Translator: Cinder Translations
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"It's you…" Daoist Qingyan was filled with regret.
Her final thought before her last breath was that perhaps she should never have gotten involved in Su Qian's life-extension plan from the start. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have ended up in this situation today.
A suction force emerged from Song Wen's hand, pulling the soul of Daoist Qingyan into his sea of consciousness.
A black hole appeared in the sea of consciousness, devouring her soul.
Using the secret art of the Corpse Path, Song Wen sealed the bodies of Su Qian and Daoist Qingyan. He took out the Corpse Nurturing Coffin and placed all three corpses, including Su Wenshi's, inside it.
He also collected Daoist Qingyan's severed limbs, one by one.
These three bodies were excellent materials for refining corpse puppets; they couldn't be wasted. Even if Song Wen had no use for them, selling them on the black market would fetch a good price.
Song Wen then went to the place where Su Anqing had been killed. Su Anqing had been cut into pieces by Du Tianhua's sword, his body shattered beyond repair, making it worthless for corpse refining.
However, his soul still remained inside his head, which Song Wen devoured.
After searching around, Song Wen didn't find Su Anqing's storage ring. It must have been taken by Du Tianhua.
After collecting all the benefits he could, Song Wen approached the concealing mist.
The six Sacred Gu still hadn't seen any sign of Du Tianhua emerging.
"Could it be that he's injured too badly and is hiding in the mist to heal?" Song Wen speculated.
The longer he stayed here, the greater the variables, which would only put Song Wen at a disadvantage.
Song Wen decided to enter the mist again and search. If he couldn't find Du Tianhua, he would have to give up.
Du Tianhua was severely injured and was likely hiding somewhere, healing in secret.
The area covered by the concealing mist was flat and open, so the most likely place for Du Tianhua to hide was underground.
He might have dug out a secret underground cave and concealed himself inside. As long as he camouflaged the entrance well enough, hiding the traces of digging, the mist would block spiritual senses, making it difficult to discover him.
This time, it was the Ghost King who entered the mist to search.
The six Sacred Gu, the silver corpse, and Song Wen were positioned at various points outside the mist, monitoring the situation.
The Ghost King entered the mist, wielding a ghost sword. He slashed continuously at the ground, sending sword energy, formed from ghostly qi, several meters deep into the soft earth, easily cutting ten meters underground and scattering the soil.
The Ghost King circled the edges of the mist, moving toward the center as it spiraled inward.
It moved quickly, and within a few dozen breaths, most of the area covered by the mist had been overturned, leaving only a small patch at the center untouched.
In the center of the mist, a patch of turf moved, and Du Tianhua's head emerged from it.
He cast a fierce gaze toward the Ghost King, who was making too much noise with its digging; there was no way not to notice.
The Ghost King would soon find him; hiding underground was no longer an option.
Du Tianhua crawled out of the ground and extended his spiritual senses to identify his surroundings.
He wasn't affected by the concealing mist and could easily sense the positions of the silver corpse and Song Wen outside of it. He avoided the areas they were guarding and silently made his way to the edge of the mist. Then, summoning his flying sword, he shot out of the mist at high speed.
Du Tianhua's sudden appearance immediately caught Song Wen's attention, but he realized he couldn't catch up.
Desperate to escape, Du Tianhua disregarded the injuries in his body, channeling all his power and exploding with his maximum speed.
The two Sacred Gu closest to him couldn't even react in time as he sped past them.
Song Wen's eyes narrowed. He couldn't let Du Tianhua escape so easily.
A surge of blood qi erupted from within his body, and Song Wen's figure instantly disappeared into the blood mist.
When he reappeared, he was already a hundred meters in front of Du Tianhua.
This time, using the Blood Escape Technique didn't cause any discomfort for Song Wen. On the contrary, after expending some blood qi, his body felt significantly lighter.
Song Wen tossed the short spear in his hand forward. With a thought, the short spear was instantly enveloped in lightning, carrying immense thunderous power as it shot straight for Du Tianhua's face.
Seeing Song Wen suddenly appear in front of him, Du Tianhua's expression changed drastically.
His internal injuries were severe, and his brief healing within the concealing mist had merely suppressed his wounds, preventing them from worsening. At this moment, flying at full speed, he was pushing his body to its limits. If he continued to fight, with one arm and one leg missing, coupled with his internal injuries, his body might collapse under the strain.
As the short spear approached, Du Tianhua had no choice but to make a desperate move.
Though Song Wen only had mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, without the aid of his silver corpse and ghost king, Du Tianhua still had a chance to fight. If he could force Song Wen back, he could continue his escape.
Du Tianhua didn't slow down, forcefully channeling his remaining spiritual power. A flash of dark red sword light slashed toward the short spear.
"Clang!"
A piercing sound rang out.
Both the dark red flying sword and the short spear were thrown aside.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed from the sky, heading straight for Du Tianhua below.
At this point, there wasn't enough time for Du Tianhua to recall the dark red flying sword to block the divine thunder. He had no choice but to channel his spiritual power, wielding his broadsword and striking upward.
The lightning was shattered by the strike.
"Pfft!"
Due to forcefully using his spiritual power, Du Tianhua aggravated his internal injuries, causing him to vomit a large mouthful of blood.
Even more deadly was the fact that his speed had significantly slowed, allowing the silver corpse to catch up.
The silver corpse, like a predator pouncing on its prey, opened its gaping maw, revealing sharp fangs, and bit down on Du Tianhua's right shoulder.
"Ahh!"
Amid Du Tianhua's painful screams, the silver corpse yanked hard, tearing his entire right arm off.
Immediately after, the silver corpse's sharp claws pierced straight through Du Tianhua's chest.
The Golden Core Ancestor of the Du family was dead!
After devouring Du Tianhua's soul, Song Wen sealed his body and placed it in the Corpse Nurturing Coffin.
Song Wen then flew to the summit of Qingping Mountain and released all his Sacred Gu.
Moments later, with the help of the Sacred Gu, Song Wen scanned everything within a radius of sixteen miles.
Not a single living person could be seen on Qingping Mountain.
The remaining Su family cultivators who had survived by luck had already fled to an unknown location.
The entire Su family estate on Qingping Mountain had been reduced to rubble and pillaged by the Du family cultivators.
Even the ancestral tower at the mountain's peak had been emptied. However, this likely wasn't the work of the Du family but of the surviving members of the Su family.
Some of the external cultivators had been killed by the Du family, while others had fled to unknown places.
The Su family's spirit fields on the western side of the mountain were in ruins.
Most of the spiritual herbs had been completely harvested, leaving only a few common, low-grade herbs. This was likely the work of the Du family as well.
However, the mortals in Su family's town had not been heavily affected.
The Du family hadn't had time to plunder the town before Daoist Qingyan had driven them off. Most of the townspeople had fled, leaving only the elderly and infirm behind.
Song Wen shook his head. There was nothing left on Qingping Mountain worth taking.
However, the Sacred Gu had found seventeen Foundation Establishment corpses. These were the Su family cultivators who had been killed by Daoist Qingyan.
The corpses were heavily damaged and of little value, but he did manage to collect seventeen storage rings.
(End of the Chapter)
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