Dan Hall Steward Wang

On the outskirts of the Falling Cloud Sect, in Gu Yang's secluded cave dwelling.

Creak.

The stone door was pushed open, and a faint, refreshing scent of vegetation wafted out.

Zhao Yuelian was still wearing that coarse, gray servant's robe, kneeling obediently beside the stone table, brewing a pot of spirit tea for him.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, a soul-stealing, charming smile instantly bloomed on her cold and exquisitely beautiful face.

Young Master, you have returned.

She stood up, her voluptuous curves swaying slightly beneath the gray robe.

She did not ask what had happened in the Cold Moon Palace, nor did she ask about Shen Qingyue's situation.

This Grand Elder of the Joyous Sect had grasped the duty of a sword attendant to the absolute extreme.

Gu Yang sat down by the stone table. Zhao Yuelian immediately walked behind him, reaching out her cool, soft hands to massage his shoulders with just the right amount of pressure.

Gu Yang picked up the spirit tea and took a light sip.

Although that old dog Zhao Wuji was dead, the mess he left behind and that old blood debt had not yet been fully settled.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the faint, almost imperceptible sluggishness deep within his meridians.

That was the lingering ailment left behind from his failed Foundation Establishment and shattered origin.

Bone-Corroding Spirit-Melting Powder.

The name rolled silently over the tip of his tongue, revealing a chilling murderous intent.

Back when he attempted to break through to Foundation Establishment, the sect had bestowed upon him the Profound Ice Spirit Marrow. Han Feng, the nominal disciple of Zhao Wuji, in order to snatch the spot of a core disciple, went to the Ten Thousand Poison Cave in the Rotting Corpse Swamp to obtain this vicious powder. He bribed Deacon Wang of the Alchemy Hall to secretly mix it into the spirit marrow without anyone noticing.

That Deacon Wang, who was responsible for handling the poison, had to die.

With a thought, Gu Yang summoned the Daily Intelligence System panel.

Remaining Destiny Points: 220

System, consume Destiny Points to conduct a targeted intelligence deduction on the hidden dangers within my own body.

However, the cold notification sound rang out ruthlessly.

Ding! Insufficient permissions.

Daily Intelligence System Core Rule Restriction: The host cannot consume Destiny Points to conduct targeted intelligence deductions on themselves.

His fingers holding the teacup paused slightly.

I cannot investigate myself?

Is it because I am the biggest variable?

What is it, Young Master? Did this servant press too hard?

Zhao Yuelian acutely noticed the momentary stagnation of his aura. Her perennially cold, soft hands immediately lightened their force, gliding slowly along his broad shoulders toward the back of his neck.

The trace of warmth brought by her fingertips, along with the mature, faint fragrance of her body, slowly dispersed within the cramped cave dwelling.

It is nothing.

Gu Yang put down the teacup, his voice betraying neither joy nor anger.

Zhao Yuelian gazed at his side profile, which was as unfathomable as an abyss, a hint of struggle flashing through her clear, autumn-water eyes.

Then, she slowly walked around the stone table and knelt extremely humbly between Gu Yang's knees.

The coarse gray robe parted slightly with her movement.

Young Master...

She tilted up her cold, exquisitely beautiful face, the corners of her eyes flushed with a breathtaking redness, and her slender fingers timidly climbed onto his knees.

When this servant was in the Joyous Sect, I once studied a highly secret dual cultivation method called the Yin-Yang Limitless Attraction. This method does not seek to harvest and replenish; it only uses the origin of the human cauldron as a guide to help the master clear out the dead corners of the meridians and eradicate all hidden injuries.

Her voice grew softer and softer, her breathing increasingly rapid. The tops of her feet pressed hard against the cold stone slabs, as if she had used all the strength in her life just to speak the last few words.

If the Young Master does not disdain this servant's humble appearance... could you... try this cultivation method on this servant?

Pure temptation.

Paired with that lofty, inviolable face of Fairy Lingshuang, the sense of contrast was pushed to the absolute extreme.

Gu Yang looked down at her from above, his deep black eyes devoid of any lust, containing only absolutely rational scrutiny.

He slowly reached out his large hand, which bore rough, thin calluses, and extremely coldly lifted Zhao Yuelian's smooth chin.

Mmm...

Zhao Yuelian trembled violently all over, her clear eyes instantly covered in a hazy mist. She did not dare to dodge, only able to meekly accommodate the force like a sacrificial lamb.

Just as the temperature of his fingertips was about to ignite the dead silence of this cave dwelling...

Clang...

The bronze bell on the main peak of the Falling Cloud Sect let out a long, muffled echo.

Midnight had arrived.

Ding! Midnight has arrived, today's intelligence has automatically refreshed.

Gu Yang released the hand pinching her chin.

We will talk about this later.

He withdrew his gaze and picked up the half-cold cup of spirit tea again.

A trace of disappointment and hidden bitterness flashed through the depths of Zhao Yuelian's eyes. Biting her red lip, she obediently knelt back into the shadows.

Gu Yang closed his eyes and sank his mind into the system panel.

Several pieces of intelligence radiating different lights slowly emerged in the darkness.

White Intelligence: Inside the Cold Moon Palace, Golden Core Elder Shen Qingyue has tightly sealed herself within the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade Bed. She channeled extreme cold qi, attempting to completely freeze her Dao heart that was throbbing madly due to immorality. However, every time she closed her eyes, what emerged in the darkness was entirely that body in the great hall, as scorching hot as a furnace. She bit her pale lower lip tightly, her nails digging deep scratches into the Profound Yin Jade Pillow, despairingly realizing that her body had developed an unbreakable craving for that extreme yang energy.

White Intelligence: Tens of thousands of miles away in the Eastern Region, Miao Frontier Holy Maiden Lan Caidie sits cross-legged in a gloomy inn. With the assistance of the Concentric Child Gu in her body, she has stabilized her cultivation at the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage. She has decided not to return to the Miao Frontier for now and will instead participate in the upcoming opening of the Supreme Sword Sect's secret realm.

The secret realm of the Supreme Sword Sect.

If there is a chance, I must go investigate it.

Gu Yang's gaze locked firmly onto the final piece of intelligence, which was flickering with a faint blue light.

Purple Intelligence: Tomorrow at midnight, at the abandoned earth fire vent on the edge of the Hundred Beast Forest in the back mountain of the Falling Cloud Sect. Deacon Wang of the Alchemy Hall has secretly destroyed the array patterns and intercepted the sect's foundational Earth Vein Flame Marrow, preparing to defect. The female envoy of the River Fiend Sect coming to receive him is hidden within the flickering silhouette of the firelight. The pads of her fingers have thin calluses, and her fingertips pinch a receiving blood token emitting a strange fragrance. The moment Deacon Wang hands over the flame marrow with eyes full of greed, the female envoy's hairpin will fall to the ground, and an extremely concealed blood fiend poison needle will follow the blood token to directly pierce through Deacon Wang's sea of consciousness. This old thing will not even be able to let out a scream before turning into a pool of bloody water, and all his wealth will fall into the hands of the female envoy. [Click to view coordinates]

Deacon Wang.

I was just worrying about not being able to find you, a rat hiding in the dark.

You delivered yourself to my door.

You want to trade my life for spirit stones to go live freely and happily?

Gu Yang drank the remaining tea in his cup in one gulp, the gray teacup making a crisp clinking sound on the stone table.

He slowly stood up, his tall and straight figure casting a cold, elongated silhouette under the illumination of the night-luminescent pearl.

Yuelian.

Zhao Yuelian, who had been kneeling in the corner, suddenly raised her head.

This servant is here!

Get ready. You are coming with me to kill someone.

The back mountain of the Falling Cloud Sect, on the edge of the Hundred Beast Forest.

An earth fire vent that had been abandoned for decades.

Scorching sulfurous air spewed madly along the cracked rock walls, illuminating the surrounding hundred-zhang dense forest into a bloody purgatory. Even in the dead of night, the air was distorted enough to blur one's vision.