With the enhancement brought by the spiritual artifact, Li Ming, who was merely at the early stage of the Golden Core, surprisingly held his ground against five opponents at the late stage of the Golden Core, exchanging blows back and forth.

"Truly a genius from the Chuan Yun Sect, but what a pity you're so foolish. Why not pursue your junior sisters instead of falling for a woman of the night? Or is it that you have no luck with women in the sect?"

The woman casually perched herself on the table, crossing her legs as she watched Li Ming being besieged, mocking him with her words.

"I won’t allow you to speak about Chun'er like that!"

Li Ming's anger flared up instantly, but in the next moment, his enemies seized the opportunity and landed a punch squarely on his face.

Though the spiritual artifact protected him from serious harm, the insult of that punch ignited a fire within him.

"Chun'er, huh? If you like her so much, why not help her buy her freedom? Could it be you’re short on cash?" The woman leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "If that's the case, rescuing her would only mean moving her to another place to suffer. A weak girl with no money or power, and she’s pretty too—how on earth will she survive in this world? Or do you think you can take her to the Chuan Yun Sect and let her live in luxury?"

Before Li Ming could retort, she continued, "You're just satisfying your own desires. Even if Chun'er dies later, you’ll only come to her grave and mutter a few regrets."

"You... I'm not that kind of person!"

Li Ming felt flustered by her words, making mistakes one after another as the five burly men took advantage and beat him mercilessly.

If he had time to think, he would realize her words were nonsensical, merely projecting her own thoughts onto him. But in the heat of battle, he was too distracted to discern, easily falling into her trap.

Seeing that Li Ming was on the verge of collapsing under the assault of the five men, the woman prepared to deliver the final blow that would shatter his defenses completely:

"Ah, it seems that a genius raised in the sect is just naive. Do you really think Chun'er would like you?"

She jumped off the table, a mocking smile on her lips. "Have you even looked in the mirror? Are you good-looking or do you come from a wealthy family? Why would Chun'er ignore those rich young masters and choose you, a nobody? Just because you have talent? Please, an undeveloped genius is worth nothing. You could die in a secret realm any day. Who would bet their entire fortune on someone like you, except a gambler?"

"You’re talking nonsense!!" Li Ming's eyes reddened with anger. "Chun'er is not the shallow person you think she is!"

The woman laughed at his retort. "You speak as if you know her well. Aside from writing letters, have you ever spoken a word to her?"

"You..."

At her words, Li Ming suddenly froze.

He realized he had never actually spoken to Chun'er. Did he really know her?

In that moment of distraction, a massive fist appeared before him, striking him squarely in the face.

Crack...

After enduring multiple attacks, the protective armor finally succumbed, cracking under the pressure.

At that moment, Li Ming snapped back to reality. He shot a furious glance at the woman and turned to flee outside.

"Don’t let him get away! Do you think this is a place you can come and go as you please?"

The five burly men quickly surrounded him. Without the protection of his armor, Li Ming was instantly covered in wounds.

But no longer willing to fight, he sacrificed his precious spiritual artifact on his feet. The moment his shoes cracked, his speed surged several times over. He braved the attacks of the burly men and crashed through the window of the flower boat, leaping into the river.

"Truly a genius from the Chuan Yun Sect, and yet he still managed to escape."

The woman leaned out the window, hands on the sill, peering into the dark river. She had initially planned to catch him and strip him of all his spiritual artifacts and storage bags before tossing him out.

"Should we chase him?" one of the burly men asked, looking down.

"No need, we won’t lose anything anyway."

The woman shook her head. She didn’t want to escalate the situation; otherwise, the Holy Maiden would have her head.

Meanwhile...

In the midst of his cultivation, Bai Feng raised an eyebrow: "?"

Bai Feng clenched his fist as he looked at the system notification.

The system was getting better at coming up with excuses to fill him with luck points!

He cursed the system in his mind for a moment before focusing on a name that appeared in the notification.

"Isn’t that the Hundred-Faced Holy Maiden?"

Bai Feng felt a twinge of annoyance; this person just wouldn’t go away!

Should he report her?

He pondered for a few seconds before dismissing the idea.

Since the demoness could evade the searches of the Tian Jian Sect, it meant she had hardly shown any weaknesses. Moreover, he had no evidence to prove she was the Hundred-Faced Holy Maiden. If the Tian Jian Sect were to arrest her without cause, not only might they fail, but they could also alert her, allowing the demonic faction to exploit the chaos and create turmoil in the city, leaving them exhausted.

However, he could remind his master and others, spreading some false information or preparing in advance.

He suspected the demoness's target was likely him.

With that thought, Bai Feng took out a piece of jade and, after a bit of carving, fashioned it into a round talisman.

He then infused a trace of his consciousness into it, allowing him to identify his allies through the jade. Even if the demoness tried to seize it, he would be able to sense her through the hidden consciousness inside.

Once she appeared, he could mark her. Ever since the system upgrade, he had been waiting to use this new feature to tag her!

What good would marking the child of destiny do? In his view, this function was tailor-made for the demoness. Let’s see if she dares to disguise herself as someone else to infiltrate again!

"Yu Mo?"

Bai Feng called softly to Bai Yu Mo, who was meditating.

"Brother? What’s up?" Bai Yu Mo opened her eyes. "Do you want to continue practicing swordplay?"

"No, I suddenly thought of something." Bai Feng handed her the jade talisman. "Remember the demoness who disguised herself as you in the secret realm? Wear this talisman. If she shows up, I’ll be able to tell the real from the fake right away."

Bai Yu Mo took the talisman and pondered for a few seconds before looking up. "Brother, I think just relying on the talisman isn’t enough."

"What good ideas do you have?"

"For the next few days, I’ll stick by your side, not giving the demoness a chance to get close to you!" Bai Yu Mo replied firmly.

"Good idea, but if the demoness disguises herself as someone else, you won’t be able to tell, right?" Bai Feng couldn’t help but tease.

Bai Yu Mo shook her head. "Then let’s make sure no one else gets close to you!"

"…Stop joking."

Bai Feng covered his forehead with one hand. It wasn’t that simple. Unless he stopped helping to build the grand formation and hid in some isolated basement until it was all over.

But that was obviously impossible. He was there to learn how to build the formation, not to hide away. Not to mention the sect, even his two masters wouldn’t agree.

"Alright, don’t worry about it." Bai Feng waved his hand. His master, Chu Ning Yan, probably had considered this matter too and might have a way to deal with the demoness. "I’ll make a few talismans first, and tomorrow we’ll deliver them to the others together."

Lin Yan and Luo Chen should each get one, after all, no one said the demoness wouldn’t disguise herself as a man.

As for the hardest to disguise, Senior Sister Yu Yao, she should get one too. It would be too pitiful if everyone else had one and she didn’t.

While Bai Feng was contemplating how to guard against the demoness, Li Ming had successfully crawled out of the river.

"Pu!"

He spat out a mouthful of water mixed with blood, glancing back at the flower boat on the river, seemingly relieved that no one was pursuing him.

But he didn’t stop to heal; instead, he fled straight out of Xuan Guang City.

Along the way, he couldn’t help but ponder the woman’s words: "Is Chun'er really that kind of person?"

Deep down, he felt she wasn’t. The woman must have said that on purpose to mess with his mindset, hoping he would make mistakes in battle.

However, he didn’t dare to ask Chun'er directly. What if...?

If it were before this incident, he might not have been so conflicted, thinking that the woman was just trying to deceive him. But after experiencing this ambush, he felt a bit less confident.

Li Ming walked dejectedly along the cart-rutted road. Soon, he spotted a flickering firelight in a dilapidated temple ahead, where a woman in black sat by the campfire.

She frowned slightly, as if enduring some pain, and combined with her beautiful features, she was truly a sight to behold.

‘Is she poisoned?’

Li Ming pondered for a few seconds. If it were in the past, he might have avoided her out of caution.