104: Chapter 104 Thousand Demon Ridge

"I didn't expect that you, Master Bingyou, would still have the leisure to save someone."

Xiao Yun's gaze was calm as he smiled faintly.

Master Bingyou ignored him entirely, blindly executing the Ice Soul Art as icicles condensed in mid-air and mercilessly pierced toward Xiao Yun.

Xiao Yun was not afraid at all, merely waving his myriad soul banner to release countless ghosts rushing forward.

The icicles collided with the ghosts, and both sides constantly depleted one another.

However, even though a large number of ghosts were shattered by the icicles, Xiao Yun's bottom line was still nowhere in sight.

"How many people have you actually killed?" Master Bingyou asked sharply.

"At the very least several hundred thousand people, right?" Xiao Yun said uncertainly.

"You beasts! Go to hell." Master Bingyou continued to circulate the Ice Soul Art; this time, the chill did not condense into icicles, but rather formed a giant grand sword about a li long and dozens of zhang wide, slashing down with such immense power that it seemed as if the sky itself was being cleaved apart.

For the first time, Xiao Yun felt a threat, his expression turning grave while his surface remained very calm, "It seems you are planning to get serious, Master Bingyou."

He patted his Storage Pouch, and a Soul Devouring Bead appeared, subsequently spinning before him.

"This is? A Soul Devouring Bead!" Feeling the indescribable resentment carried by this Soul Devouring Bead, Master Bingyou knew that it must have been refined by sacrificing at least one hundred thousand Mortals, causing the anger in her heart to grow even more intense.

She drove the giant icy sword to accelerate and battle toward Xiao Yun.

Xiao Yun's expression was nonchalant; with this Soul Devouring Bead protecting his body, even a Level 7 Purple Palace Cultivator might not be able to shatter his defense in a single move.

Boom!

The giant icy sword collided with the Soul Devouring Bead, instantly triggering a wave of Qi that completely annihilated everything within a radius of several li around them.

After the aftermath dissipated, Master Bingyou looked over, her pupils shaking. Xiao Yun was still standing in his original spot, though the Soul Devouring Bead bore a few slight cracks.

As expected, she had still overestimated the Soul Devouring Bead; she hadn't expected it to actually be cracked. If it were replaced by that despicable and shameless Ling Xiao, it would probably be completely shattered on the very first strike.

Xiao Yun felt troubled inside, but fortunately, the Mortals of Lu Country had not yet begun to be sacrificed. As long as he performed the sacrifice one more time, his cultivation would inevitably break through to Level 7 Purple Palace, and the Soul Devouring Bead and myriad soul banner would also ascend to a higher rank once again.

Seeing this, Master Bingyou felt a sense of powerlessness in her heart. That strike just now had consumed nearly half of her magic power, and she had already consumed quite a bit while fighting and retreating earlier. Now, less than half a percent of magic power remained inside her body. Taking advantage of the fact that Xiao Yun was still stunned, she immediately took out a Tier 3 Medicinal Pill and swallowed it, then began refining its medicinal potency.

Xiao Yun glanced over and didn't stop Master Bingyou from recovering her magic power, instead waiting quietly.

"Are you done yet?"

"You?" A trace of anger rose on Master Bingyou's face. She knew that Xiao Yun had been giving ground to her all along, but she had no mind to chat idly with him here.

She couldn't kill him even if she wanted to, and she couldn't escape even if she wanted to, just like back then.

If it were the past, she and Xiao Yun might not have been completely impossible, but the reputation of evil Cultivators in the Immortal Realm was far too vile. Not only that, the hands of these evil Cultivators were always stained with the blood of countless Mortals, which was something she could not accept. She was not a person who liked to bully others with power; although she wasn't some pure white lotus, she wouldn't engage in indiscriminate slaughter either.

Evil Cultivators, however, had no such scruples. Therefore, whenever an evil Cultivator appeared, anyone had the responsibility to slay them; this was a consensus within the Immortal Realm.

As for bandit Cultivators and demonic Cultivators, although they were also despised by everyone, they weren't as unbridled as evil Cultivators.

After Master Bingyou recovered two to three tenths of her magic power, the two of them started fighting and slaughtering each other again.

...

Chen Changqing turned into a cyan streak of light, rapidly shuttling through the forest. He had nearly been killed in a single move by that evil Cultivator just now, but fortunately Master Bingyou freed up her hand to block that strike for him.

However, through this incident, he finally understood just how vast the gap was between a Purple Palace Cultivator and a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. He hadn't expected that even if he used all his means, he still couldn't block a casual strike from a Purple Palace Cultivator.

Fortunately, he was currently only at Level 3 Foundation Establishment. In the future, as long as he reached Level 9 Foundation Establishment, he might well dare to go head-to-head with a Purple Palace Cultivator.

Just as he continued moving forward, a group of the Yao Race appeared ahead, numbering around dozens of Yao Beasts, all of whose cultivation was at the Tier 2 level. He hurriedly descended, looking for a concealed position in the forest.

The dozens of Yao Beasts seemed as if they hadn't discovered Chen Changqing at all, all heading in one direction.

This is?

Chen Changqing felt puzzled inside; could it be that the Yao Race was about to begin surrounding and killing the three Golden Core Masters?

Thinking of this, he hurriedly rushed toward the border of Yan Country. Although he knew the Yao Race had a conspiracy targeting them, he had no thoughts of trying to stop it. As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in this massive storm, he was nothing more than a tiny grain of sand.

Furthermore, he didn't even know how many Cultivators had been arranged into the hinterland of the Yao Race; currently, he only knew of Master Moxuan and Master Cangfeng.

Over a dozen days later, during this period he encountered several more teams composed of such Tier 2 Monster Beasts, and even encountered a team led by a Tier 3 Monster Beast once.

Fortunately, Bai Yuqing had not fallen into a deep slumber these past few days, wholeheartedly helping him plan a feasible route while suppressing her own aura to the lowest level.

"Master, be careful, there is another Tier 3 Monster Beast!" Bai Yuqing reminded him.

Hearing this, Chen Changqing immediately concealed his figure.

Dozens of li away in the distance, over a thousand Yao Beasts sprinted toward a direction at an extremely fast speed. The leading Yao Beast was a unicorn shaped like a horse, its speed extremely fast, covering a hundred zhang in a flash.

And on the back of that unicorn was a Human Race Cultivator. That was a Cultivator resembling a Mortal general, wearing a pitch-black battle armor gleaming with metallic luster, holding a large saber in one hand, while grabbing the reins with the other hand to gallop away on horseback.

The blood aura on his body was so dense that it was almost substantive; he looked like a Body Cultivator. Chen Changqing hadn't expected to actually be able to see a Body Cultivator who could elevate his Body Refining cultivation to such a realm here—this had to be at least the Tier 3 Medium Grade or even the Tier 3 High Grade level!

After they left, Chen Changqing continued moving forward.

"Whoa!"

That general-like Body Cultivator held the reins, stopped the horse, and turned his head to look back at where he had come from. He seemed to have caught the scent of his own kind just moments ago, but after gazing for a while, he continued onward to his destination.

...

Another few days passed; it had already been a month since he arrived in the rear of the Yao Race.

Looking at the continuous mountain ranges before him, Chen Changqing's eyes carried a grave expression. Previously, he could bypass these peaks to avoid the garrisoned areas of the Yao Beasts.

However, this Qianmo Ridge stretched for thousands of li; he could only cross the mountain range to get through, otherwise he would have to make a detour of several thousand li more to reach the other side. Yet, he knew very well in his heart just how dangerous this place was. If he couldn't pass through here and had to make a detour of several thousand more li, who knew what other Yao Beasts he might encounter?

If not for Bai Yuqing being there, he would have long since been killed by a Tier 3 Monster Beast.

He first scouted along the periphery of the mountain range, and then took out a map to confirm his position.

The area of Qianmo Ridge was large enough that he didn't have to worry about easily running into a Tier 3 Monster Beast.