NOVPUBAt the foot of the eerie and sinister Black Stone Mountain under the moonlight, there was a brightly lit bustling mortal town.
The town walls were low and made of rammed earth, which was hardly impressive in terms of defense.
In the lawless lands beyond the Great Wall, such walls were considered formidable, enough to fend off the wild bandits and highwaymen.
Behind the low walls, almost every household in the town had lights on.
As Li Muyang approached the walls, he could even hear the noise coming from inside the town.
It seemed as if the town was celebrating a festival.
Dragon Maiden was astonished, and Li Muyang was also surprised.
Beneath the watchful eyes of those eerie and terrifying evil women, there was such a thriving human town.
He silently climbed over the town wall and stepped inside.
Indeed, the town was in the midst of a celebration.
Every household was decorated with lanterns and streamers, and people with brightly painted faces and dressed in red ceremonial robes were shouting strange phrases, beating drums and sticks as they paraded through the streets.
Onlookers on both sides of the road cheered and shouted along.
Li Muyang stood among the crowd for a while, his face showing astonishment.
Because the people in red ceremonial robes, painted with strange colors, were shouting and carrying a lifelike statue of a deity through the town.
Everyone was shouting the deity’s revered name, and under the bright lights, the lifelike statue’s profile was clearly visible—it was a stunningly beautiful and aloof fairy.
Dragon Maiden’s astonished voice rang in his ear.
“Li Muyang! Isn’t that Chu Qingxue?!”
Dragon Maiden was incredibly shocked.
Li Muyang was also dumbfounded when he saw the statue.
The entire town was chanting the fairy’s name.
“Fairy Liuli, may you be blessed with peace and prosperity!”
“Fairy Liuli, may you enjoy everlasting fortune!”
The entire town was celebrating and praying to the stunningly beautiful and aloof fairy.
Dragon Maiden was scared by the fervor of the crowd.
“Your Fairy Chu couldn’t be the mastermind behind this…”
Li Muyang squinted at the town’s celebration and shook his head:
“Impossible! Qingxue couldn’t possibly be an evil creature!”
The scene before him was clearly of the same nature as the evil women from the Mother Buddha Temple who had used the name Fairy Liuli to carry out their actions inside the passes.
It was just another case of using Chu Qingxue’s name. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
But Li Muyang didn’t understand why the Mother Buddha Temple would use Fairy Liuli’s name for their deeds.
He followed the crowd for a long time until the parade ended and the lifelike statue was respectfully brought into the Liuli Temple in the town and returned to its altar.
Li Muyang, who had witnessed the entire celebration, was somewhat disappointed.
He had followed the whole event, hoping to find a few evil women and possibly extract some information from them.
However, the town was full of mortals, and even the Liuli Temple that enshrined the Fairy Liuli statue was staffed by mortals, with no evil women in sight.
The unique aura of the evil women from the Mother Buddha Temple was too easy to recognize.
If Li Muyang had seen them, he would not have failed to recognize them.
Having wasted more than an hour, Li Muyang could only look up at the tall stone mountain ahead.
The pitch-black Black Stone Mountain stood silently like a ghostly and sinister deity beside the shadow of the town.
On this stone mountain, devoid of soil and weeds, one could clearly see a temple-like structure at the top.
Li Muyang sighed and said, “I should have gone straight up the mountain.”
He left the bustling town, still in the midst of celebration, with light steps and headed towards Black Stone Mountain.
However, not long after entering Black Stone Mountain, Li Muyang encountered the evil women he couldn’t find in the town.
–Two women in black clothes, carrying black swords, stood waiting quietly on the mountain path.
“Are you the Dragon Goddess of Yushui River? The Mother Buddha is waiting for you on the mountain.”
The two evil women bowed respectfully to Li Muyang.
Unlike the frenzied evil women he had seen before, they did not shout “Ascender” excitedly upon seeing Li Muyang.
Their respectful demeanor was almost indistinguishable from ordinary people.
If it weren’t for the unmistakably chilling aura they emitted, it would be almost impossible to associate them with evil women.
Li Muyang fell silent for a moment, then nodded: “Lead the way.”
Having come to their doorstep, Li Muyang had no intention of hiding his presence.
If he reaches the foot of the mountain and still hasn’t discovered the Mother Buddha Temple, then this group of wicked women might as well not bother trying to establish a foothold beyond the Great Wall.
Li Muyang followed the two wicked women as they climbed.
The path up Black Stone Mountain was a series of steps carved into the rock, many of which were virtually vertical.
Such a perilous stone stairway was something only cultivators would dare to ascend.
Li Muyang followed closely behind the two women, walking as if on flat ground on the nearly vertical stone path.
Soon, he encountered more wicked women.
Scattered across the almost soil-less, smooth stone mountain were figures of women, each dressed differently but invariably carrying a black sword on their back.
As Li Muyang followed the two women up the stone path, all the wicked women they passed looked at him with curiosity and astonishment.
Yet these women, just like ordinary women, showed no signs of madness in their demeanor or conduct.
Li Muyang silently observed the expressions and attire of these wicked women, feeling somewhat disappointed in his heart.
So far, he had seen dozens of them.
But not a single one wore a sachet.
Don’t any of the wicked women on this mountain carry the White Bone Tai Sui…
Following the steps of the two women, Li Muyang finally arrived at the summit of Black Stone Mountain.
There was a vast platform on the mountain, with a temple built on the summit that emitted a strong, sinister aura under the moonlight.
The Dragon Maiden couldn’t bear it just by seeing this temple and feeling the aura within.
“Stop, stop, stop! Don’t go in! Don’t go in!”
The aura emanating from these evil women made both Li Muyang and the Moon-Biting Dragon instinctively loathe it.
Now, seeing such a strong sinister aura in the temple, the Dragon Maiden became anxious.
“Going in there is no different from stepping into a cesspit!”
However, Li Muyang ignored the Dragon Maiden’s shouts.
Enduring the discomfort in his body, he furrowed his brows and stepped into the Mother Buddha Temple.
Inside the gloomy and dark Mother Buddha Temple, only one hall was lit.
And the destination Li Muyang was brought to was this hall, illuminated by a solitary, dim lamp.
In the empty hall, a grand statue ten zhang tall was enshrined on the altar.
It was the cold and stunning Fairy Liuli, carrying an immortal sword, the same deity worshipped by the common folk below the mountain.
And in front of this giant statue, in the desolate hall, sat a figure quietly.
Beside her, a lone lamp burned.
The dim light cast upon the woman made her face appear unsettled.
However, the moment the Dragon Maiden saw the woman’s face, she was shocked.
“Chu Qingxue?”
She called out in horror: “Li Muyang! Your old flame is indeed the mastermind behind the scenes!”
–The woman seated in the hall bore an exact resemblance to Chu Qingxue!
Li Muyang’s expression also froze for a moment, revealing a look of astonishment.
Under the solitary lamp, the woman with the same face as Fairy Liuli Chu Qingxue clasped her hands together and smiled faintly.
“We finally meet.”
“Lord Wuming…”
“I have been waiting for this day for a long time.”
