These three Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators consisted of a black-clothed man with a resolute appearance, an embroidered-robed scholar with flickering eyes, and a middle-aged woman who still retained the beauty of her youth.
When the woman surnamed Liu saw the three disciples of Master Splintered Soul, she sweetly smiled, “Senior Martial Brother Xun! So it turned out to be the disciples of Senior Splintered Soul. How timely.”
But when the three black-robed cultivators heard this, they coldly examined them and their expressions grew sullen. The woman amongst the three wore an unfriendly expression and asked, “Timely? Why have our two Junior Martial Sisters from the Controlling Spirit Sect snuck into our State of Yue? Could it be you hold our Ghost Spirit Sect in contempt?”
Cultivator Liu explained with a smile, “Senior Martial Sister misunderstands, Senior Martial Sister Han and I came to the State of Yue under orders from our Sect Ancestor. Because the matter was urgent and couldn"t be delayed, we were unable to inform your esteemed sect of the matter. Moreover, we’ve only arrived in the State of Yue for a few days. We had no intentions of neglecting your sect.”
The black-clothed cultivator stared at Cultivator Liu and expressionlessly asked, “Regardless of why you’ve arrived at the State of Yue, there is only one question we wish to ask you. Did you take anything from the Tai Yue Mountains a few days ago?”
Han Yunzhi frowned and an odd expression appeared on her face, “The Tai Yue Mountains? The mountain range that originally belonged to Yellow Maple Valley?”
“Hm? Did you two Junior Martial Sisters truly pa.s.s by there?” Although the black-robed cultivator’s expression remained calm, a cold glint appeared within his eyes. The embroidered-robed scholar’s and the woman’s expressions tensed, their faces revealing traces of hostility.
When Han Yunzhi and Cultivator Liu saw this, they unconsciously exchanged glances.
The two weren’t fools. It was clear the other party revealed hostility. However, the party of Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators truly hadn’t entered the Tai Yue Mountains. They merely probed the Spirit Nascent’s position from a distance and discovered that the cultivator who captured it seemed to have stayed at the Tai Yue Mountains for half a day.
Cultivator Liu’s gaze flickered for a moment and she probingly said, “We hadn’t crossed through the Tai Yue Mountains. However, the cultivator that is fifty kilometers behind us had crossed through the Tai Yue Mountains. It did seem that person was there during that time. Could Senior Martial Brother Xun be looking for him?”
The embroidered-robed scholar boldly stared at the two woman and suddenly smiled, “Fifty kilometers behind you? Are you making this up? How did you know that person stayed at the Tai Yue Mountains? Could he be a cultivator of your sect?”
Cultivator Liu blushed and spoke with luminous eyes, “Senior Martial Brother Que must be joking. How could we dare to so brazenly lie to our Senior Martial Disciples while we are in the State of Yue? If you don’t believe me then this Junior Martial Sister will make a heavenly pledge to answer your questions. You should now know my answers to be true! We don’t know this person. As for how we know of the matter with the Tai Yue Mountains, it’s a bit complicated. Since this little sister has urgent matters to attend to, I would rather give you Senior Martial Brothers a more thorough explanation on another day.” As she spoke, she revealed a flirtatious charm that seemed to stun the scholar.
The black-clothed cultivator frowned after seeing her expression and grew doubtful. After muttering to himself for a moment, his expression relaxed and he calmly said, “Were this an ordinary matter, I would believe you without doubt. However, our Sixth Junior Martial Brother and his disciples were exterminated in the Tai Yue Mountains and not even a speck of dust remained. My master was enraged by this and a.s.signed us to investigate any high grade cultivators that had recently entered the State of Yue. Since the movements of Junior Martial Sister’s party are rather strange, would it not be better for us to confront this cultivator together? I wish to hear this cultivator’s story. If he is truly the killer of our Sixth Junior Martial Brother, we will greatly thank you two.” The black-clothed cultivator then rigidly stared at the party of Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators.
“Confront?” Cultivator Liu’s expression grew unsightly.
“What? Are you two Junior Martial Sisters too busy to help us?” The black-clothed cultivator seemed to speak lightly of the matter but the group of Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators behind them all formed a semicircle blocking their front. It appeared that if the Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators didn’t agree, they would be attacked.
Upon seeing this, Cultivator Liu’s expression changed and she thought to say something, but suddenly, she turned her head around with fright.
It wasn’t just this woman, but all the cultivators present felt an icy spiritual sense suddenly sweep over them, enveloping them all within it.
Although the spiritual sense’s owner wasn’t yet seen, they unmistakably felt a harsh bone-chilling intent.
In furious alarm, the middle-aged woman couldn’t help but shout, “A Nascent Soul cultivator! The person you spoke of was actually a Nascent Soul cultivator! You wanted to lead us to our deaths!”
“Cut the rubbis.h.!.+ Immediately flee! Everyone escape if you can!” Although the black-robed man surnamed Xun was also furious, he knew that now was not the time to pursue the matter. As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately flew off as a streak of black light.
In the embroidered-robed scholar’s alarm, he hesitantly said, “That person isn’t necessarily the killer of Sixth Junior Martial Brother. There is no need to fear him.”
The woman snorted and coldly said, “If Senior Martial Brother wishes to leave his life at the mercy of others, then please forgive your Junior Martial Sister for not joining you!” She then tore through the skies as a streak of red light.
The scholar’s expression grew extremely unsightly and he regretfully glanced in the direction of his fellow Ghost Spirit Sect members before flying after the other two.
When the Ghost Spirit Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators saw this they scattered, fleeing for their own lives. They were fundamentally incapable of withstanding the fearsomeness of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
With a raised brow, Cultivator Liu furiously whispered, “Those people were truly useless. Not only did they not help us, but they also wasted time for us to flee.”
“No, it is far better now. There are more people to give us cover, greatly increasing our own chances of escape. May each of our fates be safe.” Han Yunzhi revealed an extraordinarily calm expression and patted the storage pouch at her waist, summoning a large snow-white bird in the air.
Cultivator Liu and the other Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators also moved quickly. They each fled using either their magic tools or their own spirit beasts. But regardless of whatever method they used to escape, no one ran in the same direction as another. In their fear, they hoped to use their numbers to avert the gaze of death from behind them.
According to their thoughts, the Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t be able to pick them all off one by one, fast though they may be. As such, the many cultivators fled as quickly as they could.
Having arrived fifty kilometers away, Han Li was amazed to discover that yet another wave of Devil Dao cultivators had appeared. But when he saw them scatter, he couldn’t help but frown. He felt the matter had become far more troublesome.
A harsh expression appeared on his face and he took a deep breath. Silver lightning arced from his back followed by roars of thunder as two silver wings emerged from his back. After infusing a sliver of Divine Devilbane Lightning into the Thunderstorm Wings, Han Li instantly disappeared in an arc of lightning. A moment later, he reappeared several kilometers away.
Travelling great distances in a mere flicker of lightning, Han Li shortly appeared at the area where the cultivators had recently scattered.
Han Li expressionlessly used his spiritual sense to immediately find the Devil Dao cultivators that fled. At that moment, he discovered that the farthest to flee was already over twenty kilometers away. The closest was only five kilometers away.
Han Li sneered and immediately set his target on the farthest Core Formation cultivator and disappeared in a flash of light.
The cultivator farthest away wasn’t the one who fled first, the black-robed man surnamed Xun. Rather, it was the middle-aged woman instead.
Her body pulsed with red light as she tore through the sky as a huge fireball, much like one would imagine of a demon spirit. This strange technique allowed her to travel the fastest amongst her peers despite being only an early Core Formation cultivator.
There were several varied-length ribbons of light directly extending from her body. With each twinkle of azure light from a ribbon, the woman was propelled a hundred meters forward, resulting in an astonis.h.i.+ng speed.
The woman was basking in the pride of her rarely seen wind-fire movement technique that she reckoned to be on par with others’ top grade techniques. Combined with the wind attribute treasure she cultivated, the Floating Spirit Ribbon, her speed was increased even further. She believed her current speed to match even early Nascent Soul cultivators.
If one were to speak of the cultivator that was most likely to make it out safely, it would be her.
As the woman thought to herself, she suddenly heard rumbling nearby. Although the sound wasn’t loud, she couldn’t help but turn her head around in alarm.