Chapter 126: Find a Way Out
Lordi Payne weighed his odds with grim clarity. Even Garrick Blackthorn, a peak Ninth Layer Qi Refinement cultivator, had been ensnared by the Hanz Clan Ancestral Shrine’s pearl curtain, swallowed in a fleeting moment without resistance. His fate—dead or alive—remained a chilling mystery. The horrors of the Mountain Estate were far beyond Lordi’s Seventh Layer Qi Refinement strength, and the weight of that truth pressed heavily on his chest.
"Yunny, we’re still in danger," Lordi said urgently, turning to the small girl in the tattered red dress. "The Hanz Clan estate is gripped by terror. I need to take you to the Abyss Pit Sect. The Outer Sect can send stronger Enforcers to investigate."
Yunny tilted her head, her pale face scrunching in confusion, her voice a soft, childish chirp. "What’s an Enforcer? Are you an immortal master from the super mighty Abyss Pit Sect?"
Lordi managed a faint smile. "Well, sorta. Listen, we gotta hurry. Can you turn into your wraith form again?" Though Yunny had rediscovered her humanity, her Ninth Layer Qi Refinement ghost aura was fading rapidly, her translucent form shimmering unsteadily.
"Wraith?" Yunny’s delicate brow furrowed, trying to look fierce but only managing to look adorably pouty. "I ’member bein’ chopped up... it hurt a lot. Then I don’t ’member much. Shifu kept me with him, that’s all."
"Wraith’s what you were before, all shadowy and scary," Lordi explained gently.
"Oh! I can try!" Yunny scrunched her face, attempting a fierce expression that was more cute than menacing.
Nothing happened.
"Huh? Why’s it not workin’?" she whined, her voice thin and puzzled.
Lordi frowned. "You don’t remember being in the Ancestral Shrine? I saw you there."
"That’s impossible!" Yunny’s eyes widened, her tone insistent. "The shrine’s for fancy Hanz family only. My daddy was just a guard soldier. He only went there on Masturi holidays every six months to protect the masters. Us servants can’t go there!"