“Just keep an eye on the girl in green for me.”

Xu Taiping couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Alright.”

Bai Yu nodded.

“The girl in green is currently standing with a young lady in white, while the others have dispersed into the red maple forest ahead, presumably preparing to hunt a demon beast.”

As if to show off his extraordinary vision in front of Xu Taiping, Bai Yu deliberately described the situation below in great detail, which was exactly what Xu Taiping wanted to know.

“So Zi Jin actually did come to Green Peak Gorge. If nothing goes wrong, the demon they’re hunting should be that Tiger Demon.”

Xu Taiping silently speculated in his heart.

“Eh, Xu Taiping, how did you know there’s a girl in green in the forest below?”

Bai Yu suddenly realized something.

“That, that’s a sister I met outside the mountain before. She mentioned she would come to Green Peak Gorge to hunt in the next few days.”

Caught with a slip in his words, Xu Taiping wasn’t too flustered and calmly made up a reason.

“Oh? So you came out with me to look for yellow sheep as a ruse, but meeting that girl in green is the real deal?”

However, to Xu Taiping’s surprise, Bai Yu didn’t get angry about being deceived; instead, he seemed quite interested and started asking Xu Taiping about it.

“Bai Yu, to be honest, looking for the yellow sheep is true, and so is meeting that sister.”

Xu Taiping decided not to hide it anymore.

“Could it be that you fancy the girl in green?”

Bai Yu suddenly chuckled and asked.

“Ah?”

Bai Yu’s leap in logic caught Xu Taiping off guard.

“Have you two reached the stage of holding hands? Have you kissed? Or have you already… hehehe…”

Before Xu Taiping could think of a response, Bai Yu threw out a series of questions that made Xu Taiping blush.

“Bai… Brother Bai Yu, Zi Jin and I are just friends…”

Xu Taiping stammered out a reply.

“Friends? Isn’t it that you humans, men like women, all for the sake of holding hands, for kissing?”

Bai Yu was genuinely surprised.

Xu Taiping was embarrassed.

“Who on earth taught him all this? Uncle Bai? Impossible!”

He muttered to himself in his heart.

“Roar!…”

Just as Xu Taiping was at a loss for how to answer Bai Yu’s questions, a tiger’s roar suddenly came from the forest below.

Despite the distance, the roar still sent shivers down Xu Taiping’s spine.

“Oh? They’re hunting that tiger that likes to keep Evil Ghosts.”

Bai Yu was not startled by the roar; instead, he made a jest about the Tiger Demon.

“Brother Bai Yu, you know about this demon tiger?”

Xu Taiping looked up curiously at Bai Yu.

“I heard about it from my father before. Back when this North Wind Tiger wasn’t a big deal, West Wind Pavilion didn’t bother with it. Now they want to deal with it but lack the power, so they have to ask the disciples from the mountain to hunt it down. But this creature is particularly cunning and has raised five or six Evil Ghosts, so it has been roaming these mountains freely until now.”

Bai Yu casually replied, then immediately asked Xu Taiping with a vigilant look:

“You’re not asking me to help your little lover, are you?”

“Who, who said she’s my little lover?”

Xu Taiping was startled by Bai Yu’s sudden “little lover” and nearly tumbled off his back.

“I’ll tell you the truth, all the Spirit Birds in Yunlu Mountain have soul contracts with Qingxuan Sect. Unless their own safety is threatened or they have permission from the sect, they cannot interfere in the mountain’s conflicts, even if it’s to help a Qingxuan Sect disciple.”

Bai Yu continued on his own.

“Brother Bai Yu, I’m not asking you to take action. I’m just a bit worried about Sister Zi Jin and would like you to help me check on the situation below.”

Xu Taiping answered honestly.

“That’s possible, but I can’t just help you for nothing.”

Bai Yu pondered for a moment and then nodded.

“I can give you ten more Merit Coins, Brother Bai Yu.”

Xu Taiping offered generously.

“I don’t want Merit Coins.”

Bai Yu shook his head, then with a sly look in his eyes, he said:

“But after you kiss that girl in green, you must tell me about it, tell me what it tastes like, whether it’s sweet or fragrant.”

…

In the red maple forest.

“Roar!…”

With a tiger’s roar, a gust of wind swept through the entire red maple forest, and maple leaves danced in the sky.

“Sister Buyu, let’s hide first.”

Zi Jin pulled Lin Buyu’s arm, stepped on a maple leaf, and with a graceful leap, landed lightly on the treetop of a huge maple tree.

It was hard to spot the two of them without looking closely.

Taking advantage of the view from above, Zi Jin and Lin Buyu finally spotted the figure of Lu Chen fighting the Tiger Demon and two Evil Ghosts deep in the red maple forest.

Since the main task was to lure the enemy, Lu Chen mostly fought while retreating, rarely confronting the Tiger Demon and Evil Ghosts head-on, just using his agile movements to dodge and harass.

“Clang!”

Just as Lu Chen lured the Evil Ghosts and the Tiger Demon to the prearranged spot, he suddenly drew his long sword from his waist, spun his body, and slashed at the two Evil Ghosts.

“Clang!~”The moment the long sword cleaved through the air, strands of True Qi condensed into sword energy, accompanied by the metallic tremor of sound, slicing into the bodies of the two Evil Ghosts like spinning rings.

“Bang!”

In an instant, several deep, bone-exposing wounds appeared on the bodies of the two Evil Ghosts, and their forms were sent flying backward by the immense impact within the sword energy.

What was more critical was that, unlike ordinary blade wounds, these sword injuries, imbued with pure sword energy, not only followed the meridians to damage the internal organs but could also harm the Evil Ghosts’ shadowy souls.

“Ah!!……”

“Ah!”

For a moment, the two Evil Ghosts writhed in agony on the ground.

“No wonder Senior Sister said that sword cultivators can cut through anything.”

Lin Buyu, who had been silent all along, suddenly murmured expressionlessly.

“Junior Sister is right, sword cultivators possess the strongest killing power, but the requirements for cultivation are extremely strict. One must open the Qi Storehouse and the Snowy Mountain, then condense several times the True Qi into a strand of sword energy. Geniuses like Brother Lu are few and far between.”

Zi Jin nodded in agreement.

Lin Buyu did not respond, continuing to watch the situation unfold with an undisturbed gaze.

What Zi Jin certainly didn’t know was that at this moment, within the sleeve of Lin Buyu, a strand of sword energy was coiling around her wrist like a serpent.

“Roar!!……”

Just then, the massive body of the demonic tiger leaped out, crushing a swath of maple trees, and with a swipe of its paw, three sharp claw shadows carrying the wind of blades struck down towards Lu Chen.