The aerial battle in midair was fierce, with multicolored rays of light intersecting like rainbows after a storm, radiating brilliant hues. The demonic cultivators wielded numerous magical artifacts. After deploying the Demon Snare Heavenly Net, the leading daoist waved his hand and scattered another handful of Soulfall Sand. The bleak black wind tainted any sword that touched it, corrupting it in short order.
Li Ruoshui, Feng Qing, and the other two remained on the periphery. It was now clear that signals were severed within the Demon Snare Heavenly Net, cutting off contact with the outside world’s daoists. The demonic cultivators’ killing intent was not strong; they merely sought to force the struggling daoist to surrender.
“What is the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace planning?” Feng Qing asked in a lowered voice.
Li Ruoshui lowered her eyelashes, absentmindedly replying, “Possibly capturing someone.” She carried no artifacts that could be tainted, but the Soulfall Sand looked foul, its roiling black clouds stirring unease in the heart. As the sand neared her body, Li Ruoshui’s qi surged upward fiercely. A vigorous surge of verdant wood qi shot forth like lightning, colliding with the Soulfall Sand, rolling it twice and dispersing the ominous cloud.
Seeing Li Ruoshui act, Feng Qing urged her sword forward as well. Thunderous cracks rang out one after another as gorgeous bolts of lightning tore across the sky, shattering the Soulfall Sand—already scattered by the Universe One Qi Palm—into fragments.
The immortal sect daoist, seeing the Soulfall Sand dispelled, immediately rallied their vital energy and mana to resume battling the demonic cultivators. Amid the chaos, Li Ruoshui sent a transmission to Feng Qing and the others: “Find an opening to break out.”
Perhaps because their focus was on the group of immortal sect daoists, the demonic cultivators paid little heed to the peripheral Li Ruoshui, Feng Qing, and their companions. It was only after they burst through the encirclement that a Heart Fixing Third Layer demonic cultivator pursued them.
“They don’t seem to want us heading south?” Li Ruoshui observed the demonic cultivators’ movements while flying on her qi. She suspected something important lay to the south, and the item she sought might be there as well. How long would the demonic cultivators seal off Changbai Valley? If they didn’t withdraw, would she have to keep dodging their edge? Li Ruoshui furrowed her brows, a hint of annoyance flickering in her eyes.
“I told you those Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace fools are hot-tempered and don’t follow the Dao,” Feng Qing arched a brow, occasionally yanking Yao Changliu along. “What now? Retreat?”
“No!” Li Ruoshui drew a deep breath. The pent-up frustration in her heart grew heavier, enough to affect her Dao heart. She needed a chance to vent it.
The daoist pursuing Li Ruoshui moved leisurely, as if strolling in a garden, effortlessly batting away Feng Qing’s sword. His true demon race form emerged behind him—he had reached the peak of Heart Fixing Third Layer, just one step from merging the three apertures into a Golden Core. “Fellow Daoist, my demonic path has no desire to oppose you all. Please set aside your artifacts for now. Once matters are concluded, you will be free to go.”
“Concluded?” Li Ruoshui eyed the daoist with a cold laugh. “The Young Lord of the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace dying on the Taiyi Path of No Return isn’t exactly good news.”
The demonic cultivator’s expression darkened, his composed demeanor finally cracking. He fixed Li Ruoshui with a stare, his pupils turning into icy vertical slits brimming with intense killing intent. They had orders to bring Cang Lang back to the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace, but someone did not want this Young Lord to return. “This is a matter for my demonic path. Does Fellow Daoist intend to interfere?” the demonic cultivator asked gravely.
Li Ruoshui replied, “What does the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace’s business have to do with me?” She had come to Changbai Valley seeking treasures for cultivating the Perfect Golden Body. These demonic cultivators had attacked indiscriminately and sealed the entire valley—naturally, she felt strong revulsion toward their actions.
Li Ruoshui’s eyes flashed as she added, “Fellow Daoist Feng Qing, hold him off alone for half a quarter-hour.”
Feng Qing’s eyes widened. “I’m not made of iron.” Despite her words, eyeing the demonic cultivator wreathed in demonic light, she released her sword, weaving streaks of purple radiance through the air.
Yao Changliu was no good at combat, but she excelled at quick alchemy. The previous Ma Fei Powder had failed against this demonic cultivator; other methods would have to be tried.
As Feng Qing and Yao Changliu intercepted the demonic cultivator from the front, Li Ruoshui let out a cold snort and composed herself. Lately on the Path of No Return, she had slain Ruin Spirits to fulfill her causal vows, gradually accumulating enough. The beauty of the Vow Dao was that even in the Heart Fixing Realm, she didn’t need to painstakingly burn open apertures—as long as she fulfilled vows, they would complete naturally.
Heart Fixing Second Layer required opening the Pill Aperture and condensing a pill seed, which was an insight into one’s own Dao path. With no senior to provide her a pill seed, she had to aggregate her own heart’s intent.
Her Dao vow was to pacify the Return to Ruins; her path forward must be unwavering. She could not retreat before the demonic cultivators blocking her way, nor shrink from the plot. She would use resolute conviction as her pill seed—to be free and unfettered, acting as her heart desired! With that thought, the stagnant qi deep in her heart burst like a punctured balloon, dissipating in a hiss.
After leaving Taiyi’s outer sect, thoughts of potential plot events had made Li Ruoshui hesitate, seeking a path to avoid those two.
But the Return to Ruins was their shared goal. As long as she didn’t die, they would meet again someday. Her hesitation was pointless, merely becoming chains locking her mindset.
Like the stagnant qi now coalescing deep within—accumulated unwittingly bit by bit. Her retreat opposed her Dao vow. The unknown was fearsome, but knowledge equally terrifying. Rather than probing outward, better to know and clarify the self!
Seeding conviction and establishing vows, the Causal Vow Dao once more pried open vast, transcendent vital energy, thrusting open twelve Law Apertures in one go. Her qi climbed from the Scarlet Palace Heart Aperture upward to the Muddy Pellet Palace, circling the gradually forming pill seed several times before descending along the meridians to the lower dantian.
Upon entering Heart Fixing Second Layer, she achieved great perfection!
Feng Qing held her ground without retreating, using sword escape to keep distance from the demonic cultivator. He did not press forward aggressively, merely toying with her like a cat with a mouse, trapping her in a corner.
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed as a surge of azure qi shot skyward, transforming into a giant palm that blotted out the sky and smashed toward the demonic cultivator. His eyes narrowed; sensing the overwhelming mana descending, he prepared to flee, but Feng Qing’s sword bore down again.
At that moment, Yao Changliu stealthily offered a silver needle amid the sword light, stabbing it into the demonic cultivator’s chest. With Yao Changliu’s cultivation, she couldn’t breach his protective treasure light alone, but Feng Qing’s sword radiance was sharp enough. Striking the same spot repeatedly, it finally carved a tiny blood mark.
In that instant, the demonic cultivator felt a numbness in his chest. His expression changed abruptly; with a muffled grunt, a towering turtle peak materialized behind him.
Li Ruoshui had only grasped the basics of the Universe One Qi Palm, without deep insight into its five elements qi transformations—she relied purely on her profound mana to overwhelm. Explosions rang out successively as the turtle peak shattered layer by layer.
Amid the clash, the Universe One Qi Palm also gradually dispersed like smoke. Li Ruoshui withdrew her palm, eyeing the demonic cultivator rallying his mana once more. With a raised brow and a smile, she struck down with another palm, shattering his reforming mana.
With two crisp cracks, the demonic cultivator’s raised arms snapped at the wrists. His entire body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Feng Qing stared at Li Ruoshui in shock—previously, she had been the main fighter.
Had the Fellow Daoist Shangshan taken some potent drug in this half quarter-hour?
No longer scrutinizing the demonic cultivator buried in the earth, Feng Qing cautiously addressed the fiercely aggressive Li Ruoshui: “Fellow Daoist Shangshan.”
After a few breaths, Li Ruoshui casually withdrew her hand, brushed her sleeve, and said calmly, “I hate most being threatened by others.”
In her previous life, she had endured countless discomforts. Now that she could finally move freely, something dared force her to relinquish her freedom of movement!
Feng Qing said nothing. Yao Changliu quietly hid behind her; Li Ruoshui’s baleful aura lingered, looking somewhat eerie.
“Let’s go find the Supreme Lingzhi,” Li Ruoshui said.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a high-pitched, drawn-out dragon roar erupted from the south, laced with endless fury and lamentation.
Li Ruoshui’s expression changed drastically!
