Chapter 37.1

◎Like lifting a red bridal veil, the corner of the mask was raised.◎

Chi Lu couldn’t find any reason, what kind of excuse should she use to forcibly keep the young man who didn’t have much time left, to accompany her in a farcical drama that was both laughable and pitiful?

She could only apologize softly, blaming herself for failing Jing Shuxing’s trust.

She stuffed a pill into Jing Shuxing’s mouth and carried him towards the palace.

On the way, they passed a female cultivator who died with her eyes wide open. Chi Lu looked down at her.

The soul-searching wedge that Jing Shuxing had stabbed into her brow was revealing her and her elder brother’s purpose for this trip right in front of Chi Lu, which was no different from her previous speculation.

It was Jing Shuxing who killed them.

As the Young sect leader, Chi Lu’s attitude towards him could be described as extremely bad. Jing Shuxing could have stood by and let those people take her away, but he didn’t do so.

Her lips trembled, and she whispered, “Thank you.”

If she looked any further, she would soon be crushed by the guilt.

Before she entered the palace with its roof torn off, a majestic pressure came from behind. Without turning her head, Chi Lu knew who was coming.

Jing Yi appeared leisurely behind Chi Lu, his eyebrows full of arrogance. He glanced at Jing Shuxing, who was lying on Chi Lu, and said, “Little girl, you killed two elders of my city in one breath. Are you planning to run away with your lover?”

Chi Lu pursed her lips.

Jing Yi’s cultivation was profound, and it was not an exaggeration to say that he had eyes and ears everywhere. He only needed to release a strand of his divine consciousness to have a panoramic view of the entire Fengyue City. The incident that just happened could not escape his eyes.

But he was wrong.

It was not because Jing Yi was wary of Jing Shuxing and deliberately said the wrong thing to test him, but because he had never cast any gaze at the Linghua Sect and had not looked closely at what had happened from beginning to end.

He didn’t even know how weak Chi Lu was. Apart from her clever strength and the Red Soul Whip in her hand, she could be described as good for nothing.

Chi Lu took a long breath, straightened her back, and corrected him in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: “City Lord, please look clearly. I am going in, not leaving as you said. How can you wrong people for no reason?”

Jing Yi didn’t express any opinion on this: “That’s very good, but since such a big incident has happened in the Linghua Sect Palace, you and your people might as well change places with me. Otherwise, I will have to invite you forcefully.”

“Sorry, you don’t have a single hostage you can hold.” Chi Lu, carrying Jing Shuxing, finally entered the palace, “I have already evacuated everyone, you are one step too late.”

In front of Jing Yi, she raised her hand to summon a spirit puppet.

“Take him to the room.”

The spirit puppet reached out to take him, but before it could take a step out, it suddenly fell apart like a broken machine, shattering on the ground.

A powerful spiritual force, like a sweeping storm, penetrated the main hall, turning into a gale that shattered all the spirit puppets that Chi Lu had worked hard to make overnight.

That oppressive force came again, making it impossible for Chi Lu to breathe. She was forced to lean against the wall, her body seemed to lose control, being crushed bit by bit.

Jing Yi stepped forward leisurely, kicked away the wreckage of the spirit puppet and the young man who had fainted on the ground. He reached out his hand, grabbed Chi Lu’s wrist like picking up a chicken, and pulled her up.

“What does it matter if I come late or early? I want to invite the Young sect leader to do something, can you escape?”

Chi Lu was pulled by him, her jade-green bracelet stuck on her wrist bone, hanging in mid-air like a straw, in an extremely uncomfortable posture.

She looked up at Jing Yi, her lacquer-colored pupils flickering. In the end, she revealed a smile.

Jing Yi frowned, wondering why Chi Lu showed such an expression, when a sharp pain suddenly came from his palm.

Tonight the moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the summer breeze is cool, but he feels as if he is undergoing a thunder tribulation, with electricity exploding from his body, causing him to feel pain, itchiness, and sourness all at once.

Chi Lu was still muttering to the system: “Jing Shuxing is too pitiful, I don’t want to bully him anymore. I really am backing down from your mission, really. If you don’t punish me, I will give up the mission immediately.”

Jing Yi sneered, his mind slightly moved. Accompanied by a burst of explosion, all the magical instruments on Chi Lu’s body were destroyed, but the pain in his palm was endless, and it was still expanding.

Jing Yi finally looked at Chi Lu squarely, a trace of seriousness appeared in his indifferent expression.

Chi Lu took the opportunity to pull her hand out of Jing Yi’s palm: “I warn you not to go too far, could it be that the City Lord thinks that all the people of Linghua Sect have left, and will leave me here alone?”

This was a lie.

Before Ying Lianyi left, she indeed gave her many warnings, but although there were many magical instruments in the Linghua Sect, they could not guarantee that Chi Lu could safely leave Fengyue City.

So, when it really came to a critical time, Chi Lu chose to take a different path and relied on that broken system. The system’s ability to electrocute others was similar to the thunder tribulation suffered during advancement. If used well, Jing Yi would suffer.

After Chi Lu broke free from Jing Yi’s hand, she quickly added in her heart: “I’ve changed my mind, it’s better to listen to you.”

The tingling current disappeared, she breathed a sigh of relief, steadied her body, and put on a full-blown posture: “Can we have a good talk now?”

Jing Yi remained silent, his expression somewhat ferocious, as if he had not been provoked like this for many years. He looked Chi Lu up and down, still pondering what method she had used to actually escape his control.

Seeing that he didn’t answer, Chi Lu went on to say: “I’ll lock up Jing Shuxing, and then go with you.”

“Hmm?”

Chi Lu: “Lock him up, seal the room inside and out, reinforce the room, and finally use spiritual power to seal his limbs, so he doesn’t know where he is. After doing all these, I’ll go with you.”

She had already knocked Jing Shuxing out, so she might as well go all out and lock him up solidly for three days.

Jing Shuxing’s abilities were truly unfathomable, so for safety’s sake, Chi Lu planned to block all of Jing Shuxing’s five senses, so that he couldn’t use his abilities to escape.

She poured out her heart and soul, sincerely proposing to Jing Yi, but Jing Yi didn’t take her words seriously at all.

He sneered, “Little girl, I didn’t expect you to be so young and yet so ruthless. I thought you had taken a liking to my son, but…”

He casually sent out a spirit lock, using one end to tie up Jing Shuxing, and the other end to tie up Chi Lu: “Come with me.”

In the end, he was wary of the magical instrument that Chi Lu had hidden in the dark, and dared not touch her with his hand again.

Chi Lu was tied up like this, watching with wide eyes as Jing Yi left Jing Shuxing in a small dark room, instructing the cultivators to watch him, and then left with a flourish.

Recalling the fireworks of the past, she couldn’t help but add, “You guys don’t need to watch too closely. If he wants to say something, just listen patiently and then answer him properly.”

She was not worried about Jing Shuxing, she was more worried about whether these cultivators would still be alive after this night.

The cultivators laughed heartily, laughing at Chi Lu who was tied up by Jing Yi, clearly unable to take care of herself, and yet still had the time to worry about her lover.

Chi Lu covered her ears, not listening to those unbearable vulgar words, she simply stopped talking and continued to follow Jing Yi in silence.

Jing Yi led her all the way to the Nine-layer Mysterious Tower at the top of the mountain. He didn’t lead Chi Lu towards the underground pit, but instead signaled her to go up.

When they reached the top of the tower, Yun Pianpian was standing in the room waiting for her. Seeing Chi Lu ascend the Nine-layer Tower, she smiled and raised her hand, signaling Chi Lu to look up.

Chi Lu saw something hanging at the top of the tower. 

It was vaguely recognizable as a human figure, bound by chains condensed from spiritual power, hanging upside down above the pit. Its entire body was covered by a layer of amber-like substance, almost completely dyed black, only the feet had a bit of golden color, showing its original color.

Chi Lu sent out her spiritual power, floating around the object. After confirming it was a person, a wave of nausea rose in her throat, her legs softened, and she fell to one side, retching.

This appearance, and the aura captured by the spiritual power, clearly indicated that it had been dead for an unknown amount of time. During such a long period, the corpse had been hanging at the top of the tower?

“Our City Lord asked you to come here to unlock the restrictions on this corpse.” Yun Pianpian gently handed over a cup of water, and smiled at Chi Lu.

“After unlocking the restrictions at the top of the tower, please Young sect leader go down, to activate the formation underground.”

Her expression was still gentle and humble, her words and actions were flawless.

Chi Lu reached out to take the cup of water from Yun Pianpian: “We might as well clarify things here. You guys from Fengyue City went to great lengths to invite me over, what exactly am I here to do?”

“Otherwise, I might slack off while working and mix in some impurities. The City Lord specifically asked for me, the Young sect leader, to come. The task should not be something easy, right?”

“Young sect leader is smart,” Yun Pianpian crisply took over the conversation.

She looked timidly at Jing Yi, and after receiving instructions, patiently explained to Chi Lu, “We need you, Young sect leader, to unlock the restrictions set by the City Lord’s former wife. Before the Soul Transformation Formation was established, she left a backhand, issuing seals at both the top and bottom of the tower, which no one but her could break.”

“Unfortunately, the City Lord was too impatient. As soon as the Soul Transformation Formation was completed, he used his wife to sacrifice the array, making it impossible to open the array a second time. Now, as time is running out and the Soul Transformation Formation can’t suppress the evil spirits, we have invited the Young sect leader to think of a solution.”

“Sacrifice formation?” Chi Lu’s just calmed emotions stirred again, she clenched her teeth, and looked up fearfully, “Then this person is…”

“It’s the former lady, the formation cultivator Jiang Yumu,” Yun Pianpian answered with a smile.

Jing Shuxing’s biological mother.

At the same time, the bracelet in Chi Lu’s hand lit up again, setting up a new task.

~