Including Lin Mo…

Master Fengqing was the highest-ranked cultivator present, and naturally felt he should step forward.
The sudden appearance of the white-robed young girl, whose cultivation far surpassed his own, made him too wary to act rashly. He gave a difficult bow and said,
“I don’t know what brings Senior to our Qingling Sect?”

At this moment, Master Tianchen’s expression was extremely strange.
He had frequently passed by Qingzhu Peak during this time and had also heard about the relationship between Lin Mo and the young girl.
At the time, he had assumed the girl was just an ordinary cultivator. But now, seeing even Master Fengqing treating her as a major threat, it was clear her cultivation had already surpassed the Nascent Soul stage.

He couldn’t help but send a voice transmission to the other peak lords: “That girl seems to be Lin Mo’s Dao companion…”
As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of all the peak lords present turned extremely unpleasant.
A Dao companion at the Soul Transformation stage?
Then how could they possibly still take Lin Mo???
Most importantly, why would Lin Mo have a Dao companion at the Soul Transformation stage, and just what is her identity?

Gu Qingxue stepped lightly, and a surge of spiritual energy pushed all the peak lords—except for Lin Mo—out of the dueling arena.

Because she had just absorbed the memories of the flood dragon’s poison, her eyes were watery at this moment, still carrying a trace of—
—glared at Lin Mo.

“Lin Mo…”

Gu Qingxue slightly opened her mouth and realized she was about to mistakenly call out the word “Brother.” She caught herself in time, blushed, and said,
“You really deserve to die.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Gu Qingxue, in full view of everyone present, fiercely slapped Lin Mo.
At this moment, no one dared to speak. The crowd below the stage silently watched the two of them perform.

Lin Mo wasn’t thrown into a fit of emotion by the slap; on the contrary, he appeared unusually calm.
With a calm expression, he looked at Gu Qingxue and said,
“So that’s what it is—you’ve regained your memories?”

Although he was still puzzled as to why regaining her memories also meant her cultivation had returned—
—moreover, Gu Qingxue herself possessed at least Soul Transformation-level cultivation.

Seeing Lin Mo so calm, Gu Qingxue didn’t know what to do for a moment.
She had just raised her hand, wanting to slap Lin Mo to death with one blow—but couldn’t bring herself to do it…

The memories of her external incarnation really had affected her. Even she herself wasn’t sure what her current feelings for Lin Mo truly were.
She didn’t want to even think about the fact that this man had once been her disciple’s former fiancé.
If others truly found out she had entangled herself with her disciple’s former fiancé, then her hundred-year reputation as Palace Master of the Ice Palace—Gu Qingxue—would be utterly ruined.

Seeing the complicated look on her face, Lin Mo couldn’t help but feel a trace of pity for her.
At that moment, he recalled his mother’s warning. Facing her, he showed not a trace of affection and said,
“I knew this day would come.”

“I told you long ago—if you regained your memories, you wouldn’t like me that much anymore…” Lin Mo said softly. “Forget it. Although there was a reason behind it, I truly did do something that hurt you.” He looked at her with a trace of regret. “I really thought that the feelings we had during this time were genuine… turns out I was too naive, too hopeful.”

He pointed at his chest and handed the Liuli Sword to Gu Qingxue. “Stab me here. If the time we spent together means anything to you given your identity, then at least give me a swift end.”

The expression on Lin Mo’s face was perfectly controlled—his eyes revealed sadness, and the calm acceptance of dying by the hand of a loved one. He acted it out to perfection. He believed in his mother’s judgment. Even more, he believed that when the Liuli Sword came thrusting at him, he would be able to turn the tide. Besides, he still had a failsafe—Yan Ruyu had left him a piece of stone. The system had said the formation within that stone could negate a single fatal blow—and even teleport him away to another space.

If Gu Qingxue truly had the heart to strike him down, he could still escape unscathed.

Clearly, Lin Mo had bet correctly.

Gu Qingxue didn’t strike him with the Liuli Sword. Instead, she slapped him on the left cheek again, then turned and walked away.

It seemed that his mother’s method still worked.

Lin Mo let out a sigh of relief. Still, it was a good thing that Gu Qingxue had regained her memories during this period. At the very least, she would no longer be in mortal danger.

The crowd below the stage, including Ye Kai, had just witnessed a grand spectacle. At first, they had worried that the white-robed girl—whose cultivation they couldn’t see through—would save Lin Mo. But after hearing their conversation, they began hoping she’d stab him to death. In the end, they never expected the white-robed girl would simply walk away.

Still, perhaps that was for the best. Now that she had left, it meant she would no longer interfere with Lin Mo’s fate.

Shen Ke’er, on the other hand, felt conflicted. This was the first time she had seen her senior brother show such deep affection. For some reason, after watching the white-robed girl walk away from Lin Mo, her mood suddenly improved quite a bit. It was as if something of hers had been taken—only to be tossed aside in the end.

Not long after Gu Qingxue left, Master Fengqing led the other peak lords and surrounded Lin Mo once more. This time, he was determined to act—after all, they couldn’t be sure that girl wouldn’t have a change of heart and return to rescue this demonic cultivator. If that happened, they might lose their only chance to capture Lin Mo.

Master Rongyao once again ran his mouth:
“Lin Mo, your Dao companion could barely stand watching you cultivate demonic arts and nearly stabbed you—
and you still think you’ve done nothing wrong?”

“Blame your damn mother,” Lin Mo shot back coldly. “What’s wrong—been a bare stick your whole life? No woman’s ever liked you? Which eye of yours saw that she wanted to kill me because I cultivate demonic arts?”

Although Master Rongyao didn’t understand what Lin Mo meant by “bare stick,” he could still tell that Lin Mo was mocking him for not having a Dao companion. And truthfully, it was just as Lin Mo said—Rongyao was over a hundred years old and had never experienced a real relationship, only mechanical physical exchanges. Having his sore spot hit, Master Rongyao grew furious and stormed forward. But even a flurry of flashy attacks was easily countered by Lin Mo.

Master Fengqing, observing this, gave a cold command: “You all handle that Nascent Soul-stage spirit beast—Lin Mo is mine.” With that, he struck. Lin Mo didn’t dare to be careless. He knew Master Fengqing was a Soul Splitting stage cultivator. Without hesitation, he unleashed the Seven Kill Flowing Sword Technique.

With the enhancement of demonic energy, the Seven Kill Flowing Sword Technique was strong enough to severely injure even the flood dragon from before. But to Lin Mo’s shock, Master Fengqing’s spiritual sword released a beam of light that easily dispersed the entire technique. Lin Mo couldn’t help but think to himself: Is the Soul Splitting stage really this strong? Or is Master Fengqing one of the top elites of that realm?

At that moment, the system warned him: 【Host, if you don’t unleash the Sword Heart of that Heaven-tier sword technique, you might not survive the old man’s next move.】

Just as the system finished speaking, Master Fengqing’s sword released another burst of light, this one clearly more powerful than before.

Meanwhile, Qu Ruyan was faring no better. Though she tried to evade using her body-shifting technique, she was still overwhelmed by ten mid-to-late Nascent Soul cultivators and left covered in wounds. She hadn’t fully grasped the demonic fox tribe techniques passed down by the Six-tailed Demon Fox. Otherwise, she might’ve been able to put up a better fight.

Master Rongyao, spotting an opportunity, stumbled forward and struck her already-severed hind leg. Qu Ruyan cried out in pain, tears streaming from her eyes as she meowed pitifully, “Meow wa! Meow wa!”

Seeing this, Lin Mo’s heart burned with nameless fury. The Liuli Sword in his hand became wrapped in blood mist, and a massive blood-red sword aura erupted—devouring Master Fengqing’s attack and then shooting straight toward the top of Master Rongyao’s head.

“Master Rongyao, watch out!” Fengqing cried out in alarm.

But it was too late. The blood sword opened like a massive maw and swallowed Master Rongyao from above. Before long, Master Rongyao let out a heart-wrenching scream: “No…”

Master Rongyao could feel all the blood energy and sword energy in his body being drawn upward, absorbed by the blood-red sword hovering over his head. His cultivation plummeted from mid-stage Nascent Soul to early-stage, and was just about to fall further into the Golden Core stage when Master Fengqing formed a seal with both hands. Multicolored streams of spiritual light burst out in all directions, piercing the blood sword’s aura and forcing it back into Lin Mo’s body.

The weakened Master Rongyao immediately shouted, “You demon—give me back my cultivation!”

Seeing the surge of demonic energy around Lin Mo, everyone present was now completely convinced that he was the demonic cultivator who had harmed his fellow disciples. Master Tianchen was utterly enraged: “I once thought you had simply gone astray, that someone else was behind the attacks on our disciples. But now, you absorb Master Rongyao’s cultivation in front of us all—how can we still trust you?”

Lin Mo sneered. “To you people, it doesn’t matter whether I lost my way by accident or truly harmed my fellow disciples—I’d still deserve to die, wouldn’t I? Since you never intended to believe me in the first place, what’s the point of explaining anything?”

He raised his voice, cold and sharp. “What is an immortal? Graceful, dignified, spotless on the outside, but filthy within? And what is a demon? Arrogant and wild, unrestrained, unforgivable, steeped in sin? Immortal or demonic—if my heart walks the immortal path, then I am immortal. If it harbors demons, then I am one. The line between them is only a thought away.”

“You cultivators—judging someone as wrong just for being a demon… isn’t that also a kind of demonic heart?”

“Utter nonsense!” Master Fengqing snapped. “Don’t disturb our Dao hearts.” Then he turned to the other peak lords and commanded, “Activate the Lingmie Sect’s guardian formation. Kill this demon!”

At his words, all the peak lords began silently chanting the incantation for the protective formation. They focused their spiritual energy toward the formation core above the three peaks. In an instant, an invisible force enveloped the entire Qingling Sect. The sky darkened, black clouds rolled in, and thunder and lightning raged overhead.

A deafening crack rang out as a divine lightning bolt slammed down directly onto Lin Mo’s head. Lin Mo hurriedly summoned the blood sword again to block it—but even then, the force of the thunder shook him so violently that he spat blood.

Hidden in the shadows, Ye Kai watched all this unfold with growing horror. He hadn’t expected the Qingling Sect to possess such a powerful formation. His original plan had been to defeat Master Yuehua first, then slowly absorb the spiritual energy of the other peak lords one by one. Now, seeing this display, he realized his plan would need serious revision. Still, the thought of Lin Mo dying under the sect’s guardian formation filled him with excitement.

Zhu Shiyao and Duan Susu, on the other hand, were both growing more and more anxious. In this situation, they were powerless to help.

As Lin Mo withstood the power of the lightning, he shouted toward Qu Ruyan, “Yan’er, don’t come near me! They’re focused on the formation right now—they won’t pay attention to you. Find a chance to escape. Run to the demon realm!”

Qu Ruyan, still in her cat form, was stunned to see Lin Mo’s skin begin to crack and bleed from the strain. “Master, I don’t want to leave,” she said firmly.

And then, facing the thunder, she unleashed her devouring ability. Nearly two-thirds of the heavenly lightning was swallowed directly into her belly.

Lin Mo felt the pressure on him ease significantly, but still cursed out loud, “You stupid cat, how dare you eat thunder?” At that moment, Master Fengqing’s eyes lit up upon seeing Qu Ruyan’s ability: “After we kill Lin Mo, keep that spirit pet alive. Its power is extraordinary—we can ask the Beast Taming Sect to wipe its memories and make it our sect guardian beast.” At first, Qu Ruyan was still able to resist the power of the thunder. But as time passed, sparks began to arc over her body, her fur curled from the surging energy, and her entire cat face twisted in unbearable pain.

【My dear Host, hurry up and spend your regret points! Otherwise, even if you manage to escape in the end, your spirit pet is going to die here.】 Even the system was starting to panic at this point. Lin Mo was also prepared to spend all his regret points. He poured them all into upgrading the Nameless Sword Technique. 【Ding! Nameless Sword Technique has been upgraded to Level Six. Remaining regret points: 4688.】 As the system notification rang out, Lin Mo’s aura suddenly surged. The blood-colored sword energy shielding his head from the thunder grew even redder and more powerful.

Even the thunder force above Qu Ruyan’s head was blocked by him. Not only that, but Lin Mo’s eyes could also clearly see the karmic burdens on the cultivators around him. And in passing, he also noticed Ye Kai hidden in the corner. “Found you.” While withstanding the thunderous pressure, Lin Mo walked toward Ye Kai.

Ye Kai’s heart trembled, and he thought, “Could it be that I’ve been discovered?” “That’s impossible. Even Master Fengqing couldn’t detect my presence—how could he?” His heart tensed. He quickly blended into the crowd and revealed himself. Lin Mo walked very slowly, even though he had raised the Nameless Sword Technique to the sixth layer—he could barely withstand the force of the thunder. However, he still had enough strength left to kill Ye Kai.

Seeing Lin Mo walking toward the disciples of Qingling Sect, Master Fengqing merely thought he intended to absorb the disciples’ spiritual power to strengthen himself, and couldn’t help but shout, “Demon, if you dare make a move, I will definitely reduce you to ashes. You won’t even get a chance at reincarnation.” But Lin Mo ignored Master Fengqing’s words and continued walking toward Ye Kai.

He looked, and saw the karmic retribution on Ye Kai’s body—within it lay the sin of harming his fellow sect members. Seeing Lin Mo drawing closer and closer, Ye Kai collapsed onto the ground in fear. Internally, he screamed, “Wanwan, save me! Wanwan!” Wanwan cursed under her breath, “Idiot.” Sensing that Gu Qingxue’s presence hadn’t gone far, she still didn’t dare respond to Ye Kai at this moment.

At that very moment, on Qingzhu Peak, Master Yuehua successfully broke through to the Soul Splitting stage. The sect-protecting grand formation was also activated. Her figure flickered and she flew swiftly toward Canglan Peak.

Sensing the breakthrough aura, Master Fengqing hurriedly sent a voice transmission to inform her about Lin Mo cultivating demonic arts and harming fellow disciples. Upon hearing the news, Master Yuehua’s mind reeled: “Her disciple, how could he be practicing demonic cultivation?”

There must be some kind of misunderstanding. Although she tried to comfort herself with this thought, her heart pounded with unease—until she arrived at the dueling arena on Canglan Peak.

There, she saw Lin Mo engulfed in demonic energy, under relentless attack from the sect-protecting formation’s thunderous strikes. She froze on the spot, her face filled with disbelief.

After so many years together, she knew without a doubt—this was truly her disciple. He wasn’t a demon in disguise. So… had her disciple truly fallen into the demonic path?

Seeing Master Yuehua arrive, Ye Kai immediately cried out at the top of his lungs, “Master, save me!”