To prevent the seventh-tier explosive talisman from triggering another avalanche, Bai Shengyi instructed the Qīngmèng Vine to contain all its power within the space it constructed.
However, the Qīngmèng Vine was only a fourth-tier spiritual plant, facing a seventh-tier explosive talisman was like an ant trying to shake a great tree. Therefore, Bai Shengyi quickly set up several layers of barriers with her spiritual power.
Now that the barriers had shattered and the Qīngmèng Vine was injured, she inevitably suffered a backlash.
"I told you to run but you didn't, are you stupid? This is so infuriating, to have a master like you who never knows how to turn! Even if an avalanche happens here, it won't matter much. And Qīngmèng Vine too, I'm the boss, why didn't you listen to me..."
Bai Shengyi ignored the nagging of the Reincarnation Brush. She looked up at Sun Ling and said, "Fellow Daoist Sun, you should leave first. I still need to confirm if Bai Yiyi is alive or dead later. Moreover, I can't leave Little Vine Leaf here."
The power of the explosive talisman had not yet dissipated, and the Qīngmèng Vine, as a support point for the barrier, could not leave either.
As Bai Shengyi spoke, the bloody foam in her mouth couldn't be contained and spilled over her lips.
But Bai Shengyi acted as if nothing was wrong, casually wiping it away with her hand.
"Ah?" Sun Ling was stunned.
Immediately, she said disapprovingly, "Shengyi, it's just a spiritual plant, you... you don't need to put yourself in danger for it. If you really like such a spiritual plant, you can contract another one later."
Sun Ling didn't understand Bai Shengyi's thinking. In her opinion, although spiritual plants with combat power were rare, they were not that precious. Besides, weren't these contracted spiritual plants meant to protect their masters in times of danger?
As for Bai Shengyi's mention of confirming Bai Yiyi's life or death, Sun Ling completely ignored it, thinking that Bai Shengyi simply didn't want to abandon this vine.
"That's different," Bai Shengyi frowned, disagreeing. "Moreover, I was the one who told it to intercept the explosive talisman, so I must take responsibility for it."
The sky shook and the earth trembled, explosions thundered, and where they were located, on the mountainside, all that met the eye was vast white snow. Suddenly, Sun Ling saw a crack appear on the slope!
"It's really going to avalanche!"
She tried to persuade Bai Shengyi a couple more times, but seeing Bai Shengyi's firm refusal to leave, she could only leap onto her flying sword and stand guard beside Bai Shengyi. If the mountain collapsed, she would pull Bai Shengyi away, even at the cost of her own life.
"Fine, I'll wait with you. Who told you to help me so much back then without hesitation?" Sun Ling said helplessly.
"Then I'll trouble you. I'll go check if Bai Yiyi is dead first."
Bai Shengyi smiled at her, then closed her eyes and released her spiritual power. Her spiritual power followed the lush vine leaves into the spiritual power barrier.
"Little Vine Leaf, where is Bai Yiyi?"
Inside the barrier, energy exploded, and fierce winds whirled, stirring up countless withered branches, sand, and stones. At a glance, no figures could be seen.
Could it be that she had been reduced to ashes by the explosive talisman?
"Not yet, she's in the southeast. Little Vine Leaf also thought she was dead, but then she came back to life and wanted to escape, so Little Vine Leaf stopped her. It's just that she didn't expect her to throw out two more explosive talismans, wanting to perish with Little Vine Leaf. Fortunately, Master acted quickly and the barrier blocked it."
This was also why, despite Bai Shengyi doing her best to minimize the impact this time, the accident caused by the explosive talisman was more severe than the last.
If Bai Shengyi hadn't reacted quickly, and the Qīngmèng Vine hadn't absorbed most of the explosive power, not only this snow mountain but the entire secret realm would have been affected.
The Qīngmèng Vine's voice was very weak. It was usually pampered and coquettish, but this time, after suffering such a great ordeal, it didn't utter a single complaint.
Bai Shengyi pursed her lips, channeling some spiritual power for it to "consume," and said softly, "Hang in there a little longer, the talisman's power has already dissipated a lot."
"Mm-hmm," the Qīngmèng Vine replied obediently. "I know, Master. Don't worry, I'm fine. And I'm very happy to be able to help you~"
Her spiritual power gently stroked the vine leaves, and the Qīngmèng Vine curled up its leaves in satisfaction.
Bai Shengyi finally found Bai Yiyi in a corner.
Bai Yiyi was no longer breathing. Bai Shengyi's spiritual power entered her body with great ease, but she couldn't find any trace of Bai Murong.
Although she didn't know why Bai Murong was still alive, it was clear that Bai Murong must have had some special means to evade her and Qin Si's visual detection. Therefore, this time, Bai Shengyi chose to search with her spiritual power, but she didn't expect her spiritual power to be useless against Bai Murong.
"Could it be that Bai Murong also died?"
Bai Shengyi instinctively felt it was impossible.
Her gaze couldn't help but fall on Bai Yiyi's corpse again.
Under such a brutal illusion, the corpse, apart from the large hole she had pierced earlier, was undamaged.
This was clearly not right.
Just as Bai Shengyi was about to investigate further, she saw that the power of the explosive talisman had completely dissipated, and the world returned to calm.
"Master, I need to sleep for a while."
The "bronze wall and iron barrier" woven by the vines rustled and dispersed. The Qīngmèng Vine could no longer hold on, and its main body shrunk by half. It weakly retreated into Bai Shengyi's hand, its small leaves turning somewhat yellow.
Her spiritual power retracted, Bai Shengyi opened her eyes, settled the Qīngmèng Vine, and then walked towards Bai Yiyi.
"Shengyi, what's going on with Bai Yiyi? Is there something wrong with her?" Now that the avalanche crisis had passed, Sun Ling remembered the matter of the Hundred Ghost Gu from before.
Bai Shengyi said, "Yes. Bai Murong's consciousness is inside her, but I haven't found it yet."
"I see, that makes sense."
Since Sun Yun had been close to Bai Murong for a while, Sun Ling also knew Bai Murong and understood her relationship with Bai Shengyi.
She frowned slightly. "Then the Hundred Ghost Gu in her hand was likely obtained from Sun Yun. I need to investigate this further when I get back. The Hundred Ghost Gu originated from the Sun Wuwei lineage, but because it was too sinister, it had long been strictly forbidden by the main family."
"Sun Wuwei?" This familiar name made Bai Shengyi ponder.
Sun Ling did not notice Bai Shengyi's oddity and nodded. "Do you know him too? He was the patriarch of my Sun family several generations ago, but his entire family was massacred by enemies, causing his lineage to be severed, which led to our lineage becoming the main family."
After speaking, Sun Ling added.
"Oh, right. Speaking of which, among the fifty people who entered this time, one of them is from that lineage, named Sun Chongyang. He entered the academy two years ago and his current cultivation is at the middle stage of Golden Core. Be careful if you encounter him; he's not someone to trifle with."
"I know."
As Bai Shengyi said this, she had already re-examined Bai Yiyi's corpse.
Indeed, she couldn't find any trace of Bai Murong. It seemed Bai Murong had seized the opportunity to escape.
Thinking this, and just in case, Bai Shengyi still performed hand seals and used both the Dragon Chasing Star Fire and the Ten Directions Nether Fire alternately to incinerate the corpse.
"Crunch..."
The sound of withered branches being crushed underfoot.
"Who's there?"
In the depths of the snow, a white figure floated by.
Bai Shengyi and Sun Ling quickly got up and chased after it, but the person still managed to escape.
Sun Ling frowned tightly. "She looked a bit like Yun Youyue. Will she cause any trouble?"
Bai Shengyi recalled what she had just done and slapped her forehead. "Not 'will she,' but 'definitely will.' Sun Ling, think about it, did my actions just now look like destroying evidence after committing murder?"
Sun Ling was suddenly speechless.
Damn it, it really did look like it!
Although the two of them were genuinely defending themselves, if one only looked at the latter part, it would indeed lead to misunderstanding.
Sun Ling had heard a bit about the feud between Yun Youyue and Bai Shengyi. She said helplessly, "Let's just hope she didn't use a visual recording stone to record it. Otherwise, if this gets out, you'll have no way to explain yourself."
Bai Shengyi felt that this hope was slim, but she remained very calm.
"It's alright, we'll deal with things as they come. There's no point thinking about it now." Bai Shengyi glanced around, pointed in one direction, and said, "I plan to continue searching for spirit mansions over there. Are you still coming with me?"
Sun Ling pondered for a moment. "Let's go together. It's safer with two people."
"Alright then. When we find a spirit mansion, we'll split it fifty-fifty."
...
In the low snow mountains, two men and one woman watched Yun Youyue return on her sword. A man in blue frowned and said, "Fairy Youyue, three mantis demons appeared just now, and we almost couldn't resist them. Where were you?"