Luan Qingchen remained calm, as though he had never heard the name Ye Qingshen at all. He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he said,

“I have already cleared all the remaining useless residue from Luoyi Mountain. It is now too clean. Demonic beasts have begun to move in, and there are still mortals inside. You must quickly regroup with the others from Qilin Hall and eliminate the beasts.”

Luan Ling was about to ask more when she suddenly felt an invisible barrier form in front of her, cutting her off completely.

Luan Qingchen no longer wished to listen.

If he didn’t want to speak with her, that wasn’t something she could change by force. Forget it. The others from Qilin Hall were still in the mortal realm—she needed to reunite with them quickly.

This time, with Luan Qingchen having cleared the battlefield in advance, their regrouping in the mortal realm went far more smoothly. At the very least, there were no issues with divine consciousness.

Divine consciousness…
What exactly had gone wrong before?

Luan Ling had the distinct feeling that she’d forgotten something extremely important. She knocked lightly on her own head—and was immediately grabbed by the hand.

“Junior Sister.”

She looked up to see Zhu Yin holding her hand, her expression still heavy. If even Senior Sister looked like this, the others were worse. Si Zhuo stood some distance away, turned slightly to the side; she couldn’t clearly see his expression.

The situation was no longer as critical as before, and she wasn’t injured. Luan Ling knew they were worried about her. After all, news of Yu Yuan must already have reached Heaven. No one had expected a trial they thought would be ordinary to run into a demon of Yu Yuan’s caliber. The fact that Luan Ling had escaped unscathed was only because Yu Yuan hadn’t intended to kill her. Otherwise, none of them dared imagine the outcome.

“I’m totally fine, aren’t I?” Luan Ling said cheerfully.
“At my age, I got to face Princess Yu Yuan of the Demon Realm one-on-one. Just saying that out loud already makes this trip worth it.”

“We failed to protect you,” Li Xiao said quietly, still stricken.
“As the class leader, I didn’t help at all.”

“Senior Brother,” Luan Ling replied immediately, “I’m not provoking you, but in that situation, even if we’d all charged in together, we’d just have died side by side. Slightly more heroic, that’s all.”

“I know,” Li Xiao said, covering his face, unable to stop himself from tearing up.
“But thinking about you facing all that alone—it’s terrifying. I can’t even imagine how terrifying it must have been. How did you endure it?”

Situ Meng’s voice also wavered.
“Yu Yuan… an existence on the same level as Lord Qingchen. Senior Sister, you were already incredible. I kind of want to cry too.”

“Isn’t this a bit exaggerated?” Luan Ling tried to comfort them.
“Yes, Yu Yuan was scary, but I’m still alive. Why does everyone look like I already died?”

Zhu Yin said nothing. She simply took out her flute, clearly intending to give Luan Ling some strengthening support—but the melody she played was solemn and mournful enough that even Luan Ling, who had felt fine moments ago, now felt the lingering fear sink in.

Yes.
If Yu Yuan had truly struck, she would already have vanished from this world, never seeing her classmates again.

Her gaze passed over her senior brothers and sisters, then landed on Si Zhuo just as he turned to look at her. He didn’t say a word. He simply walked up and flicked her on the forehead.

“Ow—what the hell?!”

That single knock instantly wiped away all her solemn emotions, replacing them with shock—and then anger.

She immediately threw a few punches in retaliation. Mid-swing, however, she suddenly felt a strange, cool current run straight from the top of her head down to her feet. She froze for a second, then started hitting him even faster.

“You hit me physically and then cursed me?! A curse! What did you do?!”

Si Zhuo raised an eyebrow.
“A Twin Life Seal, plus a bit of special draconic spiritual power.”

“A Twin Life Seal?!”

Luan Ling was stunned.

As the name implied, the Twin Life Seal treated two individuals as twins. Once cast, the two could share their five senses at will and perceive each other’s condition. However, only gods or cultivators could sense the other party—if one side was mortal, only the caster would receive feedback.

The seal was also unique in that it could only be used once. Because of this, gods typically used it only with their most cherished loved ones—or in moments of passionate devotion. Very few combat-oriented gods were willing to do so, as sharing pain in battle was simply too costly.

And that was exactly the problem.

Those were lovers or family.
Si Zhuo and she were lucky if they didn’t beat each other up on sight. And now he’d forced a Twin Life Seal on her—was this an invitation for her to experience his pain next time she punched him?

“I just wanted to know,” Si Zhuo said calmly, hands folded, looking down at her,
“how much pain Yu Yuan inflicted. You’re the strongest among us in divine consciousness, yet she singled you out. That means she didn’t even see the rest of us as worth her attention. I want to know what it feels like to face someone of that level.”

“If you wanted that,” Luan Ling snapped, rubbing her head,
“why didn’t you just go fight Luan Qingchen? He’s the same level, isn’t he? Why slap a Twin Life Seal on me? And how did you even do it—doesn’t that require both sides to cast it? What kind of forced transaction is this?! Hey! I’m talking to you! How do I cancel it?!”

She chased him while yelling. Her restored vitality finally eased the tension for the other three.

At least… Junior Sister really was fine.

Still, they weren’t left in the mortal realm to relax. Although Luan Qingchen had saved Luan Ling, the suppression formation Yu Yuan had left behind—one that had long restrained the mountain—had vanished. Demonic creatures were now swarming in. The scattered human groups in the mountains had likely already encountered danger.

Qilin Hall’s task was to escort the mortals out safely.

She’d originally wanted to ask Luan Qingchen whether there truly was a treasure here, but he clearly had no interest in talking. Judging by his attitude, there probably wasn’t any treasure at all. Those mortals had simply rushed in with a map to compete for imperial favor and political leverage, not because they truly believed in some hidden hoard.

“Why are you still following me?” Luan Ling asked, glancing back at Si Zhuo.
“We agreed—one route per person. You were supposed to go west.”

“There are five of us and four main directions,” Si Zhuo replied.
“One overlap was inevitable. You walked into my route.”

“That’s bullshit,” Luan Ling ground out.
“Couldn’t you go southwest while I take northwest?”

Si Zhuo shrugged.
“Who knows? Maybe your injuries haven’t healed and you subconsciously wanted someone nearby.”

“I’m not injured!”

She was, however, injured emotionally—by him. Furious, she changed direction and flew off at full speed.

Yet somehow, despite heading in opposite directions, they still managed to run into each other again.

“I swear, I’m not following you,” Si Zhuo said, raising both hands.
“But if you insist on fighting together, I don’t mind.”

“Get lost.”

This time, she fully opened her divine perception just to avoid him. Every encounter with him turned into an argument—nothing productive ever got done.

That said, after being cleansed by clashes between top-tier beings of the divine and demonic realms, the mountain had become cautious. Bold creatures dared approach, but all of them hid well. Luan Ling could sense the latent demonic power in the mountain, but none of it made a move.

And since the demons weren’t attacking, neither could she strike preemptively. Their goal was to escort the mortals out. Once the mortals left, Luoyi Mountain would likely become paradise for spirits and monsters—something Heaven would have to regulate from time to time.

Lost in thought, she suddenly stumbled.

She caught herself with divine power and spun around sharply—just in time to see a vine slink away guiltily.

A minor tree spirit. Tripping passersby wasn’t exactly a heinous crime.

Luan Ling let it go and continued forward, conserving her strength.

But not long after, she stumbled again.

This time, the vine went too far—it wrapped around her ankle and coiled up her calf.

She immediately expanded her divine perception to communicate—but once connected, she realized something was very wrong.

She couldn’t understand a word it was saying.

Her divine awareness cataloged mortal dialects and spirit languages—but not spirit dialects.

She had never considered that tree spirits might not know the common tongue.

That was new.

Still, the vine didn’t seem intent on harming her. Instead, it tapped her urgently, as if begging for help.

“You want me to follow you?” Luan Ling asked.

The vine released her and tapped the ground.

Well—she’d run into a professional. Luan Ling, Heavenly Realm’s resident good Samaritan, nodded.

“Lead the way, little vine. I’ll take a look.”

She followed it until she heard water ahead. A small river came into view—and scattered along the ground were bodies.

Judging by their clothing, they were guards who had followed the princes earlier.

Luan Ling checked their condition. All of them were barely alive, their bodies hollowed out as if eaten from within. She glanced at the river, closed her eyes, and sensed a familiar demonic presence.

Incredibly unlucky.

If it had been ordinary parasites, they might’ve lasted days before symptoms erupted. But these were insect demons, using human bodies as incubation chambers. A moment later, and even survival would’ve meant permanent ruin.

Luan Ling drew invisible threads with her divine power, connecting to each body. Her power coursed through them, pulling out every living larva and unhatched egg. Once the infestation was cleared, she cast a healing spell.

It wasn’t as effective as Zhu Yin’s music or Situ Meng’s cooking—but for mortals, it would be enough.

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