Traitor · Sima Mountain Gate

  Yue Qing's cold voice said: "Zhu Hong, I know you're in there, hiding for a while, can you hide for a lifetime? If you don't come out, I'll have to use the Five Fires Cold Flame Soul Searching Great Technique!"

  He was filled with anger, his voice full of energy, echoing through the mountain cave, stirring up a series of dull reverberations.

  After waiting for a while, still without any response, Yue Qing lost his patience. Although he suspected that Zhu Hong might not be in the cave, it was also possible that he had deliberately used some kind of magic to conceal his tracks and set up an ambush to launch a sneak attack on him.

  He made a seal with his right hand, with his thumb, index finger and ring finger interlocking, the other two fingers raised, forming a triangular shape. With a mouthful of true energy, he blew out a small flame from the center of the flower, which was dark and dull, without any light. He casually flicked it to the ground, where it turned into waves of flames that rapidly expanded and spread in all directions. At the same time, his divine sense also dispersed with the flames, and everything the flames passed through - every blade of grass, every tree, every rock and every speck of dust - appeared clearly in his mind.

  "It turned out he really wasn't in the cave." Yue Qing confirmed that there was no one inside and withdrew her magic, stepping forward to enter.

  Just now, I used a spell to explore it, and the situation inside the cave has been fully understood. Zhu Hong's cave mansion is extremely large, and as soon as you enter the door, it is an empty cave with a height of more than three people. The four walls have round moon gates that lead to different places such as the bedroom, quiet room, alchemy room, and furnace room. The workmanship is very rough, and there are even sword marks left by flying swords on the top and walls, it's clear that Zhu Hong didn't plan to live here for a lifetime, he should be planning to refine a few magic treasures according to the Taoist book and then go out and wander freely.

  Yue Qing first arrived at the Dan room, where a standing oval-shaped space was three feet high, with an opening on top for ventilation. In the center of the room stood a pure copper-made eight-trigrammed Dan furnace. When Yue Qing touched it, there was still residual warmth on the wall of the furnace. Yue Qing turned the mechanism, and the outer wall of the Dan furnace opened like flower petals, revealing five lobes, each containing a copper-made gourd. With his sect's heart method, Yue Qing released the true energy of the Five Elements, causing the gourds to burst open one after another, revealing two or three golden elixirs inside. A faint mist rose, filling the room with fragrance in an instant.

  Yue Qing held the elixir in his palm and examined it carefully. Suddenly, he was both shocked and delighted to discover that this elixir was actually the Hunyuan Golden Elixir!

  As the prestigious sect that has dominated the Central Plains for nearly three hundred years, the Wutai Sect is renowned for its swordsmanship, but its alchemy is also extremely famous. Among them, the Taiyi Dan, Hunyuan Dan, and Xuanhuang Dan are the most well-known. Many disciples have only seen the ancestor of Taiyi Hunyuan refine a furnace of Xuanhuang Dan over a hundred years ago, using five kinds of dragon blood as the main medicine, combined with 365 kinds of spiritual medicines to create an elixir that can revive the dead and turn white bones into flesh. Now that the ancestor of Taiyi Hunyuan has passed away, the heavenly book is unknown, and these three alchemy formulas have been lost.

  As for the Hunyuan Dan, everyone has only heard of it. It's said to be able to consolidate and nourish one's foundation, wash and refine the marrow, and increase one's Daoist powers. It's said that nowadays, there are only a few left in the world, all in the possession of our sect's Shifu Mohe Zun, Shi Kongzhan. Who would have thought that Zhu Hong had secretly refined some here! Yue Qing took a white jade gourd from the nearby table, which Zhu Hong had prepared beforehand, and put the dan medicine inside.

  He was about to go to other places in the cave mansion when he suddenly felt a sense of alarm and hastily set up his earth escape technique to fly out.

  It was just at sunset outside, but before I knew it, dark clouds had covered the sky and a light rain began to fall.

  Yu Qing drove the carriage up to the north peak, where a young woman stood at the top. She looked like she was only around twenty years old, with beautiful eyebrows and lips, almond-shaped eyes, and an exceptionally stunning appearance. She wore a thin black dress that had been dampened by the rain, which accentuated her slender figure and elegant features.

  The woman held a small flag in her hand, gently shaking it. The black smoke on the flag rolled and formed a huge stage. On the stage, there were small people made of black smoke, some riding war horses or dancing with swords, killing each other. It was quite a sight to behold. With an extremely seductive tone, she said to Sutu Ping: "Good boy, come out quickly! This treasure is for you to play with. How about it? Come out!"

  Situ Ping sat in a circle surrounded by talismans, gazing at the small figure formed by the black smoke, his eyes shining brightly, he really liked it. However, when Yue Qing was about to leave, he told him not to leave the circle, and since he was only two or three years old and still quite naive, having experienced family destruction and being both afraid of and dependent on Yue Qing, he remembered his command in his heart, so although he was tempted by the woman, he refused to leave the circle.

  The woman, unable to coax him, changed her tactics and intimidated him. She shook the small flag, and those tiny people formed by black smoke suddenly grew bigger, swelling to over two feet tall. Each one looked ferocious and sinister, surrounded by strands of thick black fog, which encircled Sima Ping. They made tearing, biting, and swallowing motions: "If you don't listen, I'll let these ghosts eat you! First, they'll gouge out your eyes, then gnaw off your nose!"

  Situ Ping was so frightened that he trembled with fear, his eyes brimming with tears, and his small hands tightly grasping two protruding rocks, but he didn't say a word.

  The woman, seeing that all her efforts were in vain, stamped her foot in anger: "I don't know where you came from, you wretched child! Zhu Hong threw you here and didn't care whether you lived or died. Tomorrow, when I cast my spell, your soul will be gone!" Realizing that the child probably wouldn't understand these words, she felt annoyed and furrowed her eyebrows: "No matter what, I'll capture you first!"

  She had tried before, and no magic could cross the circle of talismans. This time, evil rose to her head, and she released a flying sword with an orange-yellow glow, holding it in her hand, and threatening Shi Tu Ping several times. Seeing that there was still no effect, she finally ruthlessly released the flying sword.

  Yue Qing saw that she was going to use the sword light to wrap Si Tu Ping out of the circle. He scattered the evasive light, rode the air and flew up, sticking to the surface of the mountain stone, silently and quietly coming straight to the woman's back, and gently patted her shoulder with his hand.

  "What a man!" The woman shrieked and reflexively swung her sword back in a slashing motion, but it cut through empty air.

  Yue Qing had set up a strange door escape technique in advance, which had the effect of shielding her body and making her invisible. The woman looked around but couldn't see anything, suspecting that it was just her own illusion. Secretly preparing her magic treasure, she grasped a Mother-Child Pursuing Soul Nail in her hand, then once again released the flying sword to wrap up Si Tu Ping. Waiting for the opponent to reappear, she would release the Pursuing Soul Nail to strike them. Suddenly, the pulse on her wrist was numb, and the thing in her palm had already been snatched away by someone.

  "Oh my!" The woman felt a chill run down her spine, and her hair stood on end. She had never met such a formidable person in her life. If the other party hadn't used their magical treasure to spare her life, she wouldn't have even had the chance to put up a fight.

  She jumped onto the stone, drew her sword to defend herself, and turned back to see that both Situ Ping and the talisman array had vanished, only to find that Yue Qing had opened a mysterious door and escaped with Situ Ping.

  "What kind of person are you! Why are you sneaking around, not daring to show yourself?" The woman shouted three times, but no one replied. She lowered her head and looked at the surrounding mountain peaks and rocks, which were quiet and still without any movement. Everything she had just experienced seemed like a dream.

  "Ah, I know! You're Brother Hong!" She realized that the array of symbols on the ground earlier was a genuine Five Tai Sect technique. The other party's two moves were mostly playful and didn't seem to have any malicious intent. Thinking that it was rare for outsiders to come to these four mountain gates, and this being Zhu Hong's territory, no one else would dare to be reckless here, so she decided it must be the master of this place, Zhu Hong, playing a joke on her. "Brother Hong, stop teasing little sister! Quickly show yourself and let's meet!"

  Yu Qing naturally wouldn't come out to see her.

  The girl called out twice, but still didn't see anyone appear, and then said softly: "Brother Hong, I know you're standing right in front of me. Maybe if I reach out my hand, I'll touch your face." As she spoke, she really did stretch out her hand, but only grasped a handful of air. "Brother Hong, little sister knows she was wrong. Last time it was my fault. Since that book is the untransmitted secret of your Five Tai school, I shouldn't have gotten angry with you over it. These past few days, little sister has thought things through. I only wish to be with Brother Hong forever, going out and coming in together - everything else is unimportant. Because last time my words hurt you, I especially returned to the mountain to ask Master for a thousand-year-old lingzhi mushroom to apologize to you."

  Yu Qing still had no movement.

  The woman thought he didn't believe her, so she took out a brocade box from her bag and opened it. Inside, a red cloth-wrapped lingzhi mushroom was revealed. Yue Qing directly reached out and took it, and the woman joyfully said: "Hong Ge, you've forgiven me!"

  The smile had not yet faded, when suddenly a sword light fell from the sky, and a voice shouted: "Lan Mei be careful, this is my Wutai Sect's Qimen Dunjia technique." As soon as the voice fell, a young Taoist appeared beside the woman, operating three sword lights to surround them, and said loudly, "Which brother of the Wutai Sect has come? Why bother being mysterious here!"