Three glows of spiritual light flickered one after another.
Gu Ningyun raised her hand, and a blue token landed in her palm—Inheritance Token No. 18 of Puppet Thousand-Machine City.
If all the tokens were claimed, the exit to this assessment space should appear.
Across from her, Zhao Quan remained eerily silent.
Although Gu Ningyun had almost no contact with demon cultivators before, she could guess that he was up to no good.
With that in mind, she hurried over to regroup with Wen Xuan and called out to Jun Luo, who was currently collecting his white token.
A fiery red token spun into Wen Xuan’s hand.
The grey, misty space began to tremble, like a massive fish suffering from an upset stomach.
A crushing sensation, similar to using a teleportation array, washed over them. Gu Ningyun only had time to grab Wen Xuan’s sleeve before they were pushed into a channel that had appeared out of nowhere.
The sound of gurgling water filled her ears, accompanied by the faint murmurs of voices.
“Judging by the commotion... they’re coming... the assessment...”
The intermittent voices gradually became clearer.
“Good, good. No word yet from the other three sea regions. It seems our East Sea side is the first to obtain an inheritance token this time.”
“Weren’t there five Daoist cultivators who snuck in? Could it be them...?”
“Mere Qi Refining Daoist cultivators? How could they possibly be a match for Martial Nephew Zhao?”
“Hmph, even if the Daoist cultivators got it, with us here, do you think we’d let the tokens escape?”
“Our presence in the East Sea cannot be exposed. Dead men don’t run, and they certainly don’t leak secrets.”
“They’re just five disciples from small sects. Even if they die in the East Sea, no one will ever know.”
These demon cultivators were guarding the exit. Was the exit the same place they had originally entered the inheritance space, or were these demon cultivators able to track the channel’s exit point?
Gu Ningyun gripped the sword talisman containing a strike from a peak Nascent Soul cultivator in her hand.
The pushing force suddenly vanished, replaced by the familiar, biting chill of seawater.
From the channel behind them, Zhao Quan’s voice rang out in a roar, “Elders, please capture those five Daoist cultivators! The tokens are in their hands!”
Demonic qi surged from all directions, sealing off every path of retreat.
Every single attack carried the overwhelming might of the Golden Core stage.
It was easy to foresee that if these attacks landed, even with their tempered bodies, they would be reduced to nothing but dust.
The wind rose.
A familiar wind wrapped around them, carrying them rapidly toward the surface of the sea.
Gu Ningyun looked back through the wind and saw Martial Uncle Shu retracting a golden umbrella.
The demonic qi that had surrounded the five of them dissipated into wisps of black smoke.
Two of the four Golden Core demon cultivators stayed behind, relentlessly hurling spells and demonic qi at Shu Ziming.
The other two bypassed him, intent on continuing the pursuit upward.
Shu Ziming tilted his body to evade the attacks and pulled out a pitch-black cage, casting it over the two demon cultivators who had stayed behind.
A sense of impending doom rose in the two demon cultivators, and they turned to flee in opposite directions.
Though the cage looked large and cumbersome, it seemed unaffected by the water as it moved through the sea. In an instant, it covered both demon cultivators and pinned them to the seabed.
Shu Ziming didn’t linger in the fight; he turned and threw out two black ropes.
The ropes were like two hunting water snakes, relentlessly chasing after the two Golden Core demon cultivators who were swimming upward.
The two demon cultivators were fast, and they were just about to break the surface.
A heavy wall of wind pressed down on them, and they raised their hands to strike back with demonic qi to withstand it.
In that brief delay, the black ropes caught up to them, winding from their feet all the way up, binding them tightly.
The moment they were bound, their demonic qi vanished. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't break free.
“Earth-rank mid-grade Demon-Binding Ropes... that’s a grade only those at the Nascent Soul stage should be able to use.”
“Artifacts and demon tools are the same; the higher the grade, the lower the success rate of refining. Even in our Wujian Sect, many martial uncles in the early Nascent Soul stage are still using earth-rank low-grade demon tools.”
“What is the background of this Daoist cultivator? He’s only at the early Golden Core stage, yet he possesses earth-rank mid-grade artifacts!”
“Those two useless fools couldn’t even stop one early Golden Core Daoist cultivator. Truly pathetic.”
As the demon cultivator spoke, he looked down and was instantly struck with horror. “An earth-rank mid-grade Beast-Trapping Cage!”
The engraving she had once seen on an identity jade token flashed in Gu Ningyun’s mind: Xiaoyao Immortal Sect | Inner Sect | Artifact Peak | Shu Ziming.
Jiang Yao murmured, “Martial Uncle Shu is only at the early Golden Core stage.”
“Yet, with an endless supply of earth-rank mid-grade artifacts, he caught two early Golden Core, one middle Golden Core, and one late Golden Core demon cultivator off guard and trapped them all. Is this the true strength of an artifact refiner?”
Shen Banxi led them away from the water’s surface, raising a jade piece in his hand.
Suddenly, a massive black palm struck down from behind them.
It was silent and stealthy, yet it carried the crushing pressure of a late Nascent Soul cultivator.
There was actually a late Nascent Soul demon cultivator hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush them!
He struck with full force, clearly intending to take their lives.
The jade piece lit up, and a blue, lightning-shaped wind blade whistled out with the sound of the wind. The air itself let out a sharp, violent roar.
The wind blade was only the size of a palm at first, but in the blink of an eye, it grew to two meters in length and width.
The blade seemed light and airy; Gu Ningyun couldn't feel any overwhelming pressure from it.
But it was this seemingly ordinary and ethereal lightning-shaped wind blade that easily shattered the black palm that had been pressing down like a mountain.
“Daoist Lord Yi An’s signature technique, the Wind-Chasing Blade!”
A raspy gasp of shock came from the shadows. “You... you are actually disciples of the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect!”
A dark silhouette flashed from where the voice originated, transforming into a streak of black light as it fled into the distance.
The lightning-shaped wind blade seemed to have eyes of its own; no matter which direction the shadow fled, the blade followed close behind.
As the shadow ran, he threw back spells and demon tools to block it, but they were all easily dismantled by the wind blade without wasting a single moment.
“Daoist Lord Yi An, please show mercy! I am an inner sect elder of the Wujian Sect!”
His voice was hurried and desperate, his tongue tripping over his words.
“The righteous and demonic paths have lived in peace for years. If I had known they were esteemed disciples of Xiaoyao, I would have communicated properly. I never would have raised a hand against them!”
The wind blade showed no mercy, its speed never faltering for even a moment.
The Soul Transformation stage was two full major ranks higher than the late Nascent Soul stage.
How could a demon cultivator easily withstand an attack from someone at the Soul Transformation stage?
In less than a breath, the wind blade caught up to the black shadow.
Only then did Gu Ningyun catch a glimpse of the lightning-shaped wind blade—the wind spirit energy within was constantly circulating along the path of the lightning bolt.
The wind spirit energy slashed from the bottom-right corner of the lightning blade to the bottom-left, instantly slitting the demon cultivator’s throat.
The blade turned, moving from bottom to top, striking the demon cultivator’s heart precisely.
Finally, the tail of the blade struck straight through his dantian.
A single spell, a single attack, yet it struck three vital points of the enemy in succession.
And it could even pursue its target.
Which elder of Perfected Person Shen was this Daoist Lord Yi An? Which inner peak was he on? Was it also Spirit-Attuning Peak? She wanted to learn this too!
The demon cultivator was instantly cut into three pieces, his flesh and blood splattering as he fell into the sea.
Rate on N.U.
