by Dragon King
“Lightning induction!”
Hao Ren shot a sword energy up at the sky, inducing tens of heavenly lightning bolts to shot down!
There were 8,192 lightning bolts under his feet while tens of heavenly lightning bolts were above him; there was nowhere to hide for Lingwu Master.
The Sky-Turning Stamp expanded rapidly as Lingwu Master injected all of his nature essence into it.
In his thousand years of cultivation, he had run into situations where it was life and death, but none of them were like today. Today was the first time that he felt like his life was deeply threatened!
His experience as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator told him that there was no escape!
Bam! Bam! Bam! The heavenly lightning bolts that Hao Ren induced hit Lingwu Master’s Sky-Turning Stamp.
The Sky-Turning Stamp dashed into the sky, and the Phoenix soul which was resting in it jumped to its surface. However, the heavenly lightning bolts crushed the Sky-Turning Stamp into pieces!
The power of the heavenly lightning was not something regular dharma treasures could handle!
The red giant ax under Lingwu Master’s feet shined bright and enveloped Lingwu Master.
He was about to activate his secret technique, Blood Escape Technique. By using half of his essence blood, he could teleport himself to somewhere thousands of kilometers away.
If he were able to escape successfully, his realm would at least fall to low-tier Nascent Soul Realm from peak Nascent Soul Realm, but it was still better than dying on the spot!
Pa… Lingwu Master crushed his ten fingers, and fresh blood spattered within the red energy sphere.
Whoosh… The heavenly lightning bolts that had chased to Lingwu Master’s feet numbed his body, but they quickly disappeared.
Hao Ren’s body could not withstand Zhao Haoran’s 1,000-year cultivation strength, so those streaks of mystical energy in his body locked this power!
Lingwu Master stood there in surprise. He hesitated for a few seconds and suddenly burst into laughter. “It’s fate! It’s fate!”
He looked around and realized that he was still the strongest within the area.
He thought that he heard a woman’s voice, but when he looked around carefully, he couldn’t see a woman at all.
Hao Ren’s nature essence was used up, so he fell straight toward the valley.
Lingwu Master’s red, giant ax floated up to his side while his hands were dripping with blood.
If the 8,192 heavenly lightning bots lasted one second long, Lingwu Master would need to use up half of his essence blood and try to escape!
“Grand Uncle-Master!” Duan Yao was standing on her Purple Green Treasure Sword as she looked down at Hao Ren who had fallen into the valley. Then, she flew toward Lingwu Master.
Now that the array formation of Ethereal Summit was destroyed, all the mist disappeared.
Duan Yao and Lingwu Master stood high in the sky as they looked down at the valley, capable of seeing everything.
“Hao Ren!” Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia looked up and shouted together.
Whoosh! Little White flew up and caught Hao Ren.
The cultivators of the three small sects were all dead silent.
Even Core Formation Realm cultivators couldn’t escape from a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. They had also killed tens of Core Formation Realm cultivators of Sky Mountain Sect, so their tragic endings were unpreventable.
Lingwu Master had escaped from death, and he looked down slowly at the valley.
His Mystic Sun Shield and Sky-Turning Stamp were destroyed, and he used ten Heavenly Lightning Balls… Also, 60 Core Formation Realm cultivators had died, and over 200 Core Formation Realm cultivators were spared from death but were now powerless, equivalent to dying.
Sky Mountain Sect incurred a huge loss!
“Yao, look carefully at how much it took for me to save you! Look at how many disciples died for you!” Lingwu Master pointed at the valley and growled.
Duan Yao clenched her teeth while her face turned pale.
The Sky Mountain Sect had tens of thousands of cultivators. She didn’t know most of them, but she knew a few Core Formation Realm cultivators among them.
“I will give you another chance to redeem yourself; you have to kill all the cultivators in this valley!”
Lingwu Master started his sentence with a calm tone, but he suddenly turned murderous when he got to the second half.
Duan Yao was scared, and her body shivered uncontrollably.
Hao Ren had fallen to the valley. He raised both his arms, and the sword energies flew out of his body and formed an umbrella to protect Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia.
However, his realm had fallen from peak Qian-level to top-tier Gen-level; he could only shoot out 320 sword energies.
Duan Yao’s face was pale. She held the Purple Green Treasure Sword as she looked at Hao Ren and the others with hesitation.
“Yao, I walked on many corpses before reaching my current realm. If my realm is weak, I would have been killed already.”
Lingwu Master lightly tapped Duan Yao on the back, and she fell back into the valley with her sword.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Xie Yujia pulled on her bow and shot out two arrows at Duan Yao.
Duan Yao used her Purple Green Treasure Sword and cut the arrows. Hao Ren’s 320 sword energies were immediately activated and aimed toward Duan Yao as well.
Hao Ren seemed to have heard Lady Zhen’s voice, but he couldn’t see her nearby. He couldn’t really guess where she was.
“Yao, look! Even if you don’t attack, they will! There’s nothing called compassion in this world. There’s only killing!” Lingwu Master’s voice sounded in the sky like thunder.
Duan Yao looked at Hao Ren’s firm expression as the 320 sword energies dashed at her. She clenched her teeth and activated the Big Dipper Constellation Scroll and fought off the first batch of sword energies.
“Yes, he doesn’t care. We are enemies!” Anger grew within Duan Yao, and her Purple Green Treasure Sword was lit up with flashes of green lights. She released Tianshu, Tianxuan, and Tianqi together.
Zhao Yanzi took out the essence-locking notes and threw them at Duan Yao.
Xie Yujia had made these essence-locking note for Hao Ren, but Hao Ren had already run out before she could give them to him. Therefore, she gave them to Zhao Yanzi.
Different from dharma treasures, dharma notes could be activated as long as one had sufficient nature essence, regardless of what elemental attribute he or she had.
There were different types of dharma notes.
For instance, a wood-elemental cultivator could use a fire note to cast fireballs, and an earth-elemental cultivator could use water notes to send out ice arrows. Dharma notes were generally used by those cultivators who didn’t have dharma treasures to protect themselves.
Zhao Yanzi didn’t have any weapons, so she could only shoot out these dharma notes. The good thing was that they were quite effective. However, she could shoot out a few dharma notes in a second.
It took Xie Yujia half a night to make 100 dharma notes, but Zhao Yanzi had shot out 20 in a blink of an eye. It was worth mentioning that Xie Yujia wasn’t slow at making dharma notes. Normal cultivators would not waste dharma notes at this speed!
Sword energies, spiritual arrows, dharma notes all flew toward Duan Yao.
Before Duan Yao had even landed, she was already busy fighting off these attacks. Of all the attacks, she was most afraid of the essence-locking notes.
If an essence-locking note hit her, all her nature essence would be locked, and the sword energies and spiritual arrows would run through her body.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Three of Hao Ren’s sword energies went through Duan Yao’s shoulder, and one of Xie Yujia’s spiritual arrows hit Duan Yao’s leg.
Blood flowed out of the wounds and dyed her green silk dress bright red!
When Duan Yao saw the three’s determined looks and ruthless attac
ks, she felt wronged and sad.
The few hours where she was captured in the valley seemed to be the warmest and most heartfelt!
They gave her water and food and even healed her!
“Yao. Open your eyes wide! If you don’t kill them, they will kill you!” Lingwu Master shouted in the sky.
He knew that Duan Yao was no match for all three of them but wanted her to feel the pain of being attacked!
“Kill!”
Duan Yao landed on the grass in the valley and swung the Purple Green Treasure Sword five times before charging toward Hao Ren.
Her foundation in martial arts was better than Zhao Yanzi’s, the Purple Green Treasure Sword was originally hers, and her realm was also higher. Therefore, Duan Yao’s attack with the Purple Green Treasure Sword was much more powerful.
Hao Ren’s sword energies merged to form a longsword. With just a small tick, it was able to knock away Duan Yao’s Purple Green Treasure Sword.
Duan Yao’s old injuries reopened, and her new wounds were also bleeding. She was unable to withstand the attack and was obviously half a second late in her reactions.
Hao Ren pointed the sword at her neck easily.
Duan Yao stared back at Hao Ren and stopped all her movements.
Hao Ren was able to pierce through her throat without moving his arm since his longsword could turn back into sword energies.
It seemed like time had suddenly frozen. Duan Yao and Hao Ren were one sword’s distance away from each other, and Duan Yao clearly saw the coldness in Hao Ren’s eyes.
“Yao. If I am not here, you would have lost your life! Why don’t you see this?”
Lingwu Master cast a red light from the sky.
Bam!
That red light crushed Hao Ren’s colorful longsword.
Then, another giant red light beam struck toward Hao Ren.
“Yao. You have strength but don’t dare to kill! Your sword techniques aren’t as brisk as before. Is it because you have grown feelings for him? If that’s the case, I will cut all the ties you have with him!”
The red light beam blew Duan Yao tens of meters away and crushed at Hao Ren.
“Hahaha, I was wondering why this little guy isn’t happy; it turned out that there is someone much more murderous,” a crisp and moving voice suddenly sounded in the valley. It wasn’t a shout, but everyone heard it clearly. It was like someone whispered beside all the cultivators at once.
An alluring figure appeared on the top of the mountain to the west.
She was wearing a light blue dress and holding a floral umbrella. As a light wind blew by, it felt like she had been standing there for a long time.
She flicked her fingers lightly, and the giant red light beam was blown thousands of meters away. The light beam hit a mountain, and the mountain was crushed to bits.
“Little brat, how dare you try to kill my new nephew? Have you grown tired of living?” Lady Zhen stood on top of the mountain as she questioned Lingwu Master.
606 Playing Dead
Having reached peak Nascent Soul Realm, Lingwu Master was nearly 1,000 years old, and no one on Fifth Heaven, Sixth Heaven, and even Seventh Heaven dared to call him ‘little brat’.
However, when Lady Zhen knocked away his light beam with a flick of her finger, Lingwu Master knew that this woman’s strength far surpassed his own!
Also, it seemed that the woman had been here for a long time, but he didn’t notice it despite having powerful spiritual senses.
A sense of danger rose in Lingwu Master’s mind. After a short moment of analysis, he decided to flee!
Lingwu Master was about to run when he realized that his feet were glued to the ground. At the same time, his fingers were immobilized; he couldn’t lift them at all!
Lady Zhen glanced at him for a few seconds before looking at Hao Ren. She moved her gaze lightly without turning her neck, a gesture so beautiful that no words could describe it.
Standing in the valley, Duan Yao was stupefied as she watched Lady Zhen.
“Lady Zhen…” Hao Ren changed his words before he spoke, “Auntie!”
Lady Zhen lifted her pretty hand to cover her red lips while she chuckled, and her beautiful eyes curved into the shape of the new Moon.
“Good nephew. Who is messing with you? Auntie will help you,” she said.
Soul Formation Realm! Soul Formation Realm!
Immobilized, Lingwu Master suddenly remembered the power of Soul Formation Realm cultivators.
“She must be a Soul Formation Realm cultivator who can destroy a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator with one move!” he thought.
However, he still underestimated Lady Zhen! After all, an ordinary Soul Formation Realm cultivator was no match for Lady Zhen!
“Hehe. Thank you for your help, Auntie. However, I don’t need your help yet. I just want the purple gold hairpin to assist me,” Hao Ren said.
His nature essence was recovering, and he could battle with Lingwu Master again in a few moments! If the Sky-Turning Stamp hadn’t struck him on the back, his nature essence wouldn’t have run out so fast!
“The purple gold hairpin is my dharma treasure, and it’s too proud to listen to you,” Lady Zhen chuckled.
She beckoned at the cliff and said, “Little shield, don’t play dead anymore. Are you done after being bombed by a few small Heavenly Lightning Balls?”
She pointed at the cliff, and the golden shield that was stuck in the cliff suddenly rose and flew into Lady Zhen’s hand.
Lingwu Master looked at Lady Zhen in astonishment, realizing that legendary supreme spiritual treasures weren’t weak at all.
“This shield was playing dead due to its fear of this woman, not because of my Heavenly Lightning Balls!” Lingwu Master thought.
What kind of strength could frighten a supreme spiritual treasure into playing dead?
Casually, Lady Zhen tossed the golden shield to Hao Ren and said softly, “Today, I’m in a good mood, so I’ll teach you the Treasure-Controlling Scroll. Memorize it!”
She opened her thin lips and chanted lightly while all the cultivators except Hao Ren found their spiritual senses blocked and their hearing lost!
They had entered a silent world, not able to hear any sound around them.
However, Hao Ren could clearly hear Lady Zhen’s chant while the short passage of Treasure-Controlling Scroll entered his mind through his ears. The words were both complicated and straightforward.
Boom!
Suddenly, all the surrounding cultivators regained their spiritual senses and hearings.
“Ok. I just stopped by on my way, and I won’t deal with little brats on the Nascent Soul Realm.” Lady Zhen waved her hand charmingly and said in a bewitching voice, “Little hairpin, since this little guy calls me Auntie, you may help him occasionally. Of course, if he is too weak, he might be killed! If he dies, you can return by yourself!”
Lady Zhen floated up with the wind into the high sky.
However, her casual words brought chills to Hao Ren.
Red-faced, Lingwu Master still couldn’t move a finger while he froze in the high sky.
“Demonic woman, give back the Kunlun Godly Lamp!”
From a distance came a roar that almost deafened all the cultivators.
“Hehehe, you little guys are still following!” Covering her pretty lips, Lady Zhen turned into a white light and flew to the west in the blink of an eye.
Hua! Hua!
Five lights swept across the sky above Ethereal Summit and followed her to the west.
Five Soul Formation Realm cultivators!
Hovering in the sky above the valley, Lingwu Master knew that they were Soul Formation Realm cultivators judging from their speed and suppression.
After Lady Zhen left, the lock on him was suddenly released, but Lingwu Master’s legs turned to jelly!
Alarmed, he stared at Hao Ren and then looked at the five Soul Formation Realm cultivators who chased after Lady Zhen. After considering for a few seconds, h
e laughed. “Junior! You are quite good! I like young men like you!”
Duan Yao looked up at Lingwu Master in bafflement.
“I attacked you to test your character. Very good! You are the talented man that I need!” Lingwu Master continued.
“I asked these brats to test you and didn’t expect that they would go overboard! Hahahaha! With my realm, how can I lower myself to bully you, a junior?” He sounded straightforward as if he had been testing Hao Ren.
“I’ll offer you a deal! If you join Sky Mountain Sect, I’ll let all these misunderstandings pass, and you’ll enjoy all the privileges of an elder and have unlimited access to the spirit stones and elixirs! If you like Yao, I’ll make the decision and let you marry her!” Lingwu Master said with a booming voice.
Duan Yao looked at Lingwu Master in astonishment.
However, Lingwu Master’s expression was very serious.
“If you don’t believe me, we can make a life-death oath and take each other’s life token! We can return to Sixth Heaven right now, and I will grant the offer!” Lingwu Master stared at Hao Ren and emphasized each word.
Taking a life-death oath was placing people’s realms and lives as bets so that no one could go back on their words. By taking each other’s life token, people could possess a trace of each other’s spiritual senses through a mysterious method and thus could control each other’s life. In this way, neither parties would dare to play tricks.
At peak Nascent Soul Realm, Lingwu Master showed his sincerity by offering to exchange life tokens.
It was indeed a significant loss when hundreds of Core Formation Realm cultivators were almost killed. However, on the second thought, Lingwu Master felt that it was no big deal if he could recruit Hao Ren, a cultivator who was close to peak Nascent Soul Realm!
“Kid, think carefully! You’ll rank only beneath me but above all others!” Lingwu Master released his suppression in waves.
He was making a bet. If Hao Ren were willing to join Sky Mountain Sect, everything would be fine. However, if Hao Ren refused, then he stood on the opposite side of Sky Mountain Sect, and Lingwu Master would have no choice but to kill him!