After the two of them locked eyes for a moment in the silence of the room, Yunxi rolled her eyes inwardly. In the end, she still gave Lu Zhihui enough face and cupped her hands politely toward him.
"Ran Xi greets the Deer Beast King."
Only then did Lu Zhihui withdraw his heavy pressure. He swept a glance at Bing Li, who was hiding nervously behind Yunxi, before he finally spoke.
"What happened earlier in the Wolong Mountain Range wasn't this Lord's intention. However, this Lord suspects the abnormality in my body has something to do with Han Qingwen, the one you brought into the central area."
Yunxi could understand his suspicion, but she wasn't going to take the blame for the incident. She first invited Lu Zhihui to sit at the table, then she explained the matter of the evil seed in great detail. In the end, she summarized the situation calmly.
"If the Deer Beast King's abnormality was related to Han Qingwen, then since he has already been killed, the evil seed in your body naturally wouldn't be under his control anymore, and you wouldn't experience what happened last time again.
But for Han Qingwen to plant an evil seed in you without you noticing at all, this junior thinks the possibility is extremely low, especially since your cultivation is above his.
Also, at the time, he was trapped by this junior's formation and never even had a chance to meet you. I don't believe he had the ability to implant an evil seed from such a distance.
The most important point is that an evil seed is a wisp of divine soul split from an evil cultivator's own divine soul. It can only be planted without detection through dual cultivation. So the chance that Han Qingwen did it is extremely small."
Bing Li nodded repeatedly as he listened. Back then, when he was still Yunpo, he had been right by Lu Zhihui's side. If Han Qingwen had done anything to him, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed it.
After hearing her analysis, Lu Zhihui's expression eased slightly, but his brows furrowed even tighter. After a moment, he looked up at her. "Chen Daoyou said you're half an inheritor of Yixian Gate. Can you help this Lord see where the problem really is?"
Even though he didn't want to admit it, Lu Zhihui knew the pretty female cultivator in front of him truly had real skill. She wasn't as harmless as she looked; otherwise, she wouldn't have ended up on the evil cultivators' kill list. Since that's the case, he brought the matter up directly.
Yunxi had already prepared herself mentally for this request. She also wanted to know why he had been controlled by an evil soul, so she nodded.
"In that case, Ran Xi will be presumptuous. I hope the Beast King won't resist my examination."
He nodded and extended his wrist toward her across the table.
Yunxi turned her spiritual energy into fine threads and sent them into his body. They slowly circulated through his extraordinary meridians and eight channels, finally reaching his beast core.
Lu Zhihui's beast core was milky white and glowed softly. Inside it was a petite Nine-Winged Deer in its original form. Yunxi wanted to approach and examine it more closely, but a halo of light around the beast core forcefully pushed her away. That was an instinct of all beast cultivators. Their beast core was equivalent to a human cultivator's divine soul, something they instinctively refused to have touched by others.
Yunxi didn't force the connection. She withdrew the threads of spiritual energy and looked at Lu Zhihui with a grave expression.
He had already sensed her intention to check his inner core. Seeing her frown now, he asked her directly.
"Did you find something abnormal?"
Yunxi considered her wording for a moment, then she spoke. "Beast King, there's no abnormality in your meridians for now. The problem should lie in your inner core."
His gaze darkened as he heard this. "Ran Xi Xiaoyou, are you certain? You didn't touch this Lord's inner core just now."
Yunxi replied evenly, her voice steady. "This junior indeed didn't touch your inner core, but I saw a wisp of black qi moving on it."
He immediately closed his eyes and sank his divine sense into his own inner core, but he found nothing unusual. He opened his eyes again. "This Lord didn't discover the black qi you mentioned."
Yunxi spread her hands in a simple gesture. "Beast King, if it were that easy for you to detect, you wouldn't have been controlled without realizing it in the first place."
This time, Lu Zhihui didn't refute her. He didn't want to experience that loss of control again. After weighing the matter for a while, he asked. "Do you have a way to remove that wisp of black qi?"
Yunxi nodded. "There's a method, but I'm afraid the Beast King will have to endure some suffering. I also don't have complete confidence in removing that black qi. Beast King, are you willing to try?"
She wouldn't speak too absolutely about the outcome. What if the procedure failed?
He thought for a moment before he replied. "In that case, come back to the Wolong Mountain Range with this Lord. I have a safe place there that's suitable for you to act, and you won't be disturbed by others."
He was extremely cautious about his safety. His inner core was ninth-rank. Whether beast cultivator or human cultivator, anyone who obtained it would gain tremendous benefit. Yixian Gate was human cultivator territory, and he didn't feel at ease healing there. Bringing Yunxi to his own territory was safer for him. If she really had other intentions, he could still handle the situation.
Yunxi didn't mind the change in location. Eliminating the hidden danger came first. Her methods also wouldn't be as gentle as Chen Yebai Zhēnzūn's, so she nodded readily.
"Alright. Since it concerns the Beast King's inner core, caution is only natural."
Bing Li's eyes spun, and he spoke up from the side.
"Deer Beast King, since I already know about this matter, I will accompany Ran Xi Zūnshàng to the Wolong Mountain Range. That way, news won't leak out, and I can also stand guard for you."
Lu Zhihui nodded in agreement. The fewer people who knew about him removing a hidden danger, the better; that way, no one with ill intent could take advantage of it.
Since everything was settled, he didn't dawdle. He directly swept Ran Xi and Bing Li away and left Yixian Gate. Before leaving, he sent a transmission talisman to Chen Yebai, so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding about their departure.
After receiving the message, Chen Yebai Zhēnzūn's hand tightened on his beard, and he plucked one strand out in his worry. His face was full of helplessness. He felt that both Lu Zhihui and Ran Xi were a bit unreliable in their actions.
Lu Zhihui hadn't even discussed the plan with him before taking her away. She was someone he had forcibly kept at Yixian Gate. If something went wrong, he wouldn't know how to explain it to Hao Ran Zhēnzūn.
As for Ran Xi, she had boldly followed him to the Wolong Mountain Range. What if she got trapped there? No matter how gentle and easy to talk to he seemed, he was still a ninth-rank Beast King. If a conflict really broke out, even Chen Yebai wouldn't be his match.
He could only inform Hua Ye and Yuan Shuang about the matter. If something really happened to her, at least someone could go fish her out.
After hearing it, Hua Ye laughed.
"Since the Deer Beast King is being this cautious, Ran Xi must have found the abnormality on him. Still, I'm quite curious why he didn't come ask Chen Daoyou to act."
Yuan Shuang burst out laughing at the thought.
"Isn't that obvious? It's because Ran Xi can completely eradicate the hidden danger on him, so he didn't trouble Chen Daoyou. Besides, Chen Daoyou is a Mahayana cultivator, while Ran Xi is only at the Unity realm. Lu Zhihui isn't afraid she will pull tricks. After all, his cultivation suppresses hers."
Some things didn't need to be said outright in the Spirit Realm. Those who understood, understood. Even though he had coexisted peacefully with human cultivators for years, he was still a beast cultivator. Just like the beast tide triggered by this accident, human cultivators had ultimately suffered losses. Even though the cause lay with evil cultivators, mutual wariness was only natural.
Chen Yebai stroked his long beard, his thoughts racing.
"In that case, let's wait and see what happens."
Just then, You Zisang flashed into the great hall.