Wu Xin’s things appearing here indeed corroborated Lin Yun’s speculation.

Upon careful consideration, the Southern Border truly was the most suitable place for the Demon Race to stay. The Central Plains looked down upon this region for its lack of Spiritual Energy and its rough, harsh environment, but it was just right for the Demon Race.

They do not rely on Spiritual Energy for their cultivation, nor do they fear poison and miasma. Being far from the Central Plains, the Southern Border was hardly affected by wars. They could even watch the fires burn from across the river. Settling down in such a place could be said to be very secure.

Lin Yun had been suspecting the High Priest was associated with Wu Xin, or even that she might be Wu Xin herself. However, with the High Priest’s death, it was confirmed she was not Wu Xin, and she was weaker than Wu Xin, probably one of Wu Xin’s subordinates.

Lin Yun couldn’t help picturing a tiny Wu Xin, with a serious expression, earnestly holding an engraving knife and solemnly inscribing those words onto the bamboo slip.

You have to admit, it’s kinda cute.

Wang Wanqiu quietly approached, and before she could see what was on it, her head bumped against Lin Yun’s with a ’thunk’.

Lin Yun couldn’t help but cover his head. That was quite a hit, really painful.

This couldn’t be a case of iron head magic, could it?

"Speaking of which, what kind of demon are you?"

Lin Yun asked, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

Demons come in varieties, and seeing how formidable Wang Wanqiu was, she should be a quite an impressive demon.

"I... seem to be related to the heart."

Wang Wanqiu couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt that in the place where her heart was missing, that mass of black blood contained a powerful force. However, Wang Wanqiu was not yet able to activate it; she just faintly sensed some kind of power.

The biggest difference between a demon transformed later in life and an Innate Demon was the lack of an inheritance. She now had the body of a demon but was still not quite adept at utilizing her power.

Lin Yun was not in a hurry; Hu Yuling was on her way, and she could teach her then.

"It looks like there’s nothing else here."

While Lin Yun was examining the bamboo slip, Lin Yu didn’t approach to look at it but was rummaging around the Gu Worm Room. Eventually confirming there was nothing else, she then addressed Lin Yun.

Unexpectedly, she found Lin Yun and Wang Wanqiu so close together.

Without a word, Lin Yu positioned herself between the two, stating she had finished searching the place, and taking Lin Yun’s hand, she said, "Let’s go check out other places."

Her sequence of actions was as smooth as flowing water. Back then, she was just a simple Sword Cultivator, very straightforward, but now, in matters of palace intrigue, she had become very skilled.

Wang Wanqiu was unaware that her master now saw her as a potential rival in love. Watching how close Lin Yu and Lin Yun were, Wanqiu couldn’t help but remember the advice she had given Lin Yun before she left.

It seemed that Lin Yun had indeed taken her advice at that time.

So, the question arose: how should she address Lin Yun?

When they first took on the mission to assassinate the Demon Lord, they referred to each other as fellow cultivators, on equal footing. After finding out Lin Yun was Lin Yu’s adopted son, their standing remained the same, but now...

Watching Lin Yun’s status rise before her eyes, she didn’t know how to address him properly.

Her troubled little look, however, was misunderstood by Lin Yu.

"Wan Qiu wouldn’t be harboring feelings of gratitude for saving her life, would she..."

Such worries formed in Lin Yu’s mind, seeing Wan Qiu’s demeanor, there seemed to be such a tendency.

Fortunately, a tendency was just that, and she must nip her budding little thoughts in the bud.

Among the three, only Lin Yun was free from such troubles. He took Lin Yu by the hand and hurried towards the deepest part of the Underground Palace; soon, they reached the final palace.

Here, there were no less than three magic arrays, inscribed with all sorts of strange and peculiar runes, indicating that this place was very important, since other areas had only one formation.

"This might be the most important place for the Demon Race; let’s try to break the formation!"

Along the way, except for the Gu Worm Room they entered, they had skipped all the other doorways, and now there were no other gains to be had if they skipped this one.

However, among these three people, only Lin Yun had the ability to break formations.

Lin Yu had studied the ways of formations, but her knowledge wasn’t deep, only covering some relatively simple formations, unlike Lin Yun. He might have also only read some books on the subject, but those mysterious runes appeared very simple in his eyes.

Setting up a formation was like using some characters to form words, and forming words constituted a formation. Wasn’t this just the difficulty of a first-grade elementary student?

Breaking a formation was a bit more difficult, raising the challenge to being given several words and having to find the most important or the most special two characters.

Just like that, the difficulty leapt from the level of a first-grade elementary student to that of a civil service exam.

Ordinary formations allowed for trial and error; getting it wrong meant one could try again, making it relatively easy to break — if one answer was wrong, simply choose another.

But the Demon Race was too cautious, having set up a self-destruct program, and Lin Yun couldn’t afford to make mistakes; he had to destroy the entire grand formation in one go.

Now, with Lin Yu asking Lin Yun to break the formation, Lin Yun could only prepare to use Nine Heavens Divine Thunder.

Wang Wanqiu, however, said, "Aren’t you too tired? Why not rest a bit and use the Oblivion Gu Worm?"

Although she hadn’t personally witnessed Lin Yun in battle, she knew that since rescuing her, he hadn’t stopped to rest. Surely saving her must have depleted a great deal of his vitality, and after deploying Nine Heavens Divine Thunder earlier, he had needed Lin Yu to carry him.

Now, he seemed to have recovered a bit, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was fully restored. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

If they didn’t have urgent matters, there was no need to hurry so.

Lin Yu: "..."

Damn, by being careless, she had inadvertently given Wang Wanqiu the opportunity to show off her tenderness and finesse — how rash!

Indeed, her disciple had other thoughts on her mind; when had she ever been so gentle with a man?

She had never been this detail-oriented!

Lin Yu’s heart immediately felt very conflicted.

With other mistresses, if they annoyed her, she could argue or even come to blows with them.

But Wang Wanqiu was different; she couldn’t bring herself to act against her, or even say a word to stop her.

Lin Yun, on the other hand, didn’t take it too seriously; he still pinched the Spell Gesture.

"Don’t underestimate my recovery ability that much!"

His endurance for prolonged combat was beyond anyone’s imagination; he might become temporarily exhausted, but after a short rest, he would immediately be able to recover his spirits.

His energy seemed inexhaustible.

The familiar sound of thunder crackled in the air. This time, Wang Wanqiu had learned from experience; as the thunderbolt fell, she covered her ears. But the terrifying pressure of the thunder still made her tremble and her legs weaken. Unwittingly, her body leaned towards Lin Yun.

Lin Yun had just finished the spell when he saw her falling towards him, and naturally, he reached out to help.

It was particularly unfortunate that this thunderbolt had a stray shot.

One bolt veered off course, perhaps sensing the dense Demonic Qi on Wang Wanqiu’s body, and with a snap followed by a quick cry, a thunderbolt struck her.

Hit by the attack, the clothes formed from Wang Wanqiu’s Demonic Qi shattered on the spot...