In soul-form, Zuo Qiu clutched the storage bangle to his chest. He could feel his soul growing sluggish, steadily weakening. He shot Yunxi a venomous glare. "How did you discover me? Was it you who poisoned me?"
Yunxi smiled. "Zuo Qiu, do you think this Zūnzhě would fail to recognize someone who wants her dead?"
She tossed the question back at the Zuo Qiu wrapped in the shell of "Hao Miaoling."
In truth, Yunxi had not recognized at first that Hao Miaoling's core was Zuo Qiu. From their first meeting she had felt an instinctive dislike, but because the girl was Han Lian's junior sister, she did nothing.
When Hao Miaoling came to the guest peak a second time, trying to force a deal for the breakthrough potion through Han Lian, Yunxi's distaste peaked. Now that she was a Divine Transformation cultivator, she trusted her intuition. When she stepped in to help Han Lian out of the bind, she flicked her sleeve and planted a slow-acting poison on Hao Miaoling to remove future trouble.
Yun Chen Fózǐ noticed and disapproved, feeling it excessive to spar with a Foundation Establishment junior. After Yunxi persuaded him, he let it go. In the end, Yunxi and Han Lian were the companions he trusted.
After Han Lian took Hao Miaoling away, Yunxi, on a sudden impulse, contacted Xiao He. She wanted to know whether, after the evil cultivators' plan to free the sealed evil souls during the Five Region Grand Tournament had failed, they had prepared a fallback. She was a thorn in their side and had no wish to stumble in a gutter.
Xiao He gave her a pleasant surprise. Not only did he point out that Hao Miaoling was tied to the evil cultivators, he also said that with merely mid Foundation Establishment cultivation she had dared to order him, a mid Golden Core cultivator, around. That was abnormal in the cultivation world, which revered strength.
Although Hao Miaoling had threatened Xiao He by triggering a restriction in his sea of consciousness, the evil cultivators were not fools. They would not set a leader over fallen pawns who could not suppress them. That planted a doubt in Yunxi's mind. Was Hao Miaoling hiding her true cultivation?
Then came the black token, which confirmed that Hao Miaoling's status was not low. Add to that her repeated attempts to approach Yunxi and constant circling around the breakthrough potion, and Yunxi became certain that the girl's target was the formula for that potion.
Yunxi knew her own work. The so-called breakthrough potion was a genetic enhancement agent. It pushed a body's original potential further, expanding a cultivator's developed capacity from seventy percent to ninety or even one hundred. Dao cultivators, demon cultivators, Buddhist cultivators could all use it. So could evil cultivators. Of course they were eyeing it.
Of the thirty-five who escaped the sealed land, all except those who advanced naturally had taken the genetic enhancement. That was the proof.
Now not only were evil cultivators coming for her, Dao cultivators were stirring as well. Jihan Gate had chosen the bold moment to reach out. Dao cultivators, however, cared about propriety and were unwilling to offend a Divine Transformation cultivator. Hence they asked Han Xiao Zūnzhě to act.
Hao Miaoling took advantage of this, openly "bridging" the two sides to achieve her goal. So Yunxi tossed out bait. She laced the jade slip she gave Han Lian with a soul-eroding poison called "Rong." She could not refine this poison herself, but had found it in Yixian Gate's stores.
The spark for seeking such a poison had been the soul-escapes of Zuo Qiu and Li Chang. Yunxi had felt stifled. With the enemy already in hand, they still fled. She thought of marking a soul so that no matter where it ran, or whom it possessed, it could be found.
She combed through Yixian Gate's texts and found no medicine to mark a soul. A soul-bond would work if two became Dao companions and formed a "heart-link," but binding one's soul just to track a fallen evil cultivator was absurd. So she turned to poison. Since they were already rotten, she would use something fierce. Even if such souls ran, they would not meet a good end and would not harm others again.
She had already suspected Hao Miaoling was hiding her cultivation. So she put "Rong" into the jade slip. The moment a divine sense probed it, the poison would cling. Hao Miaoling already had another toxin in her body. The two together would erupt faster.
Yunxi wanted to see whether the girl could resist peeking at the formula. If she made no move, so be it. The slow poison in her body would erupt someday and send her on her way. If she dared touch the jade slip with her divine sense, she would be a fish that had bitten the hook. Yunxi had many ways to take the black token.
Zuo Qiu reacted fast. Once he believed Ran Xi had seen through him, he abandoned the new flesh and tried to flee. If he escaped, he could find another body. There would be chances for revenge.
Too bad for him. Once Yunxi discovered Zuo Qiu was living inside Hao Miaoling, she would never let him go. New hatred and old could be settled together.
Back to the present. Watching the male soul steadily darken, Han Xiao, Han Ying, and Han Lian all felt their hearts sink. Han Lian spoke at once. "Ran Xi, you know this man?"
"Yes. His name is Zuo Qiu. He set up my master Yu Ling Zūnzhě in the past. When that failed, he tried to kill this Zūnzhě. After Haoran Sect's Law Enforcement Hall imprisoned him, evil cultivators helped his soul escape. He betrayed Haoran Sect and joined the evil cultivators."
Yunxi finished and turned her gaze on the trapped Zuo Qiu, voice mocking. "Zuo Qiu, you vanished for so long only to sneak into the Northern Region and seize a single-ice-spirit-root disciple. You are that desperate to surpass my master? Do you think having an ice spirit root lets you outdo my master?
Stop dreaming. Forget my master. You cannot even surpass this Zūnzhě. Face reality and stop deluding yourself."
Her words hit home. Zuo Qiu roared, "Shut up. Shut up. How is he better than me? Leng Ruohan only has a good root. I lack nothing, and I reached Divine Transformation first…"
Yunxi cut him off, cold. "Then why did you end up discarding your flesh and running with evil cultivators?"
Zuo Qiu fell silent at once, like a chicken strangled at the throat.
Yunxi flicked Han Lian a look. Han Lian understood and opened a gap in the restriction around Zuo Qiu's soul. Her divine sense plunged in and began to search his memories.
"No—"
Zuo Qiu managed a single word before all resistance vanished.
Yunxi withdrew her divine sense, then spoke to the three. "The evil cultivators had Zuo Qiu replace Hao Miaoling to infiltrate Jihan Gate. Their target this time is the Misty Snow Domain."