Turmoil

"Master!"

Li Nanzhu's voice trembled as she watched her palm slowly passing through the bamboo railing. "What’s happening?"

Xiao Yan's expression turned serious instantly. He didn’t reply immediately, instead closing his eyes to concentrate. His divine soul power rippled outward like a wave.

A moment later, he snapped his eyes open, his face exceptionally grave.

"Something’s wrong with the cave dwelling outside. It looks like a fight has broken out, and the spiritual energy fluctuations are affecting this place."

"Outside? How could..." Li Nanzhu's heart grew heavy.

Another deviation from the original plot, another unexpected event. Her involvement had truly... changed far too much.

For the first time, she felt a pang of regret. Perhaps she shouldn't have interfered. If she hadn't...

The next instant, she was startled by the thought. Why was she thinking like this? It wasn't her fault. If she hadn't come, perhaps Xiao Yan wouldn't even be here.

There was no time to dwell on why she had such thoughts. She only wanted to know how her master was.

"Master, how are you doing now!" Li Nanzhu gripped Xiao Yan’s sleeve tightly, afraid that if she let go, he would vanish before her eyes.

Suisui tugged frantically at her hem, its bone claws pointing urgently toward the sky. Sharp bursts of light from techniques flashed through the cracks there—spiritual energy of a strength that could only belong to Soul Transformation stage cultivators.

Had she not seen Feng Yi and Ling Xiao fight before, she might not have recognized it so clearly.

Who was it?! Who was outside? Why... what exactly was happening?

What should she do?

Meanwhile, in the inner-middle region of the Forest of Demonic Beasts, outside the ancient cultivator's cave dwelling.

"Ling Xiao, that's enough!" A middle-aged man with a square face looked at Ling Xiao, his expression grim. Behind him was the entrance to the cave.

However, the scene was now completely different from when Li Nanzhu and the others had entered.

The ancient doorway was covered in dense, crawling blue mycelium. Strange-looking centipedes frequently crawled out from the mass, madly attacking the barrier the middle-aged man had set up.

"Zhao Wufeng, I’ll say it one more time. Step aside!" Ling Xiao’s face was dark. His hand on his sword tightened and loosened repeatedly; clearly, his heart was not as steady as he appeared.

"Do you truly intend to destroy the barrier for your own selfish reasons?!" Zhao Wufeng’s veins bulged on his forehead. His life-bound sword, Qingxiao, burst with brilliant golden light as he tried to stop Ling Xiao’s next move.

Thirty zhang away, Shenmu Sect’s Lin Xiaowan suddenly felt her legs go weak and collapsed to her knees.

Only at the Qi Condensation stage, her face was as pale as paper. The pressure inadvertently leaked by a Soul Transformation stage cultivator caused her spiritual altar to shudder violently. Her internal organs felt as if they were being crushed by giant stones. "Is... is this..."

"Focus your mind and guard the One!" Zhou Zichun hurriedly cast a spell to create a shield for his junior sister. But as soon as his hand seal was formed, the protective spiritual light shattered like fragile glass.

With a "crack," spiderweb-like fractures appeared, and his knees slammed heavily into the ground, gouging out two deep pits.

Fortunately, Daoist Qingmu noticed his disciples' situation and raised a protective barrier to help them resist the pressure.

Shen Qingqiu looked toward the tottering cave entrance in the distance. Remembering that Li Nanzhu and the others were still inside, her throat tightened. "Daoist Li and Daoist Liu..."

The reactions of those below had no effect on the two in the air.

At that moment, the blue mycelium writhed frantically, trying to break through the spiritual energy barrier fueled by the confrontation between the two. Zhao Wufeng’s expression grew even more unsightly. "These damn things can devour spiritual energy. Even for me, resisting them takes effort. If they spread—"

Ling Xiao’s sword hung in mid-air, its tip trembling slightly. Inside his storage bag were three soul lamps belonging to Qu Chen, Le Changxi, and Cang Dongqing. Currently, they were all dim and lightless. But what alarmed him even more was that a nearly imperceptible trace of life remained at the wicks, flickering weakly like a candle in the wind.

"Zhao Wufeng." Ling Xiao’s voice was suddenly and terrifyingly calm. "Four direct disciples from your Sword Heart Sect are also inside."

Zhao Wufeng’s pupils constricted. He knew, of course. After all, Lin Shuang’s soul lamp was currently in his storage bag as well. He naturally understood the situation.

But as a sect leader, rather than gambling on whether those four were still alive, he chose to heartlessly preserve the current strength of the Sword Heart Sect.

The dead were ultimately not as important as the living. On this point, Zhao Wufeng would not yield an inch.

"That is exactly why we cannot let these evil things bring chaos to the world!" He gritted his teeth, ultimately refusing Ling Xiao.

"My disciples..." Ling Xiao's voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "They are clearly still alive!"

As he spoke, his sword edge burst with chilling light. The pressure of the mid-level Soul Transformation stage caused the trees within ten miles to bow down simultaneously. "Even if they are dead, I will see their bodies!"

Yet even in his rage, his sword stopped three inches from the barrier. He still considered Zhao Wufeng, hoping the other would voluntarily open the spiritual barrier to let him in. After all, if he forced it open, the other man would suffer a direct backlash.

"Elder Ling Xiao, please reconsider!"

"We cannot let those evil things out!"

The elders of other sects wanted to help, but how could they intervene in a clash between Soul Transformation cultivators? All they could do was offer verbal persuasion.

The only one who attempted to help was Elder Hua Xiangrong of the Hehuan Sect. At this moment, her Seven-Emotion Silk hung powerless. The face of this Nascent Soul stage charm cultivator was deathly pale. She had just tried to use illusions to affect Ling Xiao, only to have her divine soul destabilized by the Soul Transformation stage pressure.

She finally realized that, aside from the two Soul Transformation sovereigns present, no one could truly stop Ling Xiao.

The pressure of the confrontation turned the air as heavy as lead. Several Golden Core stage elders from various sects found their breathing stifled.

As for the other Soul Transformation sovereign Hua Xiangrong mentioned, it was the sovereign of the Water Moon Sect, Liu Changhe.

He was the only other leader of the Eight Sects present besides the one from the Sword Heart Sect. Had his son not sent a distress signal from this location, he likely wouldn't have set foot here.

A soul lamp similar to those in Ling Xiao’s storage bag hung from his waist—it belonged to Liu Qingyang.

It likewise held only a faint trace of life. Had Liu Changhe not known he was more than just Liu Qingyang’s father—that he was also the sovereign of the Water Moon Sect—he might have been standing with Ling Xiao right now.

But he had his own selfish concerns. Ultimately, he did not help Zhao Wufeng resist Ling Xiao. His fists were clenched so tightly that blood dripped from where his nails dug into his palms.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Liu Changhe suddenly groaned. While attempting to probe the cave's condition earlier, his wrist had been grazed by the mycelium. He hadn't cared at the time, but now he realized something was wrong.

His entire arm was glowing with an eerie blue light. An elder beside him hurriedly sliced off half his sleeve, revealing writhing mycelium veins visible beneath the skin.