"Ah! You despicable bastard, you're asking for death!"
Watching Li Yang kill his three subordinates so easily, Yuwen Ling flew into a furious rage.
He stopped using magical abilities and instead grabbed the Xuanhua Axe strapped to his back, howling as he charged at Li Yang.
He would... use the cruelest method to hack that despicable bastard into a pile of minced meat.
"Hey, you can't hit me!"
He'd thrown more than a hundred attacks, and not one had landed. This only made the already furious Yuwen Ling even angrier.
To make matters worse, Li Yang kept taunting him. His infuriatingly smug tone made Yuwen Ling see red.
"Ah! Die!"
Yuwen Ling's eyes bulged, bloodshot, as he prepared to unleash his strongest attack.
He leaped into the air, releasing immortal power to quickly pin Li Yang in place, then swung his giant axe straight at him!
Poof!
When the smoke cleared, Yuwen Ling realized in horror that the Li Yang he'd been fighting for so long was merely an Avatar.
But if this was an Avatar, where was Li Yang's true body?
It couldn't be with the Fourth...
"Damn it, I've been tricked!"
He quickly came to his senses, his face turning deathly pale.
He'd fallen for a Lure the Tiger Away from the Mountain.
"Fourth Young Master, wait for me!"
Realizing he'd been tricked, Yuwen Ling no longer cared about anything else. He turned and flew toward the Fourth Young Master.
A moment later, he arrived at a chaotic battlefield.
The battlefield was a mess, riddled with huge craters, shattered rocks, and broken, burning trees.
Four corpses lay scattered around the battlefield, with one in the very center.
One of them was none other than Yuan Qing.
Yuwen Ling's eyes widened in disbelief. He swept the area with his Immortal Sense but couldn't detect the slightest trace of the Sixth Princess or Li Yang.
"No!!"
Yuwen Ling let out a grief-stricken roar and stumbled toward Yuan Qing's corpse. He cradled it in his arms and wept bitterly.
The... the Fourth Young Master had died under his protection!!!
Even the Sixth Princess had escaped.
The mission had failed. How could he explain this to the lord... "Damn it!"
As he wept, Yuwen Ling suddenly remembered something of utmost importance: his mission had failed, and the Sixth Princess had escaped. That meant their scheme had been exposed.
He wasn't afraid of the scheme being exposed to the ruler. He was afraid it would be exposed to the Immortal Crossing Sect.
They had schemed against the Immortal Crossing Sect and even trapped one of its True Immortals.
It would've been fine if the Sixth Princess hadn't escaped, but she had. That meant their scheme had come to the Immortal Crossing Sect's attention.
And the consequences were beyond anything they could bear.
At the thought of this, Yuwen Ling stopped weeping. He hurriedly gathered Yuan Qing's remains, then flew toward the Eastern Divine Continent.
He had to take the news back as quickly as possible and flee before the Immortal Crossing Sect could react. Otherwise, they'd be doomed.
"Fellow Daoist, please stay!"
Suddenly, a voice rang out behind him.
How could he describe that voice?
It sent a chill down his spine, making him feel as though he were about to die.
Instinctively, he tried to fly faster, but suddenly felt drowsy and heavy-headed. Even his flight slowed a little.
"Damn it, I've been poisoned!"
Yuwen Ling reacted quickly and pulled out a bottle of Detoxification Pills, tipping them straight into his mouth.
But it was already too late.
His movements grew slower and slower until he could no longer stay airborne. He dropped from the sky, staggered on landing, and had to lean on his giant axe to keep from falling flat on his face.
What kind of poison is this? How can it be so potent? All these Detoxification Pills aren't doing a thing!
The world spun before Yuwen Ling's eyes. His feet wavered, and he nearly fell again.
"Fellow Daoist, hold on!"
Suddenly, the familiar voice sounded in Yuwen Ling's ear once more. A giant hammer came hurtling toward his face.
Seeing the familiar giant axe, Yuwen Ling finally remembered who the voice belonged to.
"Li Yang, you beast!"
Yuwen Ling roared and staggered as he raised his giant axe to block the incoming hammer. Then he heard Li Yang's voice again.
"Fellow Daoist, stop!"
With a clang, Yuwen Ling suddenly felt a chill shoot up from between his legs. But he had no time to dodge or block. A sharp sword cleaved him in two, and immortal blood sprayed everywhere.
"Ah!"
His scream shook the heavens, but a Primordial Immortal was still an immortal. Even such grievous injuries weren't enough to kill Yuwen Ling.
What happened next, however, filled him with terror. A clump of blue, lotus-shaped flames drifted down and instantly set him ablaze. To his horror, Yuwen Ling discovered that the flames were burning his Immortal Body, his Immortal Qi, and even his primordial spirit.
He'd completely lost control of himself.
"W-what kind of demonic flame is this? Li Yang, isn't your Immortal Crossing Sect part of the Human Teachings? How can you have a demonic flame like this?"
As Yuwen Ling screamed in terror, Li Yang's voice rang out beside him again.
"My Immortal Crossing Sect could produce someone like Yuan Qing. So what if we have a flame like this?
"Besides, since when was Samadhi True Fire a demonic flame?"
What?
Yuwen Ling was stunned for only a moment before the flames quickly engulfed his entire body.
With a final scream, Yuwen Ling was reduced to ashes.
Then, one after another, many Golden Pill Avatars appeared. They played instruments, sang, and recited Daoist scriptures, accompanying the roaring flames with a funeral procession and rites to send off the dead. Their sounds echoed throughout the entire area.
When everything was done, a round opening suddenly split open in the sky. The Golden Pill Avatars transformed back into Golden Pills and shot upward, vanishing into the opening, which then closed again.
In a forest in Northern Juru Continent, Li Yang watched several Golden Pill Avatars fly out of his Storage Pouch and chuckled.
"'Fellow Daoist, Please Stay' is colorless and odorless, but it can only knock out immortals who've just entered the Primordial Immortal Realm. Compared to Senior Brother's 'Super Soft Immortal Powder,' it still needs more updates and improvements."
After putting away the Golden Pill Avatars, he took one last look at the Storage Pouch left behind, then vanished in an instant.
Once Li Yang was gone, the Storage Pouch crumbled completely. The surrounding space fractured inch by inch, and Space Turbulence surged through it. Before long, the Primordial World restored everything.
At the same time, in a rocky cave beside a campfire, Li Yang lowered his head and murmured, "No matter how thoroughly you scatter the ashes, some matter will remain. But space leaves you with nothing at all."
Youqin Xuanya looked at him in puzzlement. "Junior Brother, what do you mean, nothing will be left?"
Li Yang came back to his senses and said apologetically, "Senior Sister, I meant that we've been eating and drinking here for the past few days, and we're about to run out of this Happy Water!"
At his words, Youqin Xuanya lowered her head, blushing. She'd drunk most of the Happy Water these past few days.
Still, Li Yang had teased her so often that she'd grown a little thicker-skinned.
Besides, Happy Water tasted so good. At worst, she could pay her Junior Brother back with something when they returned to the sect.
So she raised her head again and asked Li Yang, "Junior Brother, what do you think Yuan Qing was thinking? He said he liked me, but he wanted to control me and take over my country, all while claiming it was for my own good.
"How can people be like that?"
Li Yang took a sip of Happy Water, felt the bubbles burst in his mouth, and smacked his lips.
"No matter how you put it, he was just lusting after your body!
"He was despicable!"
Before you continue