Chapter 57

The wind howled, and the sand flew, as turbulent currents screamed through the air.

The flock of crows overhead cried out in despair as they sensed ominous omens.

From the surrounding elements that were refined into qi, golden threads began to emerge, centered around Zhongli Lingzhao, forming one faceless clone after another.

“Cover our retreat!” Jiufang Shaogeng shouted, addressing Zhongli Lingzhao below, “Don’t linger, let’s go!”

Whether it was the unexpected Ji Mo Gui or the youth hidden in the shadows, unnoticed by anyone, these two had already surpassed their combat capabilities by far.

Zhongli Lingzhao felt the blood rush to her head as she moved faster than her thoughts, preparing to use her wind manipulation technique.

“Are you trying to run?” A distant laugh reached her ears. “To defeat the Fourth Young Lady of the Zhongli family—this achievement is not bad for my first battle. It sounds just as strong as that of the Young Miss of the Yinshan family, doesn’t it?”

It was as if she had stepped on an unspoken line.

Zhongli Lingzhao’s steps faltered. Under Jiufang Shaogeng’s disbelieving gaze, the white figure below actually turned to face the overwhelming qi of Ji Mo Gui’s clone, which was comparable to that of a Ninth Realm practitioner!

Her eyes were filled with coldness, and through gritted teeth, she spat out four words:

“Who do you think you are?!”

The Sword Whip of Heavenly Secrets struck again, slashing through the air like a dragon and a serpent, trying to strike before more faceless clones appeared.

Even though Ji Mo Gui’s qi had reached the Ninth Realm, in the end, she and Zhongli Lingzhao were both at the peak of the Seventh Realm.

There had to be a weakness!

If she could find a flaw in this move, she could defeat her!

The Sword Whip of Heavenly Secrets suddenly lashed out at a clone created from broken flowers and branches, slicing its throat clean through. The golden threads that made up the clone unraveled, collapsing like threads being pulled apart.

It was only at the Second Realm.

Zhongli Lingzhao’s tightly furrowed brow loosened slightly.

As expected, her qi refining technique was strong, but it couldn’t exceed the innate limit of the qi contained within the objects themselves.

Now, she only needed to break through each clone—

Zhongli Lingzhao turned around and froze in shock.

It was gone.

The figure of the young girl had vanished amidst the numerous faceless clones.

“Cursed Seal: Sea of Yin Veins.”

As the chanting of a spell sealed off her Yin Vein Qi Sea, Zhongli Lingzhao’s pupils dilated slightly.

—These clones could even use her techniques?!

Before she could snap out of her shock, a punch shot past her ear.

Zhongli Lingzhao’s sword whip tangled around the nearest tree, but that punch came from a clone forged from broken stone and brick, a Fourth Realm clone. In an instant, the tree was uprooted, and she was sent crashing into the ruins of a building!

…Impossible.

As Zhongli Lingzhao tumbled into the wreckage, her bones ached fiercely.

Lying on her back, she felt raindrops striking her body, and it finally hit her that what had just happened wasn’t an illusion.

Impossible, impossible, impossible!

This was just a small town near the Demon Ghost Wall! The opponent was merely the daughter of an obscure, insignificant family!

How could she lose to such a nobody?

Jiufang Shaogeng, seeing the situation, knew that Zhongli Lingzhao had been completely overtaken by her desire to win and had lost all rationality.

At this point, it was clear that their opponent had the ability to kill them. Even though he was the son of the Jiufang family, he could not risk his life on the chance that the enemy would hesitate.

Jiufang Shaogeng’s qi surged violently.

Pushing aside the limbs in front of him, he instantly appeared beside Zhongli Lingzhao.

He shouted into the darkness, “Xiang Lishen! If you dare use us as meat shields to escape today, the Jiufang family and Zhongli family will level every inch of land belonging to the Xiang family in the future! We will wipe out every descendant of the Xiang family!”

The young man’s cruel tone seemed like a curse.

Xiang Lishen.

As soon as the name was spoken, every faceless clone turned toward the direction from which a cursed seal was coming.

“The cursed seal is poisonous!”

Xiang Lihua, who was watching from a distance, immediately used her qi to form a vine net, attempting to block the poisonous cursed seal from hitting Liuyu.

However, she was too far away and slightly too slow to react in time.

Liuyu gathered all her clones together, forming an unbreakable wall to block the cursed seal of this Eighth Realm practitioner.

Even then, a few drops of poison splashed through, landing on several of the clones.

The clones exploded into countless golden threads, unleashing a furious qi flow.

“Watch out—!”

Fang Fuzang was the first to react. He turned around and pushed the ordinary people who had followed them from the village toward the safer Ghost Woman’s side.

The Mountain Ape and Lan Zhu immediately teamed up to block the furious qi flow from the faceless clones, but even then, they were pushed back several meters by the violent wind.

…Was this their respected elder? This was a joke, wasn’t it?

Drenched in rain, Zhongli Lingzhao came back to her senses, her eyes gleaming with fervor. She exclaimed:

“I knew it! She couldn’t be without a weakness! These clones can use her techniques because she’s divided her mental energy among them!”

And though Xiang Lishen’s poison hadn’t harmed her directly, it had destabilized her mental energy. This might be the only chance.

“Get away!”

Zhongli Lingzhao shoved Jiufang Shaogeng aside and tried to rush forward to confront Liuyu.

Without a second thought, Liuyu immediately blocked her.

“Don’t you dare die while I’m with you!”

Severely injured, Zhongli Lingzhou was bleeding from both her nose and mouth, and Jiufang Shaogeng had no trouble subduing her.

While dragging Zhongli Lingzhou away, he heard her still shouting at the back of the girl:

“Did you create these techniques yourself?!”

“How old are you?!”

“One hundred? Or two hundred?!”

Zhongli Lingzhou’s cold, frost-like eyes were bloodshot as she stared fixedly at the figure beneath the rain.

Among her peers, Yinshan Liuyu was the most talented—she acknowledged that!

But she would never accept losing to anyone other than Yinshan Liuyu! Absolutely not!

Gui Nu kicked away one of the Jiufang family’s bodyguards blocking their way and answered for Liuyu:

“Of course, they’re self-created! Our young lady is only in her teens! Stop underestimating her!”

The clear voice of Gui Nu cut through the rain, ringing clearly in Zhongli Lingzhou’s ears.

Blood surged.

A mouthful of blood spilled onto her dirt-stained white dress.

However, Liuyu did not bother with those behind her.

Her gaze was fixed on Xiangli Shen, who was surrounded by ten eight-realm cultivators.

There were many demon ghosts and humans on the ground, their bodies poisoned by the spell seals, and Xiangli Hualian, with tears in her eyes, was releasing countless vines, seemingly to dissolve the toxins in their bodies.

Xiangli Ling raised his hand, intending to wipe the tears from her face, but when the ethereal soul reached out, it passed right through her face.

“—Don’t kill them!”

Xiangli Hualian suddenly looked up, gazing at the Xiangli clan cultivators who had consumed the Wulianghai.

“The Wulianghai only prematurely drains their life force. As long as they still have a breath left, the Hundred Herbs Vine formed by the Qi flow in my body can neutralize the poison. They will only lose lifespan, not immediately die!”

Upon hearing these words, the cultivators around Xiangli Shen’s side lit up with hope in their eyes.

Even Yue Niang, who had been crying like a walnut, stopped.

…Only shorten their lifespan!

Wait a minute, if I had known, I would have just punched once!

Xiangli Shen smiled gently:

“Such eloquence, but how do you know if what you’re saying is true? You no longer have close kin in the Xiangli clan, so of course, you can defect to another family, but our family still has relatives alive. If you surrender, who’s to say whether this head of the Jimo family will cut all ties?”

“Good one, no close kin!”

Xiangli Hualian raised her tear-streaked face, her eyes full of hatred, as if she wanted to carve out a hole in the heartless head of the family.

“Who killed my closest relatives for the Wulianghai in this world?”

“Of course, it was you yourself.”

Xiangli Shen’s round, gentle face deepened in smile:

“If you didn’t want to stand out so badly, how would I have known there was such a thing as Wulianghai? If you hadn’t been trying to stop me from using it, why would your brother have taken Wulianghai voluntarily?”

“I gave you the chance to stand out, to save your death-seeking brother, and even after his death, I preserved his soul, allowing you to see him again. Hualian, you can’t blame others for all your misfortune. Am I not your benefactor?”

Xiangli Hualian’s face turned paper-white.

Xiangli Ling next to her tried to comfort her, but nothing could stop Hualian’s collapse.

Xiangli Ling was desperately pacing.

The cultivators who had consumed the Wulianghai looked at Xiangli Hualian with hatred.

“—Does eating this really make one a cultivator?”

A voice came from behind.

Someone picked up a few Wulianghai pills that had fallen from Xiangli Shen during the earlier battle.

Xiangli Shen’s expression changed as he stared at the pills in their hand.

The farmer said to Xiangli Hualian:

“I don’t care what this thing is, but I know that this Xiangli Shen has done nothing but harm! What benefactor? Bullshit! He killed my pregnant wife just because she picked up a stick of firewood from their family’s mountain!”

“And my mother!” Another person picked up a pill from the ground. “She was taken to be used as a medicine person! I don’t know anyone else, I only know him! I want him to pay for my mother’s life!”

The Wulianghai pills on the ground were quickly grabbed.

Liuyu wanted to stop them, but who could stop someone seeking revenge for their family?

Even she, if given a Wulianghai in her past life, would have swallowed it without hesitation.

So, Liuyu could only watch them rush at Xiangli Shen.

She took a step forward, and the toxins she had splashed earlier quickly entered her meridians along with the Qi flow she was circulating.

Though faint, it seemed Xiangli Shen had targeted her weakness with this non-lethal toxin, which affected her mental power.

Her steps wobbled, and even her vision blurred for a moment.

When she regained her focus, she saw the figures of Chao Yuan and Chao Ming in the crowd rushing toward Xiangli Shen.

Liuyu shook her head forcefully.

…It’s not a hallucination caused by the toxin.

Though they had disguised themselves, due to time constraints, they did not use the cicada paper modified by Yue Niang but rather the most basic illusion technique.

Liuyu activated the departing light array in her pupils, instantly recognizing them.

“Xiangli Shen must not die!” Zhongli Lingzhou wiped the blood from her lips and shouted to Jiufang Shaogeng, “If we can’t get all the Wulianghai, we can’t lose the Complete Book of Immortal Agriculture!”

“Got it, got it—”

Jiufang Shaogeng, wanting to escape, now had to take both Xiangli Shen and Zhongli Lingzhou with him.

At the moment his pupils turned into a deep blue sky, what floated in his palm was the blood he had taken from the controlled individuals below.

All attack techniques of the Yao Bian Tian Mu require blood as a medium.

The demon ghosts and humans attacking Xiangli Shen below were simultaneously captured, their movements momentarily frozen.

Yao Bian Tian Mu·Fifth Form·Blood Control Technique

The cultivators surrounding Xiangli Shen took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack—

“Don’t even think about succeeding!”

“Don’t think you can take anyone else from me!”

Liuyu forcibly activated her Qi Sea, instantly releasing all the energy from it.

The moment she expelled the toxins from her meridians was also when she was the most unguarded.

Zhong Li Lingzhao, who had been watching Liuyu closely, caught the opportunity and was about to move forward when he sensed a gust of wind sweeping toward him.

When the sword whip collided with the scaly tail of the serpent, Zhong Li Lingzhao finally saw the face of the owner of the serpent’s tail in the heavy rain— it was the person she had brought back from the manor.

Zhong Li Lingzhao’s normally indifferent face twisted into a smirk.

“Now that there’s blood, kill him, Jiufang Shaogeng!”

Jiufang Shaogeng glanced between Xiang Li Shen and Zhong Li Lingzhao, thinking the demon ghost, who always appeared unnoticed, was far more dangerous.

He wanted to use the third form to test his opponent’s strength.

But the situation didn’t allow for leisurely probing.

The sword wound on the serpent’s tail bled, and as the tail swung, the blood fell onto the bracelet that had been snatched from Jiufang Shaogeng’s hand.

The fresh blood merged with the old bloodstains on the bracelet.

It was just the right moment for Jiufang Shaogeng to inject his Qi, causing the blood to expand, transforming into a giant blood moon that hovered in the air, swallowing Mo Lin’s figure.

“Yao Bian Tian Mu · Ninth Form · Blood Realm Cycle.”

Jiufang Shaogeng clenched his fingers, finally capturing the demon ghost that had almost severed his wrist.

Unless the opponent was a whole realm stronger, this demon ghost would never escape from his Blood Realm Cycle.

Even with a higher realm, escaping wasn’t guaranteed.

Because the Blood Realm Cycle could trace the memories of the target through their blood, using their most painful memories to construct an illusion and trap the opponent, often leading to death or insanity.

While practicing this technique, his father had brought many test subjects.

The vast majority of those trapped in the Blood Realm Cycle either died or lost their sanity, living out their days as madmen.

Now, this persistent demon ghost wouldn’t be interfering any longer—

Boom!!!

At the same time, below, Chaoyuan and Chaoming had freed themselves from the blood control technique and, along with Fang Fuzang and others, subdued Xiang Li Shen.

Above, a sudden loud crash echoed.

“You dare…”

Jiufang Shaogeng was shocked to see the girl, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, grab his collar.

Her expression, filled with intense fury, made her unremarkable face seem to radiate an astonishing, almost hypnotic force. It felt as though one glance into her eyes would lead to being consumed by her rage.

Jiufang Shaogeng stared at her, stunned.

It felt like when he was eight years old, and after throwing stones at his older brother who was kneeling and copying texts, he was pinned and beaten by Yinshan Liuyu.

Even though he knew that with Mo Lin’s peak cultivation at the Ninth Realm, he wouldn’t be trapped in Jiufang Shaogeng’s Blood Realm Cycle, the thought of what Mo Lin would endure during that process made Liuyu lose control of her fury.

This person’s techniques were as malicious as his character.

“Jiufang Shaogeng! Go die!”

Before he could react, a punch landed on his cheek with a tremendous crash, sending him flying from several feet in the air, crashing into a deep pit in the ground.

This time, it was Zhong Li Lingzhao who dragged the dazed Jiufang Shaogeng away.

Because right behind them, Xiang Li Shen had been cornered.

“…Save me… Miss Lingzhao… The Xian Nong Quan Shu can save me… save me!”

Xiang Li Shen, who always wore a smile, was pierced by the farmers’ ploughs and rakes.

The sinful blood poured out of the wound, washed away by the torrential rain.

As Xiang Li Shen’s life faded, the soul-binding artifact that had been connecting Xiang Li Ling’s soul lost its energy supply, and the soul began to fade.

“Stop crying.”

Xiang Li Ling, watching his sister desperately cling to him, spoke softly.

“It’s my fault. I couldn’t give you a better chance to rise, to stand out with dignity. If there’s a crime, let me atone for it.”

“You will always be my most proud sister.”

Watching this, Yue Niang couldn’t help but tear up.

But from the corner of her eye, she noticed Yan Wushu, who had been trying to escape with Zhong Li Lingzhao and Jiufang Shaogeng.

Without thinking, Yue Niang sprinted after him.

“Stop! Don’t run!”

Yue Niang, charging forward, was caught by Fang Fuzang.

Fang Fuzang frowned. “Don’t chase him. Even if you catch him, you won’t be able to defeat him.”

Don’t chase a defeated enemy.

They had come to seize Taiping City, destroy the Xiangli family, and killing these two people would do more harm than good.

Moreover, this little girl didn’t understand what it meant to catch her brother. At her age, witnessing her brother’s death at her own hands would be too cruel.

But Yue Niang couldn’t accept it, trying to chase him again, only to realize she couldn’t break free from Fang Fuzang’s grasp.

She had no choice but to take a deep breath and shout at their retreating backs:

“Yan Wushu likes Yinshan Liuyu!!!”

“He! LOVES! Her! His room is full of pictures of Yinshan Liuyu!”

“He even said Miss Lingzhao isn’t as good as a single strand of Yinshan Liuyu’s hair! I’m his sister! I won’t lie to you!!!”

Perhaps because the rain was so heavy, Fang Fuzang seemed to see Yan Wushu stumble as he fled, then fall into a puddle.

He looked down at Yue Niang.

This girl’s mouth was really a sieve.

The rain started to lessen.

Amid the mixed sounds of cheering and weeping, Liuyu could hear the chaos.

Exhausted, Liuyu, with the help of the Ghost Woman and Dan Sui, stood up. Her energy and Qi Sea were nearly depleted from controlling a force far beyond her realm. Her lungs rapidly contracted, and Liuyu gasped for air.

The ghost woman anxiously jumped up: “Are you alright? Should we have Xiang Liuhua treat you first? You seem to be…”

“I’m fine.”

After a long pause, Liuyu finally raised her head slowly and looked at the enormous red moon hanging in the deep blue night sky.

The power of the Blood Realm’s cyclical flow lies in the fact that once it is born, it operates independently of the state of the practitioner.

Those within it must break free from within.

Mo Lin knew this very well.

Earlier, in the kitchen, Liuyu had considered that if they gained the upper hand, Zhongli Lingzhou and Jiufang Shaogeng would use their ultimate moves, and at that time, Mo Lin would be the most suitable person to interfere with their abilities.

So Liuyu believed that she needed to familiarize Mo Lin with the abilities of these two people.

When hearing about the Blood Realm’s cyclical flow, it must be said that Mo Lin also felt that this was the technique most likely to harm him among all their spells.

He had already prepared himself to open his eyes and find himself in the Colorless City.

But unexpectedly, as the illusion unfolded before him, what he saw was not the familiar memories but a face that should not have appeared there.

A young girl dressed in golden robes and jade hairpins, adorned in the elegant attire of the Immortal Capital Jade Capital.

The Spirit Gathering Platform seemed to be on the verge of a snowstorm, with the windows blown open, and scattered snowflakes drifting in, falling on the thin letter held by the young girl.

The handwriting was blurred by water stains, and Mo Lin could not make out what was written.

But soon, a boy, drenched in blood and surrounded by biting cold, burst into the Spirit Gathering Platform, holding the hilt of his sword with veins bulging in his hand. His face was streaked with tears, looking as if he was on the brink of collapse.

The words the boy shouted upon rushing into the platform made Mo Lin realize what had happened.

“…Miss! We are going to meet the demon ghost Mo Lin! We’re going home! Back to the Immortal Capital Jade Capital! I refuse to believe that the family head and lady would die so easily at the hands of thieves! They must have transmitted the wrong message!”

The young girl, holding the letter, silently looked at the boy.

The snow of Jiuyou seemed to fall into her eyes.

“Mm.”

“I’ve contacted the Jade Faced Spider, and through the chaos between him and Mo Lin, we’ll separate and go home.”

At that moment, he seemed to grasp the tangled thread and finally touch upon that vague suspicion.

Mo Lin’s blood froze.

This was not his Blood Realm’s cyclical flow.

This was Liuyu’s memory.