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

The woman suddenly stopped and turned to look at the man she had once regarded as her brother.

The moment the woman turned around, Li Yuan noticed the wound on her right arm. "You're injured?"

But then Shen Lian suddenly smiled, "Didn't you just question me about whether I killed Chen Li'an? Why are you suddenly concerned about whether I'm injured?"

Looking at the woman whose smile no longer reached her eyes, Li Yuan suddenly couldn't recognize her. Was her former gentleness and kindness all an act?

"Does Senior Brother think I've changed?" Shen Lian casually fiddled with her fingers, her eyes almost overflowing with mockery.

"Yes, you've always been gentle with people."

Perhaps his gentle manner touched a nerve with the woman before him, for the woman, who had been calm just moments before, suddenly shrieked like a shrew, "Gentle? Li Yuan, you're really funny!"

Tangxi, who had been dozing, opened her eyes and watched the farce unfold before her.

The Taoist Cangsong said he would give her half an incense stick's time to consider, offering her life in exchange for the Dragon Sparrow Blade.

She believed that Yue Zijin was quite clever. If Pei Yunlian might fall for the other party's tricks, then Yue Zijin was the kind of person who could run three miles away immediately if things went wrong.

Because Yue Zi grew up in the streets, she has always had a smooth and shrewd way of being, something that Tang Xi and Pei Yunlian never possessed. She has never liked this kind of petty cleverness.

Too pragmatic.

People from prominent families like Tangxi have received a good education since childhood, so they inherently possess a sense of superiority and an unyielding pride that refuses to compromise their principles for material gain.

But someone like Yue Zijin, let alone not bowing down for five pecks of rice, even if he did bow down, would still kneel on the ground and ask if there was any more.

But Tangxi admired the other party for being able to speak to people in a way that suited them.

Just like today.

After all, it was Tang Xi who was tied up here today, not Yue Zijin.

Tang Xi chuckled self-deprecatingly; she hadn't even considered the possibility of the Dragon Sparrow Blade.

Even if a knife were held to her neck, she would never give it to those villains.

So at this moment, she desperately hoped that Yue Zijin's cleverness could save him from falling into the trap and that he could run away quickly so that he could deliver the message to her father and ask him to come and collect her body.

So by this point she had long since given up on her life and even had the leisure to watch this farce.

"Gentleness is merely a disguise for my survival; only gentleness can allow me to live, to survive in the Nine Nether Gate!"

Shen Lian's sudden outburst startled Li Yuan.

"I, I..."

Li Yuan stammered, unsure of what to say.

Tangxi, meanwhile, was guessing what Shen Lian would say next.

Suddenly, a pebble was thrown at her feet. She looked in the direction the pebble was thrown and saw Chu Sese first point in Li Yuan's direction, and then point to herself, indicating that she would come to save her.

Tangxi subconsciously looked in Li Yuan's direction, only to see the man nod almost imperceptibly.

She instantly understood the other party's intention.

Li Yuan looked dull and dazed, but he was actually quite cunning. He first provoked Shen Lian's anger by going forward alone, and then asked her junior sister to rescue him.

Shen Lian's reaction was even stronger than expected; it seems she has suffered a lot of injustice over the years.

Chu Sese cheered herself up, knowing that her senior brother had believed Shen Lian had truly betrayed the sect from the moment he first met Miss Tang.

But Shen Lian could never be the mastermind behind it all.

Firstly, the northern foothills are at least ten days' journey from Xiaguang Mountain, so she doesn't have time to set up so many things on Xiaguang Mountain.

Secondly, even if she were incredibly capable, she couldn't possibly create so many monsters, so Shen Lian was just a lackey of the mastermind behind the scenes.

Everyone on Xiaguang Mountain was just a pawn in the game orchestrated by the mastermind behind it all.

Right now, only Shen Lian is there, and the mastermind behind the scenes has not yet appeared. If Tang is not rescued at this time, everyone will die once the mastermind who can create monsters arrives.

So the eldest brother used the death of the eldest brother Chen to lure the other party into revealing a flaw, and she took the opportunity to rescue Miss Tang.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Chu Sese crouched down, picked up her sword, and prepared to rush out to rescue Tang Xi.

"That's enough."

Shen Lian suddenly uttered these words, her face cold and indifferent.

"What?" Li Yuan didn't react.

But then, the woman who had just been acting crazy suddenly flicked her sleeve, revealing a hidden weapon on her arm.

With a "whoosh!" sound.

The arrow, its blade gleaming with a cold light, hurtled straight toward the furtive Chu Sese.

"Get out of the way!"

Tangxi immediately drank it.

Just as Chu Sese was about to slash Tang Xi's hand free with her sword and was about to celebrate, she heard a warning and instinctively turned around, only to see arrows shooting straight towards her.

Her mind went blank for a moment.

too fast.

She couldn't avoid it.

Blood spilled from the corner of her lips, and pain swept through her body in an instant, but slowly, the pain subsided, and her vision became increasingly blurry.

She looked down at her pierced chest.

Many scenes flashed through her mind: her eldest brother Li Yuan leading them in sword practice, her second sister specially coming down the mountain to buy her pastries, and the sparrow she raised that chirped away.

Her last memory was of her senior brother Chen dying tragically in front of her.

And... Shen Lian's smiling face as she personally adorned her with pearl flowers.

Snapped!

The beaded flower shattered, scattering beads all over the floor...

"Junior sister!"

"Miss Chu!"

Li Yuan ran towards Chu Sese with eyes wide open in fury, but Shen Lian did not give her the chance. She suddenly darted in front of Li Yuan like a ghost, and then raised her hand into a palm. The palm wind used all her strength, giving her no chance to live.

Li Yuan instinctively drew his sword to defend, but the force of the palm strike caused cracks to appear on his sword.

"Pfft." A mouthful of blood was spat onto the ground.

The sword split in two, and he was sent flying.

"Miss Chu! Miss Chu, wake up!"

Chu Sese lay motionless at Tangxi's feet, as if she were asleep.

A single tear rolled down Tangxi's cheek. She wanted to touch her, but she couldn't...

She had never hated anyone so much, hated her own powerlessness and stupidity for causing the death of someone else. She glared at the murderer, wishing she could devour her alive.

But the one who started it all stepped on Li Yuan's back and asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Killing Li'an wasn't enough for you, what did Sese do to offend you that you had to take her life!"

Li Yuan pressed his face to the ground, almost gritting his teeth as he asked the question.

"What did she do to offend me? Hahaha, her mere presence offended me!"

With each step, Li Yuan's internal organs were stomped on so hard they felt like they were about to fall out of place.

Perhaps because no one was around, Shen Lian started talking. Her eyes were vacant, as if she were recalling something. "I joined the Nine Nether Sect when I was young, but because of my poor aptitude, everyone bullied me."

"The boys insulted me, and the girls dumped all the chores on me."

"I rise before dawn every day and don't sleep until the moon is high in the sky. My arms ache from wielding my sword so much every day, but even with all this effort, I still can't compare to you."

"Chen Li'an saw my beauty and tried to buy my body with vulgar things. Chu Sese is even more hateful; she spends her days eating, drinking, and having fun, yet she's mastered the Nine Nether Sword Technique twice as fast as I have!"

"Li Yuan, you pretend to care about everyone all day long, but I hate your hypocritical face. If you really care about me, why won't you let me practice the Nine Forms!"

"Cough cough cough, so you've always taken our concern for you as something that would harm you."

Li Yuan said weakly.