Chapter Forty-Eight: Another Rescue

“Big sister.” The little girl laughed, a glimmer in her dark eyes, her mouth stretching all the way to her ears, revealing several sharp fangs. “Where are you going? Let me take you!”
Ning Qingqing swallowed nervously, her voice unsteady. “No… there’s no need…”
The girl’s expression remained unchanged, but her tone was aggrieved, as if Ning Qingqing had wronged her. “Big sister… I just want to play with you. Will you?”
“I still have things to do, so… I’ll be going now.” With that, Ning Qingqing shook her off and fled.
But the little girl immediately caught up, once more clinging to her shoulders, her hands gripping Ning Qingqing’s arms tightly. “Big sister, how can you leave me behind?”
This time Ning Qingqing didn’t dare utter a word; she tried to shake her off again, but the child clung so hard that, despite several attempts, she couldn’t get free.
“If you keep doing this, I’ll get angry.” The girl’s smile vanished. She leaned in close to Ning Qingqing’s ear, her breath icy and chilling Ning Qingqing to the bone.
Then her long nails sank into Ning Qingqing’s flesh, and she shrieked with malice, “I’m going to eat you!”
Pain shot through Ning Qingqing’s shoulder, and in her panic she thought the girl really was biting her. Her vision darkened.
“Ah—”
Through the haze, she saw a figure leap down from a broken wall.
The newcomer was dressed in white, his back to the blood-red sky, walking through the billowing yellow sands without a speck of dust touching him.
Ning Qingqing’s heart soared. Her vision cleared, and she called out joyfully to the white-clad figure, “Young Emperor!”
Bai Shengyun heard her and frowned with displeasure, thinking Ning Qingqing truly had no sense.
This was the territory of the demonic sect; carelessness would expose them. Yet Ning Qingqing called out to him without fear for her life—a true liability.
“Young Emperor, please save me!” Ning Qingqing burst into tears.
Bai Shengyun clicked his tongue, raised a hand, and sealed her voice completely; her crying ceased at once.
The wild wind howled past her ears, flaunting its strength.
The ghostly girl, seeing Bai Shengyun’s formidable power, immediately released Ning Qingqing and fled without looking back.

Ning Qingqing looked over and saw a little ghost, her back turned, cheeks flushed, exuding a mischievous air. Sensing Ning Qingqing’s gaze, she turned and stuck out a scarlet tongue, eyes full of cunning.
Only now did Ning Qingqing realize she’d been played by a child. Flushed with shame and anger, she could not utter a word, only gazed at Bai Shengyun with tear-filled, pitiful eyes.
Bai Shengyun glanced at her, snorted coldly with ambiguous meaning, and turned away, finding her pitiful look deeply irritating.
Ning Qingqing felt the tightness in her throat ease and knew the silencing spell had lifted. Seeing him about to leave, she hurried after him, choking back tears. “Young Emperor, my cultivation is weak. I came here alone with no one to rely on. Could you possibly—”
She was abruptly cut off by Bai Shengyun.
“Then you’d best hurry back to the Immortal Sect,” he said bluntly, his tone cold, clearly unconcerned with her fate.
Ning Qingqing bit her lip, unwilling to give up, and tried to follow, but her legs, still weak from fright, gave way and she stumbled to the ground, palms scraped raw by sand and grit.
Bai Shengyun noticed but remained unmoved.
From afar, several powerful auras approached. He raised an eyebrow and skillfully applied a concealment talisman, vanishing instantly, his presence erased.
Ning Qingqing, unaware, only realized what was happening when she glimpsed several figures in black. She hurriedly hid and used one of her few remaining concealment talismans.
The group drew near, their steps on the sand steady and forceful.
They had received word from their elders and rushed here at once, intent on capturing any intruders.
“I just saw a brat, now she’s gone. Tch!” A woman, clad in black, striking but cold-faced, spoke impatiently.
Beside her stood a young woman in a dark purple gauze dress, silver bells tinkling with every movement. Her voice, as melodious as the bells, rang out, “Since when did our demonic sect master concealment talismans? If we did, we could slip into the Immortal Sect for some mischief any time we wanted.”
“In your dreams!” another retorted, her dress provocative, chest half-bared and marked with bruises of varying darkness.
These three were none other than Xie Yingying’s fellow disciples.
Ning Qingqing covered her mouth, afraid of being discovered, and quietly slipped past them in the direction Bai Shengyun had gone, careful not to make a sound, moving slowly and stealthily.
Bell Voice and the others searched for a long time, but found no trace of the intruders, and returned to the demonic sect in frustration.
Meanwhile, Xie Yingying was completely unaware of the sect’s search efforts, soundly asleep under her warm silk quilt when the elders issued their orders.

They even sent disciples to her door several times, but Xie Yingying, exhausted from her travels and sleepless nights in Gufeng Mountain, could not be roused.
With no other choice, they sent the rest of the disciples out in teams to search from the demonic sect’s grounds.
Squad after squad, dressed in somber colors and riding an array of bizarre magical artifacts, some even carrying white skulls and laughing among themselves, set out in all directions. To the unknowing eye, it seemed as if they were off to a grand ghostly revel.
Two hours later, they returned with the same report: “No luck.”
By then, Xie Yingying had just awakened and stretched luxuriantly, feeling refreshed from head to toe.
Now… she clapped her hands and smiled—it was time to send out her break-up letters!
Thinking of this, her expression grew gleeful.
She found the communication talismans the original owner had kept in the drawer, arranged them neatly on the table, and then, infusing them with spiritual energy, began to speak to each yellow paper: “I regret to inform you all that I, Xie Yingying, from this day forward, wish only for a fated love! Let us go our separate ways. I wish you all to scale your own peaks.”
She watched the talismans disappear out the window, her mood greatly improved.
When she first returned to the demonic sect, she hadn’t even had time to notice her surroundings before being swarmed by fellow disciples and admirers.
Now, opening her wooden window, she meant to enjoy her good mood, only to see dark clouds swirling above the sect, forming a massive vortex, as if threatening to press down at any moment—a most unsettling sight.
Xie Yingying’s face darkened, and she shut the window with a snap.
No wonder this was the demonic sect’s domain—even the sky was so strange! she thought, troubled.
Remembering the profusion of flowers outside her chambers, she decided to go out and lift her spirits.
She opened the door full of hope, only to be greeted by a crowd of scantily clad bodies, spring’s beauty on full display.