84: Dirty Soul Banner

Before his voice had even faded, a ruthless glint flashed in Li Feiyu's eyes as he flicked his left hand.

A streak of black light shot out from his sleeve; it was a small banner, pitch-black all over and carved with a hideous ghost face.

The ghost-faced banner grew in the wind, instantly becoming a zhang in size. Black Qi churned on the banner's surface, emitting a sharp shriek as if countless vengeful spirits were wailing within.

The shrill sound drilled directly into one's Sea of Consciousness, disturbing the mind. At the same time, the banner flag unfurled, whipping up a black wind that lunged toward the spot where Lin Feng and his companion were hiding.

Before the black wind arrived, a cold, sinister aura had already washed over them.

Fang Lingyao's eyes narrowed sharply as she let out a low cry: "Watch out. It is the 'soul defilement banner' of the Xuan Yin Valley."

Daring not to be negligent, she thrust her long sword out rapidly. The tip of the sword bloomed with azure radiance, meeting the black wind and skillfully guiding and deflecting it, diverting the violent power contained within to the side.

"Boom!" The black wind grazed their hiding spot and slashed fiercely against the stone wall behind them, leaving deep marks and scattering stone fragments everywhere.

"Go." Fang Lingyao whispered, her voice slightly hurried.

She did not retract her sword strike but instead pushed it slightly forward. This not only completely neutralized the remaining black wind but also forced Li Feiyu, who was about to pursue them, to pause for a moment.

In that split second, Lin Feng reacted extremely quickly; his figure, like a wisp of faint green smoke, shot into the narrow side passage first.

The Cloud-Stepping Boots he had bought two days ago were finally coming in handy.

Almost the moment he moved, Fang Lingyao also withdrew, her movement technique as light and agile as a swallow, following close behind Lin Feng into the darkness of the side passage.

Seeing that the soul defilement banner had failed to stop the two of them with one strike, Li Feiyu's expression grew even gloomier. He waved his hand to recall the small banner, staring at the deep side passage entrance with murderous intent flickering in his eyes. In the end, however, he merely snorted coldly and did not pursue.

To him, the prey about to be captured and the potential treasures were more important than two fellows who were not weak and as slippery as loaches.

He turned around and, with a sinister grin, lunged once more at the two Loose Cultivators who wore expressions of despair.

Inside the narrow side passage, the two hurried for a distance, and only after confirming that the other party was not pursuing, did they slow their pace.

"The people of the Xuan Yin Valley are indeed overbearing." Fang Lingyao's tone was cold, betraying no joy or anger.

"That Li Feiyu is quite strong; he is a trouble." Lin Feng said.

Fang Lingyao glanced at Lin Feng: "Try to avoid him. Our goal is the bodhi seed; unnecessary battles should be avoided."

The two rested briefly and continued along the side passage. This side path became increasingly deep, and the number of intersections increased, as if they were in a giant maze.

Ahead, three almost identical paths appeared. Fang Lingyao stopped, her slender fingertips gently brushing over a nearly worn-away carving on the left wall; it seemed to be a blurred lotus mark.

She closed her eyes and focused, a faint cyan halo radiating around her body as she carefully sensed the barely perceptible flow of spiritual power in the air.

A moment later, she opened her eyes, brows slightly furrowed, and pointed to the middle path: "Deep within this passage, there seems to be a faint circulation of wood-attribute Life Qi. But... it is too weak; I cannot be entirely certain."

Just then, Lin Feng, who had been silently guarding her side and rear, suddenly spoke: "Take the path on the right."

Fang Lingyao was slightly taken aback and looked at him.

Lin Feng's gaze was not directed toward the depths of the passage but rather landed at the junction of the floor and the wall at the right side path entrance. It was covered in thick dust and seemed completely normal.

"Under the dust of this path, there is a very subtle disturbance in the airflow; it is very slow, but continuous. And..."

He paused, "About a hundred zhang deep into this path, there is a crack on the right wall. Behind it is an empty space, and there is wind blowing from even deeper inside.

The source of the Life Qi circulation in the middle path... is a nest of sleeping 'Yao Vines', and their spiritual power fluctuations have been disguised as wood-attribute Life Qi.

The path on the left has its end completely blocked by giant rocks, and the aura is completely stagnant."

He described the details perceived by the heaven-stealing vine clearly, as if he had seen them with his own eyes.

A flash of surprise appeared in Fang Lingyao's eyes.

She had always been confident in her own perception, but she had not expected Lin Feng's Divine Sense to be so keen—capable of discerning even the empty cavity hidden behind a wall crack a hundred zhang away and the disguise of the sleeping Yao Vines. This was far beyond the scope of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

She did not doubt him, but simply took another deep look at the seemingly dead-silent right side path and nodded decisively: "Good, I believe you. Let's take the right."

She took the lead, but this time, she had already formed a defensive spell in her hand, the spiritual light around her body flickering slightly, clearly having taken Lin Feng's warning to heart and prepared for potential dangers.

Lin Feng followed closely behind, the spiritual tendrils of the heaven-stealing vine still scanning the passage ahead in detail, avoiding several stone slabs that looked flat but were actually hollow underneath and prone to collapse.

Indeed, after proceeding for over a hundred zhang, a narrow crack really appeared on the right stone wall, allowing only one person to pass through sideways, with cool wind faintly blowing from behind.

And if they had chosen the middle path, they would likely have already disturbed that nest of troublesome Yao Vines by now.

As Fang Lingyao passed through the crack sideways, she looked back at Lin Feng: "...Impressive."

Lin Feng just followed calmly. After this, when choosing paths, although Fang Lingyao would still make a preliminary judgment based on her own knowledge and perception, she would always subconsciously wait a moment to hear Lin Feng's opinion.

Along the way, they encountered several more waves of Yao Beasts, mostly Golden-Eyed Rats and Stone Cave Spiders mutated by the nourishment of Buddha Power. Their ranks were not high, but their numbers were not small, swarming out from dark corners.

The two's coordination was already proficient. Fang Lingyao's sword light was like rain, covering the front, while Lin Feng's movement technique was elusive, performing precise kills; wherever his sword light pointed, it struck vital points.

The battles ended quickly, yielding only some low-grade Yao Beast materials.

After they joined forces to clear out a nest of Blood-Sucking Yao Bats that had suddenly dropped from a crack in the ceiling, Fang Lingyao sheathed her sword, watching as Lin Feng cleanly and efficiently nailed the last Yao Bat attempting to escape to the stone wall.

She suddenly said: "Your eyesight is very sharp; you can always find the most effortless way to solve problems, and your timing for coordination is extremely precise."

Lin Feng paused: "It is because Senior Sister's sword techniques are sharp enough to contain most of the offensive that I am able to find the gaps."

Fang Lingyao glanced at him and said nothing more, but as she turned and continued forward, the side and rear that she had originally kept a trace of vigilance over seemed to be more naturally left for him to look after.

Not long after, a few feminine shouts and masculine roars came from ahead.

The two exchanged a glance and hid behind a huge, collapsed Buddha statue, peering through a gap toward a relatively intact Buddhist hall ahead.

Inside the Buddhist hall, the scene was quite bizarre.

Four or five female Cultivators from the Hehuan Sect, dressed in revealing clothing with graceful figures, were seemingly struggling to defend against the frenzied siege of seven or eight Cultivators.

Those attackers wore different attires, seemingly a temporary Alliance of several small Schools and Loose Cultivators, but each of them had blood-red eyes, twisted faces, and were roaring, as if they had fallen into some kind of frenzied state, attacking the Hehuan Sect female Cultivators fiercely.

As for the Hehuan Sect female Cultivators, although they appeared to be in dangerous situations and were crying out, their movement techniques and paces contained a strange rhythm, always managing to dodge fatal attacks by a hair's breadth.

Their eyes roamed, and as their fingertips flicked, spiritual light invisible to the naked eye dissipated, constantly merging into the glabella of those attackers.

Rather than being under siege, it would be more accurate to say... they were guiding...