But soon Lu Ziyin no longer had the leisure to ponder such matters, for his body was like a mummy tightly wrapped in spider silk, stiff and unable to move. A forceful momentum yanked him forward, causing him to fall to the ground.
As the young master of the Lu Mansion, Lu Ziyin had enjoyed honors and special treatment from birth, and moments as embarrassing as this were rare.
... Fortunately, there were no other acquaintances around to witness it.
His spiritual power suppressed, he lifted his head. What met his eyes was a floor-length, unstained black garment. The material, made from some unknown substance, appeared quite peculiar. From a distance, it was a patch of unreflecting darkness, as if having consumed all light, but up close, it resembled the clearest night sky, a scattering of gold on a jade plate. It was dark, yet it also exuded the mysterious grandeur of the starry expanse.
Much like the person herself, she was incomprehensible no matter how one looked at her, from afar or up close.
He looked up again and saw "Gu Yi" standing there, wearing a wide-brimmed hat. However, her face was devoid of any expression, and her indifferent gaze from above sent a chill through Lu Ziyin's heart. He wondered what expression her alluring face was contorting into.
She crouched down, resting her elbows on her knees, and asked, "Why are you here?"
Lu Ziyin, fearing that he would be silenced with a fabricated excuse if he didn't confess quickly, spoke proactively, "Master Cheng Hong, Yan Tianjiao, and your husband have all pursued the direction you left.澹雅 and I chose the opposite direction. Along the way, we arrived near White Pagoda City and saw this palace hidden under the pagoda's shade. 澹雅 insisted that there might be something strange here, either treasures or secrets..."
Thus, they had broken in. Initially, the three of them were together, but now, he was the only one left to confront such an earth-shattering secret.
Suddenly, Gu Junshi asked, "What are you doing?"
A bone-breaking force gripped Lu Ziyin's wrist. With a "clack," a gray stone fell from his sleeve. The stone was flattened on two sides, with a transmission formation carved in cinnabar. This was a sound transmission stone talisman.
This was the lowest-tier talisman stone among the major sects. Its transmission range was not far, but it was cheap and convenient. It did not require spiritual energy; one simply needed to write on it to transmit a message.
This "sound transmission stone talisman"...
Gu Junshi leaned sideways, picked up the sound transmission stone talisman, and idly turned it in her hand.
A second-generation descendant of a prominent family like Lu Ziyin, who had wealth to rely on, would naturally disdain using such low-tier, inexpensive sound transmission stone talismans. This one was prepared by Gu Junshi for Liu Jiangfusheng.
She had considered all sorts of dangers for him. While other jade transmission talismans were indeed better, allowing for calls and even video, based on her years of experience in the cultivation world, in emergencies, those high-end jade transmission talismans had their drawbacks. If one's spiritual power was sealed, it would be utterly useless. It was better to have this primitive sound transmission stone talisman that allowed for writing.
"You just notified others to come?"
With a clench of her fingers, the sound transmission stone talisman in her palm instantly turned to dust.
Lu Ziyin shivered, recalling how she had destroyed a portion of the world with a single move. He wore a dejected expression. "Do you think you're really a demon? You and Liu Jiangfusheng... he shouldn't know, should he?"
Earlier, when 澹雅 had asked a question, he had retorted, "If she's a demon, why doesn't she kill people and even saves them? What's her motive?"
Ru Lan had replied, "She's after people, isn't she? Aren't those opera plays often about a demon falling for a celestial maiden, and in the end, they turn good and save the world together?"
He had previously dismissed their words as a joke, but now he sincerely hoped that Gu Yi was such a "prodigal son who returns."
Gu Junshi stood up.
Lu Ziyin's mind was filled with images of his own dismemberment, so he didn't notice her body sway slightly unsteadily as she stood.
"So what if I am a demon, and so what if I am not?"
Although Lu Ziyin lacked backbone, his mind was sharp and adaptable. He detected a hint of room for negotiation in Gu Yi's words, and his courage suddenly grew.
He recalled that day on the Nine Peaks. Liu Jiangfusheng, a young man who seemed as unreachable as the heavens, had just won the "Newcomer Ranking" championship, the foremost among newcomers every fifty years. In that grand and special moment of glory, under everyone's gaze, he had bent his proud, upright back toward Gu Yi, his mortal wife, lowered his head, and kissed her with an almost infatuated passion, as if offering his heart entirely.
No one would have doubted that the earnest, proud, and seemingly invincible young man's feelings for his wife were genuine.
But now... perhaps the deception lay with this mortal woman, scorned and looked down upon by everyone.
Lu Ziyin felt... thrilling.
It was a plot twist that sent shivers down his spine!
"Ru Lan told us that you are so powerful, yet you've never harmed us. I couldn't understand it before, but when I learned you were Gu Yi, I was indeed surprised, yet the incomprehensible parts seemed to make sense."
He couldn't answer Gu Junshi's question. Even if she were a demon, he and everyone else combined couldn't defeat her. It was better to prioritize his own survival.
He believed that while hating demons was difficult, with effort, he could overcome it.
If she wasn't a demon, wouldn't that be a happy ending for everyone?
After all, thinking about it carefully, they didn't seem to have any deep-seated hatred between them. There was no need to force their relationship into an enemy dynamic.
Gu Junshi had to admire Lu Ziyin's tenacity. His ability to seize opportunities was not something everyone possessed with such psychological fortitude.
His words not only indicated his desire not to be her enemy but also subtly leveraged his relationship with Liu Jiangfusheng to plead his case. By not stating things explicitly, he left room for ambiguity, likely assuming that her true feelings for Liu Jiangfusheng were uncertain.
Gu Junshi had always known one thing: that life was unpredictable.
She tilted her head slightly, the brim of her hat falling between her eyebrows. Her profile was like rugged peaks, shrouded in mist, with falling forest shadows. Her neck was fair and full. "I thought there was still plenty of time..."
But now, it seemed her time was running out.
Lu Ziyin found that each time he met her, she could stir new emotions within him. Previously, he used the word "beauty" to describe women he found physically attractive, but he hesitated to use such a vulgar term for her.
With a wave of her sleeve, a thick, dense flow of dark energy swept Lu Ziyin up and threw him into the blue, shimmering light that had just appeared. He flailed his arms uncontrollably, then widened his eyes, instinctively shouting his last words.
"Gu Yi, what are you doing?"
After he disappeared, Gu Junshi lowered her eyes, gently caressed her abdomen, and said, "Perhaps I am about to do something... that will shatter the heavens."
She raised her eyes, and in an instant, her form blurred into black mist, passing through as if nothing were there. Following the path of Wei Li's residual aura, she arrived at the exit of the labyrinth.
Wei Li must have returned the way he came.
She stared down at the long white stone steps leading directly to the underground palace. Flanked by tall stone pillars with dragon reliefs, she descended steadily. The dim, soft light illuminated her path but could not reach the vast expanse of the high, vaulted ceiling or the dark abyss below.
The dead silence of the space was broken only by the sound of her breathing, her footsteps, and the rustling of her clothes.
Gu Junshi had indeed been so weak that even walking was difficult. Affected by the Huangtong Crystal, the child in her womb had become restless, but later, her condition improved slightly.
Firstly, she was strong enough, and her internal energy was temporarily sufficient to obtain the Dragon Marrow. Secondly, whether it was because of her and her father's unusual natures, the child in her womb possessed a consciousness that could communicate with her.
Although it instinctively drew sustenance from her body, it also felt a connection, fearing it might harm its mother. Thus, it suppressed its greed. However, this caused it double distress. Gu Junshi had been comforting it, much like a scumbag who makes empty promises, unable to offer any concrete help or commitments, and could only appease it with sweet words.
She hadn't named the child because she wasn't sure if it would ever have the chance to be born into this world. She had said she would do her best, but "doing her best" did not guarantee the outcome would be as she wished.
Although confident, she was not so arrogant as to believe that there was nothing in this world she could not overcome.
Gu Junshi took a deep breath.
She could not concern herself with Gu Er, nor could she wait for Wei Li. Following the guidance of the "Eye of the True Dragon," after completing the descent of these slanted steps, she arrived at the underground palace beneath White Pagoda City.
The dense spiritual energy within the underground palace, accumulated over countless years, had likely nurtured and cultivated numerous spiritual entities. However, they were not friendly. At least, they harbored lethal and expulsive malice towards intruders.
Gu Junshi stared into the dark expanse ahead. Nearby was a circular platform. The cold, gray walls bore stripes that had been carved into them, connected yet distinct. Each section extended towards the distant, solitary, and chilling stone wall.
She walked straight ahead. The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, as if darkness were about to devour everything. From the shadows, rustling sounds of movement began to stir...
Deep within the underground palace, sealed by myriad formations, cold, hard chains swayed without wind, making a "clang, clang" sound. Blood-red runes, resembling fly blood, were inscribed on them in fine Sanskrit-like characters. A distance below, within a light cluster that was neither bright nor dim, a bead floated, half black and half white.
The black side continuously encroached upon the white side, while the white side refused to yield, constantly resisting the black.
The black side moved.
Someone had arrived.
The white side also moved.
No one could approach this place easily.
—
Meanwhile, before the sound transmission stone talisman in Lu Ziyin's hand was destroyed by Gu Junshi, he had successfully sent his message. As a result, Cheng Hong, Yan Tianjiao, Liu Jiangfusheng, and 澹雅 received Lu Ziyin's group message almost simultaneously.
The sound transmission stone talisman had been given to them by Liu Jiangfusheng before their departure. It was directly connected to all six of them, allowing anyone to receive messages sent by the others.
Liu Jiangfusheng felt the sound transmission stone talisman heat up. He glanced sideways, took it out, and saw a line of text appearing on it.
From Lu Ziyin...
White Pagoda City palace, black cloak, hurry and save, she is—
It was evident that Lu Ziyin's handwriting was messy and his actions frantic as he wrote these words on the talisman. This rushed message was not coherent, but the general meaning could be understood. In essence, Lu Ziyin had encountered the black cloak again, his situation was precarious, and most importantly, the last two words.
She is—
His tone suggested that he knew who the other party was and intended to reveal the truth to them, but at the crucial moment, the characters were not fully written, stopping abruptly.
Most likely, the black cloak had discovered his private communication, and their transmitted messages went unanswered.
So, who was she?
Liu Jiangfusheng stared intently at the words "She is," clutching the sound transmission stone talisman tightly.
Upon receiving Lu Ziyin's message, Cheng Hong turned back without a word and hurried towards White Pagoda City.
He had previously speculated on her purpose in coming to the "Dragon Island Secret Realm." Now that she had successfully obtained the "Eye of the True Dragon," her next step would inevitably be to acquire the "Dragon Marrow." However, she had no idea what the "Dragon Marrow" actually was!
Moreover, she had now been targeted and stained with the powder of the Huangtong Crystal. Under such circumstances, the inherent dangers of her seeking the "Dragon Marrow" were unimaginable.
—
As Gu Junshi arrived at the deepest part of the underground palace, holding a blood-dripping black sword, a soul-shaking dragon roar echoed from the sky above the palace. It was like a welcoming fanfare or a warning of expulsion.
It soared directly into the heavens, resonating throughout the entire "Dragon Island Secret Realm," startling the island's beasts and birds into flight. Waves upon waves surged from the coast, submerging the island's edges.
She looked up and saw the scene displayed by the "Eye of the True Dragon."
Lava flowed down the black walls from above. The red light became the only illumination in the sky, reflecting the countless chains suspended overhead. In the dimness below, a cluster of light hung in mid-air.
Upon closer inspection, within the light was an Yin-Yang Orb.
But at this moment, with a cracking sound, the orb split open, revealing a human-like form. Its white hair scattered, and it floated naked in the air.
"Child, why have you come here?" it asked.
It spoke in a gentle, resonant baritone, like a respected elder at home inquiring.
However, for an elder to maintain such composure when encountering a junior wielding a bloodied sword and exuding murderous intent, it indicated either deep cunning or ulterior motives.
Gu Junshi asked, "True Dragon God?"
It paused, then remained silent for a long time. "How did you guess?"
"A trace of the True Dragon God's consciousness?"
"Child, you are not a spirit cultivator, nor a ghost cultivator, nor a demon cultivator. You—" Suddenly, the True Dragon God sighed heavily. "After the Underworld disappeared from the Six Realms, I never imagined that there would be another like you in this world."
"Heaven's will! Hahahaha—"
He suddenly opened his eyes, his hair gradually turning black, and his aura transformed.
He had fallen into demonic ways.