Yellow Robes and Smoldering Anger

Su Fuxi was deeply displeased, and the aura around her grew colder still, especially when she found Lin Sui being pursued by a Golden Core cultivator.

A streak of yellow light raced through the forest after a streak of blue. Before long, the blue light suddenly burrowed underground.

"Boy, you're quite the runner! It's been three days, and you still have the strength to flee!"

The yellow-robed elder did not slow in the slightest as he spoke. He chased Lin Sui as he escaped through the earth, like a cat toying with a mouse, a bloodthirsty gleam flashing in his eyes.

They were three thousand li into the Demonic Beast Mountain Range from its outer edge.

The terrain was treacherous, the forests were dense, and many unknown demonic beasts lurked within.

If his master had not brought him to train nearby years ago, Lin Sui would not have dared venture in recklessly.

Fortunately, he had mastered the Earth Escape Technique to an exceptional degree. Only then could he, with his late Foundation Establishment cultivation, withstand the pursuit of a mid Golden Core cultivator.

He paid no heed to the elder's voice, concentrating on avoiding the rocks underground. Over the past few days, the chase had taken him twice around the outer reaches of the mountain range.

The Golden Core cultivator had come across him killing demonic beasts alone several days ago and taken a fancy to his dark sword at first sight. He had attacked without another word. Lin Sui's senses were sharp, and he had thrown out a defensive jade slip just in time to get a chance to escape.

He had already used up two whole bottles of spirit replenishment pills. Between Foundation Establishment and Golden Core lay the gap of an entire major realm; he truly could not take the elder on head-on.

He wanted to flee toward the Azure Cloud Sect, but the Golden Core elder seemed to know who he was. The elder deliberately cut off his retreat and drove him deeper into the forest. Though Lin Sui knew what he was doing, there was nothing he could do about it.

The elder did not look like a rogue cultivator, yet he was even more ruthless than one.

"Junior, that sword will only gather dust in your hands. The likes of you cannot hold on to such a fortuitous opportunity. You might as well hand it over to me for safekeeping."

The voice, wrapped in spiritual power, boomed overhead like rolling thunder. Lin Sui turned a deaf ear to it, his face pale as he pushed himself a little faster.

He had now seen for himself just how shameless the shameless among cultivators could be.

Master was right. This was cultivation.

His spiritual sense detected rocks ahead, and he immediately changed direction. But in that brief pause, the elder cast a seal, which landed with a boom on the ground above Lin Sui.

Despite the cushioning earth, Lin Sui was still jolted by the Golden Core strike underground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Was this the difference between realms? He wiped the corner of his mouth, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes, and decisively formed a seal and threw out the soul banner. Every moment it could hold the elder back counted.

He could refine another soul banner if he lost it, but he could not bear to throw away his master's green umbrella artifact.

He continued fleeing without looking back.

The soul banner stopped the Golden Core elder for an instant. With a bang, his gaunt hand seized and crushed the nine-hundred-soul banner, and he cried:

"Eh, this boy has quite a few artifacts! It was so close to becoming a Thousand-Soul Banner, yet he was willing to throw it away!"

"Hmph, that sword will be mine today!"

The elder's body shook, and he sped up even more. In an instant, he caught sight of Lin Sui. Raising a hand to form a seal, he said, "Enough, boy. It's time for me to make my move!"

The Golden Core elder reckoned that, having even brought out his soul banner, the junior had no other artifact with which to resist. A pointed spike flickering with an eerie light flew from the elder's storage bag and shot swiftly forward!

Lin Sui groaned inwardly. He feared things would not end well today. His spiritual power was being rapidly depleted, and there was no time to replenish it. When he had changed direction earlier, he had also inadvertently entered a rocky area.

Forced to abandon his escape through the earth, he flew swiftly on his magic sword. Sensing the spike bearing down on his back, ever closer and with the force of rushing thunder, he gritted his teeth and threw out another defensive talisman.

With a bang, the talisman transformed into a golden disc of runes and blocked the spike. But in less than three breaths, the runes shattered inch by inch with a resounding wail, and the spike tore through everything in its path toward the vital point on Lin Sui's back.

Boom! To both their surprise, the spike slammed into a purple banner.

The Golden Core elder instantly felt a powerful pressure descend. His eyes filled with wariness, and he shouted, "Who? Which fellow cultivator is here?"

"Hmph."

There was only a soft snort, but it resounded like thunder directly in the Golden Core elder's mind. The powerful pressure bore down on him like a dark shadow overhead.

A chill suddenly ran down his back. A blue crystal flying sword had appeared without warning and plunged like a meteor into the vital point on his back.

At the same time, a woman's icy voice rang out.

"You injured my disciple, and you ask who I am?"

Su Fuxi descended from the sky, her robes riding the wind. The pressure of peak Golden Core instantly enveloped dozens of li around her.

It made one's scalp tighten and left one scarcely able to breathe.

The elder's eyes widened in horror. All he saw was a slender purple figure that had suddenly appeared before blood spurted from his mouth. Darkness filled his vision, and within half a breath, his life was extinguished.

With a bang, the yellow-robed corpse fell from the air, while a pale hand caught his spike artifact.

Su Fuxi glanced at Lin Sui behind the restriction banner and made sure he was not seriously hurt. Raising her hand, she seized the Golden Core elder's soul from a distance as it tried to burrow underground and head for the Nine Netherworlds.

She swiftly and cleanly wiped away its consciousness by force, then used a soul-refining technique to cleanse the Golden Core soul. Sitting down cross-legged, she refined a new soul banner on the spot and tossed the Golden Core elder's soul into it.

"Are you hurt?" When she was done, Su Fuxi beckoned back the restriction banner protecting Lin Sui and tossed him the new soul banner with a backhand. At the same time, she carefully examined him from head to toe and saw that he had only minor internal injuries and insufficient spiritual power.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, an inexplicable anger rose within her.

If anything happened to Lin Sui, the whole plan for the cultivation vessel would come to nothing, and everything she had done would be wasted!

"Master... I'm fine. You've come out of seclusion..." Lin Sui shook his head, still looking somewhat dazed as he gazed at Su Fuxi.

After a moment's thought, she realized Lin Sui had probably been pursued for a long time. The smoldering anger that had just risen in her eased a little, and she demanded coldly, "Why didn't you use that umbrella just now?"

Lin Sui was at a loss for words. "I... I was afraid I'd damage it and still be unable to escape..."

"Idiot!"

It was the first time Su Fuxi had ever cursed him aloud.

She "looked" coldly at Lin Sui. "I saved your life. A mere umbrella is worth less than that little life of yours. Next time, never mind the umbrella-even if it's your lifebound sword, abandon it when you must!"

"Master, I understand!" Scolded into submission, Lin Sui became as meek as a quail, obediently agreeing to everything.

That clear-eyed, foolish look was completely at odds with his increasingly tall and upright build.

Seeing him like this, Su Fuxi lost the inclination to scold him further. Her smoldering anger dissipated, and she closed her eyes briefly in exasperation.

She turned and drew all of the Golden Core elder's storage bags to her. Then, in front of Lin Sui, she sent down a fireball with a steely expression, destroying the corpse and erasing all traces.

It was the first time Lin Sui had seen her dispose of a corpse, her movements as smooth as flowing water.

A trace of admiration rose in his heart. He thought his master truly was formidable.

She was completely unlike the women he had met over the past few years. They were delicate and needed men to give way to them, but Su Fuxi was much stronger than most Golden Core cultivators!

As her disciple, he shared in the honor.

"Come." Su Fuxi stepped into the air, her clear voice carrying back to him. "Let's gather the vicious souls from the soul banner that was destroyed earlier, so they don't harm anyone else!"

Lin Sui hurried after her.

Though he and his master had not seen each other for years, it seemed no distance had grown between them.

Perhaps it was because he himself harbored ulterior motives that he had thought their reunion would be awkward.

Su Fuxi swept her spiritual sense lightly over Lin Sui behind her. The youth had fully grown into a handsome young man, tall and long-legged, with striking features. This was her future body!

She was very satisfied. By comparison, Lin Sui's temperament was naive and far too simple, but it was not as though she could not continue to cultivate him.

It seemed she would have to let him travel the jianghu on his own more often in the future, so he would learn his lessons. What did he mean, he couldn't bear to part with an umbrella? He was purely childish! Shortsighted!

Su Fuxi extended her spiritual sense, and half a quarter of an hour later, she found the place several hundred li away where the soul banner had been destroyed.

Forming seals with both hands, she and Lin Sui soon gathered the scattered vicious souls and collected them in the new soul banner.

The old soul banner itself had shattered, so they could only collect the fragments and refine a new one later.

Limited by the materials currently available, a single banner could hold only a thousand souls before it collapsed. She could, however, make several more and control them together.

Lin Sui watched her sit cross-legged, refining the Golden Core soul commander from earlier, and a thought occurred to him. How was this about keeping the scattered vicious souls from harming others?

Clearly, it was because she wanted to refine a new soul banner for him...