Zhao Qi?
Hearing this name, Qiu Qing furrowed his brows slightly. It was completely unfamiliar.
"What about his appearance? You should be able to remember what he looks like, right? You'd recognize him if you saw him again, wouldn't you?"
Qiu Qing asked He Xijun.
"Of course. But none of us recognized his face. We're certain we've never seen him in the sect before. I suspect he likely used some special Disguise Technique to alter his appearance."
He Xijun said.
'A Disguise Technique?'
A flicker of light crossed Qiu Qing's eyes.
"Are there any disciples in the sect named Zhao Qi?"
Qiu Qing turned to the upper echelons of the Red Heart Sect, his expression questioning.
"There are quite a few disciples with the surname Zhao, but none with that given name," a sect Steward stepped forward and said.
"Among the male disciples at the Blood Strengthening realm, how many have the surname Zhao?"
Qiu Qing asked again.
"Among the disciples at the Blood Strengthening realm, there are thirty-four male disciples with the surname Zhao," another Steward replied.
Zhao was a common surname, so it wasn't surprising that the Red Heart Sect had a fair number of disciples with that name.
"Have their portraits brought out later for them to identify."
Qiu Qing said, though he didn't hold out much hope. After all, if someone was truly determined to hide, even their surname could be fake.
"Make a note of this for now. I need to contact the other sects and find out what exactly happened in the Ghost City in the end."
Qiu Qing said in a low voice.
He Xijun and the others hadn't participated in the final operation, so they didn't know the specifics. However, the other sects had people involved who would certainly know the details, and he had to find out what had transpired.
「Meanwhile, inside Miaoyin Hall.」
Zhuang Li and the others suddenly awoke, their eyes snapping open as they sat bolt upright.
Some disciples still had looks of fear and confusion on their faces. Their hearts pounded violently and they were drenched in cold sweat. Coupled with their earlier overexertion of Primordial Qi, they now felt utterly exhausted.
"Life."
Just then, a clear, calm voice rang out, echoing through the hall. A dense, verdant light then spread out, enveloping everyone.
The verdant light manifested, condensing into strange flowers and exotic grasses upon the ground. Sacred lotuses bloomed, and a powerful wave of Vitality surged into their bodies.
The fear in their spirits dissipated, replaced by peace and calm. Their exhausted bodies recovered at a visible rate, and it felt as if Liquan flowed within them as their depleted Primordial Qi was rapidly replenished.
"What happened? Were you unable to bring back any memories this time either?"
The clear, cool voice spoke again. The woman—clad in a white dress, her long hair like a waterfall, her skin like fine jade, her face both dignified and kind, her age impossible to discern—asked the question, her voice like music from the heavens.
None of the surviving Miaoyin Hall disciples spoke, including Deng Mingsheng and Li Zhilin. All of them turned to look at Zhuang Li.
They hadn't taken part in the final assault, so they were also extremely curious about what had ultimately happened.
"This time, our memories weren't sealed..."
Zhuang Li took a deep breath before recounting the entire sequence of events, putting special emphasis on the final battle inside the Huang Mansion.
Their operation was exposed from the very beginning. They were met with a terrifying siege and trapped in a hopeless dilemma.
Then, everyone resolved to fight to the death. They staked everything on a single, desperate gamble to destroy the source of the Evil Cultivation and fight for a slim chance of survival.
The four of them unleashed their ultimate techniques, successfully carving a path forward in a final, explosive burst of power. In the end, it was the mysterious expert from the Red Heart Sect, Zhao Qi, who delivered the final blow to the Evil Cult Statue.
But unexpectedly, the Evil Cult Statue's abilities surpassed what their intelligence had indicated. It actually possessed a damage-sharing function, and that sure-kill strike failed to inflict sufficient harm.
At that moment, having exhausted themselves in that ultimate burst, they were powerless to fight on. They had fallen into a truly desperate situation. And the Evil Cult Statue, under attack, opened the Ghost Gate.
Listening to Zhuang Li's account, the expressions of the surrounding Miaoyin Hall higher-ups and disciples shifted again and again. They could feel the terrifying danger she described. Putting themselves in that position, they knew that in such an environment and under those circumstances, they would have had no chance of turning the tables. They might have even lost the will to fight out of sheer despair.
It was, indeed, a situation with no way out.
Li Zhilin, Deng Mingsheng, and the other disciples who had survived the Ghost City couldn't help but hold their breath, their fists clenched tight. As people who had experienced it firsthand, they could feel that despair even more acutely.
Under those circumstances, if the surprise attack failed and Zhuang Li's group couldn't hold on long enough, not enough Evil Spirits would have been drawn away by the Ghost Gate. The rest of them would still have been trapped in a situation of certain death.
Most importantly, they couldn't possibly imagine how Zhuang Li's group had managed to turn things around in the end. According to her telling, everyone should have perished in the Ghost City.
"And then what? In such a hopeless situation, how did you break the stalemate? Since you were able to leave the Ghost City early and your memories weren't sealed, something must have happened to the source of the Ghost City."
At this, even the Hall Master of Miaoyin Hall, as cool and remote as a celestial maiden descended to the mortal world, showed a hint of emotion on her face as she asked the question.
"It was Senior Brother Zhao Qi from the Red Heart Sect. After his first strike failed, just as we had lost all hope and were preparing to flee in different directions to delay for as long as possible, he struck again."
Zhuang Li said softly, a strange light seeming to flash in her eyes. It was as if the scene she had witnessed still left her shaken to this day.