"Very well, I shall grant you one chance. If you can bring back Gongsun Xiangyi, Gongsun Lu, and the murderer's head, I will plead with the Prince on your behalf!" Gongsun Sheng stated calmly.

"Thank you, Father, thank you, Father!" Upon hearing this, Gongsun Yuan prostrated himself gratefully towards Gongsun Sheng.

"Then hurry up and go!" Gongsun Sheng let out a cold snort...

"En!" Gongsun Yuan was overjoyed, scrambled to his feet, and rushed out. The body of the sixty-something-year-old man moved with surprising agility at that moment.

"Master..." Seeing Gongsun Yuan's figure vanish, Xu had just begun to speak when Gongsun Sheng interrupted him.

"You go too. Ensure everything is foolproof. This time, even if it means revealing our true strength, you must secure those two girls for me!" Gongsun Sheng finished saying this lightly, though a weariness flickered across his face.

"Yes, Master!" Xu bowed respectfully, and his figure dissolved back into the night sky...

Following the disappearance of Xu, several powerful auras soared upward from the Gongsun Manor into the void, heading directly towards the direction Ye Jingyu had fled.

Meanwhile, in Medicine City, since Ye Jingyu and Gongsun Xiangyi had been located, the city-wide search was called off. In the private room where Mudan, the Madam of the Flower Pavilion, resided, she stood beside Hu Yanmeng, who was dressed in a silver gauze skirt, while Mudan wore a long white dress. Little Taotao, completely clad in white, was nestled in Hu Yanmeng's embrace. After so much time together, Hu Yanmeng no longer feared the Taotie.

Sensing the strange shifts in the void, Little Taotao, who had been sound asleep in Hu Yanmeng's arms, suddenly opened his eyes, his pair of emerald-green eyes fixed on the window outside.

"Wuwu... At least eight Saint-level powerhouses, seven of them radiating non-human auras!" Little Taotao opened his mouth and spoke in human language.

"Ah, then Young Master Ye might..." Hearing the mention of eight Saint-level powerhouses, Mudan's expression drastically changed. She had been in Medicine City for a long time and knew the Gongsun Manor must have Saint-level experts, but she never imagined they would mobilize eight at once—it was utterly unbelievable!

Even if seven of them weren't Martial Saints but merely Saint Beasts, such power was absolutely beyond Ye Jingyu's capacity to resist! Saint-level experts—they weren't Grandmasters, nor were they Sect Masters or Innate Masters; they were beings who had transcended the mortal and entered sainthood.

Not only Mudan looked worried, but even worry lingered in Hu Yanmeng's eyes, though she concealed it well.

Only Little Taotao appeared unconcerned, stating in a languid tone, "Little Ye is blessed with great fortune; he won't die. You should focus on how to complete his mission!"

Hearing Little Taotao's words, Mudan realized this strange beast was no ordinary one, and she understood that worrying about Ye Jingyu was useless. A duel of that magnitude was beyond anything she could assist with, unless the elders of her sect intervened.

However, since the Hundred Flowers Sect was abandoned by the Xuanyuan family three hundred years ago, the sect had very few masters. Over the years, only two Martial Saints had emerged, which, while stronger than most ordinary sects or even a nation, Mudan knew was insignificant compared to the Ten Great Sects.

Putting aside her worry for Ye Jingyu's life, she turned and walked toward the outside. She needed to send Gongsun Xiangyi away tomorrow morning, so she had to prepare everything tonight. Otherwise, if Ye Jingyu returned to Yunjing and she had lost Gongsun Xiangyi, she wouldn't know how to face him.

The Hundred Flowers Sect’s quest to seek justice from the Xuanyuan family depended entirely on him.

As Mudan and the others began preparing for the escape the next day, within the vast Gongsun Manor, in the separate courtyard where Gongsun Sheng resided, Gongsun Sheng still sat quietly in his wheelchair, gazing at the ink-black sky, his face etched with sorrow.

Not far away, in a pitch-dark corner, a head emerged from the earth. Who else but Liang Xiaoke?

No breath, no heartbeat, no pulse, not a single trace of vital energy. Liang Xiaoke had perfectly concealed everything about himself; even Gongsun Sheng, a powerhouse above the Saint level, could not detect him.

As for the surrounding guards, they were even less likely to know that the murderer who killed Xuanyuan Xue was still lingering within the Gongsun Manor.

Gazing at Gongsun Sheng nearby, Liang Xiaoke licked his crimson lips, and his two fangs slowly extended, seemingly contemplating whether to strike Gongsun Sheng down, devour his vital blood and True Core, and enhance his cultivation.

But in the end, Liang Xiaoke retracted his fangs. Even though he had reached the third level of the Corpse Emperor realm, he still couldn't discern Gongsun Sheng’s true cultivation.

This was enemy territory; caution was paramount.

His head slowly sank back into the ground, burrowing towards Gongsun Sheng's sleeping quarters. He had searched the entire Gongsun Manor but failed to find any trace of Xiao Hua. The only place he hadn't searched was Gongsun Sheng's personal residence.

For such a deeply calculating individual, Liang Xiaoke didn't believe he would have absolutely nothing hidden in his own room.

Using the Earth Evasion technique, Liang Xiaoke arrived beneath Gongsun Sheng's bedroom and indeed discovered a massive secret chamber. He entered the chamber entirely, only to find it was an alchemy stone room.

In the center of the stone room stood a colossal medicine cauldron, over three people high. Flames burned beneath the cauldron, releasing a faint, exquisite fragrance from within.

Surrounding the cauldron were several corpses of ferocious beasts: a Snow Mountain Tiger, a Violent Ape King, a One-horned Dragon Lion... Each corpse was several times larger than the equivalent beast in the outside world...

Each corpse had a large hole ripped open. Based on Liang Xiaoke's experience, the location of the hole corresponded to where the beasts stored their inner cores...

Seeing this, Liang Xiaoke suddenly realized something, and his pale face shifted slightly. Could these ferocious beasts all have been Saint Beasts? Were their inner cores excavated by Gongsun Sheng to concoct medicine?

The thought spurred Liang Xiaoke to leap toward the medicine cauldron. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the cauldron was forged from Flame Gold over a thousand years old, etched with numerous talismans. An intensely rich, sweet aroma wafted from it. Peering down, he saw the cauldron filled with golden liquid. This liquid contained extremely vast and pure energy, very similar to the energy from the Violent Ape King's inner core he had absorbed previously?

Witnessing all this, Liang Xiaoke felt a wave of profound shock. He turned his gaze back to the pile of massive corpses, instinctively searching for Xiao Hua's body among them...

(The War Soul is about to reach one million words. I am also starting a group, War Soul World: 30662739. Friends who genuinely support Star will be welcome. Upon joining, please observe the group rules and maintain harmony! Thank you!)