Chapter 42: Where Did You Hide Her?

Mo Liuli felt as though she had returned to that state of lethargy from when she first arrived in this strange world. She could not wake up, no matter how hard she tried; her entire consciousness was frozen within a tiny space, a space of extreme, biting cold.

Her body was trapped, and memories played out like a film on loop, from her life as Mo Li to her rebirth in this current existence.

The stone coffin exuded a thick, heavy sorrow that permeated the entire chamber.

The woman whom Huan Lanjing called the Supreme Empress had discarded the black veil that concealed her face. She stood before the stone platform, her mouth agape like a bloodthirsty abyss, greedily absorbing energy from Long'er. Surrounded by swirling toxic mists, the woman’s withered, aged face began to show signs of restoration.

As time ticked away, the Supreme Empress’s wrinkled skin smoothed back into the appearance of a young girl. From a distance, she looked alluring and vibrant, her hands transforming from skeletal, old claws into the delicate, supple hands of a maiden.

"Haha! Mo Li, I, Huan Lan, am truly grateful to you!" The Supreme Empress stroked her face and hands in excitement, calling out to Mo Li.

"You calculated everything, yet in the end, your bloodline still fell into my hands! Hmph, with you as my trump card, let’s see how those two old fools, Yuan Jian and Qian Chi, will dare to act arrogant! Oh, I forgot to tell you—Ge, your dear sister Ge, is dead. You didn’t know, did you? Ahahaha..."

The Supreme Empress paced before the stone coffin, gloating as she revealed the news of Ge's death.

"Ge... Ge is dead?" Mo Liuli questioned in her mind. But according to her memories, Ge’s lifespan should have been equal to the other great guardians. Since Huan Lan and the others were still alive, how could she have died?

Mo Liuli could still hear the sounds from the outside; the person outside the coffin was indeed one of the guardians from those years, Huan Lan.

"You must be very curious about how Ge died, right? Let me tell you..."

Mo Liuli held her breath, listening intently, but just as the woman reached the crucial point, the voice outside vanished, and the chamber returned to a deathly silence.

In her past life, Ge had treated Mo Li like kin. She had to find a way out, uncover the truth of Ge's death, and avenge her! And Long'er—Long'er was in her hands, and she had no idea what state the child was in.

Mo Liuli spent what felt like years trapped in the stone coffin, desperate to escape. Her memories were like a vast ocean, filled with countless martial arts manuals; she searched through them frantically, hoping to find a way to break free.

"Where did Li'er go?"

Xiao Junwang, having retrieved the snow lotus nectar, returned to the inn only to find it empty. It was already midnight, yet Mo Liuli and Long'er were nowhere to be found. Stunned, he rushed to Qiu Xue’s room, dust still on his robes. The door stood wide open, and he saw Qiu Xue standing by the table.

"I should be asking you that. Where did you hide her?" Qiu Xue retorted, his tone hostile.

He and Feng Xiyan had returned to the inn with several spirit herbs, only to find not a soul in sight—not even the little maid. He had asked the innkeeper, who claimed to have seen no one leave, yet the rooms remained unoccupied. He had waited all day, anxious and restless.

Feng Xiyan huddled quietly in the corner of the bed, watching Xiao Junwang in silence.

Seeing Xiao Junwang’s face darken, Qiu Xue’s eyelid twitched. He grabbed his cloak from the table, draped it over his shoulders, and strode out.

It seemed Mo Liuli had truly met with disaster.

With this realization, Qiu Xue moved like the wind, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Junwang stood in the street where the figure had disappeared. He reached up and removed the purple fox mask he always wore, revealing a face of unparalleled, breathtaking beauty.

Feng Xiyan, who had followed behind, froze. A flash of awe crossed her eyes as she stared, dumbstruck by Xiao Junwang’s perfect profile.

Xiao Junwang did not notice her. He squeezed the mask, then vanished like a gust of wind, leaving a stunned Feng Xiyan behind.

"I never imagined the face beneath the purple fox would be even more striking than Yuan Lie’s..."

Feng Xiyan whispered to herself. She had known Xiao Junwang for decades, yet she only knew that he called himself Xiao, and that his most prominent feature was that vivid, lifelike purple fox mask.