140: Harvest the battlefield, then withdraw.

Seeing Black Rock fall, Su Ling immediately flew forward to remove his Magic Treasure and storage bracelet.

With a wave of his hand, the ten thousand souls banner was instantly drawn into his grasp.

The Soul-Devouring Spider Mother and dozens of Peak Core Formation remnant souls also rapidly converged.

The dozens of Qingming Faction Cultivators who had been caught in the Soul-Shaking Shriek had long since perished.

"This place is not suitable for staying long."

Su Ling was enveloped in swirling black mist, hiding his form within it, and led the many remnant souls as they transformed into a bolt of lightning, speeding toward another battlefield thirty miles away.

Killing Black Rock was only the first step.

His true goal was to harvest the points from the more than three thousand Qingming Core Formation Cultivators at the scene.

In the valley thirty miles away, the battle was raging fiercely.

Over a hundred Azure Wave Cultivators were surrounded by countless Wandering Souls, and black mist filled the entire valley.

The instructions left by Qiu Xuetong before she departed made these Wandering Souls attack the Azure Wave Faction Cultivators like madmen.

Meanwhile, the Qingming Faction Cultivators were resting on the sidelines, waiting for the Azure Wave Cultivators to exhaust themselves so they could step in and harvest the points, treating the Wandering Souls as 'free muscle'.

Just then, a shrill shriek suddenly exploded.

Soul-Shaking Shriek!

The Wandering Souls surrounding the Azure Wave Cultivators instantly fell into chaos, dissipating one by one amidst wails.

Immediately after, countless invisible Soul-Binding Silks shot out like a rainstorm.

They instantly entangled the surrounding Qingming Cultivators, temporarily imprisoning their Divine Souls.

"Whoosh!"

A cyan bolt of lightning tore through the black mist, and the Qingming Cultivators entangled by the Soul-Binding Silk had their necks sprayed with blood as they fell to the ground dead.

Su Ling's figure appeared, with the thunder shadow sword manifesting at his side.

He casually searched the corpses on the ground for their Magic Treasure and Magical Artifacts, then vanished once more under the cover of the black mist.

After only a moment, when the black mist dissipated, only charred corpses remained in the field.

"Which Nascent Soul Senior has taken action?!"

An Azure Wave Faction Cultivator shouted in surprise, their eyes full of disbelief.

"That shriek just now... it sounded very much like the Soul-Shaking Shriek of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Spider!"

Another Cultivator frowned and said with a tone of confusion, "But why would the Soul-Devouring Demonic Spider help us?"

"We can't worry about that now! Run!"

A Core Formation Cultivator with blood-stained robes was the first to react, throwing out a Flying Boat and leaping onto it. "If we wait for the Qingming Nascent Soul Cultivator to return, none of us will be able to escape!"

The Flying Boat turned into a streak of light and fled into the distance. The other Azure Wave Cultivators also realized the situation, each urging their Flying Boats or movement techniques to break through toward the direction of the base city.

On the other side, Su Ling continued to shuttle through the battlefield under the cover of the Wandering Souls.

With the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother's main soul in hand, the control effects of the Soul-Shaking Shriek and Soul-Binding Silk were far superior to before.

Any Qingming Cultivator entangled by the Soul-Binding Silk was almost instantly killed by his thunder shadow sword, and points flowed into his token like water.

It caused the jade-green light at his waist to flicker constantly.

Thanks to the abundant Wandering Souls on the battlefield, the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother's Soul Power could be replenished in time, allowing her to maintain her Peak state.

But when Su Ling charged to the edge of the battlefield, he ignored the more than two thousand Qingming Faction Cultivators scattered everywhere and turned to flee without hesitation.

The originally planned escape route had already been occupied by that Water-element Nascent Soul Cultivator.

It had drawn that female Nascent Soul Cultivator and her Nascent Soul-level remnant souls to chase after it.

Instead, it had cleared the path straight to the Azure Wave Faction base city.

The interplay of cause and effect was truly miraculous.

Su Ling knew very well that the news of Black Rock's fall must have reached the ears of the Qingming Nascent Soul Cultivators.

If he stayed any longer, once the Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator returned, he would surely die.

It had taken so much effort just to kill one half-crippled Body Refining Loose Cultivator Nascent Soul.

If not for the Soul-Devouring Spider Mother's Soul-Binding Silk and the Ghost Soul Arrow condensed from Divine Soul, which were extremely effective against Black Rock, Su Ling would never have dared to make a move against him.

A direct descendant Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator of the Qingming Sword Sect was not someone on Black Rock's level.

Facing those four great Sword Cultivators, Su Ling did not even have the slightest desire to fight.

Fleeing in time was the best strategy.

...

"This child is actually so brave!"

High above, the Haoyang Soul Transformation Cultivator Su Jibai said in surprise, "When did he control the Divine Soul of that Soul-Devouring Spider Mother?"

"Just when you were staring intently at those few Sword Cultivators..."

Chu Xuanye smiled faintly, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes. "This kid's Divine Soul secret techniques are extremely exquisite; they look very much like the Soul Refining path, yet I have never heard of them. Could he be from another Plane?"

"There are only a few types of Soul Refining Legacies in the Canglang Plane, and the soul-control method mastered by Qiu Xuetong is one of them."

Su Jibai nodded slightly. "His ten thousand souls banner is also quite miraculous. As far as I know, those refined by the Xuan Kui lineage mainly rely on quantity to win... It is truly the first time I have seen one that can also use the innate Spells of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Spider like he does."

"Indeed. If he can survive, I would actually look forward to him joining my Nightmare Sect."

Chu Xuanye's eyes flashed, and he said indifferently.

"Brother Xuanye, he is an Azure Wave Faction Cultivator..."

Su Jibai raised the corner of his mouth and teased, "Based on his current performance, he has certainly already caught the eye of the Azure Wave inspectors. If you want to snatch food from their hands, I'm afraid it won't be that easy!"

"Oh, does that mean Brother Jibai has not taken a liking to him?"

Chu Xuanye looked at Su Jibai with a half-smile.

The Cultivation Techniques of the Haoyang Sect were basically centered on pure Yang, and very few practiced pure Yin Cultivation Techniques.

Unless one was exceptionally gifted or was a woman, very few people would practice pure Yin Cultivation Techniques before the Soul Transformation stage.

The Disciples recruited were also mostly those with Metal, Fire, Thunder, or Yang Spiritual Roots.

The kid at the Core Formation Middle Stage below, apart from his archery skills using Divine Soul attacks, mostly utilized the Azure Heaven Thunder Method.

This was extremely compatible with the Haoyang Sect's Cultivation Techniques.

Moreover, he could also refine the ten thousand souls banner, and perhaps he possessed other Yin-attribute Cultivation Techniques.

This implicitly matched the Haoyang Sect's Legacy tenet of balancing Yin and Yang.

Chu Xuanye really did not believe Su Jibai was not tempted.

"I have taken a liking to him, of course..."

Su Jibai sighed slightly and said helplessly, "But you also know that each Sect has priority selection rights over the Cultivators under their command."

"Priority selection does not mean the final choice."

A sharp glint flashed in Chu Xuanye's eyes as he pondered to himself: Such an outstanding Disciple, I imagine the Sect elders would certainly not be stingy.

After the National War ends, for those Cultivators who performed excellently, the Seven Sects would not only provide generous rewards but would also take them into their Sects to Cultivate them well.

For most Cultivators, this was simply an immense immortal opportunity.

But for Cultivators with higher rankings, which Sect they entered actually gave them a certain degree of independent choice.

After all, many descendants of the Seven Sects participated in every National War.

For a Loose Cultivator to break out from among these great Sect Disciples and rank in the top fifty, or even the top ten, their comprehensive strength was absolutely extraordinary.

Once such a Disciple grew up, they would very likely become the backbone of the Sect.

At such times, the Seven Sects would also treat them with extra kindness.