Yao Ranyran and Lu Ziqian walked slowly forward, leading a group of demon clansmen.
Li Guiyi kept muttering the Clear Heart Incantation under her breath. When she opened her eyes again, she still saw them standing right before her.
"Impossible! This is impossible! How could you possibly know I would come here!"
She screamed hysterically.
Yao Ranran let out a sigh. "I didn't think it would be this easy to find your sect's ancestral founder."
Li Guiyi: "..." Shouldn't she be the one sighing?
Yao Ranran tugged Lu Ziqian forward. "Let me introduce you. Your founding ancestor has already submitted to me. If you don't want Piao Miao Sect and Miaoyun Sect destroyed, hand over the keys to both sects' treasure vaults."
Li Guiyi shut her eyes tight, mumbling, "This is an illusion. All of this is just an illusion."
"You fool, Li Guiyi! I am truly your ancestor!"
Lu Ziqian suddenly snapped at her, filled with frustrated disappointment.
Yao Ranran looked at him in surprise, and the demons behind him were also startled by his sudden outburst.
Li Guiyi's pupils widened as she stared at Lu Ziqian's face, sinking into confusion.
"No… impossible. How could you be Ancestor Mu Xin?"
"Yes, I am not Mu Xin. I am only…" Lu Ziqian seized control of his body again, but before he could finish explaining his connection with Mu Xin, half of his face shifted back into Mu Xin's features.
"Shut your mouth! Hurry and kneel before this fair… fair Fairy! Hand over Piao Miao Sect's treasury and save me!"
Li Guiyi: "???"
"Don't try to fool me! Ancestor Mu Xin was someone even Central Domain's first sword master, Shen Yuefu, could not compare with. There is no way you could have subdued him!"
"What if I told you that Shen Yuefu of the Central Domain was also defeated by me?"
Yao Ranran looked at her seriously as she spoke.
Li Guiyi stared at her warily. "I don't believe you. You've been in the Eastern Wilderness this whole time. When did you ever cross hands with Shen Yuefu?"
"I stayed in the Central Domain for such a long time. And you say I've been in the Eastern Wilderness the whole time?" Yao Ranran blinked in confusion.
Was this sect master's intelligence network a bit outdated?
Li Guiyi pressed her lips tightly shut, scrutinizing her with deep suspicion.
"Li Guiyi! I am Mu Xin. This Mixed Yuan Colored Pearl was something I deliberately left in the Scripture Pavilion before my seclusion, precisely to safeguard Piao Miao Sect!"
Li Guiyi still didn't believe him.
But then, the Mixed Yuan Colored Pearl floated right before her eyes and landed into Lu Ziqian's palm.
Her jaw dropped open. "How… how could this be possible!"
Mu Xin said, "That's right, it is me! Piao Miao Sect was founded by my own hand tens of thousands of years ago. The very first sect master was a disciple I picked up along the way. So hurry, hand over Piao Miao Sect's vault, and while you're at it, tell them where Miaoyun Sect's treasury key is, and think of a way to save me!"
Li Guiyi: "..."
Yao Ranran shook her head. "That alone isn't enough. Li Luoqi's treasure hoard can't even be compared to the Piao Miao Sect and Miaoyun Sect combined. Unless the two treasuries together are nearly on par with Wuxiang Sect's, I won't consider letting you go."
Li Guiyi was bewildered. "What trickery are you using? How could Ancestor Mu Xin have fallen into your hands? And didn't he leave the Mixed Yuan Colored Pearl precisely to save us when Piao Miao Sect faced a crisis?"
"Things have changed. My fate is no longer mine to control! Back then I used the turtle shell to divine, and foresaw that tens of thousands of years later Piao Miao Sect would face a catastrophe that would destroy the sect. I always thought it was the sect's calamity, but I neglected my own talent in divination and forgot the role I myself would play in it!"
"What role?" Li Guiyi asked.
Mu Xin replied, "No role at all!"
Li Guiyi: "..."
"It was exactly because I overlooked this that I foolishly left behind the Mixed Yuan Colored Pearl, thinking I could save Piao Miao Sect."
Li Guiyi had been utterly disbelieving before, but in that moment she began to believe.
The lunatic before her was indeed Piao Miao Sect's founder, Ancestor Mu Xin!
"Li Guiyi, this fair… fair Fairy is not a bad person. She is just very greedy for wealth. As long as you hand over the treasury, you can keep living, and I can escape her clutches!"
Yao Ranran raised her brows at him. "I never said I'd let you go. And why do you keep calling me 'fair Fairy'? You wouldn't be trying to insult me as some hypocritical white lotus, would you?"
Mu Xin hastily denied, "No, no! Fairy's temperament is extraordinary, so dazzlingly white that you shine. That's why I call you that!"
Watching him flatter Yao Ranran spinelessly, Li Guiyi's eyes dimmed, and the last spark of hope extinguished.
"Is Piao Miao Sect truly doomed?"
Yao Ranran said calmly, "I don't want Piao Miao Sect. All I want is wealth."
"Yes, yes! Hand over all the treasures. When I founded Piao Miao Sect, I left behind many resources. Quickly present them all to the Fairy!"
Mu Xin wanted neither to see Piao Miao Sect destroyed nor to keep suffering under Yao Ranran's torment.
Li Guiyi let out a bitter laugh. "Ancestor Mu Xin, do you know how happy I was the moment I found the Mixed Yuan Colored Pearl you left behind?"
Mu Xin looked at her with deep gravity. "Child, in all things you must rely on yourself! Depending on others solves nothing. So tell me, do you know where Miaoyun Sect's treasures are hidden?"
Li Guiyi: "..."
What on earth had possessed her to pin her hopes of saving Piao Miao Sect on him?
She had rushed day and night without rest, traveled so far to the West Sea Demon Cavern, and in the end… this was the result she got.
She lowered her head to look at the spirit binding chains wrapped tightly around her, and the great prison that isolated her from them. She drew in a long breath.
"There's no need to struggle anymore. My master foresaw long ago that you would come here. Mu Xin hidden in the underground palace was subdued ahead of time as well. Piao Miao Sect was never destined to unify the Eastern Wilderness."
Lu Ziqian suppressed Mu Xin again, his expression calm once more.
Li Guiyi suddenly recalled how smoothly her journey had gone. "You… you already foresaw this? You let me in on purpose?"
"Yes, yes, silly child, I foresaw it too. It's just that this woman… this Fairy is no mere human. Your ancestor was no match for her. That Miaoyun Sect is irrelevant now. No one in this world can defeat her!"
Mu Xin suddenly emerged again.
Li Guiyi's heart sank into utter despair.
"Fairy, since you foresaw everything, then you must have also known that Piao Miao Sect's vault has already been emptied. Only with Miaoyun Sect can we still have a foothold in the Eastern Wilderness. Even if I wished to hand over the treasures for your favor, I cannot."
Lu Ziqian understood at once. "No wonder Master doesn't even care to strike against you. So Piao Miao Sect is nothing but an empty shell."
Yao Ranran: "..."
"Better this way. You don't know how vicious this woman… this fair Fairy is when she takes action…"
Mu Xin couldn't help but grumble again.
Li Guiyi looked at Lu Ziqian's half-shifted face. Any will to resist drained from her completely.
Even their founding ancestor had already been subdued by her. What right did she, a mere late-Stage Golden Core, have to even think of fighting her…