The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 212 Many members of the Xuan Clan are cowards who are afraid of death.
The name "Deadly Hill" comes from the fact that over a hundred years ago, this place was a prosperous town. However, a massive earthquake and subsequent wildfire buried more than 20,000 people. The devastating earthquake shifted the mountainside, making the area treacherous, overgrown with trees, and filled with the stench of the dead and the pervasive miasma. Once lost, it was impossible to find one again, hence the ominous name "Deadly Hill," inspiring fear and dread.

Having explored this far, the Xuan Clan members were hesitant to venture deeper. Firstly, it was already night, and the terrain was treacherous, making it difficult to discern the way at night. Secondly, the area was shrouded in miasma and heavy with yin energy, and they feared that losing their own people inside would be a greater loss than a gain.

Gong Si, however, was somewhat anxious. Holding the compass with its needle spinning wildly, he said, "The compass has already shown the direction. In a few more hours, we will enter the Upper Yuan, which is the same time as the divination result of our clan's young master. The Great Evil will descend upon the world on the night of the full moon. We don't have much time left. Shouldn't we find that zombie first?"

“Fellow Daoist Jingyi, it is the Lantern Festival, and there are still at least a dozen hours until the full moon. Now that we have found the place indicated by the divination, we can wait until dawn before going deeper into the forest.” A disciple of the Feng family surnamed Zhao said, “It is already dark. The forest here is lush and the miasma is thick. If we risk going forward, we may injure ourselves. When we face the zombies, we may be at a disadvantage.”

“That’s right. Although we’ve all taken pills, it’s already winter, and the miasma in this Deadly Ridge still hasn’t dissipated, showing how dense it is. The yin energy inside is also heavy, so we can’t be reckless.” An elder from the Rong family also chimed in, saying, “Where there is miasma, there is bound to be swamp. If we rush in, we’ll easily get stuck in the swamp and won’t be able to get out. If we’re all trapped in there, wouldn’t we become trapped beasts, delaying our progress and allowing the zombie to escape?”

"Yes, yes, it's just a mere zombie. There are dozens of us, we're sure it can't escape. There's no need to rush."

"Anyway, there's still a long way to go until the full moon."

"Even if we are not afraid of death, we cannot just throw our lives away in vain."

"That's right, even if you take the pill, you're not immune to all poisons."

"Actually, we've been searching along the waterways for the past few days without sleep, and the compass has shown that we've sometimes gone the wrong way."

Everyone echoed their agreement, but their tone carried a hint of resentment.

Gong Si's face was as gloomy as the night, and he felt a sense of disdain. This was the current state of the Xuan Clan. Compared to the truly enlightened masters of a hundred years ago who dared to protect the common people without fear, they were far inferior.

The Gong family also had ten disciples who came with Gong Si. Some of them were of lower cultivation than Gong Si, but they were more hot-tempered. Upon hearing these words, they snorted coldly: "Want to die for nothing? What? Exterminating evil and protecting the righteous path is something that we should do without hesitation. Otherwise, what is the point of cultivating the righteous path? Is it to pretend to be a charlatan and swindle a few taels of silver from the common people? Or to swindle the rich out of their mansions and beautiful wives? How can you say such things? If you are afraid of death, you should have gone back to your clans and stayed in your warm homes, enjoying your heated beds and wine. Why bother coming here to be exposed to the north wind?"

"That's right. In the past few days, you've probably had your fill of the pills that our Senior Brother Jingyi gave you, haven't you? You even swallowed the detoxification pill before entering the forest. You didn't even say thank you, but all your sarcastic remarks were forced out by the poison pill. Who are you implying with those unpleasant words?"

"That's right, if I had any shame, I would have guzzled the pills out of my throat."

"Don't tell me you're just reluctant to part with it. It's made from top-quality medicinal herbs, who would be willing to spit it out?"

Several members of the Gong family started hurling insults at each other, but their words were actually sarcastic towards the person who had just made the sarcastic remarks.

Seeing the Gong family members bombarding him with their venomous words, as if they had been laced with arsenic, he felt both ashamed and embarrassed. Luckily, it was dark, so he couldn't see clearly, or he would have been mortified.

Those few people, however, did not know how to restrain themselves and got more and more excited as they talked. The people from the Feng and Rong families looked ugly and thought to themselves that these people must be hanging out with that little devil from the Gong family. They were so arrogant and spoke such harsh words. It was infuriating.

They all looked at the other person in the room, an elder of the royal family, with an air of otherworldly grace and extremely high seniority, whose Daoist name was Kongxuzi.

Kongxuzi, holding his whisk, merely lifted his eyelids slightly without uttering a word. Seeing this, the Gong family members became even more eager, wanting to say more, but Gong Si coughed and said to his disciples, "Fellow Daoists, you have all come to eliminate evil and uphold the righteous path, so you must not speak recklessly."

"Yes," Gong Jiazi said, but his expression was still disdainful.

Gong Si looked at the large group of people following him and said, "Although there are still more than ten hours until the divination result, the art of divination is never static, but rather subject to countless changes. Who knows if the divination result will change without our knowledge? Once the art changes, the evil spirits will have emerged, and we will be in a passive position."

Everyone was silent.

Kongxuzi nodded: "What Fellow Daoist Jingyi said is very true. The hexagram is like a person's face. Often, a single decision can change their appearance and their fate. We cannot rely entirely on the hexagram and wait for the time of explosion. Instead, we should seize the initiative, such as killing the zombie and preventing evil from growing."

Gong Si fully agreed, as did the rest of the Gong family. Obtaining a favorable hexagram meant they had the opportunity to seize the initiative and should use this opportunity to change the hexagram. But these people were waiting for the hexagram to come true.

After being repeatedly ridiculed, everyone was somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing this, Gong Si offered a way out: "What you fellow Daoists are worried about is indeed reasonable. This place is indeed dangerous, with heavy miasma and yin energy. How about we send a few people ahead to scout the way? I'll lead the way, who is willing to go!"

The disciples and followers of the Gong family naturally listened to their own people and responded enthusiastically.

Seeing this, the other families also couldn't stand idly by, and many more of their people came out.

"Since this is a reconnaissance mission, it's not advisable to have too many people. Ten people will be enough to look out for each other." Gong Si selected three people from his own family and two people from each of the other families.

Kongxuzi stood up, told one of the palace servants to retreat, and said, "This old Taoist will take advantage of my age and reserve a spot to scout ahead. Jingyi and I will explore ahead together, and you can wait here."

Upon hearing this, the faces of those people became even hotter.

Kong Xuzi is a member of the royal Tantai family. Although the Tantai family no longer refers to themselves as the Xuan clan in recent years, but instead calls themselves the royal family, they still have elders who are all truly capable. The one in front of him is one of them.

Now that he's out here, supposedly to scout ahead, doesn't that just make them look like they're afraid of death?

But the deed was done, and Kong Xuzi and Gong Si were already leading the way, heading deeper into the Deadly Ridge.

The other members of the Gong family rolled their eyes, sat down cross-legged on the spot, formed hand seals, and began cultivating. They were too lazy to look at these fame-seeking, cowardly people.

At that moment, a gust of cold wind swept by, making everyone's hair stand on end. They looked in the direction where Gong Si and the others had disappeared, and an ominous premonition arose.