Song Yuqiao trembled at Yan Fang’s roar. Her eyelids twitched incessantly, her long lashes quivering faintly, her eyes wide with terror. Gentle and introverted by nature, she would mourn for half a day over crushing a single ant; now, being ordered to commit murder—and of Li Yundong, no less, who had recently displayed such majestic power driving away the Japanese—was enough to frighten her very soul nearly out of her body.

Song Yuqiao’s teeth chattered uncontrollably. She looked at Li Yundong, forgetting whether she was willing or if Li Yundong even possessed the capacity to resist. Just recalling the awe-inspiring might she had witnessed before made her legs weak and her body feel utterly drained.

The poor young girl stammered, her voice shaking, “Master, I, I dare not…”

Yan Fang’s phoenix-like eyebrows shot up in anger. “Insolent wretch! I have taught you for so long, and you dare not do this?”

Tears of shock and fear welled in Song Yuqiao’s eyes. “But I simply cannot! Master, this is a person! How could you ask me to kill?”

Only then did Yan Fang recall how timid her nominal disciple was. Forcing her to kill was demanding too much. She forcibly suppressed her rage and spoke softly, “Silly apprentice, this man is a great villain. By killing him, you can save many people, including yourself and your Master. You are carrying out Heaven’s will; not only will everyone in the world not blame you, they will actually thank you.”

Song Yuqiao had been an orphan since childhood, taken in and trained by Yan Fang, who was both a mother figure and a master. Thus, Yan Fang’s words carried immense weight, as heavy as mountains. Hearing this, her courage momentarily swelled. She asked timidly, “Is that true, Master?”

Seeing Song Yuqiao waver, Yan Fang was overjoyed. She continued in a gentle tone, “Of course it’s true. When has your Master ever lied to you? Once you kill this man, I will take you far away, to a place where no one can find us, and we will live happily. How about it?”

Song Yuqiao’s face lit up with fragile surprise. She tested the waters cautiously, “Master, are you, are you serious? You, you won’t, won’t abandon me again?”

Yan Fang sighed softly. “Silly girl, how could your Master bear to abandon you? I was forced into it before. Think about it, if the man you cherished most were stolen away, wouldn't you want revenge? If you discovered such a monumental conspiracy, wouldn't you want to stop them and save the world?”

Song Yuqiao thought deeply, biting her delicate, pale lips until they were red. Her mind was a battlefield of warring impulses.

Su Chan, Ziyuan, and Zhou Qin watched Song Yuqiao anxiously, waiting for this frail girl to make her decision.

Song Yuqiao stared intently at Yan Fang. After a long hesitation, she suddenly gritted her teeth, pulled the golden hairpin from her hair, gripped it tightly with both hands, and, trembling all over, walked toward Li Yundong.

Su Chan, Ziyuan, and Zhou Qin cried out simultaneously, “Stop!” “Don’t!” “You dare!!”

The little foxes also exclaimed in alarm, “Don’t kill him! The Sect Leader is the kindest person in the world! Don’t kill him; kill us instead!”

Hearing their shouts, Song Yuqiao’s body shook, and she stopped. She looked toward Su Chan and the others, seeing their faces etched with terror and pleading, as if they wished to take Li Yundong’s place in death.

Song Yuqiao hesitated, and that moment of doubt gave Yan Fang an opening. She immediately roared, “What are you waiting for? These are living fox spirits; they only know how to wreak havoc. Do you want to see the world descend into chaos? Do you want to become the prime culprit aiding tyranny? When the world falls into ruin and the common people suffer, you will be the instigator!”

Song Yuqiao jolted. She gritted her teeth, forced her gaze away, and continued toward Li Yundong.

Standing before Li Yundong, Song Yuqiao kept her head bowed, her voice choked with tears. “Don’t, don’t blame me. I don’t want to do this either!” With that, she raised the golden hairpin high above her head.

For a moment, everyone who had been meditating with closed eyes couldn't help but open them. They stared, scarcely believing that Li Yundong, whom even the Peacock King could not dispel, was about to fall by the hand of such a delicate young woman.

The crowd watched as the hairpin, long and slender, refracted the sunlight streaming through the upper windows, its sharp point sending dazzling rays that momentarily blurred their vision.

Song Yuqiao, trembling, held the hairpin steady, ready to thrust it forward. But then her eyes met Li Yundong’s. She saw him looking steadily at her, and his gaze held absolutely no hatred or anger; rather, it was incredibly gentle and brimming with sympathy.

This look enveloped Song Yuqiao like warm seawater, causing an involuntary thought to surface: Why doesn’t he hate me? Why is he looking at me like that?

Song Yuqiao asked in a flustered voice, “Why are you looking at me?”

Li Yundong offered a faint smile, sighed, and said, “If you weren't looking at me, how would you know I was looking at you?”

Song Yuqiao immediately averted her eyes in panic. “I wasn’t looking at you! Stop looking at me!”

Li Yundong smiled faintly. “What you were looking at just now wasn't me; it was your own true heart! Even if you look away, it’s useless, because you cannot face your own core self. You fundamentally do not believe I am a bad person, do you?”

This statement struck Song Yuqiao like a bolt of lightning. She shuddered, her mouth falling open involuntarily. A voice in her heart shouted loudly: He willingly withdrew from the Lotus Gathering, sacrificing the Immortal Brush just to take responsibility for his disciple; he was forced out of the competition by everyone, yet he never uttered a single harsh word, instead saving the critical situation. How could such a principled and magnanimous man be a villain? Could someone with such a gentle and compassionate gaze be evil?

Song Yuqiao stood frozen, like a statue. Yan Fang behind her, unable to see her expression, felt a sudden jolt in her heart. She couldn't help but shout, “Xiao Qiao, don’t listen to his deceitful words! He is an expert at bewitching people! You must hold steady, Xiao Qiao! So many people are waiting for you to save them!”

Song Yuqiao couldn't help but glance back at Yan Fang, then turn to look at Li Yundong. Suddenly, the golden hairpin clattered onto the floor. She covered her face with both hands and sobbed aloud, “Master, I cannot do it. I truly cannot! I am sorry!” With that, she turned and ran quickly toward the stairs.

Yan Fang erupted in fury, screaming, “Useless thing! Come back here, hurry back!” But no matter how loudly she roared, Song Yuqiao fled without looking back, her sobbing cries fading into the distance, leaving only Yan Fang’s enraged roar echoing within the small pavilion.

Su Chan and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ruan Hongling sneered, “Hmph, now let’s see what tricks this Yan Fang has left to play!”

Having calmed down, Ziyuan closed her eyes and murmured deeply, “Be quiet, focus on circulating your inner energy!”

Ruan Hongling scanned the room and saw everyone upstairs had closed their eyes, diligently cultivating their Qi. Whoever recovered first would be the strongest master present, holding the power of life and death!

Even Yan Fang forcibly quelled her rage, stopped speaking, and closed her eyes, concentrating on her cultivation. Ruan Hongling’s thoughts shifted, and she whispered to Ziyuan, “Senior Sister Ziyuan, what if someone comes now?”

Ziyuan did not open her eyes. She replied, “The First Grade Immortal Powder in this censer is still burning. Anyone who gets close enough to inhale the scent will have their cultivation reduced to the lowest point, unable to even circulate Qi, perhaps worse off than an ordinary person with no martial skill. However, if an ordinary person were to arrive now, that would be terrible, because ordinary people are immune to the effects of the First Grade Immortal Powder.”

Ruan Hongling immediately closed her eyes too, thinking: If an ordinary person walked in with a steel blade and killed everyone here, that would truly be the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the world! I cannot die at the hands of a mere mortal!

At this moment, everyone upstairs was concentrating their minds and regulating their breath. The atmosphere became heavy and silent. The once elegant pavilion was now quiet as a graveyard, chilling the bone.

All the cultivators upstairs were motionless, like carved stone. The surrounding air seemed to solidify, broken only by the slow burning of the First Grade Immortal Powder in the censer, releasing wisp after wisp of faint smoke that curled and dispersed in all directions.

Time passed drop by drop. The sky gradually shifted from the Golden Crow hanging high overhead to the Jade Rabbit beginning its ascent; the daylight slowly dimmed.

Far from the garden pavilion, hidden in a dark alley corner, a young man couldn't help but ask the elder standing beside him, “Master Puren, it’s almost dark. How much longer must we wait?”

Master Puren of Xiyuan Temple, dressed in commoner’s clothes, kept his eyes lowered as if standing in meditation. He murmured softly, “Fakong, why the hurry? The great fiend has not made his move yet, so naturally, neither can we!”

Fakong looked somewhat anxious. “But until when do we wait?”

Puren smiled faintly, opened his eyes, and said, “When the great fiend can no longer restrain himself and acts, we will naturally activate the Eight Directions Demon Subduing Array and subdue this fiend!”

Fakong took a deep breath. “What if he doesn’t act?”

Puren smiled again, closed his eyes, brought his palms together, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitabha, if he does not act today, he will eventually act!”

Fakong had no choice but to compose himself, pressing his palms together and silently reciting scriptures.

After an unrecorded passage of time, the flame in the censer above the pavilion suddenly dimmed. That peerless, poisonous smoke, which had brought all the cultivators to their knees, had finally burned out.

Just as the last wisp of delicate fragrance faded into the air, two figures suddenly drifted into the pavilion.

These two stood side by side, their silhouettes graceful and striking beneath the moonlight, though their features were hard to discern. The taller one quickly swept her gaze across the pavilion, smiled slightly, and murmured softly, “Yan Fang, you never expected this day would come, did you?”

The one beside her sneered with clenched teeth, “Junior Martial Sister, why waste words with her? Kill her quickly!”

Hearing these voices, Yan Fang immediately opened her eyes. She stared intently and gasped, “It’s you two?!”