Bu Ting smiled calmly and said, "Holy Maiden, there's no need to be like this! Since I, Bu, have sworn allegiance to the Holy Master, I won't betray him again."

He Lingbo's right hand remained on her waist, motionless. She gestured outward with her left hand. "Mr. Bu, please!"

Bu Ting turned and walked towards Jiang Chen, his soul swiftly leaving his body and merging with him.

When Jiang Chen's eyes regained their light, Bu Ting's voice came from his mouth, "Holy Maiden, can you rest assured now?"

He Lingbo said, "Mr. Bu is indeed loyal to the Holy Master. I will help you preserve the Bu family's title of nobility."

"Thank you, Holy Maiden!" After Bu Ting thanked her again, more than a dozen sprouts appeared on the bare tree roots.

As soon as those blood-colored branches appeared, they began to entwine around Jiang Chen's body. Before long, only a human-shaped outline of Jiang Chen remained.

He Lingbo looked at me and said, "You're Li Po, the one who turned the Reincarnation Department upside down, aren't you?"

"Looks like you're not all that great either?"

"Since entering the Yin-Yang Inn, you haven't shown much presence. You've just been watching others fight, and getting captured time and time again."

"I really don't know why those two girls, Zhu Zining and Zhu Ziyan, lost to you?"

"They're getting worse and worse."

He Lingbo drew the soft sword from her waist and pointed the blade at the tip of my nose. "I want your head."

"I'm going to take your head back and teach that girl Zhu Zining a good lesson."

"Anyone can ride on the Reincarnation Department's head. It's simply outrageous!"

I glanced at He Lingbo's long sword indifferently and said, "Holy Maiden He, you should think about how you're going to explain your treason to your Holy Master, shouldn't you?"

He Lingbo was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "Fabricating something out of nothing – is that your only skill?"

"I want to see how you use that silver tongue of yours to persuade me not to kill you."

I said coldly, "I never win with words."

"I say you're colluding with the enemy, and I have evidence."

"You don't really think that Jiang Chen, Ying Gou, and Bu Ting know how to catalyze the Jianmu tree, do you?"

"You're the one who's truly catalyzing the Jianmu, not them."

"Because the three of them don't recognize the cipher text at all, and they don't know how to use it to catalyze the Jianmu. But you do. So, they have to use you to complete the last step of the plan."

He Lingbo looked in horror at the Jianmu, which was still growing wildly, and shouted sharply, "You're talking nonsense!"

I laughed. "Why are all the Holy Maidens of the Reincarnation Department the same?"

"Is it so difficult to admit defeat?"

"Why do you always cry when you see the coffin?"

"Why don't you think about why the Nine Coffin Taoist and the Emperor didn't try to catalyze the Jianmu when they were alive? Why did they have to wait until the Art Dao was declining before coming to the Yin-Yang Inn?"

He Lingbo sneered, "Is that your reason?"

"I can answer your question. Because, at that time, the Nine Coffin Taoist hadn't reached an agreement with the Underworld to create the Yang Jian Jie Ming Ren. Even if they had catalyzed the Jianmu then, no one in the Art Dao would have been able to break into the Heavenly Prison."

"Keep making things up!"

My reasoning just now was indeed a gamble, but I was sure that my judgment was correct.

I looked at He Lingbo and said, "How about we make a bet?"

"Destroy the Heavenly Crystal that carries the Emperor's will now, and see if Bu Ting will jump out to stop you?"

"Anyway, you don't have much use for the Emperor's will. Why not use it for an experiment?"

"If you succeed, you still have a chance to remedy the situation."

"If you fail, you won't lose anything?"

He Lingbo pointed the tip of her sword at me, lowering it slightly. She was clearly hesitating whether to believe my words.

At this point in the game, everyone dared to make a move only after careful consideration.

He Lingbo had been testing Bu Ting, also out of caution.

Seeing He Lingbo's silence, I knew that she had begun to doubt her own judgment.

I immediately pressed my advantage and said, "He Lingbo! The one who helped you set up the Yin-Yang Inn is probably the Nine-tailed Fox, Yu Qingzhu, right?"

"I can tell you plainly: Yu Qingzhu is one of ours!"

A cold light flashed in He Lingbo's eyes, and she immediately took out a message talisman. "Zining, go find Yu Qingzhu for me!"

Soon, Zhu Zining's terrified voice came from the other end of the talisman, "Yu... Yu Qingzhu is gone."

"Damn it! Go find him for me immediately! Alive or dead!" He Lingbo's expression changed drastically as she took out the Heavenly Crystal that carried the Emperor's will.

Before He Lingbo could decide how to destroy the Heavenly Crystal, Zhu Zining's voice came again, "Senior, Yu Qingzhu is no longer in the Yin-Yang Inn. Someone saw him leave the inn. We're still investigating where he went."

"No need to look! Yu Qingzhu has gone to the Embroidered Uniform Guard." He Lingbo roared, "Immediately activate the backup plan! We must not let the Embroidered Uniform Guard break in! Hurry! If necessary, even if the Reincarnation Department perishes together with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, we cannot let them occupy the Immortal Tomb!"

He Lingbo threw the message talisman and the Heavenly Crystal on the ground at the same time, and slashed at the crystal with her sword.