In the rear section of Kunwu Hall, a giant shuttle darted through the air like a silver dragon, pursued relentlessly by a silver mass, purple mist, and a bloody shadow.
A barrage of magical attacks rained down on the shuttle, but upon striking its surface, they were deflected by shimmering gold and silver lights.
The Sun-Moon Shuttle truly lived up to its reputation as one of the three great spirit shuttles of the human realm, remaining unscathed despite the ferocious assault.
Inside the shuttle, Lady Mu focused intently on maneuvering the vessel, desperately evading the attacks from behind. Beside her, a beautiful woman clutched the Four Symbols Ruler with one hand, her face pale and her eyes slightly closed, clearly weakened.
It seemed that forcibly wielding the Four Symbols Ruler, a transcendent spiritual treasure, had nearly drained her of all her mana.
“Fellow Daoist Qian, are you truly willing to collude with these two demons? We came here to retrieve these treasures for the sake of the human realm, to reseal this mountain!” Lady Mu, whose cultivation was far inferior to that of Qian the Demon and the two demons, found herself repeatedly blocked whenever she tried to escape. As her mana rapidly depleted, she couldn’t help but exclaim in anger.
“Hmph! Spare me your grand talk about the human realm. Do you take me for a fool? And when did I ever ally with demons? These two fellow Daoists are merely displeased with your ambush. A minor sect like the Hua Xian Sect dares to snatch treasures from the tiger’s mouth? Hand over what you took, and leave behind that jade ruler—it’s a replica of a transcendent spiritual treasure, isn’t it?” A cold laugh echoed from within the bloody shadow.
Hearing this, Lady Mu sighed, knowing further words were futile. After all, in the eyes of the Ten Great Sects, the Hua Xian Sect was insignificant.
Under the combined assault of Qian the Demon and the two demons—the Silver-Winged Yaksha and the Lion Hawk—the Sun-Moon Shuttle’s spiritual light began to dim, gradually forced into a corner of the hall.
Just as Qian the Demon, with a sinister expression, prepared to deliver a fatal blow to the two women and shatter the shuttle, a faint Buddhist chant emanated from within. White lotuses bloomed around Qian the Demon and the two demons, while a white ruler shot out from the shuttle.
“Not good!”
The silver light, purple mist, and bloody shadow recoiled as if stung by scorpions. Having suffered once before, Qian the Demon and the two demons dared not let the white lotuses near them.
Seizing this brief respite, the white ruler flashed back into the shuttle, which then vanished on the spot, reappearing behind Qian the Demon and the others before darting straight into the Northern Extreme Aurora.
The white lotuses silently dissipated—revealing them to be mere illusions.
Enraged at being deceived, Qian the Demon and the two demons immediately gave chase, but it was too late. The gold-and-silver shuttle plunged into the Northern Extreme Aurora, where countless silver threads shot toward it, only to be deflected by a silver barrier.
Lady Mu, her hands forming seals, continuously channeled mana into a silver plaque in her grasp, her expression grave. The plaque emitted waves of radiant light, forming the silver barrier around the shuttle. Meanwhile, the beautiful woman, having exhausted her remaining mana to feign another attack with the Four Symbols Ruler, swayed unsteadily, completely drained of strength.
In the midst of her efforts, Lady Mu glanced at her junior sister, her face full of concern.
“Senior Sister, don’t worry. I just need a few years of rest to recover,” the beautiful woman reassured with a weak smile.
“I hope so. Using the Four Symbols Ruler at your current cultivation level was too much for you,” Lady Mu said helplessly.
“But without it, how could we have taken the Dragon Transformation Seal from a mighty cultivator like Qian the Demon? That Han fellow was cunning—he fled as soon as he got his hands on the treasure. If he had stayed, he could have shared some of the burden,” the beautiful woman grumbled.
Lady Mu could only smile bitterly, recalling Han Li’s face and that terrifying fan of his.
Behind the shuttle, the bloody shadow, golden light, and purple mist pursued relentlessly, also entering the Northern Extreme Aurora.
Both women were weakened, and without the Sun-Moon Shuttle’s extraordinary abilities, they would have been captured long ago. The three pursuers showed no signs of giving up.
However, once inside the Northern Extreme Aurora, Qian the Demon and the others sensed trouble. The two women in the shuttle seemed able to manipulate the aurora’s illusory formations with the silver plaque. While these formations were nothing to the three pursuers, the momentary delay allowed the shuttle to vanish into the dense silver threads.
Furious, Qian the Demon roared in frustration. The Silver-Winged Yaksha and the Lion Hawk exchanged glances before turning suspicious eyes toward him.
Sensing their hostility, Qian the Demon grew wary. “What? Do you two dare to scheme against me?” he sneered.
“Of course not. With your formidable powers, we wouldn’t be so foolish,” the Silver-Winged Yaksha replied after a brief hesitation, realizing that even with the Lion Hawk’s help, subduing Qian the Demon would be no easy task. With that, the two demons swiftly departed.
Having retrieved their life tokens, their primary objective was complete, and they saw no reason to linger.
Only after the two demons vanished into the aurora did Qian the Demon let out a cold laugh and transform into a bloody shadow, darting away in another direction. Countless silver threads pierced through the shadow, but his flight remained unimpeded. After weaving through the illusory formations, he finally emerged.
Relieved, he was about to head straight for the exit when his expression suddenly changed. Slowing his flight, his sharp eyes flickered with suspicion.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” he barked.
“Brother Qian, as expected of the Grand Elder of the Yin Luo Sect—your cultivation is indeed profound,” a calm male voice replied. From behind a stone pillar, a young man stepped forward, enveloped in a dark protective barrier.
“Han Li!” Qian the Demon recognized him instantly, narrowing his eyes.
“You’ve been waiting here for me, haven’t you?” Seeing how Han Li’s barrier effortlessly repelled the Northern Extreme Aurora, Qian the Demon’s face twitched.
“It seems I don’t need to explain much. Simply put, Brother Qian, could you provide me with a copy of your sect’s Soul-Sealing Curse’s counter-spell?” Han Li said coolly.
“The Soul-Sealing Curse?” Qian the Demon was momentarily surprised, then burst into laughter.
“I don’t know why you want it, but do you really think I’d hand it over?”
“I knew it was a waste of breath, but I had to try. After all, extracting the soul of a Grand Elder from the Ten Great Sects would make it hard for me to stay in the Jin Empire,” Han Li mused, as if discussing trivial matters.
At the mention of “soul extraction,” Qian the Demon’s pupils contracted, but his gaze sharpened like blades.
“If you want my soul, prove you’re capable. Call out your allies—a mere mid-Nascent Soul cultivator like you wouldn’t dare speak so boldly alone,” he said coldly.
“Since you insist—Fellow Daoist Gui, you may come out now,” Han Li replied indifferently.
Light flickered behind another stone pillar, and the ugly woman clad in blood-red armor emerged, gripping her black staff with an impassive expression.
“You? What did this brat offer you to turn against me? I can give you more,” Qian the Demon said, his eyes calculating.
“Fine. Hand over your life,” the ugly woman snorted, slamming her staff into the ground. Having been forced into servitude under Han Li, she was in no mood for pleasantries.
Qian the Demon seethed inwardly but maintained his composure. Scanning the area once more and confirming no third party lurked nearby, he felt slightly reassured.
If these two were his only opponents, escaping shouldn’t be an issue.
Without another word, his bloody aura flared, and he shot sideways, intent on avoiding a direct confrontation.
Han Li had anticipated this. Raising his hand, a black ring appeared, rapidly expanding in the wind. Grasping it, he gave it a shake, causing silver ripples to spread across a radius of several dozen feet. Countless silver threads gathered, forming an impenetrable barrier of Northern Extreme Aurora.
Though Qian the Demon’s bloody shadow form was formidable, the sheer density of the silver threads gave him pause.
In that brief hesitation, the ugly woman swung her staff, summoning a crushing barrage of shadows above the bloody figure. Before they even landed, an immense pressure immobilized Qian the Demon.
At the same moment, Han Li activated the Yang Ring, directing a storm of silver threads from the aurora to form a massive net, ensnaring the bloody shadow.
Qian the Demon’s face twisted in alarm. With a piercing shriek, his body abruptly swelled before exploding into countless blood threads, scattering in all directions. The staff shadows and silver net proved useless as the threads regrouped a dozen feet away, reforming his bloody shadow unscathed.
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