He suddenly forced strength to course through his body, and the Ten Cardinals Red Lotus rumbled inside Nalan Liusu’s body and exploded! He only had one thought now: save Zhao Ziqi!

He was the one who had taken the boy in, otherwise, Zhao Ziqi would’ve never encountered this monster. He had the duty to bring Zhao Ziqi back out without neither hide nor hair missing.

Boom!

 Streaks of platinum fire rushed out of Nalan Liusu’s abdomen. This move had exhausted all of his power. The white fire-dragon even shaped a scorching-hot pillar of light inside the holy maiden!

“ARGH!!!” Nalan Liusu unleashed an inhuman scream, her seven apertures flooding out with raging flames! However… her hand finally waved.

Swish… 

Zhao Ziqi’s figure had completely scattered in the air. There was no longer any trace of his spiritual sense left in the world.

Ah…

 A series of noiseless shouts resonated at Xu Yangyi’s ear side. The Taijis in his eyes started to gradually darken. He could see that the surrounding shadows… were all wailing in fright. One after another, they transformed into qi and flew away in the air.

Zhao Ziqi, had fallen.

“Is that it?” As Nalan Liusu parted her red lips and spoke, black smoke fumed out from her mouth. She easily took her hand out and exercised it, violently grabbing onto Xu Yangyi’s throat and picking him up.

“I forgot to tell you. I already died hundreds of years ago, and there’s only one way to kill me, and that’s spiritual sense. Perhaps… you have a few peculiar ancient spirit-organisms. Something like that is the Spirit Parasite’s natural predator. But, you cannot possibly possess one.” Her cherry lips gently opened, moved closer to Xu Yangyi’s ear side, and uttered, “To see your fiend die before you, do you have special regrets? Do you loathe your powerlessness? Your feebleness? It doesn’t matter… you’ll be accompanying him very soon.”

“I changed my mind. Since you have a way to shift your qi sea… I will send you on a journey again.” Her gaze fell on Xu Yangyi’s storage ring. “This item, I shall receive it.”

With a gentle wave of her hand, the storage ring flew over to float behind Nalan Liusu.

Xu Yangyi tightly locked his eyes onto hers, and said with difficulty, “Tell me… what is it… that can kill you things?”

“I won’t find out in this life time… but I definitely will in the next…”

The holy maiden smiled. “Keep dreaming, alright?”

Quick to act, she forced strength through her grip as she seized Xu Yangyi’s throat!

Crunch… 

The sound of a neck bone being twisted suddenly rang out. Nalan Liusu shot an apathetic glance at Xu Yangyi’s corpse and turned around and left.

In the Bluedawn Winding Corridor, an impermanant glanced at a jade medal and took a long sigh of relief. “The Holy Maiden has won.”

“Without the slightest exception.” Another impermanant at his side murmured, “The Holy Maiden, known as the strongest genius since the beginning of the Nalan Clan’s history. Had she not encountered a great catastrophe… how could the Nalan Clan be suppressed by those other clans right now?”

“Yeah… when the Holy Maiden sets out, she is triumphant in all battles. Simply the price was a little too much.” 

“Hehe, to say that the Holy Maiden is unequaled in the Qi Condensation realm is not an exaggeration.” 

“Puppet No.7 has never been broken, only mended at most. The Holy Maiden’s contributions do not go unnoticed.”

Inside the Reincarnation Puppet, Nalan Liusu casually beckoned and glanced somewhat fondly at the male corpse lying on the ground.

“Any time I emerge is precious to me. Unfortunately, there is only endless battle, war, and struggle…” she sighed, “I’ve killed too, too many opponents, but not once has someone accompanied me for a cup of tea.”

She quietly heaved out a sigh and waited three seconds. However, she turned her head in shock to look behind her!

Where was the storage ring?

She had no habit of wearing them on her hand, so she had made it float in the air, but… 

At this moment, the ring had not flown over to her palm!

Her gaze quickly cut over. As far as her eye ventured forward… the room was a deserted expanse!

How was that possible?

Swoosh!!!

 Three pairs of butterfly wings promptly grew out from her body, and she vigilantly stared all around her surroundings. The area was very peaceful, but in this spell of tranquility a faint noise echoed!

Crack… 

Soft, very soft, yet this noise caused her to look over incredulously!

It… was the nameless man she had just killed!

Xu Yangyi was left wholly unaware, only knowing that he had sunk into darkness. He should’ve died, and yet… at this moment, he could “see” something!

In the infinite darkness, to his surprise, a cocoon… that cocoon in his qi sea was tenaciously hanging at his waist by a thread of silk! It was suspended at the middle of his waist!

That thread of silk… was stretching out from a small split-open gap!

Below him was endless darkness, endless void. Even if he now felt he had already died, his unconscious mind told him that if he continued to fall, then he would be genuinely dead. Truly dead!

“Bloodline Elysial Bestowment… Life Hangs By A Thread…”

 a majestic voice radiated from the cocoon. He actually hadn’t died by some kind of miracle!

So it… had saved him?

He studied the cocoon, uncertainly. Promptly, he felt a boundless strength pour into his body!

Crack crack crack… 

At this moment in the outer world, Nalan Liusu looked all around in amazement!

Breaking apart… Breaking apart!

There was something… Something inside that man’s body! It had saved his life! Yet that was not the only thing! 

If that man hadn’t been supplemented with follow-up qi, he would’ve died without a doubt in at most six hours! In a comparison of willpower now, however, the object suspending the man’s life was practically akin to a grand magus towering above a paltry magician!

“Wh-What in the world is this thing?!” Even as valiant as she was, she could not conceal the alarm in her eyes. She could sense a powerful… incomparably dreadful… consciousness that could even be said to be like a demon-god! It was recovering inside that man’s body!

Huuummm… 

The walls around collectively shook! Her heart was beating like a drum. She knew that space was ripping apart!

The will of an absolute powerhouse was tearing the room apart in a hurry!

BOOM!

 At this time, the willpower inside Xu Yangyi’s body completely exploded, and a voice that was enough to shake the world echoed in Nalan Liusu’s ear!

“Azure Lotus Demonic Art… Lotus Reincarnation!”

This… was Xiaoqing’s will!

Presently below Danxia Temple, a woman wearing a palace dress was idly watching a soap opera. Without warning, her brows furrowed.

“The Azure Lotus Demonic Art activated again?”

“That boy… met a strong foe, huh…” Her beautiful eyes roamed about, and she said indifferently, “He’s up above… how could he reach this state again?”

“Once this art is fully exhibited, one will be revived so long as a breath remains. That boy’s gifts are surprisingly high. Except for an ancient cultivator, no one should be able to kill him… Could it be that he did not take This Palace’s Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens?”

All in all, this shaped a perfect coincidence here.

So long as one didn’t instantly die, the Azure Lotus Demonic Art would immediately restore the user in several seconds. It just so happened presently that while the cocoon hadn’t awakened, it was soon to. It had instinctively sensed danger. As soon as Xu Yangyi died, it was doomed to no longer exist in the world. Through the activation of its bloodline Elysial Bestowment, it had saved Xu Yangyi’s life. It was this that allowed the demon slayer to survive from the hand of Nalan Liusu, an ancient cultivator from centuries ago!

In astonishment, Nalan Liusu watched the boundless azure light wafting off from Xu Yangyi’s body. The light formed a strange lotus flower and tightly embraced him. Even outside, she could hear the crackling of his bones healing!

“Where is this supremacy?!” Cold sweat drenched her, and she looked before her in disbelief. “The dead given life, white bone granted flesh… What kind of realm is this?”

“I fear… that even if the Old Ancestor of the Nalan Clan was resurrected, he wouldn’t be his opponent… no… certainly wouldn’t be an opponent!”

“How terrible…” She pursed her lips and turned around to leave, no longer without a single trace of longing.

She clearly understood her purpose to the Nalan Clan. They absolutely wouldn’t allow her to die here!

But just as she turned her head, she was dazed again!

Swish… 

A noiseless sound quietly echoed in front of her. An entirely green stem, roughly only half a forearm long and covered in bloody lines, gently swayed over a bamboo leaf. Like a dire beast on the prowl, it floated in front of her, seemingly akin to a hunting pterosaur!

In a flash, a sensation that almost caused her legs to grow soft—immense terror—suddenly pervaded her entire body like an ocean!

“This…” Nalan Liusu’s mouth dropped wide open. She wanted to cry out in surprise, but she subconsciously held her tongue. Merely her voice was shaking because of extreme dread. “Spirit… Spirit Ascending Bamboo?! Spirit Ascending Bamboo?! How could there be such a thing?!?!”

As powerful and fierce as she was, fright now colored her eyes as she cowered away and shivered, her back against a wall.

Food chain!

This oppressive might originated from the bloodline!

In the world, including the cultivation world, this was a law of existence that would never be broken for all eternity!

Before, filled with regret, Xu Yangyi had asked if there was something able to kill her. She hadn’t spoken.

That was fear.

A natural fear to such a thing. To mention it would make her feel lingering trepidation!

If said that the Spirit Parasite had a weak point, its greatest weakness was this item that existed in legend! She didn’t know what function Spirit Ascending Bamboo had. She only knew… that this bamboo was her and the other Reincarnation Puppets’ natural enemy! And its name was three words long.

She understood without a doubt, memorized it all too well, its name not even once wiped away in the last hundred years! Shockingly, that three-character name was… Spirit Ascending Bamboo!

“No! That can’t be! NO!” Hands slick with cold sweat, she dug into a wall with her fingers. Between the great terror of life and death, she suddenly realized something.

Why would the Spirit Ascending Bamboo appear?

Why had the storage ring disappeared?

It was simple… because the Spirit Ascending Bamboo had always been in the storage ring! Yet there was only one kind of way to gain the items inside a storage ring, and that was to dispel the previous master’s imprint! Or request a grand talismancer… or directly kill the original owner!

Moments ago… Xu Yangyi had indeed died. It was in this fleeting moment that the items inside the storage ring immediately lost their imprints! This Spirit Ascending Bamboo, though… had sensed an inherently delicious aroma, and rushed out impatiently!

In the instant Xu Yangyi had died… the bamboo stalk had actually dug him out from his grave!

“He… How could he have a spirit-object of this level?!” From shock, she regained her wits and burst into an uproar, “Retreat!!!”

Hum!

 Her silhouette swiftly transformed into a stream of flowing light. As if time was imminent, several bamboo leaves of the meager existence that was the Spirit Ascending Bamboo quickly unfolded as she dashed upwards. Unexpectedly, a feather-soft slap echoed, and she, who was in the form of light, was forcibly swatted away from returning to her original place! 

Crack… Crack… 

A fine crack appeared in the middle of the bamboo. In the next second, it loudly split into two halves, as if it had become a book! Yet inside were rings and rings of teeth-like talismans!

“No… NO!!!” Nalan Liusu found herself in the grip of fear. She had absolutely not expected that killing Xu Yangyi would actually bring such a result! Especially since he still hadn’t died! Innate fear within her bloodline left her heart virtually unable to resist! Furthermore… she understood even more clearly that the Spirit Ascending Bamboo was classified as an ancient spirit-object. Once a creature like her was discovered she would find no freedom! Neither was she an opponent by any stretch of the imagination!

Yes… what the Spirit Ascending Bamboo wanted to eat was not her… but rather the Spirit Parasite! 

But, she had possessed the Spirit Parasite’s body… she was the same as the Spirit Parasite!

“NOOO!!!”

A wretched scream that tore at her throat was akin to a bell, suddenly calling upon Xu Yangyi’s eyes to open from the darkness.

He opened his eyes. The surrounding area was an azure domain, but as he woke up the azure light all transformed into motes of qi and disappeared.

Before his eyes, though, another scene emerged before him that shook his mind!

At this moment, Nalan Liusu surprisingly resembled a newborn infant. Talismans surfaced into view on her body, and she sluggishly opened her eyes. Floating in the air, she couldn’t take a single action. The talismans seemed to pass through from her body, glittering little by little. With each glint, her expression became a fraction grayer.

To Xu Yangyi’s amazement, she didn’t possess the slightest hair of spiritual force!

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