Chapter 167

"It's so good..." Ruan Tao looked at Ruan Xing with longing eyes. "You don't know, I was actually very afraid. Ever since that summer day you delivered a meal to Father for me, I felt you were becoming more and more like a stranger. You are still Xing'er, it's so good..."

Ruan Xing did not know what to say, her eyes feeling slightly warm.

Suddenly, her expression sharpened. Her Divine Sense, spread out in the surroundings, sensed something, and she whispered: "It seems they have caught up. I will take you away from here first."

Right now, her greatest trump card, the Nascent Soul Stage Self-destruct Puppet, had already been used. Sword Lai had taken a hit from the golden ring and was then injured by the shockwave, making him no different from a cripple. She herself was also injured; she definitely could not beat those two old men in a fight.

It must be said, the Six Suns Study really thought highly of her; they had to dispatch two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators just to invite her over.

If they had only dispatched one, perhaps she could have defeated them one by one.

She truly did not know if Ruan Xing was unlucky, or if they were lucky.

"Still want to run now? Too late!" With a roar, a one-eyed old man held a golden ring, half the flesh on his body writhing with his movements, as if in a zombie crisis from a doomsday film.

She drew her Sword, and with a bang! The blade met the golden ring, emitting a harsh sound. Golden light like shattered jade burst forth from the center, and a few drops landed on Ruan Xing's shoulder, instantly emitting white smoke and burning a hole through her flesh. She gritted her teeth without letting out a cry of pain, her other hand forming a seal and pressing it onto the Sword. Ice-blue light surged instantly, nearly freezing the golden ring above!

Striking once and retreating, the golden-ringed old man flipped in the air and landed on the ground. He shook the ice shards off the golden ring and said strangely: "Why has the appearance changed? However, it should be you, no mistake."

The Dharma Sword is the same, the female disciple on the ground is the same, and the aura of Spiritual Power is from the same source; in such a short time, it is impossible to have swapped people.

It must be that some Magic Art on her body has failed due to her injuries.

This is even better; for him, it counts as good news. The golden-ringed old man began to feel somewhat excited.

The whisk-wielding old man also finally arrived at the battlefield.

Just now, he and Ruan Xing had exchanged a few moves; although the time was short, the power was not insignificant, and both had consumed a large amount of Spiritual Power. A short period of meditation could only barely treat the injuries on their bodies, not enough to recover their Spiritual Power.

Although the golden-ringed old man was more heavily injured than him, among the four people on the field now, the golden-ringed old man still possessed the strongest combat power.

He raised his hand upward, and a carved wooden mirror instantly grew larger, blocking the sun overhead and covering the nearby ruins.

Ruan Xing's expression changed; she felt a familiar sense of control...

That kind of restraint that shackled her heart like a chain.

It is the Boundary Tree!

The whisk-wielding old man smiled gloomily, "It seems you know what this is. I am curious, though: as a mouse that escaped from the National Teacher Palace, how did you avoid the boundary and enter the Xumi Realm?"

Ruan Xing pursed her lips and said nothing.

She had wanted to enter... but she couldn't get in either.

It was just that the boundary did not isolate dead objects, which allowed her to use the Puppet to exploit this loophole.

But now it seemed they did not realize this point.

Was it because there hadn't been any Ghost Path Evil Cultivator in Nanzhou for many years, or because they simply didn't understand the function of the boundary?

The origin of this mirror need not be mentioned; it must be related to the Boundary Tree. Besides being able to act as a defense against attacks, it could also temporarily construct a boundary that isolated the inside from the outside.

This function already exceeded a High-grade Magical Tool by too much.

And within this range, she had no way to take out the other Self-destruct Puppets from her Storage Bag to use, because within the Sumeru Mirror boundary, daring to use a self-destruct move was almost a method of mutual destruction.

Wait, she hadn't used a Self-destruct Puppet, so why was the surrounding Spiritual Power still becoming somewhat unstable? The two old men in Daoist robes in front had already widened their eyes.

The golden-ringed old man opened his mouth in shock, "What the hell, again?!"

They had only said two sentences since they chased her!

He slapped the whisk-wielding old man on the back, "What are you dazed for! Hurry up and dispel the Sumeru Mirror boundary!"

Ruan Xing looked back; behind her, Ruan Tao was swaying as she stood up, stuffing a handful of Huiyang Pill into her mouth.

Huiyang Pill, at the brink of death, a final flash of brilliance.

Ruan Xing was stunned, "Wait, Sister, I didn't give you these Pills for you to use like that..."

Ruan Tao recovered some strength. The Spiritual Power on her body was surging crazily, her hair fluttering behind her without wind. She pushed Ruan Xing away, "You go quickly!"

The fairy had told her about it; self-destructing a Golden Core... she hadn't understood before, but seeing how they were battered and exhausted by the Self-destruct Puppet earlier, she understood.

Since she couldn't help Ruan Xing while alive, then let her make a little more contribution when she died. She hoped Ruan Xing could run further in the time she bought, and not be hurt by the residual power of her self-destruction.

It was just that her injuries were truly too heavy. Even after taking the Huiyang Pill, the agony of crushing her Golden Core still tortured her until she was delirious, and she was already barely able to suppress the Golden Core that was about to go berserk.

Amidst the repeated urging of the golden-ringed old man, the whisk-wielding old man hurriedly cast the spell to cancel the boundary on the Sumeru Mirror.

No, can't let them leave! Ruan Tao thought this in her chaotic mind, lunging forward fiercely and interrupting the whisk-wielding old man's spellcasting.

Boom—!!

Ruan Xing suddenly broke free from the Simulation, panting a few times.

The Shuttle Spirit Boat was still moving leisurely. Cai Jiao, sitting on the deck, had her head slightly extended outward, the wind blowing her soft hair into a chaotic dance.

Seeing Ruan Xing's abnormality, she tilted her head in confusion.

Ruan Xing pulled her back into the protection range of the Shuttle Spirit Boat and ruffled her little head messily, "There are plenty of places if you want to feel the wind. What would you do if you fell off after leaving the protection of the Shuttle Spirit Boat?"

They were currently traveling at an altitude of a thousand meters.

Cai Jiao then turned to look at Sword Lai, who was squatting in the cabin in a daze.

Well, with Sword Lai's speed, it was impossible for Cai Jiao to fall off.

Ruan Xing pressed her brow in distress. Ruan Tao did not know that the Sumeru Mirror in the old man's hand could set up a boundary to isolate the inside from the outside, and still hoped to use her own self-destruction to trade for Ruan Xing's path to survival.

Although even if Ruan Tao didn't self-destruct, the two of them would still be hard-pressed to escape death in the simulation, but that final scene still left an indelible shadow in Ruan Xing's heart.

Fortunately, it was a simulation.

Ruan Xing adjusted her train of thought and began the second simulation.

This time, after she went to the Monster Beast cave where the Demon Lord and the others were hiding, she did not take Ruan Tao out to undergo the tribulation together, but instead let her persist for a few more days, suppressing her cultivation. After giving a few instructions to the Demon Lord and the others, she left the cave and went to that town.

She was not going to meet with Cai Wen; anyway, the information he knew had already been told to her in the last simulation, and having him repeat it was useless. Instead, she could test whether, in the last simulation, those two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators had come because she met the disciples sent by the Six Suns Study in the town, or because she was exposed by meeting with Cai Wen.

First, she used the Illusion Technique to disguise herself as a young Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Sure enough, in the town, she was stopped by the two of them for questioning. However, the two did not question her carefully, because the cultivation level Ruan Xing was currently disguising was too far from the target they knew, a mysterious Golden Core Stage cultivator.

Thus, Ruan Xing pretended to be timid on the surface, opening her mouth as if she wanted to speak but didn't dare to.

The Confucian-robed cultivator approached her with some impatience, "Answer whatever I ask you. If you don't dare to speak, you must have a guilty conscience..."

Before the words were finished, Ruan Xing suddenly made a move, grabbing the Confucian-robed cultivator by the collar and throwing him out.

Caught off guard, he could only attempt to circulate Spiritual Power in mid-air to stabilize his form, but who would have expected that the next moment, Ruan Xing would form seals with both hands: Breaking Source Technique!

Instantly, the Confucian-robed cultivator's Spiritual Power became unbalanced, and he flew out violently, landing in a shop opened by a low-level cultivator by the roadside; the shop's simple defensive Array Disk provided a slight cushioning effect, but the Confucian-robed cultivator still destroyed the shop's doors and windows, sending dust everywhere and choking people until they couldn't open their eyes.

By the time the Confucian-robed cultivator climbed up from inside while coughing, almost everyone on the street had already run away, and the shop owner did not dare to seek compensation from a high-level cultivator; at this moment, saving one's life was the most important thing.

If a fight were to break out, a single shop would not be enough for these people to smash; the people in this town had experience with this sort of thing.

The Dao-robed cultivator ran into the half-collapsed building, helped the other up, and asked urgently, "Junior Brother! Junior Brother? Are you alright?"

The Confucian-robed cultivator shook his head; his originally meticulously combed hair bun had become somewhat disheveled, and his moon-white robe was stained with quite a bit of filth; he had even smashed many bottles inside the shop, and the liquid flowing out from them carried a faint, grassy, fishy smell.

"I'm fine! Senior Brother, where is that thief?"

The Dao-robed cultivator shook his head, "That person had an accomplice. Just as you were thrown out, I intended to help, but a figure suddenly appeared behind me. Thanks to my timely reaction, otherwise, I would have been gutted. That person's cultivation was on par with mine, and with the two of them dealing with me, I was no match for them. Fortunately, they likely didn't want to cause too much of a disturbance, so they left after a few exchanges, and I hurried in to find you."

The time it took for him to say these few sentences was actually no more than half a minute.

"It was my carelessness; I didn't expect anyone to dare to make a move here," the Confucian-robed cultivator regretted.

Having been an official in the Xumi Realm for decades and having cultivated the Dao in the Six Suns Study for seven or eight years, he had long been accustomed to a state where no one dared to defy him, forgetting that this was the world of Cultivation and that he was just an ordinary cultivator with no real combat experience, not a high-ranking official who could cover the sky with one hand.

"The most urgent matter is to go back and report to the Study Master first," the Dao-robed cultivator said with a frown.

The Confucian-robed cultivator nodded and stood up to pat his clothes, but the dirty marks and pungent odor on them were difficult to remove; even after casting several Dust-Gathering Techniques, he still couldn't wipe them away, and he couldn't help but say with disgust, "What is this stuff!"

The Dao-robed cultivator took a look, "It's just some herbal spiritual liquid used for drawing talismans. This substance naturally has extremely strong adhesion. Since it won't come off, just throw it away and change into a new one when we get back."

"That's all I can do," the Confucian-robed cultivator said with annoyance, "It's still you who has the knowledge, Senior Brother, to even know how to draw talismans. I was so worried about my lifespan running out every day that I only dared to cultivate desperately without slacking, and I never learned about these things."

The Dao-robed cultivator smiled, "A minor skill, nothing worth learning. Let's go quickly, don't delay the Sect's mission."

The Confucian-robed cultivator responded, and the two boarded their Flying Swords to return to the mountain gate.

After successfully passing through the Mountain Protection Array and entering the mountain gate, the expression on the Dao-robed cultivator's face relaxed slightly; an acquaintance on the plaza saw them and came over to ask, "Jin Fu, what happened? You two shouldn't be returning at this time."

The Confucian-robed cultivator looked at his side, and the Dao-robed cultivator understood that this person was calling him, so he said seriously, "There is an urgent matter that needs to be reported to the Study Master."

So his name was Jin Fu.

That's right, the Dao-robed cultivator before them had already had his core replaced.

When Ruan Xing threw the Confucian-robed cultivator into the roadside shop, she had used a Magic Art to make the surrounding buildings collapse, stirring up a large amount of dust, while Sword Come had also killed the Dao-robed cultivator in one blow and dragged him into the Invisibility Channel.

The original pedestrians and cultivators on the street didn't even dare to watch the commotion and had long since vanished without a trace. In that half-minute, Ruan Xing had successfully used the Illusion Technique to transform into the appearance of the Dao-robed cultivator, and incidentally taken his Storage Bag and Dharma Sword. Because the original owner was dead, Ruan Xing easily wiped away the Divine Sense imprint on them, and even had time to slip into the shop to help the cultivator she had hit for no reason.

"You've come at an inconvenient time," that cultivator said, "We also made a discovery during the sweep of the Xumi Realm this morning. Guess what?"

Ruan Xing pondered for a long while, somewhat worried that it was related to Cai Wen or the Red Head Gang, but remained calm on the surface and said, "I don't know, don't keep me in suspense, Daoist Brother."

"Hehe, we caught a Ghost Cultivator!" The cultivator shook his head and clicked his tongue twice, "Ghost Cultivators have been extinct for thousands of years, yet one actually appeared in the Xumi Realm."

"That is indeed strange," Ruan Xing echoed.

Hongtou Daoren could pick up a Heaven-grade cultivation manual like the Nether Ghost Record just like that; perhaps there had long been many evil paths hidden in the Xumi Realm, it was just that the Six Suns Study had never cared about the lives of the mortals below.

The Confucian-robed cultivator looked at the two of them in confusion and couldn't help but ask, "Senior Brother, what is a Ghost Cultivator?"

There were almost no stories of gods and ghosts circulating in the Xumi Realm, so he was a bit confused listening to the two of them chat.

Ruan Xing also didn't know if the Six Suns Study's specific definition of a Ghost Cultivator was the same as what Xie Huai had told her, so she stroked her beard, smiled faintly, and did not answer.

The cultivator then took over the conversation, "You only just reached the Golden Core stage, so it's normal that you don't understand these things. Just read more of the classics in the library later. By the way, the Study Master and the others are interrogating that Ghost Cultivator in the dungeon; why don't we go take a look? Just in time, you can go report directly after the interrogation is finished."

"That works," Ruan Xing nodded in agreement.

"I haven't seen what a Ghost Cultivator looks like yet. Are they the same as normal cultivators?" The Confucian-robed cultivator was no longer in a hurry to change his clothes and asked curiously.

Ruan Xing smiled without a word, and the cultivator patted his shoulder, "You'll know when you see it."

The group left the plaza, bypassed the main hall at the back, and entered a passage piled with artificial rockeries, where there seemed to be traces of an array. Ruan Xing did not dare to be careless and followed closely behind the cultivator.

After turning a few corners, a stone door appeared. Walking down the stairs, they arrived at a place shaped like a circular dome. Dozens of Long-lasting Lamps were on the surrounding walls, illuminating the dungeon in a warm, orange tone.

It was just that it was still difficult to mask the chill of this place.

The surrounding space was large. A beam of skylight hung down from the center of the dome, shining on a shallow circular center below. A middle-aged man with the appearance of an elegant scholar stood nearby. Scanning to the side, among the seven or eight cultivators, there were two familiar faces; they were exactly the old man with the whisk and the old man with the gold ring from the last Simulation.

It seemed that disciples were not forbidden from watching. The three of them walked over and got closer, and no one cast a single glance at their actions, but instead focused on the center of the circle.

Under that skylight, a woman in black clothes and black hair was crouching on the ground in a curled-up posture.

Various burn marks were constantly appearing on her pale, white skin, and on her wrists and ankles were Binding God Ropes used to restrain cultivators at the Transformation Stage.

The Yin energy leaking from her body was constantly trying to repair those burn injuries, but it was like a cup of water trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood; it was of no use.

She did not cry out in pain, as if she had already become numb to the burning, and only the occasional involuntary twitching of her body proved that she was still alive.

"As long as you open your mouth and say who your accomplices are, and what your purpose is for hiding in the Xumi Realm, I will no longer let you suffer the pain of the Heavenly Fire and will give you a quick end," the Study Master said with great mercy.

The red lips hidden under the woman's black hair seemed to open and close slightly, but Ruan Xing did not hear any sound.

The cultivator who brought them in clicked his tongue and whispered, "It's been over an hour, and she's still being stubborn! She hasn't said a thing."

The Study Master and the other two Nascent Soul cultivators had been accompanying her here for over an hour.

There was no help for it; the affairs of the Xumi Realm were too important to them, and they could not afford any mistakes.

Ruan Xing just felt that the woman looked somewhat familiar, so she couldn't help but move closer, and finally heard what the woman was muttering as her lips moved.

"I don't know... I want revenge... I don't know... I want revenge..."

(End of chapter)