They did not dare to fly out openly, preparing to slip away through the mountains and forests first.

But Shi Chun's appearance had already exposed them.

The green-clad figure, whose grin revealed a mouthful of blood, dodged Weiying's attack and suddenly let out a sinister chuckle, "Don't delay, seize them now!"

The laughter echoed through the mountains and fields.

Feng Chi and Laner, who intended to slip away like cats, were suddenly shaken, and without looking, they knew the shout was directed at them.

Wu Jinliang, who turned his head at the sound from within the woods and saw them stop, immediately beckoned again, "Hurry up!"

What a joke, there was no escaping for Laner and the other, not unless they were certain the green-clad figure would be defeated. Otherwise, they'd have to keep running for the rest of their lives.

Almost simultaneously, they sprang out and urgently pursued in the direction of Weikang's escape.

Wu Jinliang understood as well, but he had no such responsibility or obligation. Muttering, "I'm not a disciple of the Demon Path," he turned and ran, deciding to first flee this trouble spot and then take off using Wind Scale to escape far away.

Seeing there were still hidden troops, Weiying panicked and immediately chased after them in his sleeves, determined to annihilate Laner and the other as they dashed above the woods. Even if it was difficult to escape himself, he had to ensure at least one of them could.

The green-clad figure with bloody teeth could not allow him to intervene. With a movement swift like a green-winged bat, he leapt across, intercepting. Despite being wounded, his cultivation protected him fully, and he wasn't gravely injured, maintaining a speed that was still superior.

Desperate to save others, Weiying could not bear to be entangled any longer and went all out to strike directly at the front.

This time, the green-clad figure did not dodge. Seeing his opponent's desperate method, he felt assured to strike back. With a flick of his big sleeve, a sudden oil-green, chilling claw shot out to meet his adversary.

As the two crossed paths in an instant, Weiying caught a glimpse of the color on the opponent's hand and his face paled as he hastily withdrew and rolled away. But his sleeve tore, and his arm still bore three claw marks.

The claw wounds oozed blood and emitted black smoke, with the wound visibly rapidly expanding and disintegrating, causing Weiying to tremble in agony and blurt out in horror, "Demon Path Azure Hand!"

Unable to suppress the spread of the poison with his spells, he actually grabbed his own wounded arm and tore it off.

But cutting off his arm was futile. The green-clad figure with the oil-green claws moved like a phantom, attacking from all sides.

Already missing an arm, Weiying couldn't dare to touch the opponent's oily claws, instantly finding himself overwhelmed and increasingly desperate. More and more injuries inflicted by the oily claws appeared on his body, all emitting black smoke.

Fearing for his life while suffering intense pain.

It was only because his earlier immobilization skill had injured the green-clad man that he was not completely outmatched in strength and cultivation, otherwise, he would have no right to struggle at all.

Before long, Weiying, whose body emitted smoke everywhere, moved slower and slower, his gaze filled with despair occasionally sweeping the distance. Where were the reinforcements?

Later, his body trembled, and he became fixed in place, retracting his gaze from afar to his chest. There, he saw an oil-green hand soaked in blood piercing out from his chest, holding a still-beating heart that melted amidst black smoke in the palm.

The pain in his body was too much for Weiying to feel any specific agony as his consciousness blurred. He kept pondering why the reinforcements still had not arrived.

In the flash of his returning consciousness, the many events occurring before him suddenly became crystal clear in his mind.

They were about to act against the demons on the mountain, and everything had been extremely careful. To avoid suspicion, even the surveillance of them had been relaxed.

Why had they not taken action earlier, or later, but just when he was about to act? Or rather, had they acted first before he could?

Was it a coincidence?

Aside from his father and himself, no one on the mountain knew of the plan to eradicate demons.

He had not proclaimed it all over the Royal Court either, for fear of leaking the news.

At the Royal Court, he had only discussed it with one high-ranking person, Could it be him?

As Weiying thought of that person's repeated admonitions to keep it a secret, his eyes suddenly widened, the more he thought, the more terrified he became. How could it be possible?

If it were true, then the reinforcements would probably never arrive, or rather, the Royal Court might not even be aware of the plan to purge demons from Wukang Mountain.

With this, the abduction of his grandson made sense; it was to lure him out, to kill him—this was a silencing move!

He realized that his son on Wukang Mountain was also in danger.

Because he had told that person that there might be many Demon Path spies on the mountain, and to keep it a secret, only he and his son knew of the plan.

He panicked, his breath suddenly erratic, and then with a tilt of his neck, he went completely still, dying with his eyes open.

His whole body fell from the grip of the green-clad figure, and the body that hit the ground continued to disintegrate.

The green-clad figure landed, shaking his head and clicking his tongue, admitting that his opponent's strength was not weak; he had nearly been defeated by the other party.

Normally, an immobilization charm was perfected at the Fourth Grade, and a Fifth Grade Immobilization Talisman that could immobilize an Earth Immortal Realm was almost the stuff of legends.

Unexpectedly, this old man was able to execute a Fifth Grade immobilization skill, holding such a powerful technique in his hands. If he had not cultivated Demonic Qi to protect his body and break the immobilization charm, he would have definitely been killed by his opponent.

This meant that most experts in the Earth Immortal Realm were no match for this old Dong.

Most importantly, this critical information had not been grasped by the Demon Path's Hidden Guard, who had lain dormant on Wukang Mountain for many years.

He could feel that the people of Wukang Mountain were probably not accustomed to fighting desperately, including Weiying; perhaps it was because they commonly relied on charms and were usually unprovoked.

Before his body was immobilized, if Bian Que had not used his palm but had taken the opportunity to behead him with a sword or knife, he would probably have been beheaded by now.

The instant his body suddenly became immobilized, he didn't react, not expecting the legendary power of the Fifth Grade Immobilization Talisman to appear. His first reaction was to struggle with all his might.

He guessed that Bian Que might not have reacted either. Bian Que should have known that Demon Skill could break the immobilization spell and was probably caught off guard.

Just thinking about it made him shudder with fear.

He removed the Qiankun Bag from the corpse's body, waited for the corpse to completely disintegrate, and then, with a push of his hand like a landslide, buried it without a trace.

Feng Chi eventually found and stopped Bian Weikang, who was fleeing in panic through the distant mountains.

Seeing Feng Chi suddenly blocking his path, Bian Weikang's eyes widened in utter surprise. "Boss lady?" he exclaimed.

When he saw Feng Chi's gaze fixed behind him, he turned around to look and saw the beautiful figure standing on a nearby hill. Wasn't that the woman of his dreams? He gasped in disbelief, "Laner!"

He ran a few steps towards her, then abruptly stopped, staring intently at Xiang Laner, his face full of disbelief.

He was simply trapped by the schemes of the Demon Path and love, not truly foolish. At that moment, he seemed to realize something, his face drained of color; reality was unbearably cruel.

The educational goals his grandfather and father sought to achieve were perfectly met at that moment, but it was too late.

Even if she were a witch, he likely would have fallen for her regardless, had this incident not occurred.

Xiang Laner's face, once tender and affectionate, now showed indifference and ruthlessness, lacking any trace of her previous demeanor when she had called Bian Weikang her lord.

A whooshing sound approached from behind. Bian Weikang's gaze turned ice-cold as he swiftly looked back, only to see Feng Chi's looming figure. Not able to counterattack, he once again fell into unconsciousness…

Feeling that they had flown far enough on the Wind Scale, Shi Chun spotted a small isle in the center of a lake and descended directly onto it with Xia Fuli.

After investigating the small copse of trees on the island and finding no signs of people, feeling temporarily safe, he finally set Xia Fuli down.

He pulled out the repeatedly heated parent and child talismans. It was a message from Wu Jinliang: Chun Tian, where are you?

Shi Chun replied: I ran around wildly, I don't know where I am, you find a place to hide first, wait for me to contact you before coming out, the priority is to save someone now.

He wasn't sure if Wu Jinliang's talisman had fallen into wrong hands, but he knew Wu Jinliang would understand the urgency of saving someone.

Wu Jinliang replied with four words: Understood, waiting for you.

Shi Chun, who had just stored away the talismans, knelt beside Xia Fuli, his face showing concern, "Elder Xia, how do you feel about your injuries?"

Xia Fuli, bloodied at the seven orifices, said with gratitude and weakness: "The old thief Bian Que has spared my life; it's not something you can heal quickly. Contact Xiang Laner, she will arrange for someone to come and heal me. Shi Chun, taking such a risk to save me is extraordinary; I am indebted to you, and you will be richly rewarded in the future."

Shi Chun cared about his injuries, not to save him, but because the other's cultivation was too high, and he wanted to assess if he could make his move.

Seeing the vague response, he felt it was more reliable to check himself and proceeded to carefully examine Xia Fuli's injuries.

After the inspection, he found that the injuries were indeed severe, but the other's high level of cultivation still made him feel uneasy.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Elder Xia, what exactly is your relationship with Elder Yin?"

He had definitely noticed that Yin Huixin's relationship with this person was not simple and wanted to confirm it.

Xia Fuli, taken aback, replied dismissively, "What else can it be? Just the kind of relationship you see on the surface."

Alright then, Shi Chun immediately acted, pressing several points on Xia Fuli's body to immobilize him, and then, under Xia Fuli's astonished gaze, he struck with a palm at his vital spot, causing Xia Fuli to cough out another mouthful of fresh blood.

"What are you doing?" he asked in alarm.

One palm strike was not enough; Shi Chun continued with several precise blows to key areas, aiming to neither kill nor allow any possibility of resistance by thoroughly damaging his opponent's meridians.

Feeling close to death, Xia Fuli became utterly panicked and pleaded, "Yin Huixing is my lover, my lover, and we have been involved with each other for a long time."

"Hisss…" Shi Chun was genuinely surprised, but not too unexpected, and nodded, "I knew it had to be something like that."

Seeing that he seemed to be aware, Xia Fuli became even more suspicious. As Shi Chun's hand pressed toward his lower abdomen again, he weakly and frantically said, "Don't mess around; we can talk."

Without a word, Shi Chun briefly felt the Demonic Qi in his dantian – it was really rich, the Human Immortal Realm was truly on a different level from Sun Shigang, and he became a bit excited. Comfortingly, he said, "Elder Xia, you see, I'm not much for promises of future rewards, so let's settle things right now."

With that, he suddenly activated the Bath Demon Skill, infiltrating the Demonic Qi, and then began to crazily absorb it. The pleasure of absorption was beyond others' imagination.

What kind of sorcery is this? Xia Fuli's eyes widened in terror as he began to talk rapidly, "I know some secrets of the Demon Path, I can be useful alive…"

To prove his value, he blurted out a bunch of stuff that Shi Chun didn't understand.

Shi Chun's knowledge was limited; he had no idea who the names mentioned were, but regardless of who they might be, nothing could stop his continued absorption of the Demonic Qi.

Seeing that his words were futile, Xia Fuli continued by revealing his relationship with Yin Huixing and recounted how the Demon Path brought them together.

Shi Chun listened disdainfully: Your romantic affairs are none of my business, I see no value in them. Plus, you're spineless, not as tough as Sun Shigang, who'd rather die than surrender, while you confess without being forced.

"Bian Weiying is the daughter of Yin Huixing and me…"

When this sentence came out, it did take Shi Chun by surprise, causing him to temporarily stop absorbing, mainly because he had had an affair with Bian Weiying.

But the pause was just that, a brief one. Shi Chun quickly pushed the matter out of his mind; no matter what else Xia Fuli said, nothing could disrupt his ongoing frenzied absorption.

It was simple: by this point, Xia Fuli had seen and known too much; how could Shi Chun dare let him live? Since he was going to die anyway, he might as well contribute something.

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