187: Chapter 187

Below the cliff, thick fog rolled and churned.

A somewhat battered dark golden streak of light, carrying a massive creature, narrowly managed to use a protruding boulder on the cliff wall to dissipate its momentum at the last critical second, landing steadily inside a hidden cave on the cliffside.

"Bang!"

The massive Cloud-Piercing Eagle slammed heavily onto the dry ground. Its originally majestic golden feathers were now charred black, and it let out weak, mournful cries from its beak.

"Whew..."

Qin Feng dispelled the Golden Bell Shield protecting his body, let out a long sigh of relief, and brushed the dust off his sleeves.

He glanced at the giant eagle lying motionless on the ground, a playful curve tugging at the corner of his lips.

At this moment, around the neck of this fierce feathered beast was tightly fastened a "beast-taming ring" emitting a faint silver light. Wisps of mysterious runes were continuously merging into its mind, forcibly altering its Divine Soul cognition.

Under the absolute control of the beast-taming ring, the Cloud-Piercing Eagle, which had originally glared with ferocity, now looked at Qin Feng with eyes that gradually became reverent, submissive, and even carried a hint of fawning.

"Consider yourself lucky, you beast. Follow me, and there will be no shortage of benefits for you in the future."

Qin Feng rubbed his chin, flipped his wrist, and produced several stalks of third-grade healing Spirit Medicine, which emitted a rich medicinal fragrance, from his Storage Pouch and shoved them directly into the Cloud-Piercing Eagle's beak.

"Gulp."

The Cloud-Piercing Eagle swallowed the Spirit Medicine, and the injuries within its body began to stabilize at a speed visible to the naked eye. It affectionately rubbed its huge eagle head against Qin Feng's pant leg.

"Stay here and heal obediently. I will summon you when I need you."

Qin Feng patted its charred wings and was just about to turn and leave the damp cave.

However, before he could even take a step—

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

A sudden, intense sound of friction came from the thick vines hanging at the mouth of the cave.

Immediately after, a somewhat battered, petite figure wearing a moon-white Daoist robe that was torn in several places slid down the vines in a flustered manner, landing right at the cave entrance.

The person's black hair was disheveled, and her lovely, pretty face was covered in sweat and dust. It was none other than Ruan Fengjiao.

As soon as she landed, before she could even steady herself, her eyes met those of Qin Feng, who was standing with his hands behind his back deep within the cave.

For a moment, the very air seemed to freeze.

"Hum—!"

The moment their gazes met, a crisp and pleasant System notification sound suddenly rang out in Qin Feng's mind without any warning.

[Ding! Detected a qualified target for assistance: Ruan Fengjiao.]

[System mission issued: Please help the target understand that the distinction between Righteous and Demonic lies only in the human heart. Convert her stubborn concepts and make her recognize the hypocritical face of the Righteous Path.]

[System reward: One mysterious gift package!]

Hearing the System notification in his mind, a fleeting, cryptic smile flashed deep within Qin Feng's eyes.

This System really knows how to pick the right time to issue a mission...

"You... you're not dead?!"

Ruan Fengjiao stared fixedly at the handsome youth before her. A flash of extreme shock first crossed her beautiful eyes, which was immediately replaced by an irrepressible surge of ecstasy.

Her full chest heaved violently, and her eyes reddened slightly. Subconsciously, she took two steps forward and whispered in a trembling voice: "Thank goodness... you are really still alive... I thought... I thought you had been killed by Senior Brother..."

Watching Ruan Fengjiao's excited expression, Qin Feng simply stood where he was, watching her with indifference.

A sneer of extreme mockery hung on the corner of his lips, and his voice was as bone-chilling as ice needles as he asked: "What is 'thank goodness'? Miss Ruan, did you go to such great lengths to climb down the vines because you felt that your 'good' Senior Brother failed to strike me dead earlier, so you came down to deliver the finishing blow?!"

These cold, mocking words, laden with deep vigilance and hostility, struck Ruan Fengjiao's heart like a heavy blow to the head.

Her face turned deathly pale in an instant. She nervously clutched the corner of her robe and stood there, neither advancing nor retreating: "I... I didn't..."

Qin Feng couldn't even be bothered to hear another word from her. He simply snorted coldly, turned around, and walked toward the depths of the cave, leaving her with only his cold and ruthless back.

Ruan Fengjiao bit her red lips. Looking at that indifferent back, she felt a sharp pain and guilt in her heart.

Gritting her teeth, she took a timid step and carefully followed him inside.

"Brother Qin, please listen to my explanation... I really didn't know that Senior Brother would suddenly ambush you... I had clearly already agreed to form an alliance with you just now."

"I absolutely had no intention of harming you. That was all my Senior Brother... it was his personal prejudice alone; it really has nothing to do with me..."

Ruan Fengjiao followed behind, her tone filled with anxiety and pleading, trying her best to distance herself from the situation.

Qin Feng walked to a dry patch of ground deep in the cave and sat down. He picked up some dead branches from the ground and flicked a wisp of Chaos True Qi from his finger.

"Boom."

A small bonfire instantly flared up in the dim cave, illuminating the surrounding stone walls with a crimson glow and bringing a rare touch of warmth.

He produced a few pieces of fresh Yao Beast meat from his Storage Pouch and skewered them with clean iron spits.

He placed them over the bonfire and roasted them slowly. Golden grease dripped into the fire, making a "sizzle" sound, and an alluring aroma of meat gradually permeated the cave.

As for Ruan Fengjiao who had followed him in, Qin Feng never raised his head from start to finish, as if she were merely a puff of air.

Ruan Fengjiao stood awkwardly by the bonfire, watching the youth focused on roasting meat, and felt an invisible pressure that made it hard for her to breathe.

She took a deep breath, seemingly wanting to regain some face for herself and her Sect, and said through gritted teeth: "Brother Qin... actually, Senior Brother didn't target you on purpose. It's because... it's because the Disciples of your Hehuan Sect previously killed our fellow Disciple, Junior Sister Yu'er, with cruel methods, and even hung her corpse out for public display..."

"That is why we, the Disciples of the Xuanqing Sect, swore to eliminate the demons and defend the Dao whenever we see people from the Hehuan Sect—killing every one we see..."

"Heh..."

Hearing this, Qin Feng finally stopped the action of turning the iron spits.

He slowly raised his head, his deep, pitch-black eyes flickering with a near-demonic coldness and mockery under the illumination of the flickering firelight.

He let out a scoff, glanced sideways at the somewhat nervous young woman, and asked indifferently: "Eliminate demons and defend the Dao? Miss Ruan, then let me ask you, within your Xuanqing Sect, are there no situations of fellow Disciples fighting and killing each other in daily life?"

Ruan Fengjiao was stunned by this sudden question.

Then, she hesitantly bit her red lips, lowered her head, and her voice dropped: "This... naturally there are. For the sake of competing for cultivation resources or Sect selections, there are incidents of fellow Disciples using underhanded means or even resorting to murder in secret... Although the Sect strictly forbids it, behind the scenes... it is indeed impossible to completely eradicate..."

"Since there are,"

Qin Feng's lips curled into a highly sarcastic arc. His gaze bore into the woman before him as he interrogated her, word by word: "Then why don't you say that since people from the Xuanqing Sect killed my Hehuan Sect's Disciples, we should kill every Xuanqing Sect person we see?!"

"Why can you turn a blind eye to the killings within your own Sect, yet when people from the Hehuan Sect kill one of your Disciples, you must label all Hehuan Sect members as damned demons?!"

"I... this is different..."

Ruan Fengjiao was rendered speechless by the question. Her beautiful eyes were filled with panic, and she could only defend herself powerlessly.

"Different? How is it different?!"

Qin Feng stood up, looking down at her from above, his eyes filled with coldness and disdain: "The killings within your Sect are 'survival of the fittest' and 'reasonable competition,' while when a Disciple of my Sect kills one of yours, it is 'insane' and 'heinous.' Miss Ruan, don't you think this double standard is ridiculous to the extreme?!"

"Let me tell you why it's different...!"