Lian Yunzhi wanted to ask something, but he didn’t. He just pursed his lips and said nothing.
The Cyan-Clothed Man sighed. “You don’t seem to believe me much.”
Lian Yunzhi looked at the mask on his face and curled his lip, still silent.
The Cyan-Clothed Man touched the mask on his face. “I can’t take off the mask yet because I’m not sure if you’ve been bewitched by Mu Cheng. After all, you’re as close as loving Dao Companions.”
At the end, his gaze fell on the distinct bite marks on Lian Yunzhi’s neck.
Loving Dao Companions?
Lian Yunzhi felt a chill and couldn’t help but sneer.
The Cyan-Clothed Man said wistfully, “I knew it wasn’t like that. How could loving Dao Companions bear to hurt you like this? He must treat you as a plaything or Human Cauldron!”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “Do you want to leave here?”
Lian Yunzhi hesitated as he looked at him. Moments later, he responded for the first time—he nodded.
He did want to leave this Immortal Palace.
The Cyan-Clothed Man breathed a sigh of relief. “I knew no one would want to stay here. There’s only one way to leave.”
Lian Yunzhi: “What way?”
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “Mu Cheng has gone mad, hasn’t he?”
Lian Yunzhi’s body tensed instantly.
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “His madness is obvious. He’s killed so many people; his Madness Illness will only get worse.”
Lian Yunzhi said nothing.
He had indeed noticed Mu Cheng’s mental state becoming abnormal. Eleven years ago, it was just momentary hysteria, but this time they met—Lian Yunzhi felt Mu Cheng hadn’t been sane during those seven days of dual cultivation.
“What’s the way to leave that you just mentioned?” Lian Yunzhi pulled the topic back.
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “Kill Mu Cheng.”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “I’m not talking nonsense. Of course I know Mu Cheng nearly has an Immortal Body, but only nearly.”
…He even knew about this?
Although Mu Cheng’s Immortal Body was no longer a secret, very few people knew.
Lian Yunzhi finally grew serious.
The Cyan-Clothed Man pulled a long, thin Wooden Box from his sleeve. He opened it, revealing a long needle gleaming with chilling light inside.
The Cyan-Clothed Man: “This is a Soul Scattering Needles. As long as you stab it into Mu Cheng’s spine during dual cultivation, it will scatter his soul. Even if his body doesn’t die, his soul will be destroyed.”
Lian Yunzhi stared blankly at the needle.
The Cyan-Clothed Man handed the Wooden Box to Lian Yunzhi. Lian Yunzhi instinctively stepped back without taking it, so the Cyan-Clothed Man bent down and placed it on the ground.
“You only have one chance.” The Cyan-Clothed Man’s voice was low, tinged with sadness, solemnity, and sincerity. “If you haven’t forgotten who you are, if you still want to leave here, if you don’t want to die… then you must not fail. Only you can do this.”
[Ding-ling, ding-ling-ling…]
The red mist dispersed completely.
Lian Yunzhi jerked his eyes open.
He found himself still lying asleep on the wooden bed in Xiuzhu Courtyard, as if he hadn’t gone anywhere.
Was it a dream?
Lian Yunzhi sat up and tentatively moved his fingers. Surprisingly, a vine sprouted without relying on spiritual power.
He turned his head.
At first glance, he saw the long, thin black Wooden Box right by his pillow.
Creak—
At that moment, the door opened.
Mu Cheng walked in holding a stack of clothes.
His gaze casually swept over Lian Yunzhi and moved away. He might have seen the Wooden Box by the pillow but didn’t care, or perhaps he didn’t notice at all, because he just slowly placed the clothes in his hands into the wardrobe one by one.
Lian Yunzhi let out a soft breath.
“…Um,” Lian Yunzhi summoned a vine to wrap up the Wooden Box and said quietly, “This is a Soul Scattering Needle. I heard it can kill you. A man wearing a mask, ringing a bell, and dressed in cyan clothes gave it to me in a dream.”
Clack.
The thin wardrobe door shattered in his grip. Mu Cheng slowly turned his head.
His eyes were pitch-black and deep. He walked step by step to Lian Yunzhi’s bedside, looked down at him from above, and asked:
“You took it just because he gave it to you?”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
Lian Yunzhi felt utterly wronged and thought Mu Cheng had become so unreasonable and ungrateful.
“I didn’t take it! I didn’t even reach out to touch it. He put it on the ground! When I opened my eyes, this thing was on my bed! I’d never put some dirty outsider thing on my bed!”
Something in Lian Yunzhi’s words finally touched him. Mu Cheng nodded at last, believing Lian Yunzhi was innocent.
With a flick of his sleeve, the vine-wrapped Wooden Box was transferred to a wooden table nearby.
Along with the Wooden Box on the table appeared four identical ones.
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
Lian Yunzhi: “Those four Wooden Boxes…?”
Mu Cheng turned his head, his lips curling into a skin-deep, mirthless smile:
“They came from four other fools who wanted to kill me.”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Lian Yunzhi’s back, and he had zero desire to know what had happened to those four fools.
Moreover… was that guy sick?
Hadn’t he solemnly and sincerely warned him, saying the chance was only once, that only Lian Yunzhi could do it?
How had he secretly commissioned so many others?!
