"Swish—!"
Three bone nails pierced through the air, their speed so great they nearly tore the atmosphere apart!
Li Nanzhu instinctively lunged to the side, but how could a Foundation Establishment cultivator easily evade an attack from the Golden Core stage? The first bone nail grazed her cheek, leaving a bloody streak; the second aimed straight for her throat, so close she could see the fluctuations of spiritual energy rippling across its surface!
Her brow suddenly grew scorching hot.
The Qingming Seal bloomed with light once more, a cyan-green barrier shimmering like water to deflect the second bone nail, though the glow was noticeably dimmer this time. Fortunately, the third nail only scraped past her arm, leaving another trail of blood.
"Hiss!" She sucked in a sharp breath as Jingyi's scream reached her ears: "Junior Sister Li! The two pieces in front!"
Li Nanzhu turned her head. Not far ahead, two pieces of blood-fiend crystals were being desperately guarded by two evil cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage. One of them had already bitten his finger, attempting to activate the crystals with essence blood.
Feng Weilan had only just finished off another evil cultivator and was too far to stop them!
Gritting her teeth, Li Nanzhu summoned the Wanxiang Brush and threw it with all her might. The moment it left her hand, the brush tip ignited with cyan flames, streaking like a meteor into the evil cultivator's wrist!
"Agh!"
The evil cultivator shrieked and let go, the blood-fiend crystal hitting the ground with a thud. Seeing this, the other man turned to flee, only to have his ankle ensnared by the silk ribbon flicked out by Yu'er.
"Shatter!" Li Nanzhu lunged forward, slamming an explosion talisman heavily onto the other blood-fiend crystal.
"Boom—"
The shockwave from the explosion knocked her flat on the ground.
The entire mine trembled violently. The blood-fiend crystals embedded in the rock walls burst simultaneously, their fragments falling like a sudden rain. The blood mist interwoven in mid-air froze, then scattered in all directions as if its guiding force had been severed.
"Number Twelve! Retreat!"
The Golden Core cultivator within the array roared. Realizing that further engagement with Feng Qingping and the others was pointless, his bone spear suddenly erupted with countless jagged spikes.
Feng Qingping scrambled back, but her sleeves were still shredded by a dozen cuts. The cultivator took the chance to charge toward a weak point in the array, only to be met by a brilliant blade light—
"Clang!"
Feng Weilan's blade collided with the bone spear, sending sparks flying.
He had joined the fray at some unknown moment, his blade strikes devoid of unnecessary flourish. Every hit landed precisely on the nodes of spiritual energy flowing through the bone spear—the specific meridian junctions where spiritual energy had to pass before the Golden Core evil cultivator could change his move.
Feng Qingping immediately felt the pressure lift, and the cyan light on the array disk surged.
"You think you can leave after hurting Qingping?"
Feng Weilan's voice was soft, yet it made the hair on the Golden Core evil cultivator's neck stand on end. The gaze of this Foundation Establishment cultivator... it was like he was looking at a corpse!
"Madman!" the evil cultivator roared inwardly.
As a dignified Golden Core cultivator, he was actually being forced into a retreat by a mere Foundation Establishment junior!
But the facts before him were undeniable—the Eight Trigrams array patterns were tightening like chains. The green-robed woman's array and the blade cultivator's offensive were in perfect harmony, driving him into a corner against the rock wall.
The bone spear and long blade clashed again, creating a string of blinding sparks. The evil cultivator suddenly realized his path of retreat had been completely sealed!
On the other side, Rong Yuying's round fan snapped shut. Nine phantoms converged into one, becoming a pink stream of light that pierced through the chest of the final Golden Core cultivator. Ling Suxin seized the opening to toss out her lotus lamp, its flames coiling around his limbs like chains!
"Speak!" The tip of Rong Yuying's fan pressed against the cultivator's throat. "Who is your mastermind? What is the Blood Fiend Sect planning!"
Though surprised they knew of the Blood Fiend Sect, the cultivator merely gave a sinister grin. He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, a fanatic glint reappearing in his eyes. "Don't think... you can escape... Blood Fiend lives forever!!" Before his voice could fade, black blood gushed from his seven orfices, and he dissolved into a pool of foul-smelling gore in an instant.
"Another blood curse." Ling Suxin retracted her lotus lamp in disgust.
The other Golden Core cultivator's pupils shrank. Seeing the gruesome death of his companion, he hesitated no longer—
"Pfft!"
He sprayed a mouthful of essence blood onto the bone spear, and the weapon immediately erupted with a crimson glow!
A scarlet blade of light swept across, tearing a rift in the confining array. Feng Qingping let out a muffled groan as a trickle of blood escaped the corner of her mouth.
Taking advantage of that fleeting gap, the evil cultivator turned into a blur and bolted. His black robes snapped in the wind of the tunnel. Feng Weilan's long blade was already out, but he skidded to a halt on his third step.
He stared fixedly in the direction the evil cultivator had vanished, the veins on his sword-hand bulging. A Golden Core stage was a Golden Core stage, after all; even if heavily wounded and near death... it was not a prey a Foundation Establishment cultivator could pursue alone.
Only after the evil cultivators were cleared did Li Nanzhu stagger and sink to the ground. When her fingers touched her brow, the cyan flame mark had faded to a mere glimmer. The residual heat receded like a tide, and she stared at her trembling fingertips, silently counting in her heart—
Only one use left.
The life-saving mark left by her master had now been used twice.
But at the thought of one Golden Core evil cultivator dead and another fleeing with heavy injuries, the trade wasn't a loss. She clenched her fist, her nails digging deep into her palm.
"Golden Core cultivators aren't like radishes in a field; kill one, and there's one fewer..." This thought brought her a small measure of comfort.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her wrist.
Feng Qingping had rushed over and was gripping her tightly. Her usually composed Senior Sister 5 was so tense her knuckles were white, leaving deep red finger marks on Li Nanzhu's wrist.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Feng Qingping's voice was extremely low, yet it carried an unprecedented tremble. "If that mark hadn't triggered, if it had been a second later..."
Li Nanzhu only then noticed that her senior sister's eyes were red, as if she were holding something back. She had never seen Feng Qingping lose her composure like this. Nearby, Feng Weilan watched her in silence, looking as if he wanted to speak but couldn't find the words.
"Senior Sister 5, Senior Brother 6, I..."
"If you are ever this reckless again," Feng Qingping's unfinished words finally dissolved into a sigh, though her grip did not loosen, "I will have Senior Brother 3 feed you bitter medicine for a whole year, three times a day."
Li Nanzhu's face immediately crumpled. "That's worse than killing me..."
Suisui jumped down from the cave ceiling and burrowed into Li Nanzhu's arms. The small skeleton's bone claws gripped her collar tightly, its soul fire flickering violently. It was clearly very unhappy that she had charged out alone and left it with Feng Weilan.
"There won't be a next time, Suisui," Li Nanzhu whispered as she held Suisui.
Suisui simply turned its head away, clearly not believing her. Li Nanzhu gave a light cough; why was she feeling this strange sense of guilt?
On the other side, Rong Yuying and the others had already hurried toward the wounded members of team two. Ling Suxin took out medicine bottles, feeding pills to the unconscious disciples.
"They're alright, just exhausted their spiritual energy," Ling Suxin said with a sigh of relief, her fingers resting on a victim's wrist. "The foundation hasn't been harmed."
"Let's leave this place first," Feng Qingping said. She had retracted her array disk, but her gaze continued to sweep the surroundings warily. "The commotion was too loud. It might attract more evil cultivators."
No one disagreed. Rong Yuying quickly directed Qinghe and the others to support the heavily wounded. Feng Weilan took the lead to clear the path, while Feng Qingping and Rong Yuying brought up the rear.
What they failed to notice was that the corpses of the evil cultivators they hadn't had time to deal with suddenly began to twitch eerily shortly after they left.
The scattered blood began to crawl like living creatures, flowing through the cracks in the rocks toward the depths. The corpses shriveled at a visible rate, eventually leaving behind nothing but skin and bone.
The group hurried through the twisting tunnels. Feng Qingping's array disk hovered in her palm, remaining on high alert for any potential pursuers.
"Wait." Ling Suxin, walking in the middle of the group, suddenly stopped. "Do you smell that?"
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