Chapter 188: Encountering the Black Judge Again, the Jade Cauldron Resonates

Qin Yueyao drew a deep breath, a flash of resolve in her eyes: "My Qin family has practiced medicine for generations, though we later strayed onto the wrong path, but a doctor's benevolent heart cannot stand idly by while the capital's populace suffers. Moreover, this 'Supreme' is fickle and cruel; working with him is like making a deal with a tiger—once he achieves his goal, my Qin family will surely meet no good end."

"So I am willing to cooperate with you two." Qin Yueyao's voice was firm, "I can provide more details of the Supreme's plan, as well as the Shadow Organization's core stronghold intel in the capital, and even… I know the exact location and how to break one of the ley‑line nodes."

"What are the conditions?" Zhang Jun asked.

Qin Yueyao's eyes showed a hint of hope: "After success, I only ask that the Medicine Sect and the Qin family resolve their centuries‑old grudge, jointly safeguard the medical tradition, and give the Qin family… a way to survive."

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue remained silent; Qin Yueyao's conditions were not excessive. If what she said were true, the value of this information would be immeasurable.

Just as Qin Yueyao was about to pull a scroll from her bosom, seemingly to reveal more crucial intel—

"Woo—! Woo—!"

Outside the villa, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded!

"What's going on?" Zhang Jun reacted instantly, stepping forward and shielding Lin Xue behind him, fully on guard.

Outside, cries of battle, the sharp clang of clashing weapons, and death‑rattled screams mingled into a chaotic torrent that surged from all directions, aimed straight at this secluded Quiet Thought Hermitage.

Qin Yueyao's already pallid face turned completely white; her body trembled uncontrollably and her voice changed pitch: "Impossible! How could they find this hidden Quiet Thought Hermitage? Unless… unless someone among us betrayed us and sent word!"

A buzzing filled her mind, blanking it out; her supposedly flawless plan had just suffered a fatal snag.

"Boom!"

The villa's flimsy-looking gate was kicked to pieces from outside!

Wood chips flew everywhere as a black‑clad figure sauntered in.

Still wearing that gaunt‑black judge's robe, still with that hoarse voice like a metal sheet scraping a pot bottom, exuding a thick, unmixable mockery and icy killing intent.

"Qin Yueyao, and those two brats from the Medicine Sect—heaven has a path you refuse, hell has no gate yet you come marching in! Heh heh heh… Really opens my eyes, daring to scheme against the Supreme!"

Black Judge!

Beneath his hood, that sticky, clinging gaze felt like two venomous snakes coiling tightly around the three people in the courtyard.

Behind the Black Judge trailed several robed figures in strange attire from the Shadow Organization; their temples bulged, movements stiff, yet they exuded a deathly, ferocious aura—clearly not ordinary lackeys, likely the Shadow Organization's enshrined adepts, whose strength far surpasses the scouts we've met before.

"Black Judge!" Zhang Jun's teeth ground together as old and new grudges surged, "You old dog, you really are a persistent ghost!"

"Hmph, last time you were just lucky to slip away; this time it won't be so easy!" the Black Judge laughed sinisterly, his ill‑intentioned gaze sweeping over Zhang Jun and Lin Xue before settling on Qin Yueyao: "Qin Yueyao, do you think cozying up to those two brats lets you defy the Supreme? How naïve!"

Qin Yueyao bit her tongue hard, the sharp pain forcing her to steady herself. She inhaled, her hands flashing through a series of complex seals, and shouted sharply: "Activate the formation!"

As her voice fell, pale cyan runes blazed to life across the ground and walls of the Quiet Thought Hermitage!

The runes, as if alive, linked together at lightning speed, instantly forming a huge luminous barrier that enveloped the entire villa.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The Shadow Organization adepts accompanying the Black Judge almost immediately launched attacks as the formation activated, hurling heavy blows at the barrier that sent ripples across it, yet for a moment they could not breach it.

"Trivial tricks!" the Black Judge snorted coldly, full of disdain, "You think this paltry formation can stop me?"

He said that but did not strike right away, apparently pondering the formation's secrets.

Inside the courtyard, tension peaked. Outside, the Black Judge led a pack of hungry wolves eyeing them covetously, while the "traitor" Qin Yueyao had mentioned remained unseen—like a venomous snake hidden in the dark, ready to strike at any moment.

"Zhang Jun, Lin Xue!" Qin Yueyao fished a jade slip from her bosom, speaking rapidly, "This is everything I know about the Supreme's plan, plus the Shadow Organization's core stronghold in the capital, and… and several vital clues to where the Supreme might be hiding! You must go—I'll hold them off!"

She shoved the jade slip into Lin Xue's hand, leaving no room for refusal.

Lin Xue took the jade slip, feeling its icy chill, and glanced at Qin Yueyao: "You……"

"Cut the chatter!" Qin Yueyao interrupted, forcing a grin uglier than a sob, "I, Qin Yueyao, have done endless evil; death is my due! But these things must get out! The capital cannot fall into the Supreme's hands, and the Medicine Sect's heritage must not be cut off here!"

Just then, an unforeseen twist occurred!

Deep within the Qin family's forbidden grounds, the usually tranquil Shennong Cauldron suddenly emitted a deafening hum without warning!

"Hum—!"

A soft yet supremely majestic cyan light pillar shot skyward, instantly piercing the layered seals of the Qin family's forbidden grounds—like a deity's eye, it locked onto the Quiet Thought Hermitage from afar!

Within that beam flowed a vast, ancient, inexhaustible power!

Almost simultaneously with the Shennong Cauldron's movement, the Yang Jade in Zhang Jun's palm and the Yin Jade in Lin Xue's bosom burst into blinding light—hot and cold energies intertwining as they rose, resonating strongly with the cyan beam emanating from the cauldron!

"This is……" Zhang Jun and Lin Xue both felt a tremor rising from their very bones.

The next moment, the cyan light pillar bent slightly in mid‑air, crossed the vast distance, and precisely projected onto the exterior of the Quiet Thought Hermitage, forming outside Qin Yueyao's defensive array another, denser, heavier energy barrier!

Upon this cyan barrier, countless ancient runes flickered in and out, exuding a vast aura that suppresses all things and harmonizes yin and yang.

"Boom!"

A Shadow Organization adept put all his strength into a strike that slammed hard against the cyan barrier—yet it vanished like a stone sunk in the sea, not even raising a splash.