Ning Cheng was the first to wake up, feeling a suffocating weight on his chest. As his vision cleared, he saw Nong Xiruo lying unconscious atop him.
Nong Xiruo was covered in blood, her face pale as a sheet. Her once-glossy hair had now turned dry and yellow.
Struggling to sit up, Ning Cheng glanced over and spotted Zhou Xing nearby. Zhou Xing's death was eerily similar to the state of the cultivator in the early Harmonization stage who had initially abducted Nong Xiruo—proof that Zhou Xing had been killed by Nong Xiruo.
Within seconds, Ning Cheng pieced together the sequence of events. It seemed Nong Xiruo had eliminated Ju Huoyang and, upon Zhou Xing attempting to kill him, stepped in to save him at the critical moment and fought to end Zhou Xing.
Given that Zhou Xing wouldn't have killed Nong Xiruo before finishing him off, the sequence was clear: Zhou Xing perished while trying to kill him, struck down by Nong Xiruo. Her unconscious body lying atop him further confirmed it.
