Villain Master, my disciples all want to backstab me

The impact of the self-explosion gradually subsided.

Bai Yuan and his companions once again returned to the vicinity of the crater.

At this time, Shentu Jixue had disappeared.

Inside the vast lava pit, only a dark humanoid silhouette and a pile of equally black powder remained. As the wind blew, the powder drifted upward, emitting a foul, burnt odor. It seemed to be the last remaining ashes of the Shentu tribe member.

"...Good fellow, you're so cruel to yourself."

Not only did he explode his Nascent Soul, but his soul as well. No wonder he had such incredible power just now.

Bai Yuan had originally been considering collecting this fellow's corpse, but now it looked like that was out of the question. Even if he gathered the ashes and forced them to animate with the [Netherworld Bone Flute], it probably wouldn't be as useful as the corpse of a Jindan cultivator.

Although Bai Yuan was not determined to get this, it was still a pity that he lost a Nascent Soul Realm corpse that he should have obtained.

So, she immediately gave Baihu an order: "Dabai, go check on Shentu Jialuo!"

"Roar--"

Baihu immediately took Ji Tingxue and Ye Shuang'er and flew towards the direction where Shentu Jialuo was.

After a while.

After Bai Yuan roughly checked the situation in the lava pit and flew onto the crater again, he saw Baihu dragging Shentu Jialuo's body back from not far away, leaving a long trail of blood along the way.

Ye Shuang'er jumped off the tiger's back in advance, and then trotted all the way back to Bai Yuan, chattering:

"As expected of Master, so amazing!"

"That guy is so strong, even stronger than Yu Qiuming. Sister Tingxue and I don't even have the strength to fight him, but Master only used three swords... I wish Shuang'er could have Master's strength!"

"……Ah."

Bai Yuan smiled and said nothing.

Her three swords were indeed very powerful. Theoretically, they were already at the level of half-step into godhood, and she delivered the highest output in this battle.

But after these three strikes, the Scarlet Sky Sword had already returned to its original state, resting within its sheath to continue recuperating. If she wanted to unleash that kind of brilliance again, she would have to wait at least 20 days.

But from another perspective, if she could stay in this [Cangwu Abyss] for 20 days, it would probably mean that she had encountered a more dangerous situation than before, or even been trapped here like the two Shentu people. This was not good news for Bai Yuan...

"Alright, everyone's exhausted a lot just now. Let's rest here for a while and take some pills. Then let's continue moving forward."

Bai Yuan put [Chi Xiao] back into the scabbard and said to the two people next to him.

In this battle, the one who suffered the most serious injuries was undoubtedly Baihu.

After all, it was the main force fighting against Shentu Jialuo, and the battle between the two sides was basically a head-on collision throughout the whole process, with no room for tricks.

On the other hand, Bai Yuan, despite fighting the more powerful Shentu Jixue, didn't suffer any serious injuries due to the presence of [Xinghe Huansha]. The most noticeable wound on her body was a self-inflicted wound, caused by using her blood essence to empower the third strike of the Chixiao Sword.

So at this moment, with the battle over and a sigh of relief, Bai Yuan couldn't help feeling drowsy and exhausted.

Ji Tingxue was the first to notice that something was wrong with her.

"Are you alright, Bai Yuan? Although you've now attained the 'Innate Dao Body' and have better recovery abilities than ordinary people, this continuous consumption of essence and blood is still very damaging to your body. You should sit down and rest for a while."

next to.

Ye Shuang'er was half-kneeling beside Bai Yuan, bandaging her bleeding wrist with bandages and healing medicine. When Ji Tingxue reminded her, she began to realize that her master's condition was not right. She quickly knelt down, patted her thigh, and said shyly:

"Well, if you don't mind, Master, please use Shuang'er's legs as a pillow and rest for a while."

"..."

Where did you learn the knee pillow trick?

Bai Yuan glanced at her apprentice's attentiveness, muttered to herself, then called Bai Hu over and motioned for him to lie down. She then sat cross-legged and leaned her back against him. "You just absorbed a lot of Shentu Jialuo's poisonous smoke. Digest it well first. Don't lose control like you did last time when you absorbed the 'Frost Poison'..."

When saying this, Bai Yuan glanced at Ji Tingxue.

She is still not sure whether Ji Tingxue discovered that she helped Ye Shuang'er "detoxify" that time.

I think even if she knew, with Ji Tingxue's personality, she would not say it out loud - if it were Ji Lingyun, she would feel uncomfortable.

But, one thing she was certain of was that if Ye Shuang'er lost control again, she would probably be left to help her apprentice "detoxify" in this wasteland. That would be incredibly embarrassing...

"Oh……"

Ye Shuang'er also remembered what happened that day at this moment. Her face flushed slightly, and then she nodded in response. She moved a short distance away from Bai Yuan and sat down obediently - the distance was to avoid inhaling the peach blossom fragrance like last time and causing a chemical reaction - and then began to practice the skills to digest the poisonous smoke she had just absorbed.

From the perspective of an observer, one can clearly see that the little girl's face turns purple-blue at one moment and black-red at another. The "silver lotus wrapped around a snake" pattern on her forehead has become particularly obvious and a bit scary due to the stimulation of the poison.

Bai Yuan subconsciously moved to the side to prevent the fragrance on her body from drifting to the little girl.

Another place about ten meters away.

Ji Tingxue also sat on the ground with her eyes slightly closed.

The three men and the tiger each took a Qi-restoring pill and began to regulate their breathing.

Chapter 128: Reflection of the Yellow Spring

About an hour later.

Bai Yuan opened his eyes first.

Then there is Ji Tingxue.

The holy lady of the Ji family frowned slightly at this moment, and her expression looked a little confused.

"What's wrong?" Bai Yuan asked.

"...I have a feeling that something is tampering with our perceptions. Especially our perceptions of time."

Ji Tingxue raised a hand, looked at the leaf veins emerging on her palm, and whispered, "I had this feeling just now in the forest over there, but it wasn't obvious. But now... I feel like the time we've spent together has been stolen by it without me even noticing."

"Yeah……"

Bai Yuan also frowned.

In fact, when the two people from the Shentu family appeared, she had already realized that there was something wrong with the time rules in this space.

However, because the concept of "time" is rather abstract and difficult to accurately quantify and measure, Bai Yuan was not sure what exactly this "problem" was. But Ji Tingxue's words gave her an idea:

Could it be...

In this [Cangwu Abyss], there is a "Time-devouring Demon" similar to the "Silent Demon", which can feed on time just like the former devours sound?

If there really was something that could eat up their time without them even noticing...

Bai Yuan felt that he might have to think of a solution.

After all, it was probably precisely because of this that the two Shentu tribe members had grown so old in just twenty years. If they didn't leave this wasteland quickly—or even simply leaving the wasteland wasn't enough, they also had to leave the Cangwu Abyss—they might soon follow in the footsteps of the two Shentu tribe members.

"...Let's count our things first and leave here as soon as possible."

"Tingxue, help me keep an eye on Shuang'er. I'm going to search the soul of that Shentu clan member to see if I can find any clues."

As Bai Yuan said this, he walked to Shentu Jialuo, squatted down, and then placed his palm on her forehead, circulating his spiritual power.

As a renowned Demon Lord, "Blood Kite" has of course also mastered the skill of "Soul Search".

It’s just that I don’t use it much in normal times.

To be precise, "Blood Kite" really liked to use this trick when he was young, but since his strength increased and he entered the Spirit Transformation Realm, he rarely used this spell.

The reason is simple—gathering intelligence and playing with tactics are essentially about compensating for a lack of strength and increasing the chances of victory. It was fine when I was at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, but now that I'm at the Divine Transformation stage, if I continue to play with others, wouldn't my Divine Transformation breakthrough be in vain?

Well...actually, Bai Yuan is the same.

If her own system wasn't so useless that it couldn't help her recover to her peak strength directly, she would have rushed out and killed people indiscriminately, and there would be no need to calculate every action so carefully.

now.

As Bai Yuan opened her five fingers and pressed them on Shentu Jialuo's forehead, she cast a soul-searching spell, and scenes appeared in her mind.

……

The soul search ended faster than expected.

Because, as a member of the eight ancient clans, Shentu Jialuo has some special restrictions in his mind. The purpose is to prevent his family members from falling into the hands of others in the future and having their information about the ancient clans stolen.

With Bai Yuan's current cultivation level and attainments in soul-searching techniques, he is unable to break this restriction.

If it is forcibly cracked, there is a high probability that the restriction will backfire, thereby directly destroying Shentu Jialuo's soul.

That would be a bit of a loss.

After all, Shentu Jialuo, with his spirit, combined with the [Netherworld Bone Flute], could retain at least 80% of his strength in life; while a mere corpse could only retain 60% of its strength. For an eighth or ninth-grade Nascent Soul cultivator, this 20% difference was quite significant.

but.

Although the memories of the Shentu family could not be seen, the memories of Shentu Jialuo after arriving in Cangwu County could be seen. Bai Yuan was not sure why, but guessed that it might be because the rules in Cangwu County were different from other places, so it could not be blocked by the Shentu family's restrictions.

And what Bai Yuan finally saw was this part of the memory.

"...So, back then, Shentu Jialuo was teleported here by the bell tower in Cangwu County while chasing the Blood Kite?"

"Then, how did the 'Blood Kite' escape back then?"

"And Jiang Rao... So she's been in that bell tower too?"

Bai Yuan pressed his temples lightly with his fingertips, recalling the "Cangwu County" that he had caught a glimpse of from the sky when he came here before, trying to match it with Shentu Jialuo's memory; his mind was filled with thoughts.

As early as the time of retreat, she had discovered that her previous incarnation's memories of "Cangwu County" seemed incomplete. There were only a few fragments.

However, due to the fact that some of the memories left by his previous incarnation were missing, and the "Cangwu County Incident" had happened twenty years ago, and because of the long time, it had gradually faded from memory, so it made sense logically. So Bai Yuan didn't think much about it.

But now it seems...

The situation is probably not that simple.

Because Shentu Jialuo's memory was also missing a key part, and it became blank after entering the bell tower, and it was not restored until he was teleported to the [Cangwu Abyss].

It was as if... there was something hidden in the bell tower of "Cangwu County", blocking her memories and the memories of the "Blood Kite" of that year.

Although Shentu Jixue's body and soul were destroyed, if he had been captured and his soul searched when he was still alive, the result would probably have been the same.

On the contrary, Jiang Rao might be an exception.

According to the expansion pack for "Asking the Immortal," the Jiang family has a deep connection to the Cangwu Abyss. Their "Five Elements Divine King Body" is said to possess the ability to transcend yin and yang. Perhaps within her soul, she still retains memories of "Cangwu County."

"It seems that the players in the previous life didn't explore the [Cangwu Abyss] deeply enough..."

Bai Yuan sighed.

Of course, it's also possible that in the previous life of "Asking the Immortal", there was no such detailed setting. After all, games are different from reality. In the original game's main storyline, "Cangwu Abyss" was just a place to provide Jiang Rao with cheats, and there were no other side quests.

Or maybe...

It’s because we haven’t had time to make “Asking the Immortal” yet, and we plan to put the subsequent content of this map in the DLC related to Qingluo that has not yet been released.

Even Blood Kite, who died early in the story, might be pulled out in the DLC for a whipping or something. After all, a villain like this, with three of the heroine's disciples, doesn't look like a disposable item. With [The Road of Time] and his history of entering Cangwu County twenty years ago, if he really wanted to be resurrected, the reason would be easy to come up with...

"never mind."

"Let's ignore these messy things for now."

Bai Yuan let out a light breath, suppressing his tangled thoughts. He first placed Shentu Jialuo's body in the ice coffin and then glanced back. A three-dimensional figure emerged in his mind:

"According to this guy's memory, she and Shentu Jixue came from that direction, right? Then the stone tablet mentioned in the strategy post should also be over there."

"First, follow the guide and open the teleportation array to see if we can get to the normal dungeon."

present.

Bai Yuan waved her hand, calling the white tiger over. It opened its mouth towards Ye Shuang'er, then lifted up the little girl, who was still struggling to refine the poison, and placed her on its back. Then she and Ji Tingxue joined in. The white tiger spread its wings and carried the three of them northwestward.

Given that this white wasteland is so vast.

Even knowing the direction, Bai Yuan still spent half a day before finally reaching the location Shentu Jialuo remembered. Then, after searching from mid-air for a long time, he finally spotted a stone tablet more than ten feet tall, standing in the middle of the wasteland amidst the vast expanse of white.

Because the color of the stone tablet blends in perfectly with the surroundings, it is impossible to tell the difference unless you look closely.

"arrive."

As the three of them landed.

Ji Tingxue immediately noticed the words on the stone tablet, and her eyes moved: "Is this... what we talked about before?"

"Well, maybe this thing is also some kind of special monster. But if we want to leave here, I'm afraid we have to rely on it."

As Bai Yuan said this, he took out the plasma he had prepared in advance and splashed it towards the stone tablet in front of him.

The blood immediately soaked the words on the stele, and then, in a manner that violated the laws of physics, it flowed upward from the middle of the stele to the top.