Without a word, Duan Xianxing swung a arc of sword qi toward the swarm of beasts, shouting provocatively, "Come on then! Let me show you the strongest sword cultivator in the cultivation world..."
The next moment, his head was whacked by Zhu Yinxi’s jade flute. "Move, now."
With that, she and Duan Xianxing sped off toward the west. As expected, the majority of the demonic beasts were drawn away by them.
However, a small portion of the beasts still pursued Li Nanzhu and Liu Qingyang.
Though the two occasionally threw attacks behind them, they couldn't stop the beasts' advance. Seeing the creatures closing in, Liu Qingyang quickly surveyed the surrounding terrain.
"There's a river ahead!" Liu Qingyang suddenly shouted. "I have a magic tool that can hide our presence through the water!"
Just as they reached the riverbank, the sound of rushing air whistled behind them. Three iron-toothed rats pounced from the treetops, their sharp teeth aiming straight for their throats.
Li Nanzhu threw out her last few talismans, and the resulting explosion's shockwave sent the iron-toothed rats flying.
"Jump!" Liu Qingyang pulled Li Nanzhu and leapt into the river.
The icy water instantly submerged them. Li Nanzhu was about to activate her water spiritual root when she felt a gentle wave of spiritual energy wrap around her entire body.
Opening her eyes, she saw Liu Qingyang holding a water-repelling bead, gesturing toward her.
They drifted downstream while Suisui followed along the riverbank, moving like a white shadow through the brush.
About an hour later, Liu Qingyang led Li Nanzhu out of the water and into a cave along the riverbank.
"We’re safe for now," Liu Qingyang panted. "I used the water-repelling bead to mask our scent. They won't be able to track us."
Li Nanzhu used her fire spiritual energy to dry her clothes, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Second Senior Brother and the others..."
"Don't worry," Liu Qingyang comforted her. "Brother Zhu’s strength is remarkable, and Brother Duan is a top-tier sword cultivator. They won't be in any real danger."
As they spoke, a jingling sound echoed. Suisui suddenly crawled out from a crack in the rocks. It looked quite battered, covered in dust with several broken bones. Clutched in its mouth was a piece of blood-stained fabric—the exact material of Duan Xianxing’s clothes.
Li Nanzhu’s face turned deathly pale. "It’s the Seventh Senior Brother’s!"
Liu Qingyang remained remarkably calm. "Don't panic. The blood is already dry, which means the injury happened a while ago. Suisui, can you still move? Can you lead us to them?"
Suisui thought for a moment and nodded, leading the two of them carefully along the riverbank.
After passing through a dense forest, the faint sound of fighting drifted from ahead.
They quickened their pace and finally saw Zhu Yinxi and Duan Xianxing at the base of a cliff, surrounded by a swarm of beasts.
The two were in poor condition. Duan Xianxing was half-kneeling on the ground, a gruesome wound on his left leg bleeding profusely.
Zhu Yinxi stood before him. Although he didn't appear to have any external injuries, his usually pristine clothes were stained with blood, proving how intense the battle had been. He had already transformed his jade flute back into a long sword; clearly, his mental power was no longer sufficient to sustain large-scale sonic attacks.
"Second Senior Brother! Seventh Senior Brother!" Li Nanzhu was anxious, but she knew that with her current cultivation, rushing in would only hinder them and cause more trouble.
"Wait, look over there." Liu Qingyang pointed behind the beast swarm.
The broken-arm evil cultivator was standing atop a massive boulder. It was unclear what method he had used after losing his bone flute, but he was once again controlling the movements of the beasts.
"My second senior brother has a teleportation talisman," Li Nanzhu said in a low voice. Feng Yi had given it to them earlier. "It can teleport us nearly a hundred miles, but in this situation, there’s no opening to activate it."
"But a teleportation talisman can only take one person. That makes things difficult." Liu Qingyang frowned deeply, but Li Nanzhu paused.
"What do you mean 'one person'? My second senior brother's teleportation talisman can take five people at once."
"Five people?" Liu Qingyang was shocked, but there was no time to ponder it. "If it can take five, then I have a plan."
He pulled an object out of his storage bag.
"I have a Flame Pearl my father gave me as a last resort. Once triggered, its explosion is equivalent to the full-strength blow of a Golden Core stage Great Perfection cultivator. It's more than enough to kill that evil cultivator," Liu Qingyang said, stroking the object somewhat reluctantly. "If we can distract him, we can use this to blow him up. We’ll regroup just before it detonates and use the teleportation talisman to escape."
"Good!" Li Nanzhu’s eyes lit up. "Let’s do it. Send Suisui to them first, or they won't know we're here."
Deep in the forest, Zhu Yinxi fended off the beast swarm while scanning his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.
Suddenly, he noticed a white shadow flashing through the trees in the distance. It was Suisui, waving its hands frantically, seemingly trying to get him to look in a certain direction.
Zhu Yinxi casually looked up and saw Li Nanzhu and Liu Qingyang not far above. Li Nanzhu pointed at his storage bag and then at Duan Xianxing. Zhu Yinxi understood instantly.
'Seventh Junior Brother, check the communication jade slip. Don't let the evil cultivator notice,' Zhu Yinxi sent via secret voice transmission directly to Duan Xianxing. He didn't send it to Li Nanzhu because the distance was too great, and such a blatant divine sense fluctuation would easily reveal a flaw to the enemy.
Duan Xianxing caught the message immediately. Pretending to search his storage bag for healing pills, he quietly took out the communication jade slip. Upon opening it, he saw Li Nanzhu’s message.
'Seventh Senior Brother, you must distract the evil cultivator in a moment. Liu Qingyang is going to blow him up. Have Second Senior Brother prepare the teleportation talisman so we can all leave together.'
Duan Xianxing gave a nearly imperceptible nod. He knew his junior sister must be nearby. Since cultivators had keen ears and eyes, Zhu Yinxi began playing his jade flute again to prevent the evil cultivator from overhearing any movements.
Taking advantage of the moment the evil cultivator was distracted by the sound, Duan Xianxing quickly explained the plan. The two exchanged a glance. Zhu Yinxi retreated rapidly, while Duan Xianxing suddenly surged forward, cleaving through three iron-toothed rats with his sword and shouting.
"Worthless evil cultivator! Is this all you’ve got? Hiding in the back like a rat in the gutters! If you have the guts, fight us face-to-face! You coward!" As he spoke, he intentionally stumbled, exposing a flaw.
Enraged, the evil cultivator fell for the bait. His face twisted as he drove more beasts toward the two. "A mere Foundation Establishment ant dares to speak to me like that? Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll fulfill your wish! I’ll start by sacrificing you to my banner!"
At the exact moment the evil cultivator was distracted by his fury, Liu Qingyang leapt from his hiding spot. The Flame Pearl in his hand erupted with a blinding red light. He poured all his spiritual energy into it, causing countless cracks to spread across its surface as a terrifyingly violent energy surged within.
"Go!" Liu Qingyang roared, hurling the Flame Pearl at the boulder where the evil cultivator stood.
Zhu Yinxi was already prepared. The teleportation talisman in his hand burst into flames.
In an instant, he and Duan Xianxing appeared beside the other two. Each grabbed an arm, and Suisui lunged forward to join them.
BOOM—!!!
An earth-shattering explosion echoed through the heavens as a pillar of crimson fire shot into the sky.
The shockwave leveled every tree within a hundred yards. The beasts lunging at Duan Xianxing were vaporized instantly.
The evil cultivator didn't even have time to scream before he vanished into ash within the inferno.
A golden light flashed once more, and the four people and one skeleton appeared in a dense forest two hundred miles away.
"Cough, cough..." Duan Xianxing vomited blood as soon as he hit the ground. "This teleportation... is worse than flying on a sword..."
The wound on his left leg had split open again.
Zhu Yinxi’s face was pale. He had clearly exhausted himself protecting Duan Xianxing, and using the teleportation talisman had drained what little spiritual energy he had left.
Liu Qingyang wasn't doing well either. He was swaying on his feet, and Li Nanzhu had to support him. The sleeve of his right arm was charred, and the exposed skin was covered in burns.
"Backlash from the Flame Pearl..." Liu Qingyang gave a bitter smile. "It really isn't something a Foundation Establishment cultivator should use lightly."
"At least we succeeded?" Li Nanzhu looked back toward the direction of the explosion, still shaken.
Zhu Yinxi nodded. Though still pale, he looked better than before. "An explosion of that scale... that evil cultivator couldn't have survived. Our aura should have vanished with the blast as well. Even if he has companions, they won't find us for a while."
"Let's find a safer place first, or we'll still be in danger." Li Nanzhu was the strongest among them at the moment. She took the lead and soon found a very well-hidden cave.
"It’s safe here for now." Zhu Yinxi set up a concealment array at the cave entrance. "We’ll take turns standing guard. Everyone else, hurry and recover."
Li Nanzhu began cleaning Duan Xianxing’s leg wound. "Evil energy has entered the bone. We have to use the Third Senior Brother’s exorcism pill..." She gave Duan Xianxing a look of pity. Her seventh senior brother was truly unlucky to have to eat the third senior brother’s pills twice in one day.
Duan Xianxing’s face turned white. "Can’t we find another way?"
Zhu Yinxi opened his eyes from his meditation. "Give it to me."
He took the porcelain bottle from Li Nanzhu and poured out a pill emitting an eerie green light. "Open your mouth."
"Second Senior Brother, I—"
With a click, his jaw was dislocated, and the pill was tossed accurately down his throat.
Duan Xianxing pointed frantically at his mouth and started gagging until the black energy on his leg completely dissipated. Only then did Zhu Yinxi pop his jaw back into place.
"Don't try to show off next time." Zhu Yinxi’s expression was grim.
"I was just..." Duan Xianxing wanted to argue, but seeing Zhu Yinxi’s face, he shut his mouth. If he couldn't beat the second senior brother, couldn't he at least hide?
He muttered under his breath and scurried over to Suisui, grumbling about who knows what.
Meanwhile, at the site of the explosion.
The dust and smoke gradually settled. Where the massive boulder and the evil cultivator once stood, there was now only a charred crater dozens of yards wide. Wisps of blue smoke rose from the bottom, and the surrounding trees had been flattened in a radial pattern. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning.
Two dark shadows appeared silently at the edge of the crater.
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