The Divine Kingdom Night Walker's divine soul clone had vanished.
The Seventh Prince's face turned ashen.
The divine soul clone stored within this jade token only had enough extraordinary power for his father, the Emperor, to make one move. Yet, his father was gone, and those two spies from Great Xia were still alive. What was to be done?
An Jin narrowed his eyes and charged forward first.
"You fiends from Great Xia, die!"
The old shopkeeper of the Demon Extermination Division, seeing this, immediately scooped up Qi Long and rushed to the cave entrance in an instant.
In the next second, all the cultivators in the vicinity went mad and charged towards the cave like mindless beasts, their faces filled with greed.
They held no grudges against Qi Long, nor did they care if these two were from Zhou or Xia. All they cared about was the sword in Qi Long's hand.
The Shen Hai Sword and the Xin Ri Sword.
Either one of them was a dazzling existence in the sword-casting history of Jian Ge. Even Mei Chuan, the Valley Master of Plum Blossom Valley, had personally appeared for these swords. None of the swordsmen present could resist such temptation!
Therefore, they were going to fight for them!
Qi Long, fully aware of the saying "possession is the root of all evil," endured the searing pain and shouted,
"I am the overseer of this place! There's a killing array I've set up inside the cave that even a Domain Lord might not be able to break. Let's see who dares to enter!"
As soon as he said this, An Jin halted his charge.
He was only twenty meters away from the cave.
The old man had just seen Qi Long and the other escape into the cave before his eyes. Two injured individuals – he believed he could definitely defeat them. But what about the great formation inside the cave? He had witnessed its power firsthand.
Were they just going to let them escape like this?
Seeing An Jin stop, the crowd's greedy, chaotic minds calmed down somewhat. They all stopped about thirty paces away from the cave, not daring to enter.
Because they were afraid.
An Jin was the one who most wanted Qi Long dead, yet even he had stopped at the cave entrance. It was clear he was afraid of something. Who would dare to charge forward now?
An Jin's expression was grim as he shouted,
"I don't believe that in your current state, you can still use a formation to kill me!"
"Everyone, make way! This Valley Master will handle it personally!"
Just as An Jin steeled himself to charge into the cave for a desperate fight, a cold, killing female voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
Everyone turned their heads and saw that the speaker was Mei Chuan, the Valley Master of Plum Blossom Valley, who had previously been ambushed by Qi Long and nearly died.
The latter had taken a pill and was currently meditating to recover. The bleeding had stopped, but her aura was still weak.
An Jin frowned, suppressing his own aura. He couldn't understand how Mei Chuan, in her current state, could break into the cave and kill Qi Long and the other three under the protection of the formation.
Mei San Niang, dressed in a white gown, landed beside Mei Chuan.
Mei Chuan, her face deathly pale, said,
"Do not let anyone touch my physical body."
"If an enemy attacks, gently pat my Heavenly Spirit. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Master." Li Zao nodded respectfully. She drew a sword from her waist, completely black and exuding illusory waves. Behind her, a phantom image of a snow mountain appeared, guarding Mei Chuan.
"Good disciple!"
Mei Chuan nodded with satisfaction. With no further worries, she opened her mouth and spat out a small pill that shimmered with a grayish-green luster, accompanied by a hint of frost.
People couldn't understand what Mei Chuan was doing, but they knew that the Five Realm Valley Master of Plum Blossom Valley was about to make a move. Therefore, including An Jin, they all obediently moved aside from the cave entrance.
Mei Chuan's eyes were solemn. A drop of blood seeped from her brow and landed on the grayish-green pill. The pill immediately began to sizzle with intense heat.
Following this, Mei Chuan closed her eyes and poured all her extraordinary power and soul force into the grayish-green pill. The pill then emitted thick green smoke, like a forest fire, instantly shrouding half the sky!
Even more astonishingly, as the green pill dissipated, the dense smoke slowly coalesced into a humanoid form!
An Jin looked up, gazing at the green smoke in the sky, and his heart trembled violently. His scalp and his entire body went numb.
Because, if he wasn't mistaken, what Mei Chuan had just spat out from her mouth was a beast's demon core!
And now, the humanoid form condensed from the green smoke was not just a simple human shape. Or rather, the upper body was slender and human-like.
But the lower body had the tail of a green snake!
The Valley Master Mei was actually a snake demon!
A clamor erupted from the crowd, and countless people were shocked by the sight before them. However, they no longer displayed any strong emotions, as they had already been numbed by the day's events.
Li Zao, who was guarding Mei Chuan, looked at the semi-human, semi-demon green smoke phantom in the air with feigned calmness, but her heart was churning with waves.
She had long heard rumors that Mei Chuan's father was a transformed snake demon, possessing half-demon blood. She never expected it to be true!
In the sky, Mei Chuan, half-snake and half-human, flicked her forked tongue and, baring her fangs and brandishing her claws, shrieked as she charged into the cave:
"None of you will escape!"
In the center of the pitch-black cave, the old man in the crimson official robe sensed danger. He tossed Qi Long to Xu Mu, who was running towards him, and then he forcefully kicked the bronze bell at his feet. A surging red light and earth-shattering bell sounds erupted simultaneously.
"Demons, retreat!"
Mei Chuan's spiritual body trembled from the shock, being forcefully repelled into mid-air and unable to swoop down smoothly. Under the illumination of the crimson light, her snake tail caught fire.
The old man's heart settled.
As an enemy who had studied Mei Chuan for many years, he had naturally heard the rumors. That was why he had specifically brought the artifacts from the Demon Extermination Division and hidden among the crowd, planning to catch her off guard.
Although he had revealed his methods early to rescue Qi Long, losing the element of surprise, the situation now seemed to be working out well!
"Supreme Edict, Transcend Your Soul!"
The old man whispered, and the flames on Mei Chuan's body burned even more fiercely. At the same time, he pushed his right palm forward, and a golden rune shone directly at Mei Chuan's demon core below her abdomen.
The old man was confident that if this palm strike hit, even Mei Chuan, however powerful, would be beyond saving. But just then, the flames on her spiritual body suddenly extinguished!
"Die!"
A sharp and terrifying demonic voice rang out. Mei Chuan's seven orifices bled, her face contorted into a terrifying mask of a vengeful ghost. She flew forward, her slender fingers gripping the old man's neck, and opened her maw to bite down.
"Clang!"
The old man held a golden talisman in his right hand and pressed it against Mei Chuan's face with a clang. With his left hand, he tightly held Mei Chuan's icy spiritual body's hand, preventing her from breaking his neck.
The old man's face turned ashen, already suffocating. His life force was slowly draining away. Mei Chuan had abandoned the lower half of her snake body and flown forward with only her human form, her hands gripping his neck. His carefully prepared countermeasures against Mei Chuan had thus been easily broken!
"Move aside quickly!"
A voice echoed from the depths of the cave, belonging to Zuo Mingqiu.
Xu Mu, carrying Qi Long, dodged to the side and, without any hesitation, rushed towards the teleportation array.
As he brushed past Zuo Mingqiu, he clearly heard the crackling sound of thunder by his ear.
"Five Thunders True Method!"
Zuo Mingqiu's sword slashed down, and terrifying celestial lightning struck Mei Chuan's spiritual body, leaving a shallow sword mark on the grayish-green demon core.
"—Ugh!"
Mei Chuan wailed and retreated several meters as smoke.
"—Hoo!"
The old man's face turned purple. He stumbled back two steps, shakily raised his head, and took a pill.
"Such potent thunder magic! You must be from my Demon Extermination Division as well. At such a young age, to possess such strength, you will surely become a pillar of the division in the future."
The old man looked at Mei Chuan, who was gradually reforming, and said with a hoarse voice,
"So, let this useless old man be the one to cover your retreat. She is a Five Realm expert, and your thunder magic won't work a second time. Hurry and leave while you can!"
With that, he pulled out the black-gold dagger from his waist, stood up straight, and pounced at Mei Chuan like a tiger released from its cage. Instantly, red light erupted, and fierce fighting sounds could be heard from within the smoke.
"—Old Du!"
From the depths of the cave, Qi Long roared. He could only watch powerlessly as the old man lunged at Mei Chuan, unable to do anything himself.
Xu Mu, carrying Qi Long, also had slightly reddened eyes.
He himself had been half an ability user of the Demon Extermination Division, so he knew very well what it meant for a Lord-level expert to charge forward with the Wujin dagger.
He had never expected to return alive!
Xu Mu's voice was hoarse as he said, "To not let that senior's sacrifice be in vain, please hurry and activate the array!"
Upon hearing this, Qi Long knew it was not a time for sadness. Although their mission had not been successful, at least the spark of hope remained.
Thus, he looked at the spatial teleportation array before him, took out the array eye pillar and array disk from his spatial storage bag, and painstakingly injected his extraordinary power, attempting to activate it.
The array remained unresponsive.
"Huh?!"
Next, Qi Long took a pill, gritted his teeth, and forcefully injected his extraordinary power, even roaring. Yet, the result was the same.
The spatial teleportation array was like a stagnant pool.
Qi Long stared at the array in shock for a long time. Upon noticing several cracks on the ground, he let out a self-mocking laugh: "Heaven intends to destroy me! Heaven intends to destroy me!"
"The Great Zhou Emperor's finger not only damaged the array in my cave but also damaged the spatial teleportation array!"
"It's over. We are all doomed. I could not avenge the more than a thousand brothers who died innocently in Di Qiu. Heaven does not want Mei Chuan to die!"
Qi Long looked at Xu Mu with a devastated expression, tears streaming down his weathered cheeks. To seek revenge, he and Old Du had left their homes and endured for over ten years, living among the people of Zhou day by day. They had finally found such an opportunity, only to fail in the end.
After he and Old Du were gone, there would be no survivors of the Battle of Di Qiu left in the world. The souls of the thousands of soldiers who were not killed by Mei Chuan would not be appeased!
And most importantly, he had also caused the deaths of two super geniuses from the Great Xia dynasty! Xu Mu and Zuo Mingqiu could have had limitless potential, even becoming peerless powerhouses like the Governor of the Demon Extermination Division. But now, because of him, they would die forever in this cramped cave!
As this thought struck him, Qi Long's Dao heart wavered, and with a soft "poof," he spat out a large mouthful of blood.
"Is it broken?" Xu Mu was taken aback. He looked at Qi Long and asked loudly, "Can it be repaired?"
Qi Long shook his head and said sadly, "If I were at my peak, these two insignificant cracks would be easily repaired. But in my current state, even activating the array disk is a problem!"
Xu Mu's spirits lifted. He looked at Mei Chuan and said,
"You tell me what the problem is, and I'll fix it!"
"You?" Mei Chuan looked at Xu Mu, then gave a bitter smile. "This is a spatial teleportation array, unlike ordinary formations. Even if you understand formations, you won't be able to repair it if you don't understand the Great Dao of Space."
"If I say it can be repaired, it can be repaired!" Xu Mu saw that Zuo Mingqiu and the old man were struggling to hold on and didn't want to waste any more time. He directly grabbed Qi Long's collar and roared menacingly.
"I have studied formations and understand the Great Dao of Space. So, quickly tell me how to repair it and stop wasting time!"
Hearing this, Qi Long looked at Xu Mu's furious eyes. The dullness in his eyes began to rekindle.
……