Chapter 1456: Mu Guyue's Situation (Part Two)

“Oh, you mean that woman in the black armor? She’s not Great Master Lan’s disciple. She’s an Evil Spirit Cultivator. If it were anyone else, I really might not know.

But many people pay attention to Great Master Lan’s attendants. This woman is also one of Great Master Lan’s Soul Slaves, probably at the Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation level.

It was about forty or fifty years ago, I think, that she was captured and brought back by cultivators from the palace. She seems to have some kind of Demon Clan bloodline. That race is born with powerful bloodlines, so their soul power is naturally not weak.

Originally, someone as devastatingly beautiful as her would surely have been taken as a Cultivation Cauldron. But unexpectedly, Great Master Lan took a liking to her and directly claimed her. Since then, she has always been by Great Master Lan’s side.

You could say this woman’s fate is good; she’s still alive after all these decades. But seeing her attire today, is Great Master Lan planning to have her fight?

This kind of armor, aside from being worn by the palace’s Guard Army, is also typically worn by some of the ‘Evil Spirit Cultivators’ who fight here to increase their defense.

After all, the duels between them aren’t about soul power penetration, but more about physical defense and resistance.

And this type of armor, refined within our own sect, is quite a decent defensive treasure. Sometimes it’s bestowed upon Soul Slaves.

Hehehe… I’ve heard that quite a few people have been eyeing this woman, including other Void Refining cultivators. What, has Fellow Daoist Li also taken a fancy to her?

This woman is truly of the highest quality, but I’ve never heard of Great Master Lan giving away a Soul Slave she has chosen.

And even if she agreed to give her away, it’s not something small cultivators like us could even dream of. There would surely be a host of elders fighting to claim her!”

Tang Feng looked at Li Yan, his tone rich with implication.

From that single question, he knew what this Li Yan was thinking. But she belonged to Great Master Lan; how could a minor Nascent Soul cultivator like him dare to covet her?

Especially a Strange Sparrow Hall cultivator who had just joined the sect, not even from the same hall.

“Fellow Daoist Tang jests. This junior has long heard of Great Master Lan’s esteemed name. As a cultivator who has just entered the sect, I naturally just want to recognize the people around her.

It’s to avoid unintentionally offending someone by the Great Master’s side in the future. Wouldn’t the loss outweigh the gain then? So she’s just a Soul Slave. Does Great Master Lan have any disciples? Why did she only bring this one Soul Slave?”

With a few words, Li Yan changed the subject.

“Of course Great Master Lan has disciples. Among them are not only Nascent Soul cultivators like us, but also Spirit Transformation realm experts.

They are all rather famous figures in the Subduing Stars Hall. Each one has their own affairs to attend to. Unless Great Master Lan summons them, they won’t follow her around day and night…”

Tang Feng nodded after hearing Li Yan’s words.

But he didn’t fully believe him. That female demon general was a top-tier prize. What man wouldn’t be moved upon seeing her?

So for Li Yan to claim he wasn’t interested was an absolute lie. He would just listen and let it be.

However, the reason Li Yan gave was also valid. It was very necessary to understand the relationships of important figures within the sect.

This was especially true for disciples without a backer. They had to be careful in their daily lives, fearing they might accidentally step on the wrong toes.

A flick of someone else’s finger could mean a miserable end for them.

Listening to Tang Feng’s simple explanation, Li Yan maintained a smile, but his heart first relaxed, then fell into thought.

‘So she’s just a Soul Slave. In that case, I don’t need to worry too much. I almost thought I’d have to flee this sect again…’

Under these circumstances, even if this female demon general saw him, Li Yan wasn’t afraid. He was now well aware of the situation in the Earth-True Domain and knew how much the soul cultivators here detested “Evil Spirit Cultivators.”

Even if this female demon general loudly declared to everyone that he was also an outsider cultivator, few would believe her. He, after all, had passed through multiple assessments to join the sect.

Wouldn’t that be saying the Soul-Suppression Palace was blind? All he would have to do is utter a few furious words like, “This ‘Evil Spirit Cultivator’ has sinister intentions and truly deserves to die,” and she might be killed on the spot.

Taking a step back, even if someone suspected him of being an outsider cultivator, they could only assume he was an outsider soul cultivator. After all, his soul cultivation was laid bare for all to see.

In any case, the trust people here had for “Evil Spirit Cultivators” was practically nonexistent.

As Li Yan’s heart relaxed, he listened to Tang Feng while once again looking diagonally across at the slender woman in armor, who was now standing behind the seated Great Master Lan.

Somehow, after learning of this female demon general’s true situation and experiencing the earlier anxiety, a very uncomfortable feeling arose in Li Yan’s heart.

This wasn’t an emotion of rejection from seeing the female demon general, but rather the fact that she had been… enslaved. This immediately caused a dislike for Great Master Lan to sprout from the depths of Li Yan’s heart.

‘She appeared in the Soul-Suppression Palace forty to fifty years ago. This means the time she was drawn into the “Earth-True Domain” is roughly the same as mine. Could it be that she also hadn’t been in the Immortal Spirit Realm for long…

But wasn’t it said that the entrance here appears at intervals of at least several decades? Was the information I gathered incorrect?’

Li Yan thought silently to himself.

Mu Guyue stood behind Great Master Lan, silent from beginning to end, but her heart was filled with bitterness.

After her successful ascension, in order to cultivate and repay the spirit stones she had borrowed for the “Immortalization Liquid,” she had to desperately earn spirit stones everywhere.

Under all sorts of pressure, she had long forgotten her former glory. Back then, she was a lofty expert in the mortal realm, one of the few in her clan that no one dared to provoke, standing at the pinnacle.

After arriving in the Immortal Spirit Realm, all she wanted was to pay off her spirit stones and then cultivate peacefully to increase her strength while searching for her clansmen.

So, she joined a demon-hunting squad, frequently venturing into the outer regions of the “Heavenly Demon Prairie,” constantly hunting various demonic beasts below the fifth rank.

During this long process, she had come close to death on the prairie more than a dozen times.

But in the end, relying on her extraordinary cultivation and the powerful recovery ability of her physical body, although she escaped with scars and near-fatal injuries each time, she always managed to get away.

In the eyes of others, the members of their squad came and went, but she was the one who survived.

And the spirit stones she owed dwindled with such desperate efforts, which began to lift her spirits.

But just as she was filled with hope, thinking that this life-risking career was about to end, and was already planning her future—once the final spirit stones were paid off, she would quit the demon-hunting squad and focus on improving her cultivation—something happened.

A little over one hundred and twenty years ago, their squad entered the “Heavenly Demon Prairie” again. As they planned to set up an ambush in a patch of tall grass, a vast white fog inexplicably rose from that very patch.

By the time they could see their surroundings clearly, the entire squad had already been drawn into this place.

After arriving here, their ten-person squad, still bewildered by the dangers of this place, went through an initial panic of losing their divine sense. They guessed that they might have accidentally entered a secret realm.

So, after a brief discussion, the ten of them began to search for an exit, trying to leave this space that had turned them into “blind men.”

However, having lost their divine sense, Mu Guyue and the others became exceptionally cautious. The ten of them acted together and did not split up.

Not long after, in their search for an exit, they saw two cultivators from a distance.

But before they could approach to ask for information, the two also spotted their group of ten. They immediately turned and fled, disappearing without a trace after just a few flashes.

Here, without their divine sense, they could only watch helplessly as the two figures flickered a few times and rounded several mountain peaks. Even though their captain and vice-captain were Spirit Transformation cultivators, they could no longer sweep the area with their divine sense as before, leaving the other party with nowhere to hide.

Seeing the two flee without being able to catch them in time, they only raised their guard, not yet realizing the doom that was about to befall them.

They thought it was the most basic reaction of the two upon seeing their group of ten approaching.

As cultivators, if they were to face a group of strangers several times their number approaching, they too would run as far as they could.

However, the series of events that followed was like a nightmare descending, bringing them to the brink of annihilation in an instant!

Just a short quarter of an hour later, as the ten of them were flying, thirty to forty cultivators suddenly appeared around them. Mu Guyue and the others couldn’t even sense the cultivation realms of these people.

And these people, without a word, attacked the ten of them as soon as they appeared.

The battle that followed was completely one-sided. Their group of ten was not at all accustomed to fighting without their divine sense.

And what horrified Mu Guyue and the others even more was that they didn’t see these people form any hand seals or cast any spells. In just one exchange, six of the ten of them plummeted from the sky towards the earth below.

Some could still clutch their heads and let out inhuman screams of pain.

The unlucky ones were instantly knocked unconscious, falling like meteorites, crashing into the ground with enough force to send dust flying and crack the earth, their life or death unknown.

Mu Guyue’s head was also splitting with pain, but the powerful bloodline of the Demon Clan finally kicked in. A powerful life force often meant they possessed more vigorous soul power than others.

Although a heart-piercing pain suddenly shot through her soul, catching her off guard and nearly causing her to lose consciousness, she grit her teeth through the agony and managed to stay somewhat lucid.

So, she grabbed another female cultivator who had a life-saving talisman and instantly charged in one direction.

The formidable physical strength of the Black Demon Clan meant that Mu Guyue’s combat power, already at the peak of the Late-stage Nascent Soul realm, was actually no less than that of an Initial-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator.

The cultivators who besieged them didn’t expect this female cultivator to be so formidable, to be able to break through the combined attack of several people. Moreover, her speed was like a bolt of lightning.

They had only just launched one attack, and she had already dragged another person with her, tearing through the void as she charged over.

This left the five cultivators in that direction with only enough time to react before Mu Guyue was upon them, brutally ramming through three of them.

The fate of those three was tragic. While their bodies were still flying through the air, their flesh transformed into chunks of bloody meat, shooting out in all directions like a rain of arrows with a series of whooshing sounds.

Then, with a few more leaps, Mu Guyue took the other person and vanished without a trace.

As for the last two people in their team still standing in the air, they were the two Spirit Transformation realm captains.

Although they had also defended against the attacks of these cultivators, they were passively defending on the spot and failed to break out in the first instance. In the years that followed, Mu Guyue never saw the two captains again…

After escaping with the other female cultivator, feeling the heart-piercing pain in her soul, Mu Guyue had already realized what was happening, and her heart was filled with inexplicable horror.

They had actually encountered dozens of soul cultivators. This type of sinister cultivator was rarely seen in the outside world. How had they stirred up a hornet’s nest here, with so many soul cultivators appearing at once?

Although they had been cautious and on guard before, they never expected to encounter such a danger. Without the aid of their divine sense, how could they be a match for those people?

In their small team, the weakest were two Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. Now, in just one exchange, they were almost completely wiped out. Even the two Spirit Transformation realm captains were surrounded.

Mu Guyue and the female cultivator she had rescued, named Ting Lan, fled for tens of thousands of li before finally choosing to hide in a dense forest.

The female cultivator named Ting Lan was one of the two weakest Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. However, at the moment she was hit by the soul cultivators’ formless attack, a jade pendant on her neck had erupted with a circle of yellow light, protecting the stunned Ting Lan within it. She was, in fact, the only one among the ten who was completely unharmed.

But her reaction was a little slow, and she didn’t escape at the first moment. The light from the jade pendant flared up blindingly again, then quickly dimmed.

Evidently, the people attacking them, upon realizing something was wrong, had other soul cultivators join in the attack against her.

Fortunately, Mu Guyue had grabbed her and taken her along when she left, otherwise, Ting Lan would have suffered the same fate as the others.

Ting Lan had joined this demon-hunting team later on. She was also a rogue cultivator, with a very delicate and pretty appearance. Although not as breathtakingly beautiful as Mu Guyue, she was still a first-class beauty.

In the entire team, she was also the only one Mu Guyue could talk to and get along with the most.

Otherwise, with Mu Guyue’s aloof and cold personality, it was hard to say if she would have taken her along to escape in a moment of crisis.

After the two of them escaped with their lives and hid in the dense forest, they were filled with lingering fear for a long time.

Only after confirming that no one was chasing them did they slowly calm down. Finally, the two of them immediately began to discuss their plans.

With so many soul cultivators here, even with their combined strength, just staying alive would be difficult enough. It was best to find their teammates if possible.

After some discussion, the two of them felt that they should still sneak back and see what the final result of the battle was.

Although they couldn’t sense the cultivation realms of the soul cultivators who had attacked their group of ten, their team’s captain and vice-captain were, after all, Spirit Transformation realm experts. Perhaps they had other means to save their lives and escape, or even defeat their opponents.

So, after carefully confirming that there was nothing unusual in their surroundings, the two of them slowly crept back. But before they had gone even a few dozen li, they saw a large group of cultivators searching for something everywhere.

Seeing such a formation, the two of them were not stupid. They immediately knew that their pursuers had caught up and were searching for the two of them.

Counting the number of their opponents, to be able to spare so many people to search everywhere, under these circumstances, there was almost no hope left. The other eight were most likely dead.

Mu Guyue and Ting Lan could only flee for their lives again. During the rest of their escape, the two of them were constantly discovered, and several times they came close to death.

Mu Guyue was even knocked unconscious by the soul cultivators’ continuous attacks on her divine soul. When she woke up again, she found that it was Ting Lan who had saved her in return.

Relying on the last of the jade pendant’s power, the other party had recklessly carried the unconscious Mu Guyue and launched a fierce attack to break through.

Once a soul cultivator’s attack failed, their greatest fear was being approached. Unexpectedly finding that their attacks were useless against the opponent, Ting Lan had already closed the distance while the enemies were stunned.

Terrified, the few soul cultivators quickly made way, and Ting Lan finally managed to carry Mu Guyue out.

Just like that, the two of them fled all the way, finally escaping to a remote and desolate place. Once there, they slowly shook off the pursuit of the soul cultivators behind them.

So, in the days that followed, after their injuries slowly healed, the two of them also began to quietly gather information.

Their goal was only one: to leave this damn place as soon as possible.

But they didn’t dare to venture too far from that remote place, instead, they explored outwards bit by bit.

Finally, they discovered the existence of some mortals. Being cautious, the two women did not encounter a situation similar to Li Yan’s. Knowing that this secret realm was strange, they directly used arts on the mortals.

After getting some information, they finally had some clues about this strange place they had entered.