The lair of the Yinshan Ghost Mother was hidden beneath the Star Picking Pavilion, and Ning Ning descended from the top floor, the winding staircase seemingly endless.

Here, there were floating pavilions and flowing elixirs, magnificent jade terraces, and the luxurious laughter of men and women that spread with the evening breeze. It was a scene of bustling festivities, like a world of celebration, full of towering jade buildings.

However, walking alone in this place always carried a heavy, looming sense of murderous intent, making it impossible for one to feel at ease.

The lanterns on both sides of the corridor flickered like countless evil spirits suspended within them. The dim orange light flowed like warm water, engulfing the slender figure of the girl.

The points of light swayed unsteadily, casting their glow on the ancient beams and painted rafters along the walls. The wooden faces carved on them, whether in a daze or laughing wildly, did not resemble revelry but rather seemed like a group of fierce, hungry ghosts.

Ning Ning descended the stairs slowly. The Yinshan Ghost Mother must have sensed that one of her puppets had perished and sent other puppets to investigate.

She had long left the elegant chambers, and the flow of people in the building was constant and noisy. For the Ghost Mother, finding the culprit personally wouldn’t be easy.

Ning Ning decided to find her first.

The underground passage was hidden beneath a certain location on the ground floor. Ning Ning compared it to the original text and finally found the extremely secretive passage. The moment she opened the hidden door, a strong scent of blood wafted out.

She frowned slightly but did not show much disgust. After taking a light breath, she turned and entered the tunnel.

The tunnel was initially very narrow, with darkness so deep on both sides that nothing could be seen. Fortunately, cultivators had extraordinary senses. Even in complete darkness, they could still barely see the path ahead.

As she ventured deeper into the tunnel, it suddenly opened up.

Several lanterns hung at both ends of the passage, resembling stars in the dark night, emitting faint glimmers. The surrounding pitch-blackness was mostly dispelled, but the flickering light only added to the unsettling atmosphere, creating a sense of lurking danger.

The narrow passage suddenly expanded, forming a spacious circular cave at its end, like the gradually filling shape of a water droplet. In the center of the cave stood a creature with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a spider.

That was none other than the infamous Yinshan Ghost Mother.

Hearing the footsteps of the intruder, the Ghost mother slowly opened her lifeless eyes. When her head was raised, it produced a cracking sound reminiscent of bones colliding.

This was a gigantic creature, with the upper body of a seductive woman indistinguishable from an ordinary person. However, her lower half occupied a significant portion of the cave, giving her an eerie and bloated appearance. Black hair snaked down her pale skin, resembling writhing, pitch-black water serpents. Her eight long spider legs were as sharp as blades, harboring a deadly poison. Anyone even slightly wounded by them would immediately meet the King of Hell.

Not to mention her formidable strength; after absorbing the essence from the Star Picking Pavilion for many years, her injuries had mostly healed.

“…You?”

Unlike her seductive feminine face, the Yinshan Ghost Mother spoke with a hoarse, gravelly voice, like that of an elderly woman nearing the end of her life. “A sword cultivator?”

Ningning didn’t hide the Xinghen sword at her waist and smiled faintly. “That’s right.”

She raised her gaze and locked eyes with her. “I’ve heard that the Yinshan Ghost Mother is immensely powerful. How did you end up resorting to stealing essence from people? It seems that the Star Picking Pavilion is not of your making. Aren’t you afraid of the true owner discovering this?”

The Ghost Mother let out a bitter, cold laugh, and the countless spider threads in the cave stirred in response. “I’ll use the essence if I want to, and the Star Picking Pavilion can come and go as it pleases. Am I supposed to fear that useless waste on the rooftop?”

“Oh?” Ning Ning raised an eyebrow.

“Your Excellency is seriously injured; I’m afraid you won’t be able to fight back, right?”

“What a joke! I am the true master of this place now. That demon woman thinks she’s in control, but little does she know that most of the little monsters in the pavilion have become my puppets. Once I reach my full power, I’ll take the Star Picking pavilion from her.”

Ning Ning’s words clearly angered her slightly, and the spider threads, sharp as needles, hung in the air, forming a dense white web that rushed toward the entrance of the cave.

Ning Ning didn’t dodge at all.

But an invisible force stood in her way, repelling the menacing spiderweb.

“I’m not the one who wants to take you.”

She smiled and took a step to the right, her tone now carrying a hint of respect. “Madam, you heard that, didn’t you?”

The Yinshan Ghost Mother trembled all over.

In the narrow passage where no light could penetrate, in the profound darkness.

A figure in a white dress slowly approached; the glaring, pure white appearance seemed like a sword cutting through the darkness, abruptly breaking the eerie and mysterious atmosphere from before.

Or perhaps it made the situation even more tense.

Lady White Bone, with black hair and a white dress, looked like a peerless beauty, with icy skin and jade-like bones. Her fair skin revealed half of her jade-like breasts, and her flowing hair cascaded like a long waterfall. In the warm light of the lanterns, she appeared ethereal, like a painting come to life.

However, when she spoke in a cold voice, it was a different scene altogether.

Lady White Bone furrowed her delicate eyebrows slightly and let out a contemptuous snort from her throat. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and it turns out it’s because some mountain chicken has come to disgrace herself. Do you even deserve to steal my essence? Your chattering is quite melodious; are you trying to imitate a dog’s bark here? Watch as I break your wretched legs!”

Getting caught red-handed stealing things wasn’t a very honorable situation.

Even the Yinshan Ghost Mother hesitated for a moment and then intensified her tone. “What, do you want to join forces with the righteous sword cultivator to deal with me?”

That sword cultivator clearly had a cunning plan in mind, waiting for the two of them to exhaust themselves in a battle so they could reap the benefits. If Lady White Bone wasn’t foolish, she should join forces with her first to deal with the girl.

Hmph, thinking about fighting her?

No way.

Today, she was going to take the head of that sword cultivator first!

On one side, the Yinshan Ghost Mother confidently declared her intent, while on the other side, Lady White Bone listened with an expressionless face, unmoved.

It was Ning Ning who smiled softly, tearing off the mask on her face to reveal her true appearance hidden beneath.

It turned out to be… a female demon from the tower whom she vaguely remembered but couldn’t recall the name of.

There was no puppet aura on the woman, but the Yinshan Ghost Mother was not sure if she had implanted puppets in her. After all, she controlled so many demons and couldn’t remember their names or faces.

She miscalculated.

The sword cultivator was just a decoy; their real purpose…

Was simply to trick her into revealing the truth!

“Impossible!” The Yinshan Ghost Mother exclaimed in frustration. “You clearly have the sword cultivator’s sword on you, and my puppets were killed by the sword cultivator. There’s no doubt!”

“Today, a few sword cultivators did come to the tower, but who knows which one killed the demon?”

Chao Yan clumsily picked up the sword, examining the patterns on it with curiosity like a child. “The sword cultivator I entertained had a bit too much to drink and unintentionally told me that they came to eradicate the Yinshan Ghost Mother. Speaking of which, we should actually thank her; otherwise, we wouldn’t have known that there was a thief hidden in the tower.”

She paused and shrugged nonchalantly. “As for this sword? I stole it while she was drunk to complete the act. Otherwise, how could I deceive your discerning eyes, Lady Yinshan Ghost Mother?”

“You!”

Being fooled by such a low-cultivation little demon, the Yinshan Ghost Mother was infuriated to the point of trembling. She exerted all her strength but managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth. “I’ll kill you!”

As they talked, the wind roared, and the smell of blood filled the air. The spider threads hanging on the cave walls poured out, revealing layers of bloodstains.

The stench of blood mingled with the air, and the lanterns flickered. A gust of wind rushed through.

Chao Yan, with an incredulous expression on her face, took a few steps back, and the impact sent her crashing into the stone wall.

“Damn it, this strike…”

She didn’t even have the strength to get up, like a dead fish lying on the side, trembling as she raised her right hand to point at the Yinshan Ghost Mother. “Seemingly casual but deeply hidden internal force .The poisonous wind has already penetrated my internal organs. You really are ruthless, Yinshan Ghost Mother!”

Yinshan Ghost Mother:???

She actually started explaining herself. You big-headed guy! She didn’t even use much force just now! What does “seemingly casual but deeply hidden internal force” mean? It was just a gust of wind!

Ignoring the astonished gaze of the others, Chao Yan turned her head toward Lady White Bone, her voice trembling like a strand of silk. “Madam, please make sure to eradicate this… and give our sisters back… Ah! It hurts so much!”

She didn’t even finish her sentence before her head tilted and her eyes closed.

She was gone.

The Yinshan Ghost Mother was shocked.

She’s definitely intentionally acting! this bitch! Can you be more shameless? How could there be such a shameless person in the world?

But unfortunately, Lady White Bone, that idiot, believed it to be true. In her fan-shaped eyes, there was 60% anger and 40% pity. Finally, she scolded with a stern tone, “Stealing my essence and harming my sisters, you will die!”

Yinshan Ghost Mother: Damn it!.

With a battle imminent, the Yinshan Ghost Mother had no choice but to fight.

The spider threads piled up layer by layer, each containing deadly toxins and bloodlust, like a rain of silver needles pouring down, aiming straight for Lady White Bone’s head.

The beautiful lady in a white dress looked coldly ahead, and both behind her and in front of her, skeletal figures appeared out of thin air, like a conscious army, protecting their mistress in the center.

The spiderweb became tangled, and bones filled the air.

For a moment, the cave was entirely dominated by glaring white, and the crimson bloodstains on the walls made it even more eerie and grotesque.

The vast army of white bones had all perished at the hands of Lady White Bone. They swarmed forward, their hollow eye sockets resembling abysses.

The original text didn’t provide a detailed description of the confrontation between these two characters, as they both played into the trope of “one by one, they come to the protagonist’s side.” However, according to the setup, the Yinshan Ghost Mother’s power should be a cut above—after all, she had been devouring the vital essence of others for many years, so it was only fair that she gained some strength from it.

Lady White Bone’s bone joints tore through the layers of spider threads, and the spiderweb expanded, grinding the bone soldiers into dust.

The head-on confrontation between the two female demons never stopped. Amidst flashes of white light and shadows, Lady White Bone spat out a mouthful of blood and was pushed back to the ground.

Although the Yinshan Ghost Mother still had some strength left, she couldn’t be described as being in great shape. At this moment, she wore an extremely sinister grin and gasped, “Didn’t expect it, did you? You useless trash! Today is my—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly froze.

The little demon in the corner, who should have been unconscious, opened her eyes and stared at her with a hint of amusement.

“Chao Yan!”

Lady White Bone burst into laughter. “Use the Spirit Walk Powder to get me out of here!”

This was the plan they had discussed. If Lady White Bone found herself at a disadvantage, she would have Chao Yan use the Spirit Walk Powder to escape within the blink of an eye.

The old hag of the Yinshan thought she could finish her off today, but she would never have expected that she had left an ace up her sleeve. Haha, didn’t see that coming, did you—

Suddenly,Lady White Bone’s expression froze as well.

The air was filled with an awkward atmosphere.

Chao Yan casually reached for her temple and gently pulled.

The face mask actually fell off, revealing…

Damn it! Why was it still the face of that sword cultivator!!!

Ning ning smiled gently and said the words that neither of them had time to say: “Haha, didn’t expect that, did you? I prepared two masks.”

The Yinshan Ghost Mother felt as if she had been struck by lightning, as if she had been scammed out of $80 million by an online lover.

Lady White Bone rolled her eyes and spat out more blood from her mouth.

You… why.

Everything started with the incense stick.

The two junior disciples didn’t know where they had gone. If they wasted time looking for them, it might alert the enemy. Now, the only power Ning Ning could rely on was herself. To win this round…

Wasn’t there still Lady White Bone on top of the building? In the original story, the protagonist’s group fought them one by one, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t play a little trick and let the two of them fight amongst themselves!

Lady White Bone, a free tool, was too good to pass up.

After taking care of the demon Chao Yan, Ning Ning easily obtained a mask that was identical to her own appearance.

In addition, she naturally couldn’t forget that the demon had a human face stuck to her own face.

In this way, she had two disguises.

One side was Ning ning, a disciple of the Xuanxu Sword Sect who used to extract information from the Ghost Mother. On the other side, Chao Yan, the demon in the Star Picking Pavilion, used to gain the trust of Lady White Bone.

With Chao Yan’s death, the Yinshan Ghost Mother would definitely become suspicious and send other puppets to investigate—

However, the Yinshan Ghost Mother knew about it, but Lady White Bone remained clueless.

Although there were two powerful demons in the building, they were in a state of opposition to each other.

Even if the Yinshan Ghost Mother knew that her puppet had been killed, she would never tell Lady White Bone due to her secretive act of stealing vital essence and her hidden identity.

She could only hold her breath and slowly investigate the puppet herself.

Little did she know that at this moment, Ning Ning had already found Lady White Bone’s lair.

As long as she made reasonable use of the differences in information and cognitive dissonance between the two great demons, this situation would be no problem.

Convincing Lady White Bone was not a difficult task.

She was not the Yinshan Ghost Mother, unable to recognize whether the person in front of her was real or fake through the puppet. Since it was inconvenient to approach as a sword cultivator, Ning ning only needed to show up with Chao Yan’s face and then urgently lead out the Yinshan Ghost Mother’s presence…

Even if Lady White Bone had some doubts before, the anger from the theft of her essence would be enough to divert all her attention.

What did Ning Ning say at that time?

“Lady! While I was entertaining guests tonight, I encountered a sword cultivator. After three rounds of wine, she unexpectedly revealed that there is a hundred-year-old demon, the Yinshan Ghost Mother, hidden at the bottom of the Star Picking Pavilion. I heard that the Yinshan Ghost Mother also cultivates by consuming human essence, and a few years ago, she was injured by the righteous path and disappeared. Could it be… related to the fact that the essence in the Pavilion has become increasingly scarce?”

Lady White Bone, not yet completely dumbfounded, hesitated and asked, “A sword cultivator?”

“That’s right! she claimed to be a disciple of the Xuanxu Sword Sect. Chao Yan didn’t dare act rashly, so she first got her drunk and then came to report to you.”

This reason was both logical and well-founded, making it practically impeccable.

Furthermore, Ning ning secretly pinched a talisman hidden in her sleeve, transforming the appearance of the sword cultivator face in her hand. “This is what the sword cultivator looks like. If you don’t believe it, have Chao Yan use this face to test her. That wicked woman will definitely admit her wrongdoing.”

Changing faces was a unique method among the monsters and demons in the building.

So loyal, so meticulous, so considerate, and even able to easily create a human face mask on the spot. This must be Chao Yan’s true face! Why doubt it?

As a result, Lady White Bone was brought here by her.

Lady White Bone regretted it.

She thought she was bringing along a loyal and devoted underling, but it turned out to be a heartless rascal. Not only did she treat her as a tool from start to finish, but she also didn’t hesitate to sell her out.

The Yinshan Ghost Mother hated it.

She thought she had carefully thought through everything and that dealing with these two people would be a piece of cake. However, she had fallen for their tricks and, right in front of the righteous sword cultivator, nearly beaten the only person who could have been her ally to near death.

The Yinshan Ghost Mother yelled angrily, “You idiot, bringing a sword cultivator into my lair! Have you been kicked in the head by a donkey!!”

The nearly breathless Lady White Bone gritted her teeth. “Clearly, it was you, you witch, who stole my opportunity! You bitch still barking here; I’ll smash your mouth!”

“Fool!” “Thief!”

These two were like children.

Ning Ning listened to them bickering like this for a while, hesitated, and then spoke up, “Well…”

The Yinshan Ghost Mother and Lady White Bone: “Shut up, you stinky sword cultivator!”

The Yinshan Ghost Mother’s anger welled up, and she gritted her teeth while silently reciting an incantation.

On the mottled stone walls covered in bloodstains, several deep-red venomous spiders emerged, and a faint blood-red glow appeared on the spread-out spider silk. “Do you think it’s over like this? I am the Yinshan Ghost Mother, commanding countless ghostly, venomous births. My power still lingers, and with just a small sword cultivator like you, Bitch! what can you do to me?”

“Oh.”

Ning ning touched the cold scabbard of her Xinghen Sword and raised her gaze with a light smile. “Then, let me introduce myself.”

The Xinghen Sword responded, its bright pearl shining like a starry river.

Sword energy surged, and in an instant, it filled the dim cave, suppressing the foul wind rushing toward them.

“I am a disciple of the Xuanxu Sword Sect elder, known as Tian Xianzi. Today, I have come down the mountain to eliminate the demon. You can call me—”

She paused for a moment and used a half-joking tone, “Thousand-Layer Pancake.”

“Hahaha….Thousand-Layer Pancake!”

Tian Xianzi, standing next to the Mirror of Heaven, laughed so hard that he was trembling and pointed at Ning Ning’s self-satisfied expression in the illusion. “Senior Brother, did you see that? My disciple is so adorable, hahaha!”

Zhenxiao: …

Zhenxiao took a look at the young man in a patched white robe next to him and his uncontrollable joy.

How plain and unpretentious!

So much like a poor child with a low IQ who was several hundred years old.

Zhenxiao: “Indeed, she’s your disciple.”

And women’s thoughts are so terrifying.

But his sword was still the best.