After infiltrating the main characters' group, I became the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Click—"

The dry branches in the forest made a crisp sound as they were stepped on. Surrounded by trees, even the chirping of birds could be heard in the distance, but the voices of the three people talking were particularly clear.

"What exactly did you mean by that last sentence, 'Seeing is not necessarily believing'?"

Yue Zijin chewed on a blade of grass, looking around for any flaws.

Pei Yunlian leaned against a tree and shook her head: "Xiaguang Mountain is so big, even three hours might not be enough to search the entire mountain. If we start off in the wrong direction, we'll just be wasting our time."

Tangxi, who was marking the tree with a stone, threw the stone away upon hearing this and clapped her hands: "I don't think so. If Daoist Cangsong is looking for a destined person, he certainly wouldn't be so capricious as to rely solely on luck. Even if we went in the wrong direction at first, there must have been some clues along the way."

Yue Zijin raised her hand: "I agree with Tangxi's point of view."

Just as the group was about to continue forward, Tang Xi suddenly turned around and shouted, "Who goes there!"

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in her eyes as she surveyed her surroundings like a hawk, her hand positioned close to her waist, ready to strike with her whip at the slightest movement.

However, her tense and alarmed demeanor left Pei Yunlian and Yue Zijin completely baffled.

"What's wrong?" the two asked, puzzled.

Tangxi looked around and, after confirming that no one was there, she relaxed.

She untied the water pouch at her waist, gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, and then said, "I think I just heard the sound of fighting."

Yue Zijin immediately pouted: "Miss Tang, could you please stop being so jumpy? This forest is so quiet; we haven't encountered a single bird along the way. People scaring each other can be deadly."

He then playfully punched Pei Yunlian, who was standing nearby, and said with a grin, "If there really were fighting sounds, wouldn't you have heard them?"

Tang Xi rolled her eyes at him, clearly not wanting to talk to this idiot.

He stepped forward and spoke to Pei Yunlian: "You know, those of us who practice whip-wielding have much better hearing than ordinary people. I'm sure I wasn't imagining things just now."

Seeing Tang Xi's solemn expression, Pei Yunlian knew she wasn't joking. He turned to Yue Zijin beside him and instructed, "If Tang Xi's feeling is correct, and something really happens, you hide yourself first."

Seeing their serious expressions, Yue Zijin nodded: "Don't worry, I won't cause you any trouble."

The group headed towards the place where the noise had just come from.

at the same time

On another spot on Xiaguang Mountain, Chu Sese tightly covered her lips, afraid of making a sound. She hid below a slope, using the surrounding vegetation to conceal her figure.

Directly in front of her, there was a person lying on the ground eating something. If someone walked up to her at that moment, they would find that there was a person lying on the ground.

The man seemed to have just died, his eyes wide open like copper bells, as if in disbelief. Chu Sese knew very well who the man was; he was none other than her senior brother Chen Li'an, whom she had just parted ways with not long ago.

As for the person who was gnawing on his corpse—no, not human, but human-like with bloodshot eyes and grayish-blue skin—it was a different story.

Chu Sese's eyes were filled with tears, but she couldn't go forward to drive away the monster. She couldn't defeat it, so she could only watch helplessly.

She never expected that the person who killed her senior brother would be her.

Shen Lian had always been a somewhat sickly senior sister in her eyes, but what had she just seen? She had killed Chen Li'an expressionlessly; such cold-bloodedness was something she had never seen in Shen Lian before.

Chu Sese's mind was in complete turmoil; she didn't know why these things had happened.

Why did Shen Lian kill someone?

What is this monster?

Fear, dread, helplessness—all these emotions intertwined in her mind, leaving her drenched in cold sweat, and a gust of wind brought an overwhelming chill.

Fortunately, the monster didn't intend to devour Chen Li'an's corpse completely. Once the monster was far away, she hurriedly went to examine Chen Li'an's body. Trembling, she touched the piercing wounds on his body, "Waaah... Senior Brother."

The sobbing and whimpering seemed unstoppable. She closed Chen Li'an's eyes and cried over his corpse for an unknown amount of time before finally murmuring, "Senior Brother, yes, Senior Brother doesn't know about this yet. I need to go and tell him."

Chu Sese hurriedly wiped away her tears, snatched the jade pendant from Chen Li'an's waist, and tightened her grip on the sword. "Senior brother, don't worry, we'll come back to collect your body after we've killed your killer."

"Gah—"

A black crow seemed to smell the blood and flew from the tree to Chen Li'an's corpse. Its beady eyes stared at the body beneath it, preparing to peck at the rotting flesh for a meal. But suddenly, as if frightened, it fluttered back up the tree, leaving behind a few crow feathers.

The corpse, which had been dead, suddenly stood up in a bizarre way, its eyes turning blood red...

"Is the urgent matter you mentioned at Xiaguang Mountain?"

Su Ning looked at the young man carrying a sword down the mountain with a puzzled expression. He had long legs, so he walked with long strides, and even Su Ning had to speed up to keep up with him.

"I received a message from my sect that a group of bandits are causing trouble at Xiaguang Mountain. I have been investigating this matter for a long time, and because it is of great importance, I am well aware of the dangers involved."

The boy's eyes were resolute, and the hatred in his eyes when he mentioned the thief was like a bright starry river in the night, revealing his sharp edge.

Su Ning jogged up to him and blocked his path, her tone grave: "Is it related to today's cultivation technique inheritance?"

Lin Ci stopped and looked back at Guangji Temple, built atop the mountain. Its golden walls stood out prominently against the backdrop of the forest. "I don't know if Guangji Temple was involved, but right now the most important thing is to catch that thief."

"Is that thief highly skilled in martial arts? Will Xixi and the others be in danger?"

Lin Ci shook his head, a look of frustration on his face. "I've never seen that person, nor do I know their martial arts skills, but the organization behind them is very powerful."

"If they really wanted to cause trouble, the treasure hunters on the mountain today would likely have been harmed by them due to their lack of vigilance."

He spoke with such seriousness that even Su Ning tensed up, unconsciously gripping the hem of her clothes. "Then we need to find the troublemakers quickly."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ci glanced at the beautiful guest before her and sighed softly, "Too slow."

"What?" Su Ning didn't hear clearly.

But the next second she was swept up in his arms and carried several miles in the blink of an eye. The man, however, remained perfectly serious and said, "Miss Su, I apologize. If we don't find the mastermind quickly, I fear something terrible will happen."

Su Ning: So what if you know light-body skills? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻