Time passed, bit by bit. No disciples came knocking on her door, and no Evil Cultivators arrived to capture her.

Only then did she confirm it. ’My identity... probably hasn’t been exposed.’

Her communication jade slip was useless. The Contracted Spirit Insects were her only remaining means of contacting Qingxu Temple, and her only hope that the Sect Leader could provide support for her escape.

’No one has come for me. Maybe... what happened just now was a coincidence?’

’Were those disciples just bored, casually conjuring a wave of fire that happened to burn a swarm of small flying insects?’

The moment the thought appeared, she crushed it.

Those countless attacks came from all over the sect. It was definitely not a coincidence!

A shiver ran down her spine. She decided to try again, but this time, she had to be much more careful.

This time, she waited much longer—a full two hours—before she made her next move.

She used a drop of her blood essence to awaken the second Contracted Spirit Insect.

Su Ling’er immersed her consciousness into their connection, guiding the insect through the night, keeping it within the shadows of the buildings.

’Fly higher... A little faster...’

It flew higher, soaring over the field of Spirit Grass she had tended to countless times.

The next moment, a barrage of attacks, even more dazzling and concentrated than the last, rained down on the tiny insect!

Beams of sword light streaked like rainbows, flames cascaded like waterfalls, and lightning flashed down, forming a cage!

They converged in the air, relentlessly annihilating the space where the tiny insect was!

The connection in Su Ling’er’s mind snapped once more. She let out a muffled groan as darkness flooded her vision.

In less than two hours, she had already lost two of her incredibly precious Contracted Spirit Insects.

The death of each one sent a searing pain through her soul.

Why?!

Why in the world is this happening?!

’How did they find it?’

’Could it be the Mountain Protection Array? Is it searching for threats?’

’What kind of terrifying Spiritual Power consumption and precise control would it take to lock onto a single insect?’

’Is their Array not for defending against outside enemies, but for catching spies on the inside?’

’Does that mean there’s another mole in the sect besides me?!’

’Is that why they’ve set up this inescapable dragnet, not even letting a single bug slip through?!’

’No, that’s not right.’

’If that were the case, why did the disciples she saw up close have looks of excitement, as if they’d just struck gold?’

Refusing to accept it, she took a third Contracted Spirit Insect from its container.

’I refuse to believe these fiends spend all day on Sword Flight. Even if their heads are always in the clouds, they can’t possibly be watching a single ant on the ground, can they?!’

This time, she didn’t let the insect fly. Instead, she had it crawl, using every shadow and bit of cover it could find.

She even planned out its entire escape route:

Across the wasteland, into the underground culvert, then through the shadows of the cultivation caves, and along the drainage ditch...

Through her connection, she watched the little insect crawl steadily forward. Everything was going smoothly.

It crawled past a patch of weeds. A gust of wind from a passing disciple sent leaves scattering, but no one so much as glanced down at it.

’There’s hope!’

’As long as it gets into that culvert, I’ll be halfway there!’

However, just as the Contracted Spirit Insect was about to crawl into the culvert...

The door to a cave residence in the sect opened with a CREAK.

A disciple stumbled out, rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning.

He seemed to be heading to the Hundred Herbs Valley to check on his Spirit Grass.

Then, as if he’d sensed something, he grunted in confusion, "Huh?" and glanced down at his feet.

He first glanced at a dynamic map, then at the tiny insect crawling on the ground.

It was only three inches from his foot.

"Holy shit! It spawned right on top of me?!"

Without a second thought, he instinctively lifted his foot, infused it with Spiritual Power, and stomped down hard!

BOOM—!!!

The last thing Su Ling’er "saw" was an avalanche of dirt and shattered rock crushing in from all sides.

That pitiful little insect, along with the surrounding flagstones and a three-foot-deep patch of earth, were obliterated by that single stomp!

*Cough...*

Another connection severed.

Though the link was faint, the successive shocks damaged Su Ling’er’s soul, and she nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The sky was a no-go, and now the ground was too.

She couldn’t even take a single step out of the Guixi Sect’s gates!

Su Ling’er lay on the straw, her empty eyes fixed on the thatched roof above.

’Just why is this happening?!’

’Has every disciple in this sect cultivated the Celestial Eye Technique? Or is there some kind of Array etched into the very earth and sky, providing 360-degree surveillance with no blind spots?’

’How is anyone supposed to get away with anything?!’

’I won’t accept this!’

’It has to be a coincidence!’

Her gaze fell back to the vessel. Inside, there were still many more insects.

’I still have a chance!’

’There must be another way, something I haven’t thought of yet!’

She tried again. This time, she didn’t have the insect travel alone. Instead, she made it attach itself to other creatures—toads, cicadas, spirit beasts, and the like.

By piggybacking on their natural movements, she could constantly switch hosts, inching her way out of the sect.

However, after it had covered some distance, she "saw" it again—a storm of attacks, even more terrifying than before, erupted from all directions!

They didn’t even seem to care about the low-level toad’s life!

A wall of fire erupted around it.

An ice-blue blizzard descended from the sky, shrouding it in a storm of countless ice shards.

Dozens of Sword Cultivators took to the air with Sword Control, forming a Sword Array that became an inescapable net, sweeping toward the toad’s position!

BOOM—!!!

The connection in Su Ling’er’s mind didn’t even have time to register pain before it was annihilated, turning to ash along with the insect and the toad in that torrent of countless spells.

She refused to believe it.

’I still have more insects.’

She tried once again...

She carefully sent a new Contracted Spirit Insect up into the rafters of a grand hall.

It silently crept up to the rafters and hid itself inside a massive, nearby hornet’s nest.

BZZZ...

The hornet’s nest vibrated slightly, a good sign for a successful hiding attempt.

But in the next instant!

Dozens of multi-colored talismans materialized out of thin air, plastering themselves all over the rafters.

A silent, deathly white light flashed.

When the light faded, the entire hornet’s nest, along with a corner of the rafters, had been reduced to fine dust that drifted silently to the floor.

The connection shattered again.

...

Su Ling’er bit her tongue, the sharp pain keeping her conscious.

She placed her hopes on the giant trees next.

She commanded the Contracted Spirit Insect to leap from one giant tree to another.

With each leap, it burrowed into a new tree, trying to pass through undetected.

However...

a scorching alchemical flame engulfed the tree, turning it to charcoal in an instant.

The spiritual connection was annihilated once more.

...

Meanwhile, the sect’s chat channel was buzzing with excitement.

Whenever a disciple shared a screenshot of killing a "red-named mob," all the lurkers would chime in, with some shouting:

"Yo, [Ji], what did that toad ever do to you?"

The player posted a screenshot and replied in the channel, "Look closer, it was red-named! You get 200 contribution points for killing it!"

They’d then shout back teasingly, "You must have made another ’sacrifice’ to get that, huh!"

[Ji]’s face flushed, and his user ID seemed to glow a little brighter as he argued,

"Luck isn’t a sacrifice... It’s luck! Can you call what we RNG gods do a ’sacrifice’?"

His response immediately drew out more "evidence":

[Shi Gandang] tossed out a screenshot of his own:

"It’s not just toads! I just saw a hornet’s nest on the rafters that was red-named!"

[Lu Wu] posted an image of a giant tree that had been blasted to smithereens:

"Mine’s even crazier. Even a tree can be a red-named mob!"

Comments followed one after another, like "The Celestial Dao rewards the diligent," and "It’s a warm-up for the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival," making everyone burst out laughing.

Finally, [Shen Nong] settled the matter:

"Looks like different types of red-named mobs are spawning randomly before the event. Anyway, if it’s red, just kill it on sight."

[The Coolest Sacrificial Spirit Sword...

And so, a cheerful atmosphere filled the channel and the sect beyond.

On one side of the sect, there were victory cups overflowing with the nectar of "Contribution Points."

But on the other side, in the shadows of a thatched hut, there was only bitter poison.

Drop by drop, it dragged Su Ling’er down into an abyss... named despair.

...

「Real World」

「News Archive」

Ashen Heaven Group announced the formation of a hardware subsidiary—"Kunlun Dynamics"—and revealed that its first product will be a next-generation, consumer-grade neural interface device.

Industry analysts noted that after securing control over the core software and platform, the Ashen Heaven Group has finally begun integrating upstream into the hardware ecosystem, aiming to build a completely closed-loop virtual world.