233: just in case

Upon hearing the name "Su Yue," Fang Ningyan's figure clearly paused for a moment, but she was quickly pulled away by Yun Xuanxuan's sleeve; the two figures turned into two streaks of light and vanished without looking back.

The previous encounter with Li Pingan had already left a deep psychological shadow in Yun Xuanxuan's heart. Moreover, she currently didn't have a single Magic Treasure on her that could help her escape; every extra breath of delay meant another degree of risk to her life, so she couldn't afford the slightest hesitation.

Ye Hao narrowed his eyes slightly; Fang Ningyan's brief pause had been precisely captured by him.

Could it be... she really is that Miss Su's Revered Master?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Ye Hao quickly suppressed his musings. The urgent matter at hand was to deal with the remaining mess.

As the retreating back of that Bird Yao gradually disappeared into the horizon, Elder Xue gazed in that direction, his eyes full of resentment, but he could only suppress it. At this moment, there were more pressing matters to deal with.

These two people before him had clearly flown out from among the commoners below earlier; obviously, like Old Han, they had long since restrained their entire aura and lurked in the crowd to watch for changes. He just didn't know what their purpose was or which power they belonged to.

Calming down to observe carefully, the trepidation in Elder Han's heart grew more intense.

Setting aside the dark-skinned youth, just the man beside him made it impossible for him to see through his depth at all. Either the opponent's Realm was similar to his, or he carried a top-tier Magic Treasure that could obscure his aura.

Elder Xue hoped for the second possibility.

Because these two were simply too young; if they had already reached the Nascent Soul Realm at such an age, then the power behind them would likely be terrifying beyond imagination!

Although the Chusheng Sect also had young Prodigies preparing to Breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm, the youngest among them was nearly fifty years old.

Yet these two before him... looked to be thirty at most!

"I wonder where you two Fellow Daoists are from? Why did you kill our Chu... Tianjian Sect Elder? And ruin our yao-slaying plan!" Elder Xue's face remained gloomy, though his tone had softened considerably.

Tianjian Sect?

Beside them, Zhao Jingchen's brow furrowed slightly and his eyes narrowed. Earlier, he had clearly heard the words "Chusheng Sect" escape the other's lips.

Could it be that the true identity of this group is Disciples of the Chusheng Sect, deliberately disguised as Tianjian Sect Cultivators to capture these innocent villagers everywhere?

Ye Hao said indifferently, "Yao-slaying?"

His gaze slowly swept over the two hundred or so households of Pingquan Village villagers, his eyes cold. "If you are willing to honestly confess exactly what use you have for capturing these villagers, we might consider giving you a way to live."

Just as he finished speaking, two subtle ripples of Spiritual Qi suddenly appeared in the air.

Two golden instant shadow thousand zhang talismans instantly erupted with a dazzling light; however, the expected scene did not occur. The light only shone for a moment before being swallowed by an invisible barrier, quietly annihilating.

A faint green spiritual light rose around them, the light weaving and intertwining to quickly condense into a transparent light shield, enveloping the entire area within it.

Looking at the failed Talismans in their hands, the Heroic Woman and the fellow Disciple beside her who were about to seize the chance to flee had their expressions change drastically, their hearts sinking. Only then did they remember that Elder Xue had already set up a Formation in this area earlier to prevent the group from the Tianque Sect from escaping.

Never did they expect that this Formation would instead become the shackles trapping themselves at this moment!

"Senior Brother, what should we do now..."

Before the Heroic Woman could finish her sentence, a powerful fist wind struck her head-on. Li Pingan's eyes were indifferent as he threw a punch; the majestic spiritual power instantly pierced through her body, and the woman died before she could even let out a scream.

On the other side, Ye Hao flicked his wrist, and a long sword appeared out of thin air in his palm; a sharp Sword Qi slashed through the sky, directly cutting that Senior Brother to pieces. The Golden Core inside his body was split in two, and the moment the Golden Core shattered, he breathed his last.

Elder Xue cursed them as idiots in his heart!

He never expected these two Disciples to be so impatient as to dare to use Talismans to secretly flee while he was talking with the opponents! Such an action was undoubtedly seeking death!

The two of them, Ye Hao and Li Pingan, upheld the fine tradition of the Dao Seeking Sect.

They plundered the storage rings of these two dead people, as well as the Elder Han who had been killed by Li Pingan earlier.

Only then did they look back at the remaining Elder Xue.

That look seemed to say: It's your turn!

Zhao Jingchen also hadn't expected that this trip to Pingquan Village to investigate the truth behind the villagers being abducted would actually be so... full of twists and turns.

First, they encountered these Chusheng Sect Disciples pretending to be from the Tianjian Sect, and just when he thought he would fall into their hands, two 'demonesses' charged in, followed by these two Fellow Daoists they had met earlier in Bishui Village.

A brief dead silence fell over the air. Elder Xue was silent for a moment, his gaze scanning back and forth between the faces of Ye Hao and Li Pingan, rapidly weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

To speak, or not to speak?

If he honestly confessed the purpose of capturing the villagers, could the other party really keep their promise and let him leave?

But if he didn't speak, with the ruthless methods of these two, he would surely die today. Having reached his current Realm after a hundred years of bitter cultivation, he was truly unwilling to perish just like this.

After hesitating for a long time, Elder Xue finally looked up, his voice carrying a hint of dryness:

"If I tell the truth, can you two Fellow Daoists really let me leave and allow me to escape from here?"

Hearing this, a faint smile appeared on Ye Hao's face, his eyes calm and untroubled, and he answered without hesitation:

"Naturally."

Elder Xue took a deep breath, the complex emotions churning in his chest finally turning into a self-deprecating bitter smile: "No wonder it is often said on the immortal path that on the great Dao, one fears 'what if' the most. I never thought that after being cautious all my life and planning every step, I would ultimately be no match for these two words."

For this operation, Elder Xue had already planned meticulously and moved step by step!

He believed he was certain to win, merely suppressing and killing a single Nascent Soul yao woman.

Not only did he personally lead two Golden Core Realm Disciples, preparing the Demon-Binding Rope specifically designed to counter the Yao Race, but he also invited a Nascent Soul old friend to restrain his aura and lurk among the Pingquan Village villagers in advance, waiting for the right moment to surround and attack.

He originally thought such an arrangement was enough to trap and kill that demoness here without fail. But he never expected that two uninvited guests would charge in halfway; the cultivation base of these two was unfathomable, and their methods were peerlessly ruthless, forcibly overturning his entire long-planned scheme!

In Elder Xue's view, the duo of Li Pingan was the "what if" he had encountered.

From the moment he spoke to ask, he had been secretly observing Ye Hao's expression. If the other party had hesitated for even a moment when answering, it would mean there was still room for maneuver, and he might truly be able to fight for a slim chance of survival.

But the other's answer was crisp and clean without the slightest hesitation, which was enough to show that the opponent had no intention of letting him leave at all; they merely wanted to extract information from him.

After all... this kind of trickery of feigning compliance and making false promises was something Elder Xue himself had personally done countless times.

Now that it was his turn to be caught in the trap, he truly experienced the despair of knowing it was a scam yet having to push forward anyway.