The river water drilled into his nostrils, obscuring Nangong Mo's vision.
He channeled his spiritual energy, and behind him, as if ten thousand rivers were churning, he was lifted high.
Standing on the surface of the water, intending to deal with the monster entangled with his wife, he looked up, only to find no one there!
Where had Gu Qianying gone on the river?
Simultaneously, the colossal monster and Tianji Wu Chang had also vanished.
"Qianying!"
Nangong Mo flicked his sleeve in fury, and the river water that was about to flood the cave entrance surged and flowed out.
Lu Zhu, carried by the current flowing out of the cave, tumbled and rolled, landing five li away.
Her clothes were soaked, and her head struck a large rock outside the cave. She fainted.
When the flood dragon A Mu arrived, he saw Lu Zhu, injured and unconscious, lying in the grass.
He also saw Nangong Mo, who seemed to have gone mad, searching for someone inside and outside the cave.
He had already scoured a hundred li around the cave entrance.
Unable to find her outside, Nangong Mo returned to the cave.
At this moment, the river water was gone from the cave, and many rocks had fallen from the cave walls.
The cave had been washed clean by the water, and bloodstains were visible in several places.
Nangong Mo stood in a corner of the cave wall, tapping from one spot to another.
His palm bones were bloody and mangled, his sleeves stained red with blood.
He was oblivious to the pain, using his hearing to discern the mechanisms and anomalies within the cave.
Just moments ago, in the blink of an eye, his wife, the monster, and Tianji Wu Chang had disappeared into thin air.
The monster was already injured; it wouldn't have been able to escape far. Moreover, the monster bled black blood, and no trace of it was found outside the cave.
It couldn't have escaped far, yet it could vanish instantly, and there was no aura of immortal magic around.
Even with the highest level of demonic power, one couldn't make two people disappear in the blink of an eye.
Therefore, the only possibility he could think of was that there was another place within this cave.
The news that Gu Qianying had been taken away by Tianji Wu Chang and a monster and was missing was quickly relayed down the mountain by the flood dragon A Mu to Du Chun, Nangong Li, and others.
Du Chun, Nangong Li, and the others rushed over and searched for Gu Qianying with Nangong Mo.
The search lasted for several hours.
As night fell, Nangong Mo and the others had searched almost the entire mountain, tapping every inch of the cave, yet they found no anomalies or mechanisms.
Just as they were at their wits' end, a woman appeared.
Upon seeing who it was, Nangong Mo, without a moment's hesitation, grabbed the woman by the neck.
His voice was as cold as ice: "Speak! Where did that monster take my wife?"
Without further ado, and not listening to any explanations, Nangong Mo looked at Qiu Ling'er coldly, as if she were a corpse.
Qiu Ling'er, with her neck in his grasp, was lifted high.
Breathing became difficult, and a suffocating sensation spread.
Beside Nangong Li, Luo Laya looked down, hiding a fleeting glint of light in her eyes.
Qiu Ling'er's maid knelt at Nangong Mo's feet, pleading, "Young Master, please spare my lady. You've misunderstood my lady. My lady just escaped. Young Master, we are not bad people."
Nangong Mo was unmoved by the maid's pleas.
"Speak! If you don't, you die!"
Nangong Mo's eyes were like blades.
The master and servant who lured them here must know the true hiding place of the monster and Tianji Wu Chang.
Previously, to find Tianji Wu Chang, he had knowingly walked into danger.
And now, what did he have to fear?
A human life?
Heh!
If his wife were harmed by someone else, let alone a human life, he would defy heaven itself.
Although he was the Lotus Emperor of the Immortal Realm, guided by benevolence and justice, Gu Qianying was his only bottom line.
If anyone dared to harm the one he loved most, he would willingly become a demon and grind them to dust.
"Young Master... you've misunderstood me..."
Qiu Ling'er said intermittently.
Nangong Mo would never believe the same plea for pity twice!
His fingers tightened bit by bit...
"No... don't... kill me... I'll take you to find... Sister Gu... Young Master Mo... please believe... Ling'er... one more time..."
Nangong Mo threw Qiu Ling'er forcefully to the ground and looked at her coldly: "Lead the way!"
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Gaining relief in her breathing, Qiu Ling'er clutched her chest and coughed several times. Her maid helped her up from the ground, and they exchanged a quick glance at someone.
At this moment, Nangong Mo and the others were all concerned about Gu Qianying's whereabouts, and no one noticed the abnormality between Qiu Ling'er and her maid.
"They are still in the cave. There's a mechanism here, and I escaped from that place."
Qiu Ling'er led everyone back to the cave.
Nangong Mo and the others followed her.
Nangong Mo and the others did not fully believe Qiu Ling'er's words.
However, at this moment, without finding Gu Qianying, they had no other recourse but to try and believe Qiu Ling'er's words.
In a corner of the cave wall, an inconspicuous stone, covered in a bit of moss, was touched by Qiu Ling'er as she squatted down, and she gently turned it.
"Creak..."
In an instant, the wall behind them trembled.
Nangong Mo and the others looked back...
At the same time.
In a lavish underground palace.
In the hall, between each wall, hung a painting of a plague ghost, five paintings in total.
Several oil lamps burning with a green light, like ghost fire, were also hung on the walls.
In the center of the hall, Gu Qianying was tied to a large stone pillar.
Her hands and feet were shackled with iron chains, her red hair unbound, cascading loosely behind her.
She leaned against the stone pillar, her bulging belly more prominent.
Before her stood a woman in a luxurious dress.
This woman wore a veil, her face obscured, but the pair of peculiar wings on her back allowed Gu Qianying to quickly recognize her as the monster trapped in the iron cage.
The woman in white held a sharp dagger, its blade emitting a faint white light.
Tianji Wu Chang stood behind the woman in white with a solemn expression.
His vacant eyes held a different look.
The puppet spell cast on him by another person had all dissipated.
He had regained his senses.
"Yao'er, Divine Doctor Gu saved Zhi Ruo. Why don't we let her go?"
Wu Yao'er, the Saintess who had disappeared many years ago.
After regaining his sanity, Tianji Wu Chang looked at Gu Qianying, tied to the stone pillar, and felt a pang of pity for her.
"Slap!"
Wu Yao'er turned and slapped Tianji Wu Chang across the face.
A malicious smile played on her lips: "Let her go? Are you confused?"
Stung by Wu Yao'er's slap, Tianji Wu Chang's heart ached, but he did not retaliate.
"Yao'er, you promised that if I could help you regain your human form, you would agree to let go of past grudges, abandon your obsessions, and grow old with me. Yao'er, now that you've regained your human form, let's leave this place, shall we?"
Tianji Wu Chang ignored the slap from Wu Yao'er. He stepped forward, grabbed Wu Yao'er's wrist, and tried to snatch the dagger from her hand and throw it away.
But Wu Yao'er fiercely pushed him away and took out the Demon Token hidden on her person, throwing it to Tianji Wu Chang, and said coldly.
"I'm returning the Demon Token to you. If you want to leave, go. Scram!"
Since she had used the Demon Token to restore her human form, the token was naturally useless to her now.
By returning it to Tianji, they would be quits.
With that, Wu Yao'er turned away, ignoring Tianji Wu Chang. She played with the dagger in her hand, walked up to Gu Qianying, and pressed the tip of the dagger against Gu Qianying's smooth face, tracing from her forehead downwards.
"Look how beautiful this face is. The most beautiful people should die. And also..."
The sharp dagger tip traced down Gu Qianying's neck, from top to bottom, finally resting on her bulging belly.
At this moment, Wu Yao'er's smile became more sinister: "And this little thing, it's so disobedient. How could it end up in your belly? It should have been mine."
Saying that, her smile widened: "But it's okay, I'll take this little thing out now and put it in my belly, so it can live inside me."
Wu Yao'er raised her slender fingers and forcefully pinched Gu Qianying's chin: "And this beautiful face of yours will be mine too."
"Heh! Dreaming in broad daylight!"
Gu Qianying sneered.
She showed no fear on her face at the other woman's frantic actions.
"Slap!"
The woman raised her hand and slapped Gu Qianying.
Blood spread at the corner of Gu Qianying's mouth, like a vibrant flower.
"You slut, what did you say?"
Wu Yao'er used her other hand to directly grab Gu Qianying's neck.
Gu Qianying looked at her coldly, her gaze drifting past Wu Yao'er's ear towards Tianji Wu Chang.
"Tianji Wu Chang, I promised Zhi Ruo that I would spare you and help you. Zhi Ruo once told me that her father was not inherently bad, just sometimes too stubborn. I didn't know your purpose in using me to snatch the Demon Token for you before, but now I understand. Everything you've done is for this crazy woman. But... have you ever thought that what you're doing is harming her, not helping her."
Looking at the actions of the crazy woman before her, she felt that talking more was useless.
At this moment, she had no true qi left in her body, like a cripple.
Unable to resist, and to protect the child in her womb, she thought of targeting Tianji Wu Chang.
Dying at the hands of a madwoman was too worthless.
"Yao'er, let's leave."
Tianji Wu Chang was moved.
He stepped forward again, trying to persuade Wu Yao'er.
But Wu Yao'er once again shook off his hand, and also slashed his face with the dagger, while her other hand, which was around Gu Qianying's neck, tightened its grip...
A cool breeze blew in from somewhere.
It lifted the veil she wore.
It was a face covered in knife marks, the marks shallow across her entire face.
Gu Qianying saw Wu Yao'er's appearance clearly.
At this moment, her pupils contracted, her eyes filled with shock.
"Mother...?"