He had expected to see greed and delight on her face, but just as his interest was piqued, he found himself facing a small, expressionless face.
Demon Head: “?”
Mu Guili looked at the Mind-Clearing Flower and said indifferently, “Useless?”
This soul beast bone had already been dead for many years, yet its oppressive pressure had not dispersed. A flower had even grown from within its bones. How could it truly be useless just because she said so?
Thinking this, Mu Guili formed a hand seal with both hands. The art activated, and a profound aura flashed past.
Helou Yan suddenly realized that he could no longer sense the aura of this ant. He blinked, studying her as if he had discovered an amusing new toy.
If not for their contract, he would not even have been able to see her.
“What Forbidden Art is this? How interesting. It can not only conceal your life aura, but also leave behind not the slightest trace of sinister energy?”
With her current strength, she could only sustain it for the time it took an incense stick to burn. She had to hurry.
Mu Guili reached out again. Sure enough, because it could not sense her “aura,” the soul bone did not repel her, and she yanked the Mind-Clearing Flower out in one motion.
Seeing that she was ignoring him, he grabbed a strand of her hair and tugged hard.
Mu Guili gave a flat little hiss and snatched her hair back with a wave of her hand. “Who says all Forbidden Arts are filled with sinister energy?”
Since childhood, she had read countless books in the Mu Family Library. Once, she had come across a special book on Forbidden Arts called the Yin-Yang Five Mystical Arts.
That is: Mountain, Medical, Fate, Divination, and Physiognomy.
Each of the five arts was divided into yin and yang, representing good and evil, righteousness and wickedness.
Yet the book had vanished after she finished reading it. Even when she later asked her clansmen, none of them had ever heard of such a book. They had simply assumed that she had been joking as a child.
In her previous life, she had only wanted to cultivate through goodness, never expecting fate to be so full of twists and turns.
But now—
Mu Guili’s eyes churned with an indifferent light. She would be the one to control good and evil!
“Aren’t you supposed to be very powerful? You actually can’t see through the mysteries of this Forbidden Art?”
Helou Yan, seemingly determined to be even more irritating, plucked out another strand of her hair. He held it to his lips and blew on it, watching with interest as it drifted and drifted until it caught on Mu Guili’s eyelashes.
“It can’t be helped. When this Venerable kills people, all I need to do is give them a light squeeze. I have no need to study those flashy little mysteries.”
“……”
He really knew how to brag.
Mu Guili removed the strand of hair and, with great restraint, kept her face stiff as she said flatly, “Stop touching me!”
Seeing that she was clearly angry yet still struggling to maintain a calm expression, Helou Yan suddenly found it rather amusing.
If he made her emotions collapse, what kind of expression would she reveal then?
“Boom—”
The time had come. The soul beast barrier opened.
In the blink of an eye, waves of demon beast roars suddenly rang out. Thunderous sounds shook the heavens and earth. Clearly, the energy released by the opening of the soul beast barrier had triggered the beast tide into a frenzy.
Someone shouted, “The barrier is open! As agreed, the soul beasts go to whoever reaches them first!”
A vicious glint nevertheless flashed through Ye Chen’s eyes. This soul beast could only be his!
Mu Guili cast a cold glance at Ye Chen and the others as they prepared to rush inside, then swiftly arrived at the head of the skeleton.
Want to seize the soul beast? That would depend on whether she agreed!
She bit through her fingertip, drew a small forbidden formation on the bone with her blood, and quickly dodged away.
In an instant, two masses of black fire ignited in the skeleton’s eye sockets. The earth trembled, and amid thunderous rumbling, a pressure that made one’s very soul tremble swept across the land like a tidal wave.
Terrified voices rang out through the sky.
“Oh heavens, the beast skeleton has come alive!”
“Run!”
The bone claw slammed down viciously. Mountains collapsed, and shattered rocks sent everyone fleeing in all directions. A bone palm nearly the height of a person stomped down, and amid piercing screams, it actually crushed two people to death.
Ye Chen failed to dodge in time and was sent flying. He spat out a mouthful of blood. “Damn it! What in the world is going on?”
The beast tide had not even arrived, yet the beast skeleton had come alive!
While everyone was drawn toward the commotion caused by the beast skeleton—
Mu Guili swiftly took out the Mind-Clearing Flower, crushed it, and kneaded it into a mass with the spiritual power in her palm. Then she swallowed it at once and rapidly charged toward the cavern.
Anyone who saw this would have been stunned. The Mind-Clearing Flower was an alchemical ingredient, and the energy of a high-grade spirit plant was both powerful and violent. It had to be refined into a pill before it could be consumed. Swallowing it directly would instead injure a cultivator’s body; in severe cases, it could even cause the body to explode.
Yet not only did nothing happen to Mu Guili, the spiritual power within her body surged violently. Spiritual power coiled around her fingertips as the Physiognomy Art activated, brushing lightly across her cheeks.
In an instant, her features became blurred, and no one could clearly make out her appearance.
At the same time, a flash of white light appeared. The Medical Art circulated, and the injuries within her body rapidly healed. The violent spiritual power brought by the Mind-Clearing Flower was digested in an instant from every direction.
The remaining spiritual power poured into her eight extraordinary meridians, allowing her cultivation to break through in an instant. Her Third-Level Soul Warrior strength surged all the way to Ninth-Rank Soul Warrior before it was finally barely absorbed.
All of this happened within the space of a few breaths.
Helou Yan watched, utterly dumbfounded. Then, excited, he slapped his palm against a tree that would have taken ten people linking arms to encircle. The tree shattered, leaving behind a bare trunk shaped like a giant thumb, and the falling wreckage sent Ye Chen and the others flying as an unexpected disaster descended upon them.
“This is far too interesting!”
With that, he hurried after her, leaving Ye Chen to vomit blood miserably once again. Gravely wounded, he roared in fury.
“Someone went in! That person must have attacked us from the shadows just now!”
No, Ye Chen thought. If he could not obtain it, then no one else could either.
His mind clouded by dizziness, he pulled out the special signal talisman his master had given him and launched it directly into the sky.
As soon as Mu Guili entered the cavern, she felt every sound disappear. She did not know how long she had walked through the darkness before the passage suddenly opened up.
A rugged, desolate land appeared before her eyes. It seemed to lie beneath a cliff, with towering mountains standing on either side.
At the winding end of a stream stood a dilapidated thatched cottage, as though someone had once lived there.
Yet chaotic sword marks carved into the surroundings were everywhere, as if someone had gone mad and hacked wildly at the place.
Most importantly, a formidable long sword was actually embedded in the rugged cliff beside it. Its blade glimmered with bloody light and was bound by layer upon layer of chains, as though its killing intent had been sealed.
Even so, the threads of sword intent leaking out were still frightening enough that merely looking at them made her eyes sting with pain.
What a savage sword intent!
If it had not been sealed by those chains, then its sword intent alone would probably have been enough to put her life in danger.
She did not dare approach, but she soon spotted the glowing black Soul Beast Egg.
Several tiny cracks had split across its shell, and from time to time, it gave off a cracking sound. Clearly, it was in the process of breaking out.
Wrapped in sword intent, it seemed to be dutifully guarded by that long sword.
Before she could think of a way to approach—
The next moment, a deep, domineering voice suddenly rang out from the sword, exploding beside her ears.
“Human, leave this place at once. Otherwise, your divine soul shall be annihilated, and you shall never enter reincarnation!”
A Sword Spirit! This sword actually had a Sword Spirit!
Shock appeared in Mu Guili’s eyes. Could this be a divine artifact?
“Crack—”
In the next instant, a long, jade-like hand casually tore apart one of the chains. It then pulled the sword out with equal ease, looked it over disdainfully, and tossed it onto the ground like a piece of trash, where it clanged and clattered.
A lazy, mocking, contemptuous voice rang out.
“What a piece of junk. It even knows how to brag!”
The sword: “……”
Mu Guili: “……”