A melodious, joyous song filled the air. Nethersprite was incomparably beautiful and elegant; anyone who even merely caught sight of her would feel like they were smelling the sweet fragrance of flowers.

Bells tolled thrice in the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect. It was a sign of courtesy for visitors, and a sign of deep respect toward Master Darkfate.

Mistress Rosyclouds personally went out to meet Nethersprite, a smile on her face.

“I hope all is well, Fellow Daoist Sweetfrost,” she said.

“Well met, Sect Leader Rosyclouds,” Nethersprite replied. She hurried forward, a smile on her flawless face. Also visible was a prominent birthmark on her neck, which would leave such a deep impression on anyone who saw it that they would never forget it.

“The spirit spring is ready for you. Please, follow me.” Smiling, Mistress Rosyclouds gestured, whereupon the entrance to the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect opened. With that, she led the way to the spirit spring.

They soon reached the back part of the mountain, where the spirit spring had been prepared for her. For the next month, no sect outsiders would be allowed inside while Nethersprite received her baptism in preparation for her wedding. The only people who came with Nethersprite were some handmaidens. Generally speaking, there wasn’t any way something could go wrong. For one thing, it wasn’t as if her cultivation base was weak. What was more, Master Darkfate’s name was always there, keeping her safe.

All the arrangements seemed very reasonable. Upon arriving at the spirit spring, Nethersprite noted the water vapor languidly drifting in the air, and she could sense the spirit resonance in the area. She was clearly pleased. For the next month, all of the spirit ponds in the Unfinished Mountains would be redirected to this spot. Master Darkfate had specially arranged for that just for her, as an expression of his love.

When Nethersprite thought about what Master Darkfate had done for her, her heart raced, and she found herself subconsciously smiling in the direction of the Darkfate Sect.

Hubby Darkfate really does treat me well.

Nethersprite’s eyes glittered with anticipation for the future. After Mistress Rosyclouds bid farewell, Nethersprite knelt, revealing even more of her curves as she tested the temperature of the water. Then she slowly entered the spring.

The warm water caressed her skin as it wrapped around her, creating an image that would cause anyone to see her to palpitate with eagerness. After wading to the very center of the pond, she settled down.

Dozens of handmaidens sat around the edges of the spring. Some played music, some scattered flower petals, others used magical techniques to stir the water, creating numerous tiny hands that gently scrubbed Nethersprite.

Nethersprite felt so comfortable that she immediately closed her eyes contentedly. Unbeknownst to her, there was a little bit of mud not too far away from her. Before long, a crack spread out over the surface of that mud, opening to reveal an eye. What was more, a spell formation hidden in the bottom of the spring surreptitiously activated.

It was impossible to say how the Captain did it, but he successfully masked the fluctuations so they weren’t noticeable.

***

In a valley not too far away from the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect, the Captain and Xu Qing had both put on masks to disguise themselves.

“Big Jianjian, you go find Ning Yan,” the Captain said, sounding very serious. “That little brat obviously ran off somewhere. We can’t have him out there alone and starving. We’re all friends, right? We should stick together! Just like those years ago when he went looking for you!

“Little Junior Brother, you need to take care of all the handmaidens there at the spirit spring. Don’t kill them, obviously. Just knock them out.

“As for Nethersprite, I’ll drag her into the world fragment. You don’t need to worry about that, though. Just wait until ‘she’ comes out. At that point, ‘she’ won’t be Nethersprite anymore.”

Everything about their plan had been going smoothly so far, but now they were reaching the most critical part. Success was going to come down to whether or not the Captain really could trap Nethersprite. If it didn’t work, then they would have to come up with a good way to flee the area.

Wu Jianwu was starting to feel nervous. After hearing all of the Captain’s arrangements, he nodded. If these two fail, and I don’t manage to escape, I should plan now what to say to prove my innocence.

With such thoughts on his mind, Wu Jianwu hurried away and had his various children use all of their abilities to try to find Ning Yan.

Xu Qing didn’t speak the entire time. He just looked the Captain in the eyes and tried to figure out why the entire situation seemed so strange to him.

“Just trust me, little Junior Brother!” the Captain said, giving Xu Qing a meaningful look. Chuckling, he produced an eyeball which he looked at closely. Only a moment later, his eyebrows shot up as he caught sight of something unexpected on the other side. His eyes even lit up.

As Xu Qing looked on, surprised, the Captain cleared his throat and quickly crushed the eyeball. A moment later, a vortex sprang up in front of him which he entered. Without pausing for a moment, Xu Qing followed. He was still suspicious, but he also trusted the Captain. After both of them entered the vortex, it vanished.

Next, both of them appeared in the spirit spring!

The moment they were there, the spell formation the Captain had set up in the spirit spring activated, creating a force of concealment that covered the entire area. At the same time, the clump of mud at the bottom of the spring transformed into a vortex with a shockingly powerful gravitational force.

Without any hesitation, Xu Qing and the Captain shot forward.

Xu Qing was to target the handmaidens, while the Captain would handle Nethersprite. .𝒎

As water sprayed everywhere, the handmaidens reacted with astonishment. Nethersprite’s expression flickered wildly. Despite the mask the Captain was wearing, she still recognized him.

“It’s you!”

The Captain didn’t say a word. His entire person shone with blue light, and countless eyes popped open all over him, within the pupils of each was a face. And each of those faces had pupils with faces in them. He looked incredibly gruish, almost like a gigantic bat, dripping with fluid as he closed in on Nethersprite.

Xu Qing had no time to check on what the Captain was doing. As soon as he burst out of the water, he locked onto the nearest handmaiden. As he did, the countless droplets of water in the area swept together to form a sphere that shot toward the handmaiden. It happened very quickly. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of her. She tried to back up, but didn’t move quickly enough. Xu Qing swept his hand through the air, and then blood sprayed out of the handmaiden’s mouth as she tumbled backward, unconscious.

Xu Qing wasn’t landing fatal blows. His shadow spread out from his feet, creating a pitch black canopy of heaven as he accelerated to the next handmaiden.

The handmaidens were all in Gold Core, except for two of them who were in Nascent Soul. Because they were so much weaker than Xu Qing, he was able to get instant results when he attacked. Of the dozens of handmaidens, not a single one escaped. All were rendered unconscious, and were soon laying around haphazardly. Once they were all out of commission, Xu Qing turned to check on the Captain.

What he saw was Nethersprite snorting coldly and waving her hand, which caused the Captain’s entire body to collapse.

He instantly turned into countless blue bugs which swept through the air toward Nethersprite. There were tens of thousands of them, and when Nethersprite waved her hand again, they collapsed, turning into even smaller bugs. In the blink of an eye, the number of bugs went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. They became like a sky-obfuscating, land-enshrouding vortex spreading out over Nethersprite and sinking down to connect to the water.

A moment later, the vortex vanished. Nethersprite was nowhere to be seen.

Ripples spread out over the water, and water droplets gently drifted down. After about a dozen breaths of time passed, everything was completely silent.

Xu Qing stood at the edge of the spring, studying the area. Things seemed even more unusual at this point, but all he could do was scan the area to make sure no signs of the brief struggle had reached the outside.

This was too easy. Nethersprite was a Void Returning expert! Even if she has slipped down to the great circle of Spirit Trove, things shouldn’t have gone this smoothly!

As he pondered the situation, a thought occurred to him.

The Captain has all sorts of mysterious, gruish assets. And he went all out in preparing for this. I guess it’s possible things have just gone really well. Maybe that’s why he’s been so confident.

After some further thought, Xu Qing figured it made sense. Thus, he kept his eyes on the concealment magics, and also paid attention to the water as well as the world fragment. Because of everything the Captain had set up, it wasn’t possible to tell what was happening inside. There were only terrifying fluctuations that rolled out occasionally.

Time passed.

Xu Qing waited quietly for about ten hours. The more time that went by, the more likely something could go wrong. But though Xu Qing knew the Captain was crazy, he also didn’t have any reason to think the Captain would make simple mistakes.

Another two hours went by, and then waves suddenly rolled out over the surface of the water.

Xu Qing backed up a few paces, keeping his disguise up. He was ready to flee at any moment if necessary. .𝒎

The water roiled, sending ripples out everywhere as a head slowly rose up from the water. It was the head of a woman, bewitchingly charming, with extremely fair skin. It was none other than Nethersprite. After floating up, she looked at Xu Qing, then slowly stood, revealing clothing plastered tightly against her beautiful body. She had half a head in her hands.

It was… the Captain’s head.

Fluctuations rolled off of her that were clearly the great circle of Spirit Trove. Looking coldly at Xu Qing, she tossed the half head over. It landed on the ground and rolled to a stop at his feet.

“That Elder Brother of yours is useless,” she said.

The Captain wasn’t dead. Eyes full of bitterness, he weakly said, “Run, little Junior Brother… it was a trap….”

𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮