Taken Away

Black Cloud Mountain was enveloped in a dense, toxic miasma that blanketed the entire mountain range.

Inside a massive cavern, a chilling, noxious fog swirled. Jagged stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping water that chimed softly against the ground, while a faint, eerie mist drifted all around.

Ye Chang'an kicked Mo Xu hard in the chest, sending him flying a hundred feet away. “Useless waste!” he barked furiously. “Didn't you say the Mist Realm was your territory?! A whole night has passed, so where are they?! How can two people just vanish into thin air?!”

Clutching his chest, Mo Xu scrambled back toward him, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. He bowed repeatedly, begging for mercy. “Young Master, please calm your anger! The mist formations in the Mist Realm are incredibly complex, and there are countless hidden caves. They must be hiding somewhere. They—they couldn't have possibly escaped. Please, Young Master, give us a little more time...”

Ye Chang'an grabbed him by the collar, his eyes flashing with raw hostility. “Your father died because he didn't know his place! If you still want to be the sect leader, you'd better catch them and bring them back immediately! Otherwise, I wouldn't mind making sure you end up without a grave, just like your father!”

Mo Xu frantically kowtowed to him before scrambling to his feet. “Yes! I—I will definitely bring the Saintess back!”

Ye Chang'an kicked him in the waist again. “And her lover too! Bring them both back to me!!”

“Yes!”

Mo Xu scrambled on all fours, hastily retreating from the cavern.

Ye Chang'an spat in disgust, then turned his gaze toward the white jade throne at the very top of the cavern.

Upon the high throne, Wen Tang reclined lazily.

Her ink-black robes accentuated her unparalleled beauty. With her willow-leaf eyebrows and almond eyes, she was as gorgeous as a piece of finely crafted porcelain.

Those eyes, which used to be so shy and full of life, were now completely dead, devoid of any emotion a normal person should have.

On her left and right stood two equally pale and rigid cultivators.

The anger in Ye Chang'an's eyes was replaced by a dark, mocking amusement. He slowly walked up the stone steps.

Step by step, he approached the white jade throne and looked down at Wen Tang.

Suddenly, he reached out, his fingers clamping onto her chin like iron pincers. He forced her head up, gripping so hard he almost crushed her bones. “Having your emotions forcibly stripped away, your heart and bones hollowed out... that couldn't have felt good, could it?

“If you had just been obedient back then and agreed to reinstate our marriage contract, you wouldn't have ended up in this half-human, half-ghost state.”

He tightened his grip further, his knuckles turning white.

Yet Wen Tang did not even furrow her brow. Her hollow eyes remained fixed on him, unblinking.

Feeling as if his anger had struck empty air, Ye Chang'an let out a cold sneer. “You were always like an icicle. You finally learned how to smile, and now you've become this stupid again.”

His gaze swept over her face, and a playful, malicious grin tugged at the corners of his lips. He stroked her chin with a cruel touch, his tone dripping with blatant contempt. “Still, you do have a pretty face. How about this? Kneel down and beg me. Once I marry Chen Qingqiu, I might just bring you back to the Taiqing Pavilion to be my maid.”

With that, he released her and pulled out a red string. He gave it a gentle tug, saying playfully, “Come on, kneel and kowtow to beg me.”

Wen Tang's eyes finally flickered slightly. She looked up at him and began to move in tandem with the tug of the red string.

She stood up, then bent her knees.

Before she could kneel, a hand suddenly clamped down on Ye Chang'an's arm. “Young Master, now is not the time for games.”

His fun interrupted, Ye Chang'an turned around in annoyance. The speaker was Ye Yu, his uncle and the Seventh Elder of the Taiqing Pavilion.

It was Ye Yu who had just explained the whole situation to him and handed over the red string, claiming it could control Wen Tang.

Ye Yu's expression was steady, his tone carrying an indisputable gravity. “The Pavilion Master has rarely entrusted you with such a major responsibility. If you don't want to disappoint him, your top priority right now is to find Chen Qingqiu and marry her as planned to secure our alliance. Wen Tang is the most crucial piece in the Pavilion Master's plans. You absolutely must not provoke her. If he finds out you've laid a hand on her, I'm afraid...”

Ye Chang'an cut him off irritably. “You call this provoking her? I'm just teaching her a lesson for what she did in the past. She's already like this, what could possibly go wrong?”

Before Ye Yu could argue further, he stowed the red string away and muttered grumpily, “Fine, fine, I'm done. I'm going out for a walk.”

Ye Yu cupped his hands toward his retreating back. “I must return to report to the Pavilion Master. If you get any news of the Saintess, Young Master, you must inform the sect immediately. Be careful out there.”

Without looking back, Ye Chang'an replied, “You talk too much. Black Cloud Mountain is entirely our territory now. Rest easy.”

...

After seeing Chen Qingqiu off, Song Yao crawled back into the cave and seriously pondered the possibility of living in seclusion here to farm.

In the territory of Black Cloud Mountain, the Nine Saints Hall mark on her body wouldn't work.

In short, no one would know where she was.

This way, she wouldn't have to face Zhu Zhao, allowing her to completely sever herself from her past.

But obviously, it wouldn't work.

She couldn't farm here, she couldn't raise little chicks and ducklings, and she would have to constantly worry about Black Cloud Mountain disciples finding her.

So what should she do?

Go back out and confront Zhu Zhao face-to-face?

What if Zhu Zhao had already revealed her identity to the rest of the Nine Saints Hall?

Would she be thrown back into the Earth Realm?

She wasn't afraid of the Earth Realm, but the Earth Realm wasn't suitable for farming or raising chicks and ducklings either. Plus, there would be no one to cook for her.

She lay on the cold ground despondently for a while. Feeling chilly, she wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and let out a lazy yawn.

Just as she was half-asleep, contemplating where to go, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed outside. “Catch them!”

“Over here!”

“Quick, catch them!!”

Song Yao jolted awake. Just as she sat up, two small, thin figures suddenly dashed into the cave. They fell to their knees behind her, clutching her clothes and crying, “Help! I don't want to be turned into a puppet!”

“Waaah, I don't want to die!!”

Before Song Yao could figure out what was happening, several black-robed figures flooded into the cave, blocking out the light.

“We found three here,” the leader said in a deep voice. “Take them away!”

Song Yao: “?”

Only after she was inexplicably captured, thrown into a cramped cave, and squeezed in with a bunch of children of various ages did Song Yao finally get a vague grasp of the situation.

Black Cloud Mountain had previously kidnapped a group of children and locked them up, presumably intending to refine them into puppets.

Last night, most of the guarding cultivators had been dispatched to the Mist Realm to search for her and Chen Qingqiu, allowing a few children to take advantage of the situation and escape.

By some stroke of terrible luck, they had run straight into her cave, and she had been captured along with them as one of the runaway kids.

Fortunately, these evil cultivators were still busy trying to capture Chen Qingqiu and had no time to deal with them, only placing two layers of restrictions outside the cave.

Moreover, judging by what those evil cultivators had said earlier, they seemed convinced that the person who helped Chen Qingqiu escape was a man. Not only that, they firmly believed Chen Qingqiu was still trapped inside the Mist Realm.

That was fine.

This way, Chen Qingqiu could escape even further.

Song Yao had gone through quite a few ordeals last night, so her state of mind was exceptionally calm now. She simply lay down wherever she fell, leaning against the stone wall while yawning. She even had the leisure to comfort the crying children in the corner: “It's fine, it's fine. Being made into puppets is actually pretty cute.”