Spirit Calamity

Not far from Mount Zhongnan, beside a waterfall, Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi stood guard, keeping watch over their surroundings.

Su Yao sat cross-legged, circulating his Qi.

Focusing his mind and looking inward, he saw that, besides the prism and the Immortal Foundation "Draped in Rosy Radiance," a mass of bloody light now flickered in his sea of Qi.

It was the demonic seed that the fiend had planted in him in the ruined temple on Mount Zhongnan. This demonic seed should belong to the path of blood demons.

Outside the mass of bloody light, a white lotus had also bloomed, enclosing the blood seed on all sides.

But the white lotus could only barely contain it, and a fifth of Su Yao's Law Power was now tied up there.

If anything happened, he would be unable to bring even eighty percent of his former strength to bear.

Fortunately, his earlier injuries had not been severe, and after five days of regulating his breathing, he had largely recovered.

At the same time, he thought to himself:

There was no record of this fiend on Qixia Mountain, and Daozheng had never told me about him. Though even a True Lord was no match for the fiend, and knowing about him wouldn't have helped me guard against him, at least I would have known what I was facing.

That day, he had genuinely believed at first that the figure was True Lord Xicheng.

But he had not expected that. Fortunately, the True Lord had arrived in time.

Just then, the prism in his sea of Qi trembled slightly.

It pointed toward a spot outside.

Startled, Su Yao opened his eyes and looked in the direction indicated by the prism. He said:

"Something's moving. Stay alert."

Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi were both startled by his words.

Cold sweat streamed down their backs.

Su Yao rose, took out Clear Breeze, and held it in his hand.

He advanced cautiously, while Little Red and Little Orange landed on Liu Yunhe's and Li Siyi's shoulders respectively and went forward with them.

They came to the edge of the pool beneath the waterfall.

Uneasy and suspicious, Su Yao secretly activated the prism and used its standing to peer into the pool.

At the bottom, a blue-green column of water was slowly gathering.

Su Yao pondered for a moment, then recognized it as a spirit object of the Gui Water path.

Seeing that the pearl was about to take shape, he thought, This is bad. Whenever a spirit object born of heaven and earth appeared like this, it was bound to cause a great commotion. He looked at the other two:

"Retreat, quickly."

The two were taken aback. They saw Su Yao rise into the air and fly upward.

They hurriedly took flight and followed him.

Just as the three flew into the air, the water in the pool began to churn violently.

The three landed up high, above the waterfall, and watched the pool below churn incessantly. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the water began to rise rapidly and spread.

Su Yao looked at the scene:

"The Yin-Yang School's Theory of the Five Virtues says: 'Gui Water is the transformation of the water virtue, with changes between clarity and turbidity. After Gui Water was transformed by the human path, it became transformation, overthrow, and submergence.' Given the circumstances, I imagine this should be the Gui Water spirit object 'Submerging Ford Rinsing Mysterious Essence.'"

"Submerging Ford Rinsing Mysterious Essence?" Li Siyi frowned slightly, then asked:

"But among the five virtues, most spirit objects of the water and fire virtues exist in the form of spirit water or spirit fire. How could..."

Su Yao shook his head:

"Gui Water is different. Gui means rain."

He paused.

"Still, since we've come across it, a spirit object is a fine find. Besides, Gui Water spirit objects are mostly found in Jiangnan and are rare here in Guanzhong in the Central Plains."

With that, he took out a special Law Artifact he had brought from the foot of the mountain, made specifically to hold spirit objects.

When the pool stopped churning, he flew down and, with the help of the prism, easily found the Submerging Ford Rinsing Mysterious Essence. He activated the earth master path's Law Technique, Fix and Seek Spirits, and in the next moment, the spirit object appeared in the box.

He closed the box, sealed it securely, and put it into his Storage Bag.

Seeing this, Liu Yunhe hurried forward to offer his congratulations:

"Daozi, your heavenly fortune runs deep. You've only just come down the mountain, yet first a True Lord expounded the Law to you, and now, as soon as you've left Mount Zhongnan, you've obtained a spirit object."

Though Li Siyi inwardly looked down on Liu Yunhe's behavior, she still spoke up:

"Indeed. I once heard my grandfather say that, years ago, he spent many years searching in vain for a spirit object to refine a Spirit Artifact. Yet now, Daozi has obtained one so casually. This truly is heaven's favor."

Hearing this, Su Yao shook his head and chuckled.

"You two really are..."

But he was interrupted the next moment by a deep, resonant voice:

"You there, junior, leave the spirit object. I have had my eye on it for many years."

Su Yao looked toward the voice and saw five streaks of light speeding toward them.

In an instant, they reached a spot not far away and revealed five figures. At their head was an elderly man with a white beard and a brown robe, possessing the very bearing of an immortal sage.

"May I ask who you are?"

Seeing that Su Yao remained silent, Liu Yunhe spoke up.

The man opposite ignored Liu Yunhe and looked instead at Su Yao in the middle:

"Hand it over, and I'll spare your lives."

Su Yao had already been troubled, and seeing how arrogant these people were, he looked at Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi:

"Kill them all."

"Yes," the two answered, each bringing out a Law Artifact.

The next moment, Liu Yunhe raised the flute-shaped Law Artifact in his hand to his lips. As he played, countless translucent feathers appeared and swept toward the five.

On the other side, five-colored mist curled around Li Siyi. She waved the magical fan in her hand, and the mist gathered and swept toward the five.

The brown-robed elder at their head snorted coldly:

"How dare you."

He then turned his head toward the disciples behind him:

"They dare steal my Cang Water Sect's spirit object. Kill them!"

"Yes!" several voices answered from behind him, and they all mounted their Law Artifacts and charged out.

The brown-robed elder, meanwhile, kept his eyes fixed on Su Yao.

Su Yao sneered. The Cang Water Sect?

What house with a real background would call itself a sect?

Nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs. The spiritual presence in these people was sluggish; a glance was enough to tell that the Cultivation Methods they practiced were nothing of high grade. The brown-robed elder in the lead was a little better, at an estimated fourth grade.

But Su Yao kept feeling that something was wrong, so he once again controlled the prism in his sea of Qi and looked through it.

The several figures, who had appeared utterly ordinary, were now wreathed in countless currents of blue-green light.

Su Yao thought, This is bad. It's a Purple Mansion expert using a Fate Divine Ability to control them again.

Those controlled by a Fate Divine Ability had long since lost their sense of self.

He took out several talismans and concealed a Purple Mansion-level Wu Earth talisman among them, to use at a critical moment.

On the battlefield, in no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the four had all perished at the hands of Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi.

They turned into a pool of clear spring water, a few wisps of fine rain, and a clear pond, falling to the ground.

The brown-robed elder felt no fear at the sight. Instead, he flew into a rage and mounted a long sword.

He then transformed into fine rain and drifted toward them.

Seeing this, Su Yao shouted to the two:

"Capture him alive!"

Hearing him, the two hurriedly changed their Law Techniques.

Within a few moves, the brown-robed elder was at a disadvantage.

But in Su Yao's eyes, blue-green light fell from the Great Void and surged toward Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi.

Then a layer of rosy light arose from within the two of them, instantly shutting the blue-green light out.

Just as Li Siyi trapped the elder with a Law Technique,

the elder suddenly burst out laughing. He tossed away the long sword in his hand and withdrew the feather robe protecting his body.

When his form came into contact with the Wu Earth Qi, it turned to fine rain and slowly vanished in the space of a few breaths.

Su Yao shuddered. What a move-killing by another's hand.

He looked up into the sky:

"May I ask which senior is here? Might you show yourself?"