Half a page of golden book fluttered forward through the air, spinning merrily as it flew. Clear radiance spilled down, and Chu Liang followed close behind.
Finding Song Qingyi was simple. He only needed to erase Lin Bei's name from the half-page golden book and write Song Qingyi's name in its place with true qi.
Only when he truly used this treasure did Chu Liang discover that, when searching for someone, knowing their name was not enough. He also had to use divine sense to manifest their appearance in his mind before he could establish that invisible pull ordained by fate.
On second thought, that made sense. Otherwise, with countless people sharing the same name and surname, would it not be exceedingly troublesome?
The half-page golden book flew all the way beyond the city. Dawn had only just begun to break, and the surroundings were bleak and sinister. When it reached a thatched hut by a riverbank, Chu Liang hurriedly stopped.
He lowered his body and stared at the tightly shut thatched hut, feeling that something was deeply strange. Sniffing twice into the wind, he seemed to catch the scent of blood.
Something was seriously wrong.
Chu Liang did not rashly step forward. Instead, he slowly drew closer, then extended his divine sense ahead, intending to investigate without a sound.
Once cultivators of the Divine Intent Realm opened their divine sense, everything within its reach became like their eyes and ears. They could observe things even more clearly than with their eyes. And now that his cultivation had broken through to the middle stage of the Divine Intent Realm, his divine sense had extended greatly as well.
But the instant his divine sense entered the thatched hut, he saw the scene within—the bizarre formation, the mysterious black-robed man, the controlled Song Qingyi...
Yet in that same instant, he keenly sensed a faint, concealed ripple of yin energy.
Not good.
Chu Liang immediately became alert. The other party had made preparations specifically to guard against divine-sense surveillance.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
The black-robed man inside the hut suddenly turned his head, his gaze sharp as starlight.
Whoosh—
Far outside the thatched hut, Chu Liang spun around and tried to flee.
But with a bang, the hut's door flew open. A ghostlike figure drifted out in a flash, and after a few flickering afterimages, it had already caught up to Chu Liang from behind.
Feeling an incomparably icy wind at the back of his head, alarm bells rang wildly in Chu Liang's mind. Seeing that he could not escape, he instantly drew his sword and turned to stab backward!
Sss—
White sword light surged forth, far more powerful than before. Yet the black-robed man seemed to ignore it entirely. He extended two fingers of his left hand, passed directly through the torrential Sword Qi without the slightest injury, and clamped Chu Liang's blade between them.
Snap.
The sword light extinguished in an instant, unable to stir even the slightest further movement.
Chu Liang gave a clear shout. "Watch my finger!"
His left hand formed a finger seal, and a point of cold starlight flashed at his fingertip as he jabbed it toward the black-robed man.
But just as the black-robed man raised a hand to meet it, a streak of Red Light suddenly shot from Chu Liang's sleeve.
Demon-Binding Rope!
So the finger attack had merely been meant to draw his attention. Chu Liang knew that his opponent was at least at the early Golden Core Realm. If they fought head-on, he had no chance of victory, so he had tried to catch the man off guard and restrain him.
Unfortunately, before absolute strength, such petty tricks were truly not worth mentioning.
With a flip of his hand, the black-robed man seized the Demon-Binding Rope in his palm. At the same time, a bony ghost hand emerged from his chest and gripped Chu Liang's throat!
Then a second ghost hand emerged, holding a gloomy long nail, and thrust it into Chu Liang's chest with one palm.
Sss—
Soul-Piercing Nail.
"Urgh!" The nail struck straight into his soul. Chu Liang felt his entire body plunge into an ice cellar, every limb and bone turning stiff.
In only an instant, there was nowhere to flee and no way to fight. He was subdued without the slightest power to resist.
Divine Intent against Golden Core—utter defeat.
At that moment, he deeply understood the gulf between the third and fourth realms, a chasm as vast as heaven and earth. Challenging someone above one's realm was simply an impractical fantasy.
The black-robed man gave two strange chuckles, returned to the thatched hut, and casually threw Chu Liang onto the ground.
"Hehehe, are you here to save her?" He glanced at Chu Liang, then at Song Qingyi. "To think I would get a two-for-one deal. Two living souls from the Divine Intent Realm—this trip was truly not in vain..."
"Chu... Chu Liang..." Seeing Chu Liang captured, Song Qingyi called out with difficulty. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. Because of her plea for help, she had actually caused someone else to lose his life.
Chu Liang, on the other hand, remained calm. Even after being thrown to the ground, he still tried with all his strength to struggle and writhe free from the Soul-Piercing Nail's restraint, but achieved little. After exhausting all his strength, he had only managed to turn halfway over.
"Give up. You cannot break free." Seeing his struggle, the black-robed man did not stop him. He merely sneered mockingly. "Once I draw her into the Underworld Heavenly Book, you will be next. By then, the two of you can lie side by side on neighboring pages, so you will not be lonely."
After saying that, he looked at the sky outside. His expression turned solemn as he prepared to activate the formation.
Those of the demonic path walked the rivers and lakes in the shadows. Precisely because they could not bear the light, they had honed themselves into being cautious in every small detail.
Like the formation he had set earlier, which would be triggered the moment divine sense probed it—such were the little tricks they needed to survive.
As for these two Divine Intent cultivators, he could naturally capture them as easily as turning over his hand. But he also knew that after these two came more. He had to complete the soul-capturing ritual as quickly as possible, then leave this place at once.
Thus, he stopped wasting words.
With a flick of his hand, his finger seals changed. In an instant, every black candle shot up with a towering mass of yin flame, gathering in midair and faintly forming a doorway!
"Come, my little treasure..."
He looked at Song Qingyi with cold, crazed eyes and slowly raised his hand.
"You freak!" At that moment, Chu Liang suddenly shouted a curse from the side.
His cultivation was higher than Song Qingyi's. Though he likewise could not completely break free of the Soul-Piercing Nail, he could still speak far more smoothly than she could.
The black-robed man stiffened and shot Chu Liang a glance. He ignored him and continued raising his hand toward Song Qingyi.
"Rotten-ass bastard!" Chu Liang cursed again.
"Hm?" The black-robed man glared at him again and frowned, but still paid him no heed.
He would be next soon enough. Why argue with a dead man?
"Your mother's dead."
"I'm your father."
"You heartless bastard, you knife-fodder, you wolf-bred freak from forty miles away where no family would have you—were your parents close relatives? In your past life, you did wicked deeds and dug up family lines; in this life, they gave birth to a short-lived, childless wretch like you..."
Chu Liang's face remained calm and his gaze indifferent, but his mouth kept spewing fragrant abuse, delivering an entire torrent of curses at the black-robed man.
He wore the politest face while saying the most impolite things.
The black-robed man, who had initially ignored him, was now so furious that his whole body trembled. Pointing shakily at Chu Liang, he said, "Y-you... you... What sect are you a disciple of? How can your manners be this poor?"
"Your father is from the Shushan Sect," Chu Liang answered calmly.
"Fine, fine." The black-robed man laughed from extreme anger. "You do not think that death means you will feel nothing, do you? I will immediately extract your complete divine soul, place it in the Underworld Heavenly Book, then torment it with ghostfire and yin blades for seven times seven days! Let us see whether you can still be so sharp-tongued then!"
With that, he raised his hand toward Chu Liang!
"No..." Song Qingyi screamed with all her strength, tears streaming down her face.
Facing death, Chu Liang's face was instead strangely calm.
Snap.
At the black-robed man's finger seal, the black jade book before him suddenly shot forth a beam of black light, instantly enveloping Chu Liang's body.
A mass of light and shadow was instantly drawn from Chu Liang's body and entered the doorway formed by the yin flames. The black jade book shone brilliantly.
Whoosh—
When the light faded, Chu Liang's eyes were hollow and devoid of all vitality. He had already become a shell that had lost its soul.
Thanks to Brother "Middle-Aged Dead Fat Otaku" for becoming this book's third alliance leader. Since it is the double monthly-ticket period, I might as well schedule the bonus chapter for the very same day.
Before you continue