Yun Ruoyan lay down on the simple, unadorned bed as she slowly revealed the entire truth behind her birth, but Li Mo wasn’t as shocked as she had thought he would be. He told Yun Ruoyan that he had suspected that Yun Lan wasn’t her birth father when he visited the demonic dragon grotto with her, but this was only a suspicion without proof.

Now that Yun Ruoyan had clarified matters herself, it finally cleared up the last of Li Mo’s confusion. However, that Yun Ruoyan possessed the demonic dragon bloodline was still something that he hadn’t expected.

“Li Mo, my father was being pursued by some men sent by the silver dragon clan’s elder, and I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. It’s very likely that my mother’s still alive, but it feels as though she vanished from the Chenyuan continent.” Yun Ruoyan then curled up in bed, hugging her knees. “And I possess the demonic dragon bloodline. Once the silver dragon clan discovers me, they won’t let me go.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here for you.” Li Mo held Yun Ruoyan tightly. “Even if the gods descend from heaven, I’ll defend you until I die. My mother’s body is also in the hands of the silver dragon’s clan elder, and we’ll get our revenge on him together.”

Come daybreak, Li Mo, Qin Feng, Yun Ruoyan, and Zhuo Yifeng once again headed to the Beast Spirit Valley. Because they had Pi Yang as hostage, they weren’t worried about a sneak attack from the outworlders. After spending two days by the entrance to the portal, the area in the realm densest in spiritual energy, Li Mo successfully managed to contact the first elder.

The first elder was naturally very excited to learn that Qin Feng and over a dozen students were still alive, and the two of them immediately set up a teleportation array using the all-seeing mirror as medium. After an entire day and night, they finally finished preparations for the array.

Qin Feng rushed back to the mountain cave to fetch the sixteen students. By the time they rushed back to the array, it was already the afternoon of the third day, which was when Li Mo and Lie Yun were scheduled to meet. 

Li Mo and the others didn’t dare to delay matters and immediately began sending the students off. They had been trapped in the realm for over three years, and were overjoyed to be able to return home.

But just as the sixth student passed through the array, a sudden howling once again emerged from the portal to the alternate dimension. This time, however, the howl came only from a single beast, not a beast horde like last time.

“It’s Pi Lie!” Pi Yang shouted excitedly.

“Who’s Pi Lie?” Yun Ruoyan glanced at the portal.

“Pi Lie is Pi Li’s father, the cloud-swallowing glutton that you and that black robe killed a few days ago. Pi Li’s my magical beast, and Pi Lie’s my brother’s magical beast. My brother’s here, so if you don’t run off now, you won’t have a chance to do so later on.”

“Is that so?” Yun Ruoyan smiled, as though she weren’t afraid at all. “I’m quite curious as to what this deity-like brother of yours is really like.”

Awoooo!

A black hound, almost the exact double of the hound they had killed, ran out from the portal. Because Yun Ruoyan had seen the true form of the cloud-swallowing glutton after its death, she didn’t dare underestimate this black hound.

Quickly following Pi Lie was Lie Yun, dressed entirely in red, then a surprisingly beautiful red-headed male, dressed in blue. He was followed by three swordsmen, dressed exactly the same as those she recalled from her dreams.

When Yun Ruoyan saw that red-haired man, her heart thumped: this was the man who had threatened her father!

“Who’s he?” Yun Ruoyan suddenly pointed at the man, her voice so loud that Li Mo, Zhuo Yifeng, and Pi Yang all looked at her.

“He’s my brother, Pi Batian!” Pi Yang crowed. “He’s a second-rank sword saint! You’d better release me now, or if my brother gets angry, all of you will die in an instant!”

“If we die, so will you.” Zhuo Yifeng glared at Pi Yang.

Eight students had gone through the array, and it would take another fifteen minutes for the remaining eight to leave as well.

“What should we do?” Qin Feng asked Li Mo. 

“Continue sending the students over and make sure that everyone returns safely. We’ll delay the outworlders.” Li Mo stepped forward. Yun Ruoyan handed Pi Yang over to Zhuo Yifeng, then caught up to Li Mo and walked with him, followed quickly by Zhuo Yifeng with Pi Yang.

Li Mo and Yun Ruoyan stopped moving some distance from Lie Yun, and she too halted. 

“Pi Yang, how are you?” Lie Yun called out.

Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo took two steps to the left to reveal Pi Yang, with Zhuo Yifeng restraining him from the back.

“I’m not dead yet,” Pi Yang called back.

“Where’s our female instructor?” Yun Ruoyan asked, her gaze landing not on Lie Yun, but on the blue-robed Pi Batian behind her.

Pi Batian made a hand signal. Two of his swordsmen moved aside, and a third escorted a woman forward. Her wrist, ankles, and neck were all shackled, her face pale, waxy and emaciated, and the rags on her body barely covering her up.

The swordsman pushed her, and she stumbled forward.

“Lan Ying!” Qin Feng’s outraged voice came from behind. “Li Mo, she’s one of my female instructors! What did these bastards do to her?!”

Li Mo, Zhuo Yifeng, Yun Ruoyan, and the remaining students were all enraged upon seeing Lan Ying’s appearance.

“The woman you want is here,” Lie Yun said. “Release Pi Yang.”

“Release the woman first!” Zhuo Yifeng shouted, wrenching Pi Yang’s arm until he let out a muted groan.

“You dare!” Lie Yun shouted, taking a step forward.

“Given how badly you’ve hurt our instructor, he deserves to have one of his arms wrenched off completely,” Zhuo Yifeng shouted. “Release our instructor now, or I’ll kill him!”

Pi Yang let out another groan, louder this time. His arm was so distorted that it might break at any moment, but he gritted his teeth and refused to scream.

“We’ll release our hostage first,” Pi Batian finally spoke up. His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear him clearly.

“Yes, Master.” The swordsman escorting Lan Ying released the shackles on her feet, then shoved her forward. Lan Ying stumbled, then slowly walked toward Zhuo Yifeng and the others.

“Master, those groundhogs are trying to escape using a teleportation array,” another swordsman whispered to Pi Batian.

Pi Batian wiped his hands with an exquisite red handkerchief. “Let them, they’re useless. Pay special heed to the three cultivators in the front. I’ll skin them—no, leave me the girl.” Pi Batian pointed at Yun Ruoyan. “She’ll fetch a good price on the market.”

Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo were both glancing at Pi Batian, and they both saw him pointing at her.

“Yan’er, stay behind my back and don’t make any sudden moves.” Li Mo could sense that Yun Ruoyan bore an unusual hatred toward Pi Batian, and he was afraid that she would act rashly.

“They’ve all been sent away,” Qin Feng murmured from behind. He stepped forward, his hand on the scabbard of his sword.

“Master Qin!” Only then did Lan Ying spot Qin Feng. Her eyes, which were sunken and sallow, began to brim with tears.

“Lan Ying!” Qin Feng shouted. He stepped forward, shrugging out of his outer robes so she could cover herself up better. “Lan Ying, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to save you earlier.”

But just as Qin Feng was about to make it to Lan Ying’s side, the cloud-swallowing glutton behind her suddenly leapt forward like a bolt of lightning as it morphed into an enormous, pitch-black, sharp-toothed beast.

Qin Feng cried out as he flung aside the robes in his hands, unsheathed his sword, and made to strike at the beast. 

Because Zhuo Yifeng was still restraining Pi Yang, he couldn’t attack. Green sword aura shone from underneath Li Mo’s feet as he soared to the skies, intercepting the cloud-swallowing glutton. At the same time, the glutton breathed out a gust of fire toward Li Mo and Qin Feng, which Li Mo blocked with an icy shield conjured using spiritual energy.

“Split up and attack!” The swordsman behind Pi Batian commanded, and the three of them charged toward Yun Ruoyan, Zhuo Yifeng, and Qin Feng, confident that they would be able to take all three of them down easily.

Lie Yun stepped forward and was just about to enter the fray with her throwing knives when Pi Batian stopped her. “Miss Yun, as a guest of the Pi family, I can hardly allow you to sully yourself fighting against these lowly groundhogs. Shall we watch the fight from here instead?”

Lie Yun glanced at Pi Batian, his hands clasped behind his robes, with seemingly no intention of striking Li Mo’s group directly. “But Pi Yang’s still in their hands!”

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