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The Golden Cicada's secret skill allowed someone to disguise as anyone they had ever killed (disguising himself as a monster was not allowed), and, at the same time, they could completely mimic one's inheritance, memory, and abilities.
Dong-dong-dong---
Early in the morning, the morning bell rang through the Dragon Mountain.
Last night's fresh rain had washed away some of the extremely flaming spiritual energy from the land, and the air was not as dry as the previous days.
In the garden of the guest house, Xiao Yunluo's white plain clothes were soaked with fragrant sweat, her cheeks were rosy, and her breathing was a little disordered.
Every day after waking up, she meditated and practiced her Black Star Sect's sword art three times, eliminating the distracting thoughts that had accumulated during the night through sweat. Then, she went back to the room, wiped her body with a wet handkerchief, combed her hair, and changed clothes.
This was a habit she had maintained since she was a child.
As for what were the distracting thoughts?
In short, they were just thoughts that distracted her usual attention.
For example, Ye Anping.
Since the last time she and Ye Anping built the foundation in the Hundred Lotus Sect's cave, she would recall from time to time the sight of Ye Anping meditating and condensing Qi with his upper body naked.
Ye Anping was not tall, and his shoulders were not broad. In terms of beauty, he was definitely not as good as other disciples of the Black Star Sect. However, Xiao Yunluo didn't know why, but Ye Anping's appearance was particularly attractive to her.
So, every time she thought of Ye Anping, she would feel an ache in her entire body.
If she thought of it at night, she would lock the door of the house, close the windows, and take out her secret erotic book from the storage bag. She would look at the images in the book, and picture herself and Ye Anping into it, and then curl up into a ball...
Swish---
The sword swung out into a silver arc.
Xiao Yunluo sheathed her sword and closed her eyes, slowed down her breathing, then wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. She looked at the sky and let out a long breath.
Although the sword practice had calmed her down to a great extent, after stopping, she couldn't help but start to fantasize about whether Ye Anping would appear behind her the next moment, put his arms around her waist, and hold her tightly.
Xiao Yunluo was full of anticipation. After a moment, she secretly looked behind her.
Of course, she knew that Ye Anping could not appear here, nor would he do that.
However, she was still slightly disappointed when she saw that there was no Ye Anping behind her.
"What am I thinking? I'm just like a young lady in love, no, no, no!"
Xiao Yunluo shook her head, tied up her loose hair again, then continued to wield the sword.
However, although Ye Anping was not behind her, there was a woman wearing the clothes of a Dragon House guard peeking at her from behind a ginkgo tree about twenty feet away.
This woman was the female cultivator in the Core Formation stage, who was assisting Li Longling in investigating the demonic cultivator. Wu Yue was also a guardian of the Demonic Sect's prison hall.
Previously, Li Feng had told their boss that they were not allowed to attack Xiao Yunluo under any circumstances.
Their boss had also specifically instructed them afterward that before the blood sacrifice, they must not have any thoughts about Xiao Yunluo.
Of course, Wu Yue understood the reason why he did this.
Xiao Yunluo was only in the early stage of the Foundation Building. Whether it was kidnapping or killing, it would be easy for them to do it. There was no need for them to rush things and affect the Demonic Sect's plan to win over the Dragon House just for Xiao Yunluo alone.
But things were different now.
Her childhood sweetheart, Yao Yuanhua, died the day before yesterday because of two Black Star Sect disciples.
Wu Yue desperately wanted to avenge Yao Yuanhua right now, but since she couldn't find the two disciples in question, she was ready to take this hatred out on Xiao Yunluo, the Young Lady of the Black Star Sect.
Of course, killing Xiao Yunluo outright would definitely affect their plans.
But she was a Ghost cultivator.
She had ten thousand ways to kill Xiao Yunluo without anyone noticing, and even if Li Feng personally inspected Xiao Yunluo's body, it would be absolutely impossible to find any evidence.
She planned to let the corpse soul she raised possess Xiao Yunluo's body and slowly eat away her essence.
In that case, the corpse soul would gradually eat away her essence and soul within a week.
By then, Xiao Yunluo would become unable to speak and walk, and although she would still be conscious, her brain would shrink to the size of a newborn baby's.
Seeing that Xiao Yunluo was completely unaware of what was going to happen to her, Wu Yue smiled.
Her fingers hidden in the sleeves were slightly raised in a gesture, and a string of soul bells appeared in her hands.
The next moment.
Ding ding---
The clear bell sound spread out around Wu Yue.
Following the sound of the bell, a barely visible purple mist poured out of her nose and was carried toward Xiao Yunluo by the wind.
Xiao Yunluo heard the sound of the bell, paused with the sword in hand, and turned to look in the direction of the ginkgo tree.
But because of Wu Yue's method of controlling her energy, she didn't see anyone behind the tree at all.
She muttered to herself in confusion. "Am I hallucinating? Didn't I hear bells ringing?" Then, she shrugged and continued to practice with her sword.
Seeing this, Wu Yue's smile widened a bit.
This corpse soul she released was in fact extremely fragile.
Even for a Foundation Building cultivator like Xiao Yunluo, as long as she used spiritual energy to protect her body in time, it would be extremely difficult for the corpse soul to attach to her body.
However, it was obvious that Xiao Yunluo did not notice anything was wrong. She still breathed heavily and focused entirely on the sword routine.
Seeing that the purple mist had reached one side of Xiao Yunluo's cheek, Wu Yue felt there was no need to continue watching.
She felt the outcome was already concluded-- in a week, the only daughter of the great Immortal Matriarch would become a fool that even her mother could not recognize.
However, just when she was about to leave, a white figure suddenly jumped up to Xiao Yunluo's side.
"Sister Xiao! Good morning."
Hearing this shout, Wu Yue frowned slightly. She stopped and looked back again.
The girl named Feng Yu Die suddenly rushed in front of the corpse soul she had released and greeted Xiao Yunluo. The moment she opened her mouth, the corpse was sucked down her throat.
"..."
Wu Yue was silent for a while, but she was not prepared to release a second corpse soul, so she just sneered. "Heh, good luck."
With that, she glanced at Feng Yu Die and no longer cared.
Her figure turned into a purple mist and dispersed.
Beside Xiao Yunluo, Feng Yu Die glanced at the ginkgo tree where Wu Yue had just been, then cast a questioning glance at Xiao Tian, who was floating in the sky, 'How is it?'
"Yu Die, she's gone. Just meditate and adjust your breath, and leave the rest to me."
"Uhm..."
Xiao Yunluo looked at Feng Yu Die with a puzzled face and asked, "What are you doing, rushing over like this..."
"Of course, I'm protecting you."
?
Xiao Yunluo was even more confused when she saw Feng Yu Die immediately sitting down cross-legged, closing her eyes, and starting to condense her Qi.
"Huh? Protect me from what?"
"..."
Feng Yu Die didn't answer. She frowned and mobilized her true energy to protect her body. At the same time, Xiao Tian dived into her soul realm through her forehead.
Inside Feng Yu Die's soul realm, the line between sky and water was a boundless lake scenery.
Xiao Tian entered and quickly drifted along the internal borders and over the Mirror Lake. After searching for a long time, she found the corpse soul that had been sucked into Feng Yu Die's body in a corner of the lake.
The corpse soul also showed its form at this moment.
It was a man's corpse with a festering face, but it was able to walk, and its entire body emitted a stench that polluted the lake surface under his feet and made Xiao Tian nauseous.
Every step it took left a trace of filth on the Mirror Lake surface.
With just one glance, Xiao Tian could tell that this thing should be a corpse soul refined from the golden cicada shell* of a dying male cultivator.
Xiao Tian flattened her mouth in disgust, frowning, and made a sword gesture with her fingers in front of her chest. "Old pal, it's time for extra food!"
As she spoke, a golden light burst out from her chest and turned into a golden dragon hovering in the air.
The golden dragon glared angrily and swept a glance at the corpse soul on the lake before glancing at Xiao Tian with a disgusted expression as if it did not want to eat this nasty thing.
Seeing the sudden appearance of the golden dragon, the corpse soul was stunned. It raised its head and looked at the golden dragon. After hesitating for a while, it instinctively turned and tried to escape.
But the next moment, the golden dragon opened its jaws, circled in the sky, and swooped down, swallowing it whole.
"Burp~~"
The golden dragon's hiccups echoed through Feng Yu Die's soul realm.