Zi Shang stood at the side watching silently.
He knew that Wan Sha's feelings toward Yun Jiuge were more inclined to loyalty, so he endured letting him stay by Yun Jiuge's side.
“Go do what you should be doing. We'll speak again when I return to the Devil Race,” Yun Jiuge instructed. She was very satisfied with Wan Sha's att.i.tude. He was indeed deserving of his Guard Leader status.
“Yes,” Wan Sha answered. He paid his respects to Yun Jiuge and left swiftly.
After Wan Sha took his leave, the empty tower was left with only Yun Jiuge and Zi Shang.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yun Jiuge asked as she looked at Zi Shang's nervous gaze and smiled slyly.
“Do your words from earlier still count?” Zi Shang questioned. He might have believed Yun Jiuge if she said that she only cared about him in this life, but he didn't believe something like that could come from the G.o.ddess.
“Of course they still count,” Yun Jiuge replied. She flapped her wings and landed beside Zi Shang. A cheeky expression appeared on her n.o.ble, elegant face, looking just like her from before.
Zi Shang was not used to Yun Jiuge acting like this and asked hesitantly, “Have you recovered your Holy Blood?”
“No, that's all there is in my consciousness. It was only enough to pretend,” Yun Jiuge earnestly replied.
The little remaining bit of Holy Blood that she had was enough to crush small-fry folks like Qiu Shan, but it was not enough to deal with mightier powers, let alone patch up the Heavens.
“Then you'd better leave it for pretending in crucial moments!” Zi Shang replied, feeling relieved.
Although Yun Jiuge's recovery of her Holy Blood would be more beneficial for the world, he still liked her like this.
“Don't worry, I won't randomly put on a pretense,” Yun Jiuge uttered. Because there were no outsiders in the tower, she put on a pretense to familiarize herself with it. There was absolutely no way she would act this recklessly outside.
The messy string of lovers from her previous life were still looking for her. If they knew that she had lost her powers, she would be in deep trouble.
Back then, the beautiful men in her harem were all very brutal and could turn on her any minute, finis.h.i.+ng her off right down to the last bone.
“By the way, what did you see in the soul of Qiu Shan earlier?” Zi Shang asked.
“Qiu Shan and Qiu Sen are brothers by birth. Back in the day, they were both pursuing Nangong Yue, daughter of the Ziyun Sect Leader, at the same time. Then they all ended up traveling together.
Later on, the three of them accidentally got their hands on a treasure map. They followed the treasure map and ended up at a Secret Realm.
Unfortunately, before they understood the situation in the Secret Realm, Nangong Yue's soul was lost.
While trying to save her, Qiu Sen was struck by a curse. Qiu Shan managed to escape without harm because he ran fast enough.
Qiu Sen wanted to return to the Secret Realm to find the soul of Nangong Yue, but after they left the Secret Realm, the treasure map automatically disappeared.
Afterwards, the two of them split up to search separately. Just as Qiu Shan found the most important part of the treasure map, he became victim to Qiu Sen's scheme and fell into this Secret Realm,” Yun Jiuge explained all the details in one breath.
Zi Shang had no interest in the emotional entanglement between Qiu Shan, Qiu Sen and Nangong Yue. He only wanted to know the answer to two questions.
“Firstly, what is this Secret Realm in the treasure map?”
“Secondly, why did Qiu Sen want to deal with your grandfather?”
“These questions are too complicated. Let's go to the ninth floor to get the treasure map first,” Yun Jiuge instructed. Qiu Sen was dead and the tower might collapse at any moment. It was too dangerous to stay there.
“Okay,” Zi Shang said as he took Yun Jiuge's hand and walked to the ninth floor.
Either way, he would always be by her side, so she could tell him another time.
“Wait,” Yun Jiuge uttered. She looked at Leng Mo who was lying unconscious in the corner. If they didn't move him out, he would be as good as dead once the tower collapsed.
“Why do you still bother about him?” Zi Shang asked. He saw Leng Mo as an insignificant person.
“Hui Kingdom needs him, and Bao'er needs him too,” Yun Jiuge replied. She had spent some time in the Hui Kingdom and still hoped that this little Secret Realm would become a better place.
“I'll send him out now then,” said Zi Shang. He was willing to put in more effort for the kind-hearted Yun Jiuge.
“Then you might as well go all the way and expel his poison too,” added Yun Jiuge. If the poison was not removed from Leng Mo's body, not only could he not produce a normal child, he wouldn't live for much longer too.
“Okay,” agreed Zi Shang. Since Qiu Shan was already dead, it would be easier to remove this poison curse.
Zi Shang shone a purple Spiritual Light on Leng Mo and cleared the toxins on him. Then he moved him out of the tower.
After sending away Leng Mo, Zi Shang took Yun Jiuge to the last floor of the tower.
It was a quaint, peaceful room.
On the left, there was a coffee table made out of red Spiritual Wood. There was a white tea set with green flower patterns on it.
On the right, there were three brown futons.
At the far corner, top-grade Spiritual Incense burned in a premium nine-rotary furnace which was in the shape of a white crane.
The light fragrance of the Spiritual Incense circulated around the room, making the room rich in Spiritual Energy.
“The treasure map is here?” Zi Shang asked. He glanced at the quiet room and found nothing special.
“It's here,” Yun Jiuge said as she went to the incense burner. She flicked the top of the white crane's head, then pressed down on the bulge in the middle.
The white crane's eyes gradually brightened and it let out a soft cry. Then it flapped its wings, left the incense burner and flew towards the roof.
The wooden roof went through a series of distorted twists, and the entire quiet room changed in appearance.
The coffee table and the futons disappeared, and the s.p.a.ce became very wide.
In the middle stood a giant Teleportation Array shaped like a pentagram.
Its blood-red lines were very distinct, with medium-grade Spiritual Stones placed on each of the five corners.
A ball of light floated above the Teleportation Array, and inside it was a brown sheepskin scroll. It was the last treasure map.
“Qiu Shan was quite considerate after all,” thought Yun Jiuge. There was really a Teleportation Array!
Zi Shang plucked the bundle of light. After checking that the treasure map inside was indeed real, he said to Yun Jiuge, “Come on!”
“Let's go,” repeated Zi Shang. They stepped into the Teleportation Array together.
A white light flashed and the two of them disappeared immediately. The nine-story tower shattered into ashes.
In the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm…
Qiu Sen was standing in a safe area with a grim expression on his face, looking at the black and red sky in the distance.
There were only two hours left before the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm would open, indicating that his operation had failed again.
Ever since he failed to capture a Flying Corpse, he wanted to attract another Flying Corpse again.
But somehow all the Flying Corpses seemed to have disappeared, and even the Golden Corpses were less in numbers.
After careful deduction, he realized that the Fiendish Qi in the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm had begun to decline.
If this went on, within 100 years Flying Corpses would no longer be formed in the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm.
By then, he could forget about finding the last treasure map.
Qiu Sen thought of Nangong Yue who was still lying on the Forbidden Grounds of Qiu Ren Peak, and he felt a sharp pain in his heart.
Although he had used the Blood Lotus Flower to maintain the Cultivation of Nangong Yue, if he didn't find her soul, it would be difficult for her to fully recover in future.
At that moment, Qiu Sen really wanted to remain in the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm and wait for another 100 years.
“Elder, Senior Mo and the others are asking what time they should gather at the meeting place?” Si Youyue asked softly.
Disciples from the Hehuan Sect and Black Fiend Sect had already gone to the meeting place, and now there were only disciples of Yin Corpse Sect remaining.
“Let them pack their things and set off after this joss stick has finished burning,” Qiu Sen answered as he dismissed his thoughts. The resources here were too lacking, and he was worried about leaving Nangong Yue in the Forbidden Grounds.
“Yes,” Si Youyue said in relief. She was really afraid that Qiu Sen would rashly drag the disciples to stay in the Fiendish Corpse Secret Realm.
She was about to turn around to tell Senior Mo this good news when a spot of light suddenly appeared in the black and red sky and flew towards them.