When Chen Jianxin and his group arrived at Wuji Peak by immortal ship, the dawn sun had already risen in the distant sky.
Due to days of fatigue and a sleepless night, many Wuji Sect disciples were yawning as soon as they disembarked, unable to open their eyes in the glaring morning sunlight.
At Jinyue's suggestion, everyone decided to return to their quarters to rest this morning and study the mysteries of the Nine-Color Compass together after waking up in the evening.
"Brother Chen, Senior Jinyue, we're off too!"
"Good night... oh no, I guess it's good morning now."
Watching the last batch of disciples leave, swaying on their feet, Jinyue's slightly tired face broke into a smile as she waved to them.
After everyone had gone, Jinyue glanced at Chen Jianxin beside her. The young man's eyes were bloodshot from the night's exertion, but his overly excited and tense mental state kept him focused on studying the compass needle.
"Junior Chen, you've been studying the compass all night. Aren't you tired at all?" Jinyue couldn't help but ask with a smile.
Chen Jianxin looked up at her words, rubbed his eyes, then held up the compass and said seriously, "Senior Sister, don't you think there's something strange about this?"
"Look, Senior. First, the strangest thing is that the compass needle points towards Wuji Sect, which happens to be consistent with the path we took on the immortal ship back here!"
"What's even more bizarre is that I've been watching the compass the whole way. I thought the compass would reverse direction at some point, but even now that the immortal ship has docked at Wuji Sect, the direction of the compass hasn't changed!"
"I suspect the Nine-Color Compass is pointing to a secret realm in the back mountains of Wuji Sect! And recently, I've heard many people say that the back mountains of Wuji Sect are haunted at night. Even Senior Brother Gu said something big happened in the back mountains of Wuji Sect!"
"Senior Sister, don't you think all of this connected is very suspicious?"
Chen Jianxin analyzed earnestly, gesturing for Jinyue to look at the compass with him.
Jinyue narrowed her enchanting eyes and looked closely. However, in her vision, there was no illusion, and the compass wasn't pointing towards the back mountains of Wuji Sect at all, but rather in a direction more towards the Western Regions below Wuji Mountain.
That direction was either towards Western Province City or even further beyond the border, into the true Western Regions territory.
To be honest, Jinyue couldn't understand why Yino refused to return to Wuji Sect.
In her view, the clues to the Snow Village massacre were already quite clear, and with Yino's current strength, he was fully capable of investigating the truth about the Mountain Temple himself. Under Jinyue's guidance, he could become a hero who saves many young disciples of Wuji Sect...
But now, not only was Yino ignoring this opportunity that had presented itself, he had actually run even further away, probably all the way to Western Province City by now.
There was nothing she could do. Jinyue couldn't rely entirely on Yino, so she could only continue with the original plan to guide Chen Jianxin.
"Junior Chen, I think you're getting a bit obsessed..."
"Even if all your analysis is reasonable, look, it's already daylight now, and we've all been awake for nearly a day and a night. Everyone's mental state isn't very good."
"Why don't you go back and rest first, When everyone wakes up in the evening and is refreshed, we can go explore the back mountains of Wuji Sect together?"
Jinyue pretended to be naive, advising him like the other young disciples.
At these words, Chen Jianxin's previously enthusiastic and hopeful gaze immediately became dim and disappointed.
He sighed, about to speak but then stopping himself, seeming to have lost all hope in Jinyue.
Chen Jianxin felt he had seen through life.
These fellow disciples were either cowards afraid of death or brainless fools easily deceived by bad people...
Now, with irrefutable evidence right before their eyes, an opportunity for merit delivered to their doorstep, these people actually had the mind to go home and sleep, talking about going to the back mountain tomorrow!
By tomorrow, the flowers might have already withered! Yino might have already returned!
Chen Jianxin didn't want to wait for Yino to come back and share the fruits of his night's research and the merits within reach with him!
"Forget it, you've never experienced the annihilation of your clan, so you'll never understand the importance of investigating the truth about Snow Village."
Chen Jianxin lowered his eyelids, snorting coldly, no longer willing to waste words with Jinyue.
After all, if Jinyue didn't go with him, there would be one less person to compete with Chen Jianxin for the credit!
This kind of good fortune was exactly what Chen Jianxin wanted!
Thinking of this, Chen Jianxin waved his hand dismissively and walked alone towards the back mountains of Wuji Sect: "If Senior Sister is tired, just go back and rest with them."
"What about you, Junior Chen?"
"Me? I'm not tired yet."
"Before I figure out the truth about the Snow Village massacre, I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to!"
"Senior Sister, you just go ahead and sleep. By the time you all wake up in the evening, you should be able to see that I've solved the mystery of Snow Village!"
Chen Jianxin gave a somewhat smug laugh, then left without looking back.
Not far away, Jinyue stood in place, her previously concerned enchanting eyes now showing disdain.
"Fool, rushing to your death..."
"If it weren't for this young lady secretly protecting you, you would have died at Yanran's hands long ago!"
She knew Chen Jianxin looked down on her, and she couldn't help but curse under her breath, somewhat amused by her anger.
After Chen Jianxin had walked far away, Jinyue briefly looked around, and after confirming that no one was nearby, she walked alone towards Ranmo Peak.
Along the way, Jinyue kept looking up at the full moon about to set in the western sky.
Her enchanting eyes reflected a blood-red curse mark, and under a special filter, the pale full moon gradually took on a blood-red ghostly glow--
"According to the plan, everything should be ready on Gu Wanglan's side."
"However, it's almost daybreak, and the blood moon is setting. He probably won't make it for the best sacrifice time today."