IVYSCP - Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Pei Yin cast a cold glance, then rose. "I have matters to attend to. Farewell."
Her form scattered like mist. Yue Shouming looked surprised. "What could make the Immortal Venerable so hasty?"
Lou Wudu curled her lip, took a light sip of tea, and tapped her fingertips on the table.
"Who can say."
Ancient Yao Forest Realm.
Two streaks of light collided and flickered, instantly causing a wave of spiritual energy fluctuations. Yao beasts in the surrounding area fled in all directions.
A golden long whip tore through the air. Cui Heng deflected it with her sword blade, watching the whip with dangerously narrowed eyes. She shouted, "The God-Striking Whip?"
Pei Yin gave a sharp flick of her wrist. The God-Striking Whip transmitted force and knocked Cui Heng back. She raised her eyes, her gaze indifferent. "If today you had sought her out, you might still have your life. Pity..."
She would not consider Lou Wudu's face, nor did she fear Shangtianqiong. Cui Heng seeking her out was courting death!
Cui Heng shook the sword in her hand, then suddenly laughed. "Pity what? I came precisely to find you!"
Pei Yin curled her lip, flipped her hand into a hand seal, and directly trapped the two of them within a grand formation, leaving Cui Heng no chance to escape.
On Cui Heng's face, there was no trace of panic, her expression calm and composed.
Not far away, Ling Qingyue saw a barrier take shape in the distance. Within it, the two streaks of light were unmistakably Pei Yin and Cui Heng.
By all logic, if Cui Heng wanted to strike from the shadows, shouldn't she have come after her? Why would she seek out Pei Yin? She shouldn't know that was Pei Yin. Even if she did know... just how bold and confident was she to dare clash head-on with Pei Yin?
Although she knew Pei Yin's cultivation was far higher than Cui Heng's, what had entered was, after all, a split soul. In order to enter the Ancient Yao Forest Realm, she had also suppressed her realm. Ling Qingyue felt concern in her heart and therefore quickened her pace to head over.
Suddenly, nine streaks of light came directly at her. On moon-colored ritual garments, the faint half-moon insignia was faintly visible. They were Shangtianqiong Sect disciples. But the ritual garments they wore were no longer the style Ling Qingyue was familiar with from a hundred years ago. The half-moon insignia showing through the black gauze outer robe, she had also seen it on her senior sister.
Ling Qingyue had not expected that one day the ones surrounding her would be people from Shangtianqiong.
The situation within the barrier was unclear. Ling Qingyue lowered her sword and sternly shouted, "Get out of my way!"
The several people exchanged glances, then all drew their swords in unison.
Ling Qingyue had just broken through a realm not long ago. After spiritual communion with Pei Yin several times, her cultivation had artificially inflated to the mid-Core Formation stage. Among the nine surrounding her right now, three were mid-Core Formation, four were late-Core Formation, and there were even two early-Nascent Soul cultivators.
Ling Qingyue looked toward one of the early-Nascent Soul cultivators. That person's gaze did not settle on her. Instead, she was looking left and right, deeply conflicted. Even the sword in her hand was faintly unsteady.
Bai Cha.
Ling Qingyue suddenly remembered this Junior Sister. Back when she had first entered the sect, because she couldn't master the sword moves, she would always hide away and shed tears. After Ling Qingyue saw this, she had comforted her with a few words, taken her to eat good food, and also taught her how to use a sword.
She never imagined that the Junior Sister who couldn't even hold a sword steady back then was now a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, and even pointing a sword at her.
"Attack!" the other Nascent Soul cultivator gave the command.
Several bursts of sword qi swung toward her. Ling Qingyue tapped lightly with the tips of her feet, her figure weaving through the sword qi. Sharp blades grazed past her shoulders, extremely dangerous, yet she could always find the oversights in these sword moves, easily countering and blocking, even scoring a few cuts on them.
Bai Cha had not moved the whole time. She watched her fellow sect members surround a cultivator who had just reached mid-Core Formation, her brows tightly furrowed. She murmured in a low voice, "This isn't right. This is wrong. We shouldn't be doing this."
It shouldn't be like this. Her fellow disciples, her sect, shouldn't be like this.
"Bai Cha! What are you standing there for!" The other Nascent Soul cultivator, seeing her motionless, angrily roared at her. "What Senior Sister Cui Heng instructed, we just carry it out!"
She truly didn't understand why they had to let this fool enter the secret realm with them. She couldn't understand what was said to her, muttering to herself all day long.
Bai Cha took a deep breath and joined the entanglement.
One against nine, and all of them cultivators whose cultivation exceeded her own. Ling Qingyue gradually began to feel her strength failing, and because of this, a surge of fury arose in her heart.
No longer concerned with some sect rule about not harming fellow disciples, Ling Qingyue's sword qi carried a bloody, malevolent air. When one person's sword grazed past her back shoulder, the sword in her hand flipped, and the tip plunged into that person's heart.
Her heartbeat grew faster and faster. Ling Qingyue could barely hear the sounds around her. After killing that person, she did not hesitate in the slightest. She pulled out her sword and met the blade coming from the side.
During the exchange, she discovered that, apart from Bai Cha, the other Nascent Soul cultivator's cultivation had also been forcefully piled up. Her actual cultivation was only late-Core Formation. Among these people, only Bai Cha could suppress her with sheer cultivation, yet Bai Cha had not done so.
At a certain moment, Bai Cha stopped her hand in a daze. "Single Blade Dawn..."
This sword move was meant to counter a situation of being surrounded. One sword at dawn, and the encirclement breaks itself. This was not a Shangtianqiong sword move, but rather belonged to that person...
Ling Qingyue's sword shook away the people surrounding her. Her figure drifted behind Bai Cha like a ghost. The sword blade pressed against her neck, carving a not-shallow blood trail.
The others who were about to charge forward again also halted momentarily at this sight, their gazes involuntarily looking toward the Nascent Soul cultivator in the center.
The woman glared with furious eyes, wishing she could draw her sword and skewer Bai Cha along with her.
Bai Cha was an entire major realm above her opponent. How could she be captured so easily? If she wanted to break free, it would be a simple lift of her hand.
Bai Cha's mind was in a daze. She couldn't even heed the sharp pain on her neck. She asked the person behind her in a trembling voice, "Who are you?"
Ling Qingyue sneered, "Me? A guest elder of Piaomiao Sect. When you decided to move against Piaomiao Sect, did you not know that?"
"What a fine Shangtianqiong. What a fine model for all immortal sects!" Ling Qingyue couldn't control the urge to drag her blade across the neck of the person in her grasp. She knew her emotions were churning abnormally. The other half of her face was beginning to faintly burn.
Were the demonic markings about to appear?
Ling Qingyue narrowed her eyes, observing the expressions of the people before her. They showed nothing unusual. It seemed not yet.
"Your fellow disciple is in my hands. Do you still want to continue?" A coppery sweetness surged up Ling Qingyue's throat, which she forcibly suppressed.
The jade token at the waist of the leader flickered slightly, after which she raised her lip and lifted the sword in her hand. "Senior Sister Cui Heng said: at any cost, we must take her alive!"
Ling Qingyue's expression changed, her anger flaring even more intensely.
Bai Cha watched her fellow disciples charge forward with swords raised, shock in her eyes. Her gaze filled with disappointment and disbelief.
"See? These are your fellow disciples. This is the Shangtianqiong of today."
Ling Qingyue spoke a sentence beside Bai Cha's ear, then seized the sword from her hand and met the several people.
The edge of the sword she had taken from Piaomiao Sect had already curled. Bai Cha's was a high-grade ritual sword, one she had given her.
When Ling Qingyue used Bai Cha's sword, she felt no sense of struggle. This sword, and its master, had tacitly permitted her to use it.
This time, Ling Qingyue's strikes were heavy and vicious. Of the seven remaining people, three died and four were crippled. She was also drenched in blood from head to toe. The bright red blood made it indistinguishable whether it was hers or theirs.
Ling Qingyue carried her sword and walked up to Bai Cha, staring at her with a cold glare.
Bai Cha blinked, uncertain whether it was from fright or the grief in her heart at seeing her fellow disciples dead and wounded.
"I won't kill you." Ling Qingyue used her blood-soaked hand to wipe the tears from the corner of Bai Cha's eyes. Blood smeared onto her face. "But if in the future you help Cui Heng do her bidding, I will not let you off."
Bai Cha's gaze slowly shifted to her face. Her voice choked with emotion as she once again asked the question from earlier: "Who are you?"
Ling Qingyue did not answer her. She took her sword and headed straight for the barrier.
Bai Cha followed behind her, ignoring the cries for help from her fellow disciples.
Within the barrier, Pei Yin manipulated the formation, alternating between offense and defense. She frowned slightly, sensing something off about Cui Heng. Cui Heng's cultivation was more than just Nascent Soul.
The God-Striking Whip and a sword blade tangled together. Cui Heng spoke with malicious intent, "You're injured."
Pei Yin's eyes were a stretch of icy cold.
It seemed Cui Heng knew who she was. The true body and split soul were inseparably linked. She had deliberately sought her out, wanting to injure her split soul and thereby heavily wound her true body.
What a scheme!
Cui Heng was indeed the next in line!
"Four Images, Five Phases, open!"
Pei Yin formed a hand seal with one hand. The God-Striking Whip rose to meet Cui Heng's sword.
Wind rose from all directions. Cui Heng was trapped within blades of wind. Within the formation, water dragons and fire phoenixes emerged, one on the left, one on the right, gazing down from above at the person within the storm's eye.
Lethal intent permeated the formation. Pei Yin retracted the God-Striking Whip, her fingers lightly tapping as she shifted the formation. Hundreds of arrays cycled in alternation, causing heaven and earth to stir, as if a storm were about to arrive.
Cui Heng tilted her head slightly, observing the impenetrable mass of formations surrounding her. A giant sword silhouette appeared suspended behind her.
Pei Yin was slightly startled.
Shangbieli!
Over half a month ago, when Cui Heng besieged Piaomiao Sect, she had escaped with her life because of this very sword silhouette. At that time, the sword silhouette carried the sword qi of the late-Soul Formation stage, which she had still been able to withstand. But now, relying only on her split soul...
As the sword silhouette cleaved down, the smile on Cui Heng's lips grew wider and wider.
Pei Yin, you must die.
The sword qi swept across all things, arriving with the oppressive might of the late-Soul Formation stage. The barrier shattered inch by inch. Countless formations turned to smoke.
This strike could not be dodged.
Pei Yin formed a seal with both hands. Pale golden arrays encircled her entire body. One hand lashed out the God-Striking Whip, meeting the sword silhouette head-on.
Within Crouching Dragon Valley, all the various sects felt the tremors. The entrance to the Ancient Yao Forest Realm had begun to flicker inexplicably. Hairline cracks were even forming along its edges.
"What's going on!?"
"The secret realm seems to have been struck by Soul Formation aura."
"A Soul Formation cultivator entered the secret realm this time!? Which sect!? To be so unruly! This matter must be reported to Sect Leader Lou!"
"The way you say that—who else here would break the rules?"
"Shh, keep your voice down. Aren't you afraid of death?"
"If they dare do it, they should dare let people talk. From now on, they'll just dominate alone, I suppose."
Yue Shouming also sensed the fluctuation. She tilted her head and asked softly, "What is it? What's happened?"
Su Lan behind her stepped forward and said in a low voice, "It seems something has happened within the secret realm. There's a Soul Formation aura. The secret realm can't withstand it. There are signs of collapse."
Yue Shouming's expression turned to shock. "How could this be?"
Su Lan stepped back, her peripheral vision glancing at Lou Wudu beside her.
Lou Wudu's eyes were lowered, unmoving for a long while.
"Senior Sister Lou..."
Before Yue Shouming could finish speaking, she suddenly heard a muffled cough. The smell of blood spread through the air.
Yue Shouming hurriedly stood up. "Senior Sister Lou!? You... what's wrong with you?"
Lou Wudu raised her hand and wiped the blood clean from her lips. She said coolly, "It's nothing. Just some difficulties during cultivation recently, that's all."
Yue Shouming slowly sat back down upon hearing this and let out a sigh of relief. "Senior Sister Lou must take more care."
Within the secret realm.
A cloud of dust and smoke flew in all directions. Cui Heng looked down at the sword that had pierced through her heart.
"Cui Heng."
Ling Qingyue drove the sword in even deeper with force. Her fingers even pressed against her back.
"You can die now."
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