Lei Xiuyuan also made his move. With a flash of golden light, he appeared before Qin Yangling. The golden light from Baihu’s Tail suddenly went wild, shattering the light blue water walls released by the two magical treasures in an instant. Qin Yangling threw the unconscious Bai Li Changyue towards him and darted to the other side. The two magical treasures followed him closely, once again erecting blue water walls.
Lei Xiuyuan caught Changyue and gently tossed her down. Li Fei had already summoned vines to wrap around her and pull her to his side. A healing net enveloped her as he swiftly cast celestial spells, quickly setting up Earth Lord’s Protection and several defensive barriers. With a push, an invisible force propelled Ye Ye and Changyue behind the group. At this point, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Something felt off; it was too smooth. Lei Xiuyuan shattered Qin Yangling’s protective water walls again with a few strikes. Seeing that he kept dodging without counterattacking, was he saving his spiritual energy for the Jie Bo Mirror? What did Bai Li Changyue mean earlier when she said to be careful of him?
He suddenly reached out, catching Qin Yangling’s arm as the latter failed to dodge. But Qin Yangling flipped and kicked Lei Xiuyuan in the face, causing the bronze mask to fall to the ground. Surprisingly, there was no change in Qin Yangling’s face. Why was he wearing a mask? The two conch-like magical treasures were also peculiar. Did he forge them himself? The light blue water walls could block Mountain Fire Tremor and Demon Wail. It didn’t seem like something Qin Yangling could create.
He suddenly had a bad feeling. Qin Yangling’s palm flipped, and Lei Xiuyuan felt a bone-chilling cold emanating from it. The golden light of Baihu’s Tail immediately pressed against his shoulder, pushing him away urgently. He slammed hard against the cave wall, but some defensive celestial spell on his body prevented the golden light from piercing through.
“Stop,” Lei Xiuyuan commanded as he landed on the ground.
Ji Tongzhou and Bai Li Gelin immediately withdrew their spells. The consecutive powerful attacks had consumed a lot of their energy. Li Fei stepped forward, holding one in each hand, infusing them with wood-attribute spiritual energy. Everyone noticed something was amiss. Qin Yangling had been avoiding all attacks, appearing disheveled but unharmed. In contrast, they had used many powerful moves and found themselves on the defensive.
Qin Yangling smiled, looking down at the golden light sword that couldn’t pierce his chest, then raised his head to look at Lei Xiuyuan. His eyes were extremely bright, filled with countless grudges and hidden endless smugness. After a moment, he said leisurely, “Catching all of you in one net so easily is too boring. Junior Brother Lei, what kind of monster will you turn into this time to open my eyes?”
Lei Xiuyuan didn’t answer. He slightly tilted his head and said softly, “Bai Li Gelin, take the opportunity to get them out.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he made the first move. The dazzling light of the Earth-Piercing Golden Dragon instantly blinded everyone. No matter how strong Qin Yangling’s defense was, it couldn’t withstand the Earth-Piercing Golden Dragon. He leaped into the air, and suddenly, everything seemed to return to the day of their duel. Lei Xiuyuan’s golden figure moved swiftly and unpredictably, flashing back and forth, left and right in the narrow cave, making it impossible to follow with the naked eye.
All defenses crumbled instantly under his sharp attacks, but Qin Yangling burst into laughter. He suddenly raised his hand, and the Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirror formed a circle around him. Before it could fully materialize, it was devoured by Ji Tongzhou’s black fire. The golden light mist turned into a golden net, wrapping around Qin Yangling. The light sword transformed into a bowstring, once again drawn like a full moon for Lei Xiuyuan. This time, dozens of light arrows were nocked, whistling as they shot like meteors, piercing the golden net countless times.
A huge, thick leaf gently wrapped around the severely injured Ye Ye and Bai Li Changyue. Bai Li Gelin transformed into a gust of wind, carrying the two, and was about to leave the cave when suddenly, a figure flashed at the entrance. Another person wearing a bronze mask appeared in front, with spiritual energy fluctuations identical to Qin Yangling’s.
An illusion? She was startled and whistled. The green snake demon hiding in the shadows suddenly opened its bloody maw and swallowed the person whole.
Bai Li Gelin breathed a sigh of relief and was about to continue forward when she suddenly felt her feet go numb. Raging ice erupted from the ground, instantly freezing her lower body solid. Strength and spiritual energy seemed to suddenly leave her body, and the cold in the ice made her shiver uncontrollably, unable to utter a word. The green snake demon and Ye Ye were also frozen, but suddenly the snake’s belly was torn open, and the man wearing the bronze mask gracefully walked out.
Bai Li Gelin was terrified. She hadn’t seen the Jie Bo Mirror. When did this happen?
Lei Xiuyuan frowned. He quietly looked at the bloodied, lifeless person falling from the golden net, with white hair and wearing Elder Wu Yue Yan’s clothes. Elder Zheng Xu?! Li Fei hurriedly went forward to check his breathing and pulse, and after a while, turned back in shock: “He’s dead.”
The man wearing the bronze Yecha mask at the cave entrance laughed and said, “Junior Brother Lei, you truly are rebellious, actually killing an elder with your own hands. Subordinates harming superiors is a serious crime.”
Switched in an instant? Impossible, Qin Yangling doesn’t have this ability. Was it an illusion from the start? How could Elder Zheng Xu be subdued by his disciple? Qin Yangling had just broken through the fourth bottleneck!
Seeing Gelin and the others frozen in ice, Li Fei became increasingly uncertain. Without seeing the Jie Bo Mirror, how did he freeze them?
Lei Xiuyuan looked at Elder Zheng Xu’s corpse, then glanced back at Qin Yangling, suddenly speaking: “Who is it? Is Zhen Yun Zi helping you?”
Those two conch-like magical treasures, that layer of defense on his body as hard as iron and difficult to break, and this illusion that’s hard to distinguish from reality, are not at Qin Yangling’s level. Someone must be assisting him. Originally thought to be Elder Zheng Xu’s excessive indulgence allowing him to run wild, but now it seems Elder Zheng Xu has already fallen victim to his beloved disciple’s betrayal, dying unclearly by his own hands.
Even if Qin Yangling had boundless malice, he alone couldn’t have reduced Elder Zhen Xu to this state. This place is close to the East Sea, and Zhen Yun Zi has been hunting demons here for three consecutive years. Everything is too coincidental, artificially so. First creating the illusion that Qin Yangling had kidnapped Bai Li Changyue out of lust, luring them into this narrow cave, making them fight against the bewitched Elder Zheng Xu, so he could team up with Zhen Yun Zi to catch them like fish in a barrel?
Qin Yangling laughed: “You think those immortals of Wu Yue Yan favor you, so you’ll be successful from now on? But I have eyes! You can fool others, but not me! You monster! It’s hateful that those immortals are so blind! Treating you, a monster, as a heaven-sent talent!”
Before he finished speaking, Lei Xiuyuan turned into a golden light and shot towards him. The two magical treasures immediately erected water walls for him. The next moment, the black fire raged all around. Ji Tongzhou drew his sword, which transformed into a black flame blade several zhang long. Tiny black flames fell like raindrops, dense and numerous. He lightly tapped the sword body, and those tiny fire points instantly burst open, with countless black fire tongues licking out. The two water-attribute magical treasures seemed to fear the black Xuan Hua fire, hurriedly dodging.
Such powerful black fire! Qin Yangling couldn’t imagine that among the remaining three, there was still someone so formidable. Lei Xiuyuan had already landed in front of him. With nowhere to hide, a golden light flashed before his eyes, and his left eye suddenly felt intense pain. His left eye had been forcibly pierced by the light sword. Qin Yangling let out a miserable howl and quickly retreated several zhangs. Lei Xiuyuan was about to pursue when he suddenly felt his feet go numb. The Jie Bo Mirror’s ice had already frozen him—where was the mirror?!
He stared intently at Qin Yangling, who was covering his left eye and screaming in pain. A cold light flickered in his right eye—had he placed the Jie Bo Mirror in his eye?! Ji Tongzhou behind him rushed forward urgently. Lei Xiuyuan wanted to warn him but couldn’t make a sound, only able to watch helplessly as Ji Tongzhou was also frozen in place by the Jie Bo Mirror, his face full of bewilderment.
Qin Yangling set up a healing net on his left eye. His face was covered in blood and sweat as he raised his foot to kick Lei Xiuyuan, followed by a punch to his face. He hated this young man intensely. Suddenly, he pulled out a short knife from his sleeve, wanting nothing more than to stab him to pieces.
Suddenly, another golden light flashed before his eyes. A golden light mist swept over. Qin Yangling, already traumatized by gold-attribute celestial spells, immediately withdrew his knife and dodged it urgently. After retreating several steps, he realized it wasn’t Lei Xiuyuan breaking free from the Jie Bo Mirror’s restraint, but a girl standing in the depths of the cave—it was Li Fei.
Seeing her, Qin Yangling instead smiled and said softly, “Junior Sister Jiang, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I really must thank you.”
Li Fei was about to raise her hand to release a celestial spell when she felt a chill under her feet. The ice instantly enveloped her, and the light of spiritual energy gradually faded from her palms.
Qin Yangling was extremely pleased. He slowly walked to her side, and everyone only felt their vision blur. Countless huge Yin-Yang Jie Bo Mirrors densely filled the entire cave, even covering the ceiling. As the ice mirrors increased, the ice on their bodies also layered up. In the blink of an eye, the entire ground was frozen.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Qin Yangling said, pinching Li Fei’s chin and turning her stiff head to face him. “I won’t make the same mistake again.”
Being sent away by Wu Yue Yan, ostensibly to reflect and calm down, but in reality, how was it any different from being expelled? All his years of hard practice and effort, along with his arrogance and ambition, were shattered in an instant! In this cruel world where everything is determined by strength, he couldn’t accept it. He was a proper cultivation disciple, what was Lei Xiuyuan? He had seen it that day! Hateful Zheng Xu, when he told him everything he saw, accused him of talking nonsense!
Qin Yangling turned back to look at Lei Xiuyuan with blazing eyes. He was expressionless again, like that day. Was he gathering strength? He raised his hand, condensing a flying sword in his palm. This time it was no longer a small flying sword, but a dazzling large one.
The flying sword emitted a piercing bamboo whistle-like sound. Just as Qin Yangling was about to throw it, he felt a chill on his back. He instinctively shrank, avoiding the vital point, and rolled on the ground. He turned back in disbelief to see that Jiang Li Fei, who should have been frozen, had somehow broken free from the ice. She wielded a light sword, striking silently and incredibly fast.
Missing with one strike, she reversed her hand for another. Qin Yangling felt a cold invasion between his brows, watching helplessly as the sword thrust toward the space between his eyes.