"He accidentally let slip your identity..." Fang Tianhui pouted, glancing at Qin Mubai.
Before Bai Ran could say anything, the ground suddenly shook violently.
"What's going on!" Mu Zikun tightly protected Wu Zhuo.
Qin Mubai also pressed close to Fang Tianhui and the two.
"Boom!" Trees continuously toppled with the tremors.
Incredibly, they witnessed with their own eyes, the moment those trees fell to the ground, they slowly decomposed and turned into nothingness.
Cracks appeared in the sky, and the originally azure sky began to slowly collapse and disintegrate.
Revealing the forest at the entrance to the secret realm. Had they been in the forest all along?
A group of people who had entered the secret realm also stood not far away, looking at each other with faces full of shock and confusion.
An illusion!
The rumors were true!
So was she truly the chosen one?
Mu Zikun looked at Bai Ran, his expression becoming stern.
Bai Ran felt his gaze: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, if you have something to say, just say it."
"Did you contract the Azure Dragon?"
"No," Bai Ran replied truthfully.
Mu Zikun pondered for a moment, then asked, "Then did you see the Azure Dragon?"
Bai Ran nodded.
As expected, once the destined person was identified, the secret realm would disintegrate.
"The spirit herbs are gone!" Fang Tianhui cried out, patting her empty pockets.
"I was planning to give them to Sister Bai," she drooped her head in dejection.
"Mine are gone too."
Wu Zhuo felt around and indeed, the spirit herbs they had just collected were missing.
Qin Mubai recounted the rumors Mu Zikun had mentioned to Bai Ran.
So that was how it was...
Bai Ran stared at Mu Zikun and Wu Zhuo, considering killing them to silence them.
A chilling gaze sent shivers down their spines.
Had they done something wrong?
"Miss, Miss Bai," Mu Zikun said cautiously, "We won't say anything..."
Wu Zhuo nodded vigorously. What if they spoke too slowly and lost their heads?
"How can I trust you, especially since you also know my identity?" she looked at them, her expression indifferent.
Wu Zhuo fearfully clutched Mu Zikun's sleeve. She genuinely wanted to kill them.
"Miss Bai is skilled in medicine and alchemy. Why not refine two poisons and give us antidotes at regular intervals?" Mu Zikun said, looking at Bai Ran without moving.
Bai Ran flicked her finger, and two pills flew into their mouths, melting instantly.
"Only I can cure this poison," she said, then left with Qin Mubai and Fang Tianhui.
So terrifying...
The two, having narrowly escaped death, still had trembling hands. She was even more terrifying than the rumors suggested.
"Sister Bai, did you really feed them poison?" Fang Tianhui couldn't help but ask. She thought those two had been very good to them.
"No, just ordinary Qi Gathering Pills," Bai Ran said.
Actually, Bai Ran didn't truly intend to kill them. She just wanted to ascertain if they were human or ghosts, and to secure a safeguard for herself.
The two followed Bai Ran into the depths of the forest.
"Where are we going?" Qin Mubai asked.
"To see that Princess," Bai Ran said with a slight smile.
If she waited until she returned to the royal family, it wouldn't be so easy to deal with her.
Seeing her expression, Qin Mubai knew the princess was doomed.
"Ahhh! Don't come near!"
A scream rang out. It was Mu Qingdai's voice!
The three hid in the shadows, observing the scene before them.
Five men in black robes, wielding blood-stained long knives, approached Mu Qingdai, who had fallen to the ground in a sorry state.
Four people lay beside her, seemingly dead.
Was it them? The five men in black at the entrance?
"Mu Qingdai! You must pay the price!"
One man roared madly, throwing off his mask.
His face was a mess of burns, knife wounds, and scars. Not a single patch of his skin was intact.
The four men accompanying him also removed their masks, all disfigured like him.
"Don't come near!" Mu Qingdai, terrified by their faces like vengeful spirits, kicked her legs backward.
"Mu Qingdai, you've forgotten, haven't you? The one you cruelly murdered and hung at the city gate for three days and nights!"
The five of them had been orphans since childhood, adopted and raised by a kind fire master who treated them as his own.
Who would have thought they would suffer such a fate.
When they saw the shriveled corpse at the city gate, their blood ran cold, and their hearts ached intensely.
Because of the fire master's death, they themselves had to disfigure their faces to escape the extermination of their entire clan.
Kill her! The desire for revenge grew stronger!
Finally, they found their opportunity.
"Because she's a princess... she can kill indiscriminately..."
"What kind of ridiculous logic is that!"
The man roared in anger.
"Commoners are also people! They are living, breathing people!"
Mu Qingdai bit her lower lip hard and subtly moved her hand. Suddenly, she quickly took out a signal flare and set it off.
A huge fiery red bloomed in the sky.
"Not good!" one man shouted. "Signal flare!"
"Hurry! Or it'll be too late!"
Bai Ran instantly sensed many figures rapidly approaching.
"You two wait here for me."
As they turned, Bai Ran had already vanished.
"Her Highness the Princess is in trouble! Quick!" dozens of guards rushed forward.
"I can't let you interfere."
A fiery red figure stood before them.
"Who are you!" the lead guard asked.
"You are not worthy of knowing."
In an instant, the sky turned a terrifying blood red, and an eerie red rain began to fall.
Fine and dense, it landed on everyone.
Tiny flames mixed with deadly poison, merging into a blood-red hue, falling like rain upon their bodies, making them defenseless.
"It's on fire!"
"Don't move! I can't move!"
Flames instantly erupted on the guards, their intensity fierce and unstoppable.
The poison would cause the nerves to lose control, rendering them immobile, while the flames would burn them to death while they were unable to move.
This was the first form of the Falling Sun Dance, Blood Rain.
Bai Ran crossed her arms, coldly watching the dozens of people before her wailing and burning to ashes in the fierce flames.
After dealing with the reinforcements, she did not return to Qin Mubai and Fang Tianhui. Instead, she walked out brazenly.
Mu Qingdai, who had received no rescue, met a tragic end, stabbed dozens of times, her blood pooling on the ground. She fell to the ground with unseeing eyes.
The five men sat weakly nearby, not attempting to flee, as if resigned to their fate.
Bai Ran stopped before the five.
"Are you at peace now?"
She asked, though it was unclear who she was addressing.
The ghost behind the five men slowly materialized, transforming into a benevolent old man with a warm smile.
"Your Majesty..."
"Thank you..."