Otherworldly Affairs Office

Facing the aggressive Origin Maiden, Mr. Mu, who had remained silent since being freed again, looked up at her and said in a deep voice, "Enough, now that you are free, do you still want to exterminate us completely? It wasn't just my Shen Yu family that sealed you initially."

"Indeed, it wasn't just your Shen Yu family. The Daoist Realm, Magic Realm, Spirit Monster Realm, and Hell Realm all had a part in it. Twelve years isn't too long or too short for my long life."

As the Origin Maiden spoke, she slowly descended from the air. When her toes touched the foul-smelling swamp below, the murky swamp rapidly retreated, becoming clear. The dead snakes in the swamp decomposed and vanished, and in the blink of an eye, the swamp disappeared, revealing the lotus-covered pond from the previous illusion.

Pei Yan rubbed his eyes and, after multiple analyses with his Mechanical Eye, confirmed that the scene before him was no longer an illusion but genuinely real.

At this moment, the Origin Maiden sat cross-legged, floating above the pond. She casually picked a lotus flower and brought it to her nose, sniffing it as she continued, "During that time, trapped in such a small bottle, I must say the days were truly boring. To relieve my boredom, I calculated day and night, every moment, how to teach you arrogant fools a lesson once I escaped. The power of hatred is truly great, it's what sustained me until today."

After speaking, the Origin Maiden gently rubbed the stem of the lotus flower in her hand. As the flower spun faster with her rubbing motion, she tossed it into the air. It flew up, and at its peak, it suddenly exploded, scattering petals that divided from ten to a hundred, soon forming a storm of petals that blasted toward Mr. Mu and his group.

Seeing this, Mu and the others didn't mistake it as an act of goodwill. They urgently adjusted their breathing and formed a wall of light to block in front of them.

As the petal storm clashed with the light wall, it emitted a metallic ringing and cracking sound. The light wall rippled under the impact, teetering on the brink of collapse as Mu and the others struggled to maintain it. Meanwhile, the Origin Maiden, the instigator of it all, didn't spare it a glance, calmly plucking another lotus flower to repeat the process.

When she reached for a third lotus flower, Mr. Mu, from behind the light wall, finally couldn't hold back and shouted loudly, "Gu Shenghui, your operation this time isn't just aimed at besieging my Shen Yu, is it? Capturing the Origin Body is your true objective!"

Hearing this, the Origin Maiden paused, turned her head with interest towards the sweating Gu Shenghui.

"So what!" Gu Shenghui responded with a sneer, diverting trouble eastward? This is too clumsy of a tactic.

"Now that you've seen her strength, do you think your Investigation Hall alone can successfully seal her? It's better if you and I join forces to seal her. After it's done, we'll withdraw, and the Origin Body is yours. It's a win-win scenario, why not?" Under pressure, Mr. Mu roared, offering his terms.

The Origin Maiden nodded in agreement with these words and looked at Gu Shenghui, shaking the lotus flower in her hand with a smile, "It's a good suggestion, will you accept? Maybe it could succeed!"

Having been somewhat tempted by Mr. Mu's words, Gu Shenghui decisively replied, "I refuse!"

He understood that currently, with Pei Jin's good relationship with the Origin Maiden, he could completely leverage negotiations and other measures of enticement. There was no need to risk his position for the sake of Shen Yu people's escape.

"Foolish, just as Mu Fanchen said, Gu Shenghui, you will regret your shortsightedness!" Behind the light wall, Mu reprimanded after receiving this answer, then looked down at the Origin Maiden and shouted loudly, "Origin Body, you don't have to push things to the extreme. Do you really think we have no power to retaliate against you? We know your weaknesses well. If we tear each other apart, it will be mutual destruction. Do you think you can gain freedom from the Investigation Hall when that happens? It's better to stop now and let us go. You can settle past scores when you recover your strength."

Clap, clap, clap! The Origin Maiden placed the lotus flower back into the pond and applauded Mu's words, shaking her head with a smile, "Firstly, don't call me the Origin Body like I'm some object. I have a name, oh it was so long ago! What was the name that person gave me? Let me think! Oh, Jun Zhao, Lin Junzhao! Secondly, you are truly considerate of others, but I simply don't appreciate it!"

With that, the girl who claimed to be Lin Junzhao raised her eyebrows and waved her delicate hand, causing all the lotus flowers in the pond to rise into the sky. As she clenched her small fist, all the flowers exploded into petals, so many that they blotted out the sky, plunging the area below into complete darkness.

Before Pei Yan could turn on his spotlight and inspect the situation, Mr. Mu's enraged roar came from behind the light wall again, "You forced me to do this! Don't blame me later!"

Boom! In the darkness, a huge blinding blue light exploded, momentarily blinding everyone present. Pei Yan, temporarily losing his vision in one eye, hurriedly used his Mechanical Eye to observe, while the rain of petals fell to the ground with the explosion, covering it in a thick floral carpet. Suspended in the sky was a humanoid figure continuously emitting a blue glow.

Had the human skin of the Origin Body been blasted off?

Looking at the blue glowing humanoid with a faintly recognizable face, Pei Yan immediately reacted. What had Mu done to wound her?

No, this can't be right. According to previous information, the human body was just a shell containing the Origin Body. Without this shell, shouldn't the Origin Body be even stronger? Was Mu just desperate?

Filled with confusion, Pei Yan looked up at the glowing person in the sky and the embarrassed Shen Yu members after the light wall shattered, awaiting further developments.

Unlike Pei Yan's belief that freeing the body would allow the Origin Body to wreak havoc, the Origin now seemed to be in a highly unstable state, struggling to maintain a human form and shifting like a pool of soft mud.

"Mr. Mu, let's take this chance to run!" A middle-aged man next to Mr. Mu, whose black robe was shredded revealing a bald head, rejoiced at the sight and helped Mu up as he suggested.

Mu threw the broken ceramic fragment in his hand to the ground and turned back to glare venomously at the man, "Run? Do you think we can escape? If we don't take this chance to deliver a fatal blow while she's unstable, it won't take long for her to stabilize. Then none of us will survive! It's time to risk our lives now, use everything you've got!"