In the howling wind and snow of Jiuyuan City, Li Muyang led Li Damu and his wife as they trod upon the thick blanket of snow.
The piercing cold wind swept through the alleys, and from the nearby market came the sounds of street vendors hawking their wares, accompanied by the steaming mist rising from a bun shop.
Having spent a long time in that dark and silent secret realm, they were suddenly back in the human world, hearing the lively bustle of the market infused with the scent of everyday life.
For a moment, the three returnees were stunned and it took them a while to come back to their senses.
“We really made it back…”
“The fox spirit has spared us…”
Li Damu and his wife had a dazed expression, filled with the relief and fear that follows a narrow escape.
Having spent too many days in that secret realm, devoid of sunlight, every day was filled with dread and terror for the two ordinary people.
Now, finally back in the mortal world and seeing their familiar homeland, they all breathed a sigh of relief and even wanted to kneel and thank the fox spirit.
Li Muyang narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiuyuan City before him, saying, “Let’s go find Yu Chan first.”
He didn’t delay any further, aware how precious time was.
Yan Xiaoru had already set off quite some time ago; who knew whether she had arrived at Jiuyuan City by now?
If she were to meet with Yu Chan, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Li Muyang led Li Damu and his wife as they swiftly navigated through the city, quickly arriving at the entrance to the secret realm where Yu Chan had been hiding before.
Reaching the end of a dark alley, the three of them entered one after another.
After passing through a gloomy corridor, they finally arrived in an underground cave.
Li Yuechan and the Third Miss, along with the other followers, were all gathered there–including Qu Ping, the burly woman who had been captured by Yan Xiaoru and vanished within the Fox Immortal Secret Realm.
All of Li Yuechan’s subordinates were now fully assembled.
That included the Third Miss, who had always been an outlier.
They seemed to be discussing some important matter, with an extremely grave atmosphere.
Seeing Li Muyang suddenly appear, those present were all startled, then showed expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
“Brother… is that you?” Li Yuechan was the first to speak, her gaze towards her brother filled with surprise and uncertainty, as if she had seen a ghost.
Li Muyang frowned at the crowd and asked, “What are you preparing for?”
In this underground cave, several soul banners, array flags, and various Spiritual Objects for setting up arrays were scattered about.
The air was thick with the potent scent of blood and malice, and jars of demonic blood emitted a pungent smell.
Clearly, they were preparing some kind of large array, and it was a Demon Path array at that.
Li Yuechan quickly said, “We were just about to rescue you. Brother, how did you and uncle and auntie get back?”
While instructing her subordinates to clean up the items in the underground cave, Li Yuechan curiously approached Li Muyang: “Being held by Elder Yan and Qing Yang, how did you manage to escape? How did you do it?”
This was simply beyond belief.
Li Muyang said, “It wasn’t my power, but the fox spirit that aided me.”
As he said this, he glanced at his nominal younger sister beside him. This journey to the Fox Immortal Secret Realm at least confirmed one thing—that Yu Chan was indeed the daughter of the fox…
But now was not the time to discuss this. Li Muyang said, “Everyone pack up quickly; we must leave Jiuyuan City as soon as possible. Yan Xiaoru is on her way here, and if she catches up to us, it’s all over.”
The demonized Yan Xiaoru, now cruel, powerful, and full of cunning schemes.
Even if everyone here banded together, it would still be difficult to outfight her.
The most prudent course of action was to flee before she arrived.
When it came to escaping and hiding, Li Muyang was still quite skilled.
Li Muyang urged everyone to pack quickly, and then they all left the underground cave together and returned to Jiuyuan City.
At this time, Jiuyuan City was already under the control of the Demon Cultivators from Qing Yang.
A giant light cocoon was suspended in the sky, surrounded by members of the Qing Yang Society, all demon cultivators holding array flags.
The person inside the cocoon was none other than Dan Taiming.
Li Yuechan looked up at the light cocoon overhead and asked, “Brother, aren’t we going to save Senior Dan Tai…?”
Li Muyang glanced up and shook his head, “We can’t save her, nor do we need to.”
After all, no matter how you put it, Dan Taiming is a great cultivator of the Heavenly Eternal Realm; pushing her into a corner would have unthinkable consequences.
Moreover, her relationship with Yan Xiaoru is profound; Yan Xiaoru wouldn’t drive her into a desperate situation.
Inside Jiuyuan City, the demon cultivators from the Qing Yang Society had laid many secret informants, both overt and covert.
But fortunately, Li Yuechan had already figured out these informants, leading everyone to quietly escape from a weak spot in the blockade.
Burrowing through the ground, they rapidly made their way towards the outskirts of Jiuyuan City.
Li Yuechan asked, “Brother, where are we going next?”
Li Muyang turned back to look in the direction of Jiuyuan City; Yan Xiaoru had yet to show up, it was unknown whether she had returned to the Mortal World or was still trapped on the path of reincarnation.
Once she entered the territory of the Fox Immortal, it was certain that the Fox Immortal would not let Yan Xiaoru leave easily.
Even with the star-leading technique of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion, it would take Yan Xiaoru some time to leave the cycle of reincarnation.
After pondering for a bit, Li Muyang said, “We’ll go to your teacher’s Tingyu Tower.”
Tingyu Tower, founded by the Corpse Immortal, was a mysterious sect that ordinary people couldn’t possibly locate.
Moreover, the overall power within Tingyu Tower was generally average, so even if someone harbored ill intentions, the cultivation and combat power of the Li siblings would suffice to suppress everything.
He had previously discussed Tingyu Tower with Yuechan and had some understanding of this secretive organization.
So, they changed directions and set out towards Tingyu Tower.
As they traveled stealthily, upon arriving at the nearest major city Tianjiao City, they changed their appearances. They then chartered a Flying Boat within the city, with everyone boarding the boat to head for Tingyu Tower.
Along the way, Li Muyang was exceedingly cautious, even temporarily abandoning his game progression, fearing Yan Xiaoru might come after them unprepared.
But as the Flying Boat gradually sailed away from the former territory of the Refinement Demon Sect, Li Muyang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He went into the cabin, ready to enter the game and take advantage of the travel time to advance his game progression.
But just then, there was a knock at the door.
Li Muyang was slightly surprised: “Yuechan? Is there something wrong?”
The person coming to the door late at night turned out to be his adoptive sister Yuechan.
In these past few days, for the sake of flying at the greatest speed,
Li Muyang and his sister took turns steering, using their mana to drive the Flying Boat’s engine, maximizing the speed of the boat.
Only after flying out a sufficient distance did Li Muyang take time to rest.
But Yuechan should still be at the helm, so why did she suddenly make a night visit?
Li Muyang’s eyes were filled with confusion.
However, upon entering, the girl casually closed the door and then threw out an array flag, setting up a simple sealing array inside the room.
After carefully completing all these actions, she then sat down in front of Li Muyang, her expression serious as she said,
“Brother, you are Jiang Xiaoyu, Fairy Qinghe’s brother from ten thousand years ago… right?”
Yuechan’s questioning left Li Muyang startled for a moment.
“Ah… this…”
Originally, this was a super big secret, but as Li Muyang encountered more and more powerful beings, those people could recognize him as Jiang Xiaoyu at a glance.
He was identified so many times that Li Muyang had even become numb to it.
So much so that now, when his sister called out his true identity, there was not even a ripple in Li Muyang’s heart.