Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow, not engaging in conversation.

He already harbored the intent to kill Elder Guo; now that his identity as a Soul Cultivator was revealed, he was even less likely to let him go.

Without further ado, Yuan Ming's mind moved, and instantly five soul crows flew out from his Sea of Consciousness, circling above his head.

Seeing this, Elder Guo began to regret pursuing him, especially now knowing that Yuan Ming was a Soul Cultivator.

After all, with his experience as a Core Formation Cultivator, he knew some Soul Cultivators focused so much on cultivating their Divine Soul Power that, while their Magic Power Cultivation and Physical Body might appear weak, their mastery in Soul Cultivation could reach a level capable of killing invisibly.

However, judging by the current situation, his opponent was likely just a Foundation Establishment Soul Cultivator. As long as he was cautious, there should be no danger.

Immediately feeling as if facing a great enemy, he took off a jade pendant from his waist, held it in his palm, and started casting spells on it, while chanting a spell, then suddenly bit his tongue and sprayed Essence Blood onto the jade pendant.

The jade pendant instantly absorbed the blood, then flew up automatically, hovering over Old Guo's head, emitting a dazzling pale blue light.

Struck by this light, Elder Guo felt his Spirit Platform become clear and his Divine Soul purified as an invisible force enveloped his Sea of Consciousness, blocking all external influences.

Yuan Ming, on the other hand, seeing Elder Guo deploying his technique, also focused his gaze, his Sea of Consciousness stirring with Soul Power. The six soul crows immediately spread their wings and lined up from top to bottom.

Following that, their eyes suddenly flashed red, and a surging Soul Power emerged like threads from their bodies, instantly connecting them together in mid-air to form an array pattern.

Just as all the soul crows connected, they opened their mouths to emit crow cries, yet the sound waves didn't come from their mouths but surged from the center of the formation instead.

The black sound wave was several times larger than before, creating the illusion of a sky obscured by black mist.

This was the Soul Crow Formation that Yuan Ming had developed after analyzing the battle formation techniques of the Guiyuan Sect, which could amplify the power of crow cries several times depending on the number of soul crows in the formation.

Yet Elder Guo, protected by the spirit light of the jade pendant, seemed overly confident, even showing a disdainful smile.

"If you were a love witch, I might have feared you somewhat, but alas, you are just an illusion witch. Today you've fallen into my hands!" he said.

Sure enough, as the black sound waves surged like tidal waves and met the pale blue light emitted by the jade pendant, they instantly dispersed.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming panicked, while Elder Guo promptly activated his Magic Treasure, unleashing countless fireballs that completely engulfed both Yuan Ming and Lei Yu.

Elder Guo laughed heartily, letting his guard down, and flew forward to catch the charred corpse of Yuan Ming.

"I didn't expect to find such unexpected joys on this trip out. Although he was just an illusion witch, with this merit, the sect will surely—"

He didn't finish his words when he suddenly felt a pain in his neck, and everything before him vanished, leaving only a hand gripping his head and some light filtering through the fingers.

From the corner of his eye, he could still vaguely see a headless body, wearing clothes he found all too familiar.

Yuan Ming used the Blood Transformation Saber to cut off Elder Guo's head, stowing his body while swiftly grabbing his head to perform a Soul Search before his Divine Soul scattered.

Soon, Elder Guo lost all traces of life, and his Divine Soul dissipated into the Heaven and Earth.

But Yuan Ming, through observing his memories, obtained some of the information he desired.

To his surprise, this Elder Guo was not some nameless Loose Cultivator but a Guest Elder of the Five Thunder Sect.

In his youth, he had been severely injured by a Core Formation Body Cultivator and had barely managed to cling to life by taking refuge in the Five Thunder Sect.

As an outsider, he didn't have much status within the sect and had relied on a young cultivator he called Young Master, eventually following him to Black Wind Desert.

This Young Master, whose name was Yu Hong, was responsible for the business of the Five Thunder Sect's shops in Black Wind Desert. He secretly recruited a troop of Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivators to pose as sand pirates and raid rival shops when they encroached on his business.

This time, Yu Hong targeted Hundred Pills Square partly because they had stolen his business and partly because he had taken a fancy to Yan Sijing, aiming to drive her into a tight spot before taking her as a Furnace Tripod.

Therefore, he had specially brought Elder Guo, disguised, to personally ensure the raid was successful.

The jade pendant he had used was actually a unique Magic Artifact of the Five Thunder Sect, known as "Heart-Clearing Pendant," designed specifically to ward off Soul Cultivator's Illusion Techniques.

Similar artifacts were quite common in the Five Thunder Sect, but Elder Guo was not clear about the specific reasons.

Within the sect, the titles for Soul Cultivators were also different, classified not as ordinary Qi Refinement or Foundation Establishment but as soul witch, illusion witch, and love witch, although Elder Guo didn't know why this differentiation existed.

Yuan Ming stowed Elder Guo's head, thought a moment, but still felt something was amiss.

In Elder Guo's memory, Yu Hong and Hundred Pills Square were not cohorts; they were genuinely there to raid the caravan. But why did Chai Jiujin seem to foresee their arrival as if he had prior knowledge?

At this thought, Yuan Ming immediately shifted his focus to the first soul splitting.

As Chai Jiujin fled, he had also secretly released his first soul splitting, transforming it into an invisible soul crow, closely following Chai Jiujin to uncover the true nature of this escort mission.

However, when Yuan Ming saw the situation through his first soul splitting, he was taken aback.

...

Above the desert, the battle had already been decided.

Chai Jiujin's forehead was sweating as he tightly controlled the Ice Jade Ring that entangled the Purple Lightning Small Sword. Next to him, another Core Formation Elder from the Hundred Pills Square had a slightly somber look as he rapidly tapped his fingers towards the void in front of him.

Following bursts of yellow light, nine earthy yellow Flying Knives materialized, splashing a sky full of knife shadows that directly chopped the Jade Seal away, and then chopped down towards Yu Hong.

By that time, Yu Hong had lost his previously arrogant demeanor. He fled in a wretched manner while roaring with a ferocity that belied his fear, "Do you know who I am? Dare to kill me, and you will definitely—"

The sound of a blade piercing flesh abruptly rang out, and Yu Hong's words were interrupted by his own wails. He could no longer maintain his Mana and screamed as he fell from the sky.

His body, covered in blood, heavily smashed onto the sandy ground, his bones instantly shattered, and fresh blood gushed from his wounds, quickly staining the sand red.

Just then, two cultivators landed with their Magic Artifacts and stood in front of Yu Hong.

The blood blurred Yu Hong's vision; he could no longer see clearly who stood before him but used his last bit of strength to reach out towards the two people.

"Don't... kill me... I am..."

"The scoundrel who killed my uncle!"

Accompanied by a roar, Yan Siyun raised the wooden staff Magic Artifact she was leaning on and stabbed towards Yu Hong's head.

Blood and brain matter splattered out, staining Yan Siyun's long skirt filthy.

Next to her, Yan Sijing still felt unsatisfied. She pulled out her long sword Magic Artifact and chopped at Yu Hong's corpse dozens of times.

The sun set in the west, and the crimson twilight dyed the sky red.

Atop the blood-red sand dune, Yan Siyun and Yan Sijing stood side by side; a gentle breeze came, slowly fluttering their blood-stained skirts as if they were the clouds aflame in the sky or the blooming flowers of the other shore.

Below the dune, other Foundation Establishment cultivators from Hundred Pills Square watched this scene, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.

Chai Jiujin landed from the air, saw this scene, and seemed to want to say something. After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately just let out a long sigh.

And another Core Formation Cultivator stood next to the Yan sisters, looking at Yu Hong's corpse with a profound gaze.

"Big Brother Yan, the person who killed you is dead; now your spirit in heaven can finally rest."

The Yan sisters' parents had died early, and they were raised entirely by their uncle. Later, when establishing the Hundred Pills Square, they received their uncle's full support, with the sisters responsible for management and their uncle for trading.

However, during the last trade caravan raid, their uncle, who was in Core Formation, was killed by Yu Hong. For revenge, the sisters specifically set up this trap.

The crowd stood and mourned for a while; it was Yan Siyun who first wiped her tears and turned around, saying, "Elder Zhen, keep this scoundrel's Storage Bag for now; we must immediately head to the camp. There's another Core Formation there, and those hired Loose Cultivators won't last long."

The Core Formation Cultivator known as Elder Zhen nodded, intending to pick the Storage Bag from Yu Hong's corpse, but suddenly turned his head, looking towards the southwest.

"Someone is coming."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately tensed up, but soon, they saw that the person coming from the southwest was not the Core Formation enemy they had expected, but Yuan Ming riding on Lei Yu.

After discovering through his first soul that Yu Hong was being attacked by cultivators from Hundred Pills Square, he immediately rushed over.

He stood on Lei Yu's back, glanced up and down at Yan Siyun, then shifted his gaze to Yan Sijing and spoke, "Fellow Daoist Yan, aren't you going to explain?"

Just as Yan Sijing was about to speak, Yan Siyun stepped forward and said, "Since Fellow Daoist Yuan has escaped, I presume, the other Core Formation Sand Pirate has already died by your hand."

Yuan Ming sneered, flipped his hand, and threw out Old Guo's headless corpse, "You seem to know a lot about me, Fellow Daoist?"

Chai Jiujin and Elder Zhen were still somewhat skeptical of Yan Siyun's words, but upon seeing Old Guo's corpse, they were suddenly struck dumb, looking as if they had seen a ghost.

Although Yan Sijing had heard from her sister that Yuan Ming could kill a Core Formation across ranks, seeing the solid proof still astonished her immensely.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan jests. I just collect some intelligence, so I knew about your other identity," said Yan Siyun. Suddenly, she transmitted a message to Yuan Ming, her lips barely moving as she said three words: "Nether Moon God."

However, Yuan Ming's expression changed, "Hehe, Fellow Daoist, don't talk nonsense; I'm not carrying that kind of dark blame."

"If Fellow Daoist Yuan says it is not so, then let it be so, but now, you should have the mood to have a proper chat with me, right?" Yan Siyun smiled.

Yuan Ming didn't respond; his gaze fell on Yu Hong's corpse on the sand dune. He suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist, since you claim to have collected quite a bit of intelligence, do you know the true identities of these two Core Formation Sand Pirates?"

Yan Siyun frowned, sensing from Yuan Ming's words a sudden bad premonition, "Please enlighten me, Fellow Daoist."

"Yu Hong of the Five Thunders Pavilion in Purple Thunder City, have you heard of him?" Yuan Ming asked.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.