The moon was obscured by clouds as the moonlight painted the desert sand white. The desolate, cold wind never ceased.
On the flying sword, Gu Mingxin's black robe fluttered in the wind, and her red eyes under the messy bangs reflected the endless sand in front of her, alert to any disturbance within a hundred miles.
She was not flying very fast, mainly waiting for Xue'e.
Gu Mingxin didn't personally see Fu Yuanhua killed by the Demon King, so after she took He Jiming away from the place where Feng Yu Die was, she asked Xue'e to fly over there to take a look.
Even though she knew that Elder Fu's chances of survival were slim...
But, what if?!
What if the Demon King didn't want to provoke the demonic cultivators, so he didn't kill the Elders?
Or maybe Elder Fu had some hidden magic weapon that allowed her to survive the Demon King's fox teeth?
What if...
Gu Mingxin still had a glimmer of hope in her heart, hoping that Xue'e would bring her good news. As long as Fu Yuanhua was still alive, her master would not do anything to her after she returned to the Heavenly Demon Sect.
Gu Mingxin believed from the beginning to the end that Master Yu Yan really treated her like his own daughter.
If a Heavenly Demon Sect cultivator made a big mistake, he would be thrown into the blood pool and refined into a blood pill to help those useful disciples increase their cultivation and strength.
She had already made two big mistakes, but Master Yu Yan still gave her a chance.
Gu Mingxin still remembered the scene when she met Master Yu Yan for the first time.
That day, a blood-red rain fell in the Eastern Region, and at the tender age of five, she was huddled in the corner of a dilapidated thatched hut that was piled with rotting corpses. She almost fainted because she hadn't found fresh food for three days, and Xue'e kept nagging in her ear, reminding her not to fall asleep and that she would have food if she held on for a while...
Then, a man wearing a mask walked into the house and found her curled up in the corner. He carried her back to the Heavenly Demon Sect and gave her endless amounts of delicious food.
It was thanks to Master Yu Yan that she no longer had to sleep in the open air under the bloody rain in the Eastern Region and worry about food and water...
It was also Master Yu Yan who taught her the sword tactics, helped her practice with the blood pills made by other disciples, and gave her the status of the Young Miss of the Heavenly Demon Sect...
Gu Mingxin had always worshiped her master. In order not to disappoint him, she had been practicing sword techniques all night long and would always be ranked first in the Heavenly Demon Sect's sword examinations.
While she was in the Foundation Building stage, she killed countless Core Formation disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect. She had also helped the Heavenly Demon Sect kill the immortal cultivators who had been sent to the Eastern Region to gather information.
Gu Mingxin wanted to return to the Heavenly Demon Sect and continue helping her master.
However, it was as if the heavens were trying to prevent her from staying there.
In the beginning, someone had leaked information about her to Ye Anping in the Central Region incident. As a result, Ye Anping ambushed and defeated her the moment she entered Heavenly Gate City...
In the Northern Region, someone leaked her information to Ye Anping again, causing her, Wu Tianci, and the others to be hunted down by a group of bounty hunters from the black market of the Cold Country. Moreover, at the last moment, the black python had clearly knocked down Feng Yu Die's golden dragon. Even if Ye Anping came and joined forces with Feng Yu Die, he would never be able to defeat her, but just then, Jiang Mojiao, that loser, ran over...
As for the Eastern Great Wall incident, Ye Anping knew that she was here from the beginning. At that time, he even played a rift in the Brilliance City, which almost made Fu Yuanhua suspect her...
...
Gu Mingxin closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. At this moment, she finally understood what was going on.
She didn't believe that all of this was heaven's will.
The problem was with Ye Anping. How did Ye Anping always know where she was and what the demonic cultivators wanted to do?
Gu Mingxin admitted that Ye Anping was indeed very powerful, and Feng Yu Die was also boosted by his presence.
However, if Ye Anping had not received information in advance, he would never have been able to strategize to such an extent.
In her opinion, the invitation of the Central Region's Justice Division, the pursuit of the black market goons in the Cold Country, and even the intervention of the Demon King, were all too coincidental.
The Heavenly Dao Scroll?
Impossible!
The Heavenly Dao Scroll could never tell him so much, and that golden spirit was even dumber than her Xue'e...
The only possibility was that someone from the Heavenly Demon Sect was still informing him even after her master had cleansed the sect twice.
Moreover, this person's status was definitely not low...
Thinking of this, Gu Mingxin already had an answer.
"Let's go back first. If it doesn't work, then we'll leave."
"Then don't be stupid and go back directly. When the time comes, let He Jiming go back first, and you wait outside the Heavenly Demon Sect. I will follow He Jiming to Yu Yan, and if his reaction is not right, we will escape... Otherwise, if Yu Yan doesn't believe it, you won't be able to get out..."
Gu Mingxin rolled her eyes, indicating that she was not stupid. She glanced at He Jiming behind her and accelerated, leading him toward the Eastern Great Wall.
However...
After the two of them traveled toward the east for about two hundred miles, suddenly, the cry of a crane reached their ears from above.
Liii--!
Under the clouds and the moon, a red-crowned crane emitting an elongated white light spread its wings and flew behind them, its white feathers trailing with a glow in the night sky...
Gu Mingxin vaguely remembered that only the stupid and insipid upstarts of the Immortal Family would ride such expensive and useless mounts. She narrowed her eyes at the two people on the red-crowned crane, wondering why there were still people riding cranes over the desert.
However, at the sight of a black-haired girl sitting behind an elderly cultivator on the crane's back and scanning the surroundings, she instantly felt her heart tighten.
Wasn't that one of those who followed Ye Anping? What's her name again... It seemed she was his younger sister...
Could it be that Ye Anping sent her to hunt her down?
Did this mean that he wanted to kill her...
Gu Mingxin felt a little strange and slowly stopped the flying sword. She waved her hand to stop He Jiming behind her and prepared to detour away from the red-crowned crane.
However, at this moment, the brown-black long-haired girl seemed to have seen them too. She turned her eyes to them and stopped moving. Then, she jumped down from the crane's back and approached them on her flying sword fast.
Gu Mingxin gritted her teeth and quickly gave a warning.
"He Jiming! Stand aside and protect yourself."
...
Among the remaining clouds, Ye Ao controlled the red-crowned crane under his butt and searched along the route Feng Yu Die and the others followed on the map. They didn't know where they encountered the accident, so they had to choose a random spot and then follow the route on the map.
"Little Pei, we have searched for two thousand miles and didn't see a single figure. Are you sure they took this road?"
"Well... I think so."
Pei Lianxue, who was sitting behind Ye Ao, nodded slightly as she looked around, her clear eyes picking up the slightest movement in the yellow sand below.
Ye Ao stroked his fake beard and asked, "By the way, Little Pei, when are you going to hold your dual cultivation ceremony with Anping? Do you want to make it grand and invite all the sects around, or just hold a banquet in Hundred Lotus Sect? Any ideas?"
"Well... I'll listen to my brother."
"Why listen to him? These things were arranged by you girls. Back then, my wife and I had a great ceremony...
"Master Ye! Wait a minute!"
"Eh?"
Pei Lianxue suddenly interrupted him, confusing Ye Ao. He looked back at her. "What's wrong?"
She pointed at two flying swords that were just two dots in her eyes, about ten miles away. "That's the one called Gu Mingxin that Brother fought before. I don't know the person beside her."
"Hmm? Gu... Gu Mingxin?"
Ye Ao had never heard Ye Anping mention this. He narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction she was pointing, then used the Distant Vision technique to get a closer look. When he saw that there were two demonic cultivators at the Core Formation stage, he couldn't help but take a sharp breath.
He hadn't fought for hundreds of years, and the opponents were two demonic cultivators of the same level. Ye Ao was a little nervous, but the ten or so high-priced magic treasures in his storage bag gave him a lot of confidence.
"Wow... two Core Formation stage demonic cultivators. Little Pei, should we go over or... hey?"
Ye Ao originally wanted to show off his authority as the Patriarch of a sect in front of Pei Lianxue, but when he was halfway through his words, he saw her jump down from behind him, then summon her flying sword and rush straight toward the two black spots.
"Hiss-- Hey! Little Pei, wait a minute..."
Seeing that Pei Lianxue didn't stop at his shout, Ye Ao felt helpless. He quickly stood up and summoned his flying sword. He then looked at the red-crowned crane and said, "Stay here, don't go over there. You cost me eight hundred and eighty thousand spirit stones..."
The red-crowned crane, feeling that it was being objectified, was a little unhappy. It immediately pooped in protest, turned around, and flew in another direction while Ye Ao hurriedly chased after Pei Lianxue...
"Lianxue! Slow down... Why are you in such a hurry? It's just a battle between Core Formation stage cultivators... that's all."
Seeing Pei Lianxue getting further and further away from him, Ye Ao sighed lightly, waved his sleeve, and took out seven or eight magic tools and a dozen talismans from his storage bag. He silently recited the incantation and formed a hand seal, giving himself a buff...