Chapter 139
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Chapter 139: The Truth Behind Capturing Practitioners
The formation continued to operate, with sacrifice flags and decayed flags creating shadows of death and decaying auras that constantly struck against the Red-robed Man, hindering his steps. Just as Li Hui thought about making a quick escape, the Stoic Man suddenly stepped back in shock, producing sparks in the air as five golden lines snapped and fell to the ground.
Qian Qiu Yue stepped forward, appearing as if she had always been behind Li Hui. She didn’t even glance at the Stoic Man but focused her gaze on the Red-robed Man across from her.
“Huh?”
The Red-robed Man impatiently swatted away the shadows and decaying energy. When he looked seriously at Qian Qiu Yue, he laughed loudly, “Hahaha! How could there be a Late Condense Essence cultivator in the Blood Phantasm Maze? And with this clever little girl here, what a delightful surprise! It’s just a bit annoying—why is there someone even more handsome than me, and two of them at that?”
Qian Qiu Yue spoke up, “Are you sure you can capture me?”
“Oh? What makes you so special? Just right, the old man has bestowed upon me a fortune-telling treasure.” The Red-robed Man, sensing the opportunity, waved his hand to take out a glistening willow leaf and pressed it to his left eye to gaze at Qian Qiu Yue. He didn’t expect a sharp pain, almost causing him to drop the willow leaf.
“How is this possible?” The Red-robed Man was greatly shaken, yet he stubbornly held onto the willow leaf and looked again, seeing a massive shadow concealed around Qian Qiu Yue that he couldn’t discern.
He began to panic. Just when his gaze faltered, it inadvertently locked onto Li Hui standing nearby, where a bright light surged into view, filled with majestic talisman light, brilliant Buddhist light, and abundant demonic energy, accompanied by a golden gate shrouded in clouds and mist, resembling a huge cabinet door—both vast and immeasurable!
“What?” The Red-robed Man was startled as if struck by thunder. When he looked again, all the phenomena had vanished, leaving him feeling disoriented, convinced that he must have imagined things. These two must possess some treasure that interferes with his probing.
“You are definitely not a practitioner of the sea factions—you are…” The Red-robed Man’s eyes widened.
“Now you know. So, Wan Nest Island is about to appear? When I saw the demon cultivators swapping positions with the practitioners, I understood how you explore Wan Nest Island,” Qian Qiu Yue sneered. “Not surprising for a demon sect; you truly know how to take advantage of the situation. You set up Slave Seals to have practitioners explore on your behalf. If there are any gains or restrictions to break, you can immediately swap positions and teleport over. You can even use these slave cultivators as scapegoats—such a vicious strategy!”
“Hehe! Which sect are you from in the Great Xia? Dare to show your true colors before me?” The Red-robed Man spoke arrogantly, but his steps hesitated slightly, losing some of his previous audacity.
“Jin Tian Sect!” Qian Qiu Yue answered casually.
“Goodness!” The Red-robed Man immediately considered fleeing upon hearing the name of the Jin Tian Sect, but after a moment of thought, he stopped and secretly prepared his magical items, glaring as he shouted, “Are you kidding? The Jin Tian Sect has no one like you. We, the Hongmo Sect, know how to deal with formidable foes; the Jin Tian Sect only orders small sects to watch the sea. It’s also possible you’re not from the orthodox sect, but a branch or an outer disciple.”
“You don’t know me, but I know you—Hongmo Zhengfang, the sixth descendant of the Hongmo Sect.” Qian Qiu Yue effortlessly revealed his identity.
Not far away, the Stoic Man’s expression grew strange upon hearing the name Hongmo Zhengfang. He quickly paid his respects, saying, “So it’s Brother Zhengfang in person. I’ve only heard your name before; today, I finally see your magnificence.”
“Get lost! What kind of nonsense is that? A demon cultivator doesn’t need magnificence; we only care for demon energy and ferocity!” Hongmo Zhengfang became fully alert. Little did he expect the Stoic Man to nod eagerly, “Alright, since you don’t like me calling you to get lost, I’ll quickly take my leave.”
The Stoic Man suddenly floated back, cleverly using Hongmo Zhengfang as cover as he made his escape.
When the figure was far away, Hongmo Zhengfang finally reacted, screaming, “Shameless! Demon cultivators want ferocity and madness, but not like this!”
Li Hui muttered, “Who can blame the fool? Speaking of the Stoic Man, he’s impressive. When told to get lost, he takes off without hesitation—what a character! But if all the Hongmo Sect disciples are this difficult, my preparations are woefully insufficient. Just a few confrontations would turn me back to my original form.”
Qian Qiu Yue moved her lips slightly, causing Hongmo Zhengfang to pause and listen intently.
His rage turned into a barely contained fury, then morphed into hesitation as a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. He spoke, “Do you really have that item?”
“Junior brother, show him the waist token,” Qian Qiu Yue instructed Li Hui.
“Show him the waist token?” Li Hui reacted slowly, reluctantly pulling it out. On it were printed the characters “Hongmo Ugly” and “Hongmo Strange.”
Upon seeing the waist token, Hongmo Zhengfang struck his fist in laughter, “Hahaha! The heavens never block a person’s path! It seems the heavens still favor me. The two true disciples who vanished years ago actually perished together in the Blood Phantasm Maze. Good! This is truly wonderful! Perishing together is great! They just happened to experience the emergence of Wan Nest Island and left this item unused.”
“What a pompous guy!” Li Hui scoffed.
Qian Qiu Yue secretly breathed a sigh of relief and reached out for it, saying, “Hand over your Slave Seal.”
“No way! I absolutely will not hand over the Slave Seal.” The atmosphere grew tense, yet Hongmo Zhengfang appeared uncertain, pointing at the surrounding ground and saying, “These poisoned outer disciples also have Slave Seals and can mark thirty-three people, so they didn’t dare waste it on Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators. If they had been more careful and marked a Slave Seal in advance for a scapegoat, how would they have died in this formation?”
“Your ancestor wouldn’t give you just one Slave Seal, while we have over six thousand cultivators here,” Qian Qiu Yue noted as Hongmo Zhengfang’s anger flared, ready to explode. She spoke in a calm tone, “Although their strength is low, the Wan Nest Island has many restrictions. My junior brother can use these people to break the Blood Phantasm Maze and explore several paths.”
Li Hui felt a surge of pride, puffing out his chest and raising his head with an air of arrogance. However, he secretly thought, “This boastfulness makes me embarrassed. If it weren’t for the many years of accumulated Leaves of Blood Banana Trees and Qian Duohai finding so many Cow Shock Stones for me, I’d have returned to the Blood Phantasm Maze empty-handed and wouldn’t be able to deal with the blood energy and corpse energy.”
In fact, it was the result of over twenty thousand practitioners working together, with nearly ten thousand Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators. Only due to sufficient manpower could they gradually clear the Blood Phantasm Maze.
Blood talismans mostly served an auxiliary role; the more people there were, the stronger the effect. If Li Hui tried to break the Blood Phantasm Maze alone, he would collapse from exhaustion.
The problem was that the remaining Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators were too few. Either they were old and frail or timid like mice; the Spirit Motion stage cultivators were mostly at a foundational level, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there were many old, young, and weak among them.
What a huge responsibility! Hongmo Zhengfang’s face twisted as he looked at Li Hui and said, “Kid, what does it matter to break the Blood Phantasm Maze? Wan Nest Island has the title of the nest of restrictions, where the restrictions and formations are densely packed and incredibly intricate! That’s why our Hongmo Sect painstakingly captures practitioners and sets up layers upon layers of tests—to find those skilled at breaking restrictions and dealing with crises. Don’t think the Slave Seal is cruel; it is precisely a form of recognition and a pass. If you don’t have one, you won’t go anywhere! You can only obediently perish in this cave!”
