The Grand Unity Azure Lotus Throne sped through the sea of clouds.
Sun Shangxiang looked at the Spirit-Eating Insect in her hand, still feeling a trace of melancholy.
She had thought that this outing for training had finally turned her luck around, that everything was beginning to improve.
Yet she had never expected that she had been targeted all along, that every arrangement had been a calculation.
Whether it was that rare spirit insect, that mysterious cultivation technique, or even the Nine-Turn Spirit Rhinoceros Vine, all of it had merely been deceptive illusions.
At that moment, dense black fog suddenly surged up from below. Insect cries rang out from within, sharp and piercing enough to make one's scalp prickle.
Immediately afterward, ten black shadows shot into the sky, blocking the two of them at astonishing speed.
Their faces could not be seen. Each wore a black robe, their bodies giving off both the distinctive fluctuations of Wood Spirit Roots and an eerie, sinister aura.
One look was enough to tell that their identities, origins, and abilities were anything but simple.
The leader revealed only a pair of fierce, gleaming eyes. His aura was robust and powerful, and his cultivation was at least at the Golden Core Realm.
The people behind him, however, varied greatly in cultivation, with most at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Not only were they uniformly dressed, but every one of them held a flute in hand. Clearly, they were members of some faction.
"Leave Sun Shangxiang behind, and we'll spare your life!"
"We have strength in numbers, so don't resist!"
"A spirit farmer who spends all day tending fields probably has never fought before, right?"
At this moment, they made no attempt to hide their disdain—indeed, their contempt—for Xu Changqing.
Knowing that he was at the Golden