115: Extreme joy and sorrow, a bolt from the blue

"I escaped?!!"

Shi Jian, his face deathly pale, was ecstatic.

The Qinglin Valley behind him had long since vanished, and within the range of his Divine Sense, there wasn't the slightest trace of any pursuing aura.

"Heh... heh..."

Rough gasps escaped his throat, and scarlet blood seeped from the corners of his mouth.

However, he didn't dare to relax in the slightest.

He continued to frantically squeeze out every drop of Essence Blood and Mana from his body, and he stuffed his remaining Medicinal Pills directly into his mouth. His Escape Light in mid-air appeared to be on the verge of collapsing.

This was a sign of excessive Essence Blood consumption and Mana exhaustion.

But even stronger was the exhaustion of surviving a disaster and a lucky sense of wild joy; the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

He had survived!

As long as his life was still there and his Dao Foundation cultivation remained, at worst, he could just find another place to hide and live as a Loose Cultivator in the future.

He was originally a Loose Cultivator who had joined the Taihe Sect!

He had worked diligently in the Taihe Sect for nearly twenty years before finally earning enough contribution points to establish his Dao Foundation, becoming a Dao Foundation Cultivator by a stroke of luck.

Now that he was returning to being a Loose Cultivator, combined with the large amount of Spirit Stones he had swept away from the Spirit Stone mine before fleeing, his future life would be quite comfortable.

Shi Jian was happily lost in his daydreams.

In the next instant, the thoughts in his heart came to a screeching halt.

In the night sky behind him, two streaks of golden light were rapidly approaching at an incredible speed!

"What on earth is that?!!"

Shi Jian's eyes bulged as he turned his head back in horror.

He saw billowing Demonic Qi swirling with golden airwaves rippling all around, trailing a golden path hundreds of feet long behind them, making them extremely conspicuous in the night sky.

Two waves of majestic, fierce, and lofty pressure crashed down on him like a ten-thousand-foot mountain, causing his breathing to stop instantly.

They were too fast!

The distance between them was closing rapidly!

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it!!"

Shi Jian could only watch with eyes nearly bursting, visible panic appearing on his face.

He could no longer run!

After only ten breaths of time.

A giant claw, thirty zhang in size and covered in scales with a dark golden luster, descended from the sky. With a whistle that tore through the air, it broke through the clouds under the starry sky and grabbed directly at him!

The tips of the claws were curved like giant iron hooks, the golden light cold and sharp, reflecting his face which was completely distorted by extreme fear.

"No—!!!"

A hoarse howl of despair erupted from his throat.

But it was too late... Qinglin Valley.

While Embracing Star and Soaring went to pursue Shi Jian, Yu Xuzi took the opportunity to scout the vicinity once more.

Those Qi Refining Cultivators who were lucky enough to still be alive and were originally mining here were all finished off by him one by one.

This was to be safe.

If the Taihe Sect investigated this matter in the future, these people would be hidden dangers that could expose Yu Xuzi.

As for being innocent?

Yu Xuzi didn't care.

Moreover, without him, those Xuan Yin Palace Cultivators certainly wouldn't have spared these people. After all, more than half of the miners had already been killed by Xuan Yin Palace.

This was equivalent to Yu Xuzi saving their lives first and then killing them... which meant they weren't saved at all.

Back and forth, the Karma naturally dissipated!

Next, it was time to take stock of the harvest.

"As expected, killing people is the best way to get rich!"

Yu Xuzi sighed to himself as he looked through the Storage Pouches.

Over ten Second-tier Magical Artifacts, and a number of Talismans, Medicinal Pills, and Spirit Medicines.

The Spirit Stones from the eight Dao Foundation Cultivators added up to tens of thousands, which was a small fortune.

A short while later.

A clear cry echoed from the sky as the familiar auras returned.

Embracing Star and Soaring folded their wings and slowly landed on a protruding giant rock not far away. They retracted their sharp claws and stood quietly.

Thud~

A blood-drenched figure was roughly thrown to the ground by Embracing Star's claw, crashing into the center of that familiar valley.

Dust mixed with blood foam choked his mouth and nose, nearly causing Shi Jian to faint, but the piercing pain in his limbs and the fear of impending death kept him conscious.

A figure slowly paced before his eyes.

"Please... please... I'm willing to surrender—"

He struggled to lift his head, and the expression on his face instantly shifted from pleading to horror!

"It's you??"

In his trembling pupils was the reflection of Yu Xuzi's calm and expressionless face.

He never expected that the one who captured him would be one of "his own." A bone-chilling coldness and a sense of absurdity filled his heart.

"Senior... Senior Brother Qiu..."

Shi Jian's voice was hoarse and broken, blood foam constantly gushing from his mouth. Ignoring the intense pain and his dignity, he used his remaining strength to struggle into a kneeling position and kowtow. "I was blind and deserted my post; I deserve ten thousand deaths!"

"I'm willing to hand over all my wealth! And several ancient Cultivator ruins and Immortal Cave treasures that I know of... I only beg Senior Brother Qiu to show mercy and spare—"

He spoke incoherently, frantically throwing out every bargaining chip he could think of, his eyes filled with pleading and desperate hope.

Yu Xuzi merely looked down and glanced at him.

Then, he slightly raised his hand and pointed his fingers like a sword into the air.

There was no world-shaking momentum.

Only a wisp of extremely condensed, almost imperceptible black Sword Qi shot from his fingertip, piercing through Shi Jian's skull.

Shi Jian opened his mouth to speak, but no words could come out.

An indescribable emptiness and coldness instantly drained all his strength, life force, and perception.

His vision rapidly dimmed.

His consciousness sank into eternal darkness.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Yu Xuzi collected all the spoils.

He then leaped onto Embracing Star's back and patted the hard feathers on the side of its neck.

"Let's go."

Soaring shrank its body and stood on his shoulder. Embracing Star let out a short cry, and its huge shadow with a forty-zhang wingspan swept across the ground as it soared straight up, quickly disappearing into the clouds.

This mission was naturally a failure.

However, with Shen Feiyang around, he probably wouldn't face any difficulties from within the sect.

And the nearly one hundred thousand Spirit Stones mined from the Spirit Stone vein beneath them had entered his Storage Pouch, so they naturally belonged to him now.

He had snatched these back after killing the Xuan Yin Palace Cultivators and the traitor Shi Jian; they had nothing to do with the Taihe Sect... Two days later.

The capital of the Mortal Kingdom of Anguo, ten thousand miles away.

Yu Xuzi deliberately waited for a while longer before arriving at this Mortal city, pretending to be out of breath, where he met Shen Feiyang, who had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Yu Xuzi's successful escape, Shen Feiyang was naturally relieved and extremely glad.

Especially after seeing the "grateful" expression Yu Xuzi deliberately showed, this Young Master felt even more satisfied.

This feeling of being sought after and admired truly fascinated him.

The reason why Shen Feiyang had so many "lackeys" in the Taihe Sect was due to his loyal personality in addition to his family background.

After a brief rest, the two left the area and sped toward the Taihe Sect... At the end of October.

The Taihe Sect's mountain gate came into view.

Just as they entered the mountain gate and were about to head to the Deacon Hall to report on the mission, they received a shocking piece of news from the gate-keeping Disciples, whose expressions were complicated.

To be precise, it was a piece of bad news that struck Shen Feiyang like a bolt from the blue!

"Elder of Tiangang Peak, True Person Qinglian, was ambushed and besieged by four Immortal Masters from Xuan Yin Palace while out on the front lines... He fought hard but was overmatched... and has already fallen."

The voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.

Yu Xuzi's footsteps paused slightly.

Behind him, the color drained from Shen Feiyang's face at a visible rate, leaving it as pale as paper.

His figure swayed violently as if he had been struck hard on the head by an invisible giant hammer. His ears rang, and the surrounding scenery instantly became blurred and distorted.

He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound.

He only felt a bone-chilling coldness rush from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head, and his entire body went numb in an instant.

The pillar of their Shen Family!

His great-grandfather!

Had fallen?

Shen Feiyang stood frozen in place.

His pupils lost focus as if his soul had already left his body.

Only his deathly pale face and slightly trembling body proved that his Physical Body was still standing before the mountain gate.