Wei Yunqing felt aggrieved. "Wasn't it you who told me to lead the way?"
Yunxi shot her a glare when she tried to edge closer, then turned her gaze to the gray mist and patted her chest to rouse the drowsy Dian Dian.
Dian Dian had been stubbornly refusing to advance in realm just to accompany its master through the Five Region Grand Tournament. After getting word from Xiao He that evil cultivators meant to tamper with the tournament, Dian Dian had stuck to Yunxi's side to be the first to sniff them out. But the last two days had worn it down, and it was constantly on the verge of nodding off.
Worried it would truly fall asleep, Yunxi had not dared put it into her space. She kept the little thing tucked in her arms. Now needing its nose to identify these things, she woke it directly.
Dian Dian rubbed its bean-black eyes with tiny paws, then its nose began twitching in rapid bursts. In the next instant, sleep fled in fright. Every hair stood on end and it squeaked at once:
"Master, Master, you walked straight into an evil cultivator nest. How could you be this careless? Weren't you in the Five Region Grand Tournament? How did you end up in a place like this?"
It scurried panicked circles on Yunxi's palm, convinced its master had run into the greatest calamity of her path.
Yunxi's raised brow was an indirect confirmation of her own guess. Watching the gray vapors testing their luck, her frown cinched tight. This kind of trap was not something evil cultivators set up alone.
At her side, Wei Yunqing's face had gone slightly green. The gray qi was gnawing into her barrier, and the jade at her waist had sprouted hairline cracks. Seeing Yunxi still in the mood to tease a mouse, she had no energy left to complain. She could only yell without fear of death:
"Wei Yunxi, think of something. These things are attacking us."
Yunxi flicked her a glance, voice cool. "Wei Yunqing, you are not a little Qi Refining novice. You are Nascent Soul. When defense fails, you attack. Must this Zhēnjūn teach you that?"
She reached inward to Zi Yan. Mystic Thunder Violet Flame leapt high, searing the gray qi that pressed in near her, and a chorus of ghostly howls erupted.
"How can this be?"
"Our bane. Why is our bane here? Weren't they bringing us vessels?"
"Ah, save me!"
With the violet thunderflame raging, nothing could approach within five paces of Yunxi. The evil souls still circled, unwilling to give up, and they had clearly picked out Wei Yunqing as the soft target. The smarter ones shifted en masse toward her.
Wei Yunqing was not stupid. She knew all too well how vicious evil souls were. She had nearly been seized by one before. Seeing the gray gas surge her way, she yanked out a seed of Flamevine, clasped it tight, and poured in her wood spiritual power.
In under three breaths, a thicket of ruddy tendrils sprang out and knit a red wall around her, blocking most of the gray qi. Fire blossomed along the vines, and the souls already singed by the Mystic Thunder Violet Flame flinched back on instinct.
Wei Yunqing seized the chance to edge to Yunxi's side and extended the Flamevine wall to enclose Yunxi as well. Only then did she let out a long breath.
Yunxi gave her one lifted glance, then continued conferring with Dian Dian. "Dian Dian, you are sure this is an evil cultivator nest?"
Dian Dian snuffled. "Master, this place is thick with evil qi. A hundred times heavier than that Su clan secret realm before. Dian Dian's nose does not lie."
Yunxi sent her spiritual sense in a sweep and frowned. "These are all evil souls. From what they just said, we were sent here to be possessed. But the Shanhe Scroll belongs to Huaxian Gate. Huaxian Gate would never collude with evil cultivators. Who put these souls into the Shanhe Scroll?"
Wei Yunqing swallowed. "Um, Yunxi, is it possible they were not put in, but sealed here from the beginning…"
Yunxi's head snapped up. The corner of her mouth quirked. "Tch. Not easy, Wei Yunqing. You finally hit the point."
Wei Yunqing gave an awkward smile. She had no desire to die trapped here. As much as she hated to admit it, Yunxi's strength surpassed her own. If she did not want to be abandoned, she had to show some value. So she offered her guess and, running with it, asked, "What do we do next?"
Watching the gray vapors bunch again, Yunxi called the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff into her hand and slammed it down. "You talk too much. If you want to get out, keep yourself alive first. Can you not see your Flamevine is almost out?"
At her strike, a web of violet lightning rippled out from her and the staff, homing unerringly toward the densest pools of gray. Zi Yan split off a wisp to cling to the lightning, and the blow's power spiked.
In less than three breaths, wails rose again. A fifth of the hall cleared, revealing its original form.
Not willing to be outdone, Wei Yunqing bit down and summoned the Nine Luminaries Starwood Fire. Imitating Yunxi, she fused it into the Flamevine rampart and pushed the fire-wall outward, forcing back the souls as she advanced.
Only then did Yunxi get a clear look at where they had been sent. It was a rectangular sealed space. Nine colossal silver pillars stood within, arrayed two by two around the edges, with a ninth at the center.
Carved upon them were blurred reliefs of twisted human faces. They seemed alive, staring fixedly at the two of them.
The gray gas had been seeping from those pillars. Though Yunxi had purged one tract, the faces curled in disdain, and more gray vapor coalesced to rush them again.
Yunxi frowned and said to Wei Yunqing, who was gritting her teeth to sustain the Nine Luminaries Starwood Fire, "Hold for a bit. I am going to check the perimeter."
"Be quick," Wei Yunqing said through her teeth. "My roots do not suppress these souls much."
"Did you not contract the Nine Luminaries Starwood Fire? Time to perform. This Zhēnjūn believes in you."
Yunxi vanished, leaving Wei Yunqing fuming. She knew full well that in this situation she had to cooperate or die first.
In under five breaths Yunxi was back, her face grimmer than before.
Wei Yunqing swallowed a spirit-replenishing pill and asked at once, "Find anything?"
"The entire hall, from ceiling to floor to walls, is a web of sealing sigils," Yunxi said, voice low. "If we want out, we have to break every last seal."
"Then break them."
"And the evil souls?" Yunxi asked. "Do you plan to let them into the Weiyu Realm?"