With a slight surprise, the old woman asked, “Marquis Nanlong has ties with the Heavenpeak Sect? Fellow Daoist Yun, you didn’t mentioned this matter before!” As for the tan cultivator, he appeared furious.
The white-clothed old man surnamed Yun smiled and calmly said, “I didn’t mention the matter? You just carelessly overlooked the matter. However, Marquis Nanlong truly hasn’t yet entered the Heavenpeak Sect. If you are feeling worried, you can join my sect and become elders. That way, the Heavenpeak Sect won’t be able to touch you!”
The old woman coldly snorted, “Given my age, I have no interest receiving further constraints.”
The tan cultivator frowned and indifferently said, “I am accustomed to being without responsibilities and also have no interest in joining your sect.
“That is truly a pity! If you were to join our Ghost Spirit Sect, our prestige would soar,” the old man didn’t mind their refusals and changed the topic, “I won’t insist on having you two join. So long as Marquis Nanlong is killed here, the Heavenpeak sect won’t take the initiative to make any trouble on behalf of a dead man. It is just unfortunate that despite being friends with him for a hundred years, he hadn’t told me his intentions with regards to Devilfall Valley. I only knew that there was a secret cave residence here and that there was a map of Devilfall Valley that was left behind by Master Cang Kun. As such, we won’t exterminate his Nascent Soul when we capture him. I will first use a soul scouring technique and see if he possesses any useful information.”
Wang Tiangu worriedly said, “If by chance the map was in the box that Youngster Han made off with, wouldn’t we be helpless?”
Old Man Yun slowly said, “That can be dealt with. If this comes to happen, we’ll leak this matter to all the sects in the Heavenly South.When that time comes, even the Heavenly Dao Alliance will wish to pursue this matter, let alone the Righteous and Devilish Dao, creating an opportunity for us to profit in the chaos. Let’s see how a sect as trifling as the Drifting Cloud Sect deals with the greed of wishing to monopolize the gains from Devilfall Valley. In addition to the map, I am also interested in any information Marquis Nanlong may have on Devilfall Valley. With this information, we’ll be a step ahead even if the method of entering Devilfall Valley became widespread.”
After a moment of thought, Wang Tiangu proposed, “If it somehow turns out that way, that will be all we can do. But before that, he could try trading for the map. After all, even if he bears great resentment against us, there are few matters in this world that can’t be traded for.”
“Hehe! Junior Martial Brother Wang’s proposal is preferable to my own,” The old man then sighed and muttered, “Nevertheless, the youngster’s abilities are truly bizarre. Is he truly around the same age as Junior Martial Nephew Wang? From that last battle, the cunning he displayed was greater than even ours, and he was even able to defeat Fellow Daoist Long. If I were to fight him alone, I too doubt my own ability to hold against him.”
Wang Tiangu’s eyes flickered and a trace of vexation appeared on his face, “I asked Wang Chan about him before. It seemed this person was an ordinary Yellow Maple Valley cultivator. At the time, he was truly but a Foundation Establishment cultivator. His vast accomplishments in cultivation and ability are something of a mystery. Were it not for his abilities being contrary to expectation and his meddling, we would’ve been able to easily dispose of Marquis Nanlong.”
When the old woman and the others heard this, they could only wryly smile.
Wang Tiangu suggested, “With that being said, let’s first head back and free Fellow Daoist Long. With his cultivation, he should be able to survive being frozen. Also, I am concerned for my nephew. Before that Youngster Han departed, he released a blood-red light that appeared similar to the Devilblood Cleave that I personally cultivate. I don’t know how well Chan’er was able to receive it.”
The old man replied, “That’s fine. Since we don’t have any method of detecting him for the time being, let’s go take a look at them. We’ll carry out the pursuit once Marquis Nanlong’s is no longer capable of carrying out the Mileshed Line.”
In the next moment, the party flew back into the mountain.
The party arrived at the ruins of the Jadepier Pavilion once more to see a bewildered Yan Ruyan. She was crouching near Wang Chan who laid motionlessly on the floor.
When Wang Tiangu saw this, his asked with an icy tone, “What happened? Were any of Chan’er’s vitals struck?” Even now, Wang Tiangu still displayed exceptional calmness.
Wearing a slightly anxious expression, Yan Ruyan hesitantly replied, “No, but his leg...”
Wang Tiangu took several steps forward and tensely frowned. He saw that both of Wang Chan’s legs were missing from below their knees, but strangely enough, there wasn’t a hint of blood.
Yan Ruyan helplessly said, “Lord Husband and I had joined hands to cast the Blood Spirit Art’s blood mist, but we were instantly attacked by some sort of strange technique. The blood mist was incapable of blocking it and my Lord Husband had dodged too late. His legs were...”
Wang Tiangu gloomily asked, “Since this is the case, then why aren’t you using any techniques to recover his legs? You should know such a technique.”
With a tense brow, Yan Ruyan timidly said, “I’ve attempted to restore his legs several times now, but the techniques aren’t responding in the slightest. Although his wounds didn’t shed any blood, a black Qi condensed around the wound and it can’t be driven off! It could be the reason why the healing technique failed and why he is unconscious.”
Wang Tiangu’s expression relaxed and he began to concentrate his gaze on Wang Chan’s wounds, “It can’t have been a common attack that struck you. Let me take a look.”
Wang Chan’s wounds were covered in faint black Qi as expected. Wang Tiangu lifted his hands and his fingers flickered with black light as he grabbed the harmful Qi from one of the legs, gathering it into a pea-sized black ball on his finger.
He thought to dispose of the harmful Qi with true fire, but after some thought, he slapped his storage pouch and wrapped the ball of black Qi with spiritual power before placing it in a jade bottle. Once it was properly taken care of, he casually placed it away.
It seemed Wang Tiangu planned on examining this item for further understanding of Han Li’s techniques. When Yan Ruyan saw that Wang Tiangu paid her no heed, a complicated expression momentarily appeared on her face before disappearing without a trace.
Once Wang Tiangu took care of the black Qi on the other leg, Yan Ruyan silently made another attempt to restore his limbs.
Wang Tiangu nodded his head with satisfaction and turned his attention to the other side.
The white-clothed old man and the others were at a loss as they stood around the iced clad body of the stern-faced cultivator.
Wang Tiangu walked towards them and bafflingly asked, “What? You Fellow Daoists aren’t able to free him?”
A trace of fear appeared on the old woman’s expression. She muttered, “Free him? How? This ice is far more insidious that we could have imagined!”
The old man simply kept silent as he wore a gloomy expression on his face.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Wang Tiangu turned his gaze to the ice-clad body and began to ponder.
“Brother Wang, take a good look.” The tan cultivator suddenly raised his hand and flung a fist-sized chunk of jade towards the ice-clad body.
Blue light flashed upon impact and the jade chunk was instantly covered in blue ice before dissolving into countless specks of fading glitter.
The tan man remained still as he stood three meters away and pointed at the ice-clad body. Scorching white true fire shot towards the ice from his finger, but in the moment the true fire touched the blue ice, it disappeared in a flash of light as if it were absorbed.
Wang Tiangu felt his breath turn cold!
The old man sighed and asked, “This blue ice is vicious. It seems that Fellow Daoist Long’s body has long died. It seems we can only have his Nascent Soul manifest and find a suitable body to possess. Didn’t Fellow Daoist Long already possess a body once before?”
The tan man appeared to be familiar with the stern-faced cultivator and sullenly said, “No, this was his original body.”
The old man nodded his head and said, “That’s good. Now we just need to have Fellow Daoist Long manifest his Nascent Soul.”
As if having heard this, the stern-faced cultivator’s body shined with white light. Then with a muffled bang, his entire body turned to ash and faded away. All that remained in the blue ice was an inch large Nascent Soul. It was clasping onto a thumb-sized jade ornament in his hand and its face was filled with resentment.
It opened its small mouth and spouted out fire-red vital Nascent flames onto the jade ornament in its hands. It then raised it above its head and suddenly surrounded its body in red-white flame. Without any further delay, he attempted to charge straight out.
“Wait...” The old man seemed to think of something and hastily attempted to stop this, but he spoke too late. The Nascent Soul passed through the ice.
What resulted afterwards sent chills down their spine. The formidable white-red flames had seemed to have been set alight by the ice, engulfing both the white-red flames and the Nascent Soul in blue fire.
The white-red flames were instantly consumed by the blue fire, resulting in the deathly wail of the Nascent Soul. It turned frantic as it charged through the air. After flying about fifty meters away, it attempted to roll and exterminate the flames as it wildly howled in pain.
A short moment later, the screams came to an abrupt stop and the Nascent Soul was refined in a ball of light that faded away. The cultivator surnamed Long was now dead in both soul and body.