Xu Ning sat by Sun Buping’s corpse for a long time.
Only when the sound of sword chimes rang out again from the rear courtyard did he look toward the Spirit Storage Bag in his palm.
The restrictions on it had already been removed in advance.
Xu Ning was silent for a moment, then opened it.
Inside, he found several Blazing Fire Talismans and an old clay jar.
The jar was small, its mouth sealed with yellow cloth, and it was completely empty inside.
Looking at the jar, his heart tightened.
He never expected that the man had even prepared this for him.
Swallowing a Qi Nourishing Pill, Xu Ning finally mustered some strength.
He struggled to move the beam that was pinning Sun Buping’s body.
Only then did he see clearly that everything below Sun Buping’s waist was already gone.
No wonder he had shown no will to survive earlier.
Such a miserable sight made Xu Ning press his lips tight.
The Blazing Fire Talisman fell.
Flames quickly engulfed Sun Buping’s broken corpse.
Watching the blazing inferno, Xu Ning let out a long sigh.
He had known Sun Buping for only a few days;
There wasn’t much friendship between them.
Yet the man who had been speaking to him moments ago was now reduced to ashes before his eyes.
No matter how hard he forced himself to stay calm, his heart could not find peace.
Practitioners often said they were fighting heaven for their lives.
As a mortal apothecary, he had long been accustomed to birth, aging, sickness, and death.
But these immortal masters who fought for their lives died no differently from mortals in the end.
All they sought was a handful of ashes and a place to rest.
Xu Ning slumped to the ground, watching the drifting white smoke.
“Take care, I bid you take care.”
…
In the rear courtyard, frost had blanketed the ruins.
Lu Hanyi stood before the collapsed medicine shed, with Zhaoxue hovering at her side.
Three corpse puppets stood in three directions.
Their seemingly indestructible bodies were already covered in sword marks, their grayish flesh split open by the frost.
Yet deep within the wounds, blood energy still churned, trying to pull the broken shells back together bit by bit.
Compared to before, their recovery speed had slowed considerably.
Lu Hanyi’s brow furrowed slightly.
Though she could sever the corpse puppets’ flesh, she could never completely destroy them.
Rather, it was the frost lingering in the wounds that was slowly suppressing the blood energy’s reclamation.
Since when had her sword qi been able to suppress the filthy blood energy inside the corpse puppets?
Lu Hanyi didn’t know the reason, nor did she have the energy to dwell on it.
One of the corpse puppets raised its head first, letting out a low growl from its throat.
It slammed both palms heavily against the ground.
Boom!
Blood baleful energy poured into the earth through its palms, and the ruined rear courtyard shuddered violently.
Several dark red streaks of blood light shot up from the cracked ground, flying rapidly toward Lu Hanyi.
The other two corpse puppets condensed their blood energy into baleful shields, pressing forward through the biting frost and snow.
Lu Hanyi’s eyes turned cold.
She raised her fingers in a seal and directed them forward.
Zhaoxue’s blade let out a crisp hum.
The next instant, the frost filling the courtyard rippled faintly.
“Cold River Reflection.”
Blurry frost shadows emerged beneath the three corpse puppets’ feet, instantly freezing them in place.
Zhaoxue swept past, leaving only a trail of afterimages.
Severed limbs and shattered bones flew through the air as the previously ferocious corpse puppets were blown apart by that single strike.
Frost qi burrowed into the bodies through the severed edges, freezing the surging blood energy to a standstill.
But soon, the talisman nails embedded in their bone joints began to tremble again.
Blood threads pulled taut one by one, forcibly dragging the severed bodies back together.
The trace of blood at the corner of Lu Hanyi’s lips deepened once more.
Her sword qi suppressed the corpse puppets’ regeneration, but the backlash also crept up through her meridians inch by inch.
She lowered her eyes and swallowed back the sweet, coppery taste in her throat.
In the corner by the wall, Zhou Huai curled up into a ball, his face deathly pale.
He had tried to slip away in the chaos earlier, but Luo Zhao had kicked him back.
Now half-kneeling in the frost-covered mud, he was shivering so hard his teeth chattered, unable even to form a complete plea for mercy.
Luo Zhao wasn’t looking at him.
He stared blankly at the white-clad figure in the arena, a chill running through his chest.
The Qingwu Medicine Garden in June now felt like it had been crushed under a bitter winter.
Everything in sight was pale frost, with blood and scorched ash frozen into deathly silence.
Those three Foundation Establishment corpse puppets had nearly driven them to death several times.
Yet under Lu Hanyi’s sword, they couldn’t even lift their heads.
Perfect Foundation Establishment—so overwhelmingly powerful.
The Lady Lu before him showed not a trace of the severe injuries rumored about her.
Luo Zhao’s throat went dry.
As his mind churned, his peripheral vision suddenly caught the bloodstained sleeve still hanging from the broken shaft of the cart.
The sleeve was still there.
When the cold wind blew, it swayed gently.
The color drained from Luo Zhao’s face.
A thousand thoughts tangled in his mind, yet he could say nothing.
Lu Hanyi didn’t wait for the corpse puppets to close in again.
She stepped into the frost, and Zhaoxue swept back in a reverse arc.
The blade’s edge scraped across the frost-covered ground, dragging a glaring white line behind it.
Lu Hanyi gripped the sword in reverse, holding it across her body.
The frost patterns on the blade’s spine flared bright, and even the surrounding wind and snow seemed to halt in that instant.
Lu Hanyi’s figure suddenly vanished from where she stood.
Within the frost, several illusory white silhouettes flashed past.
The three corpse puppets raised their heads almost simultaneously, but all they could see was a white figure sweeping across the ruined grounds.
The next instant, Lu Hanyi appeared behind the corpse puppets.
Zhaoxue dropped like a sword returning to its sheath, its edge trembling faintly.
Behind her, dozens of frost-white sword qi erupted at once.
Talisman nails shattered one after another, rotting flesh peeling away completely in the frost light.
Lu Hanyi’s eyes turned slightly colder as she prepared to strike once more.
Boom!
A ball of pristine fire exploded from the front courtyard.
Lu Hanyi’s sword momentum stalled.
The three corpse puppets froze at the same time, the talisman nails buried in their bone joints trembling violently.
Then the ground of the rear courtyard sank sharply.
A crack tore open from the center of the blood array, and a gushing torrent of rancid blood energy erupted forth, scattering most of the frost across the courtyard in an instant.
Lu Hanyi looked toward the front courtyard, her expression cold.
That was where Xu Ning was.
When she had arrived, she’d caught a glimpse of Sun Buping luring the Foundation Establishment corpse puppet away.
Could it be… that he was connected to the corpse puppets?
At the thought, Lu Hanyi’s expression turned grim.
Sun Buping—that man had a problem.
Suddenly, a change occurred.
A furious voice erupted from beneath the earth.
“Who?”
“Who touched this Daoist’s corpse puppets!”
The moment the words fell, the entire rear courtyard shook violently.
The yard that had been blanketed in frost and sky moments ago was dyed a deep crimson in an instant.
Thick blood light surged up from beneath the ground, scattering the frost and snow across the courtyard.
From deep within the blood light, a tall, gaunt figure walked out slowly.
His tattered Daoist robe billowed in the blood energy.
A pressure far surpassing Foundation Establishment forcibly overwhelmed Lu Hanyi’s sword intent.
Zhou Huai and Luo Zhao were both crushed to their knees.
One was a mortal, the other a Perfect Qi Refinement cultivator, yet both now knelt in the mud.
It was as if an invisible mountain weighed down on them, making even raising their heads a struggle.
Luo Zhao had just thought that Lu Hanyi, at Perfect Foundation Establishment, was the most powerful cultivator he would ever see in his life.
But after the gray-robed Daoist appeared, he couldn’t even muster the thought of fleeing.
That was true despair.
From the front courtyard, Tu Lian’s aura had already gone silent.
The gray-robed Daoist’s face was dark.
“Good. Just wonderful.”
He raised a hand, and the blood array in the rear courtyard flared brightly.
The three corpse puppets raised their heads simultaneously, the talisman nails in their bone joints emitting a piercing screech.
Blood energy from beneath the earth flooded into their bodies, forcibly stitching their wounds back together.
Lu Hanyi’s eyes turned cold.
She raised her sword and slashed at him.
Zhaoxue’s sword light cut through the blood mist, but was blocked by a layer of dark red blood barrier three zhang away from the gray-robed Daoist.
Sword qi clashed against the blood barrier, bursting into shards of frost-white light.
The gray-robed Daoist didn’t move an inch.
He frowned at her.
Lu Hanyi raised a hand to wipe the blood from her lips, then looked up at the gray-robed Daoist.
“Mid Core Formation.”
There was no trace of retreat in those cold, clear eyes—only sword intent growing ever sharper.
“No wonder you dare raise corpses right under the Taiwei Immortal Sect’s nose.”
“Oh?”
The Daoist sneered playfully, lifting his chin arrogantly.
“You’re not afraid of me?”
“Afraid?”
Zhaoxue hummed low in Lu Hanyi’s palm as her spiritual power began to boil.
She raised her sword, the blade pointing at the Daoist from afar.
“We sword cultivators have nothing but death to fear.”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Excellent!”
“Then let this Daoist see what the pride of Taiwei is made of!”
The moment the words fell, the Daoist raised his hand and pressed down.
Boom!
The blood array beneath the rear courtyard blazed to life.
Thick demonic qi surged up from the cracks, mixing with blood light as it shot toward the sky before crashing back down violently.
The not-yet-fully-destroyed corpse puppets raised their heads once more in the blood energy, their bone joints grinding with a teeth-aching sound.
Luo Zhao and Zhou Huai were pressed flat against the ground, unable even to scream.
Lu Hanyi’s white robe billowed, Zhaoxue’s blade trembling without cease.
The next moment, a sky full of blood energy and rolling demonic qi descended upon her all at once.
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