Chapter 454: Ah Shi returns, the couple reunites!

Looks like, the elders of the Witch Moon Sect also tried this method before.

But in the end, they all ended in failure.

Li Qingluo recalled Elder Gu's instruction to her: "If one day you reach a point of no choice and enter that secret passage, you must promise your teacher—you must find a way to kill whatever is inside!"

Kill?

Li Qingluo now thinks it's ridiculous.

Did the teacher overestimate herself, or underestimate this gu beast?

The Witch Moon Sect had lost so many experts and still couldn't kill it, yet Elder Gu actually placed her hope on herself, who had only been in the sect for a year.

Of course, if enough people swarmed it—for example, sacrificing a few of her experts like that—perhaps it would really be possible to kill this beast.

But for Li Qingluo, that absolutely could not happen.

In Li Qingluo's heart, she cannot lack even a single 'kill'.

Today, let's stop here for now!

Li Qingluo shouted, "Just get out together! Jin Ning, hurry and come with us!"

Because the commotion from attracting lightning was too great, the entire cavern began to shake.

Falling stones rained down from above into the pool water.

Jin Ning's life-bound gu, the little golden snake, was inadvertently swept into the pool as well.

Jin Ning glanced at Li Qingluo, said nothing, and dove headfirst into the pool……

The dark sky gradually sank down.

Li Qingluo and her group crawled out from the rubble pile on the cliff.

They also did their best to bring out everyone still alive in the cavern, including Jin Ning.

Jin Ning's life-bound gu was not found, so she was fished out by Nan Gongdi.

At this moment, Jin Ning lay soaked under the tree, fainting once again.

Everyone caught their breath and involuntarily looked toward the rubble pile.

"Will that thing still come out?"

Li Qingluo: "I don't yet know how to seal the gu worm technique. So if it truly isn't dead, it will come out… there's a great chance."

Everyone's faces grew somewhat solemn.

This thing is impervious to blades and spears, and even lightning cannot kill it.

How do we kill it?

Li Qingluo turned her head and forcibly swallowed the rising sweet-blood taste.

She had forcibly used witchcraft three times today, which was really a strain for her, whose mental cultivation fundamentals were not yet solid.

She must not use witchcraft recklessly anymore.

Otherwise, her meridians will soon suffer severe damage.

Li Qingluo wiped rain from her face: "Let's hurry and leave this place first."

Sha Yi: "Miss, what should we do about them?"

The few Witch Moon Sect disciples taken alive were all followers of the Spirit Lord.

One of them was even the Spirit Lord's daughter.

The Spirit Lord had one son and two daughters, and two of them were buried together with their mother inside.

Li Qingluo: "Just leave them here to fend for themselves."

"What we've done is already enough benevolence and righteousness."

"Go!"

The group only helped Jin Ning up, then quickly headed toward the Witch Moon Sect Mountain Villa below the cliff.

After the people left, several Witch Moon Sect disciples slowly opened their eyes.

They gazed at each other, bewildered.

Among them, the Spirit Lord's daughter A Zhi lay at the edge of the rubble pile, weeping bitterly: "Mother… Brother… you died so horribly—"

Li Qingluo and her group originally only wanted to return to the Witch Moon Sect to settle for the night.

But unexpectedly, as they just reached the edge of the villa, they heard movement coming again from the front mountain.

Could it be that the sects of Cloud Valley, Five Poisons, and Union Harmony Sect haven't left yet?

Everyone cautiously drew their weapons.

Then they silently approached the front mountain.

In the dark, rainy night, a solemn killing intent once again enveloped the entire Witch Moon Sect in an aura of deathly stillness.

Stepping one foot into a puddle of blood-red water felt like treading into the land of death.

Bloodwater covered the ground, corpses lay scattered everywhere.

Slaughter was about to descend once more upon this lonely, desolate mountain villa.

Boom—

Another thunderclap rang out, lightning flashing across the entire night sky.

A pitch-black silhouette stood on the front mountain.

Que'er and Sha Yi charged at those black silhouettes and attacked.

The two sides instantly became locked in fierce combat.

However, soon a familiar voice shouted anxiously: "Que'er! It's me, young master!"

Zhui Yu, with a "whoosh—", quickly pulled down the mask on his face and lifted the straw hat on his head.

Que'er froze.

On the other side, Li Qingluo gripped the Azure Fall Sword, about to charge into the crowd and start killing, when she saw a tall, familiar figure standing before the foremost steps.

This figure had walked through her dreams countless times over the past year.

She dazedly almost thought it was still just her own dream.

Yet the people around her all came to a halt.

That person turned, took off the straw hat on his head, and revealed a face that could overturn the world.

Rainwater slid down his face.

His features gradually became clear and distinct.

Seeing her, his eyes lit up: "Luò'er!"

This person was none other than Duan Rongshi, who had left on their wedding night and been gone a full year.

Duan Rongshi frowned, seeing Li Qingluo appear safely with her own people, and only then did a heavy weight lift from his chest.

Immediately, he strode toward her with long, swift steps.

Li Qingluo, as if just awakening from a dream, also red-eyed, hurried toward him.

The two clung tightly to each other in the rain.

At last, this moment felt real.

Seeing this, the others hastily turned away, not daring to look.

"Ah Shi, is it really you?"

"Am I not dreaming?"

Li Qingluo incredulously stroked his face—it was warm, it was real.

And yet all of this was too unbelievable.

"But weren't you fighting in the borderlands and the Western Regions?"

"How could you suddenly appear before me?"

"Ah Shi, what on earth is going on?"

Duan Rongshi first placed his own straw hat onto Li Qingluo's head.

"No rush, let's talk slowly."

"Come, let's first return to the room to get out of the rain."

The rain continued to pour down with a splashing sound.

Li Qingluo had always had a small courtyard of her own in the Witch Moon Sect, and this courtyard was precisely the bridal chamber she and Duan Rongshi had after their marriage.

After a year apart, Duan Rongshi returned here to find many traces of her stay added to the room.

But times have changed.

Once bustling and glorious, the Witch Moon Sect has now suffered a sudden extermination; tonight it has become a haunted domain.

The guards Duan Rongshi brought and Li Qingluo's killers were clearing the corpses strewn across the Witch Moon Sect's mountains.

Everyone held an immeasurably grief‑heavy heart; in the silent rainy night no one spoke, and no one felt afraid.

The guards were busy outside, while Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi finally found a moment to catch their breath.

After they wiped themselves down and changed into clean clothes, they finally sat down to talk.

Duan Rongshi said, "I thought something had happened to you, so I was planning to search high and low for your whereabouts."

"Fortunately, you're unharmed."

"Luò'er, I've come too late."

"I should have come earlier; perhaps then the Witch Moon Sect wouldn't have ended up like this."

Li Qingluo shook her head: "The Witch Moon Sect was schemed against by all the other sects of MiaoJiang; these people probably long ago plotted to drive the Witch Moon Sect to its doom."

"Even if I had left a day later and you had come a day earlier, they would merely have shifted the day of their attack."

Duan Rongshi said, "You mean you've left the Witch Moon Sect?"

"That's why you managed to avoid this calamity."