Ye Yuanqing retreated rapidly, his peripheral vision catching the suddenly increased flickering fire lines on both sides of the rock walls. He had never seen these fire lines appear on rock walls outside the fire cave.

The star power surrounding Ming Li appeared surging and turbulent, as if all the star power in this realm was squeezing toward her.

Why was it like this?

Ye Yuanqing was terrified inwardly. He felt the pain of his skin being cut as the natural Circulating Qi of Birth Destruction continuously pressed closer. When he was forced back to the rock wall entrance, this awe-inspiring pressure suddenly ceased.

He dared not act rashly. His expression was more serious than ever before, and he didn’t even notice the cold sweat sliding down his temples.

Ye Yuanqing was certain that Birth Destruction had stopped, but he didn’t know if Ming Li had exhausted her star power or if she had deliberately ceased it.

Ming Li slowly walked toward Ye Yuanqing, who stood at the entrance of the rock wall. A wisp of white smoke silently appeared from her fingertips. She hadn’t wanted to stop Birth Destruction, but the time limit for bypassing the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame to connect the two Star Meridians was too short. After the connection was forcibly interrupted, she returned to the Boundary Fulfillment of Seven Meridians and could no longer use the special-grade spiritual techniques of a Sacred Pilgrim.

From the moment she entered the cave, she had sensed the abnormality of the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame within her body. Cheng Jingbai had briefly informed her about the sky pit’s situation at the entrance. It was known that the sky pit was devouring star power rather than restricting it, but Ming Li could confirm that the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame devoured star power faster than the sky pit, and more brutally and forcefully.

Therefore, the threat of the sky pit devouring star power was ineffective against Ming Li.

Instead, this realm and the endless star power of fire jade from the fire cave were all surging toward Ming Li because of the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame. The overly vast star power was almost too much for her to bear.

Ming Li had no time to consider the similarities between the fire lines in the sky pit and the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame. She stared at Ye Yuanqing ahead, her killing intent permeating the air.

Ye Yuanqing asked in a deep voice, “How can you sense star power in the sky pit?”

“You just need to be faster than it,” Ming Li said. “It seems that although Tai Yi’s Star Fragment Tablet isn’t faster than this vast sky pit’s devouring power, it can still supply you with some star power to use.”

To use Star Meridian power in the sky pit, one either needed to be faster than the sky pit’s devouring speed or needed to preserve some star power from being devoured by the sky pit.

Ye Yuanqing looked at her coldly. Ming Li’s response made him recall the past when he learned that the continent’s new boundary-breaking Sacred Pilgrim was a sixteen-year-old girl. At the same age, he was still trying to comprehend the secrets of cultivation, practicing spiritual techniques day and night, and researching the Eight Meridians.

He had once been proud of his awakening of the Eight Meridians, full of aspirations, but all his efforts couldn’t compare to this girl’s awakening with an innate Boundary Fulfillment of Seven Meridians.

The talent gap aroused jealousy, dissatisfaction, and anger.

Just like now, he had to carefully hold the Star Fragment Tablet just to protect himself in the sky pit, while the enemy standing before him said You just need to be faster than it.

Ye Yuanqing tightened his grip on his sword, his tone icy, his eyes already tainted with viciousness: “You think I don’t know that?”

“You seem very unwilling and dissatisfied. What, do you feel ashamed that you need the Star Fragment Tablet to use Star Meridian power?” Ming Li took a step forward, the ground trembling slightly, and mocked softly, “If you’re so unwilling, you should just die once.”

Just like in the natural formation in Nan Que, endless star power surged forth. The Sacred Pilgrim’s flame absorbing it meant Ming Li absorbed it; she and the Sacred Pilgrim’s flame were one entity.

The only difference was that in the natural formation, Ming Li actively absorbed the star power.

In the sky pit, however, the star power actively surged toward Ming Li. She passively received an immeasurable amount of vast star power. Even without using any spiritual techniques, just the attack of star power alone could crush Ye Yuanqing, who could only use thirty percent of his Star Meridian power.

Ye Yuanqing finally felt fear. In the sky pit, he would be at a disadvantage against Ming Li. He had to get out!

He stopped talking, his eyebrows tightly knit as his feet turned. He pushed his Body Techniques Meridian to the limit, with the Sacred Pilgrim’s enhancement of 360 times, and in an instant, his figure appeared behind Ming Li.

Ye Yuanqing dared not look back, or rather, he had no time to look back to see Ming Li’s movements. He only focused on Shadow Flashing forward toward the exit.

He couldn’t possibly die here!

Ye Yuanqing’s pupils contracted as he raised his sword to engage with Ming Li, who had Shadow Flashed in front of him. Her five fingers grabbed the blade as it slashed, and the Divine Martial Sword emitted a threatening cry. The cry, however, became trembling. The temperature from Ming Li’s fingertips transmitted through the Divine Martial Sword to Ye Yuanqing. The scalding heat on his palm made Ye Yuanqing frown, but he dared not drop the sword, still gripping it tightly.

“Wind Breaking!” he gritted his teeth and spoke the Circulating Qi incantation.

Ming Li, who had reached out to block the sword, said, “Nullify.”

Ye Yuanqing’s Circulating Qi incantation was canceled just as it started. Unwilling to give up, he said, “Sound Binding!”

Ming Li’s eyes held a cold smile: “Nullify.”

At this point, the difference in strength between the two was too great. The stronger party could make the weaker party’s Circulating Qi incantations directly disappear.

The Divine Martial Sword, gripped by Ming Li, couldn’t move. Ye Yuanqing could feel the obvious pressure of star power, making him tremble slightly. The palm holding the sword had already started to blister from the burning.

How many years had it been? Ye Yuanqing couldn’t quite remember. Since becoming a Sacred Pilgrim, no one’s star power pressure could make him tremble, let alone his legs shake.

If he continued to persist, he would kneel under Ming Li’s star power pressure.

Kneeling to Ming Li… such a thing was unthinkable!

Ye Yuanqing couldn’t accept this. Both being Sacred Pilgrims, why should he kneel? She wasn’t even a Sacred Pilgrim anymore! How could he, one of the continent’s strongest with Boundary Fulfillment of Eight Meridians, be forced to kneel by the mere star power of someone with Boundary Fulfillment of Seven Meridians!

He had to get out. He had to leave the sky pit!

Ye Yuanqing abandoned his sword and fled. His figure, escaping from Ming Li’s side, was a mess. Sweat splashed into his eyes due to his rapid Shadow Flash speed.

Ming Li held the Divine Martial Sword and turned to look at the miserable Ye Yuanqing. The sword vibrated and shrieked, as if roaring angrily at its master.

*

The rock wall trembled, and some small stones fell.

Chen Zhou still lay on the ground. As stones were about to fall on his face, he closed one eye, but then saw someone’s hand catch the falling stones.

Fu Yuan and Black Fox Mask caught the falling stones, looking down at him.

No one could have imagined that Chen Zhou would become like this now. Black Fox Mask involuntarily crushed the stones in his hand.

Chen Zhou was startled, not expecting that they had come too.

Fu Yuan looked at him with annoyance: “What are you still lying there for?”

“Tired,” Chen Zhou smiled. “Let me lie down a bit longer.”

Black Fox Mask glanced at the sword wound on his shoulder and said, “Go outside and stop the bleeding.”

Chen Zhou said lazily, “What if I can’t walk?”

Fu Yuan said, “I won’t carry you.”

Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow: “Really?”

Black Fox Mask said, “He will carry you.”

Fu Yuan looked over with a face full of black lines.

After relaxing his mental state, Chen Zhou had completely changed.

Just then, hurried footsteps approached them. Cheng Jingbai shook off the people behind him and ran desperately, shouting to Chen Zhou, “Get up! Stop lying there and quickly get up! Go tell your junior sister to be careful and not to shatter the Star Fragment Tablet like she did in Nan Que!”

Chen Zhou: “…”

“To be honest, my junior sister does things her way and doesn’t listen to others. You might as well call out to her that the thing is what Zixi wants,” Chen Zhou had just sat up from the ground when he sensed something unusual surging in this direction. He frowned, looking toward it, and saw Ye Yuanqing Shadow Flashing toward them.

Both parties were startled upon meeting. Chen Zhou thought Ming Li hadn’t been able to stop Ye Yuanqing and was about to act when he heard a piercing sword cry. The Divine Martial Sword, carrying the pressure of star power, shot from behind, pressing against Ye Yuanqing’s shoulder, then using that force to turn on the rock wall, with the sword tip pointing directly at Ye Yuanqing’s left shoulder.

After the collision of two streams of star power, Ye Yuanqing, pushed back by the Divine Martial Sword, used both hands to defend against the Divine Martial Sword that was stabbed directly toward his brow.

The sword’s force was fierce. This strike directly knocked Ye Yuanqing back to the rock wall entrance. He retreated several dozen more steps, already at the edge of the rock wall platform. Below was a bottomless abyss thousands of feet deep. Wang Geng, who was hanging on the cliff face, heard the commotion above and felt his heart drop. He frantically begged for help, shouting, “Sacred Ye, save me! Let me help you! I will help you beat that pig slave Chen Zhou to death!”

Ye Yuanqing had no strength to care about him. With both hands against the sword, there were seven wooden tablets, about the size of fingernails, floating around his hands. The Star Fragment Tablet was helping him resist Ming Li’s star power.

Wang Geng’s ghostly wailing annoyed Ye Yuanqing. He glanced behind him with his peripheral vision. If he couldn’t stop Ming Li, he would fall down the cliff right before Wang Geng’s eyes, which would also be a great humiliation for Ye Yuanqing.

Impossible!

Ye Yuanqing exerted all his strength. The Star Fragment Tablet operated at high speed. The characters on the seven wooden tablets were illuminated, once again injecting star power into Ye Yuanqing. At this moment, Ming Li appeared, Shadow Flashing forward, grabbing the Divine Martial Sword, and slashing down.

Blood splattered. Wang Geng, the slave hanging on the cliff who was looking up and shouting hoarsely, saw a bloody object fall, giving him a jolt, and his wailing stopped.

In a moment of crisis, Ye Yuanqing had tilted his head to avoid the fatal blow, but his Divine Martial Sword had cut off his left ear. Now, clutching his bleeding left face in shock as he turned around, Ming Li said again, “Wind Breaking.”

The gravity pressure should have made Ye Yuanqing kneel instantly, but he suddenly Shadow Flashed to the passage bridge. The intense pain made him knit his brows tightly, the Star Fragment Tablet still clutching his wrist.

Blood tears flowed from Ye Yuanqing’s eyes, and a trace of blood also seeped from the corner of his mouth. He raised his hand to wipe it away, looking coldly and angrily at Ming Li on the rock wall.

Ming Li slightly raised her eyebrow and also Shadow Flashed to the bridge, saying with a half-smile, “Have you been pushed to this point?”

Shatter stars, regroup.

Because the Eight Meridians required too much star power consumption, he severed his seven meridians, leaving only the Spiritual Court Meridian.

The Sacred Pilgrim of Tai Yi, Ye Yuanqing’s divine miracle ability, awakened during his boundary breakthrough, came from the Spiritual Court Meridian.

The star power that the Star Fragment Tablet had just injected into him was all absorbed by the Spiritual Court Meridian, enabling him to use the divine miracle ability—Heart Slaughter.

Hearing Ming Li’s relaxed tone of questioning, hatred grew in Ye Yuanqing’s heart.

This person had forced him to sever his seven meridians, which would be difficult to repair even after leaving. But if he didn’t stake everything on the spiritual technique Heart Slaughter, he wouldn’t even be able to leave the sky pit!

There was only one outcome for not being able to leave the sky pit: death.

Ye Yuanqing didn’t want to die.

Ming Li felt the surrounding star power recede, and her fighting spirit gradually disappeared. When facing Ye Yuanqing, even her anger diminished. Her mocking expression became calm, and she even actively threw away the Divine Martial Sword in her hand.

All of this was against her will.

Divine miracle ability—Heart Slaughter, although from the Spiritual Court Meridian and not the Heart Meridian, could suppress and invade with spiritual power, controlling others’ emotions, making them under his control.

Within the effective time of the spiritual technique Heart Slaughter, Ye Yuanqing could even control her intentions, making Ming Li pick up the Divine Martial Sword and kill herself.

But Ming Li’s Heart Meridian and Spiritual Court Meridian were both resisting. With limited star power in the sky pit and the limited effective time of Heart Slaughter, Ye Yuanqing had no time to linger and toy with her. Coughing blood, he walked toward Ming Li, his killing intent no longer concealed, seeping from his eyes and covering his entire face.

Several figures ran out from the rock wall entrance. Ye Yiyi shouted toward Ye Yuanqing below, “Father!”

Ye Fengming ran toward the passage bridge below with her.

Ye Yuanqing didn’t stop walking, though his steps were somewhat unsteady. He was determined to kill Ming Li while she was controlled by Heart Slaughter and unable to resist, then leave.

Ming Li calmly said, “You seem to be walking quite urgently. Why not take it slow?”

Ye Yuanqing laughed coldly and said, “You think I won’t kill you?”

“That’s what I should say to you,” Ming Li blinked slightly, seeming to smile. “You kept my senior brother suffering in the sky pit for five years, yet you think this killing intent can be suppressed by Heart Slaughter?”

Ye Yuanqing’s first reaction after hearing this was that it was impossible, but when he saw Ming Li slowly raising her hand, fear occupied his entire body. No longer caring, he used his last bit of star power to Shadow Flash forward and reach out to strangle Ming Li’s neck.

Ming Li hadn’t yet raised her hand. As Ye Yuanqing’s hand touched the strands of hair raised by star power, she uttered, “Wind Breaking.”

The gravity forced Ye Yuanqing down, making him kneel heavily before her. He could no longer hold back a mouthful of blood, which spilled onto her skirt. The dispersing star power swept across, knocking him flying toward the group of earth ghosts at the other end of the passage, knocking down many people as he rolled on the ground to the edge of the sky pit.

Just as Ye Yuanqing was about to get up, one palm supporting the ground, the Divine Martial Sword was already in Ming Li’s grip, stabbing directly into the back of his hand, fixing it in place. He grunted, watching helplessly as Ming Li bent down to take the Star Fragment Tablet. Due to the pressure of star power, he couldn’t move, and he looked at her with eyes nearly bursting from their sockets.

People on the other side of the passage also seemed to be intimidated by Ming Li’s star power pressure, not daring to move, trembling as they looked at the edge of the sky pit.

Ming Li took the Star Fragment Tablet and looked beyond Ye Yuanqing. Below in the sky pit, more than half of the slaves hadn’t moved. They were numb and lifeless, already accustomed to life as slaves, and seemed to know that resistance was useless. They couldn’t escape. Even if they climbed to the edge of the sky pit, what then? They would still be kicked back.

They had seen such things before.

Ming Li covered the entire sky pit with her star power pressure. The indifferent slaves were all startled by the suddenly descending pressure, becoming anxious and trembling as they looked in her direction.

Ye Yuanqing, who had severed his Star Meridians to stake his life, had failed. Perhaps it was because of the limitations in the sky pit that Heart Slaughter couldn’t control Ming Li, he thought.

But Ming Li bent down and said to him, “Don’t blame your failure on the sky pit devouring star power. Blame only that you aren’t strong enough, unable to achieve the awakening of the two divine miracle abilities during your boundary breakthrough.”

The Sacred Pilgrims knew about her Heavy Eyes Meridian divine miracle ability—Star Observation, but they didn’t know about her second divine miracle ability, which, like Ye Yuanqing’s, came from the Spiritual Court Meridian.

Ye Yuanqing raised his head in shock, his eyes trembling in disbelief as he looked at her. This face that had once looked down on all living beings completely collapsed.

“Among the Sacred Pilgrims, only you and Cui Yaocen were most concerned about my talent, becoming jealous. No wonder you two could cooperate because of me.” Ming Li straightened up, looking down at his miserable face. “Now you’ve severed your seven meridians and can no longer sense star power or use Star Meridian power, just like these slaves. So from now on, you are a slave, and I am the Star Lord here.”

Ming Li glanced at the Ye siblings running over, raising her hand to point out the Circulating Qi incantation Mountain Fixation, trapping them.

“I heard that the slaves in the sky pit should have their minds destroyed, repeatedly tortured until only servility remains. So let’s start with your favorite choice.” Ming Li pointed out two star lines that wrapped around the necks of the Ye siblings, throwing them to hang suspended above the edge of the sky pit.

“Stop!” Ye Yuanqing shouted angrily, the veins on his temples throbbing. “Put them down!”

The two were wrapped around the neck by star lines and suspended, breathing rapidly.

Ming Li pointed at the siblings and said, “You must choose before they are hanged to death. Do you want your daughter to go down, or do you want to throw your son down?”

Ye Yuanqing glared hatefully at Ming Li. Due to the damage from severing his Star Meridians and the pressure of star power, he knelt on the ground, unable to rise or move. He could only keep looking toward his son and daughter.

“Don’t think about delaying. Otherwise, you’ll see them both hanged to death before your eyes,” Ming Li said. “I am now the Star Lord of the sky pit, and you are a slave. I have no sympathy for slaves.”

“Come on, it’s time for the slave to make a choice. Is it your son who goes down, or your daughter?”

Ye Yuanqing watched as the siblings clawed at their necks, trying to break free from the star lines. Their faces were turning red, and they were having difficulty breathing. He gritted his teeth and growled, “Fengming! Let Fengming come up!”

Not far away, Ye Yiyi, who was hanging in the air, heard her father’s answer in a daze, and her struggle to survive paused.

Ming Li lowered her eyes to look at Ye Yuanqing’s hateful and ferocious face, smiling and saying, “Why don’t you choose to go down in their place?”

Ye Yuanqing’s face froze. When he saw Ming Li raise her hand, he immediately turned to look at the sky above the pit. The person released by the star lines and falling, however, was Ye Fengming.

“No!” Ye Yuanqing wanted to turn around, exerting all his strength to try to save him, but could only utter a pale and weak word.

The sky pit was so high that Ye Fengming, who had fallen, lost consciousness after hearing the sound of breaking.

“Continue,” Ming Li didn’t even glance at the sky pit interior, saying to Ye Yuanqing, “Now there’s only one left. Do you want your daughter to go down, or you?”

Ye Yuanqing’s fingers dug into the ground, his neatly trimmed clean fingernails now filled with mud and grass roots. His gaze seemed desperate as he looked toward Ye Yiyi.

“They say that as parents, they can do anything for their children. I wonder if you’re the same,” Ming Li laughed softly. “It’s okay if you can’t. Let your daughter go in your place. Up here, you can watch helplessly as she’s chased and torn apart by thousands and thousands of slaves in the sky pit—after all, you’re just a slave who can’t do anything.”

“How about it?”

“If you don’t make a decision soon, your daughter will die.”

Ye Yuanqing squeezed out a word from his throat: “I…”

Ming Li merely said “Oh,” and released the star lines, letting Ye Yiyi fall.

“No—no! Yiyi! Didn’t you say you’d let me choose?! I’ve already made my choice! I said I would go down!” Ye Yuanqing shouted hoarsely at Ming Li. He struggled against the supreme pressure, forcibly moving a few inches closer to Ming Li. His other hand grabbed Ming Li’s skirt, his knuckles turning white as he said, “Let her come up, let my daughter come up! I’ve already said I’ll go down in her place!”

“Why are you panicking? She just fell, she’s not dead,” Ming Li looked displeased at her skirt being grabbed by Ye Yuanqing. “I don’t like killing people.”

“Also, a slave should be aware of his status.”

Ming Li swung her sword, severing the hand that was grabbing her skirt. Ye Yuanqing’s miserable scream made Ye Yiyi, who had fallen to the edge of the sandy river in the sky pit, look up. There were obvious tear streaks on her face. Although the star lines had released her, letting her fall, she was surprisingly unharmed.

Ye Yiyi trembled all over, running toward the unconscious Ye Fengming in the distance.

On the shore, Ye Yuanqing was still shouting, “Ming Li, let them come up. Let them come up, and I’ll go down! I know the whereabouts of your junior brother Zhou Zixi. As long as you let them come up, I’ll tell you. I know—”

Ming Li extended a finger and pressed it against Ye Yuanqing’s forehead. He instantly couldn’t move; only his eyeballs were trembling with fear.

“You don’t seem to understand that Chen Zhou, whom you kept here to torture for five years, is also his senior brother.”

As her words fell, Ye Yuanqing was knocked flying into the sky pit. He rolled a couple of times on the scorching ground at the center of the sky pit before stopping.

Ye Yuanqing placed one hand on the ground, failing to stand up. As he lay on the ground, he saw the siblings at the distant sandy river’s edge. Light appeared in his eyes as he slowly got to his feet.

Ming Li’s voice resounded above the sky pit: “The first person to put iron chains on the handless slave, I will send him out of the sky pit right now.”

Ye Yuanqing’s form stiffened.

“For those who want to eat meat, just take a strand of his hair, a piece of his clothing, a finger, a piece of flesh, a drop of blood.”

When she said she would send them out of the sky pit, the slaves’ reaction wasn’t significant. But when she mentioned they could eat meat pies, some slaves began to stir.

Ye Yuanqing dragged his mutilated body, stumbling toward the edge of the sandy river.

Ming Li withdrew her star power pressure from the sky pit. The slaves who had been crowded under the giant tree by the sandy river began to rise one after another, their eyes fixed on Ye Yuanqing on the fire cave floor.

Ye Yiyi, holding the unconscious Ye Fengming, looked up into the distance, completely stunned.

At first, only one or two people ran toward Ye Yuanqing, then three or five, and then more and more. Behind Ye Yuanqing, who was rushing toward his children, was a dense crowd of slaves, until he was completely submerged.