Enduring humiliation for three years, seizing the elixir, the treasure, and the holy maiden.

"The Old Man of Tiandu".

"We two have no grudge against you, senior."

"No enmity or grudge?"

"The righteous and the demonic paths are inherently destined to fight each other upon first meeting."

"However, I've always been too lazy to get involved in such empty fame."

The old man from Tiandu glanced at Lu Yao.

"I have been chasing you two all this way, not to kill you."

"It's because this female cultivator has exceptional talent and excellent physique; she's a promising talent."

"If you are willing to return to Haori Sect with me."

The old man's tone softened somewhat.

"I will not make things difficult for you; I will wholeheartedly cultivate your talents."

Cultivation?

He took charge of the Demon City that never sleeps in the lower realm.

I've seen it all.

This old man's technique is puppet making.

If you go back to Haori Sect with him and are either turned into a corpse puppet, your fate is obvious.

Lu Yao naturally couldn't just go along with him like that.

A beam of shield light crashed into the crack on the east side.

The old man from Tiandu didn't take it seriously.

In front of a Nascent Soul cultivator, how could a junior in the Void Refinement stage possibly escape?

"I am determined to have this woman."

"You little brat, I have absolutely no interest in you."

"If you're willing to go against me for her sake, feel free to give it a try."

"If you know what's good for you, leave quickly, or I won't pursue you."

These words were naturally directed at Xue Sha Zi.

Blood Fiend isn't stupid either.

They dominated the Montenegrin continent for many years.

He and Lu Yao came from the Black Mountain Continent together and crossed the boundary gate together with Master Hongfu.

In the lower realms, cultivators at the Void Refinement stage are merely scheming and plotting against each other, with no real deep friendships to speak of.

But things were different once they went to the spirit world together.

They had no relatives or friends, and the entire sect consisted of old cultivators born in the spirit realm. They knew each other well and could look after one another.

These sentiments are genuine.

Let's think about it a little deeper.

Fight it out, even if it means death...

"Fairy Lu".

"I'm really... sorry for you."

...

On the other side, Lu Yao was only a dozen feet away from the rift.

She pushed her last life-saving treasure to its limit, and a bronze mirror spread out in front of her, creating a water-like curtain of light.

Two corpse puppets emerged from the void.

It wasn't from the sides or the back, but from the crack directly in front of her.

The corpse puppet's ten fingers pierced through the light barrier.

The ancient bronze mirror shattered into seven or eight pieces on the spot, the fragments being swept away by the strangling force of the void.

Lu Yao's gauze skirt was torn open at the waist, revealing a section of her knee, which was dazzlingly white, but was immediately enveloped by the surging death aura.

A binding spiritual force descended, rendering her limbs completely immobile.

A dark, heavy chain was flung out from the sleeve of the old man of the Heavenly Capital, passing through her collarbone and dragging her back inch by inch.

Lu Yao's breathing was erratic, and half of her hair was disheveled, sticking to her cheek.

"Look at you."

The old man clicked his tongue, raised his hand to brush away the stray strand of hair, and rubbed his withered fingertips against her cheek.

"I'm not trying to harm you."

"I told you I saw that you have good talent and intended to cultivate you, so why are you so agitated?"

"If you don't run away, why should I treat you like this?"

These words were spoken kindly, yet the chain remained firmly in place.

Lu Yao turned her face away and swallowed the blood that had welled up in her mouth.

She knew exactly what the old man in Tiandu was planning.

Elders of rival sects.

The technique of puppet making.

The days to come are predictable.

More than ten feet away, Xue Shazi was still there.

His face was extremely ugly.

"Fairy Lu, this old man..."

"That's enough."

Lu Yao finally spoke, her voice carrying a metallic rust.

"Your death here won't change anything."

"Walk."

...

Deep within the cave dwelling on the main peak of the Demon Spirit Sect, a censer had burned more than halfway.

The incense ash fell onto the jade plate, but did not scatter.

On a soft couch made of cold jade, the Red-Robed Immortal lay leisurely.

"It's laughable, really."

Master Hongfu held the ancient, jet-black halberd horizontally in his hand and rubbed the patterns on the halberd's body back and forth twice with his fingertips.

"I and the two of you have just crossed the boundary gate and have no intention of getting involved in this battle between good and evil."

"I only found out after visiting the ancient battlefield."

"The elders of these sects in the Spirit Realm are nothing special."

No one answered from inside the cave.

Master Hongfu then put the ancient halberd aside and raised her eyes.

Xue Shazi stood in the shadows at the entrance of the cave, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

"What?"

Hongfu Shangren raised an eyebrow.

"Where is that girl, Lu Yao?"

Blood Fiend Kneeled Down.

That kneeling gesture revealed everything.

"Reporting to the Elder."

"Fairy Lu... was captured alive by an elder of the Haori Sect."

"That man called himself the Old Man of Tiandu, a Nascent Soul cultivator, and his method was to create corpse puppets."

"My cultivation is insufficient; I was unable to stop him."

The embers of the incense burner in the cave were suddenly extinguished by an invisible spiritual force.

"What did you say?"

Master Hongfu sat up from the soft couch.

That anger came out of nowhere, without any reason.

Normally, losing a disciple in the Void Refinement stage is not even a speck of dust in the great war between the righteous and the demonic, with hundreds or even thousands of disciples from various sects dying on the ancient battlefield every day.

But Lu Yao is different from Xue Sha Zi.

These two people came up from the lower realm with her.

Cultivators in the spirit world are unreliable.

Those old fogies from the Demon Spirit Sect were all eyeing her new position as elder and the magical treasures in her hands. Lady Forgetfulness and Old Man of Withered Bones had just set up a trap in the valley.

Only these two who followed her from the lower realm knew her inside and out.

They only felt secure if they followed her.

These are the only two hands she can control in the spirit world.

Now I've folded a pair.

"Haori Sect."

Master Hongfu chewed those three words between his teeth.

"The Old Man of Tiandu".

She stepped off the soft couch barefoot, and the yin-yang silver ring spun halfway around before returning to her feet.

"The elder of the righteous sect leader is actually refining a corpse puppet."

"interesting."

Blood Fiend lowered his head even further.

"Elder, should I take some men and go..."

"Go where?"

Master Hongfu raised her hand to silence him.

"An elder at the Integration Realm, even if you bring a hundred Void Refinement Realm cultivators, you'll just be sending them to their deaths."

She paced around the cave for a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped.

"This battle on the ancient battlefield won't last much longer."

"According to the old rules of the spirit world, once enough disciples have died, the various sects will sit down and talk."

"When the talks are held, all the important figures have to show up."

This naturally demands an explanation...

Seven days.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on the futon.

Taiyi Baolu.

He had abandoned this cultivation technique in the mortal realm for countless years.

I had already concluded that this was just some junk that Master Deng had brought to appease his apprentice.

It can exist in the spirit world.

Just now, during those three cycles, spiritual energy poured in from Baihui (GV20), flowing smoothly through the meridians to Dantian (CV8), as smoothly as a celestial river with its dam opened.

Su Chen roughly calculated that the spiritual energy he absorbed in these seven days was equivalent to thirty years of arduous cultivation in the lower realm.

No wonder.

No wonder this technique is so useless in the lower realms.

The spiritual energy of the lower realm is simply insufficient to support the effects of this technique.

Deep within his dantian, the Qi of the early stage of the Void Refinement realm had reached its limit; another half step forward would be the threshold of the middle stage.

Before coming to the Spirit Realm, he had consumed countless precious pills and elixirs on the Xuanhuang Continent.

All the accumulated skills were brought out by this technique.

Su Chen suppressed his restlessness.

It can't be rushed.

...