In a certain sense, part of the suffering He Shu endured also belonged to He Cen.
However, neither of them knew anything about it.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. He Shu stood up and tried moving around.
The pain and weakness had lessened significantly.
Over the past two days, Hua Yanyun had removed the lock on the cage and lifted the restriction on the room door according to the agreement, allowing He Shu to move freely inside the tower.
Although she could now move freely, Hua Yanyun had exploited a loophole in the agreement.
She had placed shackles on both He Shu’s hands and feet, connecting them with fine silver chains.
The silver chains were only twenty centimeters long.
This made He Shu’s movements even more inconvenient than before.
She could only take small, shuffling steps.
The chains were crafted from Nascent Soul-grade White Nether Sand Steel. Although they looked thin, they were extremely heavy.
My recovery is almost complete. According to the agreement, Shen Qingci should be arriving soon.
A faint, confident smile hung at the corner of He Shu’s mouth. She calculated the time in her heart.
On the day she last met with He Cen, He Shu had secretly transmitted a message through He Cen to Shen Qingci, passing along the details of the operation.
According to He Shu’s estimation, she would need at least three days to recover to the point where she could move freely.
Therefore, she had made preparations in advance with both Mu Xinlian and Shen Qingci.
However, plans could never keep up with changes. The moment a plan was most perfect was often the moment right before it was executed.
In reality, there were far too many uncertain factors.
He Shu did not have a god’s-eye view. While she and Mu Xinlian waited quietly for the rescue, problems had arisen on Shen Qingci’s side.
“Don’t run!”
A cold female voice came from behind. Qing Lan Yue, dressed in a purple robe adorned with intricate flowers, was tightly pursuing two Golden Core cultivators.
Shen Qingci circulated his entire spiritual power and transformed into a long rainbow, weaving through the immortal city.
Beside him was another Golden Core cultivator sent by Southwind Immortal Kingdom to assist He Shu — Bai Liu Li.
“Damn it, how is this crazy woman so fast!”
Blood continuously streamed from the wounds on his body. Shen Qingci cursed without any regard for decorum.
“Her cultivation has already reached peak Golden Core. Her talent is extraordinary. Breaking through to Nascent Soul is only a matter of time. We absolutely cannot let her catch up!”
Bai Liu Li unfolded a wind wall barrier around her body, firmly enveloping both herself and Shen Qingci.
Her aura surged powerfully. She was also at peak Golden Core!
Bai Liu Li was not from Southwind Immortal Kingdom.
She was a native of Jade Water Immortal Kingdom who had been bought off by Southwind Immortal Kingdom and had become one of their informants.
“Hahaha! The heavens are helping me!”
Just as Shen Qingci was distracted while preparing a technique to attack Qing Lan Yue, the figure of Gu Yanran appeared ten li ahead.
Divine Ability — Flower Romance!
Countless translucent pale-pink petals condensed out of thin air. They rapidly formed a petal tornado centered around Gu Yanran!
Although the petals looked fragile, they were as hard as iron. Any building caught in the storm would immediately collapse.
Caught between attacks from both front and rear, and both opponents were peak Golden Core, Shen Qingci and Bai Liu Li felt an immense headache.
“Fly upward into the sky!”
With no other choice, the two of them shot upward through the clouds.
However, doing so exposed their figures to even more eyes below.
Qing Lan Yue watched as Shen Qingci and Bai Liu Li nimbly dodged the petal storm. She snorted coldly and also pursued them into the cloud layer.
Seeing this, Gu Yanran refused to be outdone.
She transformed into a streak of pink light and followed closely behind Qing Lan Yue, quickly overtaking her.
“Qing Lan Yue! What are you doing? You actually let them get away!”
Gu Yanran transmitted her voice to question Qing Lan Yue while immediately preparing to channel her second technique.
The petal storm earlier had consumed quite a bit of her true essence — a full fifth.
However, in this situation, she could no longer afford to worry about true essence consumption.
“Hmph. You still have the nerve to say that? Casting an area-of-effect technique right in the middle of the immortal city’s main street. Aren’t you afraid Her Majesty will hold you accountable later?”
Qing Lan Yue’s expression was ugly, but she still transmitted a retort.
“It was just some low-level cultivators and mortals who got caught in the crossfire. If they die, they die. What accountability is there?”
Gu Yanran had the Gu clan backing her. It was a great clan of the immortal kingdom with a Void Refinement ancestor.
She was also one of Hua Yanyun’s favored concubines. Naturally, she did not need to be as cautious as Qing Lan Yue.
“My true essence is already more than half depleted. Shen Qingci, you handle defense. I will drive them back!”
As she spoke, Bai Liu Li actually dispelled her full-body defense.
Her aura began to surge continuously.
The terrifying fluctuations of spiritual power even caused Qing Lan Yue and Gu Yanran, who were chasing from behind, to slow down.
Light-element Divine Ability — Aurora Sky Rainbow!
As her momentum reached its peak, a total of seventy-seven beams of light in the seven colors of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple continuously bombarded toward Qing Lan Yue and Gu Yanran.
The seven-colored beams illuminated the sky with colorful clouds.
The sight was truly spectacular.
However, Gu Yanran and Qing Lan Yue, who were directly struck by the beams, had no leisure to appreciate it.
Each successive beam of light was stronger than the last.
At first, they felt like nothing more than a light scratch, like a gentle breeze brushing against the face.
However, after the thirtieth beam, the two women’s defensive techniques began consuming their true essence at a terrifying rate.
By the forty-fifth beam, their defensive techniques could no longer withstand the pressure and began developing fine cracks.
It was not until the fifty-seventh beam struck that the defensive technique the two had jointly cast completely shattered!
With their defense broken, they faced the bombardment of the light beams with only their physical bodies.
If not for the fact that both Gu Yanran and Qing Lan Yue possessed protective artifacts, they would likely have perished on the spot!
“Huff… huff…”
Gu Yanran was violently sent flying and crashed into a building.
By the time she climbed out of the rubble, Shen Qingci and Bai Liu Li had already fled without a trace.
She glanced at another pile of rubble less than five li away.
Qing Lan Yue had actually been knocked unconscious by the divine ability Bai Liu Li had used earlier and had lost consciousness!
“Cough cough…!”
Gu Yanran coughed up a large mouthful of blood. She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with a silk handkerchief.
“The protective artifact my ancestor gave me actually developed cracks. That white-haired little girl earlier probably also possesses a divine ability.”
Knowing that she could no longer catch up to Shen Qingci and Bai Liu Li, she immediately took out a spirit talisman from her storage artifact.
She infused it with true essence and sent a message to Lin Hanjing.
After the talisman burned itself out and disappeared, Gu Yanran cast several healing techniques on herself before heading toward the rubble where Qing Lan Yue had fallen unconscious.
The commotion caused by the battle between the four Golden Core cultivators was not small. In just half an hour, most of the northern district had already learned of the incident.
Shen Qingci and Bai Liu Li hid inside a dry well. Both of them were covered in blood and looked extremely disheveled.
Shen Qingci’s clothes had been torn into little more than a few ragged strips.
Bai Liu Li was not much better off. Large patches of spring light were exposed to the air.
“Huff… huff——”
Shen Qingci let out a long breath. He took out a fresh set of clothes and several healing pills from his storage artifact.
He swallowed the pills in one gulp and divided two of them for Bai Liu Li.
“Eat them. These are Blood Qi Pills. They can quickly stop bleeding and recover from external injuries.”
Bai Liu Li did not stand on ceremony. She accepted the two pills and swallowed them in one go.
The medicinal effects took hold quickly.
As a green light flashed across their bodies, all the wounds on them healed completely.
Not a single trace of injury remained.
“You… do you have any clothes? I forgot to bring any.”
Watching Shen Qingci change out of his blood-soaked clothes and put on a brand-new set, Bai Liu Li spoke somewhat awkwardly.
“……”
Shen Qingci fell silent upon hearing this. However, after thinking about it, he still took out one of his own outfits and handed it to Bai Liu Li.
Shen Qingci possessed a male body but a feminine appearance. Therefore, all his clothes were neutral in style. When Bai Liu Li put them on, they were only a size too large.
“My true essence is almost completely depleted. We must rescue He Shu before Hua Yanyun learns of our plan.”
After changing into the new clothes, Bai Liu Li gave Shen Qingci a few instructions before taking out a large number of spirit stones and beginning to absorb true essence from them to replenish herself.
Seeing this, Shen Qingci temporarily set up a concealment array inside the dry well.
He likewise took out spirit stones and began absorbing true essence.
In the battle earlier, he had mainly been focused on running.
Both defense and offense had been left to Bai Liu Li, who was at peak Golden Core.
Therefore, he still had more than half of his true essence remaining.
He carefully climbed out of the dry well to observe the surrounding situation.
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