Inside Dugu Feng's fractured body, a small golden figure about an inch tall flashed out and transformed into a streak of golden light, rapidly flying away like lightning. In just a breath's time, it was almost out of the plaza's boundary.

Yuan Ming was about to control the soul crow to obstruct with Crow's Call Wave, but Xi Ying, as if having anticipated this, raised one hand, her palm emanating a white light toward the direction where the golden figure was fleeing.

The Nascent Soul immediately appeared bewildered, standing still on the spot.

Yuan Ming's face revealed a hint of astonishment; observing through the Stealing Heaven Tripod, he finally discerned the subtlety of the situation.

He saw a thin, hair-like transparent thread shooting out from Xi Ying's palm, bridging a nearly hundred-yard distance, with the other end entering Dugu Feng's Nascent Soul.

"So this is how Xi Ying cast her illusion technique," Yuan Ming muttered to himself.

Every time Xi Ying had used her illusion technique before, it had been silent and unnoticeable, he had never been able to detect how she performed it. Now it seemed that she shot out condensed threads of Divine Soul.

Soul threads were more discreet and more concentrated than the dispersed Divine Soul, naturally making her illusions more effective than Yuan Ming's Crow's Call Wave.

However, not every Soul Cultivator could condense their soul into threads; at least Yuan Ming at his current Soul Cultivation Realm could not. Condensing soul into threads required immense control, which surpassed even the love witch's abilities.

A flicker of curiosity crossed Yuan Ming's eyes. To what realm had Xi Ying's Soul Cultivation really advanced?

From within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, it appeared that Xi Ying's Soul Power was at a love witch's level, but her control over Soul Power was astoundingly precise, coupled with the Golden Dragon Scissors Magic Treasure capable of severing the Black and White Dual Swords. Xi Ying's strength was increasingly mystifying. No wonder she was confident enough to hunt down the Six Desires Venerable.

As Yuan Ming contemplated, a beam of black light shot out of Xi Ying's palm, enveloping Dugu Feng's Nascent Soul and penetrating inside.

The originally dazed golden figure immediately tensed, its face expressing pain.

"You are going to perform a Soul Search on Dugu Feng? Be careful of the soul leech inside," warned Yuan Ming upon seeing this.

His Divine Sense spared nothing; inside Dugu Feng's Nascent Soul, a motionless silver bug lay quietly, precisely the Six Desires Venerable's soul leech.

As a silver barrier isolated the soul leech from the Six Desires Venerable, the silver soul leech did not move, appearing to be in a coma as well.

"I know. The soul leech is a part of the Six Desires Venerable, containing its original memories. If I can Soul Search it, it will greatly benefit our subsequent actions," Xi Ying said, releasing a soul thread from her palm that pierced into the body of the soul leech.

The soul thread flared up with transparent flames, making the soul leech tremble. Its body gradually became transparent and was rapidly assimilated by the soul thread.

Xi Ying also touched the memories contained within the soul leech and closed her eyes to begin reading them.

At that moment, the soul leech suddenly raised its head, twining around the soul thread.

The next moment, half of the soul leech's body vanished, merging into the soul thread and infiltrating back.

Yuan Ming's expression turned solemn. He stirred his Soul Power, ready to assist at any moment.

However, a flash of golden light passed through Xi Ying's brow, turning the fire on the soul thread gold. It instantly burnt the parasitic force of the soul leech and continued reading its memories.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming dissipated his Soul Power, his face displaying even greater exhaustion.

Having stimulated the Soul Destroying Sword on top of his wounded Divine Soul, he had exacerbated his injuries. Having kept up in the intense battle till now, he was nearly at his limit.

But at that moment, the remaining half of the soul leech suddenly split open, with a pitch-black eye emerging, staring at Xi Ying.

The black eye was profoundly deep, bottomless, seemingly leading to the Nine Nether Abyss.

"Nili Divine Eye!" Xi Ying shuddered, opening her eyes, and was about to break off the soul thread.

A streak of black light shot out from the pitch-black eye before her, merging into the soul thread, and infiltrated rapidly.

Instantly, a speck of black appeared on Xi Ying's brow, rapidly spreading. Her whole body seemed as if hit by an immobilization spell, unable to move, the only activity being the shock in her eyes.

Witnessing this scene, Yuan Ming was shocked, and, disregarding his fatigue, he stirred considerable Soul Power down to block the bizarre black light from advancing, attempting to stop its erosion.

However, the black light split off a strand, entering Yuan Ming's Divine Sense.

The black light's might could, following his Divine Sense, infiltrate into the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space.

Startled, Yuan Ming felt his body turn weak and numb, his consciousness also slightly delayed.

"What power is this!" he suppressed his mind, quickly utilizing the hot flow inside the Stealing Heaven Tripod to block this force.

The black light's force was similar to Soul Power, and seemed to have the same origin as the Desire Power hot flow. Since only a strand of black light had entered Yuan Ming's body, the Desire Power hot flow quickly countered it.

Yuan Ming was able to handle it here, but the situation on Xi Ying's side was looking grim.

At this point, most of her face had turned black, a hint of ferocity appearing in her expression.

Sweat appeared on Yuan Ming's forehead. Clenching his teeth, he grabbed the Soul Destroying Sword, once again activating the Curse Rune on it.

By this point, he could no longer afford to care about so much.

A massive curse descended, striking the soul leech.

The soul leech let out a shrill scream, its body suddenly expanded tenfold and burst with a loud "bang," dissipating into smoke and clouds.

The Divine Soul of Dugu Feng was closely connected to the soul leech. As the soul leech was destroyed, Dugu Feng's Divine Soul also shattered and scattered apart.

With the disappearance of the soul leech, the eerie black light also vanished. Xi Ying's forehead emitted a dazzling golden light, like a rising sun, quickly cleansing the blackness from her forehead.

"The Nili Divine Eye is indeed formidable, truly worthy of being one of the Great Divine Powers of the Wu Yue God. I really was careless this time; I didn't expect the Six Desires Venerable to have been granted this Divine Power," Xi Ying expressed her relief at having survived, thinking to herself that had it been a moment or two slower, she might have been in trouble.

Xi Ying quickly calmed her mind and tried to communicate with Yuan Ming to inquire about the situation there.

Although Xi Ying had been immobilized by the Nili Divine Light, her five senses were still intact, and she witnessed the collapse of the soul leech.

However, no matter how she called, there was no response from Yuan Ming.

"What's happening? Could it be that the backlash from the Soul Destroying Sword is too strong, causing him to fall into a coma?" Xi Ying's brows furrowed.

She and Yuan Ming could communicate at any time. During their previous discussion of future plans, they had already learned about the existence of the Soul Destroying Sword and its significant backlash against the Divine Soul.

"The master's Divine Soul Aura is incredibly weak now, like a candle in the wind, likely to extinguish at any moment. If you have a way, go and see him quickly," Vajra said as he walked over, clutching his chest.

Although there was a huge wound on his chest, it seemed to be of no serious concern; the bleeding had stopped, and it was even beginning to heal.

Xi Ying's expression darkened as she collected Dugu Feng's body and Nascent Soul, along with the broken Black and White Dual Swords, and suddenly looked towards Yan Sijing in the distance.

At that moment, Yan Sijing's face showed shock. The battle between Xi Ying and Dugu Feng had far exceeded her imagination. Either of them could crush her into dust with a mere gesture.

However, being able to personally experience such a high-level battle filled Yan Sijing with both fear and excitement. If she could contemplate quietly in time, it would greatly benefit her cultivation and strength.

When Xi Ying looked over, Yan Sijing was about to speak, but suddenly, her Divine Soul "buzzed," and her consciousness plunged into endless darkness.

Xi Ying beckoned with her hand, and a Storage Ring flew out from the prominent peaks of Yan Sijing, tainted with a hint of maidenly fragrance.

"Hmph!" Xi Ying's gaze turned slightly cold as she imbued her Divine Sense into the Storage Ring, quickly pulling out a green incense burner, precisely the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

She activated her Divine Sense, trying to infiltrate the interior of the Stealing Heaven Tripod, but was blocked by an indestructible force, unable to penetrate even slightly.

"This is bad! The Stealing Heaven Tripod has already recognized Yuan Ming as its master; besides him, no one else can enter," Xi Ying thought to herself, her brow furrowing tightly.

Unable to enter the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, how could she check on Yuan Ming's condition? Given Yuan Ming's unknown life or death status, if she couldn't intervene in time, the consequences might not be optimistic.

Critically, he had fallen into this state entirely for her sake.

Whether it was previously agreeing to assist her against the Six Desires or helping her this time regardless of his own Divine Soul damage, it was all based on his trust in her, and now she felt helpless.

As Xi Ying was frantic with anxiety, a point of golden light shone on the Stealing Heaven Tripod, and a force emerged from the tripod, enveloping her body.

Xi Ying only saw a blur before her eyes, and the next moment she appeared inside the Stealing Heaven Tripod.

'This place... is it the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space?' she wondered, taking a quick look around before swiftly flying up to the platform.

Yuan Ming was lying next to the White Jade Lotus Platform on the ground, barely keeping his eyes open, his face devoid of any color, and an intense aura of decay hovered between his brows.

He had just sensed Xi Ying trying to enter this place and, mustering the last bit of his Mana, had summoned Xi Ying in.

'Yuan Ming, how are you now?' Xi Ying squatted down, eyes filled with anxiety."It's nothing serious, the backlash from the Soul Destroying Sword is too strong. I used three Curse Runes consecutively, and my Divine Soul has suffered severe damage. I need to enter deep sleep immediately to recover, and I can no longer assist you against the Six Desires Venerable. You can use any of my Magic Treasures. With this force of Mana, you will be able to leave the Stealing Heaven Tripod Space..." Yuan Ming said weakly, slightly raising his arm as a ball of blue Mana flew from his fingertips.

After saying those words, he could no longer maintain consciousness and collapsed into a coma.

Xi Ying ignored that force of Mana, activating her Divine Sense to inspect Yuan Ming's Divine Soul. Her pretty face changed.

Yuan Ming's Divine Soul wasn't just severely damaged but was on the verge of collapse. His Divine Soul was torn and shattered, barely held together in some places, and likely to completely break apart with any slight disturbance.

'Yuan Ming only mentioned that the backlash from the Soul Destroying Sword was terrible, but I didn't realize it was to this extent. He had already used it twice earlier, and still, to save me, he pushed himself to use it a third time...' Xi Ying lowered her eyelids, thoughts flashing through her mind.

She remained silent, then looked at Yuan Ming's bloodless face, her eyes turning resolute.

Xi Ying helped Yuan Ming to sit up in a seated position, and she also sat down in front of him, close enough to clearly feel each other's breathing.

A blush crossed Xi Ying's face, but she soon regained her composure, lowered her head slightly, and pressed her snow-white forehead against Yuan Ming's.

A massive Soul Power shot from Xi Ying's forehead, dispersing into countless fine threads, delicately entering Yuan Ming's Sea of Consciousness.

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