Chapter 145: Everything Else Is the Same

A breeze swept through the mountain forest.

A tall figure in dark robes emerged, melting into the night, standing still upon a branch.

Shen Yi's expression remained unchanged, yet a faint unease stirred within him.

It wasn't because, after parting with Xiao Qiangwei, this was his first time leaving Outside Qingzhou alone to slay demons—he actually quite preferred acting alone.

His gaze swept across this vast stretch of mountain forest.

As if surveying his own territory.

But now, he couldn't shake the feeling that this territory belonging to him had been intruded upon by something else; that instinctive displeasure was subtly affecting his mood.

"One mountain cannot hold two tigers?"

Shen Yi gathered his thoughts, offering this strange feeling a convenient explanation.

He pushed the Turtle Breath Art to its utmost limit, then unleashed the Carefree Wind-Riding Art with full force, his form once again dissolving into a clear breeze that scattered within the forest.

Added to that was the Mountain Lord's innate divine ability.

Within Taishan, Shen Yi moved as if passing through empty air—no creature could detect his passage.

Even while deliberately concealing his form, he closed in on the hinterland Xiao Qiangwei had indicated at a terrifyingly swift speed.

Just then, the silver bell at his waist began to tremble faintly.

From within it came a woman's exceedingly solemn voice.

"Stop first. I've spotted something wrong. Give me a moment."

Shen Yi frowned slightly, but immediately halted his advance; his figure silently vanished on the spot.

He took the warning from a colleague quite seriously—especially a colleague who possessed such profound self-awareness of her own strength.

Without much delay, the silver bell spoke again.

"I've found traces of a second demon lord at the peak of Core Formation!"

Shen Yi raised an eyebrow slightly, recalling the earlier strange shift in his mood.

"A third one…"

This time, only half a sentence came through, accompanied by the whoosh of wind.

Just as Shen Yi's expression grew solemn, thankfully the next message rang out.

"Get out of Taishan first. I've been spotted by a demon lord. We'll talk details later." Though the woman tried hard to sound calm, her voice still betrayed the disorder of her breathing.

On Shen Yi's fair-complexioned face, his expression grew ever more indifferent as he said concisely: "Location."

If it were only three demon lords at the peak of Core Formation, he couldn't guarantee slaying them all, but at least getting Xiao Qiangwei out should be no problem.

He drew his straight ceremonial blade.

Without the slightest hesitation, he directly mobilized the Heavenly Demon Outer Core, using it to drive the Carefree Wind-Riding Art; his speed surged several times over once more, transforming into a gale tinged with a few shades of blood-red as he swept back along the path he'd come.

The silver bell at his waist fell silent for a long while before finally chiming again.

The voice was already weak to the extreme, yet the words left Shen Yi slightly surprised.

"It's a trap… come back quickly… I'm safe now… ruined temple on the mountaintop…"

Though the woman looked as if she had only one breath left, her messages coming through in broken snatches, this particular sentence was utterly certain—certain enough to arouse a measure of doubt.

Shen Yi had already returned to the place where they'd parted earlier, sheathed his long blade, and raised an eyebrow lightly.

He hadn't even arrived yet—how could she already be safe?

Muttering a complaint to himself, he looked up toward the mountaintop.

If the one on the other end of the silver bell weren't Xiao Qiangwei, he'd truly suspect she'd been captured by demons and was luring him over.

Within this vast demon-haunted mountain, even he couldn't guarantee any such "safety."

This woman should still be trustworthy.

Shen Yi quickly checked the aura throughout his body, confirming not the slightest leak, and kept the Heavenly Demon Outer Core in a state where it could be mobilized at any instant—so that even if danger struck, he could erupt with his full power at the first moment.

Only then did he move toward the mountaintop.

……

On the mountaintop, a dilapidated old temple.

This was a relic left from when Taishan still fell under Outside Qingzhou's jurisdiction; now long ruined, wind blowing through from all four sides, exuding a touch of desolation.

A divine statue with only half its body remaining leaned crookedly atop a broken altar, already thick with dust; no incense burner or offerings, only a pile of withered branches and fallen leaves.

A figure in dark robes sat quietly leaning against the wall, her smooth hair simply tied behind her; her bearing was cool and aloof, the eyes beneath her thick lashes as calm as an ancient well, rippleless.

On her delicate face, untouched by powder or rouge, her features were a work of nature itself, her skin smooth as congealed fat; in the glow of the bonfire, it appeared somewhat unusually pale.

Her right palm rested lightly on her knee, slender Bai Xi fingers gripping a wine jar, while her other hand gently soothed Xiao Qiangwei's forehead, smoothing her disheveled hair.

Beneath that clean, Bai Yu-like palm,

Xiao Qiangwei's disordered breathing gradually steadied, a touch of tranquility settling into her expression—so much so that, here within the demon-infested Taishan, she had fallen into an infant-like slumber.

It seemed that as long as she could stay by this person's side, it was even safer than being at the Zhen Mo Si in Outside Qingzhou.

Once Xiao Qiangwei had fully calmed, the woman in dark robes slightly raised her gaze, looking toward the ruined temple's entrance; her voice was calm yet carried no hint of offense.

"Please come in."

The words fell, but outside there was only the breeze, gust after gust.

After a long while, the youth revealed his form, stepped in slowly, and seated himself against the wall opposite the bonfire… instinctively, he had chosen the spot farthest from the woman.

Shen Yi truly disliked getting close to someone who could make him feel uneasy; yet she had pinpointed his hiding place in a single glance—almost certainly no coincidence.

Continuing to stalemate any longer would serve no purpose.

Within the ruined temple, all was utterly still, only the crackle of the bonfire remaining.

Neither seemed accustomed to speaking first; the youth closed his eyes to regulate his breath, the Miss quietly drank her wine.

The pungent, spicy scent within that wine jar was so thick it could be smelled even outside the ruined temple.

Clear wine flowed past her lips, yet it failed to shift the Miss's expression in the slightest; only that unusually pallid complexion improved just a touch.

Only when the wine jar was empty did she set it down, then cast her gaze toward the young man in the distance, her eyes lingering for a heartbeat on the dark blade at his waist.

She did not look long; a trace of reminiscence surfaced in her eyes as she slowly withdrew the hand that had been soothing Xiao Qiangwei, then rose to her feet and asked politely:

"I'm going to kill some demons. Coming?"

"What demons?" At last something that piqued his interest—Shen Yi opened his eyes.

"Bai Lu, and the Demon Lords it invited to ambush me. I'm not sure how many, but there shouldn't be few." The Miss stood with her hands at her sides.

"So little information?" Shen Yi rose as well; the earlier sense that something was off finally had an explanation.

He had originally come to hunt the Mountain Lord, but now it seemed he had stumbled into something else entirely.

Still, no matter what it was, as long as it involved demons and monsters, there wasn't much difference.

The only thing he needed to know was whether he had the ability to take part.

"No information." The Miss shook her head and explained succinctly: "Because by rights they should have fled, but they didn't."

They should have fled, yet didn't—that meant an ambush.

A very simple logic.

"Knowing that, you're still going?" Shen Yi regarded her, mildly surprised.

"I know where the Howling Moon Demon King is." The Miss extended her palm; a slender silver needle appeared in it, and she sent it forth.

The silver needle hovered slowly in the air, shielding Xiao Qiangwei.

The instant it appeared, the temperature across the entire mountaintop plummeted; a thin layer of frost instantly coated the divine statue, leaving only Xiao Qiangwei beside it untouched.

Once that was done, she stepped toward the ruined temple's exit, leaving the second half of her sentence unfinished.

"So long as it's not there, the rest are all the same."

It seemed her earlier question had truly been just a polite inquiry; whether the young man actually came or not, she didn't really care.

(End of this chapter)