Chapter 119 Reunion and Irony

Upon hearing that such dire consequences could arise, and adhering to the philosophy of "better safe than sorry,"

Mu An ultimately chose to temporarily shelve his plan to grind the experience dungeon here.

In any case, as long as the 'Coordinate' existed, he would have the chance to return anytime in the future; there was no need to rush.

Before leaving this place, Mu An and his group took another tour of the entire Ice Crystal Palace.

Unlike their previous cursory glance, this time they focused their attention on the damaged ice pillars.

It was highly likely that the ancient Vicious Beast originally sealed inside had long since broken free, and its current whereabouts were unknown.

After counting them one by one, all four of them felt a shock in their hearts.

Because… the number of broken ice pillars had already reached nine!

If what Bai Yun said was true, then would the shattering of just one more ice pillar trigger the legendary tide of calamity?

"So, this world is already standing on the edge of a cliff, and it could be destroyed at any moment?"

Renée couldn't help but swallow hard.

Facing this situation, Xiao Qingzhu also furrowed her brows, her face full of worry.

"One lives only once; living well in the present is most important. There is no need to worry too much about things that haven't happened yet tomorrow."

"Taking a step back, even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up!"

Seeing the atmosphere suddenly become somewhat heavy, Mu An chuckled and teased them on purpose.

[Held up by tall people, huh?]

Xiao Qingzhu thought silently to herself.

...

Before leaving the Qingyun Sect, the issue of this dungeon still needed to be dealt with.

After all, there were still many people locked inside, barely clinging to life; it really wouldn't be right to stand by and watch them die.

But Mu An didn't have the time to save them one by one.

He simply used the Old Ancestor token to notify all the former Qingyun Sect Disciples who hadn't left the Sect yet about the situation here.

If they were willing to come and save them, they could; if not, then so be it.

As for the gate deep in the dungeon leading to the 'Other World', it had already been closed again.

Bai Yun even used her Divine Ability to add several more layers of Seal on top of the existing foundation, ensuring that no one would accidentally enter it again.

As Mu An and the others left on their swords, many former Qingyun Sect Disciples below were rushing toward the dungeon.

Among them was Wei Yinan, a Disciple who had grown up in the Qingyun Sect since she was a child.

She looked up at the stream of light disappearing into the horizon, gritted her teeth, and dove headlong into the dungeon permeated with a dark, eerie aura.

The dungeon spiraled layer by layer downwards; the further she went, the more alarmed the young girl became.

In her memory, the creatures locked inside those cages should have been heinous demons.

But now it seemed that those imprisoned were almost all Human Race, and it was the jailers who had become unknown demons.

Before leaving, Mu An had already purged all the demons within the dungeon.

Therefore, Wei Yinan could only see corpses of demons lying all over the ground outside the cages.

Under the dim, yellow firelight, the ground was stained with foul-smelling blood, and bloody severed limbs would occasionally come into view, making it exceptionally terrifying.

"Tao… Senior Sister? Senior Sister Tao, why are you here?"

At this moment, Wei Yinan saw an acquaintance in a cage at the end of the corridor, her beautiful eyes widening in shock.

She hurriedly broke open the cage, leaned in to look, and couldn't help but cover her mouth; tears streamed down uncontrollably like broken beads.

The person before her had wrinkled skin that had lost its luster, her dark hair was messy, and her once beautiful face was no more.

The long legs the other party had been so proud of were nowhere to be found; her lower body was empty, and her entire body was covered in wounds, clearly having suffered much torture.

She was like a withered leaf at the end of autumn, her life ready to drift to the ground at any moment…

Senior Sister Tao Jingran was the person who had raised her since she was small. She had excellent talent, was gentle to others, and was deeply supported and loved by the Disciples in her daily life.

In the Qingyun Sect, the relationship between the two of them was the closest.

When Wei Yinan was small, she always liked to run behind her. Sometimes, when she couldn't keep up, she would anxiously shout, 'Senior Sister, slow, slow down, I can't keep up.'

Whenever this happened, Senior Sister would not only not slow down, but would even silently speed up.

Then she would giggle at the sight of the young girl's disheveled appearance after catching up, panting for breath.

But when Wei Yinan puffed up her little face in anger, Senior Sister would pull out her favorite candied hawthorn from who knows where to cheer her up…

But a year ago, Senior Sister Tao Jingran suddenly disappeared mysteriously.

She heard Master say that Senior Sister had unfortunately met with a disaster after going down the mountain for training.

At the time, Wei Yinan was heartbroken for a long time after finding out, silently making up her mind that she must Cultivate well and slay all the demons in the world to avenge Senior Sister!

Later, she even erected a small monument for her on the cliff where she and Senior Sister often practiced.

Memories of the past surged into her heart like a tide; Wei Yinan never expected that she would have another chance to meet Senior Sister again.

And she never expected that the place of their reunion would be inside the dungeon that the Qingyun Sect publicly claimed was for imprisoning demons!

The place that was supposed to hold demons was instead holding innocent Sect Disciples!

This is… how ironic!

Perhaps having heard a familiar voice, Senior Sister Tao Jingran's spirit seemed to regain a bit of clarity.

"Junior Sister… is it… you?"

"It's me! Senior Sister, it's me, I'm your little Yinan!"

Wei Yinan didn't know where to put her hands.

She wanted to reach out and touch her, but she was afraid that she might accidentally shatter this body of hers that was already riddled with holes.

Moreover, it was only now that she discovered Senior Sister's eye sockets were hollow; the pair of beautiful eyes that used to be there were long gone…

[Just how much suffering has Senior Sister Jingran endured all these years!]

Thinking of this, Wei Yinan's tears could no longer be held back, gradually blurring her vision, her trembling voice carrying a suppressed sob.

A rare reunion, Senior Sister Tao Jingran wanted to giggle like she used to, but in the end, she could only twitch the corners of her mouth.

Long-term agony had long made her forget what it felt like to laugh.

Her dry, cracked lips moved slightly, struggling to speak some fragmented words; just doing this had already exhausted most of her strength.

"Qingyun Sect… Great Demon… deception… escape…"

"I know! I know everything! The Qingyun Sect has already been disbanded, and all those hidden demons were killed by a man! Not a single one left! Including our Master, he also… damn him! Dying directly is still too lenient for him; he should have been sliced into a thousand pieces! We… are free now!"

The young girl sobbed intermittently.

Especially when she recalled the diary notes she had seen in Master's Immortal Cave while packing up her belongings earlier.

They clearly recorded various methods of 'eating people'.

Back then, she had thought that the things he wouldn't let her see were Secret Manuals that Master had secretly hidden away; she hadn't expected the truth to be so cruel.

So cruel that she almost lacked the courage to face reality!

"Fre… edom… hehe…"

After saying this, Senior Sister Tao Jingran seemed to have found release, her head tilted down, and her body remained motionless.

...