Huoxuan dropped down onto the ground with a thud and complained to Arthur, "Then what am I supposed to do?! Think of a way for me!"
She was truly out of options now—her only choice was to rely on Arthur.
The more she thought about how massive a mess she'd caused for Shu Mountain, the more her head started to ache.
With her dual status as both the Refining Elder and the Alchemy Elder, the sect master likely wouldn't punish her too harshly…
But being confined for a few years—or even more than a decade—was practically guaranteed.
At that point, she might not even be allowed to step outside her room.
Arthur rubbed his chin. "I've got two methods. One conservative, one aggressive. Depends on which you want."
Huoxuan hadn't expected him to come up with solutions so quickly—two of them, at that.
Her eyes lit up. "That's why smart people are terrifying. Hurry, tell me!"
In truth, Huoxuan wasn't stupid.
She was just lazy about thinking. She preferred charging straight ahead and dealing with problems head-on.
Arthur said, "The conservative method is to destroy all of Kunlun's Recording Stones—"
Before he could finish, Huoxuan interrupted, "Didn't you just say that wouldn't work?"
"It won't work if you charge in like an idiot," Arthur snapped, rolling his eyes. "Stop cutting in and let me finish."
Huoxuan immediately mimed zipping her lips shut.
Arthur continued, "I have a friend. He possesses an extremely powerful invisibility artifact—rumor says it can even fool Death's eyes."
"I can borrow it for you. With that, you can sneak into Kunlun and destroy the Recording Stones without a problem."
The "friend" and "invisibility artifact" he meant, of course, were Harry and the Invisibility Cloak.
A true Deathly Hallows relic. Hiding from Kunlun's people would be effortless.
At that, Huoxuan silently raised her hand.
Arthur paused. "What now?"
Huoxuan said, "But… with how stubborn those Kunlun lot are, even without evidence, they'll still march to Shu Mountain demanding an explanation."
Arthur nodded, as if he'd already anticipated it. "Relax. I've prepared for that too. And that's where this little fellow comes in."
With a flick of his hand, Arthur summoned something from a corner of the Zen Garden.
A fist-sized cocoon—dark green, thorny, and unsettling—floated into his palm.
Huoxuan blinked. "What's that?"
She even poked it with her finger.
Arthur said calmly, "A Winged Demon. A magical creature that feeds on human brains. Its venom can erase memories. Mix a small amount into rainwater, and an entire city can forget a stretch of time."
Huoxuan didn't hear another word after "feeds on human brains."
She immediately scooted away from the cocoon, her expression turning instinctively repulsed.
Arthur sighed and reassured her, "Relax. This one has been tamed. Since it was born, it's never eaten a human brain—I've always substituted animal brains instead."
At most, it had eaten a few merperson brains.
Winged Demons fed on brains, yes—but their appetite was small. A single human-brain's worth could last them an entire month.
Most of the time, they stayed in hibernation, like the cocoon in Arthur's hand.
In truth, they could freely control their size. Fully unfolded, they resembled an enormous blue-green butterfly, even larger than an eagle.
Only after hearing that did Huoxuan slowly relax.
She was a cultivator, and she'd heard stories of demonic cultivators eating people…
But under the sect's protection, she'd never truly witnessed anything like that.
And she was still a girl—anything involving "eating brains" naturally triggered disgust and resistance.
Hermione and Ranni felt the same. They knew Arthur kept this Winged Demon too.
Its full form was beautiful.
But once you knew what it fed on, it was hard to want to get close.
Huoxuan returned to Arthur's side and asked, "Right—what were you saying after that?"
Arthur repeated himself. "All it takes is a little venom mixed into rain. Anything within the rain's coverage will lose a segment of memory."
And you could even roughly control what segment was erased.
As for the mechanism—don't ask.
Magic.
Magic-world business. Muggles mind their own.
Hearing the venom's effect, Huoxuan brightened—then quickly frowned again.
"But how do I make sure everyone in Kunlun gets rained on?" she asked. "They're not idiots—if it starts raining, they'll hide indoors."
Arthur didn't know whether Kunlun were idiots…
But he was starting to suspect Huoxuan might be.
She could think of people avoiding the rain, yet she missed the most crucial point.
Arthur said helplessly, "Did you forget? Kunlun's base is also a pocket realm. It has a spatial passage to the outside, but it's still a sealed environment."
"All you need is for the venom-laced rain to cover the entire area. Once it evaporates, the venom will diffuse into the air."
"As long as they breathe it in, the memory-erasure effect will still trigger."
Huoxuan froze.
Then her face lit with sudden realization.
So that was possible.
That truly would solve everything.
After a moment, Huoxuan asked curiously, "Then what's the aggressive method?"
Arthur's smile turned distinctly wicked. "That one's much simpler."
"You strike first."
"You bring Shu Mountain's sect master and elders straight to Kunlun and say you were cultivating near their territory, about to complete a breakthrough—"
"But because Kunlun attacked you for no reason, you nearly suffered Qi deviation."
"So now Shu Mountain has come to demand an explanation."
Huoxuan stared at him, dumbstruck.
She truly hadn't expected something so shameless to be an option.
"That's… isn't that just the villain suing first?" she asked, stunned.
"That's not how it works," Arthur said, shaking his head. "They attacked you first, for no reason. Why can't you demand an explanation?"
When he put it that way…
Huoxuan suddenly found it extremely convincing.
Right.
What had she done wrong?
She had only been testing Arthur's Magic Scepter near Kunlun, and she'd been attacked out of nowhere.
If Kunlun had sent someone to negotiate instead of throwing techniques at her like lunatics, none of this would've spiraled into a misunderstanding.
In the end, Huoxuan still leaned toward the first plan.
Because the second required dragging the sect master and elders into it—and she didn't want them knowing she'd snuck out to have fun.
She looked at Arthur. "I'm choosing the first method. When do we move?"
"As soon as possible," Arthur said. "Before Kunlun goes to Shu Mountain first."
Huoxuan nodded decisively. "Then we leave tonight."
Only then did Arthur realize she'd said we, not I.
He frowned. "Hold on. Why 'we'? When did I ever say I was going with you?"
Huoxuan looked at him like he was the idiot. "You came up with the whole plan. As the mastermind, shouldn't you participate?"
Hermione immediately ran over, eyes sparkling. "Can you take me too?"
Sneaking into Kunlun, destroying Recording Stones, making an entire sect forget—
Every part of it sounded more thrilling than the last. She wanted in.
Ranni also looked over with clear interest.
She didn't insist.
If Arthur brought her, great—she'd love to see how Kunlun's pocket realm compared to Shu Mountain's.
If he didn't, she could stay in the Zen Garden and try building the runic robot.
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Stop it. Do you really think Harry's invisibility cloak can hide that many people?"
But the moment he said the words "invisibility cloak," Arthur realized… he really did have to be involved.
Huoxuan wouldn't know how to properly activate it.
If she used it the way Harry did when it wasn't fully "engaged," she might be discovered before she even entered Kunlun's pocket realm.
Arthur thought it through, then said to Huoxuan, "I'll go borrow the invisibility artifact from my friend first. Tonight, I'll go with you."
Then he turned to Hermione and Ranni. "As for you two—wait in the Zen Garden for now. Once I confirm the surroundings are safe and we won't be detected, I'll call you out."
Hearing that Arthur was bringing her, Huoxuan punched his chest lightly and slung an arm around his shoulder, grinning. "That's my brother."
Arthur laughed helplessly.
A true tomboy—where was there even a trace of femininity in her?
No wonder she'd been single for so many years.
Hermione, meanwhile, was so excited she almost bounced. She patted her chest and promised she wouldn't drag anyone down.
Ranni remained as calm as ever.
But quietly, she pushed her runic-robot plan back a little in her mind.
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