A loud “boom” rang out.
The bronze pill-refining cauldron at the center of the Grand Hall suddenly exploded, and the vengeful spirits inside swarmed out, heading straight for Protector Zhi.
“The vengeful spirits are backfiring… the Hundred Ghosts Banner is about to turn on its master.”
A hint of mockery flickered in Helian Chuxue’s indifferent eyes. “He who lives by injustice will die by injustice.”
Hearing this, Su Yanqing stared at Protector Zhi, now besieged by vengeful spirits, ghostly qi spilling from every inch of his body.
The strange runes on his chest suddenly began to shift and race wildly. She sensed something was wrong: “Master, what in the world are those runes?”
“Damn it… that’s a sacrifice technique. He’s using his own soul to summon the remnant soul of an ancient vicious beast!” A rare look of alarm crossed Helian Chuxue’s usually placid features.
He took a bottle of spirit-restoring pills from his spatial ring with one hand and swallowed them in one gulp.
With the other, he handed Su Yanqing a stack of advanced attack talismans. “Have Mu Yunci lead you all out. I’m going to interrupt his summoning.”
Before Su Yanqing could voice a protest, Master’s figure vanished from before her eyes.
Yet it was a moment too late.
The sacrifice technique had already successfully summoned a remnant soul of a Zhu Yan.
This vicious beast resembled an ape, with a white head and crimson feet.
At a single roar from the remnant soul, the entire Grand Hall teetered on the verge of collapse.
Cultivators present… the lightly affected felt their spiritual energy churn violently; the severely wounded died on the spot.
After the sacrifice, Protector Zhi’s body perished and his soul scattered.
But his dying curse still echoed through the air: “You destroyed my altar and cut off my future… you ants shall plunge into Avici Hell with me!”
Su Yanqing was so terrified by the carnage before her that she could not speak.
This Zhu Yan did not distinguish friend from foe.
Whenever it found someone isolated, it first pulled out their soul force and devoured it clean, then chewed their flesh. Gradually, it shifted from an illusion into a solid form.
“We can’t let it keep eating. Once it fully possesses a physical body, not only will we all be wiped out… even the cultivation world will face calamity.” The medicinal power Helian Chuxue had swallowed earlier was already surging through him.
He rose to his feet once more and fought the Zhu Yan for his life.
Blood splattered everywhere. Master, who was usually clad in spotless white robes, was now a man covered in blood, his entire body riddled with wounds.
Meanwhile, Mu Yunci and Murong Yi, protecting Su Yanqing, were still battling the remaining demonic cultivators… and they too were at the end of their strength.
Total annihilation seemed inevitable.
“System, I’ll count to three. If you don’t act, we all die together.” Su Yanqing called out to the system in her mind.
In truth, her hands trembled as she covered her eyes, unable to bear watching the carnage ahead.
The system’s cold mechanical voice sounded:
『Forcibly raising the host’s spiritual energy. A single strike can kill the vicious beast. The condition: all issued missions must be completed within two months.』
“I accept!”
Su Yanqing nodded joyfully.
Just as she received the endless surge of spiritual energy pouring into her body, Jing Sanhuai and the others who had come to reinforce them burst in.
“Little Junior Sister… what are you doing here?” Jing Sanhuai was astonished.
Bai Xiaoru said in a strange, biting tone: “Can’t you see? There is no Shen Si at all… it was Su Yanqing in disguise from beginning to end. It’s so dangerous here, and Senior Brother and the others still have to split their attention to protect her. As expected of the Sect Master’s daughter… she really has pull.”
Yueli’s rippling, captivating eyes shimmered: “So it’s Junior Sister Su. It’s very dangerous here… let me take you out.”
Su Yanqing said not a word, her gaze terrifyingly calm. She did not even acknowledge anyone, but turned and rushed toward the danger.
She raised the black sword in her hand. All her spiritual energy converged at the blade’s edge, emitting an icy blue, chilling sword light.
Then she swung the sword. Sharp sword qi shot straight toward the vicious beast Zhu Yan.
The momentum was fierce, as if it would cleave the beast in two.
However, the jealous Bai Xiaoru did something unbelievable.
As if trying to lend Su Yanqing a hand, she also threw out the Demon-Devouring Compass.
With a “clang.”
The compass collided with the sword light, causing its direction to deviate.
Fortunately, the sword light was powerful, and it ultimately still struck the vicious beast Zhu Yan.
But a miss by a hair’s breadth can throw you a thousand miles off.
That killing blow, which had consumed all of Su Yanqing’s spiritual energy, only cut off one of Zhu Yan’s shoulders… it failed to sever its head.
Enormous despair shrouded Su Yanqing’s heart.
She had used up all her fortune, even overdrawn her missions, the rewards she had painstakingly earned.
And just like that, someone had… with a gentle toss, destroyed it all.
“Bai! Xiao! Ru! I’ve put up with you long enough!”
Su Yanqing struck Bai Xiaoru with a Frigid Ice Palm, making her instantly cough up blood, her entire body covered in frost.
Yet Su Yanqing was still not appeased. She roared in fury: “Do you have any idea… what you destroyed was all our lives!”
“You framed me in the secret realm, forced me off a cliff… I could let that go. But what you just destroyed was Master’s life!”
“Ungrateful, worse than a dog or pig! Had I known this would happen, I never should have saved you from the demonic cultivators!”
“I should have let the vengeful spirits devour you, gnaw your flesh and blood until you died!”
Su Yanqing gripped the sword hilt, trembling with despair, bright eyes brewing a storm.
Suddenly, she raised the black sword, its edge gleaming with deadly light.
She thrust it violently toward Bai Xiaoru’s chest and abdomen. Blood gushed forth.
Just as everyone thought Su Yanqing would cut off Bai Xiaoru’s head with a single stroke…
The system timely reminded:
『If you erase the original female lead now, you will incur the punishment of the world’s Heavenly Dao. Only when Bai Xiaoru falls and becomes a demonic cultivator, becoming the public enemy of the cultivation world, can she be killed!』
Su Yanqing’s wrist trembled, her expression faltering slightly. She turned and tossed back a single line: “Killing you would dirty my hands. You don’t deserve it! I’ll make you understand… living is the greatest pain!”
Her hands trembled slightly as she continuously squeezed the spiritual energy from within her body, building up for the next sword technique.
That last strike had not only failed to kill the Zhu Yan… it had even enraged it. The claw wounds on Master’s body were dripping with blood.
Senior Brother and Murong Yi were also covered in wounds.
Although Jing Sanhuai and the others had come to help, they could not possibly kill the Zhu Yan.
Su Yanqing’s blood boiled madly within her, her beautiful, clear eyes brimming with killing intent.
She leaped up, her robes fluttering, and the righteous aura around her suddenly surged!
In an instant, sword shadows blanketed the sky, like meteors falling, like a myriad rays of light, carrying an unstoppable, dense killing intent as they rushed toward the vicious beast!
Just as Su Yanqing swung her sword and charged at the Zhu Yan, and the Zhu Yan had turned its head, preparing to devour her flesh and blood, an afterimage suddenly swept past her eyes.
Before she could even react to what had happened.
The situation on the field instantly reversed.