Kill, Leave the Cave Abode

The God-Sealing Lock is currently sealed and temporarily unusable. Although the power of the Lesser Sealing Talisman is limited and cannot suppress the God-Sealing Lock for long—ten minutes at most—the pressure on Xu Yang only grows with each passing second, and there is a high probability that Hu Xinrong and his companion could turn the tables. Thinking of this, Ling Feng grows anxious and immediately resolves to end the battle quickly.

Ling Feng taps his Qiankun Bag, retrieves the Mystic Gold Sword Talisman, and quickly activates it. The sword talisman immediately radiates a dazzling golden light, locking firmly onto Zhao Man.

Zhao Man, having just breathed a sigh of relief after using the Lesser Sealing Talisman to suppress the God-Sealing Lock, suddenly feels a powerful aura locking onto her. Her expression changes drastically, and she hurriedly looks up at Ling Feng.

She immediately spots a small golden sword floating in front of Ling Feng, emitting a powerful and sharp aura with its tip pointed directly at her. Panic washes over Zhao Man; she hurriedly retreats while a yellow shield appears in front of her.

Seeing Zhao Man's actions, Ling Feng sneers with disdain and shouts, "True Form-Manifestation Sword, go!" Following his shout, the Mystic Gold Sword Talisman flares with intense light and vanishes in a flash.

Zhao Man is terrified at the sight and immediately heightens her vigilance, pouring all the gang qi within her body into the shield before her. Suddenly, she is horrified to discover that she is frozen in place, unable to move a muscle. Before she can react, a giant purple sword erupts from the ground beneath her and thrusts upward.

Unable to move, Zhao Man has no choice but to use her divine sense to maneuver the shield to block the tip of the giant purple sword. With a loud crash, the shield fails to withstand the massive attack and shatters into pieces. Zhao Man's divine sense suffers a backlash, and she spits out a mouthful of blood.

After breaking the shield, the giant purple sword does not pause in the slightest and continues to pierce toward Zhao Man. Although she attempts to use other magical artifacts to block it, they are all destroyed one by one. Finally, with a look of despair, she is run through the chest by the giant purple sword and falls to the ground, dead.

The giant purple sword is the manifestation of the Mystic Gold Sword Talisman. This sword technique is the True Form-Manifestation Sword that Ling Feng mentioned; it is a secret technique that only Golden Core stage cultivators can master. Its power is peerless, and it is simply not something Zhao Man could withstand.

Seeing Zhao Man dead, Ling Feng finally breathes a sigh of relief. He flies over to the God-Sealing Lock and uses his Flying Sword to strike the golden chains formed by the Lesser Sealing Talisman, while simultaneously manipulating the God-Sealing Lock to struggle. With this two-pronged approach, the golden chains are severed one by one. The sealing power of the Lesser Sealing Talisman rapidly weakens, and a moment later, all the golden chains are broken, and the God-Sealing Lock regains its function.

Ling Feng then maneuvers the God-Sealing Lock and speeds toward the battlefield where Xu Yang and Hu Xinrong are fighting. At this moment, Xu Yang's situation is truly dire. His talisman treasure, the Samadhi Ring, is being blocked by the Black Small Banner, and he is no match for Hu Xinrong in close-quarters combat, leaving him in a sorry state. It is only because Hu Xinrong fears the power of the Samadhi True Fire and dares not engage it head-on that Xu Yang has managed to hold out until now.

Just as Xu Yang is about to reach his limit, Ling Feng arrives on the scene. Seeing that Xu Yang is in trouble, he immediately maneuvers the God-Sealing Lock to fly toward Hu Xinrong. Hu Xinrong is shocked to see Ling Feng appear and realizes things have gone wrong. Just as he is about to pull back and retreat, he is enveloped by the beam of light emitted by the God-Sealing Lock.

Hu Xinrong's divine sense is immediately sealed within his body, and he loses contact with the Black Small Banner. Without Hu Xinrong's control, the power of the Black Small Banner diminishes significantly. It can no longer withstand the attack of the Samadhi True Fire and is engulfed by a wave of flames, crackling as it burns.

Seeing this, Xu Yang is overjoyed and hurriedly maneuvers the Samadhi Ring to attack Hu Xinrong. The Samadhi Ring releases waves of Samadhi True Fire, which transform into a giant fire dragon that charges at Hu Xinrong.

Caught off guard, Hu Xinrong immediately falls into a disadvantageous position. Upon seeing the fire dragon formed by the Samadhi True Fire rushing toward him, his expression changes drastically. He hurriedly darts around within the light beam to dodge the dragon's attacks while raising his hands to strike at the light beam, hoping to break the God-Sealing light and escape.

Seeing this, Ling Feng hurriedly pours his gang qi into the God-Sealing Lock to strengthen the defense of the light beam. At the same time, Xu Yang's expression turns fierce; he bites the tip of his tongue and spits a mouthful of blood onto the Samadhi Ring. Bolstered by Xu Yang's essence blood, the power of the Samadhi Ring increases dramatically, releasing more waves of Samadhi True Fire that transform into a giant fire dragon.

The two fire dragons rush into the God-Sealing light beam, coiling around Hu Xinrong in a pincer attack. With Ling Feng's full-strength reinforcement, the defense of the God-Sealing light beam is greatly increased. Hu Xinrong has no way to break the beam and escape in the short term, and being constantly attacked by the two Samadhi fire dragons, he can only scramble around inside the light.

Seeing this, Hu Xinrong finally loses his nerve and begins to beg Xu Yang and Ling Feng for mercy. However, the two are completely unmoved and continue to attack him with all their might. Seeing this, Hu Xinrong reveals a look of panic, and in a moment of negligence, he is coiled by the two Samadhi fire dragons.

The Samadhi True Fire is incredibly scorching, causing Hu Xinrong to scream in agony. However, the Asura Yin Evil Technique that Hu Xinrong practices is quite extraordinary; he is not burned to death immediately, which leaves Xu Yang feeling extremely astonished. After a full three minutes of burning, Hu Xinrong is finally reduced to ashes, his soul scattered.

With Hu Xinrong dead, Xu Yang's Samadhi Ring emits a soft "pop" and vanishes into tiny red light spots in the air. This is because the power of the talisman treasure has been exhausted, and the Samadhi Ring has dissipated on its own. Xu Yang feels a pang of pain in his heart; six hundred Spirit Stones are gone just like that. It is heartbreaking, but fortunately, he has eliminated all the enemies and saved his own life, so it is not a total loss.

Seeing that Hu Xinrong has been dealt with, Ling Feng finally sets his mind at ease. He walks over to Xu Yang, pats him on the shoulder, and says, "Fellow Daoist Xu, you did well. We worked together very tacitly in this battle."

Having said this, Ling Feng says to Xu Yang with a serious expression, "As for your losses, I believe Senior Qin will provide you with sufficient compensation. Besides, we have completed the goal of this trip and obtained quite a few treasures, so it's not a loss at all!"

After hearing this, Xu Yang thinks for a moment and says to Ling Feng with a smile, "I was being too petty. The two Foundation Establishment Pills alone are enough to satisfy me."

At this point, Xu Yang glances around and continues to Ling Feng, "The three of them are dead. Let's clean up the battlefield and then go check out the other side hall!"

Ling Feng nods in agreement, "Alright! Let's split up and clean up as quickly as possible, then go check the other side hall before we leave this place. I imagine Senior Qin must have already made his move against Huang Ting outside, and I wonder how that is going."

Xu Yang replies, "Senior Qin's cultivation is a step higher than Huang Ting's, so I don't think there will be any accidents. Let's clean up the battlefield first!"

Afterward, Xu Yang leaps into the arena and searches around. Seeing this, Ling Feng has to suppress his inner worries and joins Xu Yang in cleaning up the battlefield. The two work quickly, and soon they finish. They divide the spoils into two equal shares and place them into their respective Qiankun Bags.

Next, the two arrive at the other side hall. This hall turns out to be a medicinal garden, a place specifically for planting spiritual herbs and medicines. The number of spiritual herbs in the garden is very small; Xu Yang searches the whole place and only finds four or five, while Ling Feng fares even worse, finding only one or two.

These spiritual medicines are not rare treasures; they can be bought as long as one has enough Spirit Stones. Since Xu Yang does not know how to refine pills, they are of no use to him, and he will simply have to sell them to a shop in exchange for Spirit Stones.

In the depths of the medicinal garden, there is also a teleportation array. With their shallow knowledge, Xu Yang and Ling Feng can only tell that this array is very profound and can teleport people to extremely distant places. As for where, they have no idea. However, Xu Yang guesses that it might lead to Yong Province, after all, that female cultivator had returned from there.

After finishing their look around this side hall, the two arrive at the alchemy hall. They study the pill furnace in the center of the hall, only to find with frustration that their cultivation is too low to open it and retrieve the pills inside. As for refining the furnace, it is a spiritual treasure, and they simply do not have the qualifications. Xu Yang tries to take the furnace away, but it remains motionless and cannot be stored.

In the end, Xu Yang has no choice but to give up and stop thinking about the furnace. The two search the area carefully one last time, but finding no other treasures, they head toward the stone gate of the main hall.

At the stone gate, Ling Feng takes out the Lunar Bracelet and presses it against the gate. The stone gate immediately rumbles open, and the two walk out, returning along the path they came. With the Lunar Bracelet in hand, the restrictions along the way no longer attack them, and they arrive at the teleportation platform without any obstruction.

Ling Feng, worried about the safety of Qin Shuang, does not delay in the slightest. He raises his hand and sends a burst of gang qi into the center of the platform. The platform emits a black light, enveloping Xu Yang and Ling Feng before they vanish.

On the cliff outside, the air ripples violently, and Xu Yang and Ling Feng fall out, landing on the towering cliff top. The two release their magical artifacts and look down the cliff with vigilance. They see Qin Shuang flying up toward them on his sword.

Seeing this, Xu Yang immediately relaxes. It seems that in the battle between Qin Shuang and Huang Ting, Qin Shuang was the victor. Otherwise, they would have been greeted by Huang Ting's attacks.

Qin Shuang arrives at the cliff top and looks at the two with anticipation, about to ask a question. Ling Feng speaks first, smiling at Qin Shuang, "We succeeded! We have completed the mission; we have not failed our duty!"

Qin Shuang is overjoyed upon hearing this. He then hurriedly says to the two, "Good, very good! But we should leave this place quickly. We can talk about everything once we return to our own cave dwelling."

After saying this, Qin Shuang immediately takes out his Flying Boat and enlarges it. Hearing this, Xu Yang nods in agreement; it is always better to be cautious. Qin Shuang's action aligns perfectly with Xu Yang's wishes. He does not say much and immediately leaps onto the Flying Boat. Seeing this, Ling Feng also stops talking and follows Xu Yang onto the boat.

Qin Shuang then maneuvers the Flying Boat to ascend rapidly, heading toward the border between the two countries. The Flying Boat travels like a bolt of lightning, and one day later, they return to the camp outside the border battlefield. The three step off the boat and head straight for the cave dwelling area in the center of the camp, soon arriving outside Qin Shuang's cave.