Chapter 1482: Floating Shadows

Hearing the other party’s words, which seemed to be setting a trap, Li Yan immediately felt it was truly boring. This person was trying to make him leave a verbal handle in front of everyone. To Li Yan, this kind of scheme was like child’s play. Li Yan simply didn’t bother with him anymore and turned to leave. Mu Guyue didn’t even glance at the other party out of the corner of her eye and also turned to leave.

And the Golden Core cultivators on both sides, hearing the two of them, who had been talking nicely just before, suddenly become so hostile, all became nervous. If these two were to fight, then they would definitely have to fight too. If the sect found out about this matter, none of them here would have a good end.

Seeing that Li Yan was no longer paying any attention to the other party and was turning to leave, the group of Golden Core cultivators under Li Yan also followed, their faces full of vigilance. As long as there was no order from the sect, they had no desire to go and gather any military intelligence. Who didn’t know how precious their own lives were?

Hearing Li Yan’s even tougher words, Jin Xueyu’s face was extremely ugly. He had not expected that a cultivator from the Strange Sparrow Hall would have no fear of him at all, and that the other party had even bothered to pay no heed to the trap in his words.

Watching Li Yan lead his men and leave quickly, although Jin Xueyu’s attitude was tough, he had no way to stop them. In his current state, he was probably only a little stronger than a Golden Core.

“Li Yan, is it? I will let you know the consequences of disobeying a military order!” Jin Xueyu said in a low voice, his aura gradually becoming as thick as blood.

Seeing that their Squad Leader’s face was gloomy and his aura was becoming increasingly cold, but he had not ordered them to stop the Strange Sparrow Hall cultivators, the Golden Core realm Aegis Guard members also let out a long sigh of relief in their hearts. If they were to fight here, and at this time, their side would definitely be at a disadvantage. Not to mention anything else, the state of everyone on their side at this time was not at its peak. Especially the two Nascent Soul cultivators opposite them, to them, were too terrifying.

Thinking about the sharpness of the black-robed, short-haired youth’s attack just now, if they angered the other party, and if they were really all annihilated by these people, it was estimated that no one would know. Then they would all have died in vain.

“Find a place to recover from your injuries and restore your cultivation!”

Jin Xueyu withdrew his gaze and then said to the remaining dozen or so men under his command.

…

Li Yan led his men and flew forward for only a few dozen miles before turning onto a mountain ridge. They followed the ridge all the way up, and after crossing the summit, they quickly headed in another direction.

Mu Guyue, at his side, glanced back in the direction they had come from, a peculiar look in her phoenix eyes.

‘He’s being too careful!’

Although Li Yan had not told her the route back, she knew that he had already changed the original route at this time and was flying towards another area. Li Yan would rather take a much longer detour, and the moment he was out of sight of Jin Xueyu and the others, he had unhesitatingly moved away from this area.

This made Mu Guyue feel that Li Yan was almost being overly cautious. Although Jin Xueyu could probably guess their return route from the direction they had left in, Li Yan had not mentioned the route at all when he was talking with the other party. And now, without any sign of trouble, Li Yan had made a change. According to her, if they had just fought one more time just now, everything would have been solved, and there would be no worries. Why bother with all this trouble?

Looking at the direction they were heading, Li Yan had adjusted the route into a large detour. It was almost as if the Soul Suppression Palace was to the north, but they were heading west. But Mu Guyue didn’t say anything and continued to follow silently by Li Yan’s side, leading the group of people and speeding west.

Although the Golden Core cultivators under Li Yan had also discovered that they were no longer heading towards the Soul Suppression Palace, no one dared to ask. Their captain, apart from being accidentally ambushed at the Yellow Luvyuan Manor, which had resulted in the deaths of many on their side, on the rest of the journey, they had suffered very few losses. Even in the great battle in the mountain valley before, he had not let them participate, but had snuck over with his Soul Slave and had solved the enemy.

What made them even happier was that Li Yan had refused the Aegis Guard’s conscription proposal. So, he would definitely not lead them to their deaths. However, now that there could be enemies on all sides, as long as they made a detour, it meant that the danger had increased…

…

And on the third morning of their detour, on the original route Li Yan and the others had been taking, a blood-red figure was flying rapidly through the air. His speed was extremely fast. One moment he was on the horizon, and the next, he was a thousand miles away. Truly a thousand miles in a single breath. And behind him, a large patch of black shadows had appeared, following closely!

The red armor on this blood-red figure was already more than half shattered, and this person had also lost a leg. This person’s face at this time was a ghastly white. He was constantly releasing his soul power, desperately sensing the fluctuations in the surrounding heaven and earth. In his anxious heart, despair also appeared.

‘Damn it, as long as Li Yan and the others aren’t flying blatantly, and are hiding and advancing, with so many Golden Core cultivators, their speed definitely won’t be fast. Based on the position where I encountered them before, it’s impossible for them to have already returned to the sect. Logically, they should be on this route back. I have been burning my soul, so I should have already caught up with them, but there’s no trace of them. But even if I didn’t encounter them, with so many clean-up teams in the rear, how could I not have encountered other cultivators from the Soul Suppression Palace…’

Outside this cultivator’s body, there was a circle of black shadow, and this circle of black shadow was burning with rising flames, making the cultivator’s face, in its pain, incomparably ferocious.

This person was Jin Xueyu, who had parted ways with Li Yan a few nights ago. At this moment, there was not a single other Aegis Guard member by his side. And behind him, on a red palm, stood many cultivators, chasing him relentlessly. Among these cultivators, there were actually four Spirit Transformation level cultivators.

“This man is quite alert. In a moment of carelessness, he managed to sneak nearby, and they almost got away. Under desperation, this evasion art is truly not bad, reaching the flying speed of a Spirit Transformation realm cultivator!” A bare-chested big man was holding a large axe, looking ahead nonchalantly, and said in a muffled voice.

“Giggle… the key is that this person is decisive. The moment he saw things were not good, he abandoned his subordinates and immediately ran away on his own. Otherwise, with a little hesitation, he would have had his three huns and seven pos chopped off by your axe!” Among the four, a woman in a light green dress, with a large expanse of fair, flat abdomen exposed, covered her mouth and giggled.

When they were discussing their plans in a valley, this group of small cultivators was so bold as to sneak over without knowing life from death. Such a good thing, they would of course take it all.

Jin Xueyu’s eyes were already crimson. The red palm behind him was getting closer and closer, and the time limit for his secret art was almost up.

‘Damn it, how could they not be on this route? How could it be…’

A series of roars sounded in his heart. This time, there was no one left to save him. If he had known this, he shouldn’t have turned back to gather military intelligence. Not only had he lost all the cultivators in his team, but he was also about to be caught.

And the reason for all of this was only one: the Soul Suppression Palace had dominated the “True Earth Domain” for too many years, and the Aegis Guard had always been high and mighty. They felt that all living beings in the world were nothing but worthless dogs. In addition to the initial counterattack, where they had crushed the nine major forces like splitting bamboo, although he knew that the other side had existences at the Nascent Soul realm and above, Jin Xueyu felt that his side had suffered heavy casualties only because they had been caught in a pincer attack.

The two captains, the main and vice, were also incredibly strong. Otherwise, after they had escaped, they would not have been pursued by the other side’s Spirit Transformation cultivators for so long. He felt that the two captains might have been able to break out of the other side’s encirclement.

In his heart, he felt that his judgment was not wrong, because they had fought and fled all the way, leaving behind too many traces. If the enemy had killed the two captains, they would have long since caught up with them. So, he had wanted to go back and gather more intelligence, and at the same time, find the two captains. But before his group had even reached the place where the great battle had occurred, when they had snuck into a valley, they had encountered another group of enemies.

After some hesitation, Jin Xueyu had wanted to probe the other party’s situation. But not long after they had snuck into the valley, they had been discovered by the other party. By the time they wanted to flee, it was already too late!

At this time, the fleeing Jin Xueyu felt a tearing pain in his divine soul constantly assailing him. He knew that the time limit for his secret art had reached its final stage. This made his heart extremely panicked. His eyes were crimson, and he desperately spread out all his soul power, hoping to find Li Yan’s group or other Soul Suppression Palace cultivators. He didn’t want to die. He still wanted to be a captain of the Aegis Guard.

And at this moment, a look of wild joy suddenly appeared on his face. He suddenly sensed that just ahead, many people were rising into the air from the ground.

“Alright, I’m saved this time… No!!”

Jin Xueyu looked at the rapidly approaching people, but in an instant, his face turned as white as snow. A shrill and extremely unwilling sound came from his throat.

As those people rapidly approached, he had already seen the insignia on their clothes. It was the insignia of the “Sorrow-Forgetting Sect,” one of the nine major forces. Then, on his path of escape, another enemy team appeared, directly blocking all of Jin Xueyu’s escape routes…

…

Forsaken Continent, at a certain moment, in a somewhat dim room, an old man in his sixties with graying hair was sitting quietly in a chair. He was the only one in the entire room. The old man was dressed in a gray robe, like an old man from the mortal world, exuding an endless sense of vicissitudes.

Beside him, a cup of tea on the table had long gone cold. The gray-robed old man seemed to have forgotten it, immersed in thought. His already wrinkled face, after he furrowed his brow, was now even more wrinkled. It was just that under his gray brows, a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes made people feel the vigorous vitality within his body, as well as the powerful strength it contained.

The entire room was deathly silent, so quiet that it was like an eternal tomb…

The gray-robed old man was deep in thought, motionless. His body was like a stone carving, frozen there!

After a long time, his body finally moved slightly. As his body moved, it immediately broke the peaceful balance in the entire room. The air around him also seemed to flow like water at this moment…

The gray-robed old man leaned back in his chair again. At the same time, a vigorous and powerful voice came from his mouth.

“Have them search again for Miscellaneous Spirit Root cultivators in all places. This time, there is no need to pay attention to the other party’s main spirit root. As long as it is found to be a Miscellaneous Spirit Root, capture them in secret. Then, conduct a Five Elements Spirit Root test on each person. Anyone who conforms to the order of the Five Elements Generating Cycle must be reported to me, without any omissions.

“At the same time, with the Forsaken Continent as the center, expand the search to all surrounding major and minor realms. In addition to the conditions I just mentioned, for cultivators who are particularly skilled in the water and earth attributes, those who may be considered genius cultivators with Saint Spirit Roots in the eyes of others, all their information must be collected.

“The scope must also be expanded, including all such cultivators from past ages. They must all be investigated clearly. Anyone who can be found must also be captured one by one. If they cannot be captured at that time, then the information must be gathered as quickly as possible and sent back!”

Although the gray-robed old man’s voice was unhurried, each word was spoken with vigor and force. But the direction he was speaking in was completely empty, without any figures present.

It was not until he had finished speaking that a low and brief reply came from the empty space.

“Yes!”

Then, all sound disappeared, and the gray-robed old man’s lonely figure was once again the only one in the entire room.

He stretched out a hand and picked up the teacup on the table. A slight fluctuation of magical power appeared in his palm. Soon, wisps of light smoke rose from the teacup again, and a fresh fragrance wafted out, once again filling the room.

“It has been decades. All the information found was cut off at the sect-protecting grand formation of the ‘Sacred Demon Palace.’ That old fellow Qianchong only left behind his aura here. And that wisp of divine will has also disappeared. This has caused the plan to capture that wisp of divine will to fail.

“At that time, Dong Fuyi and a white-robed youth who was proficient in earth-attribute arts went to save him. That person was, in all likelihood, Qianchong’s disciple. But why did Qianchong help the ‘Sacred Demon Palace’? Could it be because this disciple of his might also be of the Demonic Clan? Otherwise, with old fellow Qianchong’s ruthlessness and dark heart, how could he help an unrelated sect for no reason?

“But in the ‘Sacred Demon Palace,’ apart from that formation being from Qianchong’s hand, there are no other clues to be found. The origin of that disciple of his cannot be found either. It’s also possible that he is not of the Demonic Clan, but that doesn’t explain the old fellow’s reason for acting…

“Since that’s the case, then I will spare no time. This time, I will find out all the Miscellaneous Spirit Root cultivators here, as well as the Saint Spirit Root cultivators who were proficient in water and earth attribute techniques in the past. Among the five sects, if Dong Fuyi is also coincidentally in the lower realm, perhaps he is also looking for a successor disciple. Maybe his disciples are here? Even if I can’t find them in the end, I will cut off your future roots. At least for a considerable period of time, there will be no more Miscellaneous Spirit Roots appearing, severing several generations of inheritance!

“…Perhaps the root is not on the Forsaken Continent, but Qianchong passed through here when he went to the North Ice Continent. That means his starting point could also be some of the major and minor realms around…”

The gray-robed old man was constantly thinking of various possibilities in his heart.

He had been here for quite some time now and had also been searching for all the sects that cultivated the five elements techniques, but he had not been able to find any more clues. This made him harden his heart once again. He knew that the order he had just issued, although it sounded easy, even if he could send out more people and spare no expense in searching across realms, it would definitely take a long time. That time might be ten years, a hundred years, or even more than a thousand years. But he was not afraid to wait, as long as he could find the other party!

…

More than a month later, in the Black Demon Clan area.

In a tent at the border between the Black and White Demon Clans, Mu Sha, dressed in a purple robe, was sitting in the main tent, listening to the report of a chiliarch below.

“…My lord, those people do not belong to any force at the border of the two sides, but it is certain that they came from the White Demon Clan’s side. However, they are not spying on military intelligence. But the information they are gathering is a bit strange. They are looking for cultivators with Miscellaneous Spirit Roots. And anyone who can provide information about such people will receive a very high reward. The words and actions of these people seem to be confirming the search for someone!”

After the chiliarch below had finished speaking, he then looked up at the demonic general in the army above him with a respectful face.