Translator: Cinder Translations
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Just as Daoist Qingyan was about to fly out of the mist, the fog from all directions surged violently.
Daoist Qingyan could no longer afford to be careless. She quickly formed hand seals, and the blade aura on her Longevity surged, rapidly spinning around her, shooting countless blade energies in all directions.
At the same time, she did not stop her escape light and continued to fly toward the outside of the mist.
The dark red flying sword shot out from deep within the mist, slashing toward Daoist Qingyan's back.
The flying sword did not hit Daoist Qingyan; instead, it was blocked by the Longevity spinning rapidly around her.
Daoist Qingyan used the blade energy to protect her body, dispersing some of the power of the Longevity.
However, the Longevity could not completely block the flying sword's attack, and a strand of sword qi slashed into Daoist Qingyan's back.
"Pfft!"
The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed.
A terrifying wound, two inches long, appeared on Daoist Qingyan's back, with her ribs clearly visible.
At the same time, the impact of the sword qi caused Daoist Qingyan to lurch forward, which inadvertently helped her escape the Concealing Spirit Mist.
At this moment, Su Anqing and the others, who had been pursuing the Du family cultivators, had returned.
Seeing Daoist Qingyan injured and in trouble, they all felt a shudder of concern, praying that no further complications would arise.
After distancing herself from the mist by several hundred meters, Daoist Qingyan shouted toward Su Anqing and the others.
"All Su family members, attack the mist and disperse it! Today, I will ensure that Du Tianhua is turned to dust!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the foundation-building cultivators from the Su family, several miles away, activated various spells, and even some Qi Refining stage Su family members began to cast spells.
The area covered by the mist exceeded their spiritual sense range and was not within their effective attack scope.
However, the mist had a considerable radius and did not move; as long as their attacks landed within its range, it would suffice.
The Su family cultivators mostly chose fire and wind spells, as these were the most effective in dispersing the Spirit Concealing Mist.
A raging inferno erupted within the mist, and violent winds howled toward it.
Daoist Qingyan stood by, urging her Longevity, gathering momentum, waiting for Du Tianhua to appear so she could greet him with a thunderous strike.
As the Spirit Concealing Mist gradually dispersed, Du Tianhua began to feel anxious; if this continued, his figure would soon be exposed.
Estimating Daoist Qingyan's position, Du Tianhua fled in the opposite direction, escaping the mist.
Seeing Du Tianhua appear, a murderous intent flashed in Daoist Qingyan's eyes.
The Longevity sliced through the air, making a sound like tearing silk.
Du Tianhua had been prepared; the dark red sword light rushed forward to meet the Longevity.
"Clang!"
The knife and sword clashed.
Just as Du Tianhua thought that even if the flying sword was defeated, it would greatly weaken the Longevity's power, a ten-foot-long blade aura shot out from the Longevity, directly slashing toward his back.
"Shh!"
The blade aura cut into flesh.
Du Tianhua's left arm was severed at the shoulder, and the immense force from the blade aura sent him flying, crashing into the forest below.
If he hadn't slightly shifted his body at the last moment, the blade would have split him in two.
"Bang!"
Du Tianhua crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up dust and creating a pit several meters deep. Blood erupted from his mouth like a spring, continuously gushing forth.
Daoist Qingyan's expression brightened. She urged her Longevity, intending to completely slay Du Tianhua. However, just as the Longevity was about to fall, a thick fog rose up among the trees.
Du Tianhua had released the Spirit Concealing Mist again.
In Daoist Qingyan's spiritual sense, Du Tianhua's trace vanished once again.
"Destroy this dense forest!" she shouted to the Su family members behind her.
The Su family members obeyed the order, unleashing countless spells.
Suddenly, the mountains shook and the earth split, with stones flying everywhere.
Once the Concealing Spirit Mist was dispersed, there was no sign of Du Tianhua anywhere.
He had managed to evade Daoist Qingyan and the others' spiritual sense detection by using the forest to obscure his presence and some unknown method to conceal his aura, escaping without a trace.
"Damn it!"
Daoist Qingyan cursed, swallowing two healing elixirs as she flew toward the valley.
Her injuries were severe, and her magical energy had also been significantly depleted, necessitating some time to meditate and heal.
Seeing Daoist Qingyan come back injured, a fleeting joy flashed in Su Qian's eyes, though his face was filled with concern.
"Qingyan, how badly are you hurt?"
"It's nothing serious, just a minor injury. Give me a quarter of an hour to refine these healing elixirs, and I will be fine," Daoist Qingyan replied nonchalantly.
"Then you focus on healing. While I extract all the blood essence from the living sacrifices, I will need your help to control the Soul Devouring Formation during the process," Su Qian instructed.
Daoist Qingyan nodded and settled in the eastern area of the Soul Devouring Formation, sitting cross-legged to refine the elixirs.
At this moment, in the western area of the Soul Devouring Formation, more than half of the loose cultivators had had their blood essence extracted. The blood serpent had grown over ten feet long and was moving much faster, resembling a long snake hunting, swiftly navigating through the formation and continuously swallowing loose cultivators one by one.
After a little over a quarter of an hour, all the blood essence from the thousand living sacrifice loose cultivators had been extracted by the Soul Devouring Formation.
The blood serpent now measured two zhang (6.6m) in length, coiling and writhing through the formation.
"Qingyan, lend me your strength!"
At this point, Daoist Qingyan had not yet fully refined the elixirs, and her injuries were not completely stabilized.
Hearing Su Qian's plea for help, she could not continue refining the elixirs and instead used her magical energy to levitate the auxiliary formation plate before her.
She formed hand seals and continuously struck the auxiliary formation plate.
In the center of the formation, Su Qian was also casting hand seals toward the suspended auxiliary formation plate.
The glowing patterns of the Soul Devouring Formation gradually intensified, and the blood serpent sped up, moving toward the center of the formation.
Su Qian shot a cold glance at Daoist Qingyan, his hand seals suddenly changing.
A powerful pressure surged forth, like a mountain crashing down upon Daoist Qingyan.
Her expression changed drastically, panic flashing across her face.
"Big Brother Su, what's going on?"
She instinctively cried out in alarm, and at the same time, she stopped her hand seals, urgently channeling her inner spiritual power to try to break free from the formation.
However, the pressure bearing down on her was too immense, making it difficult for her to move.
"Qingyan, don't blame me for being ruthless. My spiritual root talent is not outstanding; merely achieving the Golden Core stage is a great fortune. Even if the Soul Devouring Formation extends my life for another sixty years, it will still be hard for me to break through to the early Golden Core stage. If I want to go further in my cultivation, I must resort to extreme measures."
"The Soul Devouring Formation can not only help extend life but can also plunder others' cultivation, aiding cultivators in breaking through bottlenecks. Each cultivator can only use the Soul Devouring Formation once; to seize this unique opportunity, I must not only plunder the blood essence of loose cultivators but also steal your cultivation to help me break through the bottleneck of the early Golden Core stage."
Seeing Daoist Qingyan trapped in the formation, Su Qian, believing victory was assured, finally dropped his facade and revealed his true intentions, laying bare his scheme.
According to Su Qian's understanding from the Longevity Token,' to plunder another's blood essence to extend life, the target must be a cultivator practicing the Longevity Technique.
However, there were no restrictions when it came to plundering others' cultivation; any cultivator, regardless of the technique they practiced, could be targeted.
Yet, plundering others' cultivation wasn't without risks.
If a Qi Refining stage cultivator were to utilize the Soul Devouring Formation to plunder the cultivation of a Golden Core stage cultivator, the only outcome would be their body exploding from the overwhelming spiritual power within the Golden Core cultivator.
(End of the Chapter)
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