Friend Daoist, Please Stay

Just as Qiu Yan's vitality surged forth, turning into raindrops and falling on the arid land, the raging fire python that followed the Golden Crow's Divine Soul and traveled underground had also approached the Eastern Capital City, quickly attracting the attention of the city's Divine Office and many cultivators within the city.

"Who made the move?"

"Arousing the Thought Fire to enter the Eastern Capital? Do you think the Eastern Capital isn't chaotic enough already? Do you want to add fuel to the fire?"

"Someone is being forced by the flames, hmm? It seems to be the Golden Crow Daoist, but why is his aura so weak?"

"This Golden Crow Daoist usually acts quite strangely, relying on the Solar True Essence. I wonder what he's up to this time."

"Good! That old bird, Golden Crow, looks like he's fallen on hard times. I'll take advantage of his misfortune and plunder the Solar True Essence!"

On the surface, Eastern Capital appears peaceful, with mortal society unaffected. However, since the day "Heavenly Soldiers and Generals" appeared in the Imperial City, undercurrents have been surging within the city. Various forces have gathered, scheming against each other, engaging in both war and peace, with every move affecting the whole situation.

The Golden Crow Daoist and the raging fire python approached rapidly, one after the other, like boiling oil being poured into a fire, triggering a chain reaction, and many people became restless.

Not only the cultivators gathered here were tempted, but even the Divine Path Underworld Office deep underground was alarmed by this commotion.

"Report! Fire is approaching outside the city, it seems to be a battle between cultivators!"

Strictly speaking, the Underworld Office of the Metropolitan City God of the Eastern Capital. They share both prosperity and adversity. In recent days, due to the invasion of external gods and the continuous fierce battles, the Eastern Capital of the Underworld Office has suffered considerable losses, and there have even been several times when it almost affected the human world. This has made all the Divine Office in the underworld extremely nervous and unable to tolerate any disturbance.

This time, as soon as the raging flames erupted, several Wandering God noticed them and immediately rushed to report back.

The news was reported up the chain of command without even being investigated, eventually reaching the desk of the Metropolitan City God.

This also shows how tense the Eastern Capital Underworld Office is now, to the point of being extremely paranoid.

"Immediately send men to capture the fighting cultivators! Quell the chaos! Prevent the situation from escalating!"

The Metropolitan City God was a burly man with a thick beard. Combined with his official hat, he looked more like the Yama King of Hell than City God at first glance. After receiving the news, he took out a token without thinking and threw it out, issuing the order directly.

"Understood!" The two constables received the token, clasped their hands in a fist salute, and left, transforming into two beams of Divine Radiance.

But before these two beams of Divine Radiance could even break through the gates of the Underworld Office Palace, they were stopped by a powerful force, causing them to re-reveal their Divine Body. Immediately afterward, the two deities turned back, looking on in bewilderment—

The one who stopped them was none other than the Metropolitan City God, who sat serenely deep within the city.

The imposing City God raised a hand to rub his forehead, a worried look on his face. He then said, "Forget it, don't capture them. Just stop them outside the city. But we need to find out the reason for their fight. Both sides seem to be quite powerful. If possible, let them settle down for now. When those evil gods come again in a few days, we can borrow their strength."

These words initially surprised the two constables, but they quickly understood.

In recent days, the Eastern Capital Divine Office has been fighting against the Outer Gods several times, suffering considerable losses. Therefore, it issued a decree from the Heavenly Court to mobilize all directions and invite all paths to help, but still could not gain the upper hand. So it sent a god to Heaven to ask for help.

However, after that god from heaven left, there was no news for a long time, forcing the Eastern Capital Underworld Office to rely on the power of various paths. Therefore, even if the feuds between cultivators involved the Eastern Capital, they dared not go too far in killing each other.

Normally, the Divine Path authorities, with their authority, would have acted as they initially commanded, arresting and interrogating the suspects. But now, the situation is beyond their control, and even the Divine Path have to think twice, resulting in frequent changes to their orders.

This makes the situation unpredictable, with many options available.

The two constables knew all this, but dared not say anything more. After receiving their orders, they quickly vanished in a flash of light.

"The evil god is wreaking havoc in the Eastern Capital, causing extreme chaos among the city's cultivators and Divine Path. Now is a time of turbulent undercurrents, a perfect opportunity to seize the moment!"

Underground, the Golden Crow's Divine Soul traversed the earth, relying on the remaining Solar True Essence to break through the soil and rocks at great speed.

Just now, because of the battle with Qiu Yan, the Golden Crow Daoist had his Solar True Essence, which was connected to his soul, removed. He was so badly injured that his combat power dropped to the critical point. He didn't dare to stop and fight against the Thought Fire that were chasing behind him, so he could only rush forward.

However, his escape was not aimless or reckless; rather, he intended to use the various forces within the Eastern Capital to quell the matter and even planned to isolate Qiu Yan and portray him as the public enemy of the Eastern Capital!

Of all those who cultivate the Tao, nine out of ten cherish their lives, and will fight for any chance of survival.

"Just you wait! You dared to steal my treasure! This is an irreconcilable feud! I will make sure you never have a good life again! From this day forward, even if I don't take your life, I will make sure you never have peace!" The crowd was terrified, their State of Mind wavering!

Just as the Golden Crow Daoist was cursing angrily, the flames surging from behind him suddenly boiled, and the nine Divine Sense within them burst forth with a different aura. Their impact speed increased several times over, and in the blink of an eye, they rushed behind the Golden Crow's Divine Soul. The flames roared, threatening to engulf it completely!

"What's going on? Has he already subdued the Solar True Essence?"

Although the Golden Crow Daoist escaped, he was still calculating in his heart. In addition to borrowing the strength of Eastern Capital parties in the Eastern Capital, he was also calculating Qiu Yan's situation. He knew that the other party had to subdue the scattered Solar True Essence and had to be distracted by other matters, so he could not devote himself to the pursuit. Therefore, he would leave himself an opportunity.

The reason he was able to abandon the Solar True Essence so decisively was actually due to many considerations. He was thinking of retreating to advance. After all, the Solar True Essence was a treasure passed down from the Golden Crow Dao. Even if it was temporarily out of control, it still had many hidden tricks. If Qiu Yan was not careful, he might fall into the trap and allow the Golden Crow Daoist to turn the tide.

By leveraging external forces to distract Qiu Yan and ultimately drawing out his true essence, he considered this three-pronged approach a foolproof strategy.

But now, the surging flames suddenly accelerated, causing Golden Crow Daoist's heart to skip a beat. He realized that the situation was not good. Immediately afterward, he turned his thoughts and made remote connections to try to activate the remaining restrictions and hidden forces within the Solar True Essence, to cause trouble for Qiu Yan and increase the variables. However, after a brief sensing, he found that the area around the True Essence was actually very hot, but there was no trace of the Soul Dao or Life Cultivation aura.

"Damn it, that person actually used his Thought Fire to isolate the pill formed from the Solar True Essence!"

With a sigh, the Golden Crow Daoist withdrew his thoughts and was about to activate his Divine Soul when, unexpectedly, his mind became confused, his heart trembled violently, and the light and shadow before his eyes flickered suddenly. Then, his entire Divine Soul lost consciousness. When he regained his senses, he was already covered by a shield!

On the surface of the cover were nine divine dragons, each one covered in flames, with tongues of fire flickering, lifelike and clearly not an ordinary object.

Bang!

A dull thud resounded as the Golden Crow's Divine Soul slammed into the shield, only to be bounced back.

"Huh? What's going on?"

The Golden Crow Daoist was extremely anxious. He focused his mind and tried to break free of the barrier with his Divine Soul, but he kept hitting obstacles and could not escape!

"Who ambushed me!"

Seeing this, the Golden Crow Daoist finally panicked. In a desperate gamble, he unleashed his remaining Solar True Essence was scorching hot and sharp, its cold light swirling as it was rapidly consumed, though it did leave scratches inside the barrier. However, it still couldn't break through it.

Even if cracks appeared, the cover would circulate and the flames would emerge, quickly closing up again, giving the Golden Crow Daoist no time to escape.

"This is impossible! Even if the true essence is just a remnant, it still..." he cried out in a panic.

Call!

As the Golden Crow Daoist howled inside the enclosure, the Thought Fire controlled by Qiu Yan's Divine Sense roared down, completely covering the enclosure carved with nine fire dragons. The flames surged and rippled, scorching the enclosure, but they could not budge it in the slightest.

Then, jade-white fingers appeared out of thin air, landed on the cover, and picked it up. Immediately afterwards, a figure slowly emerged, his long robe fluttering, unaffected by the flames.

Through his Divine Sense, Qiu Yan Qiu Yan saw the man's appearance and was immediately struck by the thought. He recognized him as the man in the long robe who accompanied Prince Yan, and it seemed that his surname was Yang.

The man in the long robe picked up the cover, glanced at it a few times, then smiled slightly and looked up at the surrounding flames, saying, "Fellow Daoist, this Golden Crow Daoist provoked you, so being chased here is his own fault. However, judging from your posture, you not only want to capture the Golden Crow, but you must also have designs on that Prince Yan."

The words he spoke, transmitted through Divine Sense, caused Qiu Yan's Fleshly Body to change color drastically. He wondered what Yang Ying's purpose was. Seeing that the other party moved normally in the fire, with a leisurely air, he knew that this person had profound cultivation and could not help but speculate about his origins.

Yang Ying chuckled, reached out and pulled the Golden Crow Daoist's Divine Soul out of the protective barrier, leaving a trace of Solar True Essence within. He then tossed the Divine Soul into the Thoughtfire, laughing, "This Divine Soul is entrusted to you, fellow Daoist. However, the title 'Golden Crow Daoist' is passed down through generations and is not as simple as it seems. Please be careful in the future. As for this trace of Solar True Essence, I will accept it."

As he spoke, he gathered his sleeves, put away the cover, and bowed to the flames, saying, "Prince Yan treated me as a friend, and I should also treat him as a friend. This time, his reckless use of force is a crime, but since I am here, I will protect him this time. I ask for your forgiveness, fellow Daoist, and grant him this pardon. I will persuade him to act with Human Path. However, if he remains obstinate, I will have done all I can."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and disappeared without a trace.

"Ah... ah... ah..."

All around, only the screams of the Golden Crow Daoist could be heard.

"What is the background of this Yang Ying? The name of the Golden Crow Daoist has been passed down through generations?" Qiu Yan's Divine Sense swirled a few times, then he gathered his flames and enveloped the Divine Soul. "Speaking of which, the Void-Driving Dao Lord and this Golden Crow Daoist are both sect leaders, yet the difference between them is vast. The disciples of the Void-Driving Dao all possess the cultivation of the Third Realm, while this Golden Crow Dao Master, although possessing supreme treasures, has limited cultivation and is all alone. I wonder what secrets lie behind this?"

The flames carried the Golden Crow's Divine Soul back, while Qiu Yan's Fleshly Body continued to fly forward, but a voice came from behind—

"Fellow Daoist, please wait."

ps:

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