96: An accident? The Nascent Soul cultivator perished!

Su Ling ignored him, thunder patterns surging around his body, pushing his Rushing Thunder Steps to the limit.

His figure turned into a blurred azure shadow, weaving through the forest.

"Boom!"

The orange-yellow jade seal expanded rapidly in the air, transforming into a cage amidst surging golden light, instantly binding Su Ling in place.

Immediately after, the jade seal pressed down fiercely like a towering mountain. Su Ling felt a violent tremor in his chest, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out. His body involuntarily knelt on one knee, and his aura instantly withered by more than half.

Seeing that the jade seal was about to crash down, he raised his head with difficulty, his voice carrying a hint of weakness, "Senior, stop!"

At the same time, his palm slowly opened, and a Jade Slip shimmering with faint thunder patterns clearly appeared.

Liao Qinglin raised an eyebrow, a flash of greed appearing in his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Give me the Cultivation Technique, and this old man will leave your corpse intact! Otherwise, even if it means risking damage to the Jade Slip, this old man will destroy your Divine Soul! I won't hide it from you: as long as I bring Pei Jianbai's remains and token back to the Sect, I can at least exchange them for a Soul Transformation Cultivation Technique... The thunder-type Cultivation Technique in your hands is not indispensable."

This time, he didn't act arrogant. His Divine Sense instantly probed into the Jade Slip, confirming that it truly contained the contents of a thunder-type Cultivation Technique, only then did a satisfied smile appear on his face.

"I hope Senior keeps his promise and allows this Junior to enter Reincarnation."

Su Ling's face was pale, and with a flick of his finger, he shot the Jade Slip towards Liao Qinglin.

Liao Qinglin grabbed the Jade Slip and impatiently pressed it to his brow. Feeling the profound Cultivation Technique content within, a look of wild joy appeared on his face, "Azure Heaven Thunder Treasure Talisman! It's actually a supreme grade Cultivation Technique!"

But that orange-yellow jade seal suddenly sank, carrying the might to destroy heaven and earth, and smashed fiercely down at Su Ling!

"Boom!"

In an instant, this mountain forest seemed as if a dragon was turning over. Soil and stones splashed, dust filled the air, completely swallowing Su Ling's figure.

But just at this moment, amidst the dust, a bolt of azure thunder flashed suddenly, and Su Ling's figure actually appeared in mid-air.

At the same time, dozens of fist-sized thunder pearls suddenly appeared around Liao Qinglin, and the next moment they exploded with a bang!

This was precisely the result of the Nine Palaces Thunder Drop Array being quietly triggered.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The sound of thunder explosions was continuous. Liao Qinglin was enveloped by various thunder lights. Even with his magic power protective shield, he was shaken by this sudden thunder storm.

In mid-air, a pair of blue-purple feathered wings grew from Su Ling's back!

He had actually used the powerful defensive capability of the Spirit Treasure azure roc wings to forcibly withstand the attack of the jade seal Magic Treasure!

At this moment, to save his life, he couldn't care about being exposed.

His face was as pale as paper, and he gripped the scarlet gold bow with both hands, pulling the Ghost Soul Arrow that had absorbed the Power of Lost Souls into a full moon.

On the arrow's shaft, countless Wandering Souls roared, emitting soul-stirring shrieks, before he suddenly released the bowstring, shooting it toward Liao Qinglin who was trapped in the thunder storm below!

Upon firing this arrow, 99 percent of Su Ling's Divine Soul power was instantly drained. His vision went black, and he could no longer control his body, falling from mid-air like a kite with a broken string.

"Hmph, petty tricks!"

Liao Qinglin roared, golden light surging around his body, forcibly breaking through the restraints of the thunder storm.

He looked up at the falling Su Ling, just about to strike, when he suddenly felt a sharp, intense pain coming from his brow.

That Ghost Soul Arrow had actually ignored his magic power shield and the protection of the Bronze Mirror Magic Treasure, directly piercing through the barrier and shooting into his Sea of Consciousness!

"Divine Soul attack?!"

Liao Qinglin's Nascent Soul instantly escaped from the back of his head. The fist-sized Nascent Soul's face was twisted, its hands tightly gripping the Ghost Soul Arrow that had pierced an inch into its body, screaming: "Suppress it for me!"

Golden light erupted from the Nascent Soul, attempting to crush the Ghost Soul Arrow.

Falling in mid-air, Su Ling saw this scene, and despair instantly arose in his heart.

He had exhausted all his trump cards, yet the Ghost Soul Arrow he had pinned his hopes on still couldn't kill Liao Qinglin.

A Nascent Soul Cultivator's Divine Soul had already condensed into a Nascent Soul, far surpassing Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Cultivators. Facing a Divine Soul attack, the Nascent Soul could also launch a counterattack.

At this moment, Su Ling didn't even have the strength to activate the azure roc wings to continue fleeing; he could only watch the standoff below.

After a few breaths, the ghost light of the Ghost Soul Arrow gradually dimmed under the suppression of the Nascent Soul's golden light, and a look of relief appeared on the face of Liao Qinglin's Nascent Soul.

But just at this moment, an unexpected change occurred!

A tiny crack suddenly appeared at the center of Liao Qinglin's Nascent Soul's brow. This crack expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, and golden blood seeped out from the crack.

"No! Impossible! My hidden injury... how could it flare up at this moment!"

The Nascent Soul's face showed terror, and it screamed uncontrollably.

It turned out that when Liao Qinglin's Foundation was damaged in the National War years ago, his Divine Soul had also sustained a hidden injury, but he had always forcibly suppressed it.

Now, the attack of the Ghost Soul Arrow had happened to trigger this hidden injury. Under the combined attack from inside and outside, his Nascent Soul instantly lost control!

The Ghost Soul Arrow sank into the Nascent Soul's chest, and the violent Power of Lost Souls exploded within the Nascent Soul!

"Boom!"

That Nascent Soul with a face of terror was torn into pieces by the Power of Lost Souls in an instant.

Below, Liao Qinglin's body collapsed with a bang, his eyes wide open, evidently dead.

"What happened?"

Su Ling stared blankly at this dramatic reversal, somewhat incredulous.

Just a moment ago, Liao Qinglin's Nascent Soul had clearly gained the upper hand, but that sudden crack at its brow had caused the situation to take a sharp turn for the worse.

"A hidden injury, huh..."

Su Ling struggled to take out a restorative Medicinal Pill from his Storage Pouch, swallowed it, and slowly sat up, murmuring in a low voice.

If Liao Qinglin himself had a hidden Divine Soul injury, then under the attack of the Ghost Soul Arrow, the hidden injury was triggered, creating a situation of internal and external attack—everything made sense.

After a moment, Su Ling had barely recovered some strength and sprang up.

He immediately took the orange-yellow jade seal and Bronze Mirror Magic Treasure that Liao Qinglin had dropped into his hands, then quickly took off his storage bracelet and stripped off the Haoyang righteous robe with decent defensive properties from his body.

Afterwards, he retrieved the Cultivation Technique Jade Slip from Liao Qinglin's tightly clenched palm.

After doing all this, Su Ling hurriedly threw out the cloud sparrow boat and quickly ascended into the air.

Finally, a pale blue ice-flame arrow shot from his fingertip, piercing straight into Liao Qinglin's corpse.

The ice flame ignited upon contact, turning the corpse into a wisp of blue smoke in an instant, not leaving even a trace behind.

He didn't want to leave any hidden dangers.

...

Half a year later, Su Ling had traveled back to the territory of the Bitao Sect.

The injuries sustained in that battle not only caused his internal organs to collapse, but the damage to his Divine Soul also exceeded his expectations.

Fortunately, in Liao Qinglin's storage bracelet, there were still several million Low-Grade Spirit Stones remaining.

This allowed him to participate in a few auctions while transferring between locations, and to bid on some Medicinal Pills to restore his Divine Soul.

Half a year passed, and his Divine Soul had barely recovered to 80 percent.

"My strength has increased, yet it's actually so difficult to recover this Divine Soul."

Stepping out of the teleportation array, Su Ling couldn't help but complain to himself.

The Divine Soul-restoring Spirit Soul Pill and Soul Cleansing Pill were far more expensive than ordinary healing Medicinal Pills.

They were almost comparable to top-tier Spirit Pills like the Tier 4 Divine Spirit Pill and Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Marrow.

Liao Qinglin's Spirit Stones were mostly depleted after just a few pills.

"Senior Pei, your remains, I'm afraid you will have to follow this Junior for another few hundred years."

After experiencing the Liao Qinglin incident, Su Ling was somewhat fearful of the Haoyang Sect.

As for Pei Jianbai's remains, perhaps one day, when he was strong enough, he would choose to fulfill the promise he had made.