When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 30.1

Zhu Zhihan was on her way to join her fellow disciples.

However, she encountered a slight obstacle along the path.

A monstrous creature with a massive deer head was wandering through the forest.

Its upper limbs were thick and triangular, exuding an overwhelming sense of menace. Through the withered thicket, Zhu Zhihan could see its drooling maw and bulging, bloodshot eyes, a sight that sent chills down her spine.

This was one of those creatures that had rampaged across the snowy plains when the earth split open.

Zhu Zhihan’s heart tightened.

Why was it here? What was the current state of the forest, and how many such monsters lurked within?

The monster tilted its head slightly, one protruding eye fixing on her.

Meeting that gaze sent a cold shiver down her spine, and she instinctively raised her blade in front of her.

Clang!

The next moment, her sword intercepted the monster’s crimson maw.

There was no avoiding it, she had to fight.

Fortunately, there was only one.

In the end, Zhu Zhihan narrowly prevailed her recent training had paid off. She suffered minor injuries as she drove her longsword, Twilight Snow, into the monster’s chest, making use of Luan Wu’s protective sword intent without wasting it.

“Roar!” Struck in a vital spot, the monster struggled and roared in defiance, its movements freezing as its eyes widened in death.

Strangely enough, the monster’s strength did not match its fearsome appearance, as if its power had been drained by something. Otherwise, given her cultivation level, she would never have been able to withstand it.

Zhu Zhihan paused for a moment, steadying her dizzy mind. When she came to her senses and tried to pull out her sword, she found that Twilight Snow was stuck between the monster’s ribs.

Moreover, the creature, which should have been dead, began to stir again.

Her heart sank.

At such close range, with her protective sword trapped, the situation was extremely dangerous. Should she abandon her blade?

As she hesitated, the monster’s eyes opened. As if in a final resurgence, the bloodshot veins in its deer-like eyes faded away, and it emitted a muffled, indistinct sound.

There was no killing intent.

What was going on?

Zhu Zhihan remained on guard, her mind flooded with questions.

But before she could gather her thoughts, the monster’s body began to turn transparent, starting from its antlers, dissolving into points of light until it vanished completely.

Just before it disappeared entirely, Zhu Zhihan thought she saw a fleeting look of relief in its eyes.

With nothing left to support it, the longsword began to fall. Zhu Zhihan hurriedly caught it.

Recalling the expression she had just witnessed, a chill ran down her spine.

It must have been a trick of the light, right?

That look in its eyes, it was almost human.

She dared not dwell on it further and hurried on her way.

Whatever secrets lay behind this, if there were many such monsters on the icy plains, her fellow disciples were in grave danger.

The first one she found was Wan Mengchen.

Wan Mengchen was relatively fortunate.

When Zhu Zhihan found him, he was trudging miserably and aimlessly across the icy expanse, having encountered nothing amiss as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had not yet developed spiritual sense. He hadn’t discovered the peculiarities of the broken rope artifact and thus had no means of locating the others.

“Junior Sister!”

His eyes lit up at the sight of Zhu Zhihan, like a lost puppy suddenly finding its owner in the freezing snow.

Seeing Wan Mengchen like this, the tension in Zhu Zhihan’s expression finally eased slightly. She asked softly, “Are you alright?”

Wan Mengchen then remembered to adopt the demeanor of an elder brother, replying calmly, “I’m perfectly fine. And you, Junior Sister?”

“I’m fine as well.”

Both of them tacitly avoided mentioning the events within the black mist.

Humans have their seven emotions and six desires illusions bring out the most hidden aspects of one’s heart. Those things well, it’s best to keep them to oneself.

Zhu Zhihan walked alongside Wan Mengchen, omitting the part about Bo Mingwei, and recounted in detail what she had just encountered: “We need to be wary of those monsters.”

She still remembered the overwhelming sight of the monsters before the ground split open. Perhaps one monster wasn’t terrifying, but what about dozens? Or thousands?

Wan Mengchen listened with lingering fear: “That was so perilous. Thankfully, you’re unharmed, Junior Sister.”

Zhu Zhihan shook her head: “I still have the sword intent gifted by our master. Compared to me, the situation of our two senior brothers might be more dangerous.”

She didn’t reveal her spiritual sense ability, only saying she had a way to locate the senior brothers using the rope.

Wan Mengchen had long been accustomed to blindly trusting Zhu Zhihan, taking her words at face value.

And so, they found the eldest senior brother and the sixth junior brother one after another.

The eldest senior brother’s situation had been somewhat risky, he had encountered a monster he couldn’t handle and had already used the protective sword intent bestowed by Luan Wu.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhihan and the others arrived just in time.

The sixth junior brother’s circumstances were different when they found him, he was standing with several new friends, all rogue cultivators with cultivation levels similar to his.

According to the sixth junior brother, after the ground split, he had been thrown near a monster. He and these rogue cultivators had fought together and managed to defeat it.

Among the rogue cultivators, someone recognized Zhu Zhihan’s snow-white hair and identified them: “Aren’t you the ones from the trading area before.”

They remembered the grand scene clearly.

Wan Mengchen hesitated over how to respond.

Zhu Zhihan gave a faint smile, neither confirming nor denying. She took out several small porcelain bottles from her storage pouch and handed them to the group.

“These are some healing pills. Thank you for taking care of my senior brother during this time. The place we’re heading to next is somewhat dangerous, so as for all of you.”

Rogue cultivators who roamed the wilds naturally understood her meaning and smiled: “We won’t intrude on your affairs.”

The pills were quite valuable, especially their healing effects, which were crucial for them in the secret realm. Now that they were parting ways, they didn’t feel slighted. Instead, they admired the young woman’s straightforward manner.

The sixth junior brother bid a reluctant farewell to the rogue cultivators.

Wan Mengchen asked curiously: “Why not bring them along? They could be of some help.”

Moreover, once they found Luan Wu, with her around, they could offer these people some protection.

Zhu Zhihan hesitated for a moment and spoke the truth: “I just have a vague premonition that the situation with our master might be troublesome and not suitable for outsiders to be present.”

She still remembered that before being engulfed by the black mist, Luan Wu’s situation had seemed precarious.

Under normal circumstances, it might not matter, but this time, they couldn’t take the risk, who could guarantee that in an extreme situation, those people wouldn’t become a burden or complicate matters further?

Hearing this, Wan Mengchen nodded.

No one noticed that, unknowingly, Zhu Zhihan, the “youngest” and least cultivated among them, had become the de facto leader of the group. She no longer seemed like a junior sister but more like an eldest senior sister.

After the farewells, they set off once more.

Leaving the forest, they stepped onto the icy plains.

This time, things did not go as smoothly as before.

When they reached the location indicated by the magical tool, they found only a severed rope on the ground. The surroundings were a vast expanse of white, with no one in sight.

The sixth junior brother stammered: “Wh-where is the sect leader?”

Zhu Zhihan crouched down to examine the scene and thought to herself: As expected.

Earlier, when she had used her spiritual sense to probe the rope and locate her fellow disciples, she had noticed that the point corresponding to Luan Wu had never moved.

Luan Wu possessed spiritual awareness, and with her sharp senses, she couldn’t have failed to notice these things. That left only two possibilities.

One was that Luan Wu was unconscious and unable to act.

The other was that Luan Wu’s current condition was dire, leaving her no time to spare for them.

It seemed the latter was the case now.

If so, where could Luan Wu have gone?

The heavy snow had buried all traces, making it impractical to search for footprints.

Zhu Zhihan’s gaze swept around before settling on a nearby mountain. “Let’s go check over there.”

Su Chaya trembled as she stared at the figure before her.

Or rather, was this truly a ‘person’?

The demon that had cost her so many trusted followers and whom she couldn’t subjugate no matter what she tried, couldn’t even withstand a few strikes from this woman.

What terrifying cultivation!

In the blink of an eye, the prey remained the same, but the hunter had changed to an even more formidable one.

“What do you want?” Su Chaya asked hoarsely.

Luan Wu fell silent for a moment, as if contemplating.

After a while, a low, melodious voice rang out: “I want to shatter it.”

Luan Wu raised her hand, the tip of her long blade pointing toward the phosphorescent green jade that pulsed like a breath.

There was something she wanted there, something that could help her ‘grow.’

Su Chaya’s heart sank.

Her worst fear had come true.

“You want to destroy the formation’s core?” Su Chaya demanded sharply.

Luan Wu thought for another moment, then nodded.

She looked at Su Chaya, tilting her head slightly. Her gaze was pure yet icy. “Will you stop me?”

Su Chaya: …

On that snowy night, Su Chaya had briefly encountered this woman.

The young master of the Tianjing Sect had brought a silver-haired girl to her for treatment. Unaware that the girl had been taken without permission, Su Chaya had agreed to help.

At that time, this woman had stormed their camp to reclaim her disciple, even pressing her blade against the young master’s neck.

Back then, Su Chaya thought this woman was insane.

But now, she suddenly realized that the woman had actually shown some restraint back then.

Because now, she was enveloped in the woman’s innocent, frenzied, yet rust-blood-like eyes eyes that held only savagery and malice, nothing else.

She would die.

Standing in the way meant death.

But Su Chaya didn’t move.

Su Chaya closed her eyes. “If you want to destroy the formation’s core, you’ll have to step over my corpse.”

She couldn’t stop this woman, but she also couldn’t stand by and watch the sacred artifact be destroyed, allowing demons to resurge and bring devastation to the world.

So be it.

Recalling the demon’s words, she murmured, “Perhaps dying here is for the best.”

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