The Early-Stage Nascent Soul cultivator leading them was Yin Fengcong, a man with wheat-colored skin and a scar on his eyelid, dressed in the pale azure robes of a Wulei Sect disciple.
“What do you mean? You want us to take down the array?”
He cast a glance at Xie Tinglan beside Wen Li. From their positions and dialogue since entering the secret realm, the youth at Late-Stage Golden Core indeed obeyed this Foundation Establishment Great Perfection “Master,” rather than it being some trick or illusion.
“Precisely. Since you want someone to test the danger of approaching the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree, I can cooperate with you so we each contribute our share,” Wen Li said with a nod. “You’ve likely guessed why the three sects recruited us rogue cultivators. Since the point is to nourish the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit, it clearly hasn't ripened yet. Even if you risk your life to take it now, it'll just be a dead item.”
Yin Fengcong narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think I’ll listen to you?”
He was clearly at the Early-Stage Nascent Soul, while she was merely at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection. Even if she held useless disciples from the other sects hostage, he could deal with them in a single move.
“Because...” Wen Li smiled and gave a gentle nod, “even now, you don't dare move against me directly. We both hold hidden trump cards, and our goals align. Although there's only one Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit, it's not like it can't be split in two. Instead of fighting to the death from the start and letting someone else reap the benefits, why don't the two of us profit together?”
Yin Fengcong’s fierce gaze locked onto Wen Li, staring at her utterly calm expression. It was truly impossible to gauge her depth. If a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator could scheme against so many disciples from the three sects—including several Golden Cores—he might have attributed it to magical artifacts and talismans.
Yet this woman had not only anticipated that the three of them would arrive here first, but she had also used her own disciple as bait to let them think they had caught a bargaining chip and could set an ambush—outsmarting their outsmarting.
Such a scheming mind was hardly something a mere Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator who had lived only a few decades would possess.
“Fine.”
Uttering that single word, Yin Fengcong flew up into the air, making hand signs and lifting his arms.
“Boom!”
The eight interlocking arrays on the ground rotated into visibility before instantly dissolving into ash and vanishing.
The two Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivators behind him frowned, feeling this was unwise, but they didn't dare say anything.
Sitting in a relaxed, nonchalant posture, Wen Li glanced at Yao Dai, who was tied up like a dumpling and suspended from the tree. “She's only at Qi Refinement. Surely Fellow Daoist doesn't view her as a threat?”
Yin Fengcong, who had seemed easy to talk to just a moment ago, shook his head now and scoffed.
“That's different. She's your beloved disciple.”
Clearly, he intended to keep Yao Dai as a hostage.
Wen Li didn't press the matter, casting a reassuring look at Yao Dai. With a wave of her hand toward the tripod-bell below, two Qi Refinement disciples from the three sects were instantly launched out.
“Ah! What are you doing?!”
“You're using us as stepping stones! Wen Li, let me go! I beg you, spare me, and I'll work for you like a horse or a dog!”
Turning a deaf ear, Wen Li kept the two bound and flew them over to Yin Fengcong's side before sending them straight toward the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree.
The moment they crossed the fifty-meter mark...
Swish!
Countless blood-red vines snaked out from all directions. Wen Li released the two disciples, whose eyes widened in panic as they instinctively summoned their magical artifacts to fight back.
“Boom!”
Regrettably, after a mere two exchanges, the two were seized by the blood vines. Tiny, sharp barbs pierced into their bodies as the vines tightly coiled around them like pythons.
“Wen Li, save us!”
The two disciples' pleas for mercy were drowned out by screams of terror.
“Ah!”
“Aaah—”
Everyone watched as the blood throughout their bodies was sucked dry by the blood vines in a matter of seconds. In under ten seconds, they were turned into dried corpses, which were ultimately swept away by the branches of the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree.
They were embedded into the trunk, becoming fresh nourishment.
“What the hell are those blood vines?!”
Inside the tripod-bell, the disciples turned pale, frightened out of their wits.
Ye Mojin's face darkened. Realizing the implications of the conversation between Wen Li and Yin Fengcong, he immediately turned to the surrounding cultivators.
“Wen Li and those three are using us to wear down the blood vines' strength, using our lives to pave their way! We're dead either way, so if any of us get thrown out next, figure out a way through those blood vines! As long as one of us can snatch the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit before they do, we can live!”
Whether as a bargaining chip against Wen Li's group or to swallow the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit to ruin their plans, it would turn the tables—even dying for that would be worth it.
The other cultivators all understood his message.
“Alright!”
The crowd actually calmed down. Since death was guaranteed either way, they might as well ruin their plans.
Wen Li couldn't care less about their scheme. Pondering the details of the two disciples' deaths, she grabbed two more disciples, flicked her finger, and tossed them forward.
“Ah, Wen Li! You'll die a horrible death!”
It was two more disciples, but these two were at Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, whereas the previous ones were only at the Early-Stage.
This time, Ye Mojin's words seemed to have had an effect. Both cultivators fought fiercely with preparation, standing back-to-back.
This time, after three exchanges, the blood vines still strangled them to death and drained their blood.
Yin Fengcong also realized that Wen Li was conducting experiments in batches. He tacitly permitted her behavior and observed closely as well.
The third time, Wen Li threw in two Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators.
This time the fight was even fiercer, and even more blood vines were mobilized.
The fourth time, Wen Li threw Ye Mojin and another Early-Stage Golden Core rogue cultivator in.
“You...” She still wasn't letting him off.
Ejected from the tripod-bell, Ye Mojin looked dazed for a moment. Seeing that he couldn't escape it, he endured his severe injuries, raised his sword, and flew toward the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree. Since it had come to this, he would forge a path through with blood!
The two truly lived up to their Early-Stage Golden Core realm. Even though they were injured and had no prior connection, they relied on their solid combat skills to trade blows with the blood vines, supporting each other as they fought their way from the fifty-meter outer perimeter down to twenty meters.
“Boom!”
“The stronger our attacks, the faster the blood vines proliferate!” Combining his previous observations with current combat, Ye Mojin discovered something and sent a Divine Sense message to the other Golden Core cultivator.
The other Golden Core cultivator frowned. “But if we don't attack, these blood vines will strangle us to death.”
It was a complete deadlock.
Frowning, Ye Mojin swung his sword to slice off a piece of a blood vine. Covered in rags and soaked in blood, he looked back reluctantly at the alluring Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit behind him. It was a Supreme Grade Rank 1 item after all—if he consumed it, could he walk out of here alive...?
Yun'er was still waiting for him.
Suddenly snapping back to reality, Ye Mojin raised his longsword. “Watch out!”
Seeing a blood vine darting toward his teammate, he let out a loud shout.
With one strike, he severed the blood vine.
“Thank you!” the cultivator said with lingering fear as he looked back.
The next instant, he turned his head to resume fighting.
Pfft!
“Ugh...”
A figure drove a sword into his body, and the cultivator looked down in shock at the tip of the sword protruding from his chest.
“You...”
“I'm sorry, but I have to live.”
A trace of apology flashed across Ye Mojin's eyes, but nothing more. He instantly pulled out his sword, kicked the cultivator away, and sent him flying into the distance, spraying blood into the air.
The entire process took less than seven seconds.
Seeing that most of the blood vines were indeed drawn away, Ye Mojin didn't dare hesitate and immediately flew into the area within twenty meters.
The Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit glowed faintly, filling his eyes with greed.
Ye Mojin fought fiercely to slash the blood vines, watching as he was about to step into the ten-meter radius of the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree. The light in his eyes flared brightly, when in the next instant—
Pfft!
An arm-thick blood vine grabbed him by the foot, piercing into his leg.
“No!”
Ye Mojin's eyes bulged with mad desperation. He was unwilling to fail like this! He had spent hundreds of years stumbling all the way from Qi Refinement to his current Golden Core realm. How agonizingly difficult it was for a rogue cultivator!
He was so unwilling!
He still had to save Yun'er!
The next moment, the blood vine dragged Ye Mojin to the ground. The blood vines that had been drawn away by the other cultivator rushed back, and this time, he was all alone.
In fewer than three exchanges, his spiritual energy exhausted, Ye Mojin was rapidly overrun and covered by the blood vines.
Strangled to death alive, his blood devoured.
He didn't even have time to leave last words. When the blood vines dispersed, nothing remained but a wide-eyed corpse.
Ultimately becoming nourishment for the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree.
Rate on N.U.
