"Who is the Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ?"
The crowd raised their heads in shock, staring at the figures standing on the radiant wings of the phoenix. In their hearts, an answer was already forming.
"The Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ is none other than the Fairy Ranran at my side!"
Qin Lüsha stepped forward, her voice soft yet laced with unquestionable authority as it spread in all directions.
"You people of Qingshui County were saved by the pills bestowed upon you by Fairy Ranran. The black-robed men who controlled you were also dealt with by the Xiānzhǔ. Yet now, you blindly revere Wuxiang Sect, who did nothing for the people of Qingshui County. Worse, they even sought to slay the one closest to the Xiānzhǔ. Such crimes deserve death by all reason!"
Her majestic words left the people of Qingshui County frozen in place, exchanging bewildered and panicked looks.
"But wait, how is she saying it was the Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ who saved us? Wasn't it Elder Yue's disciple Pei Xianqiao?"
"Yes, I thought the same. But… last night, that tree whipped me and then stuffed something strange into my mouth. I thought he was torturing me and forcing poison down my throat!"
"Could it be… the pill that tree forced on us was what saved us?"
"Rubbish! Impossible!"
A hall master of Wuxiang Sect strode over, voice thundering as he brandished the Thousand Elephants Halberd, pulling Yue Qingsu out from the pit.
"The ones who saved you were Wuxiang Sect's disciples, Pei Xianqiao among them. It was we who distributed the pills last night to dissolve the miasma in your bodies, allowing you to once again absorb heaven and earth's spiritual qi. What has that to do with the Eastern Wilderness?"
Supporting Yue Qingsu, the hall master fed him a healing elixir. Slowly, Yue Qingsu began to regain consciousness, his fingers faintly twitching.
"Elder Yue, Elder Yue! The guests you ordered me to receive are all here already. Please, wake up and reveal the truth of this matter!"
Yue Qingsu's eyelids trembled slightly. At that very moment, Qin Lüsha's gaze swept across the sky as several dazzling streams of spiritual light streaked in, descending before the crowd in the blink of an eye.
"Master!" Mu Jialing looked up in astonishment at the holy radiance above. Never had he imagined his master would arrive here with several disciples in tow.
Yuan Kong folded his palms, his eyes carrying their usual compassion. "Amitabha. This humble monk Yuan Kong has come upon hearing there is an antidote to the miasma here in Qingshui County. I seek this medicine to save lives."
"Hahaha! I am Tang Qianqing, sect master of Miaoyun Sect. Elder Yue, did you obtain this antidote and grow so excited that you fainted from joy?"
Her water-blue dress swayed as she descended gracefully, as if a tender flower bud had bloomed into a smile. Her beauty lit the sky as her gaze drifted toward the phoenix's flaming wings.
Unlike her lightheartedness, the patriarch of the Yu Clan, Yu Weifeng, was visibly shaken.
"Ranran? How are you here? Are you truly my daughter, Yao Ranran?"
Yu Weifeng had rushed here with the patriarch of the Xing Clan. When he saw that peerless figure standing atop the phoenix's crown, his pupils shrank in disbelief.
The Xing patriarch's face darkened. "Are you certain? That woman atop the divine beast… is truly Yao Ranran?"
Faced with their brazen gazes, Qin Lüsha's brows arched coldly. "Impudent fools! How dare you speak the name of the Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ aloud?"
Her soft yet commanding voice carried a trace of spiritual pressure, instantly instilling guilt and dread in lower cultivators.
How could they directly call the Xiānzhǔ by name? Such insolence deserved death!
The monks of Miaoyun Sect and Yuan Kong, however, unaffected by charm or illusion, remained calm.
Yet Yu Weifeng and the Xing patriarch, sensing the reproachful stares of those around them, released their own pressure in return, shaking the crowd back to clarity.
"You bunch of idiots! You let yourselves be toyed with so easily!"
The Xing patriarch's scolding snapped many awake, leaving them staring around in confusion.
"What just happened to me?"
They could not understand their own actions from moments earlier.
Qin Lüsha's gaze toward the Xing patriarch held a flicker of wariness.
"You all saw the truth a moment ago, but now, you've let yourselves be blinded by lies again."
Yao Ranran spoke gently, her voice ethereal like a celestial hymn. Instantly, the dark clouds in the heavens scattered, and the fear pressing on hearts vanished like smoke.
All eyes lifted toward Yao Ranran, high above, and in that instant they realized: it was Wuxiang Sect who had deceived them. The Xing Clan, Yu Clan, and Wuxiang Sect were cut from the same cloth!
The true savior was not them, but the fairy in violet above, the Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ!
"The Xiānzhǔ's grace and virtue are beyond measure. We cannot possibly repay such kindness!"
One after another, the people bowed down beneath Yao Ranran's violet skirts. Even disciples of Wuxiang Sect, confused about who was right or wrong, followed along and knelt, worshiping the fairy who had saved them.
For the first time in countless years, Yuan Kong's face of everlasting compassion faltered with surprise. He had seen this woman before. How had she become the Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ?
And furthermore…
What even was an Eastern Wilderness Xiānzhǔ?
Mu Jialing muttered blankly, "Master, it seems the chaotic Eastern Wilderness has been unified under her…"
Yuan Kong suddenly understood. He raised a palm upright. "So that is the case. But…"
His expression turned grave. "What about the murderous aura pouring off that demon cultivator standing beside her?"
Such suffocating killing intent—he had never heard of any demon cultivator in the Eastern Wilderness possessing such terrifying strength. And behind that figure stood several true members of the demon race…
Mu Jialing's eyes shifted toward the scholar in blue at Yao Ranran's side. He fell silent.
A wild, impossible thought flickered through his mind, but he crushed it immediately.
Yuan Kong's face stiffened, his breathing suddenly heavy. "Disciple, why does your master feel… that the Western Seas too have fallen under the Eastern Wilderness's unification?"
"Master… how could you think that?" Mu Jialing stammered, though in truth, Yuan Kong's suspicion was the same as his own!
Yuan Kong lifted his prayer beads, pointing toward the scholar in blue. "The killing intent he carries is no weaker than Demon Sovereign Li Luoqi. Yet he stands obediently at that woman's side, like a servant… or a subordinate."=
And moreover, some time ago, this monk heard Li Luoqi intended to meddle in the Eastern Wilderness. I thought chaos would continue there. Yet now, they claim the Eastern Wilderness has already been unified…"
He left the rest unspoken.
Mu Jialing understood clearly enough.
He drew back his gaze with hesitation. "Master, those who would vie for the Eastern Wilderness aren't only Demon Sovereign Li Luoqi, but also Miaoyun Sect. If Sect Master Tang had been defeated in the Eastern Wilderness, and if she also knows the Western Seas are now under Fairy Ranran's control… then her calmness here seems a little strange, doesn't it?"
Yuan Kong's eyes drifted toward Tang Qianqing.
But Tang Qianqing was smiling serenely, her gaze filled with admiration as it lingered on the phoenix's vast form.
Yuan Kong pressed his palms together heavily, shaking his head. "This old monk must truly be growing muddled with age, thinking such confused thoughts."
Mu Jialing tried to comfort him. "Master, please do not say so. In truth, your disciple thinks the same. If the Western Seas have fallen and the Eastern Wilderness is now under Fairy Ranran's hand, it would not make sense for Sect Master Qing to remain this calm."