Chapter 67

After punching the person who had attempted to ambush her, Ye Qiao, feeling refreshed, swaggered out with the demons behind her.

Song Hansheng, whose anxiety had never subsided, had long noticed Ye Qiao’s movements.

He just hadn’t expected that she was actually setting up a formation.

**She knows formations…?**

No.

Song Hansheng remembered that not only did she know formations in the secret realm, but she also took the opportunity to ambush Ye Qinghan and the others. The problem was, how could she know the demonic race’s formations?

He saw it clearly; Ye Qiao was using neither the Changming Sect’s nor the Yueqing Sect’s formations.

Ye Qiao knew he was confused, but she didn’t have time to explain.

Ye Qinghan and Song Hansheng were probably feeling guilty and had been sullen-faced throughout, trailing behind her in silence.

But you have to say, it was true. These two were both from prominent backgrounds. Standing to her left and right, they exuded a certain intimidating aura.

“What are your names?”

The demonic being who had been punched by her sneered, “I’m called A Da.”

The names were quite dismissive. Ye Qiao took note and smiled slightly, “Oh. Let’s go out and meet the others.”

When she said this, she keenly sensed the demonic beings around her were getting excited, as if they couldn’t wait to leave the demon realm and flatten Yunshui City.

Ye Qiao didn’t waste their enthusiasm and took the opportunity to deliver a few meaningless speeches, “Once we’re out, I’ll let those ignorant disciples know who the real master of the cultivation world is.”

The two ignorant disciples: “……”

Ye Qinghan felt very complicated. It was hard to imagine what kind of mood Ye Qiao was in to say such things. Had she reached a point where she could criticize herself with no pressure at all?

Ye Qiao paraded around with the two of them. It must be said that a higher status meant more ease. At this point, not to mention those observing her, many of the demonic beings didn’t even have the courage to look up, which was indicative of the severe class differences within the demonic race.

She didn’t dare to ask how many of the demonic race were in the Golden Core stage and could only observe silently.

Ye Qiao saw a demonic blacksmith who was also at the Golden Core stage.

She was almost moved to tears with envy.

Is reaching the Golden Core stage so easy now? Or is it that the demonic race breaks through faster than cultivators? Could she switch careers now?

“What’s your name?” Ye Qiao suppressed her emotions and asked the demonic blacksmith who was focused on forging.

The demonic being looked somewhat awkwardly at Ye Qiao, grinning, “I… I don’t have a name.”

Ye Qiao also noticed that it seemed demonic beings either had a number for a name or simply didn’t have one.

“Oh, okay.” She patted the diligent blacksmith, “Since you’re so good at forging.”

Ye Qiao paused and cheerfully said, “Then you’ll be called Old Iron.”

Old Iron, double 666!

“……” What a weird name.

After a round of observation, Ye Qiao had practically examined all the demonic soldiers. Others only thought she was acting on a whim, but only Ye Qiao was diligently getting to know everyone.

Calling everyone for a meeting would be too conspicuous and might alert the higher-ups of the demonic race, so Ye Qiao had to work hard and wander around on her own.

Ye Qinghan and Song Hansheng maintained a sullen expression throughout.

Ye Qiao casually commented, “You two are like that clueless person and the unhappy one.”

In the evening, to discuss the plan to escape from the demonic race, Ye Qinghan signaled Ye Qiao to send away the hidden demonic beings around them. Ye Qiao then casually grabbed the demonic being named A Da and whispered a few words.

“Call away the people hiding in the dark.”

“……Saintess?” A Da was surprised, “What’s wrong?”

Ye Qiao: “They’re disturbing us.”

She pointed to Ye Qinghan and Song Hansheng.

However, Ye Qiao’s ambiguous words naturally took on a different meaning in A Da’s ears.

…Three, three people traveling together?

As expected of their Saintess!

She really knows how to have fun.

If Ye Qiao and the others knew their thoughts, they’d probably throw up their dinner.

After sending away all the hidden demonic beings, Ye Qiao’s façade of arrogance collapsed completely. She lay down on the ground, feeling disillusioned.

After lying there for a moment, she smelled food and immediately sat up to stuff a bun into her mouth.

Song Hansheng didn’t have time to stop her.

“Yue.”

Ye Qiao’s face turned green: “Such bad food.”

She suddenly understood why the Saintess didn’t want to go home.

If she had to eat this every day, she wouldn’t want to go home either.

Song Hansheng gazed gloomily outside. His spiritual sense was broad, and he could easily detect the location of the demonic race’s barriers. Ye Qinghan had been able to enter before thanks to him.

Ye Qiao: “I’m so hungry.”

She wished she had brought more buns.

Ye Qiao had already met with all the Golden Core stage demonic beings and counted a total of about twenty Golden Core stage individuals.

It was quite a frightening number.

“If it weren’t for Ye Qiao, if they joined forces with the people of Yunshui City to surround us, what are the chances we could survive?” Song Hansheng made a calculation and sought the opinions of the other two.

Ye Qiao clapped her hands: “Congratulations, you’ve achieved: the imprisoned disciples’ bad ending.”

Her words were so discouraging that Song Hansheng decided to ignore her and look at Ye Qinghan.

Ye Qinghan’s voice was cold and resolute: “I only believe in the triumph of righteousness over evil!”

Song Hansheng: “Forget it.”

One is too discouraging, the other is an idiot.

……

“I checked, and there are no more than ten Golden Core stage cultivators in the entire Yunshui City. The exact number of those hidden is unknown, but it shouldn’t be hard to handle if a fight breaks out.”

“Just don’t know how many reinforcements the demonic race has called.”

Ming Xuan also recalled what his little sister had said, that the demonic race had seven or eight Golden Core stage individuals, though she guessed it, and there should be more hidden.

He was feeling a bit of a headache.

He could only act as a prayerful person and hope that his little sister from the demonic race was okay.

In the end, Su Zhuo spoke, “Let’s do this. Fu Xiu, come with me. We’ll set up the formation outside in advance.”

“A portion of the disciples will provide cover and make sure they aren’t detected.”

“We’ll take them out one by one to avoid being surrounded when the fight starts.”

“Surely not everyone in Yunshui City is colluding with the demon clan, right?” Duan Hengdao pressed his face against the table, feeling bored. “Such a large place, there must be at least one good person, right?”

“Who are the good people? You go check,” Su Zhuo retorted irritably.

By now, it was almost clear that the so-called Chaos Pearl was merely a test given by the elders. Naturally, whoever performed well would get the Chaos Pearl. At this moment, no one was willing to have their spotlight stolen and everyone was trying their best to stand out.

Duan Hengdao said confidently, “We’ll know who the bad guys are once we start fighting. Why are you cursing at me?”

He was also trying hard to cooperate with their traps, after all.

There were very few weapon cultivators to begin with, and after working hard all day with Shen Ziwei, he was still being scolded by Su Zhuo.

“……”

“These kids have the right idea,” an elder coughed and chuckled.

At least they understood not to alarm the snake by beating the grass, but to handle things one by one.

Without Ye Qiao, the performance of these direct disciples had already surprised them.

After all, according to their previous guesses, these disciples would have rushed in and beaten up the city lord of Yunshui City, only to be trapped by the demon clan and end up in collective imprisonment.

“Forget it, let’s listen to Ye Qiao’s plan,” Qin Fanfan was no longer interested. These silly kids.

What would they do without Ye Qiao when they went out in the future?

Far away in the demon clan’s territory, Ye Qiao couldn’t sleep because the food was too terrible.

To avoid prolonged anxiety, and to hasten her plan to give those demons a package of dumplings, Ye Qiao decided to inform the demons early that they would set off for Yunshui City the next day.

Ye Qiao couldn’t sleep, and the other two couldn’t possibly sleep either. This was the demon clan—who in the world would be as carefree as her and sleep?

“You guys can’t sleep either, huh? Brothers?”

Song Hansheng said, “What are you doing?”

He was drinking water and contemplating the next step of their plan.

Without a doubt, following Ye Qiao was very dangerous, but she was the only one who could navigate the demon territory smoothly. Song Hansheng could only hope she would be cautious and not reckless.

Ye Qiao said, “I’m too poor to sleep.”

Song Hansheng responded, “……”

Ye Qiao continued, “The demon clan should be quite wealthy, right?”

Since they were leaving the next day and her identity had reached such a believable level, why not take the opportunity to explore the demon clan’s inner workings?

Ye Qinghan asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Song Hansheng swallowed a mouthful of water and looked at her in horror.

“……”

Ye Qiao said, “How about a thrilling adventure?”

Since she was pursuing excitement, she naturally wanted to go all the way.

Song Hansheng swallowed hard and said, “That’s not going to work. The demon clan’s spirit stones are not compatible with ours.”

He looked at Ye Qiao, who seemed crazed from hunger. Exploring the demon clan’s interior at night? Was she not afraid of being exposed on the spot?

She was always acting impulsively. Since their escape relied entirely on Ye Qiao, he could only accompany her even though he was more angry.

The demon clan’s treasury was located on the third underground level, and there were no guards around. It didn’t take long for her to discover that there were prohibitions above, which explained the lack of guards.

Song Hansheng frowned. “These are the demon clan’s prohibitions.”

“But I have some impression of them.” He gently touched the prohibition and looked at Ye Qiao. “Do you remember?”

“That old man from the secret realm?”

Ye Qiao nodded.

Song Hansheng said, “I’ve seen him demonstrate a similar spell. I can try to see if I can unlock it.”

His cultivation was at the late stage of the Golden Core, and he had the spiritual energy to support it.

Ye Qiao was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, so it was not her turn to show off.

“Then you do it,” she said, stepping back to give the stage to Song Hansheng.

This was probably the most harmonious moment among the three of them.

Meanwhile, Qin Fanfan, who had just contacted Ye Qiao, heard the commotion from these three brats. What prohibitions? What adventure?

What the heck are you doing?!

Song Hansheng coughed awkwardly and replied truthfully, “It might take me some time to figure this out. There were too many formations demonstrated by that old man.”

He really couldn’t remember them all.

Song Hansheng didn’t think there was anything to be ashamed of. He didn’t even see the old man in person; he only watched through a recording stone. It was already impressive that he could vaguely remember and work it out.

No wonder he could become the top disciple.

However, under the current circumstances, waiting for him to work it out would mean it would be daylight, and there would be no time left to exploit.

Song Hansheng said, “Then why don’t you do it?”

“Alright.”

He said it casually, and Ye Qiao agreed even more casually.

Ye Qinghan, unable to watch any longer, coldly said, “Are you two here to play?”

This was the demon clan’s treasury, not their sect elder’s small treasury. Being caught would result in imprisonment.

Ye Qiao finally stopped bragging and took some concrete action.

She made a gesture with her fingertips, and black runes began to float out one by one. With a pill bottle clenched between her teeth, she focused intently on repeating the old man’s previous actions. However, compared to the old man in the secret realm, she was much slower.

Whenever her spiritual energy ran low, she would bite the bottle cap, tilt her head back, and swallow a rejuvenation pill, then continue the tedious spell-casting process.

It was evident that this was her first time using the runes, and her movements were quite awkward.

The runes all looked similar, making it hard to discern specific differences, especially when surrounded by a dense cluster of small characters. Even Song Hansheng wouldn’t dare to say he could remember them all.

Seeing this scene, the words he originally intended to say were swallowed back.

“……”

After a moment, with a clattering sound, the restriction chains fell.

Ye Qiao’s tensed muscles finally relaxed. She slowly retracted her hand from the spell-casting position, drained of all her spiritual energy, and collapsed directly onto the ground, consuming several rejuvenation pills.

Meeting Song Hansheng’s complex gaze, which he hadn’t managed to withdraw in time, she stood up, dusted off her clothes, and smiled faintly, “I told you.”

“I can do it too.”

*

Catching a cold, sniffle Song Hansheng’s, my eyes are still tearing up. I’ll try to add more chapters in a few days! Right now, I’m utterly exhausted. I envy every one of you who isn’t feeling sick.