With Ning Ye's guidance, the five men's battle against the Blade-Bone Demon finally became a back-and-forth struggle. Gradually, they even gained the upper hand.
The Blade-Bone Demon was wounded again and again, growing more and more violent. Yet it was trapped by the Yi Wood Formation and couldn't escape for the moment. Though its strength was formidable enough to force its way out, by the time it broke through, it would most likely have been stabbed to death. It could only grit its teeth and keep fighting, while its body grew more and more covered in wounds.
The five men were deeply grateful. The sword-bearing man at their head said, "Thank you. We were in the wrong earlier."
Ning Ye paid him no mind and simply said, "Thunder position. Moon Fire Technique."
Moon Fire Technique?
The five men froze. They didn't know that one.
That mistake proved fatal. The Blade-Bone Demon roared and charged at the man occupying the Thunder position. One sweep of its bone blade cleaved him clean in two.
Ning Ye's voice continued, "Fire position. Wind Blade."
They knew that one. One of them hurried to take the Fire position and unleashed a Wind Blade. But it did absolutely nothing. The Blade-Bone Demon easily blocked it, then swung its bone blade again. The man's head went flying into the air.
Two of them had died in an instant. The remaining three were horrified and glared at Ning Ye. "You!"
Ning Ye continued, "Heaven position..."
"Who the hell is still going to listen to you?" the three shouted together. They had realized Ning Ye was up to something, so they all avoided the Heaven position.
But the Blade-Bone Demon charged again, passing through the Heaven position and driving its bone blade into one of their chests.
Ning Ye's voice continued, "Stab it in the throat."
Pfft!
The dying man thrust his sword into the Blade-Bone Demon's throat. It really worked.
This time, Ning Ye hadn't lied.
The others stared at him in shock.
This man had calculated everything. He had deliberately used them to fight the Blade-Bone Demon, while also using the demon against them. He had even anticipated their reactions, accounting for every step without a single omission.
"Why?" the dying man shouted.
Ning Ye finally stopped giving instructions and said coolly, "Because all of you have to die."
Shing!
The next moment, the dying cultivator was cleaved in two by the Blade-Bone Demon.
The two survivors were horrified. Just as despair set in, the sword-bearer suddenly pulled out a talisman and glared viciously at Ning Ye. "I'll remember you."
The next moment, his body transformed into a streak of light and fled.
"Escape Light Talisman?" Ning Ye froze. That had been beyond his expectations. He hadn't thought the boy had such a backup plan.
The Escape Light Talisman was no ordinary talisman. It was extremely difficult to make, and its formula was recorded in the Yang Talisman Scripture. Ning Ye had one too, though he hadn't made it yet.
The man had used a ninth-grade Escape Light Talisman, which could cost even more than a typical seventh-grade talisman.
But Ning Ye only paused for a moment before relaxing.
A ninth-grade Escape Light Talisman had a limited escape range. He could deal with the situation here, then go after the man.
The last man was now utterly desperate. He charged at Ning Ye without regard for anything else, intense light gathering at his sword tip. Clearly, he had concentrated all his power into this one strike.
Ning Ye sighed and gently waved a hand, still standing perfectly still.
Pfft!
The sword tip sank into his body. Seeing that he had stabbed Ning Ye, the cultivator laughed with delight. "Ha! Die with me!"
But Ning Ye's expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
The man's heart jolted. He looked again and saw that Ning Ye had transformed into the Blade-Bone Demon.
How could this be?
He stared in shock at the Blade-Bone Demon. Before it could sever his head, he finally managed to utter, "What a superb transformation technique."
Pfft!
The corpse hit the ground.
At the same time, the Blade-Bone Demon swayed a few times, glanced at the sword stuck in its body, then toppled over.
"Parlor tricks like that don't work on me," Ning Ye said coldly.
"Roar!" The Blade-Bone Demon leapt to its feet, but as it sprang up, the Wood Wheel Armor Dance technique activated!
Every tree around them rose into the air and crashed into the Blade-Bone Demon. The blow sent it tumbling to the ground.
This time, it was truly dead.
Only then did Ning Ye walk over. He removed the demon's four bone blades and took out its Demon Bead, then searched the four dead men as well.
He had to admit, he'd found some good things: several cultivation pills and spirit stones. Since the dead men had all been at the middle stage of the Cang Xiang Realm, these ordinary supplies for middle-stage cultivators were worth something to Ning Ye too.
What pleased him most was that one of them had been carrying a piece of Jade Ridge Stone.
Jade Ridge Stone was a spiritual mineral with many uses, and it was worth no less than Death Spirit Locust Tree wood.
Ning Ye was quite satisfied. He first disposed of all the bodies and traces of the formation, then activated the Kunlun Mirror to check where the escapee had gone.
His opponent wasn't strong enough to conceal his aura, and the Kunlun Mirror found him quickly. He wasn't far from here.
Ning Ye examined the terrain, found a shortcut, and gave chase.
Li Guiling ran for his life.
What had happened earlier had completely overturned his understanding of the world. Four disciples at the middle stage of the Cang Xiang Realm had been killed by a disciple at the early stage.
It was true that the other man hadn't relied on his strength in a direct fight. But alive was alive, and dead was dead. Between life and death, strength didn't matter.
That was the most important lesson Li Guiling had learned on this trip to Huaiyin Mountain. If he survived, perhaps he would achieve great things in the future.
"Thank you for teaching me. I'll repay you many times over for what happened today!" Li Guiling muttered through clenched teeth.
He sprinted onward. When the scene of the battle was finally far behind him, he let out a breath of relief.
After the hard fight, he was parched. Spotting a pool nearby, Li Guiling went over and scooped up water with his hands, gulping it down. Once he'd had his fill, he simply plunged his head into the spring. Even so, he didn't forget to spread his spiritual power around him, staying alert to everything.
Just then—
Pfft!
A bone blade suddenly burst up from beneath the water, pierced his throat, and emerged from the back of his neck.
Li Guiling was pinned to the ground. Yet he wasn't dead. Blood gurgled from his mouth and nose, and he couldn't move.
A figure appeared above the water, wearing a sinister-looking mask. It was the man from before.
"You're wondering why you got caught despite taking precautions, aren't you?" Ning Ye asked with a smile.
Li Guiling couldn't speak. He only trembled uncontrollably.
"It's nothing special. Just a little bit of mechanical craft. The whole process produces no fluctuations of magical power."
There were countless paths in the development of mechanical arrays: some pursued sheer power, others illusion, and so on. Ning Ye's first priority was to make his hard to detect.
His Spiritless Restriction techniques drew on knowledge from his previous life and were powered by the mechanism itself. When activated, they produced no fluctuations of spiritual power, hence the name Spiritless Restriction.
Of course, these techniques could only be used for minor restrictions at present, and could only deal with people of limited strength. A mighty cultivator like Yue Xinchans had reached the realm of Heaven-Human Resonance. Even without any fluctuations of magical power, he would still sense something amiss—though only if the restriction threatened him. If it didn't, he wouldn't notice it.
"Me...chani...cal..." Li Guiling stared at the reflection in the water, at the mask.
He finally began to understand. "You... aren't... Hei..."
"Whether I am or not is no longer any concern of yours." Ning Ye pressed Li Guiling's head down and dragged it lower. The bone blade split his skull and churned his brain to mush.
Afterward, Ning Ye checked Li Guiling's belongings and took all the pills. He ignored the magical artifacts, erased the traces, and left without a sound.
Four hours later.
Fu Dongliu stood beside Li Guiling's corpse, looked it over, and said, "Record the cause of death: killed by the Blade-Bone Demon's bone blade. Death by ordinary means."
Luo Qiuzhen, who was responsible for the records, hesitated. "Envoy Fu..."
"Hmm?" Fu Dongliu glanced sideways at Luo Qiuzhen.
Luo Qiuzhen spoke cautiously. "From the manner of death, Li Guiling was indeed killed by the Blade-Bone Demon's bone blade, just like the four others. But the Blade-Bone Demon died over there, so why was it killed here? And his pills are missing, while his magical artifacts were left behind. That shows someone came here."
Fu Dongliu said coldly, "You're overthinking it. It's common for a dead person's belongings to be taken. Someone must have passed by. They didn't report it because they didn't want to hand over what they found—that's human nature. As for the Blade-Bone Demon not being here, Li Guiling had an Escape Light Talisman. It's entirely possible he was struck by the bone blade and fled here at the same time, only to die of his wounds."
"But if that's the case, why would Li Guiling bring a piece of bone blade here? More importantly, the examination of the corpse shows he clearly didn't die on the spot. If so, why didn't he heal himself right away? Why just wait to die beside the spring?"
Fu Dongliu frowned deeply. "What are you trying to prove? That someone killed them?"
Luo Qiuzhen faltered.
Fu Dongliu lowered his voice. "If you can find the killer, I don't mind you investigating this as a case. But if you can't, you'll only bring trouble on yourself. Understand?"
Luo Qiuzhen's heart jolted. He lowered his head. "This subordinate understands."
"Good. We'll record it as an ordinary accident." Fu Dongliu clasped his hands behind his back and left.
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