.A shiver ran down Bai Yu's spine at this assumption.
'No, it can't be demonic Qi,' she said, trying to reassure herself that she had perceived it correctly.
'This innate malice in that spiritual energy…
But it shouldn't be possible, after all, they have been exiled.
It is not possible that they managed to infiltrate the mortal realm.'
The more she thought about it, the more absurd her assumption seemed.
While Bai Yu was lost in thought, Ethan and Da Shu decided what to do.
Clearly, they would not be of any help in the battle against that strange individual.
They would likely be dead weight for the sect elder, so they both decided to bypass this area and move forward.
"If an enemy is here, then the rest of them must be nearby too," they both thought.
They only hoped that the companions of that cultivator were not of the same level, because if they were, there would be no way out for the sect's disciples, nor for them.
Ethan had some escape routes in case of danger, and the most important of these was obviously his smaller dimension.
He really hoped it wouldn't come to that, as it would risk exposing it to others.
With this in mind, both moved cautiously, trying not to fall into the enemy cultivator's line of sight.
Ethan was sure that beings of their level would definitely have a fairly broad spiritual perception, so they had almost certainly already been detected.
He wasn't sure why they had been ignored, but it was better this way.
Just as Ethan had thought, the enemy cultivator and the sect elder had immediately detected them when they reached this area, but neither of them bothered to do anything.
In a battle like this, even the slightest distraction could be costly, and both knew it.
The sect elder could tell they were not part of the enemy group, but he didn't know if they were passersby or not.
In any case, he knew he couldn't drag this battle out.
The premonition that something bad was about to happen grew stronger.
Therefore, he no longer held back and released all the power of his cultivation base.
The purple aura surrounding him began to writhe more and more, and even the illusory image behind him began to change.
Gradually, the aura started to expand and take shape.
Seeing this scene, the enemy cultivator understood that the opponent had decided to get serious.
So, with a twisted smile on his face, he too began to release his cultivation base.
Within seconds, both auras rose several levels, and they both reached a cultivation level close to the peak of the fourth stage.
Everyone knew that at each stage of cultivation, a person's strength increased several times, but few knew that beyond the third stage, a much greater change occurred.
This change was such that a person at the first level of the Soul Refining stage could comfortably face several cultivators at the peak of the third stage simultaneously.
And this was not due to the individual's strength increasing with the stage, but because of something else,
the beast soul .
Every cultivator, to successfully break through to the fourth stage of cultivation, had to subjugate the soul of a spiritual beast compatible with them.
The stronger the subjugated spiritual beast, the stronger the person who obtained its soul would become.
The importance of a high-grade spiritual beast was such that whenever a strong and rare one appeared, it would lead to a bloodbath.
It was possible to switch from one beast soul to another, so even cultivators at the fourth stage acted in these situations, making the battle for the possession of the beast even more brutal.
Elder Léi was fortunate to find one still undiscovered by anyone, which was moreover of his own element,
lightning.
The sect elder, who had previously been concealed by his spiritual energy, was no longer visible, and instead, a large purple-winged figure, nearly 100 meters tall, was in the sky.
On the body of the large avian, small purple lightning bolts could be seen flashing rapidly, and if one looked closely at the slightly transparent chest of the beast, one could see the figure of the sect elder.
This was the beastial form that every cultivator at the fourth stage of cultivation could assume once they had fully controlled the beast soul in their possession.
Cultivators referred to it as the manifestation of the beast soul.
The large beast, made of the elder's Léi spiritual energy, gazed toward the spot where the cultivator was.
The sect elder had expected to see a manifestation of the beast soul that the enemy cultivator had subdued, but instead, apart from a significant change in the aura, which had now taken on a bloody red hue, no beast soul manifestation appeared.
'Could it be that he hasn't fully subdued it yet?
No, it can't be. His cultivation base is clearly as high as mine.
It's not possible that he hasn't managed to subdue it yet.'
Elder Léi did not know what was happening.
First, that strange spiritual energy, and now this.
He was increasingly certain that something was wrong with this situation.
'I need to finish this fight quickly,' and with this thought, he launched into attack, and the battle between the two cultivators resumed.
This time it was much more intense than before.
As the battle in the sky became more and more intense, in an area of the forest near the site of the clash, the situation was becoming increasingly desperate.
Currently, three cloaked figures had surrounded a group of six people from all sides.
The surrounded group was clearly in a state of panic as they watched the horrifying scene before them.
A few meters away, another cloaked figure stood, wiping his right hand covered in blood.
At his feet lay the figure of a man.
He lay in a pool of blood, coming from a wound as large as an arm on his chest.
After wiping the blood from his hand, the man bent down and retrieved a spatial ring from the corpse.
Spatial rings usually couldn't be opened by anyone other than their bearer, as they were engraved with protective runes that recorded the bearer's blood.
The strength of the protective seal varied depending on the ring's grade.
The one in the man's hand was clearly a high-grade ring.
Seeing it, the cloaked man couldn't help but say:
"Well, for a wealthy merchant, he certainly has little stuff in here."
He said, easily destroying the seal and examining the inside of the ring.
It was possible to break this seal with sufficient force, especially if the ring's bearer was no longer alive, thus severing the connection with it and weakening the seal.
Not worrying too much about what was inside, the man injected a bit of Qi into the ring, and a moment later, a thin and long object, covered with a black fabric and an adhesive on top, appeared in his hand.
The adhesive had various inscriptions on it, incomprehensible to the eye of an ordinary person.
The man didn't concern himself with the rest of the items and discarded the ring, while staring intensely at the object in his hand.
'Finally, we got it.'
The man wasted no time and immediately removed the rectangular piece of paper attached to the object.
As soon as he did, the paper, now removed and discarded on the ground, began to burn, and within seconds, it disappeared, leaving only ashes behind.
But the cloaked man seemed indifferent as he moved his arm to remove the fabric covering the object.
As he removed it, a strange aura began to emanate from the object.
It was black and gave a sense of discomfort to anyone who perceived it.
The man didn't seem to be affected by this subtle aura emitted by the object, but the same couldn't be said for the group of disciples.
The group of six people, mostly disciples of the Phoenix Sect, was even more terrified, sensing this aura.
A girl among them, with brown hair tied in a ponytail, couldn't help but ask with a trembling voice: seaʀᴄh thё NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Now that they've got what they came for, they'll let us go, right?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low so as not to be heard by the cloaked figures.
The disciples beside her didn't know what to reply.
One of them, a girl with blue hair, responded quietly:
"I doubt they will.
They wouldn't risk ending up in our sect's crosshairs," she said with a serious expression.
And as if he had heard what she said, the cloaked man holding the object spoke, stopping his movements for a moment:
"Haha, end up in your sect's crosshairs?
What makes you think we care about being discovered or not?"
He said, changing his tone from derisive to a darker one.
"Let me tell you somethig.
Before long, even the royal family will fall under our feet, let alone your sect," he said, then gestured to the three cloaked men surrounding the group of disciples.
At this, all three advanced, raising their hands covered in spiritual energy.
Just as the three were about to attack the group, a strange pressure suddenly descended upon them all.
Both the three cloaked figures about to act and the one finishing removing the fabric from the object felt an invisible pressure enveloping them.
Their bodies petrified for a moment, as they began to tremble slightly.
Their hearts raced, and their survival instincts went out of control for a moment.
'W-what is this—'
At that moment, just as they tried to recover, two shadows emerged from nowhere and headed towards them.
The attack from these figures was too sudden, and being still affected by that strange pressure, they couldn't react in time.
Woosh!
In the next moment, two heads rolled to the ground, scattering blood around.
Even the group of disciples, who had feared the worst moments ago, now had shocked expressions on their faces as they witnessed the scene.
The girl with blue hair, upon seeing the figures that had appeared suddenly, couldn't help but say:
"You are..."
.
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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:
Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, don't hesitate to do so below.
See you tomorrow with another chapter. ⬇️