C900 Don't Interfere!
Gloomhollow.
Loong Qi refrained from any hasty actions. After a silent exchange with Sage Xinshang, he settled into a calm demeanor.
With Sage Xinshang hovering above, all the herbalists of Sacred Hands, including Yu Yuan and Wen Lu, realized that escape was futile and remained in place.
They were all acutely aware that Sages Chong Xiao and Tianjing of the Ethereal Void Sect would soon be upon them.
Despite understanding the inevitability of their demise, the feeling of helplessness weighed heavily on everyone, creating an atmosphere of deep frustration.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three sharp sounds abruptly pierced the silence of the valley.
An unexpected change was unfolding!
Wen Lu, who carried the Shadowkin bloodline, watched in amazement as the silver necklace she had worn since childhood began to radiate an astonishing light.
Fashioned in the shape of a leaf, the necklace's intricate patterns were both exquisite and enigmatic.
Wen Lu had always known the leaf-shaped silver necklace to be a keepsake from her mother.
Until now, the necklace had shown no remarkable qualities, appearing to be nothing more than a simple silver trinket.
But in that instant, Wen Lu sensed the necklace drawing upon a portion of her vital energy, which had surged from her Profound Gate acupoint.
The leaf-shaped necklace burst into dazzling light, rising to hover over her forehead like a silver eye.
Specks of soul light scattered before Wen Lu, followed by a faint gasp.
Yu Yuan, trapped within the Crucible of Evil, felt as though he was encased in ice.
Crack! Crack!
The ice encrusting him began to fracture, as if assaulted by some strange power.
Simultaneously, a dark magic shield enveloped the cauldron.
"We're under attack by a malevolent remnant soul!"
The cauldron spirit's alarmed shout echoed through Yu Yuan's Heart Lake.
"Nana! Nana!"
Jolted by the realization, Wen Lu burst into tears.
She grasped the lifeless body of the old woman, whose forehead now bore a drop of blood, and shook her desperately, "Nana! Please, wake up! Don't frighten me like this."
"Sigh."
Yu Yuan exhaled a sorrowful sigh, understanding at a glance that Wen Xin's soul had been utterly extinguished, leaving no hope for survival.
The assailant targeted Yu Yuan, Wen Lu, and Wen Xin with three lethal remnant souls. In a pivotal moment, the cauldron spirit reacted, prompting the Frost Queen to invoke her ice power, encasing Yu Yuan in a protective layer of ice. The ice energy embedded within the rock ice neutralized the incoming strike.
Wen Lu, thanks to the leaf-shaped silver necklace around her neck, narrowly escaped harm.
An elder in the Subtlety realm, lacking both a powerful artifact for defense and the aid of a special being like the Frost Queen, and with insufficient cultivation, met her end in mere moments.
"Xinshang!"
Upon witnessing the simultaneous assault on Yu Yuan, Wen Lu, and Wen Xin, Shi Yuxuan from the Sacred Hands furiously looked to the heavens and exclaimed, "With your Unbound level of cultivation, why stoop to such lowly tactics? If you wish for their demise, you could face them honorably. Why resort to such vile methods?"
Inside the arc light, Xinshang touched his nose and replied with a sense of grievance, "It wasn't me."
"It was me."
A gaunt elder emerged from a cavernous opening in Gloomhollow, casting a cold gaze over Shi Yuxuan. "I am called Tianjing."
"Tianjing!"
At the mention of his name, the faces of many Sacred Hands herbalists turned pale, and they fell silent, gripped by fear.
Tianjing of the Ethereal Void was notorious for his appearances across Aetherius, leaving a trail of death in his wake. Rumor had it that Yingye, a master assassin of the Ethereal Void, held Tianjing in high esteem, having learned the art of stealth and assassination from him. Yingye's deeds were always shrouded in darkness, his very existence a closely guarded secret.
Tianjing, with his superior cultivation, had long served the Ethereal Void Sect by eliminating their adversaries, earning a reputation known far and wide. Every cultivator across the Everlands was aware of him.
Tianjing and Yingye, one in the spotlight and the other in the shadows, served as the Ethereal Void Sect's twin blades, drenched in blood.
Thus, when he introduced himself as Tianjing, the informed herbalists of the Sacred Hands were struck dumb.
Even Shi Yuxuan, who had boldly rebuked the higher-ranked Xinshang, fell into a heavy silence at the sight of Tianjing.
Xinshang, despite his high realm, was known to be the most laid-back, amiable, and approachable among the Sages of the Ethereal Void Sect.
Tianjing, on the other hand, was his polar opposite—quick to resort to violence at the slightest provocation.
"Tianjing, spare the people of Sacred Hands from your wrath," Xinshang, hovering midair, called out, aware of Tianjing's volatile nature. He cleared his throat and added, "Our sect still relies heavily on the support of the Order of Healing."
Following Hong Qi's departure, his successor Zhong Chichen maintained a longstanding partnership with the Ethereal Void Sect in pill production.
The seven esteemed Sages were all too aware that they normally wouldn't dare to wreak havoc in the Serpent Spine Mountains. Yet Xinshang knew full well that Tianjing was not only devoted to Lingxu but also held Qu Jing in high regard, believing that Qu Jing's potential to reach the primordial spirit realm could significantly elevate the Ethereal Void Sect's status.
But the news was grim: Qu Jing had been confirmed dead at the hands of Yu Yuan in the Crimson Sun Empire.
In light of this, Tianjing might well become unhinged, disregarding the longstanding camaraderie between the sect and the Order of Healing, and in his fury, reduce many herbalists to mere dust.
"Stay out of my way, and you might just survive," Tianjing said, casting a sidelong glance in Shi Yuxuan's direction. The sight of the terrified, elderly herbalists retreating further into the shadows of a cave valley was not lost on him.
"Did you kill Qu Jing?"
Tianjing advanced steadily towards the Crucible of Evil.
Yu Yuan, eyes narrowed and with a sly grin, responded, "Qu Jing attacked me twice. Once in the Scarlet Dunes, he tried to seize the Crucible of Evil from me to barter with Mo Yan of the Devil Palace. And this time, he used the Illusion Orb to drag me into his trap, intending for me to perish silently within."
"All I need to know is that you're the one who killed Qu Jing. The rest is of no interest to me." Clad in a robe adorned with depictions of mountains and lakes, Tianjing gripped a bright yellow crystal ball in his hand and uttered, "Sun Mountain!"
He hurled the bright yellow crystal ball into the air, and it abruptly expanded into a mountain a thousand feet tall.
Boom!
The towering mountain plummeted onto the floating Crucible of Evil, slamming the dark cauldron to the ground. The magic shield surrounding the cauldron squealed under pressure, contorting like a balloon on the verge of bursting.
Rumble! Rumble!
The trembling mountain collided with the peaks of Gloomhollow, sending a cascade of rocks tumbling down.
The herbalists of Sacred Hands, witnessing a mountain materialize from nowhere, were too terrified to emerge. They fled toward the safety of the valley's refuge.
Some even descended into the subterranean holes.
Beneath the surface, Sacred Hands' underground cells held wayward herbalists who had strayed onto a dark path, concocting poison pills that tarnished the sect's reputation.
A misty blue fog wafted from the cauldron's mouth, bolstering the magic shield against the mountain's weight.
Whoosh!
The Frost Queen burst forth from the cauldron's glyph, her arms, as white as jade, sweeping through the air. She unleashed swirls of Frozen Flames, which drifted toward Tianjing like petals on the wind.
"No wonder Qu Jing met with such misfortune; there's indeed a peculiar Bane at play here."
Upon seeing the Frost Queen, Tianjing confirmed that Qu Jing's demise was at the hands of this ice-cold Bane, imbued with the essence of the Frozen Hellscape. "Terror Claws has been stricken from the annals of Everlands. Do you really think this shattered cauldron can restore your sect?"
In that moment, a streak of golden light zipped through the sky, transforming into Chong Xiao above Loong Qi's head.
Witnessing Chong Xiao with the Shadowgold in hand, the eighth-level green dragon of Dragon Lake's expression soured, though it dared not voice its anger.
