Li Ling

Xing Wanxing turned around and spotted the young girl on a distant roof, recognizing Li Ling. His gaze turned stern as he mobilized the surging magical power from the six springs within him. He stomped heavily, his foot sinking into the soil as a circular shockwave rippled outward.

Countless shattered stones leaped from the ground.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh..."

With a palm strike, the airborne stones shot forth, their sharp howls seeming ready to tear even the night sky apart.

Li Ling left the rooftop, riding Blue Mist Light Traces through the air. Her movement art was exquisite to the pinnacle, and she evaded every flying stone.

She landed in the middle of the street, her voice crisp and pleasing. "Why do I feel that you don't look much like Buddha's Crossing Bandits?"

Xing Wanxing narrowed his eyes, killing intent immediately surfacing within them. "Is that so? This Buddha will recite you a passage from the Romantic Sutra later—or perhaps you can recite one for this Buddha instead."

Six springs erupted. The magical power within him overflowed to the surface of his body, turning into a layer of gray protective mist. The Chi Fire Ladybugs that approached him were all blasted to the ground by his power.

Xing Wanxing knew very well that Li Ling was not a Martial Cultivator, but a mind master who walked the Spirit God Path. She was poor at close combat, and her physical body was comparatively frail.

Thus, the instant his foot kicked off the ground, he shot forward several zhang, closing the distance.

"You dare face me head-on after opening six springs? Who gave you such nerve?"

As Li Ling slowly retreated, she formed hand seals. Her glabella lit up in a strange manner, as though a world of light were hidden beneath her brow.

"Whoosh—"

Seven brilliant light traces flew from her glabella, stretching nearly ten zhang into the night.

The temperature of the surrounding air rose noticeably.

The seven light traces danced wildly through the streets of Immortal Burial Town. A wooden pillar supporting one of the houses was swept by one of them and instantly severed. The break was scorched black.

More than twenty Earth Wolf King Army soldiers who had been searching the town rushed over with weapons in hand, but four or five of them fell in an instant. Some lost hands, some were cut in half at the waist, and some were beheaded. Blood covered the ground.

"A mind master! That Light Trace Whip-Sword is terrifying."

"Retreat! Retreat, quickly!"

All the soldiers fled back in panic.

In martial cultivation, a single realm's difference meant an enormous gap in combat strength.

They could clearly see that even Master Xing, who had opened six springs, was repeatedly in peril before that young girl and having an extremely difficult time holding on.

Through a broken window lattice, Li Weiyi watched the clash between the two top experts in the street, secretly shocked. Li Ling looked delicate enough for the wind to topple, like a well-behaved little girl next door, yet her combat strength was so formidable that the Earth Wolf King Army's leader was no match for her at all.

Killing those other spring-opening Martial Cultivators was even easier than chopping melons and vegetables.

How old was she?

She had to be an immortal cultivator whose talent surpassed even superior aptitude!

Li Weiyi quietly jumped down from the beam, preparing to slip away amid the chaos.

Then, an abrupt change arose in the street.

Amid the branches and leaves of the Thousand-Year Apricot Tree above the Ancient Well appeared a graceful figure with a tail. She waved her hand, and countless needles as fine as ox hair flew out.

The flying needles had been refined from the fur of a Fiend Monkey. They were light as nothing. Once launched with a special technique, they produced almost no sound of wind, striking soundlessly and without warning, impossible to guard against.

Naturally, hurling such hair-light needles with enough destructive force to kill demonstrated just how powerful the caster's magical power was.

Even with Li Ling's perception as a mind master, she only sensed the danger after nearly a hundred ox-hair needles had entered within ten zhang of her. Unable to determine where the danger came from, she instinctively retreated at top speed, crashing through the door of an abandoned house and hiding inside.

"Chchch!"

The flying needles struck the street, earthen walls, and wooden pillars.

The stone slabs of the street cracked, the earthen walls collapsed, and the pillars were riddled with dense holes.

Li Weiyi had only just descended from the beam and had not had time to leave when, with a bang, the door shattered and a young girl rushed inside. For a moment, their eyes met, and neither spoke.

Li Weiyi wanted to sneak away through the back courtyard.

Xing Wanxing's fat, squat figure was astonishingly quick. He had already leaped over the earthen wall ahead of him and landed in the center of the back courtyard with a boom, a foot-long short blade in his hand.

Footsteps came from every direction.

More than thirty surviving spring-opening Martial Cultivators from the Earth Wolf King Army surrounded the abandoned house completely.

Fearful of the seven light-trace whip-swords at Li Ling's glabella, none dared rashly enter.

This was the fearsome might she had carved out through slaughter!

"Whoosh!"

Yan Qingqing flew down from the towering apricot tree's branches and leaves. Magical power circulated around her as she drifted like a leaf onto Immortal Burial Town's broad, tranquil street, walking forward step by step.

Her figure was lush and full. Her fiery red tail swayed with the movement of her long legs, while the pair of canine ears added a touch of playful cuteness to her sexy, charming face.

"Cangli's little sister, the Jiu Li Tribe's Netherlight Guide Envoy... Oh? It seems one of my Stone Monkey Flying Needles hit you!" Yan Qingqing's voice was always coquettish and sweet, with a smile on her face.

She swept out strands of magical power from her palm to retrieve the needles from the ground, only to discover that one was missing.

One was enough!

Standing in the back courtyard, Xing Wanxing said, "Why waste so much breath? Attack together, hack her to death in a storm of blades, and leave this place as quickly as possible."

Yan Qingqing was Shi Jiuzhai's eighth disciple, a peak Spring Realm expert who had opened seven springs. Yet Xing Wanxing did not call her senior sister, nor did he show her much respect.

That was because what had always made him stand out was not his cultivation or martial prowess, but his money-making ability—the trait Shi Jiuzhai valued most.

A flicker of displeasure flashed through Yan Qingqing's eyes before she smiled. "Why are you in such a hurry, junior brother? The flying needles are poisoned. Once her body gradually petrifies and stiffens, wouldn't it be as easy as turning over one's hand to go in and deal with her? Besides, she's such an important figure, such a delicate little beauty. How can you be so heartless? Could it be that you've done something shameful and want to kill her to silence her?"

Xing Wanxing naturally understood that Yan Qingqing had secretly followed him because Shi Jiuzhai had instructed her to.

Fortunately, there had been no treasure in the Silver Coffin. Otherwise, the one struck by the Stone Monkey Flying Needles at this moment would have been him.

Xing Wanxing said, "It is not that I wish to crush flowers with ruthless hands. It is that this girl seems to have discovered our secret. Do I need to explain how grave this matter is? Once word leaks out and arouses the Jiu Li Tribe's suspicions, neither of us will have any way to survive before Master."

The smile vanished from Yan Qingqing's face.

Disguising themselves as Buddha's Crossing Bandits to attack the Cangli Tribe was meant to incite turmoil in Lizhou, and many important figures were involved behind the scenes. If anything went wrong, she did not dare imagine what would become of her and Xing Wanxing.

Inside the abandoned house.

Li Ling stared at Li Weiyi and said coldly, "You heard them, didn't you? Everyone who knows must be silenced. Do you think you can be an exception?"

When she had suddenly smashed through the door and rushed in, even Li Weiyi had been startled, yet she herself had remained remarkably calm.

It seemed his earlier guess had been correct. Li Ling had indeed come to Immortal Burial Town by following him, and she had long known where he was hiding.

Li Weiyi was speechless. In the lowest voice possible, he said, "You could have escaped somewhere else. You ran in here and deliberately dragged me down with you? I saved your Cangli Tribe. There's no gratitude repaid with enmity like this."

"I had no other choice."

Li Ling sat on a low mud-and-stone couch covered in dust and cobwebs, utterly unconcerned by the filth. She continued, "That woman outside is extremely highly cultivated. She has opened at least seven springs. Her flying needles attack without a sound, making them difficult to predict or defend against. If I fled outside, all she would need to do was unleash another wave of needles, and I would certainly die."

Li Weiyi went completely numb. Shi Jiuzhai's two disciples had opened six springs and seven springs respectively. He was a mere mortal who had only just entered the Three Springs—what kind of high-level death match had he stumbled into?

Even more terrifyingly, that woman who had opened seven springs was of the Canine-like Mutant Race. Her combat strength was greater than that of an ordinary mortal at the same realm.

Li Weiyi said, "Escape outside, one dies. Hide in here, both die."

Li Ling gazed into Li Weiyi's eyes and shook her head. "I am a Netherlight Guide Envoy, and I possess a unique sense for fortune and misfortune. That is why I can lead coffin-bearers through the Departed Spirit Mist Domain, finding the right paths to travel back and forth. Here, with you, I sensed a thread of survival."

"I think that excuse is far too far-fetched." Li Weiyi did not believe any of her mystical nonsense at all. "You followed me to Immortal Burial Town. You probably had no good intentions, did you?"

Li Ling knew that whatever she said now, he would not believe her, so she simply stopped explaining. "Yes, I came to drag you down with me. But aren't we grasshoppers tied to the same rope now? Only by finding a way through this immediate crisis will you have a chance to take revenge later, right?"

She was not even pretending anymore?

Li Weiyi naturally knew that more than thirty Martial Cultivator experts outside were surrounding the place, blocking every route of escape. It was like being trapped in a dead end.

Shi Jiuzhai's two disciples would not care whether he was innocent. Not a single living creature would be allowed to leave Immortal Burial Town tonight.

Worried that Li Weiyi would lose his mind and fight her to mutual destruction, Li Ling finally added an explanation. "You underestimate the perception of a Martial Arts Master who has opened seven springs. I could find your location, and she certainly can too. Besides, she is of the Canine-like Mutant Race and has a sharp sense of smell. Do you think she doesn't know where you are hiding?"

"If I die or escape, the first person she kills next will definitely be you."

"By escaping here, I have instead given you a thread of survival."

Li Weiyi did not want to argue with her for now. This girl was young but shrewd, calmer and more rational than many adults. He asked, "Did her Stone Monkey Flying Needles really hit you?"

Li Ling's delicate, obedient-looking face darkened. "Fortunately, only one needle hit me."

Li Weiyi said, "Then while your body has not yet petrified and stiffened, let's split up and kill our way out. We'll fight for that thread of survival."

Li Ling stared fixedly at Li Weiyi.

"What is it?"

"Cunning!"

"How am I cunning?" Li Weiyi asked.

Li Ling said, "If we kill our way out now, all those bandits will certainly attack me, and you can use the chance to slip away."

Li Weiyi had never considered it from that angle, but he had to admit... she made a great deal of sense, and she had thought it through very carefully.

"Either way, it is a dead end. If we act now, we still have the strength for one desperate gamble," Li Weiyi said.

Li Ling told him the truth. "The Stone Poison contained in a single Stone Monkey Flying Needle is very slight. I have already taken a secret medicine, so I can suppress it temporarily. But the people outside do not know that. If we wait until they rush in and catch them off guard, wouldn't our odds be much greater?"

Li Weiyi increasingly felt that this girl was deeply calculating. He would need to guard against her more in the future.

She said, "Once I go all out, the Stone Poison will spread rapidly. Before that happens, I will do everything I can to severely injure or kill the two Martial Cultivators with the highest cultivation. Leave the rest to you. Once we escape, my body will certainly petrify and stiffen. At that time, you will need to send me back to the Cangli Tribe."

"And you think I would?" Li Weiyi asked.

Li Ling said, "If you take me back, I'll give myself to you."

What a grand promise...

Did she believe it herself?