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

"The person just died."

Pei Yunlian half-squatted on the ground, rubbed the bloodstains on her fingertips, and then stood up.

A young woman in red searched the surroundings for clues, but unfortunately found nothing. She shook her head and said, "This person's injuries are nothing special; he should be just an ordinary martial arts practitioner."

A man lay on the ground with a dagger stuck in his chest, blood splattered on the surrounding grass, not yet dry.

The person was dressed in the same cloth as ordinary people, no different from those who came to the mountain today to search for martial arts techniques. There were plenty of people like that.

The murder weapon, a dagger, was the most common type in the weapon shop. Who would want to take the life of an unknown nobody?

The group followed Tangxi's footsteps, expecting to witness some fierce fighting, but when they arrived, the person was already dead.

"The opponent must have put up a resistance, but unfortunately the difference in strength was too great," Pei Yunlian said calmly.

Yue Zijin clearly sensed something unusual as well. He crouched down and thoroughly examined the corpse on the ground, but then said with some confusion, "This is strange."

"This man still has all his silver on him, so the other party wasn't trying to rob him. Could it be his enemy?"

He looked up at the two of them and asked his question.

Tangxi pondered for a moment, then objected, saying, "If he really has any enemies, why would he need to do it here? There are quite a few people on the mountain today; if others discover us, wouldn't it be pointless?"

Yue Zijin rubbed her hair in frustration. "So what should we do next? Report it to the authorities?"

If they were to report this to the authorities now, they could forget about inheriting the family business for the rest of their lives.

If an ordinary person encountered such a thing, they would want to stay as far away as possible, but they simply cannot ignore it nowadays.

Especially Yue Zijin, he wanted to obtain such a hard-won secret manual of cultivation, but the corpse was lying right in front of him, and he couldn't help but see it.

The dilemma he was facing was making him extremely irritable.

Tang Xi crossed her arms and paced back and forth, saying, "We're not too late, so the culprit can't have gone far. At the very least, this person is definitely on the mountain."

"We'll split into two groups. Yue Zi, you decide which one to follow."

Seeing Tang Xi's unwavering resolve, Yue Zijin silently raised her hand: "Can I not choose?"

The woman in red glanced at him with a half-smile, touched the whip at her waist with her right hand, and sneered, "What do you think?"

Yue Zijin: "...Okay, I'll follow Ice Face." He wisely kept quiet.

As soon as Tang Xi walked away, Yue Zijin complained to Pei Yunlian, "Tell me, with Tang Xi's temper so bad now, who will be able to handle this tigress in the future?"

Pei Yunlian was about to say something, but his brows furrowed slightly. A gust of wind swept over him, and he instinctively jumped, his clothes getting slightly dirty, as he moved away from his previous position.

However, Yue Zi was not so lucky today. The sandstorm raised by the whip attacked him, and in no time, he was covered in dust and had a mouthful of ash.

Even Pei Yunlian couldn't help but laugh out loud at his miserable state.

The once fair-skinned boy was now covered in dirt, his hair smeared with clods of earth and withered tree branches, looking like a little tabby cat.

"Aaaaah! Tangxi, I'm going to kill you—"

The boy's screams startled the birds that had just been resting in the trees, scattering them in all directions; the echoes even lingered in the forest.

The instigator, however, has long since left without a trace.

……

Su Ning was startled and instinctively grabbed the sleeve of the man next to her.

"What's wrong?" Lin Ci asked, looking down at her.

"Did you just hear a sound?"

Su Ning looked around and felt a chill run down her spine.

Lin Ci was surprised that the girl, though lacking internal energy, possessed such excellent hearing. He nodded and said, "She's just ahead, so keep a close eye on me."

Su Ning listened to his advice and immediately tightened her grip on his sleeve.

The forest was deserted, which only made Su Ning more uneasy: "Isn't it strange that we haven't encountered anyone all this time?"

The sun had already set, and the temperature on the mountain was dropping rapidly. There were occasional rustling sounds in the grass, as if some demons or monsters were about to emerge at any moment.

Su Ning was terrified. Although she maintained a calm demeanor, both of her hands were tightly gripping the other person's sleeves.

Lin Ci naturally noticed that his cuffs were being pulled tighter and tighter, so he stopped moving forward and stood still.

"But what happened?" she asked, inquiring why they had suddenly stopped.

Lin Ci looked down, and Su Ning finally realized what was happening. She hurriedly threw away the other person's sleeve, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

The other person had a fair complexion and her cheeks were flushed as if they were painted with rouge. She turned her face away, only daring to steal glances at people out of the corner of her eye.

Su Ning's veil was left in the room, where someone had just died. She didn't want anything from that room, so she didn't wear it.

Lin Ci pretended not to hear, his expression remained normal, and he simply asked the other party if they had any extra handkerchiefs.

Su Ning then took out a plain-colored handkerchief embroidered with orchids from her sleeve. "How about this?"

The boy took the handkerchief, wrapped it around his wrist a few times, and then handed the rest to Su Ning: "Hold this."

His words were concise, but he showed no sign of impatience. Only then did Su Ning carefully tug at the drooping handkerchief.

The two, one in front and one behind, complemented each other perfectly. From a distance, their figures were also extremely well-matched; the man was upright and the woman had a graceful demeanor, like a beautiful painting.

However, the situation on the other side, Yue Zijin and Pei Yunlian, was not as warm and cozy as it was on this side.

After he finally managed to tidy himself up, he heard Pei Yunlian say from the side, "Something's up."

The other person was clutching a tattered piece of cloth, which must have been accidentally torn off from the corner of their clothes. But coincidentally, the tattered cloth was stained with blood.

This shows that they are on the right track.

Pei Yunlian gestured to the other party to keep quiet, while he himself quietly approached, placing his right hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment.

Yue Zijin and Pei Yunlian hid behind a tree, one in front of the other. From his vantage point, he could see Pei Yunlian's nervous posture.

Before long, a rustling sound came from the woods.

There seemed to be the sound of conversation.

"Well done... Sect Master..."

Because they were too far away, Pei Yunlian couldn't hear the specific content clearly, only some fragmented sounds.

He slowly peeked out and saw a man in black robes standing not far away. The man had his back to him, so he could only see his silhouette.

Suddenly, the man turned halfway around, revealing a bronze-lustered mask on his face. Pei Yunlian felt that the mask looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

The man seemed to have finished speaking, so he waved to the people below, and a figure rose up from the ground.

Pei Yunlian suddenly froze, then stared intently at the person who had appeared later. That person's eyes were the color of blood, and even after so much time had passed, he still remembered them…

Hatred surged into his heart like maggots clinging to his bones, and the chilling murderous aura emanating from him made it hard to breathe. Even the air around him seemed to freeze solid from this overwhelming rage.