The Unveiling Scheme

The almost monstrous malevolence on Lu Ping’an’s face instantly melted away, transforming like a Sichuan opera mask into a bright, radiant smile of intimacy, as if the chilling killing intent from moments before had never existed.

She even winked playfully, leaning in close to Li Xin.

“Silly girl,” she purred, her voice sweet and drawn out, imbued with a deliberate affection, “I was just tricking you!”

“Eh…?” The horror in Li Xin’s eyes had yet to fully recede; she stared blankly at Lu Ping’an, unable to process the abrupt shift, her voice caught in her throat.

“Just… toying… with you!” Lu Ping’an extended a finger, gently tapping Li Xin’s forehead, her posture almost deliberately naive and charming.

Yet, a fleeting, elusive glint flickered deep within her eyes.

“Who told you to always hover around Wei Qing and leave me out in the cold? Hmph~ Fooled you, didn’t I~”

She crinkled her nose, mimicking her old chiding tone, then flashed a triumphant smile, smoothly steering the conversation towards her true objective.

“That bottle? It’s not some instant, lethal poison at all! But then again…”

Her voice shifted, light and carefree.

“It’s certainly enough to make our ‘Lin Wan’er’ lose face completely on the training grounds! Once he ingests it, no matter how formidable he pretends to be, I guarantee he won’t be able to mobilize even half a wisp of spiritual energy! At that point, it’ll be a ready-made spectacle, with everyone gathered to watch and mock him. Wouldn’t that be far more interesting—and safer—than simply killing him?”

“You…” Li Xin’s voice was a little hoarse.

She had to rein in her heart, which was still instinctively pounding from the recent mortal threat, and suppress the turbulent emotions swirling within her.

She forced herself to adopt an expression of someone who had narrowly escaped death, tinged with a bewildered emptiness and the annoyance of being dismissed.

“You tricked me?!”

“Oh, dear me,” Lu Ping’an immediately pouted, displaying a wounded, helpless expression, her tone as soft and sweet as if coated in honey. “We’re the best of friends, aren’t we!”

She opened her arms, enveloping Li Xin in a long-awaited, powerful embrace.

Her chin rested affectionately on Li Xin’s shoulder as she murmured the most intimate words.

“How could I ever bear to let you get your hands dirty with something like murder? Just think about it, it’s impossible, isn’t it~”

Under the cover of the embrace, Lu Ping’an’s hands, resting on Li Xin’s back, were intently scrutinizing Lin Mo’s neck, carefully examining every spot Li Xin had touched earlier.

She found no glint of silver or any sharp object piercing Lin Mo’s neck, and the last taut string in Lu Ping’an’s heart finally loosened.

Her arms, wrapped around Li Xin, seemed to tighten further, burying her face deeper into the other’s neck, letting out a sigh of contentment as her entire being immersed itself in the warmth of ‘reunited best friends’.

At this moment, she finally had her best friend.

Moreover, she had successfully completed the task Qiu Yue had assigned, a truly successful endeavor.

With the family’s revival now within reach, she would soon be able to atone for her past mistakes.

“Thank you, Li Xin.”

Lu Ping’an held her even tighter.

Li Xin, too, held her with equal fervor, as if fearing Lu Ping’an might suddenly escape.

The three of them had grown up together, each learning much from the others.

For instance, Lu Ping’an had developed an interest in medicine since childhood, and Li Xin herself had taught her quite a bit.

But an interest, after all, remained just an interest.

She knew the acupoints that could rouse someone from unconsciousness, yet she was unsure if cultivators required actual needles for the technique.

One only needed to transform spiritual energy into a needle to pierce the acupoints, achieving the same depth without any external manifestation.

Over time, these spiritual needles would naturally dissipate.

At this very moment, Lin Wan’er had already awakened, but he was suppressed by spiritual needles, unable to move anything but his tongue.

“We should head back now, shouldn’t we? Staying too long will arouse suspicion,” Li Xin suggested.

“Ah, just wait for the sparring match. Lin Wan’er is bound to lose.”

With that, the two of them departed.

Not until their footsteps faded into the distance, and no sound of movement remained outside.

However, Lin Mo did not stir, for he was unsure if the other party might return for a final, decisive blow.

He endured the agonizing pain, silently waiting until the break of dawn the following day.

Now, his intricate scheme was entirely complete.

In truth, Lin Mo had known from the very beginning that someone was eavesdropping from above.

He had simply not anticipated that they would also release a sleeping incense.

Fortunately, he had already subverted Li Xin, otherwise, the situation truly would have spiraled out of his control.

With this, Qiu Yue would mistakenly believe that his greatest trump card was merely his Foundation Establishment cultivation.

She would assume this was his ultimate reliance.

Coupled with the poisoned pill, she would undoubtedly be one hundred percent convinced that she had already secured victory.

But what she didn’t know was this—

At this very moment, the viscous spiritual liquid within Lin Mo’s Dantian flowed like an unseen current, its deep, profound fluctuations far surpassing the reserves typically possessed by cultivators at the initial stage of Foundation Establishment.

This seemingly sluggish and slow circulation was, in reality, a manifestation of spiritual essence highly compressed and refined to the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Indeed, that reckless night had not only allowed Ji Xue to break through to Foundation Establishment, but had also enabled Lin Mo to achieve the same.

His cultivation, however, had been elevated too rapidly, causing some injuries.

Yet, with a month of quiet recuperation, Lin Mo had now completely stabilized his cultivation.

The Profound Yin Qi within his body still settled, but one-tenth of it no longer belonged to Mu Qingli, but rather… to Lin Mo himself.

One should not underestimate this mere tenth; even this fraction alone allowed him to break through all the way to Foundation Establishment.

Had his body not ultimately been unable to withstand and control the surge of Profound Yin Qi, breaking through to Golden Core would have been no issue.

However, for cultivators, the shallower their cultivation, the more solid their foundation needed to be.

Otherwise, Qiu Yue wouldn’t have been stuck at Foundation Establishment for over a decade without any progress.

Though it carried a slight risk now, wasn’t it ultimately worth it?

The last footsteps outside the window finally vanished into the distance.

In the darkness, Lin Mo’s tightly shut eyes flickered with a subtle gleam, then returned to their placid stillness.

He remained perfectly still, maintaining the posture of deep unconsciousness.

Even the rhythm of his breathing was identical to how it had been when Lu Ping’an was present.

The spiritual needles Li Xin had implanted were slowly dissipating, and control of his body was returning, yet he chose to remain dormant.

Agonizing pain—the sharp torment of forcibly suppressing his counterattack instincts and enduring the spiritual needle’s stimulation—gnawed at his sea of consciousness like a venomous serpent, yet it was fiercely suppressed by his formidable willpower beneath a mask of stillness.

He waited, anticipating the first ray of dawn to pierce the enveloping darkness on the morrow.

Then, Qiu Yue would face her first defeat.

And he, for his part, would finally be free from Qiu Yue’s grasp.

Now, only waiting remained.

Lin Mo had endured much for twenty years; he could endure a little longer.

In the depth of night, Lin Mo’s divine sense silently spread, continuously enveloping the room and extending outward for five hundred meters.

Within this radius, he held complete knowledge of everything.

There was no surprise counterattack, nor any trace of human presence.

Not even insects or ants were present.

And certainly no people.

Yet he continued to endure, knowing that caution was the key to navigating treacherous waters.

The closer he came to the crucial moment, the more meticulous Lin Mo became, absolutely refusing to stumble here.

The freedom his mother yearned for—he was about to take the first step towards it.

He would not, under any circumstances, allow himself to fail.

Past humiliations, hatred, and fury now accumulated in the darkness, within the pounding heart of the young man.

No one could see, no one could know.

The Profound Yin Qi, rumored to freeze all creation, was now inextricably intertwined with a wisp of unyielding flame—the icy patterns unable to extinguish this faint glow, the fierce gales unable to scatter this thread of warmth.

Within the biting, frosty white vortex, an eerie, flowing crimson seeped forth.

Ice and fire silently fused into one, transforming into the most wondrous spectacle in the world.

Like the polarities of Yin and Yang.