In the night.

　　Lonemoon told the master and disciple duo everything he heard from the system earlier that day.

　　“A fiendish cultivator who can make use of dark fires… He knows Tian Ji?” Yi Qing paused.

　　“I fear it’s worse than that.” Lonemoon shook his head and continued, “From what the invader was saying, I think they already made a deal with each other. Tian Ji looks very wounded as well. Given the demonic Qi we saw in his body earlier, I think he won’t be able to break off this connection with the fiendish cultivator.”

　　“So he’s come this time to take revenge on Tian Ji?” Chef frowned. “If that’s the case, why doesn’t he just come to Gui Yi Sect directly? Why did he remain in this little city for so long and even kill a Nascent Soul elder?” Wasn’t he afraid that he would attract a lot of attention with the vengeance that he had? Or did this fiendish cultivator really think that nobody in the world would be his match?

　　“Maybe he’s not here for revenge?” Shen Ying asked.

　　The two of them stared blankly at her. What did she mean?

　　“If he’s not here for revenge, then what is he here for?” Lonemoon asked. “He came all the way to the immortal city of Gui Yi Sect. Could he be escaping…”

　　He trailed off mid-sentence and suddenly started, eyes widening. “You mean to say that he’s not coming to Gui Yi Sect to seek trouble, but is trying to escape the sect?”

　　“Mm.” Shen Ying took another bite off her fruit. “Isn’t it obvious?”

　　“Holy shit!” How was that obvious?

　　On second thought, he realized that this was possible given what he had heard from the system. Shu Yi seemed to know from the beginning that the dark fire existed. What’s more, she wanted to collect the flames for her own use. Tian Ji even gave her a dharmic weapon specially for her to deal with the fiendish cultivator. They were so prepared. What other reason could there be apart from the fact that they were very familiar with this fiendish cultivator? He had initially thought that this was because Tian Ji had dealt with the other party before. But now, it did not seem likely. Shu Yi was so confident. It was obvious that she did not think the fiendish cultivator was a threat.

　　A Golden Core cultivator could not even be bothered about a fiendish cultivator who was at least a Nascent Soul. This proved that he had absolute confidence that the other party would not be able to hurt her. Perhaps this was not just because she had the system. In other words, the biggest possibility was that the other party was gravely injured. This wound was obviously caused by Tian Ji. Yet, even though the three of them had remained at Gui Yi Sect for a long time, they had never even sensed a fiendish cultivator invading the sect. Much less did they sense a fight. It was impossible that a fight between a Soul Formation and Nascent Soul cultivator was that quiet.

　　Neither did Tian Ji leave Gui Yi Sect in so long. Where exactly did they fight?

　　If it was not recent, this meant that it happened before they entered Gui Yi Sect. That was interesting. They had been in Gui Yi Sect for several years now. How could Zhong Yi not get better even after so much time has passed? What’s more, he was still so weak that even a Golden Core cultivator was unafraid of him? That was impossible. Unless… Someone here was keeping an eye on him and making sure that he did not get better!

　　Other than Tian Ji, there could be no other person!

　　In other words, Zhong Yi had been in Gui Yi Sect from the beginning. When he appeared in Yuan Yang City, he was not trying to enter Gui Yi Sect to cause trouble. He was escaping from Gui Yi Sect!

　　“Why would Tian Ji keep a fiendish cultivator in the sect for no good reason? Lonemoon could not understand this. “Fiendish cultivators and Dao cultivators are completely unrelated. What’s more, he’s a Soul Formation cultivator. How would a Nascent Soul cultivator benefit him…” He trailed off mid-sentence once again, his eyes widening. “It’s the dark fire!” He had nearly forgotten that Tian Ji was a pill cultivator. Of course the dark fire would be useful to him!

　　It was no wonder that Yu Luan and Tian Yi were always bad-mouthing this Soul Formation Uncle-Master for not bothering about anything that happened in the sect. It was one thing that he was not accepting disciples. But he did not even help to refine pills in the sect. Only Tian Yi was working so hard to refine pills.

　　Now, on close thought, Lonemoon guessed that it was not at all that Tian Ji did not want to refine pills. It was that he had not finished refining the dark fire in the fiendish cultivator’s body. That’s why it was not possible for him to refine pills, much less kill the fiendish cultivator. Perhaps he did not accept disciples for this reason as well – he did not want the fiendish cultivator to be discovered.

　　But he still failed in the end! The man had escaped, and he was so close to turning into a demon.

　　The more Lonemoon thought about it, the more pity he felt. This invader really found a backing similar to her – just as unlucky as she was!

　　“The invader is out!” Yi Qing suddenly exclaimed.

　　Lonemoon stared blankly at him and said, “Follow him!”

　　The three of them disappeared within the house in a flash. Just as they started to follow Shu Yi’s aura, they found that it had been cut off midway. The three of them were left directionless all of a sudden.

　　Lonemoon’s expression darkened. It was obvious that this was the system’s doing. How were they going to find her now? He was just thinking that they should split ways, when suddenly a loud announcement broke the silence of the immortal city. The three of them turned in the direction of the voice.

　　[Host, I’ve already helped you to get rid of your aura. Nobody will be able to find you now.]

　　The three of them, who finally located her: “…”

　　They had never met an invader who made their jobs so easy for them.

　　(⊙ o ⊙)

　　The three of them flew in the direction of the voice. Indeed, they spotted Shu Yi, who was just about to leave the city. The strange thing was that she was not headed toward the east of the forest, where the deviant fire first appeared. Instead, she was headed for the city in the opposite direction.

　　She was holding something in her hand. From time to time, the thing in her hand flashed red. It looked like it was a dharmic weapon that was pointing the way to her. A moment later, she stopped in front of a dark and quiet field. All around, bumps appeared in the ground.

　　This was a graveyard.

　　“This is it. 001, scan this area.”

　　[Host! I haven’t found a living body. It should be deserted.]

　　“Master said that Zhong Yi, that demon, is good at array formation. I think he must be in hiding.” She scanned the entire graveyard and said, “He really is good at hiding. If not for Master’s careful planning, I would not have been this prepared to track him, neither would I have found him this quickly.”

　　She laughed mirthlessly and walked into the graveyard. She lightened her steps intentionally, keeping her eye on the direction in which the dharmic equipment in her hand was pointing.

　　The group of three, who were floating in mid-air, paused to exchange a meaningful look with one another. Suddenly, they realized that there was an evil aura belonging to fiendish cultivators somewhere on their right, among the weeds in the graveyard. Faintly, they could see a figure curled up in a ball next to a coffin. Since this was a graveyard, death Qi was all over. I was hard to tell his evil aura from the death Qi in the surroundings. Yet, he could not escape their eyes.

　　Indeed, a moment later, Shu Yi appeared on their right side as well. SHe looked around and stopped at a patch of unassuming weeds.

　　Lonemoon hesitated, not able to decide if he should do something. Shu Yi rejoiced. A look of pure excitement flashed across her face. She did not hesitate to retrieve her dharmic weapon and mutter a curse. She was just about to activate the weapon and throw it over. Soon, the deviant fire would be hers…

　　“Senior Sister Shu!” A figure suddenly rushed out from beside her and grabbed onto her arm. She lost her grip on the weapon and let it fall to the ground, onto her feet.

　　“Ow!” Shu Yi howled in pain. She lifted her foot and hopped around for awhile, before finally resting her gaze on the man in front of her. “Zuo… Zuo Shuming!”

　　Σ(°△°|||)

　　“Senior Sister Shu, what are you doing here?” Zuo Shuming looked at her with confusion and concern. “It’s late – it’s very dangerous!”

　　“You… What are you doing here?” Shu Yi was shocked stiff.

　　“I chased you all the way here!” He explained in a matter-of-fact manner. “I’m on guard duty tonight and am guarding the west gate to the city. I saw you exit the gate and come all the way here. Eh? What happened to you Senior Sister Shu? Why are you limping? Are you alright, Senior Sister Shu… Don’t scare me!”

　　Shu Yi: “…”

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　How the hell did this thing come here? This Zuo Shuming was really born to go against Shu Yi, wasn’t he?