The moment Ji Dan's head was severed by his own blade, a wisp of divine soul transformed into a streak of light, swiftly fleeing to the side, vanishing into the clouds in the blink of an eye!
"You dare destroy my physical form, you little brat? Just you wait!"
"Hmm?" The sudden turn of events nearly caught Ye Chuan off guard.
Why was this divine soul so fast?
Ye Chuan wasn't aware that once one reached the Nascent Soul realm, soul cultivation began. Even if the physical body was destroyed, one could still be reborn by reshaping or seizing another body.
But he wasn't entirely unprepared for dealing with divine souls. With a flick of his wrist, the Soul Banner materialized in his grasp.
"Senior, come inside for a chat," Ye Chuan said with a smile.
The Soul Banner erupted with a brilliant glow, its surface swirling with countless ghostly green runes, as if countless tormented spirits were wailing within. In the next instant, the fleeing divine soul seemed to freeze mid-air, helplessly being dragged toward Ye Chuan!
The divine soul's face twisted in terror as it shrieked, "The Ten Thousand Souls Banner? You're actually a demonic cultivator! The Qingyun Sect actually harbors a demonic cultivator like you?!"
"What, you got a problem with that?"
The Soul Banner pulsed rhythmically, emitting deafening booms as countless chains shot out from its surface, tightly coiling around Ji Dan's divine soul. Unable to resist, Ji Dan could only watch helplessly as his soul was relentlessly pulled into Ye Chuan's banner.
"Demonic cultivator? Ten Thousand Souls Banner? You old fool, do you even know what you're talking about? I'm a righteous cultivator, guiding lost souls toward redemption."
"No, please! Fellow Daoist, whatever you want, I can give it to you!"
"No need to be so polite. Just come inside first."
"No! No! You—you'll die a horrible death! No—!" Finally, amidst a blood-curdling scream, Ji Dan's soul was completely absorbed into the banner.
[Nascent Soul realm soul absorbed. Artifact enhances host attributes by +36%.]
[Artifact upgrade successful.]
[Item: Soul Banner
Mid-grade artifact
Can absorb soul energy. The more souls absorbed and the higher their quality, the stronger the artifact becomes.
Primary Soul: Ji Dan (Permanently increases host's wind-attribute spiritual power by 17%).]
Not bad at all!
"Pretty good. Killing a Nascent Soul cultivator was easier than I expected." Ye Chuan was quite satisfied with effortlessly slaying a Nascent Soul expert despite being two major realms below.
Under normal circumstances, he could only rely on magic immunity to slowly whittle down a Nascent Soul opponent. But after mastering a slew of techniques, Ye Chuan could now stack various buffs to temporarily boost his stats for combat.
This wasn't cheating.
After all, stacking buffs was exhausting—wasn't it all just hard work and sweat?
"Good thing I have the Holy Grail to restore my mana."
Still, Ye Chuan was curious how long his buffs would last if he unequipped the Holy Grail.
Opening his inventory, he glanced at the item glowing with crimson text.
[Item: Noel's Holy Grail (Peerless)
Eternal Mana Core. When equipped, mana consumption is reduced by 99%, and mana regeneration is increased by 99%.
Equippable.]
Ye Chuan clicked "Unequip." A crisp chime rang out, and the next moment, he felt as if all strength had been drained from his body. He couldn't even maintain his sword-flight technique, wobbling precariously before plummeting downward!
Just before hitting the ground, he hastily re-equipped the Holy Grail, stabilizing himself mid-air.
"Hmm." Ye Chuan sat cross-legged on his flying sword, arms folded.
After some thought, he realized that stacking buffs and transformations required an enormous amount of mana. Without the Holy Grail, maintaining such a massive expenditure would instantly deplete his mana pool.
After all, he was only at the Crystal Core Great Perfection stage.
"Whatever. Let's head back to the sect first."
Ye Chuan soared toward the Qingyun Sect on his sword, but his sharp eyes caught traces of battle along the way. Through his spiritual sense, he detected fluctuations of spiritual energy.
"Oh? Could it be—?" He urged his flying sword forward at full speed, racing toward the source of the disturbance.
...
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the sky, Zi Ning'er and her companions found themselves in dire straits.
Their flying artifact had been immobilized by an invisible force, and the surrounding area was shrouded in an eerie gray mist that blocked all spiritual senses and even obscured their presence.
A formation!
"To go this far for a single drop of Black Tortoise essence blood..." Zi Ning'er was stunned.
Setting up such a formation required an astronomical amount of spirit stones. Was it really worth it?
"No, they're not here for the essence blood." The elder accompanying them seemed to realize something, his expression grim.
"Who are you people?!" Zi Ning'er glared at the hundred or so black-robed figures floating ahead, their faces concealed, making it impossible to identify them.
The leader of the black-robed figures spoke coldly, enunciating each word:
"Jade Void Sect's Holy Maiden, Bai Qianshuang."
The Jade Void Sect?!
Bai Qianshuang?!
Hearing the name, Zi Ning'er finally understood. Her voice turned grave. "Remnants of the Jade Void Sect... To think you still have enough strength to set up an ambush for us."
"So it's the Jade Void Sect?" The elder suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Good, very good. It seems you haven't learned your lesson, daring to ambush us on Qingyun Sect's territory!"
"The audacity!"
Without hesitation, the elder summoned his artifact, unleashing his full power.
His Nascent Soul cultivation erupted, and with the artifact's amplification, he conjured a hundred-zhang-long azure sword of light.
"Everyone, lend me your strength!" the elder shouted. Zi Ning'er and the others immediately channeled all their spiritual energy into the colossal sword.
"Qingyun Sword Art, Seventh Realm—Severing the Seas!"
The massive sword, now brimming with overwhelming power, came crashing down upon the black-robed figures!
"Hmph." 'Bai Qianshuang' merely snorted disdainfully before flicking a finger. A beam of light shot forth, instantly shattering the giant sword!
The elder coughed up a mouthful of blood from the backlash, his face filled with disbelief. "Spirit Transformation... She's at the Spirit Transformation realm?!"
Spirit Transformation?!
The revelation felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over Zi Ning'er and the others, chilling them to the bone.
Impossible!
How could the Jade Void Sect's Holy Maiden have reached the Spirit Transformation realm?!
Just as the Qingyun Sect members were reeling from shock, "Bai Qianshuang" spoke indifferently, "Leave none alive. Use their heads to honor the Jade Void Sect's fallen."
The other black-robed figures were no weaklings either, and with their numerical advantage, the Qingyun Sect group was quickly overwhelmed, unable to fight back.
At that moment, "Bai Qianshuang" suddenly turned her head, as if sensing something. She frowned. "Someone's there?"
With a slash of her sword, a blade of sword qi instantly obliterated a nearby mountain peak—
Revealing a figure standing in the ruins.
It was Ye Chuan, clad in black and disguised once more.
"Hmph, just a little rat."
Ye Chuan hadn't expected to be discovered. It seemed high-realm experts really were something else.
But he was also curious.
You're Bai Qianshuang?