Han Li was seething with fury!
It wasn’t because he’d shown a moment of weakness and rescued that Senior Martial Brother Wang, forcing him to use the Misty Steps to battle the demonic cultivator. No, what truly infuriated him was that Liu Jing and the others weren’t seizing the opportunity to destroy the other three Blood Servants still undergoing their transformation within the cocoons. If those three completed their metamorphosis, they would be in truly dire straits.
Earlier, witnessing Senior Martial Brother Wang about to fall victim to the Ice Demon’s lethal strike, Han Li had flashed over to save him, recalling the assistance Wang had provided during the fight against Qing Wen. Subsequently, the demonic cultivator, likely enraged that Han Li had ruined his scheme, had latched onto him, launching relentless attacks that forced Han Li to engage. However, Han Li soon realized that this Ice Demon was indeed a formidable opponent for his other sect brothers, and it was better for him to handle it. After all, if any more comrades fell, they would be critically short-handed for the battles to come.
Now that he had pinned down this demon, he was exasperated that the others were merely spectating his duel instead of capitalizing on the chance to attack the other three cocoons. What a tremendous waste of a perfect opportunity!
Yet, he faintly suspected that the others weren’t oblivious to the timing; rather, they were terrified by the Ice Demon’s eerie invisibility and the fact that it had already claimed a life, which made them fear the semi-demonized Blood Servants. Even though they knew fully transformed Blood Servants would be far more dangerous, they were still hesitating, perhaps even considering retreat.
But Han Li hadn’t come here solely to eradicate the Black Fiend Cult; he had another predetermined objective. Retreat was not an option for him. Moreover, although this semi-demonized Ice Demon had killed one of their members immediately upon emerging, it wasn’t particularly fearsome if one remained cautious. In Han Li’s eyes, it was even less threatening than the bald brute they had faced before. What made it so difficult to deal with?
This demonic cultivator merely turned his body transparent, capable of moving at extreme speeds and manipulating some cold air. His so-called invisibility was just an illusion created by his high-speed movement, similar to Han Li’s Rapid Misty Steps. It was only due to the eerie transparency of his body that he was exceptionally hard to detect and pin down.
However, such bizarre movement techniques were only effective on the ground. If everyone took to the air, created distance, and unleashed large-scale spells, they could force him to reveal himself. After all, while rapid physical movement could be menacing in close quarters, it couldn’t match the speed of artifact-flight over longer distances.
Liu Jing and the other sect brothers had never experienced this kind of close-quarters combat, so they naturally found the opponent ghostly and nearly impossible to counter. But Han Li himself frequently employed such tactics in battle, so he had ample experience dealing with it.
With this in mind, Han Li suddenly brandished his silver sword, repelling his opponent’s sharp claws, and revealed himself, shouting, “Senior Martial Brother Liu, quickly take to the air and continue attacking the other three Blood Servants! I won’t let this demon bother you.” Having said this, Han Li’s figure flickered and vanished again. In reality, his silver sword moved so fast it was nearly invisible, relentlessly pressing the Ice Demon back, leaving it no opportunity to take flight.
The silver sword in Han Li’s hand was a spoil from the Bloody Trial, sturdy enough to clash with the demon’s sharp claws unscathed. Yet, curiously, the sword couldn’t damage the pair of icy claws either, which Han Li found inwardly astonishing.
Hearing Han Li’s words, Liu Jing pondered briefly and understood his intent, but his face revealed hesitation. Internally, he was torn by extreme conflict!
Although Liu Jing came from a prominent cultivation family, he had been abducted by a wicked cultivator in his childhood, enduring a period of torment and abuse so dark that he nearly lost his life. Eventually rescued by his family, he later became a disciple of Li Huayuan and achieved considerable cultivation prowess.
However, shadowed by his childhood trauma, Liu Jing harbored deep hatred for evil cultivators, adhering to a merciless principle of killing every one he encountered, never sparing any practitioner of sinister arts.
This relentless pursuit not only brought him immense satisfaction but also earned him significant positive renown. Even cultivators from the seven major sects with higher cultivation levels than his own regarded him with a hint of respect.
Outwardly composed, Liu Jing had gradually become addicted to this feeling of reverence. Consequently, his subsequent active hunts for evil cultivators were largely motivated by his desire to bask in the admiration of others!
Of course, on the surface, Liu Jing carefully concealed this mindset deep within his heart. In his interactions and dealings, he still appeared to be the righteous, evil-hating, iron-willed “Senior Martial Brother Liu.”
The Black Fiend Cult before him was undoubtedly the largest and most deserving-of-eradication heretical sect he had ever encountered. Yet, simultaneously, their strength was also the greatest he had faced among evil cultivators. He had little confidence that ordinary magical instruments alone could kill the remaining three Blood Servants. If their attacks were even slightly lacking, it might only trigger the premature semi-demonization of the remaining three.
If one semi-demonized individual was this difficult to handle, the emergence of three more would be beyond their capability to manage, likely resulting in their deaths here.
If they retreated now, their mission would be a complete failure, having only alerted the enemy. The Black Fiend Cult would undoubtedly go underground again, vanishing without a trace. This would utterly destroy the reputation he had painstakingly built over the years.
The mere thought of the mocking looks others would direct his way made Liu Jing feel suffocated, extremely depressed and uncomfortable.
Han Li’s urging had pushed him to the brink of a decision.
“Senior Martial Brother Liu, should we retreat first? The Black Fiend Cult’s strength far exceeds our expectations. If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late.” The recently rescued Senior Martial Brother Wang hesitantly approached, whispering. From his shifty, uncertain eyes, Liu Jing clearly saw cowardice.
“Retreat? If I do that, I’ll probably be seen in the same light by my fellow sect brothers in the future!” Liu Jing thought with a bitter smile.
“Everyone, take to the air and cover me. Leave the remaining three Blood Servants to me!” Liu Jing said calmly after a faint smile.
Simultaneously, he thought to himself, “It seems I have to use that thing! Only then can we succeed in this battle and preserve my reputation, even though it’s meant for saving my own life.”
“Senior Martial Brother Liu, you plan to handle the remaining Blood Servants alone?”
Not only Senior Martial Brother Wang but everyone nearby showed expressions of disbelief upon hearing Liu Jing’s words. This reaction gave Liu Jing a surge of satisfaction deep inside.
However, outwardly, he maintained a composed demeanor, saying nothing more as he directly soared into the air on his artifact. Solemnly, he retrieved a fiery red jade box from his storage pouch.
At this moment, Liu Jing had completely regained his usual composure, appearing fully confident. This instilled a bit of faith in the others, who also ascended into the air.
Glancing at the jade box in his hand, a trace of reluctance flickered across Liu Jing’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a fierce determination as he abruptly clapped his hands together, shattering the box.
Instantly, the box fragmented into pieces, revealing a peculiar talisman enveloped in red light.
On the talisman was a pattern of a fiery red bird, its wings constantly flapping as it darted back and forth within the talisman as freely as a real bird. Even more astonishingly, the bird’s eyes emitted a faint blue light, occasionally rotating.
What was truly shocking was that the moment this talisman appeared, waves of scorching heat radiated outwards, causing the temperature within a several dozen zhang radius to skyrocket, parching everyone’s throats intensely!
Song Meng and the others, who had just drawn near, witnessed the astonishing appearance of this talisman.
“Talisman Treasure!” Song Meng exclaimed upon seeing it.
“No, this isn’t an ordinary Talisman Treasure. This… this is a True Treasure!” Senior Martial Brother Wang, upon seeing this talisman that resembled a Talisman Treasure but exhibited extraordinary phenomena, cried out as if he had seen a ghost.
“True Treasure!” Those who knew of it were equally shocked upon hearing this.
So-called “True Treasures,” while also belonging to the category of Talisman Treasures, were vastly different from ordinary ones in many aspects.
Firstly, ordinary Talisman Treasures could possess at most one-tenth of the original magic treasure’s power, even at their peak. True Treasures, however, could miraculously contain one-third of the original treasure’s power, making them incomparable to common Talisman Treasures.
Secondly, when a True Treasure was created, it had to be refined through a bloodline ritual by the original treasure’s owner. Only descendants with a specific bloodline could wield these True Treasures; they were not for anyone to use. Otherwise, attempting to inject spiritual power into them would cause the True Treasure to self-destruct automatically.
With such advantages, True Treasures naturally had significant drawbacks; otherwise, the predecessors would have left behind only these.
The biggest flaw of a True Treasure was that, although it could hold several times the power of an ordinary Talisman Treasure, it could only be used once. Upon activation, all its power would be unleashed immediately without any discount, leaving no chance for a second use. Thus, their practicality was greatly reduced compared to ordinary Talisman Treasures.
However, what truly limited the circulation of such True Treasures was another extremely stringent condition.
Once a magic treasure was refined into a True Treasure through the bloodline method, the loss in the treasure’s power would be permanent and irrecoverable through further refinement. This made it difficult for predecessor cultivators, even knowing their time was limited, to sacrifice their usually cherished life-saving treasures in this manner. They often preferred to leave several ordinary Talisman Treasures for their descendants instead.
Therefore, some cultivators jokingly said that in the cultivation world, the number of True Treasures was even rarer than that of magic treasures. While this statement was somewhat exaggerated, it wasn’t far from the truth!
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