"I am not a divine beast." Mu Xinlian smiled faintly and drifted over to her side.
Ling Chunian's face changed drastically, and she said gloomily, "Song Yanyu, you traitor. Haven't you ruined us enough?"
"Traitor? Shouldn't you be the traitors?" Song Yanyu reverted to her original appearance.
Her skin was unnaturally pale, as if she had lived underground for years without seeing sunlight. Her hair was slightly yellowed, giving off a malnourished vibe. Her features were quite delicate—a small, straight nose paired with cherry-like lips, which lent a touch of comfort to her eerie aura.
"We're traitors? If it weren't for you, how could we have been forced to work for those lunatics? Now that we've found the clan leader, we naturally side with her." Ling Chunian panted, all the spirit clan members glaring at her with hatred.
We were hiding safely in the Primordial Demon Forest. If not for her, how would we have ended up in the Sunset Mountains? If not for her, how would we have fallen into the hands of those madmen?
Song Yanyu sneered, "Clan leader? You mean that Ye Lanshan? What qualifies her to be our spirit clan's leader?"
"She absolutely qualifies to be our clan leader." Ling Chunian's voice suddenly rose, tinged with excitement.
Song Yanyu snorted, deeply disdainful of Ye Lanshan. "With her? Her strength is pitifully weak. Just because she has a seven-petal lotus mark on her arm, you'd make her the leader? How pathetic. After all these years, you're still so stubbornly rigid."
"You—" Ling Chunian was so furious she couldn't find words to retort.
"No matter how stubborn they are, it's better than you being a traitor." A calm voice came from behind. Ling Chunian's eyes lit up with joy—the clan leader was back.
"Didn't expect you to return so quickly." Song Yanyu glanced over, not taking her seriously.
The only two people here she truly feared were one, the divine beast Feng Qing, whom she had fought for years without ever truly catching, and the other, the one beside her, whose strength was unfathomable—just a glance from him made her feel a crushing weight of pressure. If he made a move, she had no doubt she'd die at his hands, and this man's danger likely ran deeper than what met the eye.
But as for Ye Lanshan, she truly didn't care. Perhaps others saw her as a genius, but here, there was no such thing as genius—only strength and weakness. And Ye Lanshan's strength was too weak to warrant any attention.
"If you hadn't sent someone to follow me, I might have come back slower." Ye Lanshan strolled over lazily, her eyes somewhat indifferent. A light blue robe draped over her, accentuating her ethereal beauty, as if she were not of this world but a celestial descending to earth.
Jealousy flickered in Song Yanyu's eyes. What woman doesn't love beauty? She wasn't bad-looking herself, but compared to Ye Lanshan's stunning appearance, she paled in comparison.
"So it seems I've done you a favor." Song Yanyu flashed behind her in an instant, her fingers nearly touching her, but Ye Lanshan seemed to sense it and sidestepped, causing Song Yanyu to stumble and nearly fall from the momentum.
"You were the one who poisoned Qing Dai and the others, weren't you?" Ye Lanshan smiled knowingly at her. Though she knew Song Yanyu was formidable, she wasn't afraid. What did strength matter? What did poison matter?
No one understood cultivation better than she did. Song Yanyu was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, while she was one step away from breaking through to the Golden Core stage. If she could merge the Chaos Heart Method with cultivation, her strength would surely reach new heights.
"That's right, it was me. But so what? It looks like their poison is completely cured." Song Yanyu glanced at Qing Dai and the others, smiling eerily. If she could do it once, she could do it again.
As if reading her intentions, Ye Lanshan said casually, "Do you think I'll give you another chance?"
"Don't worry, we'll meet again." Song Yanyu suddenly clutched her heart, deep unwillingness in her eyes, but she turned back to look at Ye Lanshan oddly. She pulled out a strange ball, smashed it on the ground, and smoke billowed up. When it cleared, Song Yanyu had vanished from the cave.
"Quite the high-tech smoke bomb; it's impressive he could invent that." Ye Lanshan recognized the ball as a smoke bomb as soon as she saw it.
"Clan leader, don't underestimate Song Yanyu. She survived the Sacred Ground and became a core member of those lunatics—that shows how resourceful she is." Ling Chunian and the others had been forced to work for those madmen because of her.
"You're saying she's been to the Sacred Ground?"
"Yes, back when the Sacred Ground was hunting spirit clan members, she was captured. We all thought she was done for, but not only did she survive, she betrayed us. That's why we had to flee from the Primordial Demon Forest to the Sunset Mountains."
"Exactly," another spirit clan member chimed in. "We were fine in the Sunset Mountains. If not for her, we wouldn't have been forced to work for those lunatics, and we almost ended up as their experiments."
"Do you want revenge?" Ye Lanshan could feel their hatred, as if it could destroy heaven and earth.
"Huh?" Ling Chunian was stunned. Of course they wanted revenge, but they couldn't fight them. They'd already lost many brothers resisting, and now with so few left, they couldn't afford any more losses.
But now that they'd found the clan leader, it was time to take a gamble. Even if they were wiped out, so what? As long as the clan leader lived, the spirit clan would eventually rise to glory.
But would the other spirit clan members think the same? No, of course not. They dreamed of the clan leader from the legends saving them—how could they return to that nightmare?
"Don't worry, I'll leave your enemies for you to deal with. I won't interfere at all." Ye Lanshan said lazily, unaware that her words had stirred discontent among most of the spirit clan.
"Clan leader, what do you mean by that? Are you just going to watch us die?" One person stood up excitedly, deep disappointment in their eyes.
"What's your name?" Ye Lanshan remained in her lazy demeanor, and more spirit clan members began to show dissatisfaction.
"My name is Lu Huanong. What, our great clan leader wants to kill me?" The person's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Kill you? No, but I'm a bit disappointed in you." Ye Lanshan chuckled inwardly. She had thought yesterday's submission was genuine, but it seemed she was wrong.
"Lu Huanong, how dare you speak like that? The clan leader must have her reasons." Another person stood up, clearly displeased with Lu Huanong's words.