Azure Luan Royal Blood

In the deep forests of the Southern Domain, ancient trees towered into the sky.

A streak of azure light darted through the dense woods.

More than ten Cangxuan cultivators in assorted clothing, their eyes fierce and vicious, pursued it closely.

Most of these Rogue Cultivators were at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. Their leader was a burly, scar-faced man with a centipede tattooed on his face, whose strength had already reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Among the pursuers was a young man in an embroidered, water-blue immortal robe, with an arrogant expression.

A jade pendant carved with lakes and mountains and bearing the character "Xie" hung at his waist. He was only at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, but all the Rogue Cultivators treated him with the utmost respect.

Amid the pursuit and encirclement, the azure light was visibly growing weary, and the radiance protecting it had begun to dim.

"Little beauty, you're a fast runner! Your guards and your clansmen are all dead..."

The scar-faced leader grinned viciously, clutching the blood-drenched corpses of two dead Azure Luans as he taunted her.

But when the azure light showed no reaction and instead spat out a mouthful of Essence Blood, it abruptly accelerated, a faint trace of red appearing in its azure escaping light.

"Zhao Huayuan, what my young lady wants is the Essence Blood in her body, that Wang bloodline... If it's depleted like this, I'm afraid the price won't be the same when the time comes."

"Why don't you get serious? You're wasting time."

The arrogant man in water-blue robes spoke from among the pursuers.

Hearing this, the scar-faced man felt both a pang of regret and a touch of impatience. He only reached Foundation Establishment by relying on his family background. If not for the resources, what kind of thing are you to tell me what to do?

A look of pain at the expense suddenly crossed his face. He squeezed a few drops of Essence Blood from his hand, and several pitch-black chains streaked with red and radiating a chilling cold whipped out from within his robes toward the azure light.

A Foundation Establishment Late Stage Law Artifact, the Spirit-Locking Soul Chain.

"Get down here!"

"Clang!"

The Spirit-Locking Soul Chain shot forward like a venomous snake.

In an instant, it struck the fleeing azure light, colliding with its protective radiance and producing the ring of clashing metal.

The streak of light fell to the ground, revealing a petite figure who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen. Her azure feathered robes were torn, exposing bloodstreaks on her fair skin.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features as exquisite as a painting. Her clear, blue-green eyes in particular held an innate nobility.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and she clutched an azure plume tightly to her chest.

Most striking of all were the faint silhouettes of two azure plumes flickering in her hair, the mark of a descendant of the Azure Luan Clan's Wang bloodline.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Little beauty, struggling like that made us go to quite some trouble."

Seeing his Law Artifact succeed, the scar-faced man burst out laughing.

He immediately led his men forward at greater speed to surround her, licking his lips repeatedly as he looked his prey over.

Of course, a competent hunter could not let down his guard for even a moment-or rather, as a precaution, he had to stop the girl from taking her own life.

The scar-faced man waved a hand, and the Spirit-Locking Soul Chain surged toward her like maggots clinging to bone.

The girl was forced to her knees, her hands bound behind her back by the chain, its other end gripped in the scar-faced man's hand.

The Xie Clan cultivator, his expression arrogant, walked over slowly and took out his jade pendant to verify a few things.

"Yes... yes, she's the one the young lady wants."

He nodded and smiled faintly.

But his movements were swift and ruthless.

A chain formed from water currents and the gravity of lakes shot straight toward her neck, cinching tight and cutting into her flesh until azure blood seeped out.

The girl held her head high, a few rays of light filtering through the dense forest onto her face.

She was exceedingly beautiful, yet pale without a trace of color. Her face was full of defiance, and her eyes were like cold stars, burning with icy flames and humiliation.

Blood stained her lips, and her black hair hung loose in disarray, a few strands clinging to her sweat-dampened cheeks.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... You really are a sight to stir pity...

"Why did you stop running?"

The Xie Clan cultivator, Xie Yu, felt malice rise in his heart when he saw the expression on her face.

He flicked his wrist, making the chain rattle as it tightened further around her neck and forced a muffled groan of pain from her.

"Young Master Xie, why must you be so unkind to a beauty? I hear the young lady only needs the soul essence and Essence Blood of this Wang bloodline...

"Then couldn't we add another item to our reward...?" The scar-faced man licked his lips and swept his gaze over her with an unreadable look.

She was a broken-looking descendant of the Azure Luan royal bloodline, noble in status but now utterly humiliated. His gaze wandered over her slender figure, lingering especially on her chest, which looked exceptionally full and high as she knelt, and her waist, narrow enough to encircle with one hand.

"That's right. As for this Azure Luan royal blood, the young lady only ordered that catching her would be a great merit for us."

"As for this transformed little wench... letting the brothers have some fun before we hand her over wouldn't be a waste, would it?"

The other Rogue Cultivators who had joined the chase also let out lewd laughs.

The Azure Luan girl, Qing Lingxi, clenched her pearly teeth, hatred surging to the heavens in her eyes, but she said nothing.

She had tried struggling and tried rousing the Demon Power remaining in her body, but these chains, especially the one around her neck,

seemed specially made to suppress the Demon Race's Law Power, particularly that of the Azure Luan Clan.

The more she resisted, the tighter they bound her and the more Demon Power they devoured.

"What's the rush?" Xie Yu naturally understood what the Rogue Cultivators meant.

He was somewhat annoyed. These coarse brutes, Rogue Cultivators no better than weeds, are truly... truly... unbearably vulgar, unbearable!

What lovely dreams are they entertaining? Just wait. When the time comes...

Outwardly, however, Xie Yu pretended to ponder for a moment.

Then he took his time straightening his clothes and adjusting his appearance.

His gaze discreetly swept over the snow-white skin faintly visible beneath Qing Lingxi's somewhat torn robes, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Miss Qingying wants the Wang blood's soul essence intact. Extracting it from her while she's alive works best. As for her body... once the soul essence has been extracted... it isn't out of the question."

Xie Yu crouched down and reached out to pinch Qing Lingxi's chin. "I've heard that the women of the Azure Luan Clan are all peerless beauties after taking human form, and that they carry a special fragrance. Now that I've seen one today, your reputation is well deserved..."

Just as his fingertips were about to touch her skin,

"Whoosh!"

An azure-gray wind blade shot without warning from the shadows of the forest, as fast as an arrow loosed from a bow.

Xie Yu's expression changed drastically. His Foundation Establishment Early Stage protective spiritual light instantly flared to life, and the blue embroidered immortal robe on his body erupted with the vast power of water, bolstering him so he could dodge at extreme speed.

"Rip!"

The wind blade grazed his protective spiritual light, shaving away thirty percent of it!

Its remaining force struck an ancient tree behind him, its trunk thick enough to take two people to encircle. The trunk silently split in two, its cut surface smooth as a mirror.

"Who is it?!" Xie Yu shouted, startled and furious.

"I am a cultivator of the Cangxuan [Ze] branch of the Xie Clan... carrying out a task on my lady Qingying's orders... How dare you act so brazenly!"

Three figures slowly emerged from the shadows of the forest.

The one in front wore an Autumn Evolution Dao-Mystery Robe and held an Azure Nether Jade glazed fan. His expression was calm, and he only smiled faintly as he looked at the scene before him.

At the sight of him, the scar-faced man's pupils contracted. What Rogue Cultivators needed most was to size up the situation and know how to read people.

He immediately cupped his fists in greeting, a fawning smile on his face.

"So it is an esteemed lord of the Cloud Mist Ye Clan in person. I am Zhao Huayuan of the Cangxuan Rogue Cultivator Alliance. I accepted the Xie Clan lords' bounty here to handle some private business. I ask that you esteemed lords make an exception for us."

Ye Jinyu ignored them, his eyes burning as they settled on Qing Lingxi and her pitiable appearance.

The chain around Qing Lingxi's neck suppressed her mercilessly, and she knelt on the ground.

Within his Divine Sense, the phantom image of the Heavenly Cauldron of Fate slowly rotated, purple qi intertwining and gathering around it. The Dao Seed of Fate kept leaping, urging him on.

"The Cangxuan Xie Clan, so impressive, aren't you? What kind of things are you, to dare ask our young master to make an exception for you?!"

Before they had time to react, Ye Anlan's arrogant voice had already rung out from behind.