With Li Xun’s current level of cultivation, reaching the summit of Zuowang Peak should, under normal circumstances, take him five full days. Even if he pushed himself to the limit.

But there was nothing normal about Li Xun right now.

He had snapped. Gone completely off the rails. So without the slightest hesitation, he summoned Nether One and Nether Two to carry him straight toward the peak. At their full speed, they could get him there overnight.

Just moments ago, he had narrowly passed by a massive group of cultivators from the Mingxin Sword Sect. The two sides were no more than ten li apart in a straight line.

If not for the advanced warning from Nether Two’s supreme abilities... 

If not for the unmatched concealment skills of the Nethermyst Puppets... 

If not for the heavy cloud cover and the fact that it was deep into the night... 

There was no way he would have made it out alive.

But none of that mattered to him anymore. He was past caring. With his life hanging by a thread, his expression didn’t even twitch. The moment he’d put enough distance between himself and Qingming’s group, he ordered Nether One and Nether Two to pick up speed again and shoot toward the summit.

But he didn’t go straight to the top. His first stop was the lakeside cottage where Qingyin lived.

It was empty.

Just as he stepped out, Nether Two’s warning signal hit him like a jolt. Instantly, he and the his two puppets froze, all traces of their presence vanishing as they slipped silently into the nearby hot spring lake.

They had barely gone into hiding when a familiar streak of green streaked across the night sky arrogantly.

“Qing Luan?”

Li Xun’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Even back in the North Pole, he hadn’t seen Qing Luan. What the hell was she doing here?

The situation in the North Pole was far from settled, and the Rogue Cultivators' Alliance was right in the middle of a major internal overhaul. At a time like this, Jade Wanderer and the others were probably scrambling for manpower; why would they send someone as intimidating as Qing Luan all the way out here?

Li Xun had already been on edge. Now, hit with this sudden development, his mind was a complete mess.

He slapped his cold hands against his face, trying to force himself to calm down. Then he ordered Nether One and Nether Two to grab hold of each of his arms and sink down with him to the bottom of the lake.

Underground, the two puppets began to redirect several strands of qi mechanisms, scattering them just enough to nearly erase all traces of primordial qi fluctuations from the three of them. Right then, Qing Luan’s crushing aura swept across the area above them.

From the way she felt, her injuries from back then didn’t seem to have slowed her down much.

If she had been paying closer attention, Li Xun might not have been able to hide at all.

Fortunately, Qing Luan seemed to just be passing through. More precisely, she was probably patrolling the area around the peak. With her unmatched speed and senses far beyond what any human possessed, she was the perfect choice for a task like that. Li Xun must have just happened to get caught in her flight path.

But who had the kind of authority to make Qing Luan play sentry?

With that, a thought clicked into place. Li Xun was almost certain who had come.

Of course. Gu Yin and Jade Wanderer. It had to be them.

But why were they here?

His mind jumped immediately to Qingyin. His heart clenched tight. He remembered that dreadful possibility that Zhong Yin had indirectly confirmed. And in that moment, Li Xun felt like he could cough up blood from sheer frustration.

Underground, Li Xun was pacing in circles, panicking.  Right... They saw Immortal Master Zhong Yin ascend, and now they want to snatch her...

A faint voice echoed deep in his heart: “Did you get it?”

Li Xun slapped himself hard across the face, trying to knock every stray thought out of his head.

This wasn’t the time to think anymore. He grit his teeth and dove deeper underground, carefully suppressing his presence as he made his way toward the summit.

Only by reaching the top and seeing those people face to face would he know the truth.

Halfway there, a thought struck him. He reached up and pulled out the Phoenix Feather Needle from his hair.

Just in case the demonic phoenix was on the mountain.

To his surprise, the whole thing went more smoothly than expected. Clearly, Qing Luan hadn’t imagined someone might sneak up the mountain using an earth-escaping technique like a thief.

It took some time, but Li Xun made it to the summit.

Under the stillness of the night, the top of Zuowang Peak was as quiet as ever. Even the soft chirping of a night insect could carry for miles.

But the quieter it was, the more Li Xun could sense the strange, unsettling atmosphere lurking beneath the surface.

He poked just his head out of the earth and scanned the area. One quick look around, then he slipped right back down.

Only now did he realize how massive the summit really was. In the past, a distance of hundreds of li meant nothing. He could cross it in a blink on his sword. But crawling along like this, cautiously inching forward... there was no telling how long it would take.

And time was the one thing he didn’t have.

Night was on the verge of ending. The sky had slipped into its darkest hour. Heaven only knows what might happen once the sun came up. Li Xun sure didn’t. For all he knew, something might’ve already gone wrong at the summit.

Was Qingyin... still okay?

Just then, he thought he heard a faint, low whistle near his ear.

It wasn’t deliberate. The night wind had already scattered the sound into the air. Li Xun hadn’t heard it clearly. He’d only just barely sensed it.

But the direction was clear… the Green Smoke Barrier. Immortal Master Zhong Yin’s bamboo hut.

Li Xun caught on fast. His first instinct was to sneak over there. But who knew who might be guarding the place? What if Jade Wanderer was there? Who could say for sure that Nether One and Nether Two wouldn’t be detected?

His mind raced through seven or eight strategies. Each one with its own risks. At best, they were only relatively safe. Against Grandmasters like Jade Wanderer or Gu Yin, ordinary tricks were meaningless.

But what if the trick wasn’t ordinary?

Zhong Yin’s face flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning. His heart began pounding wildly. Then, without another thought, he turned and ran straight toward the Edge-of-Abyss Terrace.

That’s it. The Heavenly Water Mirror! Immortal Zhong Yin installed one inside the hut!

Li Xun fought to steady his breathing as he looked down at the swirling sea of clouds beneath his feet.

He wasn’t tired. He was fully alert. He just couldn’t bring himself to believe that Zhong Yin’s “little trick” was nothing more than some whimsy he came up with for fun.

None of that mattered anymore.

Following the incantation, Li Xun summoned a patch of cloud, gently wiped his hand across it, and in an instant, moisture began to condense. A faint image started to come into focus.

Worried that any sound from the water mirror might be overheard, he jumped down from the Edge-of-Abyss Terrace, disappearing into the thick sea of clouds below. Then he had Nether One part a section of the cloud cover. Sitting on Nether Two’s back, he bit his lip, carefully flipping through the images.

Alchemy room, study, sitting room… he cycled through them one by one until he finally reached the bedroom. That’s when he saw a hand he remembered vividly.

Slender, fair, and elegant. At first glance, it almost made him blurt out a name.

“Gu Yin!”

Panicking, he fumbled to switch the image again. But before the full scene of the room could appear, a voice rang out clearly from the mirror:

“Come on, can’t even old friends touch each other?”

It was indeed Gu Yin. But he’d never heard her speak in such a teasing, almost playful tone.

Li Xun’s heart pounded like a drum, and his hands grew clumsier by the second. Shadows and flashes of light flickered across the water mirror, but none of the images stayed clear long enough to make anything out.

He had no choice but to shut his eyes, regulate his breathing, and steady his nerves… yet the voices from the mirror kept drifting into his ears.

“Keep your filthy business away from me.”

The moment that voice hit him, a chill ran through Li Xun’s body.

Immortal Master Qingyin! It’s her, she’s really there…

The image in the water mirror gradually became clearer. Li Xun carefully suspended the mirror in midair, clasped his hands tightly, and stared into it without blinking.

Inside the mirror, Gu Yin was dressed in pure white, her hair pinned up in elegant coils. Her features were flawless, like a painting, like a goddess. But the words coming out of her mouth didn’t match the look at all.

“Apologies, you’re not filthy. But you had that kid head over heels for you, and didn’t even toss him a crumb?”

Li Xun’s heart pounded like crazy.

He looked closer. Qingyin was sitting cross-legged on a bamboo couch in the bedroom. It wasn’t clear whether she was being restrained, but her expression showed no joy or anger.

She simply replied coldly, “You all came here just to waste time with this nonsense?”

Gu Yin gave a soft laugh but turned her gaze beyond the edge of the frame.

Li Xun quickly adjusted the mirror’s angle until he could finally see the full room. And sure enough, he saw who Gu Yin had been looking at a familiar face. And that was the Heavenly Demon Phoenix.

She was still dressed in her signature red gown, but this time, she was idly toying with a bamboo cup that had clearly been carved by Zhong Yin himself.

Li Xun shut his eyes for a brief moment, then opened them again.

Gu Yin, the demon phoenix, Qing Luan... 

Nearly every grandmaster from Jade Wanderer’s circle was here. All except the man himself. Why had they all come?