Ending the Threat, Cleansing the Root Bone

Fang Shu studied Luan Tong'er's burning corpse. Though surprise flickered in his eyes, he did not lower his guard.

With a swish, his figure flashed away, suddenly taking cover behind an outer disciple.

Luan Tong'er's corpse shuddered.

Pink peach blossoms bloomed from his corpse and flew out, flashing toward living creatures in every direction.

One of them had its sights set on Fang Shu.

Fortunately, Fang Shu remained alert. Ever since killing Luan Tong'er, he had been watching for any hidden contingencies left on the man's body.

His dodge successfully caused the peach blossom mark pursuing him to strike that cultivator instead.

The man's protective spiritual radiance, defensive artifacts, and other safeguards might as well not have existed. The mark pierced them effortlessly and branded itself onto his cheek.

Even though Fang Shu had used an outer disciple as a shield, several peach blossoms still swerved around the man, behaving like dogs determined to pounce on him.

Amid a humming buzz, these peach blossom marks ultimately failed. They merely branded themselves onto the gu insects Fang Shu had prepared beforehand.

"Do these track living creatures?" Fang Shu narrowed his eyes, examining the marks on his gu insects.

Without hesitation, he severed his connection with those insects and sent others forward to devour the few bearing peach blossom marks.

The insects that devoured them also died on the spot, and he promptly burned them to ash with a fire talisman.

While Fang Shu handled matters methodically, the other outer disciples beside him looked as grief-stricken as if both their parents had died.

"What—what the hell is this thing?! It won't come off!"

"This is bad! This must be something Chu Yang the Earth Immortal planted on Luan Tong'er. Once we leave the secret realm, he'll be able to find us through