Yunxi withdrew the Soul Capturing Mirror with satisfaction. Watching the evil soul rampage inside the mirror, Yunxi flicked in a thread of soul power and "isolated" it. She would soul-search it later. Yunxi wanted to see exactly what scheme the evil cultivators had prepared against her this time.
Cen Sen watched Yunxi's clean, decisive sequence of moves and felt she might be a little too efficient. Only when the two bodies borrowed by the evil cultivators had turned to ash did Yunxi retract her domain.
When the two of them appeared before the crowd again, the two anxious deputies who had been waiting at the side hurried up to meet them.
Yunxi said to Cen Sen, "The body has been recovered. Captain Cen, I will trouble you to handle the rest of the investigation. This Lord will take her leave first."
With that, Yunxi left without the slightest hesitation.
Cen Sen wanted to keep her, but lacked the ability. In the end, he could only watch Ran Xi disappear before his eyes.
The two deputies stepped forward at once. "Captain, what happened?"
Cen Sen briefly explained how Mu Zijun's body had been recovered, then issued orders, "I am going to the City Lord's Manor to report. Do not open the city gates yet. You two, immediately trace the movements of that middle-aged cultivator. Find out everyone he contacted. If there are any suspects, bring them all to the City Guard Office first.
And most importantly, check every City Guard member who had contact with Mu Zijun's corpse. There must be an accomplice among us, or else no one could have walked that body out from under our eyelids."
Cen Sen's teeth were clenched on the last sentence. This was like throwing the City Guard's face to the ground and trampling it. He had zero tolerance for traitors.
"Yes, Captain."
The two deputies exchanged a look, turned on their heels, and went to carry out the orders.
Cen Sen did not delay at all and headed straight for the City Lord's Manor.
Yunxi, already departed, had entered Chong'an Mountain. Here there were only mountains, but every peak exposed a different color. Some peaks were earth yellow with not a hint of green. Some were black and gave off a sinister, eerie feeling. There were also green, gold, and white peaks, each with a different atmosphere.
A sweep of Yunxi's divine sense told her these peaks were expressions of the Five Elements, which was why their exposed colors differed. Each mountain hosted spiritual plants and beasts corresponding to its attribute. It was indeed an excellent place to temper oneself.
After leaving Chong'an City, Yunxi used the Glazed Jade Mask to change her face, put on the custom high-grade robe, and suppressed her cultivation to late Out-of-Body. She then ascended a black mountain. The ghostly chill suited ghost cultivator training very well.
Inside the mountain, she encountered a few human cultivators clearly there to pick yin-attributed spiritual plants. They nodded from afar in greeting, then kept their distance, each side intent on not disturbing the other.
Yunxi chose a rock crevice as a temporary foothold. After setting down an isolation formation plate, she took out the Soul Capturing Mirror. She still intended to perform a soul search.
The moment the evil cultivator's spirit left the mirror, it began to burn, clearly trying to use a secret art to escape. Yunxi's eyes hardened. A Soul Thorn lanced into the spirit. With a scream, the secret art failed, and the spirit exploded on the spot.
Yunxi had to withdraw from the isolation formation and muttered in annoyance, "So ruthless. Better to self-destruct than be soul-searched. Very good."
What Yunxi did not know was that after the evil cultivators had been repeatedly frustrated in the Weiyu Realm, often directly or indirectly losing to her, they had reached a tacit agreement among themselves. If captured by Ran Xi and escape proved impossible, then self-detonate and injure her if possible. In any case, never allow Ran Xi to learn anything of their plans.
After so many overt and covert clashes, the evil cultivators all felt that Ran Xi was unnervingly uncanny. She could follow the faintest thread and bite down on them, and most importantly, she had the strength to ruin their schemes.
When the Weiyu Realm ascended as a whole, they felt it was their chance to eliminate Ran Xi. Instead, under countless watching eyes, she broke through and leapt two stages. After that, with a Mahayana Zhēnzūn sheltering her, she stayed in the sect lands once they left the Weiyu Realm's territory, giving them no chance to strike.
Now that they had finally discovered Ran Xi's trail, not only did they fail to complete the mission, they even had their souls forcibly detained. The evil cultivators were furious. So the instant this one slipped control, he burned his soul to flee.
But Ran Xi was even more ruthless than the evil cultivators. She went straight for annihilation. He could only self-detonate. If he injured Ran Xi, that would be a profit.
The force of a spirit's self-destruction was not small. The isolation formation held for only two breaths before shattering. Yunxi had already retreated to a safe distance. Only after the aftershock dissipated did she put away the shattered formation plate. Then her figure flashed as she left the spot to choose a new foothold.
Not long after Yunxi left, a tall figure appeared before the rock crevice where Yunxi had paused. His cultivation was early Unity. He cast a Spirit-Seeking Art, obtained the answer he wanted, and flashed away.
Having learned nothing useful from the evil cultivator, Yunxi walked toward the inner reaches of Chong'an Mountain. Since she was already here, she would train properly and see if there were any treasures at the mountain's heart.
On the twentieth day, Yunxi reached the central area, only to be trapped by a group of moving rocks.
At first, Yunxi thought she had entered a maze formation. A day later, she realized she had judged wrong. She was being trapped by "living rocks."
Under her divine sense, these gray-black rocks shifted positions to confuse her, step by step guiding her toward a specific place.
Yunxi watched their every move with divine sense and saw it all clearly. Curious what the "living rocks" intended, she did not expose them. Instead, she followed their lead toward the designated direction.
After circling countless times, she finally passed through a barrier and entered another space.
Seeing the green mountains and fields, Yunxi drew in a deep breath and slowly released her divine sense. In the next instant, a graceful young maiden approached, offered a polite bow, and said,"Welcome, honored guest, to Yan Shi Village. Please, come inside."
Yunxi glanced at the maiden's coarse clothes and humble hairpin, then nodded. She was already inside. She might as well learn these "people's" purpose.
Inside the so-called Yan Shi Village, Yunxi finally saw figures. When they noticed Yunxi, the people warily avoided her and pulled away the children who wanted to gawk.
Someone greeted the guide proactively, "Xiao Meng, have we a guest?"
"Yes. The Ancestor asked me to bring the guest to see him."
The tall man who had spoken gave Yunxi a look, then warned, "Be careful, do not let yourself be tricked."
"Rest easy, Uncle Yan Five. I understand."
With that, Xiao Meng quickened her pace toward the village center.
Yunxi's steps remained unhurried, yet she did not fall behind. She felt an inexplicable hostility from the people of Yan Shi Village. Yunxi did not recall ever offending these "people."
"Honored guest, we have arrived."