Liu Qingyang

The black mist suddenly surged, transforming into countless hideous ghostly shadows that shrieked as they lunged at the four of them!

"Careful!" Duan Xianxing held his sword before him, his sword qi like a rainbow as it sliced through several shadows. However, a few wisps of black mist still grazed his arm, instantly corroding a trail of blood. He let out a muffled groan and gritted his teeth. "This mist is poisonous!"

Liu Qi quickly threw out several defensive magic tools, forming layer upon layer of barriers. But the ghostly shadows struck with a frenzy, and the barriers began to shatter one by one.

"We can't hold out for long!" Sweat beaded on Liu Qi's forehead.

Seeing the situation, Li Nanzhu didn't bother holding back her resources. She threw out her hoard of tier 2 talismans as if they were free, causing explosions of multicolored light that made the ghostly shadows howl and dissipate.

However, the evil cultivator gave a sinister grin and raised his hand. The black mist coalesced once more, becoming even denser than before!

"A few ignorant children who don't know the height of the heavens dare to ruin my plans?" the evil cultivator rasped. His hands formed a seal, and the ground suddenly cracked open as countless pale bone claws burst from the earth, grabbing for their ankles!

Zhu Yinxi's gaze sharpened. The sound of his flute changed abruptly; the soundwaves became like blades, severing the bone claws. However, the evil cultivator seized the opening to close the distance, thrusting a palm toward his chest!

"Second Senior Brother!" Li Nanzhu cried out in alarm.

Zhu Yinxi blocked in haste but was still forced back several steps, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth.

He stabilized himself and whispered, "His Blood Fiend Technique can briefly boost his strength. We can't fight him head-on!"

Duan Xianxing gritted his teeth. "Then what do we do? We can't just run, can we?"

Liu Qi's eyes flashed, and he suddenly shouted, "Suisui!"

"Squeak!"

Unbeknownst to them, Suisui had already slipped out of Li Nanzhu's arms and run to the large tree behind the evil cultivator. It now held a pitch-black bone flute in its grip—the very magic tool that had fallen from the evil cultivator's waist!

The evil cultivator's expression changed drastically. "Give that back!"

Suisui nimbly dodged his grab and tossed the bone flute toward Liu Qi.

Liu Qi caught it and sneered. "So this is what you use to control the demonic beasts?"

"You're courting death!" the evil cultivator roared in fury, black mist surging toward them like a tide.

Zhu Yinxi took a deep breath and played his flute again. This time, the melody was no longer chaotic and harsh; instead, it transformed into a sharp sonic wave that pierced directly into the evil cultivator's divine sense!

"Agh—!" The evil cultivator clutched his head in agony, and the black mist instantly collapsed.

Duan Xianxing seized the opportunity and swung his sword. The sword qi rose like a dragon, heading straight for the evil cultivator's throat!

The evil cultivator barely managed to dodge, but his arm was still severed, blood geysering out!

He stumbled back, fear finally showing in his eyes. "You... just you wait!"

Before the words had even fully left his mouth, he crushed a blood talisman, and his body instantly dissolved into black fog and vanished!

"He escaped?" Li Nanzhu frowned.

Liu Qi gripped the bone flute and said solemnly, "He is heavily injured and won't be able to cause trouble in the short term, but this thing..." He looked at the bone flute, which was covered in eerie runes. "I'm afraid it's more than just a tool to control iron-toothed rats."

Zhu Yinxi wiped the blood from his mouth and whispered, "Let's leave this place first. The scent of blood will attract more demonic beasts."

The four of them quickly cleared the battlefield. The black mist on Duan Xianxing's arm had been suppressed by Li Nanzhu's purification talisman, but the wound still throbbed with pain.

"We were careless this time," Duan Xianxing said with a bitter smile. "I didn't expect a Golden Core stage evil cultivator to be so difficult to deal with."

Liu Qi shook his head. "Evil cultivators use insidious methods; they cannot be judged by common logic."

Li Nanzhu looked into the depths of the forest and said softly, "Evil cultivators are the most vengeful. I'm afraid we've been marked by him."

As the night deepened, the four found a hidden cave to rest temporarily.

Duan Xianxing began to clean the wound on his arm. Although the black mist had been suppressed, the edges of the wound were still a strange bluish-purple, clearly showing that residual poison remained.

"This poison is a bit troublesome," Li Nanzhu frowned. "My purification talisman can only suppress it for a while."

Duan Xianxing fell silent for a moment. Finally, as if making a monumental decision, he pulled a porcelain bottle from his storage bag.

"What's this?"

"An exorcism pill. It's specifically for clearing this kind of evil qi."

"Then why aren't you taking it!" Li Nanzhu urged.

"It's... it was refined by Third Senior Brother," Duan Xianxing said, his face twisted in inner conflict.

Li Nanzhu went silent. She took the bottle and poured out the pill.

"...Brother Duan, are you sure this is an exorcism pill?" Liu Qi watched from the side. The moment the pill was poured out, he felt it emitting an eerie glow, and it smelled incredibly foul.

Zhu Yinxi had also moved far away the moment the pill appeared.

"...I think so, probably," Duan Xianxing looked at the pill and also fell into a stunned silence.

Li Nanzhu stared fixedly at the pill in her hand, then at Duan Xianxing. Suddenly, she shouted, "Fifth Senior Brother! Look at the cave entrance! What is that!"

Duan Xianxing was startled and immediately turned toward the cave entrance. Li Nanzhu used her spiritual energy to stomp hard on his foot.

"OW!" Duan Xianxing's cry of pain was cut short as something was shoved into his mouth. Immediately after, an unimaginably foul stench rushed into his brain.

"Hurf! Blech... Little Junior Sister, you, hurf..."

Li Nanzhu silently took two steps back. Third Senior Brother's pills dissolved the moment they touched the tongue, so there was no need to worry about him spitting it out. Seeing this, Liu Qi also moved aside. Jokes aside, even if a terrifying pill like that could heal him, he didn't want to eat it at all!

However, the medicine's effect was obvious. In just a short moment, the black mist on his wound completely vanished.

Duan Xianxing took a long time to recover, finally looking at Li Nanzhu with a pale face. "Little Junior Sister, you... you..."

"It's fine. Take it, Fifth Senior Brother. Anything that doesn't kill you will only make you more well-rounded."

"Pfft." A laugh came from Zhu Yinxi's direction. Seeing all three of them look at him, he quickly gave a light cough.

He couldn't help it; what his little junior sister said was truly hard to resist.

"Cough, now that Seventh Junior Brother is fine, let's talk about the evil cultivator."

Liu Qi rubbed the bone flute in his hand with a grave expression. After a long while, he sighed. "I was inconsiderate this time. If I hadn't insisted on that star-patterned iron, we wouldn't have run into the evil cultivator and caused you two to be injured."

Duan Xianxing shook his head. "It's not your fault. The idea to have Suisui check the situation was mine. If we're assigning blame, everyone shares it."

Zhu Yinxi looked at him. "Talking about this is useless now. We should think about how to leave safely. Although the evil cultivator is heavily injured, it's hard to say if he has companions. Now that the bone flute is in our hands, they won't let the matter drop."

Duan Xianxing scratched his hair and looked at Li Nanzhu. Li Nanzhu was busy fiddling with her communication jade slip to see if she could contact First Senior Brother. They had no way to contact Feng Yi, otherwise they wouldn't be so helpless now.

Liu Qi hesitated for a moment before finally speaking as if having made up his mind. "Actually... I am Liu Qingyang, the son of Liu Changhe, the Sovereign of Water Moon Sect. My real name isn't Liu Qi, it's Liu Qingyang."

Silence fell over the cave.

"What?" Duan Xianxing's eyes widened. "That filthy rich Water Moon Sect? That Water Moon Sect that's incredibly amazing at refining tools?"

Li Nanzhu also put on a look of surprise as she looked at Liu Qingyang. "No wonder you have so many magic tools..."

Zhu Yinxi finally took a serious look at him. He had thought the other party was a direct disciple of some elder, but he hadn't expected him to be the son of the Sovereign.

Liu Qingyang smiled bitterly. "I didn't want to reveal my identity, but the situation is critical now." He took a communication jade slip from his robes. "I've already sent a signal to my sect explaining that there's an evil cultivator controlling demonic beasts here. Reinforcements from Water Moon Sect should arrive soon."

Zhu Yinxi shook his head. "Setting aside how far this place is from Water Moon Sect, even for a sword cultivator, it would take a day at the fastest to get here. What about refinery masters? Besides, the situation on the outskirts is unclear. The fact that the evil cultivator is acting so brazenly shows they aren't afraid of being exposed. They have likely already controlled many demonic beasts."

Liu Qingyang's expression turned ugly. He was right; why hadn't he thought of that? But for now, they could only wait.

Duan Xianxing patted his shoulder. "That's not a huge problem. At worst, we'll just hunker down. It's not like we can't fight them off; it'll just be a bit of a hassle."

Li Nanzhu nodded. "It's just that the star-patterned iron you wanted might not be attainable for a while."

Liu Qingyang shook his head with a bitter laugh. "Who cares about star-patterned iron at a time like this? Let's stay alive first."

"When this is settled, I'll come back and help you find it." Duan Xianxing had already found a spot to lie down. "We've gone through life and death together now, right, Brother Liu?"

Liu Qingyang nodded with a smile. He had thought that their attitude might change after he revealed his identity, but he never expected the three of them to treat him just as they had before. This trip... was truly worth it.

Just then, Suisui's bony ears suddenly twitched as it looked toward the cave entrance warily. "Squeak! Squeak!"

Zhu Yinxi immediately made a gesture for silence, and everyone held their breath.

A rustling sound came from outside the cave, along with the faint, shrill cries unique to iron-toothed rats.

"Have we been found?" Duan Xianxing whispered, his hand already on his sword hilt.

Liu Qingyang shook his head and pointed at the bone flute. "It should be this thing drawing them in."

He carefully placed the bone flute into a special magic tool and stuffed it into the deepest part of his storage bag. Sure enough, the movement outside gradually faded away.

Li Nanzhu let out a sigh of relief, but noticed Zhu Yinxi's brow was furrowed. "No, it's too quiet."

As soon as he finished speaking, a dark shadow suddenly flitted past the cave entrance.

Duan Xianxing reacted instantly, slashing out with a blade of sword qi that cut the shadow in half. It was a palm-sized bat, but its eyes glowed with the same eerie red light.

"Damn, it's a scout," Zhu Yinxi's face changed drastically. "Move! Now!"

As the four rushed out of the cave, they heard rising roars of beasts from all directions.

Under the moonlight, a dense mass of beast hoards was surging toward them, led by several massive black-patterned leopards.

"Split up!" Zhu Yinxi made an immediate decision. "Fifth Junior Brother and I will lure away the main force! Brother Liu and Little Junior Sister, take the bone flute and head east!"

Li Nanzhu gritted her teeth, but she knew this was the best option. Hardening her heart, she took Suisui and Liu Qingyang and ran in the opposite direction.