The head master has a new female apprentice

Chapter 398 How come this old ghost is even more cunning than Second Senior Sister!
Zhou Qing naturally understood the implied meaning.

He was grateful; if the other party hadn't intervened, he would probably still be drifting in the void.

It would be right to offer some compensation, but he was currently short of money.

I cannot give away the ancient tea tree of enlightenment or the incomplete ultimate weapon. The only thing I can offer is a few top-grade wood-attribute spirit stones that I took from the back of the Void-Carrying Tortoise.

It is the rarest of the five elemental spirit stones, and to be honest, there aren't enough of them.

Moreover, the edges of these spirit stones are uneven, and anyone with a discerning eye can tell that they were directly mined from the vein.

If it were taken out, it might arouse the other party's greed and lead to their death.

But it would be unreasonable to give nothing at all.

Zhou Qing rummaged through the storage bag, a look of embarrassment on his face.

In the end, he could only solemnly bow to Li Wusheng and say, "Brother Li, I am truly ashamed. I will never forget your life-saving grace."

"But I'm currently short of money and can't offer a decent gift. If I gain something in the future, I will repay you double."

Li Wusheng's smile froze instantly.

He squinted his cloudy old eyes, a sinister glint flashing across his wrinkled face.

After secretly confirming once again that Zhou Qing only had the cultivation level of the early stage of the Spirit Severing Realm, he had already made up his mind.

A cold laugh escaped from between his teeth.

Li Wusheng's voice suddenly turned cold: "Young friend, you certainly know how to talk. I've been struggling on the edge of the void for so many years, what haven't I seen?"

He slowly approached, his cloudy eyes fixed on Zhou Qing: "You think you can fool me with empty words? Do you really think I'm a three-year-old?"

As he spoke, a faint spiritual pressure emanated from his hunched body, causing the surrounding air to momentarily freeze.

Zhou Qing's expression changed slightly.

This was the first time he had ever seen someone so blatantly asking for favors.

"As fellow rogue cultivators, we both understand that the price we pay to gradually comprehend the Divine Transformation Realm and ultimately sever the Spirit is far beyond what ordinary people can bear."

Li Wusheng said in a sinister tone, "Moreover, you have survived in the void until now. If you say you don't have a few life-saving treasures, I simply don't believe it."

"You're so stingy with the debt of saving my life, fellow Daoist?"

Zhou Qing was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

With a wave of his hand, a top-quality wood-attribute raw stone the size of a human head appeared out of thin air.

This was the smallest piece he managed to grab during the day; the largest was the size of a millstone.

If it were cut open, it could yield at least twenty or thirty ordinary wood-attribute spirit stones.

Consider it a celebration of my newfound life.

"Fellow Daoist Li is absolutely right; it was my oversight," Zhou Qing said calmly.

Li Wusheng's pupils shrank as he stared at the spirit stone floating in front of him.

What shocked him even more was that the raw stone was surrounded by a rich spatial aura.

In other words, it wasn't obtained from beneath the mountains of the ancient spirit tree, but rather from... the void.

This person has managed to survive in the void until now, so he must have something else to rely on.

But is this the only one?

It should be noted that among the five elemental spirit stones, the wood elemental spirit stone is the most precious and rare.

To safely capture the Void Beast, he specifically chose this desolate wasteland, stretching for millions of miles, as his hunting ground.

The person before him was only at the early stage of the Spirit Severing Realm, two minor realms lower than him.
Thinking of this, a fierce glint flashed in Li Wusheng's eyes, and killing intent arose instantly.

Zhou Qing was prepared and, seeing the situation was not good, immediately tried to retrieve the spirit stones and retreat.

Sudden--

"Buzz!"

The dozen or so towering stone pillars around them suddenly lit up with a blinding blood-red light.
The ancient dragon patterns coiled around the pillar seemed to come alive, their eyes shooting out a chilling light that could pierce the soul.

The bronze array patterns on the ground writhed rapidly, instantly transforming into a massive blood-red cage.

This is the "Blood Dragon Locking Heaven Formation" that Li Wusheng spent over a thousand years refining.

Besides trapping and killing powerful enemies, the main purpose of this formation is to deal with the capture of Void Beasts.

After all, opening a void portal is like opening a blind box; no one knows what kind of monster will be pulled out of the void.

Just like five hundred years ago, a void beast of the monkey type that had reached the supreme level was unexpectedly unearthed.

If it weren't for the fact that an escape route had been prepared in advance as a precaution, he would probably have lost his life long ago.

It is precisely because of this caution that he, a rogue cultivator, has been able to survive to this day.

To him, trapping a mere junior at the early stage of the Spirit Severing Realm with this formation was an easy task.

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Li Wusheng grinned maliciously as he activated the formation by making hand seals.

Twelve blood-red dragon shadows roared out from the stone pillar, each containing the full power of a mid-stage Spirit Slaying Realm expert.

Where the dragon's shadow swept past, space twisted violently, emitting a chilling tearing sound.

Zhou Qing's pupils shrank suddenly, and he instantly transformed into the human form of a golden-winged roc, his golden wings flapping rapidly as he tried to break through.

However, this small space was far too cramped to avoid.

Three blood dragons ripped through his defenses, leaving deep, bone-revealing wounds on his body.

Before the blood could even drip, it was greedily devoured by the formation.

Soon, the chanting of the "Subduing Demons Golden Bone" resonated within his body, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Interesting!" Li Wusheng's eyes gleamed with excitement as he licked his chapped lips.

"This supernatural power is truly extraordinary. Why didn't we just give it as a token of our gratitude? Why make such a fuss?"

He made a hand seal, and the dragon patterns on the twelve stone pillars simultaneously lit up with a dazzling blood-red light.

The entire array space began to tremble violently, clearly brewing an even more terrifying killing move.

Zhou Qing's face was gloomy as he stared intently at the other person.

"Don't waste your energy." Li Wusheng sneered. "Things have come to this point, and I will never let the tiger return to the mountain. We, the practitioners of the loose cultivation, never leave any future troubles."

"Blame it on you for valuing material possessions too much. We didn't catch any Void Beasts today, so you'll be the perfect substitute!"

Before the words were finished, twelve blood-red dragon shadows roared out once more.

"I'll kill you when I get out!" Zhou Qing roared, and his body suddenly burst forth with dazzling lightning.

Thirty thousand spirit seals emerged like a galaxy, swirling and dancing around him, illuminating the entire array space.

"Thunder Seal Returns to One!"

With a low shout, the 30,000 spirit seals and lightning merged perfectly, eventually collapsing into a purple-gold lightning spear as thick as an arm.

Destructive arcs of lightning crackled across the gun, distorting even the surrounding space.

Zhou Qing could clearly feel that he was only one step away from the mid-stage of the Spirit Severing Realm.

In fact, his spiritual power had been accumulated enough a hundred years ago, but his artistic conception was not yet perfect.

With the addition of these 30,000 spirit seals, the power of this "Thunder Seal Unity" move is now several times greater than before.

Upon seeing this, Li Wusheng's pupils shrank, and his face instantly turned deathly pale: "A level four array master?!"

He exclaimed in surprise, never expecting that the person in front of him was a formation master of such a high level.

It should be noted that many experts at the Spirit Severing Realm cannot even reach the level of a fourth-level array master, and this person is only 20,000 spirit seals away from becoming a legendary fifth-level array master!
He was immediately overwhelmed with endless regret, feeling like he was turning green with remorse.

If you can befriend such a formation master, how can you not have opportunities?
But now.
Seeing the cold killing intent in Zhou Qing's eyes, Li Wusheng knew there was no room for maneuver.

What's even more terrifying is that if this person escapes, given the connections of a level four array master, any supreme being might attack him just to curry favor.

"He must be killed!" Li Wusheng's eyes flashed with ferocity as he activated the formation with all his might, veins bulging on his forehead.

Just then, Zhou Qing clenched his fist, and the Purple-Gold Thunder Spear suddenly appeared in his hand.

In an instant, his entire head of black hair stood on end, each strand wrapped with fine purple lightning arcs that crackled and whistled in the void.

His eyes had completely transformed into two blinding bolts of lightning, the boundary between the whites of his eyes and his pupils had disappeared, leaving only pure lightning boiling in his eye sockets.

Ancient lightning patterns appeared all over his skin, each line emanating destructive energy.

He was like a thunder god descending to earth, every gesture of his exuding the power of heaven and earth.

At this moment, even every feather on his golden wings was coated with purple lightning, and as his wings unfolded, countless tiny spatial cracks flickered on the edges of his wings.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Li Wusheng felt a chill run down his spine for some reason.

No longer caring about anything, his eyes gleamed with even greater ferocity.

He bit his tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of blood into his palm. As his hands formed a hand seal, the dragon patterns on the twelve stone pillars lit up for the third time.

This time, however, the blood-red light no longer coalesced into a dragon shape, but instead transformed into countless scarlet chains, which came from all directions like venomous snakes!

Zhou Qing's gaze was icy, and the purple-gold lightning spear in his hand hummed and trembled, with the lightning arcs on the spear becoming increasingly violent.

With a flap of his wings, he soared into the sky like a bolt of purple-gold lightning, the purple lightning on his golden feathers colliding violently with the scarlet chains!

"boom!"

Lightning exploded, and dozens of chains were shredded by the lightning's power the moment they made contact.

But more chains, like a persistent, insidious infection, relentlessly coiled around him.

Zhou Qing moved like lightning, weaving through the gaps in the chains.

But these chains seemed endless, and could even twist and track him on their own, completely sealing off the space within ten feet around him in the blink of an eye!

"Hahaha!" Li Wusheng laughed wildly, "My Soul-Locking Formation has even trapped a Void Beast at the Supreme Realm. How can you, a mere early-stage Spirit Severing Realm cultivator, possibly break it?!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Qing suddenly stopped, gripping the Purple-Gold Thunder Spear horizontally, its tip pointing straight at the sky!
"Thunder Seal - Ten Thousand Jun!"

"Rumble--"

Above the sky, thunderclouds suddenly gathered, and countless thick bolts of purple lightning poured down like a waterfall, instantly pouring into the lightning spear!
The lightning on the spear surged, and the lightning spear, which was originally as thick as an arm, now expanded to several meters in size. The terrifying power of the lightning caused the entire array space to begin to collapse!
Li Wusheng's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly made hand seals to reinforce the formation, but it was too late!

Zhou Qing spread his wings furiously, his whole body like a world-destroying thunderbolt, thrusting his spear straight at the core of the formation!

"break!"

"boom--!!!"

The moment the spear tip pierced the core of the formation, the entire Blood Prison Soul-Locking Formation exploded!

More than a dozen stone pillars crumbled inch by inch, and the bronze array patterns on the ground cracked like a spider web, eventually turning into countless fragments that scattered in all directions!
Li Wusheng was thrown hundreds of feet by the aftershock of the explosion, spitting out blood, his eyes filled with horror!
"Impossible...this is impossible!" he roared, as if possessed. "You're only at the early stage of the Spirit Severing Realm, how could you possibly break my Blood Prison Soul Locking Array?!"

Zhou Qing landed slowly, his purple-gold lightning spear pointing diagonally at the ground, the lightning on the spear still lingering. He stared coldly at Li Wusheng, his voice as icy as the depths of hell: "Now, it's your turn."

Li Wusheng trembled, and the madness in his eyes was gradually replaced by fear.

He suddenly knelt down, his forehead slamming heavily against the ground: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, spare my life! It was my fault for not recognizing your greatness!"

"Considering we're both independent cultivators, if you'll spare my life, I'm willing to offer up my life savings, and..."

“I gave you a chance.” Zhou Qing interrupted him, her eyes showing no emotion. “Besides, like you, I don’t like to leave trouble for myself.”

The purple-gold lightning spear transformed into a bolt of lightning, instantly piercing Li Wusheng's brow.

Strangely, the corpse did not fall, but shattered like porcelain, eventually turning into ashes of a burning talisman that drifted away.

"A substitute talisman?" Zhou Qing's pupils contracted slightly, and a strong sense of alarm rose in his heart.

Just as he was about to make a move, a strange tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet.

The once solid wasteland ground rippled like water, and countless fine patterns emerged from the soil, moving across the surface like living things.

These patterns are not ordinary cinnabar carvings, but are made of some kind of translucent gelatinous substance that gleams uncomfortably oily in the sunlight.

"Fellow Daoist, do you think I would perish so easily?" Li Wusheng's voice came from all directions, carrying a chilling echo.

"As a rogue cultivator, without sect or affiliation, with no one to rely on," the voice in the void suddenly turned cold, "why would I act with only one contingency plan?"

Zhou Qing's face was extremely ugly; she seemed even more treacherous than her second senior sister.

Those who can cultivate to the late stage of the Spirit Severing Realm are indeed not simple.

Just as he was about to escape at top speed, he suddenly felt dizzy, and the scenery in front of him began to distort and deform.

He looked down and saw that the strange array patterns were oozing a viscous liquid, and the air was filled with a sweet, fishy smell.

Even more frightening, tiny blisters had appeared on his exposed skin, and the flow of spiritual energy within his body had begun to become sluggish.

"Can you feel it?" Li Wusheng's voice came from near and far. "This is a perfect four-color magic array, and it has been modified by me with the marrow of a thousand-year-old poisonous dragon."

"As a level four array master, to die in this array today is a fitting end to your life!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing suddenly spread his wings, as if trying to soar into the sky.

However, the surrounding space continued to distort and deform, as if we had returned to that void.

No matter how much its wings flapped, it was as if it were struggling in a sticky swamp, unable to find a way out.

The space itself is also locked.

It seems this old fellow has really made good preparations to avoid hunting powerful void beasts.

"Don't waste your energy," Li Wusheng sneered. "This four-colored magic array is a world unto itself; how could you possibly escape it so easily?"

"By the way, you can slowly find the array's core and break it. After all, you've already condensed 30,000 spirit seals. I believe you can do it," Li Wusheng sneered.

Zhou Qing abruptly stopped, his golden wings trembling violently in the poisonous mist.

He endured the burning pain in his meridians and circulated his spiritual power in an attempt to dispel the toxins.

Wherever the spiritual energy passed, the black poison spots receded slightly like a tide, only to rebound with even greater ferocity.

"Hehehe," Li Wusheng's hoarse laughter echoed in the poisonous fog. "It's no use. This 'Spirit-Eating Miasma' devours spirits. The more you circulate your energy to expel the poison, the faster it will corrode you."

Zhou Qing ignored him, his eyes flashing with blood-red light, his pupils suddenly splitting into two blood-red pupils.

Their vision instantly pierced through the layers of poisonous barriers, taking in the flow of spiritual energy throughout the entire formation.

This four-colored magic array is exquisite, with the four primordial forces fitting together seamlessly like gears.

As the four elements rotated, not a single flaw could be found.

Then, they saw Li Wusheng standing on a boulder three miles outside the formation, holding a four-colored array plate in his hand.

"Are you feeling a little exasperated?"

Seeing Zhou Qing's blood-red eyes lock onto him, Li Wusheng was slightly surprised, but then a look of wild joy appeared on his face.

It's obvious that the opponent possesses an extraordinary number of supernatural abilities. If we can kill him, then all of these abilities will be his.

It's true what they say: three years without business, then three years of feasting when business opens!
Then, he proudly waved the array plate in his hand, "Although I am a rogue cultivator, I have my own opportunities. This array came from an ancient ruin, and today I will use it to send you on your way!"

Before the words were finished, the four-colored light on the array plate suddenly surged.

The entire formation seemed to be injected with new vitality, and countless viscous poisonous mists surged toward Zhou Qing from all directions.

These poisonous fogs have an eerie semi-transparent appearance, and the air around them even makes a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

Even more terrifying, countless tiny insect phantoms could be vaguely seen within the poisonous fog, their mouthparts open, frantically devouring the protective spiritual light surrounding Zhou Qing's body.

These are not actual poisonous insects, but rather malevolent energy formed from highly toxic substances, specifically designed to break through a cultivator's protective aura!
At the critical moment, a resolute glint flashed in Zhou Qing's eyes.

He gripped the purple-gold thunder spear tightly with both hands, frantically pouring in the little spiritual power he had left.

The purple-gold lightning on the lightning spear surged, but it was noticeably dimmer than before.

"A desperate struggle!" Li Wusheng grinned and made a hand seal. The four colors of poison transformed into four ferocious dragons, which opened their blood-red mouths and pounced on Zhou Qing.

Just then, Zhou Qing suddenly released the thunder spear and formed an ancient and complex hand seal with his hands.

A bloody crack suddenly appeared in the void behind him, and a huge phantom of a blood phoenix slowly emerged.

"A Hundred Calamities Blood Curtain!"

With this roar, countless blood-red inscriptions suddenly appeared between heaven and earth.

These inscriptions, like living things, wander and intertwine, forming a blood-red canopy that blots out the sky.

The Blood Phoenix has five vividly colored feathers on its chest, each radiating a terrifying pressure that makes one's heart tremble.

"This...this is..." Li Wusheng's sinister smile froze instantly, his voice becoming shrill and piercing, "Inscription? This is an Inscription-level divine ability?! Could you be from the Heavenly Phoenix Palace?!"

The moment this thought crossed Li Wusheng's mind, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

He swallowed hard, a feeling of unease he had never experienced before welling up inside him.

"One palace, two temples, three sects, four clans, and eight great families," he muttered unconsciously, his mind racing through the rankings of the major powers in Nanhuang Prefecture.

At first, the other party claimed to be surnamed Zhou, and he thought he was a member of the Zhou family, which had been in existence for eight generations and was considered to be at the bottom of the Zhou family line.

However, the 30,000 spirit seals that were subsequently displayed, along with the terrifyingly pure purple-gold lightning, made him suspect that it was the true disciple of the Ten Thousand Thunder Sect, one of the three major sects.

And now.
Li Wusheng stared intently at the blood-red phantom that blotted out the sky, his throat tightening.

Such a powerful phoenix-like divine ability, could the person before me actually come from the supreme Heavenly Phoenix Palace?
He wasn't some rogue cultivator at all.
Because it is rumored that the Heavenly Phoenix Palace possesses inscription-level divine abilities, and not just one!
Zhou Qing ignored Li Wusheng's shock, and slowly raised his right hand, his slender index finger pointing at the other party like a sharp sword.

The five dazzling feathers on the Blood Phoenix's chest suddenly fell off, turning into five streams of blood-red light that instantly disappeared into his fingertips.

In an instant, the world became quiet.

That seemingly ordinary finger now appeared to bear the weight of the entire world.

A flash of crimson light appeared at the fingertip, and the surrounding space began to distort and collapse, forming countless tiny spatial vortexes.

Li Wusheng was horrified to discover that the spiritual energy around him was flowing uncontrollably toward that finger, as if even the rules of heaven and earth were making way for it.

"die!"

With that soft shout, a thin line of blood shot out from Zhou Qing's fingertip.

This faint line of blood made Li Wusheng feel an unprecedented threat of death.

His hair stood on end. Ignoring the pain, he frantically formed hand seals without hesitation: "Explode!"

A perfect-grade four-color magic array and an inscription-grade divine power erupt simultaneously!
"boom--!!!"

Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, the entire wasteland seemed to have been slammed down by an invisible giant hand.

The ground collapsed hundreds of feet in an instant, forming a huge sinkhole with a diameter of more than tens of miles.

The violent energy storm tore a terrifying hole a thousand feet in diameter through the clouds in the sky.

It's unclear how much time passed, but as the smoke and dust dissipated, a mangled figure staggered out from the bottom of the pit.

Zhou Qing's appearance at this moment was horrific—his skin was torn in large areas, and his white bones were exposed in many places.

Strangely, there was no bleeding from those wounds; instead, a faint golden light flowed around them.

Behind him, a blurry phantom of a Buddha appeared and disappeared, and amidst the chanting of Sanskrit, his broken bones healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the other end of the pit, Li Wusheng sat slumped amidst the ruins.

Half of his body was charred, and the rest was covered with horrific wounds.

The most shocking thing was the bowl-sized blood hole in his chest—caused by that bloodline that pierced through him.

"Cough cough." Li Wusheng coughed up blood, looking at the Buddha phantom behind Zhou Qing in horror. "You...you're from both temples? Jiyuan Temple or Wuxiang Temple?"

“I am who I am.” Zhou Qing’s voice was terribly hoarse. “None of the families you’re guessing are me.”

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion, and a dull purple-gold lightning spear materialized once more.

Despair finally surfaced in Li Wusheng's eyes.

He suddenly burst into maniacal laughter: "Hahaha, what a fine 'I am who I am'! I have roamed the Southern Phoenix Continent for 3,800 years, but I never thought I would be defeated by a junior like you today!"

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The purple-gold lightning spear transformed into a blinding bolt of lightning, instantly piercing through his withered chest.

Li Wusheng's wrinkled face suddenly froze, his lips still curved in a wild laugh.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at the spear tip protruding from his chest. Purple-gold lightning arcs were raging inside his body, burning away his internal organs.

"Heh heh." A gurgling sound came from his throat, and his cloudy eyes gradually lost their luster.

The phantom of blood-red wings unfolded behind Zhou Qing, enveloping Li Wusheng's corpse.

When the Blood Wings unfolded again, three fist-sized Blood Phoenix Tribulation Crystals floated in the air, emitting an eerie light.

As the experts at the Spirit Severing Realm fell, an overwhelming surge of obsessive emotions erupted.

The surrounding area, spanning thousands of miles, was instantly shrouded in dark clouds, completely obscuring even the sun.

Zhou Qing suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. Feeling dizzy and disoriented, he hurriedly looked inward and discovered that the toxin had invaded his heart meridian.

"What a potent poison!" He gritted his teeth and mobilized the spiritual power and blood energy stored in the Golden Flower of the Four Flowers Gathering at the Top, barely managing to suppress the spread of the poison.

We must find a safe place to detoxify as soon as possible.

This corrosive miasma is extremely vicious; the longer it is delayed, the greater the damage to one's foundation.

He raised his hand to collect the three Blood Phoenix Tribulation Crystals that were floating in the air, and then took Li Wusheng's storage bag into his hand.

Looking at the scene before him, he was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

(End of this chapter)