Chapter 45

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Chapter 45: Are Souls This Tough?

Wen Yun’s reaction was frighteningly fast. As the baby let out a soft whimper, she pulled out a transparent Magic Stone from her hand.

A powerful mental force originating from the soul spread out, covering the entire underground cave like a spider web.

At the instant the baby’s cry erupted, everyone’s hearts sank to the bottom. The mother holding the baby desperately tried to muffle the child in her arms, but couldn’t silence the crying.

Everyone kept their heads up, gazing despairingly into the darkness, waiting for the terrible monster above to flatten the ground and kill them all.

Yet, in this silent space, the noises outside grew fainter, and the monster above… seemed to have left.

Every person’s face still showed fear from before, but now confusion was appearing, as if they didn’t understand why the monster left.

In the next moment, they suddenly realized that a soft silver light was shining in the cave, and at the center of the light was Wen Yun!

A’hua’s eyes were filled with tears, and she whispered, "Truly an angel… An angel saved us."

Wen Yun forced a smile to comfort her, "I’m not an angel, I’m just a sword cultivator."

It was indeed her doing this time, as the concealment magic she used nearly enveloped the entire cave in protection.

Due to the urgent situation, to unleash this magic in the shortest time possible, Wen Yun almost crushed the entire Magic Stone. Thankfully, her body, tempered by the Golden Core, was strong enough, coupled with her powerful spiritual energy, she accomplished this feat.

When not knowing who the enemy was, maintaining enough vigilance was a sign of enough respect for one’s own life.

As the terrifying sounds above gradually faded, those who had thought they were doomed this time showed joy of surviving the ordeal, embracing their loved ones tightly and crying tears of relief.

The magic just now was forcefully cast, so it greatly drained her energy. Wen Yun took out a new Magic Stone to absorb energy while sitting down and asked A’hua beside her, "Grandma, what was that just now? Are there still people hunting you in this forest?"

Look at the villagers hiding in underground homes, are they trying to hide from demon cultivators?

A’hua’s grandmother looked sad and nodded helplessly, "Yes, we used to have a peaceful life for some time, but since ten years ago, demon cultivators have been appearing in this area frequently. We, a group of elderly and weak people, would probably die on the run before encountering any demon cultivators."

Wen Yun calculated silently in her heart and glanced at Ye Shubai, "Ten years ago seems to be when the demon cultivators started invading the righteous path?"

This area is a necessary route from the Demon Realm to the open sea, no wonder the survivors often encounter demon cultivators.

But the even scarier thing is, these demon cultivators seem to be searching for something.

"They are searching for us." A’hua’s grandmother’s face turned even paler, almost on the verge of tears, "Those demon cultivators seem to have discovered us in this dense forest this year, but they don’t seem to know that we live underground, so they haven’t found us yet."

But it is clear that with the terrifying commotion today, it’s only a matter of time before the demon cultivators find them.

With Wen Yun and Ye Shubai’s strength, they naturally wouldn’t fear these demon cultivators, but there are hundreds of ordinary people without any cultivation here, and the two of them cannot guarantee perfect protection for this group of survivors.

The girl squinted her bright eyes slightly and looked towards Ye Shubai, "Instead of passively defending—"

Ye Shubai softly said, "Draw your sword."

Although Wen Yun still appeared cool and aloof, in her divine sense, she was criticizing Ye Shubai fiercely.

"Ye Xiaobai, do you know what it means to have rapport and cooperation?"

"As a sword spirit, how could you not guess that the master meant ‘it’s better to take the initiative’?"

"Why are you so stubborn!"

Ye Shubai remained silent.

He was not being stubborn, he simply didn’t talk much and as a seasoned sword cultivator, drawing the sword was just a way of taking the initiative.

Despite Ye Shubai ruining Wen Yun’s act, what angered her more was that even though she was embarrassed, she couldn’t bring herself to repeat the lines again.

Fortunately, such matters were like passing clouds for Wen Yun, as her attention was quickly drawn to the array formation.

Before taking the initiative to attack, it’s important to make sure the defense work at the back is done well. Otherwise, while we haven’t finished off the demon cultivator here, someone might come and steal from us over there.

The double concealment formation set up by Wen Yun now is an important part of the defense work.

The reason it’s called double is because she set up two concealment formations at once, yes, it’s a magic formation stacked with a spiritual formation!

What Wen Yun lacks the least now is high-quality Magic Stones. She skillfully set up a magic formation first. For her, who has been chased for hundreds of years, she can even construct this formation with her eyes closed.

Then, she took out a space bag, inside of which was the one hundred thousand top-grade spiritual jades obtained from the fake Yu Qinghong’s white glove earlier. Having countless wealth, she vaguely recalled the days when she pinched one hundred low-grade spiritual jades given by her senior brothers when she first left the sect, feeling a bit bitter.

When she meets the three stingy senior brothers, she must calmly sprinkle the sky with top-grade spiritual jades in an indifferent manner, showing those three what true generosity is!

Imagining that scene, Wen Yun felt quite good, and the speed of setting up the formation in her hand began to accelerate.

She actually gained some insights into spiritual formations. After all, when she broke through the Blizzard Island formation before, she didn’t just act recklessly. She gained a lot of understanding of the subtleties of spiritual formations among those top formations. Coupled with the concealment spiritual traces she comprehended on that tree before entering the cave, she now really managed to set up a pure spiritual formation.

If disciples from Blizzard Island come here, they might mistakenly think it was done by someone from their sect!

At the moment when two formations overlapped, the whole Yimin Village seemed to completely merge into the underground, all sounds, breaths, and movements were completely concealed by the two hidden formations.

The tension that had been hanging in her heart finally eased slightly, Wen Yun turned around and looked at the refugees who were too cautious to even speak.

"I have set up a formation just now. As long as you stay here temporarily and do not go out, the demon cultivator won’t be able to find you."

Upon hearing this, Granny A’hua seemed to realize something and anxiously asked, "Immortal Master, are you planning to leave here?"

Wen Yun immediately understood the misunderstanding and whispered, "We are just temporarily leaving. You all can rest, and we will be back when you wake up."

"So you are going to…"

Wen Yun smoothly took the wooden sword from Ye Shubai’s hand and replied with a determined gaze, "To wield the sword against evil spirits."

*

The two of them silently emerged from the underground tunnel, when they returned to the surface, their movements were so light that they didn’t even startle the birds searching for seeds in the bushes.

Ye Shubai found it very hard to use his magical powers in this place, he could only use about a tenth of his full strength, but that should be enough to conquer this forest.

What about Wen Yun?

Sorry, even though she lost some magic wands before and didn’t have time to make new ones, she was holding two Magic Stones now, looking fierce as if holding two bricks, ready for both magic and physical attacks.

Ye Shubai drew his sword, looking at Wen Yun quietly without saying a word.

However, Wen Yun understood. While finishing the last step of setting up a small monitoring array on the ground, she infused her mental power into the crystal at the center of the magic array.

After a moment of silence, she whispered a location, and Ye Shubai immediately flew up on his sword. After some thought, he reached out his hand to her, saying, "Come up."

Wen Yun followed his lead, as riding on the same flying sword was a common practice for them. She placed her hand on his hand and stepped onto the flying sword with his help.

With enemies lurking in the dark while they were visible, the two of them proceeded extremely cautiously. Wen Yun was unsure if this was to avoid being detected by demon cultivators or if Ye Shubai was just showing off, as they flew at a low altitude, weaving through the dense forest. Countless tree trunks flew past them, the various shades of green in front of them making their vision dizzy.

Despite standing behind Ye Shubai the whole time, Wen Yun, a magician used to the slow Floating Skill, was momentarily dazzled by the scene. She almost fell off but managed to discreetly toss the Magic Stone back and held onto his clothes tightly to keep her balance.

Indeed, she is still a beginner in sword fighting.

The flying sword kept its speed, but a hand reached out to protect the wobbling Wen Yun from falling.

His cold voice carried by the wind to her ear, "Hold on tight."

Confused and dizzy on the sword, Wen Yun couldn’t understand for a moment, "Hold on to what?"

Without waiting for Ye Shubai’s answer, the flying sword ahead was surrounded by dense forests, and the flying sword beneath their feet rapidly turned dozens of times, making Wen Yun almost fall.

Acting quickly in a critical moment, she instinctively held onto Ye Shubai’s waist with one hand and tightly grasped his hand with the other.

However, both of them had no time for thoughts, because after passing the last tree, they both saw the giant beast ahead.

The wild beast was extremely large, all black, it was hard to tell if it was a wolf or a tiger, with a completely bald tail covered in hundreds of sharp bone spurs, sending shivers down their spines.

The beast seemed to have a very keen sense of smell, its wet nose sniffed and quickly sensed something wrong, then let out a sharp roar towards Wen Yun and Ye Shubai.

The two people sitting on the back of the beast looked alertly in our direction, then without a word, they shot several arrows towards us.

The arrows were fast, but Ye Shubai was faster.

He effortlessly dodged with his sword, while Wen Yun behind him held onto his waist with one hand and wielded a large Magic Stone with the other, casting low-level magic spells ruthlessly.

On Ye Shubai’s flying sword, she was like a mobile turret.

A fist-sized Fireball appeared from Wen Yun’s hand, lacking the amplification of a wand, but with the remarkable quality of the Magic Stone, the speed of the fireball was even faster than the two people’s magic arrows.

The opponent growled, drawing out a batch of arrows to shoot.

However, before the arrows could reach halfway, the sky filled with Fireballs turned into a sea of fire, instantly burning all the arrows to ashes. More Fireballs flew straight towards the two of them, engulfing them in flames.

The scene was truly horrifying to watch.

Wen Yun jumped off the sword, stepping on the ashes of the two demon cultivators and the magic wolf’s bodies. She calmly used water magic to extinguish the surrounding fire, then invoked a plant growth spell, turning the ashes into nutrients for new trees. The greenery quickly covered up all traces of the recent battle.

She handled everything so skillfully and calmly, it was clear that she had done this before.

Seeing Ye Shubai staring at her, she turned slightly and raised an eyebrow, asking, "Do you think I’m cruel?"

Some male cultivators have strange thoughts – when they kill, they call it seeking revenge, but when women kill, they say it’s ruthless.

But Ye Shubai was not like those male cultivators.

He shook his head, took a step forward, and gently wiped away the black dust on Wen Yun’s face with a silk handkerchief before stepping back satisfied, saying, "All done, let’s go find the next one."

"…"

It seemed like Ye Shubai was a refined male cultivator.

The demon cultivator that entered the jungle this time was clearly not just two insignificant followers.

Wen Yun quickly communicated the nearby demon cultivator locations to Ye Shubai using her mental powers, and he efficiently maneuvered his flying sword through the forest like lightning.

The teamwork of the two became extremely scary towards the end. Whenever Ye Shubai flew to the location pointed out by Wen Yun, she would mercilessly unleash her pre-prepared magic attack.

This move often quickly ended the battle, as even if someone survived, they couldn’t defend against Wen Yun’s powerful magic attacks.

What’s more, she even used up her Magic Stones as hidden weapons. With her increasing power, she managed to kill a demon cultivator with just one stone.

As the sun had not completely set yet, a slanting ray of orange-red sunset shone down. In a short time, the two easily defeated all the surrounding demon cultivators.

Wen Yun lazily weighed the Magic Stone in her hand. It was already the third one she had used today, showing how much magic she had used.

"Only that last group left," Wen Yun whispered, her gaze fixed on the depths of the forest.

The aura coming from there was different from the lower-level demon cultivators before. They had sensed someone attacking them and started gathering together. There were now more than twenty demon cultivators gathered there.

However, Wen Yun was not afraid. After a moment of thought, she threw away the Magic Stone in her hand and took out a larger one from her space bag.

Ye Shubai tossed his wooden sword upwards and used the Sword Control Art to quietly fly towards the demon cultivators with Wen Yun.

Magic elements are gathering crazily, the Magic Stones in Wen Yun’s hands are starting to faintly flicker with green light spots, which is a sign of transforming into wood elements.

Wen Yun’s face is as serious as water, she quickly chants spells.

As Ye Shubai’s flying sword flew over the group of magic beings, her magic spell was also completed with a chanting guide, and the Magic Stone in her hand exploded into a dazzling powder —

"Forest Prison!"

The roots of centuries-old trees broke through the ground, resilient vines intertwined and grew towards the group of people in the middle, even delicate grass grew wildly trying to block their steps.

This is the power of advanced wood element magic!

The demon cultivators below were terrified by the sudden outburst of these plants around them, before they could figure out how to respond, they were all trapped by the forest prison!

Wen Yun landed lightly on the ground, looking up at the demon cultivators tightly bound by vines and tree roots.

"The forest prison cannot hold them for too long."

After saying these words lightly, the demon cultivators’ eyes lit up, struggling desperately to escape and cursing with dirty words.

However, Wen Yun’s next words–

"So act faster."

Ye Shubai by her side flew up, like gentle yet fierce white moonlight, where his sword passed, no blood spilled, only a small hole pierced through each person’s heart.

Wen Yun pointed at the young male demon cultivator in the middle, telling Ye Shubai, "Leave that one alive, it’s useful."

In just a blink of an eye, the demon cultivators who broke into the forest became the forest’s nourishment, no more sharp roars in the mountains, as the sunset completely faded, birds chirped returning home, and the wind rustled through the treetops.

Such a beautiful scene, but the luxurious demon cultivator beside them spoiled the mood with his constant complaints.

Wen Yun casually stuffed a Magic Stone into his mouth, and after a moment, the world returned to peace.

Very good.

The demon cultivator was tied up like a rice dumpling by Wen Yun with vines and dragged back to Yimin Village.

Everyone, including A’hua’s grandmother, was shocked when they recognized the frightening demon cultivator. They instinctively took a step back, but then remembered there were immortals protecting them. Gradually feeling at ease, they still kept their distance.

A brave young boy named A’xiu stepped forward and asked, "Immortal Master, is this the demon cultivator who has been hunting us this year?"

Wen Yun sensed the hostility in the boy’s tone and casually took out the Magic Stone from the demon cultivator’s mouth, which immediately provoked angry curses.

"You peasants! You slaves! How dare you harm the great Skywolf Tribe young master. I will feed your flesh to the wolves, use your bones for crafting, and torment your souls for a hundred years…"

"Haha, last month I captured a little girl in this jungle. She belongs to you, right? She refused to bring me to you. Guess what happened to her later…"

Wen Yun quickly used the Magic Stone to silence the demon cultivator and coldly confirmed A’xiu’s earlier question, "It seems like you guessed right."

"Kill him!"

The young boy, breathing heavily, shouted these words in anger.

After a moment of silence, the survivors erupted in angry shouts one after another.

"Kill him!"

Wen Yun raised her hand for silence, and the voices behind her immediately hushed. Even though she had only been there for a day, all the survivors had complete faith in Wen Yun and would not question any of her decisions.

She took Grandma A’hua’s big axe and held it to the demon cultivator’s thumb.

"Tell me, why were you suddenly chasing them? If you don’t speak, I’ll cut it off." The sharp edge of the axe tapped his finger.

However, the demon cultivator sneered disdainfully and hoarsely said, "Do you know what my talent is? It’s not feeling pain! I am the fiercest warrior of the Skywolf Tribe, and no amount of harm can shake my will!"

Wen Yun, unfazed, raised the axe and swung it down.

As expected, just as the demon cultivator had said, he seemed to feel no pain, not even blinking.

This was tricky, can’t force him to confess, huh.

Wen Yun gave back the axe to A’hua’s grandmother, then stood up straight, looking down at the demon cultivator.

Even in this situation, he was still talking about how to torture and kill these survivors.

"You have a strong head, aren’t you afraid of pain?"

A powerful spiritual force, like a towering mountain, mercilessly pressed down on the demon cultivator.

"Is your soul as stubborn as your head?"