The only reason why Ye Xiuwen had detected something amiss before Qin Shanshan’s shriek rang out was that his sensitive divine sense had picked up a faint ripple in the energy of his surroundings.

The ripple was faint, slow and protracted. In fact, it was barely discernable at all. If not for the fact that Ye Xiuwen had shut his eyes and been adjusting his temperament and collecting his thoughts, he might well have glossed over the faint shift in the energy of his surroundings.

Could this have been caused by the person who had been observing us in the dark? A point of interest crossed Ye Xiuwen’s mind. He was curious about that person’s identity and intentions.

As for Qin Shanshan’s safety, that was well outside of the considerations of his heart.

The other disciples sped towards the source of Qin Shanshan’s voice with chaotic, roiling emotions in their hearts.

Qin Shanshan’s earlier shriek had been far too shrill and grave, and the disciples couldn’t help but think the worst of what could have happened.

These disciples weren’t afraid of the prospects that something might have happened to Qin Shanshan. Rather, they were afraid of how they were going to answer to Qin Lingyu afterwards and face his overbearing wrath and ire.

Then, in the moment that everyone finally saw Qin Shanshan, they immediately stopped in their steps and paused where they were.

They had expected to see a bloody, gory sight in front of them, but the sight that they were greeted by was something quite different from their expectations. In the narrow path that was surrounded by trees and thick shrubbery on both sides, the only thing they saw was Qin Shanshan scrambling and floundering in the mud on the floor, completely disheveled. As she crawled backwards, she stammered to something in front of her, “It’s got nothing to do with me…it’s got nothing to do with me…don’t come near me. Everything was Yu Wanrou’s idea. It’s got nothing to do with me…”

The reason why Qin Shanshan had been described to be addressing a “thing” was because the disciples could not see anything apart from air that...