The demonic cultivator did not answer Wang Lanqing, but looked towards Qi Yu.
Qi Yu nodded.
With permission granted, the demonic cultivator finally replied to Wang Lanqing. "We've been dealing with them for years, but because they weren't completely cleansed and wronged souls from outside would always drift here, we stopped intervening. Now, the entire Assassination Pavilion is shrouded in malevolent energy."
The demonic cultivator looked at Qi Yu and pointed upwards. "If you were to fly by overhead, you should be able to see that the entire Assassination Pavilion is surrounded by this evil aura."
Qi Yu stroked her chin. "But I didn't sense any malevolent energy or wronged souls when I first entered."
Chen Xi couldn't help but nod. This was also something they couldn't figure out. Logically, with such potent evil energy, it should have manifested beyond the barrier.
Yet, they hadn't sensed anything on their way in.
Chi Shangming also frowned. "I didn't sense it when I first entered either. Qing'er, did you?"
Wang Lanqing shook her head.
"Even now, we can feel extremely strong malevolent energy. You truly don't feel anything at all?" The demonic cultivator looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Qi Yu walked over and placed a hand on his forehead. Her spiritual sense passed through the demonic cultivator's vision. Indeed, resentment permeated the surroundings, as if someone had used a "Heaven-Shading Hand" to deliberately make the people of the Assassination Pavilion believe their pavilion was filled with wronged souls, resentment, and evil energy.
Qi Yu couldn't understand.
She looked at Chen Xi and asked, with some confusion, about the scene she had just seen through the demonic cultivator's eyes:
"Lord Chen Xi, what is going on? Why are the scenes we see completely different from what the people here in the Assassination Pavilion see? It's like two different worlds."
"Where did your sect leader learn about the Assassination Pavilion? Did he investigate it himself, or did he hear it from others?" Chen Xi didn't answer Qi Yu's question directly but instead asked Wang Lanqing.
Qi Yu stood by patiently, waiting.
Wang Lanqing was stunned for a moment, then looked up at Chen Xi and replied respectfully, "My master seemed to have heard about it from Ye Shicong and other sect leaders. The other sect leaders strongly recommended our sect to subdue the wronged souls, and since our master couldn't refuse, he accepted."
Si Qing, overhearing this, couldn't help but ponder, "Your master didn't personally come to the Assassination Pavilion to investigate the situation. Everything was just hearsay."
"And what about you?" Qi Yu looked at the cultivators of the Assassination Pavilion standing before her. "You couldn't resolve the wronged souls and malevolent energy here yourselves, so you didn't ask for help, right?"
"It's not that we didn't ask for help; they were unwilling to come," the demonic cultivator said aggrievedly. "Word spread from who knows where that we were all indiscriminate killers, that everyone here was stained with blood. But by heaven and earth, I've only shed the blood of my enemies, never anyone else's. For so many years, you've kept us guarding the things in this pavilion. We've diligently cultivated, never left, and never brought in outsiders."
Another group of people from the Assassination Pavilion chimed in:
"That's right, we're all like this. We've always followed the Pavilion Master's orders and never done anything out of line."
"But then rumors started spreading from who knows where, and they grew bigger and bigger. We stopped going down the mountain. Anyway, we've all reached the stage of辟谷 (bì gǔ - abstaining from grains). But soon after, our Assassination Pavilion started having hauntings. Within our sight, the entire Assassination Pavilion was filled with flying malevolent energy."
Initially, when Qi Yu and the others entered, they hadn't mentioned the issue of malevolent energy, and they assumed Qi Yu simply didn't want to ask.
Now that it was brought up, they finally understood. It wasn't that she didn't want to ask, but rather that Qi Yu, Si Qing, Chen Xi, Chi Shangming, and Wang Lanqing simply couldn't see the wronged souls and malevolent energy in the Assassination Pavilion.
Wang Lanqing scratched her head. "Qi Yu, then, are there really wronged souls and malevolent energy in the Assassination Pavilion? If there are, we can't see them. If there aren't, then what is going on? Is it an illusion?"
Even if it were an illusion that only those within the Assassination Pavilion could see the evil energy and wronged souls, there would still need to be a medium.
"There's no point just standing here at the entrance discussing this," Qi Yu suggested. "Why don't we just stay here for a few days and see what happens?"
Everyone readily agreed.
Seeing this, the people of the Assassination Pavilion quickly made way and arranged accommodations for Qi Yu and her group.
It was already dark, and by the time the accommodations were all settled, dawn was breaking.
Chen Xi had traveled all night, using spells and flying, and was utterly exhausted.
Finally able to rest, he hurried into a room, yawning, and prepared to collapse onto the couch.
Unexpectedly, just as he was about to do so, his collar was suddenly grabbed from behind!
"Who!" Chen Xi's gaze sharpened, and he quickly turned around, baring his claws.
Yan Hua stood behind him, sneering. "I've been tracking you for a long time. Very good, you left us in the demon realm to take turns looking after Chu Xian, and you're out gallivanting with these two brats?"
Chen Xi was so startled he almost suffocated, but remembering that this Assassination Pavilion felt off and that people who lived there could see wronged souls and malevolent energy, perhaps there was some illusion at play. He cautiously approached Yan Hua again.
"Are you, are you really Yan Hua?"
Could this be some high-level illusion that could even fool him?
Yan Hua looked up, amused by his reaction. "Do you think I am?"