Meanwhile, Yun Jianyue entered Qiu Honglei’s room. The latter woke up from her meditation and welcomed her with a smile. “Master, were there any gains from your trip?”
Yun Jianyue shook her head. “I could hardly calm down thinking about the ice sculpture. I felt some inspiration from observing the Blood Sea Hell, but I couldn’t make a breakthrough.”
“Master, don’t push yourself too hard,” Qiu Honglei consoled with a smile. “Such spurs of inspiration happen by chance. There’s no way to force it.”
Yun Jianyue’s heart warmed up. She hugged Qiu Honglei. “My dear disciple is the best. You know how to console me.”
The two of them had previously hugged often. The master doted on the disciple, and the disciple relished in the master’s care and concern. But now that they'd become sisters, it felt weird for them to continue hugging like this. Thus, they quietly parted from each other with unnatural looks.
Qiu Honglei broke the awkward silence and asked, “Master, did you meet Chuyan?”
“I did...” Yun Jianyue told Qiu Honglei what she'd seen underneath the Oblivion Bridge.
Qiu Honglei felt wistful. After learning about the latter's plight, she couldn’t bring herself to continue competing with Chu Chuyan anymore. All she felt was sympathy. The thought of spending a thousand years alone under the Netherworld Bridge could send shivers down anyone’s spine.
After learning about what she had to go through, anyone with the slightest kindness in them wouldn’t harbor enmity toward Chu Chuyan.
“Yan Xuehen is too much, capitalizing on this opportunity to steal her man! How despicable!” Yun Jianyue scoffed.
Qiu Honglei burst into laughter. My master just can’t stop harping about Yan Xuehen. If not for their long-time grudge, I would have thought they were in love with each other.
“It would be a surprise if Sect Master Yan were truly in a relationship with Ah Zu.” Even now, Qiu Honglei still doubted Zu An and Yan Xuehen’s relationship. Her impression of Yan Xuehen as a pure and virtuous person was simply too overwhelming.
“But that ice sculpture behaved weirdly when we returned.” Yun Jianyue thought about her encounter with Yan Xuehen earlier and frowned.
“What happened?”
“I suspect she knows about my relationship with Ah Zu.”
“That can’t be. Only I know about your relationship with Ah Zu, and you wouldn’t tell anyone else.” Qiu Honglei was taken aback.
“I hope I’m overthinking things. That ice sculpture is no fool. By now, she might have figured out that I did something to her,” Yun Jianyue said grimly.
“You have to tread carefully, master. Don’t turn from the hunter to the hunted.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not that dumb.”
“Master, what should we do next?” Qiu Honglei asked.
“I've already used desire energy on that ice sculpture once. She might notice it if I make another attempt, and Ah Zu is no fool either. He might have fallen for it the first time, but he’ll realize it if it happens again.” Yun Jianyue frowned. “We have to plan our next move carefully.”
They brainstormed many ideas, but discarded every one in the end. Ultimately, they couldn’t decide on a course of action.
Seeing that it was getting late, Yun Jianyue retired to her room. She didn’t rest right away, but instead inspected her room. Soon, she noticed a projection mirror fragment planted discreetly in the corner of the room. She would have never seen it if her guard was down.
“That conniving ice sculpture! She planted this thing here to film me and Ah Zu!” Yun Jianyue was glad she had sensed something amiss with the ice sculpture, or else she would have fallen for this ploy.
She scanned the room once more to make sure there were no other projection mirror fragments. Hmph, I won’t give that ice sculpture a chance to film me with Ah Zu. She crushed the projection mirror and drifted off to sleep.
In the neighboring room, Yan Xuehen suddenly opened her eyes and smiled. That demoness is as sharp as I thought, but she still fell for my trick.
She was indeed the one who'd planted that projection mirror fragment in Yun Jianyue’s room, and she had made sure to hide it in a discreet location. But after years of rivalry with Yun Jianyue, she knew how difficult of a foe the latter was better than anyone.
The projection mirror fragment was a feint to lull Yun Jianyue into a false sense of security. She would have never guessed that the projection mirror fragment was just the start of the trap. As soon as she crushed the projection mirror fragment, the trap went into motion.
Yan Xuehen knew her cultivation was, at most, on par with Yun Jianyue's. No matter how meticulous her ploy was, it would have been unlikely for her to completely escape Yun Jianyue’s detection. She was confident in her skills, but she wasn’t arrogant. Thus, she hadn’t done everything by herself, and had instead sought Jing Teng, Xie Daoyun, and Qi Yaoguang’s help.
Of course, Jing Teng wouldn’t admit she was trying to deal with Yun Jianyue, making Yan Xuehen think, Those two are always playing good cop, bad cop; it’s hard to tell what they're thinking.
She'd also consulted Xie Daoyun and Qi Yaoguang for this matter. The former’s aptitude in formations surpassed hers, whereas Qi Yaoguang could provide a mysterious oracular energy that made the formation even more unfathomable. Neither Xie Daoyun nor Qi Yaoguang had thought too much about what Yan Xuehen was up to because of her virtuous image. If anything, they were flattered that she was consulting them, and they'd naturally given their all to assist her.
Therefore, Yun Jianyue wasn't just up against Yan Xuehen alone, but the combined powers of the Jing Teng sisters, the formation master Xie Daoyun, and the mystery master Qi Yaoguang. It wouldn’t be surprising for her to be caught in their trap.
Indeed, Yun Jianyue thought she'd foiled Yan Xuehen’s ploy, so she lowered her guard and went to sleep. She descended into a dream that Yan Xuehen had meticulously woven for her.
In her dream, she saw the sky split apart, and a peculiar ship descended. An envoy on the ship claimed that he would bring Zu An to Dreamland. Everyone was reluctant to part with Zu An, but the envoy suddenly declared that Yun Jianyue was one of the guests as well. It turned out catching the gaze of a universal deity had won her an invitation letter too.
She was surprised and overjoyed. She even shot a provocative look at Yan Xuehen, and the latter’s look of defeat filled her with glee. I finally outdid her at something!
She boarded the ship with Zu An, and the two of them set off to Dreamland. Along the way, they were attacked by an Annihilation Beast. It was comparable to the one who destroyed the Monster World; it made quick work of the ship crew.
She fought hard against the Annihilation Beast with Zu An and managed to drive it off, but the fight left Zu An severely injured. He was on his last breath.
Yun Jianyue wept uncontrollably. “Ah Zu, what do I have to do to save you?”
“Dual cultivation...” Zu An only managed to utter those words before falling unconscious.
Yun Jianyue caught his drift and began taking off her clothes.