Killing and Saving

Meanwhile, at the ruins of the Pill Pavilion, Su Fuxi had spent three months analyzing the restrictions and worked out four or five of them, including sealing, offensive, fusion, and defensive restrictions.

Though few in number, they were of a very high grade. In particular, when one set of sealing and defensive restrictions was combined, it could transfer damage and fuse attacks, achieving much the same effect as the destruction restriction by different means!

The restriction spear, which struck with at least the full power of a Nascent Soul, drew its attack power from the combined nodes of the vast restriction in this place. It was no trifling thing.

Su Fuxi had no mind to break open the passages. Dragging her feet and going through the motions, she had only managed to open three, while Zha Wuren beside her had broken through six. Some of the cultivators sitting in meditation were already growing impatient.

"Hey, fellow Daoists, how much longer?"

"Let's wait a little longer. The secret realm won't close for another six months to a year or so anyway."

Pretending not to hear the impatient remarks and keeping track of the time, Su Fuxi felt the moment was nearly ripe. She had reaped a bountiful harvest on this trip.

She concentrated her spiritual sense in her eyes, her hands constantly changing seals.

Under cover of the obstruction, she quietly took out her restriction banner, her dharma treasure. Before the middle-aged man nearest her could react, she swiftly cast a spell at a certain point above the ruins!

Boom.

A terrifying wave of energy surged from the restriction above the ruins. Astral winds and currents swept in from every direction, engulfing everyone in the blink of an eye!

At the same time, Su Fuxi unfurled her dharma treasure and drew herself within the restriction banner's protection. The banner enveloped her entire body in an instant as she rushed toward the gap behind her.

"Watch out! Grab her!"

Zha Wuren was extremely familiar with the energy fluctuations. Alarm flashed in his eyes as he was the first to shout. He could never have imagined that she would deliberately trigger the restriction!

The others were half a breath slower. The middle-aged man was the quickest, leaping forward and reaching out to grab Su Fuxi. "Don't even think of leaving!"

But she dodged him. A jade talisman half the size of a thumb glowed at her waist, instantly multiplying her speed severalfold.

On top of that, she had her restriction dharma treasure. The moment she rushed toward the gap, more than a dozen dazzling beams of Golden Core-level attacks shot straight at her like a school of fish chasing bait.

The restriction banner neutralized every last one.

By then, the destruction restriction amid the howling astral winds had condensed into a dazzling white light. A restriction spear, chilling and terrifying in its aura, shot out of the light toward Zha Wuren, who was closest.

The pressure, comparable to that of the Nascent Soul Stage, nearly overwhelmed Zha Wuren's mind with terror. His spiritual power churned, seemingly about to escape his body. Acting on his survival instinct, he activated a teleportation dharma treasure and left the spot.

Even so, the spear's pressure grazed the center of his back at that moment, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The strike still injured his mind and spirit, leaving him severely wounded once again. Only one thought filled his mind: this could not be mere Nascent Soul might.

Now he cared only about fleeing for his life, paying no attention even to Su Fuxi.

After a moment's daze, the others also scattered and fled. Su Fuxi was standing in the passage through the gap, moving with a special footwork pattern. How could she let them escape?

Whoosh! The Embroidered Gold Sword, twice as fast after its upgrade, shot straight at a Golden Core cultivator rushing toward the gap in the ruins. As he frantically formed a seal, it plunged into his chest from the front and passed straight through him.

The Embroidered Gold Sword did not slow for an instant. Carrying its master's killing intent, it shot swiftly toward the next cultivator. It was so fast that it became a streak of light, slitting the throats of several cultivators charging over in succession, as though threading a needle.

Just then, Zha Wuren came fleeing over in panic. He saw a flash of pink light before him and felt a pain in his chest, but he had no time to strike back at Su Fuxi.

The restriction spear behind him had already claimed the lives of a group of people, including the middle-aged cultivator! Now it was coming straight for the two of them, the only ones still alive.

The restriction spear pierced the backs of the fleeing cultivators, moving just as fast as lightning. The white light, shrouded in immense pressure, whistled past, and any cultivator it touched burst into a bloody mist.

Su Fuxi was faster than Zha Wuren. As the terrifying pressure descended, her jade talisman flashed again, and she swiftly turned into a streak of rainbow light and left the area.

By the narrowest of margins, the two escaped the Pill Pavilion, one after the other, but in different directions.

Only after she had traveled dozens of li beyond the Pill Pavilion's restriction did she have the leisure to probe with her spiritual sense. The Pill Pavilion ruins had returned to silence, as though nothing had happened.

There seemed to be no trace of any living creature. Su Fuxi thought for a moment, then quickly turned back.

Zha Wuren was surely gravely wounded, and he would certainly return to his sect. There would still be time to hunt him down then. What mattered now was first making sure those Golden Core cultivators were gone!

A streak of pink rainbow light swept across the sky, the white cloth bag tied to the woman's waist trailing behind her.

A moment later, she stopped outside the remains of the Pill Pavilion's collapsed gate. Inside, only a light breeze stirred, carrying a faint smell of blood.

About fifty zhang inside the gate lay several cultivators slain by the Embroidered Gold Sword, four in all. Su Fuxi confirmed that one had died from a sword through the chest, while three had had their throats cut with a single stroke. Finally, she cast fireballs to erase every trace before turning to leave.

As for their souls, the restriction had utterly destroyed them.

There was no sign of life left in the Pill Pavilion ruins.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief and headed down another path. Leaving this way, she could circle back to the fork where she had first entered the courtyard.

But she had not expected to see a female cultivator trapped in an area of astral winds. It was the familiar Golden Core female cultivator from her sect, dressed entirely in purple.

"Help! Is anyone there..."

"Help! Can someone save me..."

Su Fuxi withdrew her spiritual sense. The ruins swept by astral winds were only three or four li away, not very far. The voice carried by spiritual power was already very hoarse; there was no telling how long the woman had been calling out.

Su Fuxi was naturally not one to meddle in other people's affairs. After a moment's hesitation, she prepared to continue along her own path.

"Hahaha, is anyone there... save me... I can repay you with spirit stones... hehe..."

"Eldest Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother... you... won't... die... well! Hahaha, you won't die well..."

The woman kept shouting, her voice hoarse. She sounded somewhat deranged.

Hm? Su Fuxi suddenly stopped. The woman had mentioned Eldest Senior Brother, and a thought stirred in Su Fuxi's mind. She turned and flew toward her.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Su Fuxi had examined this place of astral winds before. It was all ruins, with nothing particularly unusual about it. Now, one glance told her that the woman had been deliberately framed and held in place there.

"Su...! You, what are you doing here?!"

Su Fuxi descended abruptly onto a broken jade bridge. At the sight of her, the woman's face took on a dazed look.

"It's been three months and eleven days... I finally waited until someone came... and it's you."

Tears suddenly streamed down her face. Looking at Su Fuxi, she felt aggrieved. "Su, Senior Sister Su, it's all my fault for not listening to you back then and leaving with Elder Sun."

"Eldest Senior Brother harmed me... Sixth Senior Brother... too... they abandoned me... sob..." The woman spoke through her tears, her voice breaking.

There was no longer any jealousy in the woman's gaze as she looked at her, only pleading. "Senior Sister Su, please help me. I'm willing to give you all my resources in exchange!"

Su Fuxi carefully examined her condition and the restriction here. She was covered in dust, her hair was a mess, and her face was pale, her skin dry and cracked. She truly looked as though she had been trapped here, exposed to wind and sun for months. What a sorry sight she was.

And she was standing there without moving a muscle... Su Fuxi found it a little funny. Pfft, this is what happens when someone gets a harsh beating from the perils of the jianghu!

"Junior Sister Fang Yun, the restriction here is too complicated, and I'm in a hurry... As for your storage bag, it seems I could get it even if I don't save you."

"Wah..." Fang Yun's pretty face was weather-beaten. At those words, she burst into loud sobs, then suddenly began crying and laughing at once. Her hahahas and hehehehs startled Su Fuxi.

"Boohoo... won't save me... haha... won't save me either... hehe..."

"Fang Yun, pull yourself together! Forget it, it's a deal. I'll save you, and you'll give me all your resources!"

The bedraggled Fang Yun immediately agreed. "All right! Thank you, Senior Sister. I agree. I can swear an oath on my Dao heart."

The secret realm would soon close, and the longer she waited, the less likely anyone was to come and save her. She was a dignified Golden Core elder, yet her own sectmates had set her up to die. It was far too miserable a way to go, and sorrow welled up in her at the thought.

At this moment, Su Fuxi was her lifesaving straw! She was more than willing to exchange all her resources for her life, and immediately swore an oath:

"If I, Fang Yun, am saved, I will surely hand my storage bag over to Senior Sister Su Fuxi. Let my Dao heart bear witness."

"All right. Wait while I break the restriction sealing you." Su Fuxi drifted forward, spreading out her spiritual sense. With a peculiar pattern of steps, she reached the edge of the astral wind zone, raised her hand, and cast a spell. Then she closed her eyes and began analyzing the restriction.

The restriction's transformations were intricate: tug one hair, and the whole body would move. It was one Su Fuxi found very difficult to analyze. Still, at the thought of releasing an enemy for Zha Wuren, she applied herself with great effort.

She could not remove it, and she did not have that much time left. She only needed to work out one node and take the risk of integrating another, imitation restriction into it, briefly halting the eye of the wind for an instant and getting Fang Yun out, and then-

"Run!!"

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