The sky was dotted with stars, and silver-white moonlight shone over the mountains and forests.
The Justice Division officers, wearing their golden robes, performed a blanket search in the mountains and forests outside the eastern part of the city. From afar, the light of their swords looked like fireflies circling in the mountains.
"Sir, we didn't find her in the east."
"We've been searching for three hours and couldn't find anything, which means she has probably escaped. I think she should have some kind of magic treasure or something. The city guard sent an order to gather the troops and dispatch a night watch at the east gate. Keep your eyes sharp these days."
"Yes, sir..."
...
The men's voices were very close. Gu Mingxin, who was leaning against an unknown tree and holding her breath, finally sighed in relief after hearing these words.
Floating cross-legged above her head, Xue'e used her spiritual sense to keep watch on their surroundings. When she saw that all the officers nearby had retreated, she floated down from the sky.
"Mingxin, they're gone."
"Alright."
Gu Mingxin nodded faintly, and, with gritted teeth, she raised her hand and pulled open her collar.
The silver-white moonlight shone on the pale chest, shaped with two soft full moons, and above the two full moons, there was a crossed wound that was still bleeding.
In her mind, she recalled the two people she had fought with before.
The silver-haired girl was indeed formidable, but perhaps because she already had high expectations, she was not surprised.
After all, she was the bloodline of the Holy Emperor and the owner of the Heavenly Dao Scroll. It would be strange if she were easy to deal with.
However, the other person who was cooperating with her at the time...
The girl with long dark brown hair and amber eyes.
Gu Ming thought for a while, then uttered a number. "Seventy percent."
Although there were only two words, Xue'e understood what she was talking about.
Gu Mingxin was talking about her chances of winning a solo fight with the amber-eyed woman without relying on Xue'e.
Slightly helpless, Xue'e comforted her. "Mingxin, you have me, but that girl doesn't. If we meet her again in the future, I'll just let Python swallow her up. Don't think too much."
"..."
Gu Mingxin bit her lip, a little reluctant. Recalling Liang Xiaoliu's face in her mind, her body gradually relaxed.
In terms of strength, "Liang Xiaoliu" was definitely no match for her, but...
"Impressive."
"Who? The handsome guy?"
"Yes, every step I took was calculated by him, as if no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't escape from his grasp." Gu Mingxin slowly narrowed her eyes and covered her shoulders, lowering her head.
"It's like being with master... I can't escape no matter what. This feeling... is amazing."
Halfway through the words, Gu Mingxin blinked subconsciously.
However, in that blink of an eye, the little girl, who was about twenty steps away from her, teleported to her in an instant and almost pressed her face against hers.
Those huge yin and yang eyes seemed to suck her in, causing her to scream uncontrollably and fall on her ass.
"Aaah!!!"
However, when she raised her head to look at the little girl, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Mingxin, on your hand..."
"Huh?"
Gu Mingxin was stunned for a moment. She lowered her head and looked down, only to find that there was an unexpected jade bell on her left hand with the pattern of "Nine Dragons facing the Phoenix" engraved on its top.
"A bell? Did that girl just give it to me?"
"..."
Xue'e looked at the bell, then waved her hand, taking out a thick book that was bigger than her. She quickly flipped through it, but after searching for a long time, she still couldn't confirm what the bell was.
"The Soul Summoning Bell... the Heavenly Returning Bell... I can't tell what kind of bell it is. Mingxin, I suggest you throw it away."
Gu Mingxin glanced around silently and found that the parrot was also missing. Finally, her eyes returned to the bell on her left hand.
To be honest, she really wanted to get rid of it, but her intuition told her that if she just threw it away now, she might just cause more problems.
"I'll throw it away when I go back to the Eastern Region. I feel like if I throw it away now, I might encounter some disaster. The little girl just now was too weird. Who knows what strange thing is in it."
"Fine..."
Gu Mingxin took a deep breath and, using the sword as a crutch, limped into the deep forest. Her figure disappeared in the shadows of the trees in a short while.
She didn't notice, and neither did Xue'e.
In the direction of the full moon above the two of them, the strange little girl who had just given them the bell, was hanging upside down in the air, her fairy clothes fluttering in the wind.
Si Xuanji watched Gu Mingxin walking toward the deep forest and then looked up at the moon in the sky.
The full moon was imprinted in her yin and yang eyes, but it was colored after them, with the left eye reflecting a silver moon while in the right eye, there was a black moon.
"Weird thing!! Weird thing!!"
The parrot, who was standing on Si Xuanji's shoulder, looked at her as it said this.
Si Xuanji's gaze slowly turned toward it, her eyes slightly cold. "What was that?"
The parrot was stunned for a moment, then quickly turned its head in the direction Gu Mingxin left, saying, "She said it! She said it!"
"... Forget it." Si Xuanji shook her head before looking back in the direction of Heavenly Gate City. "Hey, do you think that silly girl can live up to the expectations?"
"Angry!! So angry!!"
Si Xuanji sighed. "I guess so, hehe--"