120: Chapter 12 The Cicada Awaits
With her soft cry, the Jade Ruyi burst with brilliant light!
In an instant, the scenery of the entire valley changed.
Before the Old Man in Black Robe's eyes, it was no longer a broken valley and cold enemies, but had turned into a paradise filled with the singing of birds, the fragrance of flowers, and drifting immortal music. Countless stunning Fairies dressed in sheer veils and with graceful figures were smiling sweetly and dancing elegantly for him.
The ultimate temptation was enough to make anyone with an unsteady Dao Heart sink instantly!
“Illusion?”
The Old Man in Black Robe's heart tightened, immediately realizing he had fallen for her trick.
But he was a Golden Core Cultivator after all, with a powerful Divine Soul; after only a momentary lapse, he immediately circulated his Demonic Technique, attempting to break free from the illusion.
However, for a powerhouse of Sect Master Luo Shuixin's Rank, this momentary lapse was already enough!
Just a moment before he broke free from the illusion, behind that peaceful scene of singing and dancing, a pink lotus—compressed from extreme spiritual energy and so beautiful it made one's heart tremble—had already bloomed silently beneath his feet.
“Not good!”
The moment the Old Man in Black Robe broke free from the illusion and saw that lotus, a sense of fatal crisis made his soul scatter in fear!
He wanted to flee, but it was already too late!
“Explode.”
Sect Master Luo Shuixin's red lips parted slightly, uttering a single cold word.
Boom—!!!
There was no world-shaking explosion, only a burst of ultimate pink light that instantly swallowed everything where the Old Man in Black Robe stood!
That pink light was beautiful yet deadly. Wherever the light passed, whether it was hard rock or surging Devilish Qi, it was silently decomposed and annihilated, turning into the most primitive energy particles.
The Old Man in Black Robe couldn't even let out a scream before his powerful Incarnation, refined from countless Heaven And Earth Treasures, was completely decomposed in that beautiful light, reduced to ashes without leaving a single trace.
When the light dissipated, only a bottomless giant pit with edges as smooth as a mirror remained in its place.
“Huff... huff...”
Sect Master Luo Shuixin panted heavily, her face flushed from taking the 'dragon blood qi-exploding pill' and performing her ultimate move, her aura appearing somewhat unstable.
But she couldn't worry about that; her gaze swept over the empty deep pit, and the heavy stone in her heart finally settled.
She marveled at how difficult the Old Man in Black Robe was to deal with. A mere Mid-stage Golden Core had actually forced her to use her trump card; such formidable strength was unheard of in the entire Cangnan Continent.
In a place she hadn't noticed, at the very bottom of the deep pit, a wisp of black energy thinner than a strand of hair flashed by, silently merging into the depths of the earth and vanishing.
Sect Master Luo Shuixin's figure flashed as she arrived by Gu Qingcheng's side and gently helped her up.
After a careful examination, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Qingcheng had only exhausted her spiritual energy and was mentally fatigued; combined with being overly frightened, she had fainted, but she hadn't suffered any substantial injuries.
She took out a Medicinal Pill for nourishing the Divine Soul, carefully fed it into her beloved Disciple's mouth, and then laid her flat on a clean large rock.
Only after finishing all this did she stand up, preparing to see if that Devil Head had left any spoils of war.
However, the moment she turned around, her body suddenly froze!
A cold, deathly, and terrifying aura, several times stronger than the previous Old Man in Black Robe, had enveloped the entire valley at some unknown time!
Perfected Golden Core!
Sect Master Luo Shuixin's heart instantly sank to the bottom!
She slowly raised her head and looked toward the entrance of the valley.
She saw a young man standing there, wearing the same style of black robe, though it was unknown when he had arrived.
The man had a tall, straight figure and a handsome face, but there was no emotion in his eyes; like two pools of ancient, unmelting ice, he watched her indifferently.
“There's another one?”
Sect Master Luo Shuixin felt a chill rush from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head!
In the battle just now, her consumption had been immense; at this moment, less than ten percent of the spiritual energy in her body remained, and the side effects of the Medicinal Pill were beginning to manifest.
Now, another Perfected Golden Core, even stronger than that old devil just now, had arrived?
Damn it!
A storm raged in Sect Master Luo Shuixin's heart. How many Golden Core Cultivators were there in total on the Cangnan Continent? She could name almost all of them!
That Mid-stage Golden Core old devil from just now had an unknown origin and eerie combat power, which could be explained as some reclusive old monster or someone who had luckily made a Breakthrough in some Secret Realm or Immortal Cave.
But where did this young man at the Perfected Golden Core stage come from?!
A Perfected Golden Core so young—in the entire continent, only those few Prodigies could achieve this! And she knew all of them!
Moreover, he was wearing almost the exact same attire as that old devil from before!
He did not come with good intentions!
At this moment, Sect Master Luo Shuixin finally understood.
This was a setup! A terrifying death trap aimed at her, and even at the entire Hehuan Sect!
The wind in the valley blew gently, carrying a hint of blood and the desolation of dissipating spiritual energy.
Sect Master Luo Shuixin forcibly suppressed the surging weakness in her body, her Phoenix eyes staring intently at the black-robed youth not far away. Her mind raced as she tried to find a sliver of life in this hopeless situation.
A direct confrontation was absolutely impossible.
With less than ten percent of her spiritual energy left and suffering the aftereffects of the 'dragon blood qi-exploding pill', she might not even be able to defeat an ordinary Mid-stage Golden Core, let alone face an unfathomable Perfected Golden Core.
The only hope was negotiation.
She took a deep breath and lowered her posture to the minimum, bowing deeply to the black-robed youth. Her voice carried a hint of deliberately suppressed trembling, yet she did not lose the dignity of a Sect Master.
“Senior, this Junior is Sect Master Luo Shuixin of the Hehuan Sect. I do not know how my Hehuan Sect has offended you, Senior, to provoke you into laying such a massive trap?”
“If my Disciples were discourteous and offended you, Senior, this Junior is willing to offer the Sect's treasures and do my best to compensate. I ask that you show mercy for the sake of the difficulty of cultivation.”
Her words were earnest and her posture humble, placing herself in the position of a pure, innocent victim.
That black-robed youth, who was Li Yifei's Third Incarnation, still wore that same eternally frozen, cold expression.
He looked at Sect Master Luo Shuixin indifferently, as if looking at an inanimate object. After a moment, he slowly spoke, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“Offended? Not really.”
“I simply need you all to assist me in my cultivation.”
Boom!
These nonchalant words were like a bolt of lightning from the Nine Heavens, striking hard against Sect Master Luo Shuixin's heart, causing her delicate body to tremble and her face to instantly turn as pale as paper!
So that's how it is... or rather, as expected!
The last sliver of hope in her heart was completely shattered.
The opponent's goal from the very beginning was the Hehuan Sect itself!
The Hehuan Sect, as one of the top Dual Cultivation Sects on the Cangnan Continent, consisted almost entirely of female Cultivators with abundant primordial yin and excellent Aptitude.