The Mountain Lord's Daughter

Yue Mo, even if starving, would never resort to something like this.

Pei Yujing furrowed his brows and asked, "As far as I know, evil spirits are formed when the evil qi possesses cultivators. They extinguish emotions, and are driven by a murderous intent. How could they possibly have descendants?"

"This young friend does not know," the city lord replied. "These lower-level evil spirits are naturally crude and violent, recognizing no kin and only knowing slaughter. However, a thousand years ago, there was another type of person. Before their bodies were taken over, they were considered the pride of heaven. After being possessed by evil spirits, they gained immense spiritual power and exceptional agility. They still retained some of their memories from when they were human, were cunning and thoughtful, and could maintain a human appearance, commanding groups of evil spirits. These evil spirits called them 'Chi Wang'—the Kings of Evil Spirits."

Upon hearing "Chi Wang," the group exchanged looks.

"Didn't they say that with the rise of spirit masters, no Chi Wang would be born anymore?"

Master Penglai explained to his juniors, "That's true, but the Chi Wang sealed in Du'e City all those years ago are still alive."

"So, the children of these evil spirits are what you mean by evil spirit offspring? If someone could bear the child of an evil spirit, their body would definitely not be susceptible to corruption by evil qi. Their mothers... could they be..."

The city lord said, "Exactly, they were the spirit masters who were taken to Du'e City. For evil spirits, the better the physical body, the faster they can cultivate. The Chi Wangs, always seeking stronger bodies, disdained ordinary evil spirits and attempted to create powerful offspring by possessing their children."

Everyone's faces turned grim.

Especially the young female spirit masters, their faces drained of color, trembling slightly.

Zhan Yunwei had heard of this from her father.

It was said that decades ago, the barrier had been disturbed, and cracks appeared. To prevent the evil spirits from Du'e City from wreaking havoc on the world, countless cultivators and spirit masters had gone outside the barrier to exterminate the evil spirits and repair the barrier.

The battle was brutal, and although the Spiritual Realm managed to win, many cultivators and spirit masters became prisoners of Du'e City.

Zhan Yunwei had never expected that the predecessors among those spirit masters had suffered such a fate. A feeling of nausea rose in her chest.

She asked the city lord, "How did this young man come here? Shouldn't they have been born inside Du'e City?"

"The descendants of the Chi Wang are often of mixed quality," the city lord raised his hand, using his spiritual power to force the young man to lift his head, allowing everyone to see his ugly face. "This one is a failed offspring. In Du'e City, these useless little evil spirits are relegated to slave labor. The Chi Wang have no concept of fatherly love."

The rest of his words weren't needed for Zhan Yunwei to understand.

"Slaves" were akin to property. Some spiritual cultivators, risking their lives to enter Du'e City, would return with these clueless little evil spirits, selling them to rich families like the city lord's in exchange for spirit stones.

Whether in Du'e City or the Spiritual Realm, they were mere commodities, with the only difference being their value.

Zhan Yunwei frowned and asked, "What about the successful descendants of the Chi Wang?"

"Naturally, they are handsome, talented, and gifted. But they often die young. Even if they manage to survive childhood, they rarely live for more than a few decades."

Yue Zhiheng silently listened to the city lord's words, taking Zhan Yunwei's hand as he looked toward the evil spirit offspring in the formation.

The little evil spirit appeared to be quite young, and its thoughts were simple. Despite the brutal treatment, there was no hatred in its eyes, only fear and pleading.

As it met the gazes of so many people, it even shed tears, hoping someone would save it.

But everyone understood that it was already beyond saving.

Yue Zhiheng's expression remained cold as he watched. Under the chilly moonlight, the little evil spirit slowly breathed its last.

The city lord frowned. "I thought it would last another day or two, but it's more fragile than I expected."

This comment was unsettling to hear.

But the young women, who had never witnessed such a scene, were momentarily confused. They felt a mix of hatred, sympathy, and fear toward the evil spirit offspring.

A timid spirit master hesitantly asked, "There are no Chi Wangs in the Spiritual Realm, right?"

The sight of trees swaying in the night wind now made her uneasy. She would rather die than be captured by a Chi Wang and bear a child of an evil spirit.

A sword cultivator beside her comforted, "Don't worry, the Chi Wangs are all sealed in Du'e City. How could there be any here in Qiyang County?"

Zhan Yunwei lowered her gaze and suddenly spoke, "Not necessarily."

Everyone was stunned and couldn't help but look at her.

Zhan Yunwei's gaze fixed on a spot behind the city lord. She softly asked, "Lord City Lord, where has your shadow gone?"

The night wind in Qiyang County caused the tree shadows to sway, and the city lord had unknowingly moved to stand beneath a laurel tree, casting an eerie and chilling moonlight.

Behind the city lord, however, there was an empty void.

The faces of the spirit masters turned pale.

When they looked up again, what they saw were not the guards of the city lord's manor. The guards' eyes were hollow and dark, their pupils absent, devoid of whites.

"City Lord," he sighed, "When did you notice?"

Zhan Yunwei coldly responded, "Before coming to Qiyang County, I heard that a village was destroyed before the arrival of the Celestial Heaven Mansion. And I've read the records on evil spirits in the Immortal Palace's library. I know far more than you realize. You are the Chi Wang?"

"A clever little girl, but it's too late," the city lord said.

The city lord laughed loudly. With a wave of his hand, everyone felt as though the heavens and earth had turned upside down, and they crashed to the ground.

All the spirit masters fell into the formation that had previously contained the evil spirit offspring. Before their eyes, a炼丹炉 (pill furnace) appeared, larger than a house. The cultivators were trapped inside, being slowly and unknowingly refined.

Pei Yujing, on the other hand, was bound by the thick, dark evil qi, floating in mid-air.

The city lord looked at Pei Yujing with a chilling smile. "It's been many years since I've seen someone with innate sword bones. Not bad. This new body... I'll take it."

The spirit masters were already crying, realizing that they had underestimated the "evil spirit disaster" in Qiyang County. Along the way, although they had seen many villages slaughtered, the city had appeared prosperous, and they had once complained that their master was making a big fuss.

They hadn't expected that a group of unseasoned young men and women would encounter a Chi Wang, a King of Evil Spirits, a rare occurrence in a thousand years. Now, they all regretted it deeply.

Yue Zhiheng had also never expected that Zhan Yunwei, as a young girl, would face such a situation. No wonder the Mirage Realm had placed her in this time period. It was indeed an unfortunate turn of fate.

Yue Zhiheng looked up, and the sky was now so consumed by darkness that the moon was no longer visible.

Seeing that Pei Yujing could no longer hold on, the spirit masters cried out "Pei Shixiong!" in anguish. Zhan Yunwei's face was pale, and her body seemed to be weakening. She still silently calculated the right moment to act.

He thought coldly:

Pei Yujing won't die. He can hold on. Even if he dies, this isn't his dream, so it doesn't matter.

But the lotus mark had only been opened once before they entered, and could only be used once. This wasn't the time.

However, just as he was about to act, a surge of pure white spiritual power suddenly erupted from the formation, binding the raging dark mass in the air.

A young girl, dressed in a pale pink robe and white skirt, rose from within the formation. Her fingertips glowed with pure white spiritual power, like threads that intertwined and formed an intricate net. She raised her hand, and with a firm press, the Chi Wang was slammed to the ground.

Not only was the Chi Wang caught off guard, but even Yue Zhiheng couldn't help but glance at her.

Control of Spirits.

The moon reappeared in the sky, and the girl, still not yet in her teenage years, had her dark hair loose, her ribbon fluttering in the night wind.

Zhan Yunwei stood in front of all the spirit masters, her lips stained with blood from the backlash.

She spoke coldly: "What's so special about the Chi Wang? It's just an evil spirit. You consider yourself able to play with others at will. You're too proud to go to Du'e City, so stay in the Spiritual Realm forever!"

Yue Zhiheng finally understood what Zhan Yunwei had been observing all day. In the evening, when she sent a letter to the Mountain Lord, he had thought it was a family letter, but it seemed she had already noticed something unusual by then.

Once again, he realized how much he had underestimated her. No one could be more sensitive to evil qi than a spirit master.

The Chi Wang, realizing what Zhan Yunwei was attempting to do, must have known that the old men from the Immortal Sect were on their way. This little girl, together with the young man in the air, were working together just to delay him.

This newly born Chi Wang never expected that, in his first moments of existence, he might die here. Enraged, he began to retaliate, forcing her to withdraw her spiritual power.

Zhan Yunwei gritted her teeth, refusing to let go. Although she could not directly harm the Chi Wang with her control, her spiritual power formed an unbreakable silver-white cage, trapping the Chi Wang inside.

Pei Yujing had been defending himself with his sword all along, and the Chi Wang's wounds continued to increase.

He shouted, "Shimei, don't worry about me. You can't hold on any longer, let go!"

Yue Zhiheng coldly watched them.

Blood surged in her chest, and Zhan Yunwei had never felt so close to death. But she knew she could not release her grip. If she did, Pei Yujing would die, and she and the other spirit masters would fall into the hands of the Chi Wang.

She had to hold on a little longer. Once she held on long enough, her father and the Mountain Lords would arrive...

But she was still young. She could no longer stand firm and almost fell to her knees.

Sister Duan, seeing her younger sister on the brink of death, couldn't hold back any longer. Ignoring her fear, she tried to rush over to support her.

But as soon as she got close to Zhan Yunwei, Duan Shijie's chest was pierced.

Duan Shijie froze, looking back, as a hand pierced through her chest and extracted something from her chest.

A fatal blow.

Under the moonlight, the Compassionate Lotus Mark finally bloomed on Zhan Yunwei's wrist. The figure standing behind her was no longer a three-year-old girl, but a tall and cold youth.

"You... How did you know..." The vengeful spirit, its expression twisted in disbelief, had been hiding its intentions so well. It was only one step away from success! Zhan Yunwei had never expected her sister to be involved. The vengeful spirit's eyes were filled with rage.

Yue Zhiheng lowered his gaze and glanced at her. Calmly, he said, "In terms of evil, I'm not much better."

The moment he grasped the red spiritual stone in his palm, the sky, the trees, the sword cultivators in the air, and the formation beneath their feet all collapsed.

Even the vengeful spirit's shadow knife that Duan Shijie had thrust at Zhan Yunwei dissipated.

It was as if the world had been blanketed by a heavy snowstorm.

And the girl, lying on the ground and coughing up blood, no longer had any visible wounds. Her clothes returned to a soft pink begonia dress, and the spirit-binding bracelet on her wrist began to take form.

Zhan Yunwei felt a splitting headache. She clutched her head, feeling as if she had just awoken from a long, long dream. A person stood in front of her, a young man with dark hair tied high, now looking down at her.

"Yue Zhiheng?"

He gave a soft "Mm," crouched down in front of her, and his dark, ink-colored eyes fixed on her dirty little face. In a calm voice, he said, "Miss Zhan, you would give up your life for your senior brother. How touching."

What kind of nonsense was he talking about?

Zhan Yunwei was stunned for a long while before she realized where she was.

She wasn't in Qiyang County at all! She was in the Yue family residence, having been secretly schemed against by Yue Wujiao and pushed into the Floating Dream Mirage.

But at fourteen, she was just beginning to develop romantic feelings. She wasn't about to risk her life for Pei Yujing, it was more about self-preservation and the reckless fearlessness of youth.

But these thoughts didn't need to be explained to Yue Zhiheng.

Zhan Yunwei remembered that after that day, her practice of controlling spirits was exposed. The Mountain Lord of Changya personally visited the Immortal Sect to apologize, saying he would properly punish her.

That afternoon, she had knelt in the corridor.

The spring rain lightly pattered down on Changya Mountain. The Mountain Lord returned holding an umbrella and asked her, "When did you start learning spirit control techniques? Was it Wan Qingyun?"

She answered anxiously, "It wasn't Aunt Wan. Six years ago, I found it myself in the top-level library."

The Mountain Lord sighed deeply, his eyes filled with countless worries. In the end, he softly spoke, "To learn it on your own and master it to this extent… Fine, after all, she is her daughter."

Zhan Yunwei looked at the Mountain Lord, now much older, and felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She remembered when she was younger, her father had been full of energy. All these years of hard work and worry, and yet he still had to be troubled by her teachings.

"I haven't used it to hurt any spirit masters, Father. If you don't want me to learn it, I won't. Please don't be disappointed in me."

A large hand rested gently on her head.

"Your father never said that. If you like it… then go ahead."

The Mountain Lord turned a blind eye to her secretly learning spirit control. To prevent her from being ostracized at the academy, he even told others that day that he had only activated a spiritual artifact for her, and that there was no such thing as spirit control.

Even so, after that day, her fellow spirit masters still deliberately distanced themselves from her, fearing that others might misunderstand and think they too had practiced spirit control techniques, which would make marriage discussions difficult.

And the spirit cultivators' gazes toward Zhan Yunwei had lost the previous admiration, replaced by a trace of fear.

After all, the original method of controlling spirits could also be used to deal with spirit cultivators. No one liked to have a potential threat lying next to them.

Only Pei Yujing's attitude toward her had never changed.

Now, it was clear that there was one more person who knew about it — Yue Zhiheng. Zhan Yunwei wasn't afraid of Yue Zhiheng distancing himself from her. After all, they weren't a proper Daoist couple.

What made her melancholic was that Yue Zhiheng would be more on guard against her. How could she save Zhan Shujing now? She had been hoping to see if he could help her remove the bracelet, just like in her past life.

As expected, Yue Zhiheng looked at the bracelet on her wrist and spoke, "Miss Zhan, you really do have a lot of surprises. You even know spirit control techniques."

He had guessed most of her thoughts. There was no hope of tricking him into removing the bracelet for her.

Zhan Yunwei sat up. "Same to you, Lord Yue. The lotus pattern on your body can actually ignore the rules of the Five Elements and kill enemies within a Heavenly Grade formation, restoring your true form. I wonder if the Spirit Emperor knows how dangerous you are?"

"Miss Zhan, your words are sharp. It seems you won't let yourself suffer a bit of a loss."

Zhan Yunwei became even angrier. "I'm not letting myself suffer. You're the one taking advantage of me!"

Yue Zhiheng frowned. "When have I taken advantage of you…"

His voice suddenly stopped, then he coldly continued, "I haven't. I was like this when I arrived."

Zhan Yunwei actually knew Yue Zhiheng was telling the truth. He wasn't a person to act in such a base manner.

She was just angry and embarrassed. She had even said such absurd things to him as, "you'll have it in the future too."

When she was younger and naive, it must have seemed so innocent. Yue Zhiheng had probably been laughing at her secretly all this time. Not only that, but in the past few days, she had hugged him, held his hand, and even worried that he might be scared.

What had she done? Zhan Yunwei felt her face burn, and her mind went blank.

Zhan Yunwei struggled to say, "Who knows whether what you say is true or not!"

Yue Zhiheng sneered. "I've always said that I don't like spirit masters. Even if there is someone I like, it wouldn't be someone like Miss Zhan. Even if I were starving, I wouldn't be interested in you…"

His expression was mocking and disdainful.

Zhan Yunwei looked at him in disbelief. What did he mean? Was he saying that she was too young and immature when she was a child?

She clearly…

Both of them saw the fiery anger in each other's eyes, but it was Yue Zhiheng who, noticing the redness in her eyes from her rage, fell silent for a moment, then lowered his gaze in annoyance.

He hadn't expected that Zhan Yunwei's words would actually provoke him. He was already ruthless and vile, so what did it matter if others thought him despicable?

He shouldn't have gotten angry in the first place.

Yue Zhiheng closed his eyes, handed her the red stone in his hand, and spoke in a calm, indifferent voice, "This is the Dream Shatter Stone, the key to breaking the formation. You can leave now."