Perhaps the heavens heard her plea. Just as Qian Ying's body tensed, on the verge of losing her human form, a voice as light as mist echoed from above.
"Qin Si, you've frightened Qian Ying."
Daojun Qinglan arrived, riding on clouds. With a flick of his sleeve, the invisible pressure in the air vanished. However, the atmosphere around them immediately grew more tense.
Qian Ying even felt as if she could hear the crackling sounds of two Nascent Soul stage cultivators' auras colliding.
"Master, please try to reason with him," Qian Ying quickly tugged at Daojun Qinglan's sleeve, urging him not to provoke Qin Si.
Qinglan nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on his nephew, whom he hadn't seen for some time. His eyes narrowed, and he immediately formed a hand seal. A spiritual mist unexpectedly billowed out, blocking Qin Si.
"Where are you going?"
Qin Si looked at the spiritual mist that had locked the space, then looked up at Qinglan. His eyes were slightly cold. "Uncle-Master, aren't you worried about A Yi?"
Whether it was Qian Ying's illusion or not, she felt her master's expression grow colder.
"You know where A Yi is?" Qinglan's thin lips pursed slightly. His green robes fluttered in the wind as he spoke, his voice not loud but incredibly piercing. "Before A Yi participated in the competition, didn't she tell you everything? Have you forgotten?"
Qin Si's face darkened.
A Yi actually told Qinglan about this?
Perhaps sensing Qin Si's thoughts, Qinglan, unwilling to let him misunderstand, explained indifferently, "A Yi didn't tell me. I overheard it."
He was a spiritual entity from a mountain stream, the embodiment of spiritual mist. Wherever the mist drifted or smoke went, it was his eyes, his ears.
"What exactly did A Yi say?" Qian Ying, impatient with their cryptic exchange, couldn't help but ask.
Qin Si's crow-black eyelashes, dusted with frost, offered no reply.
Qian Ying looked pleadingly at her master. "Master..."
Daojun Qinglan sighed helplessly. "A Yi said that if anything unexpected happened to her during the competition, I shouldn't act impulsively."
What Daojun Qinglan didn't say was that Bai Sheng Yi had actually said something else.
He recalled that sunny afternoon on Qianxiao Peak. As the mist dispersed, he sat in meditation on the cliff behind the mountain. In his divine sense, the wind and mist carried a young girl's warning.
"Let's agree on this beforehand: if something happens to me during the competition, you are absolutely forbidden to act impulsively, no messing around like last time in the Sanghai Secret Realm. A Si, you have to trust me. I will do my best to survive and return."
The word "return" was delivered with a delicate, upward lilt, betraying a girlishness completely unlike her usual demeanor.
It was an intimate tone he had never heard in the Heavenly Dao Mountain Stream. Qinglan felt as if his heart had suddenly been splashed with boiling water. He hastily retracted all his divine senses, sealing his five senses.
"Swish!"
A snowflake suddenly slashed across Qinglan's face.
"Qin Si, are you crazy!" Qian Ying was shocked that Qin Si would attack her master over mere words. Her crimson eyes narrowed, her fiery temper instantly igniting. Just as she was about to make a move, Qinglan raised a hand to stop her.
"Qian Ying, step back." Daojun Qinglan's gaze was indifferent.
Qian Ying suddenly seemed to recall something, her brows furrowing tightly. After a moment, she deflated, then huffed angrily, smoke practically coming from her ears. "Forget it! I don't care anymore! Do whatever you want!"
Before she could finish speaking, she transformed into a crimson shadow and vanished from the spot.
Qin Si looked coldly at Qinglan. "Uncle-Master, Sheng Yi is your disciple."
"Of course," Qinglan replied faintly, a wisp of green smoke drifting from his fingertip into the air.
He watched as Qin Si made to leave again and frowned. "You're still going to find Sheng Yi? Have you thought this through?"
This time, he didn't stop Qin Si. Qin Si's cold voice echoed from outside: "No, I'm going to avenge A Yi."
Inside the house, Qinglan's clear and cold brows were as picturesque as a painting. He stepped forward to follow. "I'll go to Qunyu Mountain and Xuantian Sect..."
Before he could finish speaking, he heard Qin Si's voice, the coldness significantly lessened: "Then thank you, Uncle-Master."
After Qin Si waited for Qinglan to leave, his icy gaze fell back upon the two kneeling figures on the ground.
"Get up."
The gray shadow immediately rose, but Bai Yun continued to kneel, head bowed.
"What?" Qin Si's expression darkened. His phoenix eyes, like a gathering storm, fixed coldly on Bai Yun. "What is it now?"
Bai Yun remained silent. Seeing Qin Si's expression grow increasingly grim, the gray shadow quickly spoke up.
"Master, there's new information from the Pavilion."
This message was received by Bai Yun. Logically, Bai Yun should have presented it to Qin Si. However, for some reason, after reading it, Bai Yun handed the message to the gray shadow for safekeeping and remained kneeling.
Qin Si opened it, and his gaze instantly turned icy.
"Good! After so many purges, my Shenqi Academy still has traitors like this!"
Bai Yun lowered his head even further. "Master..."
Qin Si coldly interrupted him, his voice like it was being squeezed from between his teeth. "Where is Bai Xia now?"
"At the Cliff of Contemplation." The moment he received Zhan Jiuzhou's letter, he had already ordered Bai Xia to be apprehended. Yet, he still couldn't believe that Bai Xia, his own sister, was one of the spies for the Supreme Sect!
Qin Si turned and headed towards the Cliff of Contemplation. Just then, Mu Xing rushed over from the foot of the mountain.
"Dean, something has happened!"
Without waiting for Qin Si to ask, Mu Xing immediately continued, "Peak Master Pu was attacked in his cave dwelling and is in a coma! The 'Heavenly Talisman Eye Sun Record' is missing!"
Qin Si's footsteps halted. His face became as dark as the sky before a violent storm.
"How is he?"
Mu Xing: "When I arrived, Alchemist Mo and Alchemist Zheng were both at Talisman Peak. I've had the area around Talisman Peak sealed and an investigation is underway."
An attack on a peak master in his own cave dwelling, especially during the sensitive period of the Shenqi Grand Assembly, was a blatant provocation to Shenqi Mountain!
Whether it was Mo Shuxin, Mu Xing, or others, they were all enraged.
Qin Si, even more so, laughed in his fury. "It seems the impression of our previous weakness was too deeply ingrained, making everyone forget that the current Shenqi Continent is no longer the Shenqi Continent that had to bow to others!"
Sensing Qin Si's chilling rage, Mu Xing dared not speak further.
"Guards!"
"Master." The gray shadow stepped forward.
Qin Si coldly commanded, "You take people from the Pavilion to investigate. I want to see how many more deceitful scoundrels are hiding within the entire Academy!"
The gray shadow was startled. Was he about to involve the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in the Academy's affairs?
He dared not object and immediately sent a message to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
However, before the people from the Myriad Treasures Pavilion could reach the Shenqi Continent, Pu Weiming awoke.
Daoist Zhuxiao said to Mo Shuxin and Zheng Wuxin, "Alright, the person is fine and just needs a period of rest. I'll be taking my leave."
Mo Shuxin personally escorted Daoist Zhuxiao away and inquired about the condition of Bai Sheng Yi's mother along the way.
Upon her return, she saw the gray shadow arriving with people. Her heart stirred, and she stepped forward to call out to the gray shadow. "Are you here to investigate Peak Master Pu's attack?"
Seeing that it was Venerable Mo, the gray shadow cupped his hands in a salute. "Yes, Venerable Mo. How is Peak Master Pu?"
Mo Shuxin's face was grim. "He woke up and then fell unconscious again. You don't need to investigate. Old Pu said that young Zhu Wu sneak-attacked him. It would be better to investigate the Zhu family."
The gray shadow was no stranger to the name Zhu Wu.