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In case anyone forgot, Xu Mo was the pretty boy who accompanied Gu Mingxin during the Imperial Sect events.
Smoke and dust billowed, rendering the stars and the moon invisible.
Inside the volcano located on the eastern side of the Heavenly Demon Valley, a huge obsidian platform was suspended by countless red-hot chains in the center of the surrounding rock walls. Underneath, gusts of molten lava heat waves were distorting the air.
A purple flying sword came from outside the mountain and landed steadily on the obsidian platform.
Gu Mingxin jumped off the flying sword, stood on the edge, and looked down at the underground fire below, which had swallowed up countless Heavenly Demon Sect disciples. She couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.
If she returned from this trip to the Eastern Great Wall without success, this underground fire would likely become her bath water.
Two disciples of the Prison Hall saw her and came forward, cupping their hands in salute. Then, they brought her into the main hall of the Prison Hall.
After walking along the stone steps for about a quarter of an hour, Gu Mingxin arrived in front of a stone door and said: "I am disciple Gu Mingxin. Following the order of the sect Patriarch, I've come to pay my respects to Elder Fu."
After her words, the stone door slowly opened.
Gu Mingxin maintained a respectful attitude and looked up slightly, but the first thing she saw in the stone room was He Jiming, smirking at her.
Next to He Jiming was a woman in red with a very impressive figure. With her dark purple lip glaze and charming eyes, she looked like a fox spirit in disguise.
---Fu Yuanhua, Elder of the Heavenly Demon Sect Prison Hall, mid-Nascent Soul stage.
After the stone door was completely opened, Fu Yuanhua stood up from the chair with her hands behind her back. "Miss Gu, First Elder He has already told me what happened, and the Patriarch asked me to accompany you to the Great Wall to help the Ghost Spirit Sect."
Gu Mingxin nodded. "Yes... I will make up for my mistakes this time and clear the previous blunder."
However, as soon as she said these words, He Jiming, who had a crack on his left cheek, smiled and said in a slightly slurred tone, "Then, Sister Gu, let's have a nice collaboration~"
Gu Mingxin frowned. "Elder Fu, this is..."
Fu Yuanhua glanced at He Jiming and explained. "Just now, Great Elder He came here and asked me to bring this kid with me. Miss Gu, you should be aware everyone in the sect is saying that you are secretly communicating with immortals..."
"Elder Fu, do you believe it too..."
"I won't listen to rumors." Fu Yuanhua interrupted her and narrowed her eyes. "The Patriarch asked me to follow you. You should know what this means."
What does that mean...
The Heavenly Demon Sect Prison Hall was in charge of disciplining sect members.
Gu Mingxin's expression darkened. When Gu Yan said it before, she didn't think of what it meant to send Fu Yuanhua with her, but now she suddenly understood...
"In other words, Patriarch asked Elder Fu to monitor you." He Jiming added with a mocking smile. "Sister Gu, it seems that even your master is starting to suspect you now..."
Seeing He Jiming being so arrogant, even Fu Yuanhua felt a little annoyed.
To be honest, she didn't like this He Jiming, who looked like a fool.
However, this kid had a father who was a Great Elder.
Before Gu Mingxin arrived, He Buqun had brought this kid over and insisted that she bring him along as if they were going on a picnic trip. Alas, she couldn't refuse him...
"You brat, be careful what you say."
"Yes, Elder Fu." He Jiming smiled and cupped his hands. "Sister Gu, you have to listen to me when we go to the Great Wall this time..."
"Listen to a loser? Elder Fu, I'm worried that this guy will drag me down, can we..."
Fu Yuanhua raised her hand to interrupt. "This matter has already been decided. I will permanently be by your side. Firstly, I will protect you. Secondly, I will monitor you just like this kid said. Take it as me trying to prove your innocence, it's better that you think so. As for whether you are innocent or not, I will see with my own eyes."
Gu Mingxin bit her lips slightly and looked at He Jiming, her heart filled with reluctance.
Just as her father said, three times was the limit.
But now He Jiming was going to the Eastern Great Wall with her...
If it was any other ordinary immortal cultivator, it would not matter if He Jiming dragged her down.
Gu Mingxin bit her lip and requested again, "Elder Fu, I'm worried about running into that immortal cultivator named Ye Anping..."
"Ye Anping?"
"Yes! That person is very scheming. I don't mind if Brother He becomes a burden to me but I'm worried that he will become a burden to the entire demonic sect due to that person's designs! Elder Fu, please reconsider it..."
Hearing this, He Jiming couldn't hide his long face. "Sister Gu, aren't you overestimating that person? What is his cultivation level?"
Gu Mingxin immediately replied, "Early Core Formation stage."
"Then, isn't he one level lower than me?"
"He Jiming, you are not even as good as one of his fingernails. If you run into him, you will..."
Pah-!!!
"Enough!!"
Seeing that the bickering between the two of them was getting out of hand, Fu Yuanhua interrupted them by slapping the table, causing the two to immediately shut up and lower their heads.
"Miss Gu, as Lord of Hell's personal disciple, isn't it wrong to compare your sect brother with an immortal cultivator?"
Gu Mingxin: "..."
He Jiming laughed. "Oh, yes, the one called Ye Anping... Sister Gu, he wouldn't be your inside man, would he? When the time comes, don't tell him about our whereabouts so that he can set an ambush on us."
"Miss Gu, go back and recuperate for a few days before we set off."
Gu Minxin bit her lip and stopped talking. Instead, she relaxed and cupped her hands in response. "Yes, ma'am."
Then, she turned around, walking out of the stone room. She leaped from the Prison Hall on her flying sword and headed toward her cave south of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
Although it was the cave of the Young Miss of the sect, it was actually quite empty.
Gu Mingxin was not like other demonic cultivators who liked to place all kinds of weird decorations and trophies in their homes.
There was only a room with a bed, a Spirit Gathering Array, a room with an alchemy furnace, and a Mourning Hall. These were the only buildings in an area of about five acres. The rest of the place was overgrown with weeds.
Gu Mingxin entered the room, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. She untied her left hand from the strap and hung a nameplate with Wu Tianci's name on the spiritual altar.
After lighting a stick of incense for the two nameplates "Wu Tianci" and "Xu Mo"*, she went back to the bedroom, lay on the bed, and buried her face in the pillow.
Xue'e also emerged from her brow and said with a worried look, "Mingxin..."
"Don't talk."
"Mingxin, how about I play chess with you? Just like old times... you need a break."
"No, I'll just sleep for a while."
Gu Mingxin turned sideways and simply closed her eyes, covering herself with the quilt. Seeing her like this, Xue'e showed a helpless look of disappointment, and finally lay by the pillow and gently touched her head with her hand.
"Then, go to sleep~ I'll stay with you."
...
Ten thousand miles away, Black Star Sect's Heavenly Cloud Peak.
The warm morning light shone through the half-open paper window. A young man dressed in white was sitting at the table, drawing pictures.
It has been three days since Ating came to participate in the sect selection, and for the past few days, Pei Lianxue and Xiao Yunluo have been helping with the exams. In addition to practicing swordsmanship with Feng Yu Die in the afternoon, he had basically stayed in the room, refining his Eastern Great Wall plan.
Three days was enough time for him to perfect everything.
However, because the plot had deviated greatly from the game, there was a very important point that Ye Anping had been unable to determine.
---Who would be the person traveling with Gu Mingxin during the Eastern Great Wall incident?
According to the storyline in the game, when Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci were in the Northern Region, they broke through a total of four protective formations together with the other demonic cultivators. Although they were still forced back by the Empress, other than Lu Meimei, they all returned to the Eastern Region alive and received praise from the Patriarch of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
After all, the original purpose of the demonic cultivators invading the Northern Region was to exhaust and harass the Cold Country's forces.
But now, Wu Tianci had been killed by him.
And Gu Mingxin had already failed twice, including the previous trip to the Central Region...
"Hmm..."
Ye Anping deduced that Gu Yan's patience toward Gu Mingxin had probably been exhausted, and at the same time, the disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect began to suspect that Gu Mingxin was secretly colluding with the immortals...
Therefore, he speculated that Gu Yan would most likely send someone from the Heavenly Demon Sect Prison Hall to accompany Gu Mingxin to the Eastern Great Wall.
And there was a high probability that this person was...
---Fu Yuanhua.
Ye Anping wrote down the name on the paper, murmuring. "The Elder of the Prison Hall, a Sword cultivator in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul. If she comes with little Gu, she will be really difficult to deal with. Anyway, let's assume she will come, and the better if she doesn't.
There was also a person in the Heavenly Demon Sect who had a grudge against little Gu... What's his name? Although Lianxue or Feng Yu Die can kill him with one strike, we still have to plan carefully to avoid any mistakes at that time..."
"Other than that, there might be Liu..."
Ye Anping muttered to himself as he prepared a backup plan.
At this time, he suddenly noticed a gaze coming from outside the window.
He turned around and saw that Feng Yu Die had unknowingly come over. At this moment, she was leaning against his window, staring at him with her big watery eyes.
Xiao Tian was lying on top of her head, looking at him with an identical expression.
"..."
"..."
The three of them stared at each other for a long time. Ye Anping slowly put his pen on the pen holder and frowned.
"You're not setting up the stall anymore?"
Feng Yu Die scratched the back of her head and smiled awkwardly. "Hehe... It's been on display for a few days, but I haven't sold a single piece. I can't be bothered to go today."
"Then, what are you doing at my window?"
"Huh?" Feng Yu Die was stunned and stood up quickly. "I was bored, so I came to see you writing, hehe..."
Ye Anping looked at her giggling, so he imitated her with a sneer.
"Hehe."
"Hehe~"
"Hehehe..."
This golden fool and the silver fool were getting more and more stupid...
Ye Anping sighed tiredly. He looked at the draft plans beside him, picked up one of them, and walked over before handing it to her.
"Then, if you have nothing else to do, go to the Medicine Pavilion and buy ten portions of the spirit herbs on this list."
"Eh?"
Feng Yu Die took the list and skimmed over it. However, after reading a few lines, she found that she didn't recognize any of these heavenly herbs. Therefore, she simply looked toward Xiao Tian who was floating above her head.
Xiao Tian squinted her eyes, took out the Heavenly Dao Scroll, and flipped through its pages one by one.
"Well... Dragon meat is..."
Ye Anping was speechless. He explained on behalf of the Heavenly Dao Scroll. "These are all used to feed demonic beasts. There are many levels seven or eight demonic beasts in the Central Region that have not yet developed their spiritual awareness. The medicinal fragrance of these herbs can be used as bait. It can also be used as a backup to help us stop demonic cultivators. And we're going to catch a fox, so we're going to need bait."
"Oh~" Xiao Tian nodded in realization and threw away the Heavenly Dao Scroll in her hand. "Anping, you're much better than this stupid book."
?
Ye Anping froze for a moment, then snapped. "Come on, go!"
Xiao Tian looked down at Feng Yu Die. "Yu Die, go quickly!"
"Ah... Oh, Young Master Ye, aren't you coming?"
Ye Anping looked at her wordlessly.
Feng Yu Die pouted awkwardly. "Okay, okay, I'm going."
After that, she reluctantly took the medicine list, summoned her flying sword, and headed toward the Medicine Pavilion of the Black Star Sect.
After watching her leave, Ye Anping raised his sword finger and put the thick stack of plans on the table into his storage bag. Then, he walked toward the door. Ignoring Xiao Tian, he took out his flying sword and stepped on it.
When Xiao Tian saw this, she immediately ran after him and grabbed his hair, then lay on his head. "Anping, wait for me... where are you going?"
"Heavenly Cloud Peak at the disciple residences."
"Who are you looking for?"
"Hongyu. I'll ask her to help me deliver a letter to the Empress and bring Brother Liang's gift for his Core Formation. Brother Liang should form his core in another month. At that time, we need him to pick us up."