A figure rushed forward, dressed in a gray, hemp garment, and wearing a conical bamboo hat on his head. He was traveling so fast that his figure seemed to twist and turn. Around him, a light-gray layer of light appeared.
The web of Strong-Pupil Three-Headed Spiders could only detect this aura.
According to Li Changshou's observation, this person was quite strong. There was a long sword hanging from his waist, which was probably a top-notch, killer weapon. A violent aura engulfed the man. Li Changshou guessed that he was used to licking the blood off the tip of his sword.
He sucked in a deep breath and adjusted his aura. Then his speed began to increase.
A moment later, the attacker sped up as well. What's more, he adjusted the angle at which he was advancing. Li Changshou confirmed that he was the target for sure.
The other party was probably in the Sixth or Seventh Stage of Void Return. However, he could have been hiding his true cultivation level. On second thought, Li Changshou predicted that the man was approximately in the Sixth Stage of Dao Requital.
This was because the person was using a movement technique to catch up to Li Changshou, instead of flying, which was much more efficient. There was a low chance that the person was an immortal.
Li Changshou frowned. He had indeed been sucked into a strange situation.
How should he deal with this?
Li Changshou's first reaction was to use his escape techniques, but he quickly realized that he had been under surveillance for the past two days. This meant that his follower had ways to track him down.
If he escaped this time, and the other party remained relentless in attacking him, Li Changshou would be in even greater danger.
2.5 kilometers in front of Li Changshou was a huge plain, filled with poisonous herbs, and devoid of trees.
Li Changshou groaned softly in his heart. His right hand grabbed onto two small paper effigies, as the aura in his body gathered in that palm.
"The five elements take turns; there is huge value in metamorphosis. In muddiness, there are no obstacles. The Earth remains the center!"
Creases and folds appeared in the gray-white ground in front of him. Once again, Li Changshou employed Earth Escape. However, before his body made it underground, his right hand turned into a burst of light.
The man chasing Li Changshou frowned. He tutted and felt the fast-traveling aura underground. Once again, he jumped away and sped up, chasing after him as fast as he could.
A moment later, Li Changshou appeared among poisonous herbs. He shook the poisonous dirt off his body, frightening off a few poisonous insects at the same time. Then, he raised his hand and changed a few of his Miasma-Repelling Talismans. Immediately after, he had to resume sprinting once again.
At that moment, he heard the hiss of a sword beside him!
A cold light beam proved to be 30% quicker than the hissing. It was headed right for Li Changshou's neck!
Li Changshou turned around at once, but he had no time to react at all. The thin and long Dharma sword hit him in the neck, causing his head to fly backward!
There was a wisp of smoke, gently twisting around. The cultivator, who had on the conical bamboo hat and was dressed in gray, appeared behind Li Changshou. The veil in front of his bamboo hat floated upwards, revealing a cold smile on his lips.
"He is indeed in the Soul Formation realm. Without any effort at all— You!"
He stopped mid-sentence, looking down suddenly at his own legs.
'Li Changshou', who had just been beheaded, was now holding onto this man's ankles!
The assassin reacted swiftly. At once, he jumped backward. Then, his vision became blurry. It was almost as if all of the energy had been sucked out of his body—his Dharmic powers and aura became extremely idle. It felt impossible to activate them!
At that moment, the assassin looked closely at the corpse's belt, which was still hanging onto his ankles. There was an opened pot…
He had fallen for his trick!
The man tried his hardest to bite his tongue so that he could sober up. Yet, he could not even muster up enough energy to bite his tongue. His vision was becoming blurry!
It was a self-created incapacitating agent, the Soft Immortal Disperser.
At that moment, a beam of light flew on top of the assassin's head and hovered there. It was a strange-looking paper umbrella, embedded with spirit stones of various colors.
The paper umbrella turned slowly. The spirit stones embedded in it flew out in all directions. An isolation array formation measuring 150 feet in diameter suddenly appeared, with the umbrella as its base. The area that it covered was isolated entirely from the rest of the world!
It was a self-made Dharma treasure, the Heaven-Changing Treasure Umbrella.
Li Changshou slowly emerged from the ground with his right hand raised. The three paper effigies expanded in the wind. Two crushing sounds were heard, as they took on Li Changshou's form and charged forward.
That was a Dao Sect technique, the Man-Forming Paper Cutouts.
The paper effigies had not even reached the assassin when Li Changshou held out a short, bronze crossbow in his left hand. Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger of the crossbow and caused a wooden arrow to shoot out, aiming straight for the area between the assassin's eyebrows!
The bamboo hat flew upwards, revealing a skinny, sinister face.
The arrow pierced through the assassin's forehead, causing the light in his eyes to slowly dissipate.
"You—"
The assassin let out one last furious roar, but it sounded powerless. His mouth remained open until the three paper effigies reached him.
Paper Doll One produced three long nails, which pierced the assassin in his three dantian points—top, middle, and bottom. This locked his three immortal souls and fixed his seven mortal forms!
Paper Doll Two used both of its hands to conjure a seal. It also opened its mouth, producing pure-white flames, which engulfed the assassin's body. These flames instantly ignited the assassin's flesh. Like a snowman, it turned into liquid and dissipated.
That fellow did not even have the energy to cry out in pain.
Paper Doll Three kept muttering words under its breath. It was using a curse that would subdue souls and extinguish demons. Waves appeared in front of the doll, causing the shadow, which appeared in the white flames, to disappear!
At that moment, the assassin's soul was completely destroyed. All that was left was a handful of remains that were still being consumed by the white flames.
Li Changshou still could not relax. He tossed out a pearl as big as his thumb. The pearl spun around, absorbing light-green wisps of light. Not a single bit of the assassin's soul remained.
Li Changshou carried his bronze crossbow and walked forward. Carefully, he picked up the pearl. The white flames had already been extinguished. Only black ashes, half of a sword, and a small ring, remained on the ground.
The three paper effigies sat on the ground cross-legged. At once, they started to chant sutras.
The first paper effigy recited the Dao Sect's Salvation Sutra, the second recited the Western Sect's legendary Rebirth Curse, and the third recited the Dao Sect's Blessing-Destruction Curse.
Li Changshou picked up the jade and stone ring and held it in the palm of his hand. He felt no urge to break the restrictions on the ring. Instead, he used his Dharmic powers to form layers around the ring, before tossing it into the storage Dharma artifact marked 'Heaven Number Four'.
After that, he looked at his pearl, a look of understanding appearing on his face. He made a detour around the three paper effigies and then employed Earth Escape again.
When the three paper effigies finished chanting their respective sutras, little waves began to appear in the ground. Li Changshou's arms danced around, causing the ashes left behind by the assassin to be scattered by the wind.
The three paper effigies sprung up into the sky as well, and then turned into three palm-sized paper cutouts, before flying back into Li Changshou's sleeves.
The umbrella retracted itself, and the spirit stones flew back where they belonged. At the same time, the huge array disappeared.
Li Changshou picked up the sword and pointed it, causing a gust of sword aura to fly out. It pierced through the poisonous fog above and directly hit a black beetle, reducing it to dust.
The entire movement was smooth. It was almost as if Li Changshou had practiced this countless times before.
He turned around and surveyed the surroundings, which had already reverted to its original state. Then, he turned to the beheaded paper effigy and lightly touched it. The paper effigy caught fire, leaving behind no traces of what happened.
Li Changshou took one step forward and got sucked into the ground. Just like that, he disappeared.
'Ai, to refine a paper effigy took a lot of effort as well…'
However, it was worth it, given that he had obtained that fellow's 'family background' in exchange.
Li Changshou searched the remnant souls in the pearl and found many memories inside. Through those memories, he learned the assassin's motive and the plan behind this entire journey.
The assassin that had tried to kill him was nicknamed Assassin Turtledove. He was in the Second Stage of Dao Requital. He was a cultivator, hired by someone with spirit stones, to go there and do his dirty work.
The person had tried to kill Li Changshou in order to obtain the communications talisman from him. He had wanted to use that communications talisman to lure the tiger away from its cave—he had wanted to lure Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu there.
Once Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu appeared, Assassin Turtledove would attack Liu Yan'er and Wang Qi. He would then use them as bait to lure Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu and trap her in an array formation. After that, they could focus on their real target—the Sixth Princess of whatever country, Youqin Xuanya!
However, Assassin Turtledove did not want to kill Youqin Xuanya. This entire plan was meant to achieve a more despicable objective.
According to the pieces of Assassin Turtledove's memory, Li Changshou guessed that the mastermind behind this entire plan was either the Junior Brother from his sect, Yuan Qing, or a certain powerful person behind Yuan Qing.
The corners of Li Changshou's mouth twitched. In his heart, he cursed, 'Indeed, one cannot only judge others based on their looks. Warm, kind men are mostly fake.'
Yet, this had nothing to do with Li Changshou.
The other party was spending so much effort just to lure Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu into an array formation and trap her. It was obvious that this person did not dare to fight Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu head-on. That meant that Li Changshou did not need to worry about the safety of a certain Perfected Immortal.
After a gentle breeze, the poisonous Miasma was back. Peace was restored to the forest. The poisonous herbs swayed gently in the wind. Apart from a bunch of poisonous herbs burnt to a crisp, nothing else was left behind.
Nobody would have thought that just a second ago, a fatal battle had taken place there.
A moment later, all that would be heard there would be the gentle breeze, sounding like an endless, melodic groan.
"I killed you in just ten minutes, and I even scattered your ashes!"
…
On the Coast of the East Ocean, on a certain beach, hundreds of disciples were fighting the endless wave of prawn demons emerging from the sea.
In one corner of the war zone, a few young cultivators in the Qi Refinement realm hid behind some reefs. They kept muttering curses to activate their Dharma artifacts, attempting to help the Senior Brothers and Sisters fighting in front of them. However, their eyes could not leave a certain figure fighting a short distance away from them.
Lan Ling'e held a porcelain bottle in her hands, gently pouring out some powder. She breathed some spiritual energy onto the piles of powder, scattering them outwards onto tens of oncoming prawn demons at once.
The prawn demons were not that intelligent, to begin with. Once the dust hit them, their legs turned to jelly. Then, they lay on the ground with froth coming out their mouths, and their eyes darting around rapidly.
Lan Ling'e then took out her short sword and floated forward. One by one, she finished them off. Lan Ling'e was extremely accurate as she pierced the demon soul of each prawn demon powerfully with a single move.
Soon, she turned around and floated back to her original position, waiting for the next wave of demons to come. The entire time, Lan Ling'e remained oblivious that she had become the center of many other disciples' attention.
The poisonous powder that Senior Brother refined for me is so useful. I wonder if Senior Brother is safe. The North Continent is so dangerous. It is said that even a single insect could kill an immortal. Ai, stinking Senior Brother always asks others to play it safe, while he takes risks. He didn't even bring his intelligent and brave Junior Sister along!
The more Lan Ling'e thought about it, the angrier she became. Suddenly, a cold shadow appeared in front of her.
"Junior Sister Ling'e, be careful!"
"Quickly, dodge!"
All of a sudden, she heard several anxious shouts by her ear. Lan Ling'e looked up instinctively and saw seven or eight prawn demons right in front of her. More than ten claws were waving in front of her face, ready to strike!
There were also various pits in the ground. The prawn demons were emerging from underground!
At that intense moment, Lan Ling'e softly cried out. She retrieved another porcelain bottle from inside her sleeves and threw it out. Her Senior Brother's hoarse voice sounded in her mind, "If you find yourself in an emergency, or if you're surrounded by enemies, throw this bottle."
Bang!
The porcelain bottle exploded among the prawn demons, and greens moke emerged from the bottle, engulfing the prawn demons at once.
In the next moment, all of the prawn demons were hovering in mid-air.
The sea breeze blew. Despite the tough exterior shells on the prawn demons' bodies, they disappeared in mid-air and turned into multicolored bubbles, which slowly floated away with the wind.
Lan Ling'e heaved a long sigh of relief. Yet, all of a sudden, she realized that the atmosphere around her had grown strange.
She turned around and saw that a few Senior Brothers and Sisters, who had been rushing over to rescue her, had halted a distance away. All of them had weird expressions on their faces.
Lan Ling'e blinked slowly, confused.
Clank—
A sword belonging to a male disciple in the Soul Formation realm landed beside her. He quickly bent down to pick it up.
"Junior Sister Ling'e, go ahead, go ahead."
"We're just passing by… passing by…"