"Tian Ge!"
Mo Tiange woke with a start, drenched in cold sweat. She saw her Second Uncle sitting beside her, looking at her with concern. "What's wrong?"
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and shook her head. "I had a dream."
Second Uncle handed her a handkerchief. "A nightmare?"
Mo Tiange fell silent. She couldn't quite remember what the dream was about, only that it had been terrifying...
"Alright, if you're fine, go mind the shop up front. Or go take a walk around the other stores. Don't just mope around."
"Mm..."
Second Uncle went out. He still looked quite hale and hearty.
She didn't know why she had such a thought. Shaking her head in confusion, she got up groggily to wash up.
This was a small market in East Kunwu. She and her Second Uncle had opened a small shop here. It didn't earn much, just barely enough for the uncle and niece to cultivate.
She cultivated diligently and was now at the sixth level of Qi Refining. She believed she would soon advance, then join a sect, cultivate diligently, advance further...
Because her Second Uncle was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the shop's goods were fairly complete, so they had hired two low-level cultivators as shop assistants. She walked into the shop, saw the two assistants dutifully attending to customers, and business seemed quite good. She then went out.
The street was bustling. She didn't know where all these people came from. Her head ached a little. For some reason, she felt she had forgotten something very important, but she couldn't remember no matter how hard she tried.
Aimlessly, she walked around the market again and again, and before she knew it, she was back at her own shop.
Before she even entered, she heard a clamor.
"Sirs, Fellow Daoists, please wait! Our proprietor isn't back yet. This matter has nothing to do with us..."
"Nothing to do with you?" a vicious voice snarled. "If you're from this shop, it has everything to do with you! Tell me, was this black-market item sold by your shop?"
"N-no... Fellow Daoist, this item doesn't have our shop's mark on it. It shouldn't be..."
"It's called a black-market item, how could it possibly have a mark? Don't try to weasel out of it! Confiscate everything!"
Following the sound of a counter being overturned, Mo Tiange rushed into the shop. She saw the market's management cultivators rummaging everywhere, forcibly seizing goods. She couldn't help but shout, "Stop right there!"
The leader, whose cultivation wasn't weak, turned his head and snorted coldly. "Kid, this is none of your business. Scram!"
Furious, she retorted, "This is my family's shop, how is it none of my business? What is the meaning of this? We pay our management fees in full every month!"
"You're selling black-market goods, disrupting market order. According to regulations, all goods in the shop are to be confiscated!"
Mo Tiange was stunned for a moment, then sneered. "You just take out some random item and claim our shop sold it? Where's the proof?!"
The leading manager also sneered. "I say it is, so it is. Take everything away!"
"How dare you!" Burning with rage, she raised her hand and summoned her Greenwood Sword. But this was a team of cultivators whose cultivation was no lower than hers. Soon, she was knocked to the ground, forced to watch helplessly as the shop was emptied.
"Quickly, quickly, be careful!" After the people left and the shop was empty, she lay on the ground and heard voices again.
Then two people carried Second Uncle in. Second Uncle was covered in blood, barely breathing.
"Second Uncle! Second Uncle, what happened to you?!"
"You're his nephew? He was injured by a Lightning Glow Beast. I'm afraid he won't last much longer. My condolences."
"Second Uncle!"
Mo Tiange woke from the dream once more.
Once more? She sat on the bed in a daze. Why 'once more'?
"You're awake?"
She turned her head and saw a back. The person seemed to be bent over a table drawing talismans. Holding a brush, they glanced at her sideways before returning their focus to the drawing.
"Qin... Senior Brother?" She clutched her head, feeling like she had forgotten something. As she uttered this form of address, a thought flashed through her mind—was this really Qin Senior Brother?
But if it wasn't Qin Xi, who else could it be?
Mo Tiange got out of bed. "Qin Senior Brother, we..."
"We should go."
Qin Xi stood up. In an instant, he carried her up into the sky. "Junior Brother Ye, your Second Uncle has already entrusted you to my care."
"I..." She couldn't speak, only feeling that everything before her eyes was wrong.
Upon reaching Taikang Mountain, Qin Xi brought her down. He turned his head and smiled gently. "Don't be afraid. With me here, I will naturally ensure your safety. Cultivate well. One day, when you form your Core, I can report to our Patriarch and have our union blessed."
"Blessed?"
"Yes. Your Second Uncle has already agreed to let you become my cultivation partner. When you form your Core, that promise will be fulfilled."
"Impossible..." She was speechless. No, this was really wrong.
Qin Xi still looked at her affectionately. "Don't you want to?"
But Mo Tiange turned her head away, muttering softly, "This is absolutely impossible. Qin... Uncle-Master..."
She didn't have the courage to look up, but she sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy. In that instant, she dodged an attack. Turning her head, she saw Wei Jiasi's twisted face, her eyes filled with rage.
"Senior Martial Sister Wei!" she cried out. "What are you doing?"
Wei Jiasi seemed not to hear her at all. With a cold laugh, she brought her palms together, and a water arrow shot from her hands.
Mo Tiange dodged awkwardly. She turned to look at Qin Xi, hoping he would intervene, but saw Qin Xi watching their fight with a detached smile. That smile held no warmth, only a chilling eeriness.
"Senior Martial Sister Wei!" She hurriedly tried to retrieve a Magical Tool, only to find her Qiankun Bag wasn't on her! She looked at Wei Jiasi, who also had no Magical Tool in hand but was attacking her with ferocious intensity.
"Senior Martial Sister Wei, have you gone mad?"
Wei Jiasi stopped her attack, but her gaze grew even more terrifying. "I knew long ago I couldn't let you stay. You want to steal Uncle-Master away. No, I will never allow it!"
A sudden chill pierced her chest. She shuddered, and a clear sensation surfaced in her mind.
No, this was really wrong! Qin Xi would never say such things to her, would never maliciously toy with a junior disciple. Senior Martial Sister Wei would never try to take her life over personal jealousy.
False. This was all false!
A sharp pain shot through her head. Before she could parry Wei Jiasi's spell, she felt a pain in her arm. The scene before her eyes rippled like water, the waves growing more and more violent until they finally shattered into pieces.
They were near the Yu Family of the Danding Sect, not on Taikang Mountain.
The moment she awoke from the Illusion, Mo Tiange immediately rolled aside to evade Wei Jiasi's attack. Her White Silk Handkerchief shot out, completely blocking Wei Jiasi's assault. She then retrieved a Beast-Binding Rope, used for capturing spirit beasts, from her Qiankun Bag and easily tied up Wei Jiasi, who had lost her senses and was only blindly casting spells.
Putting away the White Silk Handkerchief, Mo Tiange let out a sigh of relief. She looked around. That jade stone flake had fallen to the ground and was now shattered—what exactly was this thing, that it could cause two Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators like her and Wei Jiasi to simultaneously experience Illusions! Moreover, what she experienced each time was something beautiful being brutally torn apart just when she felt it was wonderful. Was it the same for Wei Jiasi? Was that why, when they were in the same Illusion at the end, Wei Jiasi's mind could no longer hold on and she attacked?
A wave of belated fear washed over her. If she hadn't reached a state where she was no longer prone to Qi Deviation, and if she didn't have the Spirit-Concealing Pendant that had been refined again by Zhong Muling, she probably would have...
"Let me go!" Wei Jiasi's expression was terrifying, her gaze filled with such hatred it seemed she wished Mo Tiange dead. Who knew what she had seen in her Illusion.
Mo Tiange walked forward, took a pill from her Qiankun Bag, and tossed it into Wei Jiasi's mouth.
"Let... go..." Wei Jiasi's eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment, carefully collected some of the shattered jade fragments, helped Wei Jiasi up, and flew towards the Yu Family.
On the way, she saw Luo Fengxue and a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Yu Family in the distance. The four of them returned to the Yu Family together.
After settling Wei Jiasi, Han Qingyu came out of the room. The two people in the courtyard immediately fixed their eyes on her.
Han Qingyu smiled and said, "It's fine. Second Junior Sister is just exhausted. Let her rest. She'll be fine when she wakes up."
Mo Tiange finally felt relieved and asked, "Senior Sister Han, what exactly happened? Why did Senior Martial Sister Wei and I both experience Illusions when we saw that thing?"
Han Qingyu shook her head. "I don't recognize that thing either. However, the variety of spiritual objects in the world is beyond our imagination. That item was hidden with the Demon Beasts, perhaps from the southern forest, which we don't understand."
What Han Qingyu said made sense. Countless Demon Beasts lived in the southern forest. Some things there were familiar to human cultivators, but others were known only to the beasts living there.
"But that item was miraculous, definitely not ordinary. It's a pity it shattered. If it were still intact, it might have been made into some kind of Magical Treasure. Ah!"
Hearing Luo Fengxue's words, Han Qingyu rapped her on the head and laughed. "That item shattered as soon as it took effect, showing it could only be used once. Even if it were made into a Magical Treasure, what good would it be? Stop daydreaming."
Luo Fengxue was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "That's true."
"Alright," Han Qingyu said seriously. "Tian Ge, you said you and Second Junior Sister went to investigate and only found that wolf and that bei, correct? There were no other demonic creatures?"
Mo Tiange nodded. "That's right. That bei demon actually knew how to use a Spirit Concealment Formation, which is why we sometimes couldn't sense spiritual energy fluctuations. After they died, I truly didn't sense any more demonic aura. Also, their corpses both had injuries. I guess they were injured and abandoned here by their original pack. The bei, being naturally intelligent, was afraid their solitary demonic aura would be detected by us, so it deliberately did this..."
"Your reasoning is quite sound." Mo Tiange had brought back the two Demon Beast corpses, which Han Qingyu had also seen. She had drawn the same inference. However, she still felt something was off. "But why did the other Demon Beasts retreat? They withdrew as soon as we arrived. That's not the intelligence of ordinary Demon Beasts. Even a naturally clever bei couldn't make such a decision."
"Then what does Senior Sister Han mean..."
Han Qingyu smiled, her gaze deepening. "I'm afraid there's a high-rank Demon Beast coordinating from behind."
As these words left her mouth, Mo Tiange and Luo Fengxue exchanged a glance. Both their faces gradually paled, because they had both thought of one possibility!
Sending low-rank Demon Beasts to harass nearby families, forcing the Danding Sect to dispatch its cultivators, then launching a counterattack...