After setting up the decoy in the rightmost room, Mu Xinlian quietly pushed open the door and slipped into the leftmost room.
She hid in the bathroom, took off all her clothes, and changed into a completely new set of casual clothes.
She did not immediately climb out the window to escape, because the formation’s effect of suppressing divine sense only worked inside the inn.
Once she left the inn, her tracks would be immediately exposed.
She hid in the bathroom like that for an entire night.
Only when the sky was completely bright and the streets were bustling with pedestrians did she leave the inn and blend into the crowd.
Not long after Mu Xinlian blended into the crowd, a slender female Golden Core cultivator wearing a purple dress with ribbons appeared in the sky above the inn.
The female cultivator walked through the air, continuously scanning the pedestrians on the street with her divine sense.
Her expression was extremely ugly.
“Damn it, she actually managed to shake me off. What a slippery little girl.”
Mu Xinlian had been conservative in her guess.
She had thought it was a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, but she never expected that the one tracking her was actually a Golden Core cultivator—and it was none other than Liu Shumei!
Since Mu Xinlian had already escaped by shedding her shell like a cicada, Liu Shumei did not waste time continuing the search.
Tracking Mu Xinlian had originally been Lin Hanjing’s plan.
Liu Shumei had never believed from the bottom of her heart that it would succeed.
Moreover, she had never liked Lin Hanjing to begin with, so naturally she would not put in great effort to search for Mu Xinlian in the vast crowd.
***
“Please, are you Lord Shen Qingci?”
A gentle female voice came from behind.
Shen Qingci turned his head upon hearing it and saw a slender woman wearing a form-fitting cyan-green long dress.
“They say Lord Shen is even more delicate and beautiful than a woman. Now that I see you, you are indeed as devastatingly handsome as the rumors claim.”
The slender woman’s eyes sparkled, and saliva unconsciously dripped from the corner of her mouth.
Looking at the infatuated slender woman, Shen Qingci’s brows furrowed slightly.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
The moment his words fell, Shen Qingci drew half of the long sword at his waist, adopting a vigilant posture.
He had no choice but to do so.
The person before him was also a Golden Core cultivator, yet she had managed to approach him silently from behind.
Seeing Shen Qingci’s vigilant appearance, Zhou Qingqing quickly waved her hands.
“Lord Shen, please do not blame me. I mean no harm.”
After speaking, Zhou Qingqing secretly transmitted her voice to Shen Qingci: “I am Zhou Qingqing, the ancestor of the Zhou family in Inclined Moon Immortal City. I once received a great favor from one of your close friends and owe them a debt of gratitude.”
After hearing Zhou Qingqing’s voice transmission explanation, Shen Qingci’s expression softened somewhat, but he did not retract the half-drawn long sword.
He likewise transmitted his voice to Zhou Qingqing, his tone very cold: “How can I trust you?”
Facing Shen Qingci’s doubts, Zhou Qingqing remained calm and unhurried.
She took out a peace buckle tied with a red string from her bosom and continued transmitting her voice.
“This was left behind by my benefactor back then. Before she left, she said that if one day you, my lord, came to this place, I should hand this item over to you.”
Shen Qingci sensed the familiar aura of true essence sealed within the peace buckle and confirmed that it was indeed left behind personally by He Shu.
Only then did he retract the half-drawn long sword from his waist.
Seeing that Shen Qingci had withdrawn his vigilance, Zhou Qingqing smiled faintly: “Now you can believe me, my lord.”
After taking the peace buckle from Zhou Qingqing’s hand, Shen Qingci nodded and probed it with his divine sense.
A voice rang out in his heart.
The voice was unlike He Shu’s youthful one; it was more mature.
This was a message left behind by He Shu when she was still “He Wanyi.”
“Shen Qingci, this is a gift I specifically left for you. You can trust Zhou Qingqing completely. She will guide you to obtain the backup plan I secretly arranged at the bottom of Drunken Moon Lake. However, after you obtain this assistance, please come to Flowing Flower Immortal City as soon as possible. I will do my utmost to help you leave the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom.”
After listening to the message left by He Shu, Shen Qingci remained silent for a long time.
He knew that the original intention behind He Shu leaving this “gift” was probably to help him escape the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom after his identity was exposed.
The reality, however, was that He Shu herself had been exposed and captured first.
Shen Qingci now felt somewhat amused and helpless.
He turned to face Zhou Qingqing: “So you know how to activate the arrangement at the bottom of the lake?”
Zhou Qingqing observed his expression.
Seeing Shen Qingci’s appearance, a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She took the opportunity to transmit her voice in explanation: “Of course I know. Lord He once saved over a thousand of my clan’s elders and children. My Zhou family has always remembered such a great kindness and dared not forget it.”
“Please come with me, my lord.”
After speaking, a layer of semi-transparent golden light barrier rose around Zhou Qingqing’s body.
Without the slightest hesitation, she jumped into Drunken Moon Lake.
Seeing her actions, Shen Qingci quickly followed closely behind and also plunged headfirst into Drunken Moon Lake.
Drunken Moon Lake was several hundred zhang deep.
By the time Shen Qingci and Zhou Qingqing dove to the bottom of the lake, their surroundings were already pitch black.
There was not a single ray of light, yet it did not affect their actions in the slightest.
The two traveled together and arrived before a large, unremarkable stone.
Zhou Qingqing fumbled around for a while and activated the hidden secret mechanism.
After the mechanism was activated, the surrounding fish all scattered in panic.
Under Shen Qingci’s shocked gaze, the unremarkable large stone before his eyes gradually began to distort and slowly transformed into the entrance of a cave residence.
“This cave residence has a restriction placed upon it. Only one person can enter at a time. Please enter quickly, my lord.”
“Alright.”
After saying “alright,” Shen Qingci entered through the portal.
Just as Zhou Qingqing had said, the moment he went in, the cave residence’s portal immediately closed.
After a bout of dizziness before his eyes, Shen Qingci heavily fell onto a sturdy stone platform.
Only after Shen Qingci used his arms to prop himself up from the ground, stood up, and patted the dust off his body did he begin to observe his surroundings.
Unlike a true grotto-heaven blessed land, the artificial cave residence that He Shu had created was very simple—one could even say it was crude.
It was as if it were a huge bubble anchored in the void.
Shen Qingci could even directly see Zhou Qingqing floating in the water through the cave residence’s wall.
The bubble space was not large and was very empty.
Other than the stone platform where Shen Qingci stood, there was nothing else.
Scratching his head, Shen Qingci rubbed his somewhat painful buttocks from the fall with one hand: “This seems to be purely a space. There is nothing here at all.”
This was strange.
He Shu had clearly said in the peace buckle that there was a gift left for him inside, yet Shen Qingci saw nothing.
“You have come.”
Just as Shen Qingci was carefully observing the empty stone platform he was in, a female voice rang out behind him.
This voice was quite familiar to Shen Qingci, so he subconsciously blurted out: “He Shu?”
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