Having heard Han Li's words, the old man had no choice but to return, though he was still brimming with doubts.
Before long, the second brother came back, his face ashen. As expected, he had failed to catch up with their fifth sister. But since Han Li had already said his piece beforehand, the group didn't need to worry about angering Senior Han.
At the same time, in an extremely remote alley somewhere in the capital of the Yue Kingdom, a slender figure was stumbling southward. In the faint moonlight, one could just make out the panicked face of the young woman known as "Fifth Sister."
She kept glancing behind her as she ran, wearing the expression of someone terrified that someone might suddenly appear.
Although Han Li had sealed away most of the woman's magical power, she was still a cultivator and her spiritual sense remained intact. After confirming that no one was pursuing her from behind, she finally allowed herself to relax a little.
This was all thanks to the concealment talisman the young man had slipped to her when he let her go — it was the only reason she had made it this far.
Not long after she fled, she had spotted the tall, thin figure of a man passing overhead. Fortunately, she had reacted quickly and activated the talisman, barely managing to avoid detection.
Now, she figured her second brother had either gone chasing in a different direction or had already returned to the Qin residence. That was the only reason she dared to sprint so recklessly through the alley.
What she was heading toward now was a secret Black Fiend Sect outpost in the South District. She believed that if she could report Han Li's whereabouts and provide detailed intelligence to her superiors, she would earn no small amount of merit. That would bring her one step closer to her cherished dream of Foundation Establishment.
Back in the day, she and several other promising outer disciples of the Black Fiend Sect had witnessed the mysterious sect leader's miraculous ability to grant Foundation Establishment to Qi Condensation cultivators. They had immediately pledged their unwavering loyalty to the Black Fiend Sect, all for the hope that one day, once they had accumulated enough merit, the sect leader would bestow upon them the gift of Foundation Establishment.
As far as she knew, most outer disciples who willingly served the Black Fiend Sect shared this same goal. That was why she had never believed she had made the wrong choice.
After all, with her aptitude, her cultivation had essentially reached its ceiling. If she wanted to advance further, or even achieve Foundation Establishment, there was simply no other path.
As for the sworn siblings she had left behind — while she felt a twinge of regret, now that she had chosen this road, she had to sever all ties of sentiment. If they were captured, whether they would be used in blood sacrifices or placed under control again was entirely up to the superiors. She had no intention of pleading on their behalf. From now on, she would live only for herself.
The woman nursed these cold, ruthless thoughts while indulging in dreams of Foundation Establishment. Underneath it all, her feet seemed to move a little lighter.
From a distance, she spotted the intersection leading to the South District. Delighted, she was about to quicken her pace when she suddenly felt a damp sensation beneath her nose. Puzzled, she reached up and wiped it, then looked at her hand — and her whole body went rigid, her face contorting with shock and terror.
Five pale fingers were coated in a sticky, dark-red liquid.
"What is this...?"
Fifth Sister frantically tried to wipe the black blood from under her nose with her sleeve, but by now the nosebleed was gushing forth like a broken dam. In the blink of an eye, black blood began streaming from her eyes and ears as well.
The young woman felt her entire body go limp with weakness. Her legs buckled, and she collapsed straight to the ground.
Her body was now freezing cold, without a shred of warmth in her chest. She wanted to scream for help, but her throat was impossibly dry — not a single sound escaped.
After that, her consciousness gradually blurred. Before long, she sank into permanent darkness.
The following morning, passersby would notice with some bewilderment that a puddle of black, foul-smelling blood had appeared out of nowhere in the alley, forcing everyone to detour around it and drawing no small amount of grumbling.
The moment the young woman drew her last breath, Han Li was in his own room, inspecting all of his magical tools and talismans, making preparations for departure.
Once he had packed everything neatly, Han Li gazed out the window at the crescent moon, a flicker of loneliness crossing his face. He murmured softly to himself: "About time now. The poison should be taking effect."
With those words, Han Li let out a quiet sigh, stepped out of his room, and headed toward the Qingyin Courtyard.
His suspicion of Fifth Sister had actually arisen back when he was detoxifying the Five Friends of Mount Meng. He had noticed something off — while she had been poisoned with the same toxin, the concentration was far weaker than in the other three, and even if it activated, it would most likely not be fatal.
Quite the opposite was true of the blood curse in her body. Han Li had struggled enormously to remove it, which indicated that the young woman must have been afflicted with it for quite some time; otherwise, it wouldn't have left such deep traces in her spiritual sense.
Acting out of caution, Han Li had deliberately placed a small restriction on the woman while removing her blood curse — a contingency measure.
The restriction's function was simple: it temporarily gathered the residual medicinal power from the two bottles of antidote she had consumed and concentrated it in a specific location within her body. When Han Li triggered it, that residue would abruptly transform into an incredibly lethal poison. The two bottles of pills were called "Impermanence Pills" — they could serve as a miraculous antidote, yet through a specific method, they could also be converted into poison. They were among the treasures Han Li had kept for himself.