely insignificant outer-sect elder.
The general trend could not be reversed.
When the tree fell, the monkeys scattered.
Forget it.
I should also find a way out for myself.
Elder Li returned to her residence with a heart full of ashes and cold disappointment.
The moment the door closed, she suddenly felt a wave of evil chill spread throughout her body.
Almost acting on pure survival instinct, she abruptly bent down.
A strand of spiritual power sharp as a sword blade grazed past her scalp.
With a loud crash, it sliced through the heavy solid-wood screen behind her.
Strands of severed hair drifted in the air.
If she had been even a fraction slower, what would have fallen was her head.
“Who’s there?!”
Elder Li cried out in terror as she drew her sword to protect herself.
But the room was empty.
She was about to rush toward the door and shout that there was an enemy attack.
The moment she turned, however, her foot had barely stepped forward when the floor transformed into a sticky, thick swamp.
It trapped her completely in place.
She could not move even half an inch.
Her voice was also sealed in her throat.
She could only roll her eyes in terror.
“Shh… I ask, you answer. Say one extra word, and you die.”
Along with this cold, killing-intent-filled voice, the space in front of Elder Li rippled and distorted.
A person slowly stepped out from within.
Purple hair cascaded like a waterfall.
A fox tail swayed gently.
A pair of black pupils were filled with indifference, as though looking down upon ants.
Luo Jiuge.
A fox demon?
How is that possible?! And her strength… Could she be a Demon Emperor?!
Elder Li’s throat rolled with difficulty.
She frantically nodded to show that she would cooperate obediently.
With a rustle, a yellowed and somewhat worn portrait was unfolded in front of Elder Li.
The instant she clearly saw the person in the painting, her pupils violently contracted.
Pei Ruanyan?!
No. That was not right.
This was Pei Ruanyan from many years ago, before she had shed her youthful inexperience!
“This person. She is the Pei Ruanyan you know, correct?”
Luo Jiuge stared coldly at Elder Li.
The suppressed rage in her voice hummed through the air.
“Mm… mm…” Elder Li’s voice trembled.
She felt a wave of dizziness.
She could not understand at all why such a terrifyingly powerful fox demon would possess this portrait.
Nor why she looked like she had come to seek revenge against Pei Ruanyan.
Sure enough…
Luo Jiuge clenched her teeth.
Spiritual power surged and roiled in the air.
The hand holding the portrait tightened.
Her fingernails pierced her palm.
A streak of bright red blood flowed down like a river of blood, splitting the image of Pei Ruanyan in two.
“In the past two or three years, has Pei Ruanyan ever gone to Returning Cloud Mountain? Or… secretly brought back a fox clan youth?”
This question exploded in Elder Li’s mind like thunder.
Her mouth fell open in shock.
For a powerhouse of this level to personally act, the identity of that fox clan youth must be extremely noble.
Could it be that Pei Ruanyan…
“I…” Elder Li’s entire body trembled.
She looked into Luo Jiuge’s black pupils that seemed capable of piercing her divine soul.
In her heart burned towering hatred toward Pei Ruanyan!
But she knew that under the current circumstances, she absolutely could not speak even half a word of falsehood.
Her expression twisted with complex struggle.
“Pei… Pei Ruanyan has never gone to any Returning Cloud Mountain. She also could not possibly have brought back any fox clan youth. You came here tonight. You must have already investigated. You should know how much I hate her! If she had truly done something like that, there is no way I would not have noticed even the slightest trace!”
“Hm?” Luo Jiuge let out a soft, questioning sound.
Elder Li felt as though her divine soul was about to shatter.
She bent over wretchedly and vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of her internal organs.
She almost screamed in breakdown.
“I… I am not lying! If she had really done something like that, I would have wanted nothing more than to use it to drag her down from power! But inside and outside Mistveil Pavilion, there is not the slightest trace of demonic aura! I… I…”
Her words stumbled.
A warm, wet sensation flowed down Elder Li’s thighs.
Under Luo Jiuge’s oppressive presence, this once-glorious elder had completely collapsed.
Luo Jiuge withdrew her gaze.
Before interrogating Elder Li, she had already used her divine sense to thoroughly scan Mistveil Pavilion from inside to out.
She had not found even a trace of Bai Qingran’s presence, nor any aura left behind by the demon race.
In Luo Jiuge’s view, if there was still anyone who would care about Bai Qingran and cause him to disappear without reason, that person could only be Pei Ruanyan.
But the two pieces of information had alternately confirmed that Bai Qingran had never come to Mistveil Pavilion.
Then… the worst possibility flashed through her mind.
Luo Jiuge’s breathing momentarily stopped.
“Remember this.”
Luo Jiuge paused for a breath.
A strand of spiritual power shot from her fingertip into the center of Elder Li’s brow.
“If you dare mention me to anyone else, your divine soul will be destroyed.”
With those words, Luo Jiuge’s figure retreated backward.
Like a wisp of green smoke, she vanished into the night.
Elder Li immediately collapsed to the ground.
She gasped for breath in great heaving gulps.
There was not the slightest joy of surviving a disaster in her heart.
Right now, she only wanted to escape.
She wanted to flee Mistveil Pavilion, this pool of disaster water, as quickly as possible.
Late at night, the crescent moon hung like a hook.
Luo Jiuge stood alone atop the highest mountain peak in Yunzhou.
The cold wind was biting.
Her purple hair danced wildly.
The Demon Emperor looked sorrowful.
On the way to Mistveil Pavilion, she had heard cultivators in taverns freely discussing the scandals involving Mistveil Pavilion at Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect countless times.
Bai Qingran’s clue lay with Pei Ruanyan.
If he was alive, Luo Jiuge would see the person.
If he was dead, she would still make Pei Ruanyan spit out Bai Qingran’s bones.
She could only go to Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect.
Luo Jiuge knew clearly that this was the number-one sect among the human race.
It was also guarded by Nalan Qingjue, the supreme combat power of the human race at the eighth layer of the Spirit Emperor Stage.
Moreover, there was still the Red Sun Phoenix Heaven Sect watching covetously from the side.
Even with her Demon Emperor Stage cultivation, going there would be no different from sending herself to death.
She raised her head and looked toward the bright, clear moon.
This pure and translucent white seemed to allow her to cross life and death, and see the Bai Jinyu she had yearned for day and night.
“Jinyu, wait for me. If I cannot bring Bai Qingran back, I will come accompany you.”
The sound of the wind howled.
The mountaintop was already empty.
Purple light tore through the night.
Carrying the resolve to face death and boiling killing intent, Demon Emperor Luo Jiuge was about to forcibly break into Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect.