“Senior Brother! You… you killed him!”
Ye Ran was so frightened that her voice changed.
She immediately jumped out of Lu Li’s embrace, reverted to her human form, and cautiously approached the severed head on the ground.
After confirming that Immortal Venerable Gu Lin had no chance of survival, her face gradually turned pale, and a sense of despair welled up in her heart.
It was over. Now she would have to flee across the world with the villain.
When Ye Ran looked at Lu Li again, he had already returned to his original appearance and was carefully wiping the sword in his hand.
Every move he made exuded a sense of ease, as if he had merely killed someone insignificant.
This only deepened Ye Ran’s despair. She nervously scanned every corner of the hall, and only after confirming there was no one else did she quickly approach Lu Li and grab his wrist.
“Senior Brother, while no one has discovered this yet, we need to run fast.”
Immortal Venerable Gu Lin was already well-known, and now with the sect tournament at its critical moment, news of his death would likely spread throughout the cultivation world in less than half a day.
So they had to escape immediately to have any chance of survival.
Ye Ran gripped Lu Li’s wrist, spotted an open window, and prepared to pull him away with her.
But Lu Li stood firm, showing no intention of fleeing.
Ye Ran looked back anxiously, only to see a hint of a smile still lingering at the corner of Lu Li’s mouth. He showed no sign of a murderer trying to flee the scene.
When Ye Ran looked at him, he even turned the tables by grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his embrace with a slight tug.
Then, a cold hand lifted her chin.
“Are you scared, Junior Sister?”
Wasn’t that obvious? Who wouldn’t be scared when their life was on the line?
Ye Ran didn’t want to answer at all. She just wanted to run.
But Lu Li didn’t seem to care about her answer. He lowered his head, leaned close to Ye Ran, closed his eyes, and inhaled the fragrance lingering near her.
“Then would you like to die with me, Junior Sister?”
When he opened his eyes again, there was a hint of madness in them, and his voice carried a trace of excitement.
This version of Lu Li sent a shudder through Ye Ran’s heart.
She felt that this Lu Li fit the image of the villain much better, but strangely, faced with Lu Li without his disguise, she felt an embarrassing flutter of attraction.
Realizing this, Ye Ran suddenly felt a bit guilty and quickly averted her gaze, unable to look at Lu Li anymore.
“Senior Brother, stop joking. We really need to escape now.”
“No need to run.”
Lu Li finally let go of Ye Ran.
When Ye Ran looked up again, Lu Li’s expression had returned to normal, and he had reverted to the gentle and refined senior brother of before.
He slowly raised his hand, and the severed head of Immortal Venerable Gu Lin, lying nearby, flew back into place.
Then, several red threads appeared in Lu Li’s palm. These threads extended toward the broken neck of Immortal Venerable Gu Lin, stitching the torn flesh and skin back together like sutures.
Even the blood that had pooled on the floor was absorbed by the red threads and reintegrated into the flesh of the neck.
Before long, the head and body of Immortal Venerable Gu Lin were sewn back together, and the scar on the neck vanished along with the red threads.
Ye Ran was utterly astonished by this sight.
But as she watched, mesmerized, the corpse on the ground stood up on its own.
Ye Ran stumbled back in fright and quickly returned to Lu Li’s side, clutching his arm tightly.
“Senior Brother, he… he’s alive.”
“It’s just a puppet, Junior Sister. No need to be afraid.”
Lu Li’s voice calmed her down a bit.
When she looked up again, she noticed that although Immortal Venerable Gu Lin appeared alive, his eyes were vacant and his expression stiff—clearly that of a puppet.
Ye Ran’s anxiety eased a little, but then a new wave of worry arose.
“But if that’s the case, won’t others be able to tell that he’s been turned into a puppet?”
If so, she and Lu Li would still be implicated.
“No, they won’t.” Lu Li’s tone was unusually confident.
He raised his hand again and infused a strand of spiritual energy into the puppet. In an instant, the puppet’s eyes moved, its expression lost its stiffness, and it even walked exactly like the original Immortal Venerable Gu Lin.
Ye Ran was stunned by this transformation, but before she could get a good look, the puppet of Gu Lin suddenly turned and walked toward the hall’s entrance.
Lu Li, who had been standing beside her, transformed back into the fat cat and leaped into her arms.
“Follow him. Just adapt as we go.”
Hearing Lu Li’s voice, Ye Ran immediately reacted and followed behind Immortal Venerable Gu Lin as they left the great hall.
As soon as they stepped out, Gu Lin ordered his disciples to prepare for the journey to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect.
From the moment she left the hall, Ye Ran couldn’t help but feel nervous, afraid that someone might notice something wrong with Gu Lin.
But as it turned out, her worries were largely unnecessary.
No one noticed anything amiss—right up until Gu Lin boarded his palanquin to head to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect.
Soon, the group set off again in full force. To deliver Gu Lin more quickly, the flying boat traveled at a much faster speed.
By noon, they had arrived smoothly at the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect.
The first half of the tournament had just ended at that hour. To show proper respect for Immortal Venerable Gu Lin, the sect leader gathered the leaders of the other sects and a host of disciples to welcome him in the square.
After the flying boat and palanquin landed, the disciples on the boat disembarked first and stood behind their sect leader to receive Gu Lin.
But after a long wait, Gu Lin remained still inside the palanquin.
Ye Ran stood among the crowd, staring at the silent palanquin with a puzzled expression.
In the Zeyang Mansion, the puppet could move and speak—so why was it unresponsive now? Had its effect worn off?
Ye Ran quietly reached into her storage pouch and touched Lu Li inside, silently asking him what was going on.
A furry paw soon patted the back of her hand.
Her heart instantly calmed, and her focus returned to the palanquin not far away.
Ling Xu, growing impatient at Gu Lin’s delay, assumed the immortal venerable was trying to intimidate him again. His expression darkened.
But with other sects present, Ling Xu suppressed his anger and approached the palanquin with a forced smile.
“We humbly welcome the Immortal Venerable to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect. Your lodgings are prepared. Please—”
Before he could finish, a severed head tumbled out of the palanquin and rolled to his feet.
The sudden shock froze Ling Xu’s expression. The crowd in the square fell silent. For a moment, you could hear a pin drop.
“Th-this is Immortal Venerable Gu Lin!”
Someone suddenly shouted, shattering the silence.
Ling Xu snapped out of it and immediately stepped forward to pull aside the curtain.
There, seated inside, was a headless corpse.
The next moment, the corpse slumped forward. Caught off guard, Ling Xu found himself embracing the body.
His face darkened as he quickly stepped back, but his pristine white robes were already stained with blood.
Then a disciple, pointing at Gu Lin’s corpse, spoke in terror:
“It… it’s the Great Demon King! He’s back! No one else could kill someone in plain sight like this, especially not in such a brutal way.”
At those words, the crowd fell silent once more.
Though the demon king had vanished centuries ago, his legend had always loomed like a shadow over the entire cultivation world. Any disciple of a certain age knew of his terror.
The atmosphere around them immediately began to descend into panic. Many timid disciples were so frightened that they fled outright.
The scene descended into chaos once again.
“Absurd!”
Ling Xu suddenly turned and scolded the disciple who had spoken earlier.
“Back then, the demon king was gravely injured and couldn’t have lived long. Now, centuries have passed. He must have long since been destroyed, body and soul. There’s no possibility of him appearing again!”
Ling Xu’s reaction was somewhat frantic, as if he desperately wanted to prove that the demon king had been utterly annihilated.
The disciple who had spoken was intimidated by his presence and immediately lowered his head and retreated to the back.
But not everyone was willing to let it slide.
“Sect Leader Ling, why are you so certain the demon king is dead? Did you see it with your own eyes?”
It was Shen Zuihuan who spoke.
He stood with his arms crossed, looking meaningfully at Ling Xu, which made Ling Xu furious and humiliated.
“Many people sacrificed themselves to destroy that demon king back then. Besides, given his nature, if he weren’t dead, would he really have stayed hidden for so long?”
That reasoning seemed to hold some weight, and quite a few people nodded in agreement.
But Shen Zuihuan just curved his lips into a faint smile. “Is that so? And yet I heard that not long ago, Sect Leader Ling obtained a jade pendant in a secret realm—the very pendant that belonged to the demon king.”
The surrounding crowd erupted in uproar.
Ling Xu’s face darkened. He hadn’t expected Shen Zuihuan to know about the pendant, let alone expose it in public.
Ling Xu was burning with rage, but with so many people watching, he couldn’t lash out. He had no choice but to swallow his anger and try to stabilize the situation first.
“Whether that pendant belongs to the demon king remains to be investigated. Sect Leader Shen, don’t speak recklessly.”
“Perfect, then. Since all the sects are gathered here, why don’t we investigate together who killed Immortal Venerable Gu Lin, and who that pendant truly belongs to?”
Shen Zuihuan looked like someone enjoying the chaos.
And though Ling Xu was unwilling, with all the sects present, he had no choice but to agree.
However, he allowed only the other sect leaders to discuss the matter. The disciples were dismissed and warned not to spread the news.
Seeing that no one suspected her or Lu Li, Ye Ran finally relaxed.
Back in her quarters, the first thing she did was take the fat cat out of her storage pouch.
“Thank goodness, Senior Brother. No one suspects us.”
Ye Ran’s voice was full of joy. She didn’t notice that the fat cat in her arms now had clear, lucid eyes.
“Host…”
The cat had just started to call out to Ye Ran when the sound of a door opening cut it off.
Ye Ran and the cat both turned toward the door.
There stood Lu Li, having just pushed the door open and walked in.
Ye Ran looked at Lu Li, then at the fat cat in her arms. Realization dawned on her, and her eyes lit up.
She placed the cat on the soft couch, then immediately went to Lu Li and stared at him closely, studying him.
“So similar. Truly, so similar.”
After a long look, Ye Ran couldn’t help but sigh. Lu Li’s eyes showed a flicker of confusion.
“Similar to what?”
At his words, Ye Ran’s eyes grew even brighter. She stepped forward and reached out to pinch Lu Li’s cheek.
“You even sound just like him. That’s a good act, System.”
Now Lu Li fully understood why Ye Ran had been looking at him like that.
She had mistaken him for that fat cat.
A hint of amusement appeared in Lu Li’s eyes. Meanwhile, the real system was running around in a panic. It wanted to warn Ye Ran, but one look from Lu Li made it too cowardly to say a word.
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