In his desperate state, Qin Yangling suddenly leaned back. The light sword grazed his forehead, cutting off several strands of hair. His forehead first felt icy cold, then became excruciatingly painful.
In extreme terror, Qin Yangling couldn’t care about the blood flowing down his face. He instinctively supported himself with his hand on the ground and raised his foot to kick at her wrist. Unexpectedly, a brownish-yellow light flashed before his eyes, and his whole body involuntarily spread out his arms. Several celestial spell chains firmly bound him to an earth-attribute cross-shaped frame. The chains pressed against his acupoints, preventing him from circulating even a trace of spiritual energy.
This was the high-level earth-attribute celestial spell, Dragon Imprisoning Lock. They were all familiar with it. Whether from the mountain or sea sects, the rules for entering disciples all had detailed descriptions of this spell. Anyone who violated the sect’s precepts, whether elder or disciple, would be bound by the Dragon Imprisoning Lock to await punishment. With spiritual energy unable to circulate, even the most powerful immortal would be no different from an ordinary person.
Qin Yangling felt bewildered and shocked. Why couldn’t the Jie Bo Mirror restrain Jiang Li Fei? Only he knew how much effort he had put into the Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirror. Now that he had broken through the fourth bottleneck, its power was several times stronger than before. He could even make it exist in his eyes. Within the limits of his spiritual energy support, he should have been nearly invincible for the period before his spiritual energy was severely depleted when he looked at someone.
He had put in countless efforts, first being freed from the Jie Bo Mirror’s restraint by Lei Xiuyuan, giving him unprecedented humiliation. This time, with Senior Zhen Yun Zi’s help, he had made full preparations, anticipating all counterattacks after Lei Xiuyuan got close. But his efforts were wasted once again, this time with Jiang Li Fei breaking out of the ice.
His confidence in the Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirror suddenly disappeared completely, leaving only a chill in his heart for all his efforts.
Why? Why?! Qin Yangling angrily glared at Elder Zheng Xu’s corpse. It was he who had told him that the Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirror was the strongest restraining celestial spell! Being broken out of the ice repeatedly, he had been completely deceived!
Li Fei ignored his angry curses and shattered the numerous Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirrors in the cave. The five people frozen by the ice were finally freed from restraint. However, the cold poison was rampant. Except for Lei Xiuyuan and Ji Tongzhou, who could barely stand, the other three had already fainted.
Ye Ye and Changyue’s condition must be extremely bad! Just as Li Fei was about to go over, she suddenly saw a black shadow flash before her eyes. In an instant, the six people were grabbed by an irresistible force and slammed hard against the cave wall. With just one collision, Li Fei’s Earth Lord’s Protection completely shattered. Lei Xiuyuan and Ji Tongzhou were immediately knocked unconscious. The lightning-like figure paused in front of Qin Yangling, and an icy cold voice like a deep spring sounded: “A few little ones made you so miserable, is your heart for revenge still there?”
A long-absent voice, Zhen Yun Zi.
In his despair, Qin Yangling suddenly saw Zhen Yun Zi arrive. He was both overjoyed and furious. His blood-stained face looked strangely distorted. He could have come earlier! Just watching him be humiliatingly bound by a little girl?! But Zhen Yun Zi was after all an immortal elder. Several of his magical treasures and defensive celestial spells were taught by him. Even that old thief Zheng Xu was eliminated thanks to him.
By chance, meeting Zhen Yun Zi allowed him to take revenge so quickly.
“Please, Senior, let me take revenge with my own hands!” Qin Yangling shouted hoarsely.
Zhen Yun Zi didn’t respond immediately. He scanned around. The five little ones from the academy years ago were all here. Six years had passed, and his power had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer be a Xuan Gate elder. The taste of this, besides himself, no one understood. His gaze, cold as ice, swept over each of their faces. He had waited for this day for a long time and had planned for it for a long time.
After entering the sect, academy disciples were not allowed to enter and leave freely for six years. During this time, there were always elder immortals accompanying and guarding them when they went out. Even with his power not yet deteriorated, he couldn’t silently grab disciples from beside famous elders. He had to endure, keep a low profile, and bear humiliation. Six years was but a blink of an eye for immortals, but for him, it felt like an eternity.
The several near misses with the nine-tailed fox haunted him like a demon; losing his position as an elder also tormented him. Yes, practicing Xuan Gate’s Heavenly Sound Language and Word Spirit Magic required cutting off emotions and desires. He understood this better than anyone, but how to fill the abyss of desire? How to deal with his sleepless nights of tossing and turning? How to suppress the long sighs every time he thought about it? Upward, always, to become the strongest, this had always been his most firm and indestructible cultivation heart. Without the cultivation heart, how could he continue to cultivate?
At his most desperate moment, he even came alone to the edge of the East Sea, imagining doing those heroic deeds that countless immortals had done before, simply dying on the journey across the East Sea. That would be clean and unrestrained, but he ultimately couldn’t let go. Until one day, on an unnamed cliff by the East Sea, he discovered traces left by the former Qingcheng Immortal.
This famous immortal, legendary for cutting off the Yecha’s horn, had been missing for hundreds of years. Who could have imagined that he had gone overseas with the nine-tailed fox? The writing left on the cliff’s giant rock was so profound and unrestrained, full of unyielding spirit and the heroic attitude of “Though there be a thousand men, I will go forward”—[On the twenty-first day of the third month of the Guichou year, starting from Manshan in the East Sea, the vast sea stretches endlessly, I depart].
What surprised him wasn’t this, but the signature below: [Wu Yue Yan Hu She Feng of Qingcheng leaves this. Qingqiu Nine-tailed Ri Yan leaves this.] Below the handwriting of Qingqiu’s Nine-tailed Ri Yan were several sharp claw marks.
Qingqiu Nine-tailed, Qingqiu Nine-tailed Ri Yan… At that moment, Zhen Yun Zi almost wanted to laugh out loud to the heavens. So this nine-tailed fox was an old acquaintance of the Qingcheng Immortal! It had been to the legendary overseas! The one he had set his eyes on was such a formidable great demon! He could even imagine that when he captured this nine-tailed fox, he would be able to learn countless overseas secrets, and when using its invaluable fur and bones to refine magical treasures, what terrifying cultivation improvement he would have!
He could no longer bear to leave the East Sea, often using demon hunting as an excuse to try to find more clues about the Qingcheng Immortal and the nine-tailed fox nearby. Later, he met Qin Yangling, who was brought out of Wu Yue Yan by Elder Zheng Xu, learned about his entanglement with Lei Xiuyuan, and decided to use his very powerful Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirror. After subduing Zheng Xu with strategy, all plans were perfectly set, just waiting for those foolish little ones to take the bait.
Thinking of these past events, Zhen Yun Zi felt a surge of excitement and countless emotions. His gaze stopped on Lei Xiuyuan. This brat, after Qin Yangling lost to him, told a pack of lies, saying something about his eyes flashing golden light, that he was a demon. In his view, this was nothing but an excuse for his miserable defeat, despicable. The Lei boy had been clever and calm since childhood, knowing too much about himself. He absolutely couldn’t be left alive.
Beside Lei Xiuyuan lay another young disciple, wearing the disciple robe of Xing Zheng Hall. Zhen Yun Zi looked at him for a long time. He naturally recognized him, as Ji Tongzhou, the prince of Yue Kingdom. He hadn’t been able to enter Xuan Gate but instead became a disciple of Wu Zheng Zi of Hua Gate. It was said that his talent was extraordinary, a good seedling rarely seen in a thousand years.
Facing Ji Tongzhou, he finally hesitated for a moment. This was a disciple of his Xing Zheng Hall, and he had ten thousand parts of unwillingness to kill him in his heart.
Zhen Yun Zi waved his long sleeve, and a pure white sword appeared in his palm. He easily cut through the Dragon Imprisoning Lock. Qin Yangling fell to the ground and immediately sat cross-legged, concentrating on circulating and absorbing spiritual energy.
“I’m giving you a chance for revenge. If you fail again, then it’s your fate!”
After speaking, Zhen Yun Zi stared coldly at Lei Xiuyuan. This boy was the most troublesome; he had to kill him personally to be at ease. A golden light flashed in his palm, and he was already in front of Lei Xiuyuan. He was about to cut off his head with one sword strike when suddenly a huge jade-like rhinoceros horn appeared before his eyes. The sword strike hit the horn, making an extremely piercing sound.
Li Fei had long been alert that he might suddenly attack. She had put several layers of Earth Lord’s Protection on Lei Xiuyuan and stood in front of him. Unexpectedly, Zhen Yun Zi suddenly raised his hand and grabbed her neck. She was grabbed by an irresistible force and slammed against the cave wall. She felt as if all the bones in her body were shattered. The back of her head was in excruciating pain and burning hot, with blood slowly oozing out. That hand was tightly gripping her neck, making it impossible for her to breathe or even circulate spiritual energy. She had never experienced such pain in her life.
Her two hands instinctively grasped at nothing. Her blurred and chaotic vision could only see the cold yet fanatical eyes of the man before her. It wasn’t a gaze looking at a person but at an object.
Li Fei desperately opened her mouth and said hoarsely, “I… I’ll let you go! Don’t kill anyone! Otherwise, I’ll die right here! You’ll never get the nine-tailed fox even if you die!”
Zhen Yun Zi gave a cold laugh, seeing blood flowing from her mouth as she was biting her tongue. He immediately grabbed her chin and pulled her up by the collar. Behind him, Qin Yangling once again released numerous Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirrors, freezing everyone anew. Zhen Yun Zi moved, kicking Ji Tongzhou out of the ice. He obviously couldn’t withstand this kick and suddenly woke from his coma, followed by a violent spurt of blood from his mouth. He knelt on the ground, his expression scattered. Zhen Yun Zi held one in each hand, summoned a spell gate, flashed into it, and disappeared from the cave in the blink of an eye.
He took away that little girl Jiang Li Fei, which greatly displeased Qin Yangling. He had always been as lustful as he was fond of life and had long coveted Jiang Li Fei’s beauty. Although he hated her to the bone and wanted to tear her to pieces, he had to have a taste of her charm before killing her.
With the greatest pleasure gone, Qin Yangling didn’t dare to quibble with Zhen Yun Zi about anything. He turned back, slowly scanning the four people frozen in the ice. The two girls left behind were also quite beautiful, but compared to Jiang Li Fei, they were somewhat lacking. Moreover, Bai Li Changyue had been like a dead person earlier, no matter how he tore her clothes, verbally abused her, or even broke her bones, she didn’t make a sound, which was nauseating.
He simply walked towards Lei Xiuyuan. Most of his body was frozen in the ice, his eyes tightly closed. The cloud-pushing technique Zhen Yun Zi used earlier was not light; if the impact position was bad, his spine might have been broken. This boy who had always been so arrogant finally had a miserable moment, with blood flowing continuously from his nose and mouth, still unconscious.
He hadn’t forgotten that day of the duel, Lei Xiuyuan’s sudden dominance. Those blind immortals of Wu Yue Yan certainly didn’t understand why he suddenly summoned dark clouds to cover the sky, only he knew! In that darkness where one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, he saw with his own eyes that there was dazzling golden light flickering in Lei Xiuyuan’s eyes, and not just his eyes, his whole body emitted a layer of dazzling and cold golden light.
This person must be some kind of demon! That’s why he could break through the third bottleneck in just a few short years. All his genius was because he wasn’t human!
Qin Yangling drew his short knife and tested it on Lei Xiuyuan’s neck. Should he slowly cut through, enjoying his blood and fearful pain, or cut off his head with one stroke to avoid any mishaps?
This time, he absolutely wouldn’t make the slightest mistake, never again.
He raised his hand and mercilessly slashed down. The sharp blade cut into Lei Xiuyuan’s neck. Instantly, blood splattered, so hot it felt like sparks of fire. He couldn’t help but tremble, and for some reason, the short knife in his hand could no longer cut through, as if it had hit steel.
Qin Yangling suddenly felt the youth with a bloody gash on his neck move slightly, then he turned his head. Golden and cold pupils instantly captured him.