Being stared at so closely by Yao Ranran, Lu Ziqian's fair face flushed red. Flustered, he scrambled out of the passage.
Yao Ranran watched his clumsy movements, a faint doubt rising in her heart.
Lu Ziqian hastily adjusted his azure robe and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Master. There was no danger inside at all, and… there was nothing inside!"
Yao Ranran froze.
"What did you say?"
Lu Ziqian finished straightening his robe, his expression uneasy as he looked at her.
"Master, please don't be upset. Perhaps the Demon Sovereign did not store his treasures here, or maybe before leaving he moved them elsewhere. That's why it is completely empty…"
"I don't believe it!"
Yao Ranran cut him off and leapt straight into the passage.
The interior was nothing like the narrow entrance. Instead, the corridor stretched about a zhang wide, smooth and spacious.
If she hadn't jumped down herself, she might have mistaken this place as Li Luoqi's true palace.
Golden roof, crimson doors, magnificence everywhere, white jade covering the floor, the aura grand and imposing.
Yet to her disbelief, after combing through the entire underground palace, aside from the white jade floor tiles that could aid cultivation, everything else was nothing more than ornamental decoration.
"Master, this palace is empty," Lu Ziqian finally revealed the cruel truth after hesitating.
Yao Ranran sat down on the jade tiles in disappointment. Her fingertips felt the cold chill of the jade. With a twist of her wrist, she pried up one of the tiles intact.
"These jade tiles, if we bring them back, can still fetch quite a lot of spirit stones!"
Lu Ziqian froze for a moment, then was overcome with emotion. For the sake of aiding the people of the Eastern Wilderness, his Master was even willing to make use of floor tiles. How could he have been so foolish just now, thinking this palace had no value!
"Master, let me help you move them!"
He crouched down, wielded his spirit pen, and infused black lines into the cracks between tiles. The lines encircled sections of jade, and with a wave of his hand, the jade blocks floated up and fell neatly into his storage bag.
Yao Ranran stared at him without blinking, though inwardly she kept replaying how long he had spent inside earlier.
Something is wrong.
Very wrong.
She had walked through the entire palace in less than a quarter of an hour. Yet the time he spent below was enough for her to take a nap.
Lu Ziqian seemed to notice her gaze. He turned his head, giving her a shy smile before continuing to lift and store the jade tiles in one smooth motion.
Yao Ranran pressed her lips together. She did not want to doubt him, but such a resplendent palace turning out to be nothing but an empty shell left her no choice.
"Lu Ziqian, take this!"
She suddenly shouted his name. Startled, Lu Ziqian turned, his clear eyes full of confusion. But before he could react, the Nine Lotus Ring came crashing down toward his head. He did not even attempt to resist.
Clang!
Yao Ranran's gaze locked on his hand. That spirit pen she had given him was actively resisting the Nine Lotus Ring.
Lu Ziqian himself looked dazed, his eyes dropping to the pen in shock.
"T-this pen…"
His pupils contracted. The hand gripping the pen was his own.
Yao Ranran lifted her eyes toward the plaque hanging high in the palace's main hall. She read aloud softly:
"Mu Xin Hall."
"So quickly you saw through it. Could it be you even know my name?"
One of Lu Ziqian's pupils shifted color. Half his face turned cold and aloof, staring proudly at her.
"Who are you? Who is inside my body?" the other half of Lu Ziqian's face turned in disbelief toward himself.
The voice laughed loudly. "Who am I? I am you!"
Yao Ranran propped her chin in her hand, her expression tangled as she looked at this bizarrely split Lu Ziqian.
"Did you steal away all of Li Luoqi's treasures?"
She truly did not want the answer to be yes. If the treasures really were taken by him, then most likely… they no longer existed.
"Hahaha! I don't know who this Li Luoqi is. But these past years, some fool Demon Sovereign has been continuously offering me treasures, aiding my cultivation!"
The half of Lu Ziqian's face twisted into a wild grin.
Yao Ranran fell silent.
She was forcing herself to suppress the violent fury in her chest.
"That is my disciple, my own disciple. I cannot strike, I cannot… Good disciple, let your Master eradicate this vile parasite for you!"
She recalled the Nine Lotus Ring, then threw a punch square into half of Lu Ziqian's face. He screamed, collapsing to the ground.
"Hahaha! What a joke. Are you trying to kill your own disciple?"
The deranged grin slipped over to the other half of his face, tongue sticking out at her with smug arrogance.
"Bleh bleh bleh, come hit me, hit me!"
"I am furious!"
For the first time, Yao Ranran felt her disciple's face was utterly detestable.
"Mu Xin, you old monster, let me grant your wish!"
Seeing her anger rise, Mu Xin's expression grew even more delighted, laughing without restraint.
"Come, come, be merry!"
After all, it was someone else's body. Why should he care?
Yao Ranran unleashed a flurry of blows. With each strike, Lu Ziqian's face swelled more and more, until he cowered in the corner, trembling in fear as he looked up at her.
"Y-you… sss… how did you find me?"
Mu Xin struggled to suck the blood hanging from his nose back in, clawing at the wall in terror as if trying to dig into it to hide.
This woman was far too terrifying!
Yao Ranran clapped her hands in satisfaction, smiling broadly.
"Mu Xin, I've studied you before. Your cultivation method is somewhat similar to mine. That is why others cannot find you, but I can pinpoint your presence without fail."
Mu Xin's half-controlled face widened in shock. "Impossible! In this world, no one but me can absorb the entirety of heaven and earth's forces!"
"You think too highly of yourself. Absorb the entirety of heaven and earth's forces? As far as I know, even at your death, you never achieved that."
Yao Ranran lazily exposed his lie.
Mu Xin glared at her with rage. "The truly powerful forces in this world are but a few. The fact that I can absorb them is already enough!"
"This is what you call enough?" Yao Ranran drew a line of blood beneath his nose with the spirit pen.
Mu Xin stared at the drawn line of blood, falling into silence.
To die before accomplishing his true aim!
He had devoured countless treasures that a foolish Demon Sovereign had offered up, barely regaining a sliver of consciousness. And then he had encountered a naturally gifted demonic cultivator delivered right to his door.
Who could have expected that this woman would discover his presence in less than a quarter of an hour, and even lay bare his cultivation method in one sentence!
"Kill me if you want. Do whatever you please!"
Mu Xin raised his head proudly, fearless before death.
Yao Ranran resisted the urge to slap him again.
"You swallowed my treasures, and now you want to just die to escape? Dream on!"
She tossed the spirit pen into his hand and commanded, "Stand up!"
Mu Xin stood frozen, unmoving.
Lu Ziqian's body struggled to rise, both halves of him fighting for dominance, stumbling like a reanimated corpse.
Yao Ranran looked suspiciously at the obstinate Mu Xin.
"You really fear nothing of death?"
Mu Xin sneered. "What fear is death!"