Chapter 52 | How Could the Master of All Villains Be Righteous?

Wen Li looked indifferent as she turned to gaze at Yin Fengcong across from her.

“I’ve already endured the pain of sacrificing so many hands, Fellow Daoist...”

She left her sentence unfinished, leaving the others completely baffled.

Yin Fengcong folded his arms over his chest, lowering his eyes in thought. Although her experiments earlier had given him a few guesses, he still couldn't be entirely sure.

Early-Stage Foundation Establishment, Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, and even Early-Stage Golden Core had all been tested.

Next, it should be...

Standing three meters behind Yin Fengcong, two rogue cultivators exchanged a glance and immediately took off in opposite directions. The Speed-Enhancing Talismans on their bodies rendered their figures almost invisible.

However, Yin Fengcong had long noticed their subtle movements to escape, calmly raising both hands.

“Boom!”

A barrier instantly rose to encompass a ten-li radius around the Soul-Severing White Mi Tree.

“Ah!”

The two Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivators who were about to leave were bound in an instant by golden light and hauled back to Yin Fengcong's side.

“Yin Fengcong, the two of us are supposed to be on your side! That woman is full of deceit and lies; she's whittling down your strength step by step. Without us, you'll only be at a disadvantage later on!”

“If you want to test it, use the disciples on Wen Li's side! Even if the two of us are the only Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivators present, what could you possibly learn? After watching for so long, it's obvious that the blood vines only attack harder against cultivators with higher realms! If you spare us, we won't compete with you for the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit. We still have to find a way out later, and with the two of us by your side, your chances of victory are much higher!”

They had known something was fishy when that woman, Wen Li, addressed Yin Fengcong as “you” rather than “you all.” She was subtly hinting for him to treat them as guinea pigs too.

Yet, since Yin Fengcong had dared to act, he had already thought everything through. How could he not know that Wen Li was weakening his strength as well?

Yet, as fate would have it, he was forced to do so.

“You! Yin Fengcong, my master knows I came here with you! If you leave here alive, my master will never let you off!”

Seeing Yin Fengcong silently hurl them into the fifty-meter range without a word, the two Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivators looked on with venomous hatred, forced to engage in battle immediately.

Wen Li and Yin Fengcong exchanged a glance, both watching the battle with even greater scrutiny.

This time, the two indeed held out longer than all the previous cultivators. Sure enough, the blood vines' attacks grew vastly more ferocious, far exceeding the level launched against the Foundation Establishment cultivators earlier.

After about ten rounds, the two died all the same.

However, the moment the rogue cultivator who had threatened Yin Fengcong with his master fell into mortal peril, black mist suddenly burst from his body. With a loud boom, a final defensive strike detonated.

It possessed the strength of Mid-Stage Nascent Soul cultivation, likely a life-saving item bestowed by his master.

That attack indeed blasted away the surrounding blood vines. In an instant, blood splattered across the ground like shreds of flesh—crimson, terrifying, and nauseating.

Regrettably, the blood vines seemed infinite, ultimately exhausting the man's spiritual energy until he died.

Wen Li retracted her gaze and turned to Yin Fengcong. “The Wulei Sect lured you in with the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit, giving you its exact location and purpose, but do you know...”

“...this fruit isn't ripe?”

Yin Fengcong whipped his head up, his eyes turning fierce. “What?”

Wen Li unhurridly stood up from the tripod-bell. “The three sects hold a secret realm trial every thirty years. If the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit were already ripe, would they dare let us enter to serve as nourishment?”

This was precisely why the three sects had the confidence to let him, a Nascent Soul cultivator, enter.

Because the fruit wasn't ripe, it couldn't be plucked at all—and even if it were, it would be useless.

“You've likely noticed it too. Each time a person is embedded into the trunk at the center, sprouts connect the Spiritual Root in their abdomen directly to the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit. Whenever the fruit finishes absorbing a Spiritual Root, its light flares once, forming a halo of light around itself. Currently, that halo only covers at most two-thirds of the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit; it hasn't fully enveloped it yet.”

In truth, the blood vines did not entirely kill their victims immediately. The toxins in their barbs possessed a subtle mystery, somehow preserving the Spiritual Roots intact upon death until the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit could absorb them.

Yin Fengcong stepped forward with a frown, stopping beneath Yao Dai.

“You know everything, yet you still came here. That means you must have a solution.”

With a wave of his hand, a longsword abruptly flew out, pointing directly at Yao Dai's head.

“Mmm!” Bro, bro, bro, calm down!

Yao Dai's eyes widened as cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Wen Li's eyes turned slightly cold. She glanced at Xie Tinglan, who flew up and launched out the cultivators from inside the tripod-bell below.

“My solution is to use all the remaining disciples as nourishment,” Wen Li said. “Look, I've delivered them right to you. But you must release my disciple.”

“A Grand Cultivator at Early-Stage Nascent Soul surely isn't afraid of a mere Foundation Establishment Great Perfection like me, are you?”

These words struck home for Yin Fengcong. Though he held many suspicions and apprehensions toward Wen Li's intelligence, all schemes and wiles were nothing in the face of absolute strength.

Could the Nascent Soul realm he had spent a thousand years cultivating really fall to a Foundation Establishment Ant?

Yin Fengcong watched as Wen Li still held over twenty cultivators—disciples from the three sects as well as rogue cultivators. If all of them were added as sacrifice, perhaps the Soul-Severing White Mi Fruit truly would ripen. Even if it didn't, he had already sealed off this area. Could he possibly let the three of them escape?

“Fine.”

Yao Dai and those disciples were launched out at the same time.

The two sides crossed in midair. The moment they intersected, the restraints on Yao Dai loosened. “Master!”

Her eyes lit up brilliantly, and she was about to rush toward Wen Li.

Swish!

A flash of sword light came straight for her back.

It was Wang Xianlin.

“Die!” He stared at Yao Dai with venomous hatred, breaking free from Wen Li's restraints at the cost of ten years of his lifespan.

If he couldn't kill Wen Li, he would kill her disciple and let her taste the agonizing powerlessness over life and death!

“Kill him.”

With just a single command from Wen Li, Xie Tinglan beside her moved.

Wang Xianlin was fast, but Xie Tinglan was faster.

“Ah!!”

In a flash of lightning, Wang Xianlin's sword-wielding right arm was severed clean off, dripping with blood as it fell from the sky.

Yao Dai executed a smooth 360-degree spin to dodge the attack, landing securely in Xie Tinglan's grasp—not held in a hug, but dangling like a chick by the nape.

As if he were deeply terrified of touching a single inch of her skin.

“Phew, I'm alive! I'm still alive!” She patted her neck; it was still intact.

Yet, the moment she was saved, her mind wasn't filled with emotional gratitude. Instead, she whipped her head around toward Wang Xianlin and saw that he hadn't died yet.