After disappearing for ten years, the junior sister made the entire sect kneel down to welcome her.

"Elder, what are you saying? Mingyue doesn't understand. Are you confused?"

Su Mingyue forcefully shook off Elder Danhong's hand and shrank into Zhao Qing's arms.

"I don't know... I really didn't know Ye Rou was my daughter. Mingyue, Elder, I beg you... How about this, I'll give you my heart, okay? Come back with me, and we'll exchange it again!"

Elder Danhong wept tears of blood, his heart filled with boundless pain and regret.

Upon hearing this, Su Mingyue's expression changed slightly.

hemp eggs.

Ye Rou is actually Elder Dan Hong's daughter?

No wonder she's been so good to me since I was little; it turns out I've become someone else's substitute!

But she was the one who dug out Ye Rou's heart and put it in her own body, so why should she be asked to return it now?

Besides, how can the heart of an old woman like Danhong compare to the heart of a young woman like Ye Rou?

Su Mingyue was a hundred times unwilling.

However, Zhao Qing was no match for Dan Hong.

If he refused outright, there was no guarantee that this old woman wouldn't take action against him for Ye Rou's life.

The reason she is pleading so desperately now is probably because of the almost mother-daughter relationship the two have shared over the past ten years.

Su Mingyue bit her lip, looking troubled.

"Elder, Mingyue is willing. You've been so good to Mingyue, how could she possibly refuse your request... But Elder, you have a daughter now, and after Mingyue returned her heart to Senior Sister Ye Rou, you... you really wouldn't be willing to use your own heart to save Mingyue?"

"Yes, Mingyue, I will!"

Dan Hong shouted eagerly, her face beaming with joy, almost as if she were swearing an oath to the heavens.

How could she not want to save Mingyue?

She truly dotes on Mingyue as if she were her own daughter.

Whether it was Ye Rou or Su Mingyue, their lives were prioritized over Elder Danhong's own.

Su Mingyue frowned slightly, her face still showing worry.

"How can Mingyue trust you? This concerns Mingyue's life and death; Mingyue cannot take it lightly. Right now, Mingyue may only be able to trust her third senior brother."

She looked up at Zhao Qing, her face filled with complete reliance and trust.

Elder Danhong came up with a plan: "Aqing can also have her heart transplanted. Mingyue, I'll give Aqing my heart, and you and Aqing can take it back to the Reef Cave. Would that put your mind at ease?"

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this was the best solution.

She was destined to die.

Being able to see her biological daughter before she died and save Su Mingyue, she died a worthy death, and she had no regrets in her life.

Su Mingyue looked at Elder Danhong with a sorrowful expression, then reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Elder Danhong finally smiled happily.

She was finally able to save her biological daughter.

Without hesitation, she raised her hand and ripped out her own heart. Enduring the pain, she looked at Zhao Qing with loving eyes, holding up her bright red heart:

"Ah Qing... come, come and take the heart..."

Zhao Qing took the heart.

Elder Danhong slowly collapsed to the ground, a relieved smile on her face, as she weakly looked at the two of them.

Zhao Qing's eyes revealed reluctance and sadness.

Elder Danhong taught him for many years.

He turned to look at Su Mingyue, "Mingyue, we..."

"Snapped!"

Su Mingyue slapped the heart out of Zhao Qing's hand with a look of disgust and stomped on it twice on the ground.

"Who would want to exchange their heart for an old woman! Third Senior Brother, we must hurry and leave, Elder Danhong has gone mad!"

She deliberately acted as if she didn't trust Dan Hong and only trusted Zhao Qing, so that Elder Dan Hong would take the initiative to dig out her heart.

She lost her power, which allowed her and Zhao Qing to leave.

Otherwise, I would definitely be no match for her!

Moreover, she didn't want to save Ye Rou at all. Why should she?

Zhao Qing was somewhat taken aback, but Su Mingyue urged anxiously, "Third Senior Brother, let's go! Let's leave the North Sea Secret Realm quickly!"

The smile on Elder Danhong's face vanished completely. She looked at the broken heart on the ground and let out a fierce and violent scream.

"ah--!!!"

Elder Danhong mustered all her strength and rushed towards Zhao Qing and Su Mingyue.

Zhao Qing could no longer care about anything else; he picked up Su Mingyue and fled into the distance.

Elder Danhong held the dust-covered heart on the ground, her voice hoarse with grief, "Ah! Ah!!! Su Mingyue! You will die a horrible death!! Su Mingyue! You will die a horrible death!!!!"

……

Inside the reef cave.

Luo Zhenhuan held Ye Rou tightly. The poisonous miasma at the entrance of the reef cave had dissipated, but Luo Zhenhuan dared not leave.

She stared intently at the life-saving formation inside the cave.

Wherever she lost her spiritual power, she would raise her little hand and quickly replenish it.

Danhong has been gone for a long time, why hasn't she brought back Sister Yerou's heart yet?

Luo Huanzhen had already warned Dan Hong.

Su Mingyue wouldn't return the heart to Ye Rou so easily, but as a Nascent Soul cultivator, she should be able to easily stop Zhao Qing and Su Mingyue.

Why not just take it back by force?

rustle……

rustling sounds...

Suddenly, a strange sound came from outside the reef cave, like the sound of some reptile wriggling on the mud and sand.

"What is it?"

Luo Huanzhen's face stiffened, and she turned her head to look in the direction of the cave.

All that could be seen was a hollow chest cavity, and a bloodied human body was struggling to crawl toward the cave.

When Luo saw the face clearly, he was truly shocked.

"Elder Danhong?"

No one knows how far Danhong came from or how strong her willpower was, but she crawled back here in a state of unconsciousness. Her hands and feet were rubbed raw by the sand and gravel, bloody and revealing the white bones, making it impossible to recognize her original appearance.

Upon seeing Luo Huanzhen, she trembled as she presented her heart.

"Tell... Ye Rou, that your mother... is sorry to her..."

After saying this, Elder Danhong closed her eyes.

She is dead.

But that hand was still stiffly and stubbornly holding a dirty, broken heart high in the air.

Luo Huanzhen let out a long sigh.

"Why……"

Do not live by sin.

Elder Danhong died in pain and guilt.

Without a doubt, Su Mingyue did indeed plot against her, and she was out of her mind, once again entrusting the life and death of her daughter to Su Mingyue.

In the end, she was unable to retrieve Ye Rou's heart.

Even the heart that Elder Danhong possessed, which belonged to her, was too broken and wouldn't last long.

but.

That should be enough to support Sister Ye Rou's return to the sect.

Luo Huanzhen muttered to himself, "Luckily, Zhenzhen learned medicine, otherwise we would be finished..."

She used a water purification spell to cleanse her hands and Dan Hong's heart, and began to reinstall Ye Rou's heart.

……

the other side.

Zhao Qing carried Su Mingyue and rushed towards the outside of the North Sea Secret Realm.

Su Mingyue wrapped her arms around Zhao Qing's neck, rested her head against his chest, and whispered something to him:

"Third Senior Brother, Elder Dan Hong's attack on Luo Huanzhen and Ye Rou violated the sect's rules. I did this to rid the sect of a scourge."

"Moreover, Mingyue's heart has already been removed once. It was only with great difficulty that a suitable heart was found and stitched up. It can't withstand a second trauma. Mingyue really has no other choice..."

Zhao Qing did not speak.

Su Mingyue looked up at Zhao Qing, her eyes brimming with tears. "Third Senior Brother, have you developed a bad impression of Mingyue? But Mingyue has always trusted you so much, and was willing to show you my most pathetic and wretched side..."

Zhao Qing looked at the frail girl in his arms with heartache. "No. Don't overthink it. I'm just a little shocked. I don't have any bad impression of you."

He shouldn't betray Mingyue's trust.

It's normal for a little girl like her to act selfishly when she's scared.

I can only blame myself for not being strong enough to protect her in front of the Demon Emperor.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have done such a thing...

Su Mingyue stopped crying and smiled, leaning against Zhao Qing's chest. "Third Senior Brother is the best to Mingyue."

Her public image hasn't collapsed.

Aside from refusing to return Ye Rou's heart and crushing Dan Hong's heart, everything that happened in the North Sea Secret Realm this time had nothing to do with her.

It was all Elder Danhong's own doing, a self-inflicted tragedy.

The two returned to shore.

Inside the spirit ship, the disciples had long since finished their training and had been waiting for a long time.

Their expressions varied; those who didn't receive guidance from the remnant soul looked disappointed, while those who did were overjoyed.

This trial in the secret realm is a major turning point that sets cultivators apart in terms of realm and strength.

Seeing Zhao Qing carrying Su Mingyue, who was covered in blood, back home, everyone forgot about their own emotions and rushed over.

"What's wrong with Junior Sister Su?"

"My God, how come he's covered in blood!"

"Junior Brother Zhao, what exactly happened? Why are only the two of you here? Where are the elder and Luo Huanzhen?"

Su Mingyue's body trembled slightly.

She lowered her eyes, pondering how to condense her story, when Zhao Qing spoke first.

"We've all been fooled by Luo Zhenhuan. The little black snake in her arms is actually a descendant of the ancient demon race from the North Sea Secret Realm."

"In order to monopolize the wealth of the North Sea Secret Realm, she tricked Mingyue into entering the Demon Emperor's Domain. After Mingyue's heart was ripped out by the remnant spirit, she calmly appeared with the little black snake and Senior Sister Ye Rou to amass wealth and seize opportunities."

"In her grief and rage, Elder Danhong attacked her and Ye Rou, killing Ye Rou, but was no match for Luo Huanzhen. Before dying, Elder Danhong donated her heart to Mingyue, and then... passed away..."

The secrets of the Sea Realm must never be known to anyone else.

I can understand and sympathize with the bright moon, but others may not be able to.

Rather, since she was his future Daoist partner, Zhao Qing felt it was his responsibility and obligation to protect Su Mingyue.

Therefore, Zhao Qing simply shifted all the blame onto Luo Huanzhen.

Elder Dan Hong is doomed to die, and Ye Rou, without a heart, will definitely not survive until the day she returns to the sect.

Besides him, Mingyue, and Luo Huanzhen, there was no other person at the scene who knew the truth.

Zhao Qing's explanation was flawless.

Upon hearing his words, all the disciples were shocked and astonished.

Su Mingyue buried her face in Zhao Qing's shoulder and wept bitterly.

Elder Danhong's affection for Su Mingyue was evident to the entire sect; she truly treated her like her own daughter.

Everyone looked at Su Mingyue, who was on the verge of fainting from crying, and suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Never mind, let's go back to the sect first."

"Yes, go back to the sect and report this matter to Master."

However, some disciples expressed doubts about the two-faced statements of Su Mingyue and Zhao Qing.

"Is there some kind of misunderstanding?"

"Yes, where did Junior Aunt go? When is she coming back? Should we wait for her to return and hear what she has to say?"

However, he was quickly rebuffed by others.

"Are we still waiting for her to come back? She's already been so cruel to her fellow disciples. Without Elder Dan Hong to suppress her, she might wipe us all out!"

"I think Senior Brother Zhao Qing is telling the truth! When Luo Zhen was entering the North Sea Secret Realm, she was so far behind us, yet she was able to find the way into the secret realm so quickly. When she and Junior Sister Su had a dispute on the way, they were both very confident in saying that they wanted to go on their own."

Several of these disciples had lost to Luo Zhenhuan's Nascent Soul stage senior brothers and sisters during the sect's grand competition.

They could have gotten a good result.

Koro's appearance caused them to lose face and retreat by dozens of places.

Therefore, he had long disliked Luo Zhen.

Hearing Zhao Qing say this, they couldn't wait to kick him while he was down and report the situation to their sect as soon as they returned.

This vicious cultivator must be stripped of all her disciples' rights and taken to the Demon-Slaying Platform to be subjected to extreme punishment.

In this way, her performance in the sect competition would be disregarded, and they wouldn't have to reduce her disciples' salaries and rewards.

With their instigation, no one on the spirit boat dared to speak anymore.

"Let's go back first."

"We must report to the sect leader and elders immediately!"

"Yes, she dared to kill Elder Dan Hong, who is highly respected at Medicine Peak! Even with Elder Yun Yao protecting her, it will be difficult to quell the public's anger."

"Let her be tortured on the Demon-Slaying Platform, she must endure eighty-one days of being struck by lightning and torn apart by wind!"

The spirit ship is set sail.

The disciples returned to their sect filled with righteous indignation.

……

Under the North Sea.

After working for three days and three nights, Luo Huanzhen finally managed to revive Ye Rou.

Seeing Ye Rou tremblingly open her eyes, Luo Huanzhen rubbed his sore eyes and let out a long breath.

"Sister Ye Rou, you're finally awake."

Ye Rou slowly got up from the ground, repeatedly looking down at her body. "I...I'm not dead?"

She thought she was destined to die.

"I saved Sister Ye Rou!" Luo Huanzhen stood up, a proud little expression on his face.

Ye Rou shed tears of gratitude as she hugged the little baby in front of her tightly, whose eyes were swollen from staying up all night.

"Thank you, Zhenzhen, thank you, Junior Uncle Zhenzhen..."

"Sister Ye Rou, I'm so sleepy, I want to go to bed..."

Luo Zhenhuan's eyes were a little drowsy as he mumbled something.

She has been studying the medical skills taught by Master Yun Yao very diligently.

However, it is extremely difficult to reuse a damaged heart.

It took her a long time to wake Ye Rou up.

Her spiritual power was almost exhausted; it turned out that saving people was much, much harder than killing them.

Ye Rou endured the pain in her chest and gently patted the little baby who was about to faint in her arms.

"Sleep well, sleep well, Zhenzhen. You've worked so hard, Zhenzhen..."

Suddenly, she saw Elder Danhong's corpse lying on the ground not far away.

Her body was a bloody mess, stiff, yet she still held her hands up in a lifting motion.

Ye Rou was taken aback.