Chapter 1480: Jin Xueyu

Li Yan and Mu Guyue flew in the front. Unable to use their divine sense, the two of them needed to carefully sense their surroundings at all times.

In the great battle that afternoon, it was because they had not been able to discover it in advance, and those people had ambushed them in the river, that Mu Guyue and Li Yan had only sensed it when they flew directly overhead. Their reaction was ultimately a step too slow. At that time, the two of them had managed to dodge, but several Golden Core cultivators had been killed in the sneak attack. This made Li Yan even more cautious on the subsequent journey.

Although the dark night did not interfere much with cultivators, it would make people feel safer psychologically. Especially for those who were avoiding powerful enemies, they were more willing to travel at this time.

Li Yan and his group continued to advance. They had not encountered any more ambushes until the early morning. After changing their route, the journey had been smooth. This team, with deliberate effort, even wrapped their robes with magical power when they flew close to the ground so that their clothes would not make any sound, like a group of wandering ghosts in the deep night.

Li Yan and Mu Guyue flew side by side. They had not spoken a single word along the way. Both of them were people of few words, and at this time, they were even more focused on being on guard against their surroundings.

They continued to gallop like this, constantly approaching the direction of the sect.

At a certain moment, the group was flying through a hilly area. The starlight from the night sky illuminated a large patch of dense wild grass on the ground. They swayed and undulated with the night wind, also like countless ghosts swaying their small bodies, giving people a sense of the unknown and tranquility of the road ahead.

Li Yan in front was speeding along. He quickly flew over a hillock and was about to continue without stopping, to sweep down again, when his forward-moving body suddenly stopped, and he immediately stopped on top of the hillock. Then, he turned his head and looked around with some doubt. The Golden Core cultivators following behind him also stopped immediately. Their hearts skipped a beat, and they all looked at the dark surroundings.

‘Have we encountered the enemy again?’

Many people immediately thought in their hearts. This captain of their team was very sensitive to danger. Of the several times they had encountered danger in the afternoon, only once had they been ambushed. The rest had all been averted. Especially that time at the Yellow Luvyuan Manor, a Spirit Transformation realm cultivator had appeared. If Li Yan had reacted even a little slower, then they would all have been left behind.

Of course, their thoughts here had automatically ignored Mu Guyue’s role and attributed all the main credit to Li Yan.

“Over there!”

Just as Li Yan was looking around, Mu Guyue’s cold voice, like an orchid in the night, came from the side. The two of them were very close, which made Li Yan feel a fragrant breath like an orchid constantly entering his nose.

Li Yan turned his head and saw that Mu Guyue had already turned her head and was looking towards the front side. From the side, Mu Guyue’s face looked even more aloof and noble.

Mu Guyue had only said three short words, without any extra nonsense. Li Yan also nodded; he had sensed it too.

Li Yan immediately shifted his gaze. Just as he had flown up the hill, he had sensed an abnormal fluctuation of spiritual energy in the heaven and earth a hundred miles away. Because on both sides of their path were continuous mountain ranges that towered into the clouds, they twisted and turned as they extended, so their line of sight was blocked.

“Cultivators are fighting!” Li Yan also said quickly.

“There are quite a few of them, and the battle is widespread!” Mu Guyue immediately added. Although she didn’t have the ability to search with soul power, she still gave her own judgment.

Then, the two of them fell into a brief silence. After Mu Guyue had finished speaking, she stood quietly to one side, waiting for Li Yan’s decision.

The route Li Yan and the others had chosen was a path that ran between two canyons, sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, and winding all the way. If they didn’t fly close to the ground and wanted to change their route, then they had to fly at a high altitude, cross the mountains on both sides, before they could switch to another route.

A journey of a hundred miles would easily be discovered by others at high altitude. Especially now that there was a battle going on there, they would definitely be sensing the abnormal aura nearby at all times to prevent others from suddenly intervening. It was only because his group had been hiding and walking close to the ground that they had not been discovered by the other party for the time being.

Now, Li Yan had two choices before him. One was to push forward. Although the fluctuation was sensed to be in the front side, the route they were taking was winding, and it was highly likely that they would run into them head-on. The other decision was to retreat at least three hundred miles before choosing another route to detour. If they were to stick to the mountain ridge and cross over one of the mountains to detour directly, even if they only startled the birds and beasts on the mountain, it might still attract the attention of others.

“Let’s go take a look and then decide!”

After thinking for a moment, Li Yan made a decision. He didn’t want to go back again. Returning now might also lead to other unexpected encounters that they hadn’t come across on their way before. Since they had changed their route back to the sect, they had already deviated from the direction of their previous purge. Li Yan felt that one of the parties fighting in front might also be another purge team from the sect, who, like them, had fallen into a trap set by the nine major forces.

Mu Guyue didn’t say a word, but looked back at the Golden Core cultivators. The two of them were still communicating verbally, and Li Yan once again understood the other party’s meaning.

“Lead them forward for about fifty miles, then have them hide in place. We two will go and check.”

Mu Guyue was afraid that these Golden Core cultivators’ cultivation was too low, and if they were to sneak all the way there, they might expose everyone in advance. Li Yan also felt the same, but he already had a plan. …

Jin Xueyu, clad in armor and holding a great saber, unleashed three ghastly white, sharp energies with a single slash. The whistling energies shot toward the three people attacking him! His opponents were a slightly plump cultivator, a young and beautiful woman, and a three-foot-tall dwarf.

Jin Xueyu’s face was somewhat ferocious, with a look of madness! The red armor on his body was already covered in many cracks. The blood that seeped from those cracks had long since turned the bright red armor a dark red color.

At this moment, the shouts of battle were still continuing around him, but they were no longer as earth-shaking as before. This was because their team now only had fourteen or fifteen cultivators left. An hour ago, they had suddenly encountered an unexpected pincer attack. From the rear that had already been purged, a team of dozens of people had rushed out without any warning.

Jin Xueyu’s team, which had been on the offensive, was immediately dealt a fatal blow! The two Spirit Transformation captains leading their side had not even had time to react before they were instantly surrounded by a total of five Spirit Transformation experts from the two sides. But the two Spirit Transformation cultivators on their side were also very strong. They had not died under the other party’s sneak attack. Instead, after withstanding the first round of attacks, they began to lead everyone in a frantic breakout. In this way, the two captains had tied down the enemy’s top fighting power.

This allowed Jin Xueyu and the other four Nascent Soul cultivators, also fighting desperately, after suffering many casualties, to actually charge out with a group of Golden Core cultivators. The direction they charged in, of course, could no longer be the direction held by the nine major forces. They also chose to retreat to the rear, hoping to find reinforcements as soon as possible.

Jin Xueyu and the others fought and retreated, all the way to this point. And at this time, they had already suffered heavy casualties. Apart from the remaining ten or so Golden Core cultivators, he was the only one left among all the Nascent Soul realm experts on their side.

At this moment, Jin Xueyu was already extremely exhausted. He had been fighting all the way without a moment’s rest, which gave him no time to recover. To be able to last until now showed that his cultivation and combat experience were much stronger than his other fallen companions. But he was not a Spirit Transformation cultivator; he was, after all, only a Nascent Soul.

The three people opposite him, led by the slightly plump cultivator, all showed a look of mockery on their faces as they looked at Jin Xueyu’s renewed attack. The two Spirit Transformation cultivators in this Aegis Guard team had been left behind by their own experts. It was estimated that they would not be able to survive. After chasing and killing these people all the way here, they were at the end of their rope, with no possibility of escape. However, their own side had also paid a considerable price for this.

The other side had lost four Nascent Soul cultivators and seventy to eighty Golden Core cultivators. But under the other side’s desperate struggle, their own side’s Nascent Soul cultivators had also lost two, with three seriously injured, and more than forty Golden Core cultivators had also died. Although their own side had more people due to the pincer attack, it was precisely because of this that these Soul Suppression Palace cultivators had felt despair and had all fought with their lives.

In the battles between the two sides, tragic scenes of mutual destruction would often occur. Even though the enemy was outnumbered, they had still managed to inflict considerable casualties on their own side. Now it was finally the end. It was a three-on-one situation, and they would not give the other party any time to recover.

And the fact was indeed so. The Jin Xueyu opposite them was almost at the bottom of both his magical power and his soul power. Seeing the three ghastly white lights attacking him, the three slightly plump cultivators, while sneering, also drove their magical treasures and arts to meet them.

The three ghastly white lights that Jin Xueyu had cut out, in just one exchange, all let out a mournful cry and instantly turned into specks of starlight and dispersed in the air. And the three people opposite him, when they took Jin Xueyu’s attack, appeared to be very relaxed. Their souls only fluctuated slightly. At this time, Jin Xueyu’s attack had almost no effect on them.

Jin Xueyu, who had launched this attack, only felt a wave of weakness. An intense drowsiness came over him. His meridians were stinging, and his sea of consciousness was already throbbing with pain…

“Don’t use any high-powered arts, capture him alive!”

The leading slightly plump cultivator, seeing Jin Xueyu’s state, also swept his soul power over the other party’s body again in an instant. He was still afraid that Jin Xueyu was feigning. But he quickly made a judgment. Jin Xueyu was really at the end of his rope. So he shouted to the other two, for fear that they would strike too heavily.

They had been waiting for this moment. The other party was an Aegis Guard of the Soul Suppression Palace. They didn’t know if they could capture a Spirit Transformation cultivator alive. But if they could capture a squad leader of the Aegis Guard, that would be a great merit. They could get a lot of rich cultivation resources for this merit. If they didn’t want to capture him alive, this Aegis Guard would have been hacked to death by them long ago.

The slightly plump cultivator’s voice was very low. Amidst the explosions of arts everywhere, Jin Xueyu could only faintly hear a few words, but he still immediately guessed the other party’s intention from their demeanor and actions. His heart tightened. He immediately, regardless of anything, tried to mobilize his soul power again. But the next moment, Jin Xueyu himself almost roared out.

His soul power had been over-consumed, and the other party had not given him time to take any pills. At this time, when he sensed his soul, he found that it had become blurry and faint, as if it was about to collapse. But if it could really collapse in time, that would be good. But that also required a process. If he were to destroy his own soul, the unbearable pain made Jin Xueyu’s heart tremble just thinking about it.

What was the soul? Normally, not to mention letting it be damaged, even a light touch would be extremely uncomfortable and painful. Normally, it was so easy to talk about suicide. But to really let one’s soul fly and scatter, with the mental preparation, the pain would be amplified even more.

Jin Xueyu immediately abandoned his soul power and mobilized his last bit of magical power, pouring it directly into all parts of his body. He knew he could only self-detonate his physical body, and then take this opportunity to let his Nascent Soul escape and teleport away.

And just as he was mobilizing his magical power, the three slightly plump cultivators opposite him had already moved. Their reaction was a bit faster than Jin Xueyu’s at this time. The moment Jin Xueyu made a move, his entire person was directly enveloped by a wave of magical power and two waves of soul power. The magical power in his body, the moment it was enveloped by the external force, had a brief stagnation. And with this brief stagnation, it would be difficult for him to self-detonate his physical body again. Since the three people opposite him had been waiting for this opportunity, how could they give him another one?

At this time, it was already a fantasy for Jin Xueyu to want to self-detonate his physical body.

Jin Xueyu sensed the soul art descending from above his head, and the magical power in his body was turbulent and unable to condense. And his reaction time was only an instant. He only had one last struggle. He immediately abandoned the self-detonation of his physical body and let his Nascent Soul quickly escape. Perhaps there was still a chance to teleport away!

And just as Jin Xueyu was launching his final attack, none of the dozens of cultivators here had noticed that in the dark night, two figures were lurking on a mountain ridge.

It was Li Yan and Mu Guyue, who had sneaked all the way here. When they saw clearly the two sides in the wide mountain valley, Li Yan was also stunned.

“Why are the Aegis Guard here?”

This was his first thought. For a moment, he didn’t know if these were soldiers that the Soul Suppression Palace had sent out later, or if they had retreated from the front line. This thought only flashed for a moment, because he saw that the Aegis Guard with the strongest cultivation was already at the end of his rope. The other ten or so Golden Core realm Aegis Guard were also back to back, relying on each other, and were jointly resisting the attacks from all sides. Looking at the number and strength of the enemy, these Aegis Guard were definitely not going to be able to escape.

“Should we make a move?”

Mu Guyue sensed the fluctuations caused by the battle between the two sides. The four people should be Nascent Soul realm cultivators, and the rest were all Golden Core.

“Kill the Nascent Souls first!”

The moment Li Yan saw the situation on the field clearly, he no longer hesitated. The Aegis Guard Nascent Soul cultivator could no longer hold on, and although the Golden Core realm Aegis Guard could still hold on for a while, it wouldn’t be for too long. If he had known the situation here was like this, he would have brought everyone up directly. That way, dealing with the enemies here would be much easier. But it was clear that at this time, he couldn’t go back and bring people over.

Just as Jin Xueyu was about to send his Nascent Soul out of his body, he suddenly felt a change on the field. Two strong winds suddenly blew up from the flat ground. Then, under his disbelieving gaze, the three people opposite him, who had been looking at him with a sneer, suddenly two of them exploded into two clouds of blood mist, and then another cloud of blood mist shot into the sky!

All of this, the change happened in just an instant. None of the people present had reacted. As the three clouds of blood mist erupted, only the leading slightly plump middle-aged man let out a tragic scream amidst the rain of blood!

Then, after the two winds had swept past once, all the sounds of battle in the entire mountain valley returned to a boundless silence, and then two figures were revealed…

…

After several tens of breaths, a group of Golden Core realm Aegis Guard looked in horror at the group of people in front of them. These people, one by one, were extremely nimble, and were quickly collecting various things from the bodies of the enemy cultivators. These people’s movements were very skilled, and such movements had also happened to them many times in the past.

But now, these Golden Core Aegis Guard did not dare to shout at them. They could only watch, stunned, as the twenty-odd people continuously moved around, collecting various things. They were already green with envy. The corpses of those enemy Golden Core cultivators had basically all been killed by them, and after these people came, they had started searching without any courtesy.

However, when they saw the black-robed, short-haired youth who was standing on an empty piece of ground in front of them, looking around, and the beautiful and aloof female cultivator beside him, these Aegis Guard, for a time, did not dare to go forward and stop them.

The two of them had just attacked like a flash of lightning, like silver water pouring onto the ground, and had instantly killed the three enemy Nascent Souls. It was a sneak attack, but it was a sneak attack that was filled with a sense of powerful beauty, something that could be watched for appreciation! The movements of the two of them were extremely smooth, and they killed the enemy in one go, without a single pause in between, as if it was just a gentle breeze that had blown past the entire mountain valley… And then all the enemies here, one by one, were either left with no bones, or were staring with wide, empty eyes at the black night sky in front of them. As if even in death, they were still confirming if a ghost had been here!