C727 The Skeletal Form Was Holy and Pure
Thousands of miles apart, Yu Yuan fixed a cold gaze on the Taintborn Sect's female cultivator.
Lu Yuqin, whose appearance was nothing extraordinary, was merely a female cultivator in the middle period of the Lunar Spirit realm.
Her actual age far exceeded that of Yuan Lianyao, nearing a century old.
At a hundred years, she had only managed to reach the middle period of the Lunar Spirit realm. With average talent and aptitude, it was highly probable she would never cross into the Spirit Walk realm, remaining in the Lunar Spirit realm for life.
For a cultivator like her, without extraordinary fortune, this was as far as she would go.
She had come to the Land of Terror specifically to seek the power to advance to the Spirit Walk realm.
Her mentor had connections with the second-in-command of the Devil Palace. She had joined the Skyreach Consortium on their journey to the Land of Terror, primarily to deliver some items to Mo Yan.
Upon learning that Yu Yuan was also in the Land of Terror, she was ecstatic. After Yu Yuan departed, she immediately used a mystique to contact Mo Yan.
She was well aware of the deep animosity between Mo Yan and Yu Yuan.
The Crucible of Evil, originally intended by Mo Yan's father for his son...
Betraying Yu Yuan to curry favor with Mo Yan and gain his recognition weighed nothing on her conscience.
"Come here, sister Qin," Mo Yan beckoned from within the palanquin.
Having practiced the Cycle of Life and Death Spell multiple times to compensate for his innate shortcomings, Mo Yan was actually older than Lu Yuqin, so his reference to her as 'little sister' was not amiss.
Aware of Yu Yuan's formidable nature, yet more fearful of offending Mo Yan, Lu Yuqin reluctantly approached.
She was exceedingly cautious as her Lunar Spirit form glided over.
Mo Yan remained hidden inside Cuion's vibrant red sedan, speaking incessantly without revealing himself.
"You?"
Yu Yuan's mind stirred as he saw Yuan Lianyao drifting out from Shadow Mountain and reproached her, "Didn't I tell you to stay put?"
At the base of Shadow Mountain, a White Bone specter barely over a meter tall stood erect and said, "You didn't have to come out."
Beneath the somber heavens, Yuan Lianyao, who had reached the Lunar Spirit state just like Lu Yuqin, made her entrance, dazzling even the most perceptive of ghosts with her presence. Materializing in a fiery red dress, she stood upon a radiant red lotus pedestal, resembling a flame goddess descending from the heavens.
Her beauty was renowned across the Land of Quiescence, having become a legend since its spread from the Shadowlight Empire. Yet, to the ghosts, physical allure held little sway. They were drawn instead to the exquisite beauty of a soul's magnetic field.
In the eyes of many ghosts, Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit blazed like molten lava, emitting a light and heat that stirred the soul. The ripples of her soul's magnetic field captivated Cuion's spectral followers, leaving them in awe of her unparalleled beauty.
As they basked in the waves of her soul's presence, numerous ghosts and Celestial Shades wore expressions of strange delight—something Lu Yuqin could never evoke.
"Since Mo Yan from the Devil Palace knows I've been to Shadow Mountain and met with Yu Yuan, there's no point in hiding," Yuan Lianyao declared, unafraid in Mo Yan's presence. She refused to cower before someone of his stature. "Cuion wants me dead, Mo Yan wants me dead, but I choose to face them head-on."
"Eh?" A soft exclamation escaped from within the vibrant red palanquin, where a prominent Hellbreed of the Devil Palace resided. Mo Yan himself was taken aback by the Lunar Spirit waves emanating from Yuan Lianyao, sensing something extraordinary.
Yu Yuan closed his eyes. In that moment, Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit seemed to transform into a tumultuous pool of lava, unleashing a torrent of fiery waves that shook his very soul. It appeared that Yuan Lianyao had mastered the Ruby Hand's Pyreheart Incantations to an impressive degree.
"There's no need for your intervention," the White Bone declared, its emerald eyes shining with a serene and steady light, a stark contrast to its imposing form. With a whoosh, a radiant glow burst forth from its skeletal frame, exuding a divine purity. Though it was but a bone, a Spectre of the Land of Terror, it now radiated the presence of a deity.
Cuion's expression shifted subtly. "Sacred Writ of the Skeleton!"
The small stones that White Bone had previously hurled, after slaying the treacherous scholar, now levitated off the ground.
These pebbles, resembling white chess pieces, radiated a sanctified aura capable of purifying foul spirits and suddenly burst into brilliant light.
The dazzling, sacred white light expanded from the stones, as if the sun and moon were suspended in the sky.
The stones hovered, their light shining upon the world!
The sacred light showered down upon the ghosts.
Caught unawares, the Ghost Spirits and Earth Specters, regardless of their rank, melted away under the holy white light like snow before the sun.
Yu Yuan watched in amazement.
White Bone, a denizen of the Land of Terror, had mastered some extraordinary spell, exuding an aura of such purity and sanctity that it could purify and annihilate the malevolent spirits of this place.
To Yu Yuan, the diminutive White Bone now seemed shrouded in an aura of mystery and grandeur.
Like an emperor, like an ancient deity, White Bone strode towards Cuion.
The encircling ghosts dissipated into wisps of smoke, absorbed by Shadow Mountain or seeping into the earth below, their Yin Qi and Soul Power—cultivated over decades and centuries—reclaimed by the Land of Terror.
The ghosts born here vanished without a trace upon their demise, leaving nothing behind.
"Cuion, you are no match for me. Who emboldened you, the one ranked thirteenth, to challenge me?" White Bone declared as he advanced. "With White Robe gone from the Land of Terror, I am second only to him among all the Spectres. Did you really think that with me wounded, you could rally your forces to besiege me?"
Yu Yuan was taken aback. "Pale Reaper, you hold the second rank!"
He recalled the Embers Sea, where he had witnessed Hei Xun, leading the Gloom Raiders and the Guardian of Devil Palace, launch an assault on the Abyssal Leviathan.
Later, he learned that Pale Reaper had followed the Blood Altar and departed the Everlands with Hei Xun.
With White Robe's departure, White Bone had naturally ascended one place in the hierarchy.
In the Land of Terror, White Bone had risen to become the second strongest among the dozen or so Spectres.
Wailing filled the air!
He suddenly witnessed numerous ghosts, with limbs missing, frantically scurrying around, trying to escape the sanctified white light's glare.
"Lady Cuion!"
"Lady Cuion, save us!"
"Please, save us!"
The more insightful ghosts soared through the void, their cries for help echoing in the desolation.
Cuion, who had also been granted the title of "Spectre," drifted back to the ornate red sedan as the pebbles burst forth, emitting a purifying holy radiance.
She stood before the sedan, her expression somber, as if assessing the remnants of White Bone's strength.
White Bone's scornful gaze did not go unnoticed, but she refrained from responding immediately.
The Celestial Shades bearing the sedan were impervious to the light's effects.
Then, a throng of ghosts swarmed beneath the sedan, seeking refuge from White Bone's onslaught by relying on the shelter of the vibrant red conveyance.
The ghosts clinging to the sedan greedily absorbed its dense Yin Qi, their fragmented forms rapidly mending.
The red sedan appeared to offer them a swift restoration to their former state, provided they had not been utterly destroyed.
"Yu Yuan, keep an eye on Mo Yan inside the sedan," Yuan Lianyao commanded, her eyes flashing with determination. "I'm going to confront someone from the Taintborn."
No sooner had she spoken than the lotus throne she rode took flight and vanished into thin air.
In mere moments, the lotus throne reappeared behind Lu Yuqin's Lunar Spirit. Yuan Lianyao's Lunar Spirit hesitated, then transformed into a tumultuous cauldron of molten lava, descending upon Lu Yuqin with ferocity.
Lu Yuqin's face contorted with shock as her Lunar Spirit dissipated into over a dozen vibrant wisps of mist, seeking escape.
