When the disciples of the Azure Profound Sect were waiting in the southern valley, everyone was sweating with anxiety.
Shi Wanshan and Li Xuanfeng had been gone for almost two hours. The roars of demonic beasts occasionally echoed from the spiritual mist, and everyone feared something bad had happened to them.
It was not until they saw the two returning that everyone's hanging hearts finally settled.
Shen Jinghong was the first to greet them. Her gaze swept over the two of them, and seeing they were uninjured, she could not help but ask, "Senior brother, where did you go just now? Why did it take so long?"
Hearing this, Li Xuanfeng coughed dryly, avoiding Shen Jinghong's gaze.
"N-nowhere, just went out to check the terrain, afraid we might get lost if we encounter a fork in the road later."
As he spoke, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise slightly. The experience of following Martial Uncle Shi to raid houses just now was much more thrilling than simply scouting the way.
Looking at his relaxed brows, how could Shen Jinghong believe him?
But she did not press further, just smiling and nodding, "It is good that you are back. You were gone for so long, everyone was very worried."
Seeing this, Shi Wanshan took the opportunity to change the subject, "Alright, since everyone is here, let us head deeper into the valley. The spiritual energy there is denser, and there might be more treasures."
As time passed, the atmosphere in the secret realm became increasingly lively.
Disciples from various factions scattered across different areas to explore. Some fought fiercely over a thousand-year spiritual ginseng, ending up mutually wounded, only to be taken advantage of by other passing cultivators.
Others mistakenly entered the lairs of demonic beasts, relying on tacit cooperation to slay the beasts and seize their beast cores.
More people carefully collected spiritual herbs and minerals, their storage bags gradually bulging.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu followed the spiritual energy veins deep within the secret realm, heading towards its core.
While walking near a foggy canyon.
"The spiritual energy ahead is so dense!"
Fang Hanyu suddenly stopped, pointing at a massive boulder next to the canyon.
On top of the boulder grew a translucent flower, its petals shimmering faintly, sometimes hiding in the spiritual mist, sometimes appearing clearly. It was the top-tier spiritual herb, the Spirit Nurturing Flower.
Xiao Ruobai's eyes lit up. "It is the Spirit Nurturing Flower, a King-tier spiritual herb! If refined into a pill, it will be of great benefit for breaking through the King Realm."
Just as the two were about to step forward to pick it, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded behind them.
Turning their heads, they saw the Sect Master of the Demonic Heaven Sect, Mo Luo, walking over from behind with five elders and over a dozen disciples.
Mo Luo, surrounded by black demonic energy, fixed his gaze on the Spirit Nurturing Flower, his eyes instantly turning greedy. "Good stuff! I did not expect it to be hidden in this wretched place."
He swept his gaze over Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu. Seeing their ordinary clothes and their auras at the level of ordinary cultivators, he frowned.
"Where did you rogue cultivators come from? This Spirit Nurturing Flower is not something you can touch. Scram far away, lest I leave you without intact corpses when I make my move."
Fang Hanyu's eyes turned cold. "Treasures in the secret realm are first come, first served. Why should we yield it to you?"
Xiao Ruobai silently circulated his spiritual power. He could feel that although Mo Luo's demonic energy was thick, it was restricted by the secret realm. He could at most exert the cultivation of the Purple Mansion Realm, which was nothing to worry about.
Mo Luo did not expect two rogue cultivators to dare retort. His face darkened, and he lifted his chin toward a bearded elder beside him.
"Kill them, and make sure no blood splashes onto the spiritual herb."
The elder stepped forward in response. Black demonic energy condensed into sharp claws in his palms, and with a piercing whistle through the wind, he lunged straight at Xiao Ruobai.
"Brat, today I will let you taste the power of the Demonic Heaven Sect!"
He thought this strike could easily tear the two apart, but halfway through his charge, Fang Hanyu suddenly moved.
Taking the Flowing Frost Sword from his storage ring, the pale cyan sword light was as fast as a bolt of lightning. The crowd only felt a cold flash before their eyes.
Before they could even see the trajectory of the sword strike, they heard a squelch. The bearded elder's head had already rolled onto the ground, blood spurting from his severed neck and splattering all over the floor.
The entire scene instantly fell dead silent.
The disciples of the Demonic Heaven Sect widened their eyes, forgetting even to breathe. That was an elder who had fought alongside the Sect Master for years, yet he could not even take a single sword strike from the opponent?
Mo Luo's face turned completely black. He gritted his teeth and growled, "Good! Very good! Daring to kill someone from my Demonic Heaven Sect, do not even think about leaving here alive today!"
He waved his hand to signal the remaining people. "Attack! Hack them to pieces!"
The remaining four elders and over a dozen disciples woke up as if from a dream, hastily summoning their magical artifacts.
Some condensed demonic energy into demonic blades, some controlled poisonous vines, and others threw poisoned darts, swarming densely toward the two.
Xiao Ruobai reacted extremely fast. Taking out a long halberd, he swept it horizontally, cutting down all the incoming poisonous vines. At the same time, he stepped forward, the tip of the halberd thrusting straight at the chest of a tall, thin elder.
The elder hurriedly condensed demonic energy into a shield, but the halberd carried the force of a thunderbolt, directly piercing through the shield and stabbing fiercely into his heart.
Xiao Ruobai twisted his wrist, the halberd shredding the opponent's internal organs, and immediately pulled it out. Blood splattered all over him, but it did not cause his gaze to waver in the slightest.
Fang Hanyu, holding the Flowing Frost Sword, roamed among the group of disciples. Every time the sword light flashed, it brought a spray of blood.
His sword was fast and accurate, every strike aiming straight for the vitals. The Demonic Heaven Sect disciples could not react in time at all, and in the blink of an eye, seven or eight people had fallen.
"Who exactly are these two? How are they so strong?"
A fat elder panicked in his heart while resisting Xiao Ruobai's long halberd.
Having roamed Xuanzhou for many years, he had never seen cultivators with ordinary clothes but such ferocious strength.
"What a bunch of trash!"
Mo Luo, seeing his subordinates suffer heavy losses, charged forward himself, only to be swept away by Xiao Ruobai's halberd. He spat out blood, clearly suffering no light injuries.
"Sect Master, something is wrong with them! If we keep fighting, we will die here. Retreat quickly!"
Mo Luo also panicked. He subconsciously tried to mobilize the deeper demonic energy in his body, but as soon as the power in his dantian surged into his meridians, it was firmly suppressed by an invisible rule.
No matter how he urged it, he could only exert cultivation at the peak of the Purple Mansion Realm, unable to muster even a fraction of extra strength.
He was both shocked and angry. Right now, he had lost more than half of his subordinates. Continuing to drag this out would only result in total annihilation.
"Retreat!"
He glanced at the remaining two elders and a few disciples beside him, gritted his teeth, and turned to flee.
The rest of them also wanted to run away.
However, Xiao Ruobai and his companion were incredibly fast, directly catching up to the disciples and slaughtering them all.
Xiao Ruobai followed like a shadow. His long halberd tore through the air, carrying icy killing intent as it thrust straight toward Mo Luo's back!
In this life-and-death moment!
Mo Luo was terrified out of his wits, feeling a chill down his spine. The shadow of death had never been so clear.
He fiercely bit the tip of his tongue, using the intense pain to forcefully stimulate his potential, and roared hoarsely, "Myriad Demonic Barriers!"
Majestic demonic energy surged madly from his body, instantly condensing into a thick yet precarious black barrier in front of him, attempting to delay that fatal halberd strike.
Crack!
In merely a breath's time, before the tip of the halberd even arrived, the biting fierce wind had already covered the demonic energy barrier in cracks, making it look as though it was about to completely shatter.
Mo Luo's eyes nearly split open, knowing this was his last chance.
He frantically pulled three black jade talismans engraved with bizarre runes from his robes. Without even looking, he almost brutally shoved them into the hands of the two remaining elders beside him, his voice turning sharp and distorted from extreme fear:
"Crush them! Quickly crush them!!"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
