Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

The hundred-foot-long black and red giant sword, carrying a murderous aura that could annihilate life, crashed down!

The power of this sword strike had already subtly reached the level of a powerful blow from the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Qingyouzi's pupils contracted slightly; even he dared not take the blow head-on.

In a flash, he swayed and cut into the edge of the sword's momentum. With a few deft movements of his hands, a surge of azure magic power flowed out, not to block directly, but to guide and deflect the sword's momentum.

With a buzzing sound.

The direction in which the greatsword was slashing was deflected by three inches.

It was by those three inches that the sword edge grazed Lu Zhou's side and slammed into the ground!

Boom—!

The crimson plain trembled violently, and a deep ravine tens of meters long was cleaved open in the cracked ground, spewing out magma and sending waves of heat soaring into the sky.

Lu Zhou was thrown more than ten feet by the aftershock and crashed heavily to the ground, spitting out blood, but he was lucky to survive.

Qingyouzi didn't even glance at him.

He only had eyes for Xie Ziyu.

Some things, if you want to do them, then do them. When opportunity knocks, if you hesitate because of concerns, where is your Daoist heart? He cultivated for three hundred years and is where he is today because of this decisiveness.

People can wait, but opportunities won't.

Almost at the same time as he deflected the giant sword, countless cyan threads, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, silently wrapped around Xie Ziyu's body.

Puff puff!

The silk thread penetrated the flesh, and a green flame ignited.

No matter how talented Xie Ziyu is, he is ultimately someone who hasn't fully matured. If he hasn't matured, he's not a genius, but an ant that can be crushed at any time.

"Ugh—!"

Xie Ziyu screamed in agony. The blue flames weren't scorching, but they were like a leech, frantically devouring his life force. He could feel his lifespan rapidly slipping away.

Lu Zhou struggled to his feet, and upon seeing who it was, he was both surprised and delighted, and quickly bowed:

"Thank you so much for saving my life, senior!"

His voice trembled, half from hurt and half from fear, afraid that the blue threads might entangle him at any moment.

Xie Ziyu, enduring the excruciating pain, said urgently:

"Senior! You have already helped him twice; the debt of gratitude should have been repaid long ago! Could it be that it is also for the Heavenly Immortal Herb? This junior is willing to help you, Senior..."

He inwardly groaned. He had thought he could kill Lu Zhou quickly, but who knew this boy was so troublesome, dragging it out until a Nascent Soul cultivator intervened. If he could survive, he would definitely tear these two to pieces!

At the same time, a thought flashed through my mind: Could it be that this old man heard me cursing him just now?

He gritted his teeth and brought out his backer:

"Senior! I have already informed my master, he..."

Before she could finish speaking, Qingyouzi's eyes turned cold.

Soul search!

A powerful divine consciousness pierced Xie Ziyu's sea of ​​consciousness like a sharp cone.

"No--!"

Xie Ziyu resisted fiercely. His late-stage Golden Core spiritual sense was among the best of his level, but it was still as fragile as paper before a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Consciousness began to fade.

"No... Master's mission... the sect's plans... the grand undertaking for the future."

"Even if it means death, we must not be exposed!"

A resolute glint flashed in his eyes, and the golden core within his dantian suddenly swelled, as if it wanted to self-destruct!

Qingyouzi snorted coldly, already on guard.

Three cyan silk threads instantly pierced through the lower abdomen, precisely binding the restless golden elixir, and gently twisted it.

The expansion came to an abrupt halt.

Xie Ziyu's face turned pale. Finally, she gritted her teeth and used some kind of secret technique.

The soul, like a candle flame, was extinguished silently.

He was completely lifeless.

Qingyouzi grabbed his storage bag, her face grim.

So close!

This boy was so resolute, preferring to perish completely rather than allow his soul to be searched. The secret technique was so strange that even he couldn't stop it.

Just as I was feeling frustrated, an incomparably powerful aura was rapidly approaching from the distant horizon!

Mid-stage Nascent Soul!

Xie Changyuan has arrived.

Qingyouzi's heart tightened. The same source of magical power, yet even more vast and profound, like a raging sea, made his breathing become heavy.

"Senior, we..." Lu Zhou's voice trembled.

Qingyouzi glanced at him and suddenly smiled.

"Just a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator." He said calmly, "As long as I want to leave, the path is right beneath my feet. No one can stop me, no one can."

Lu Zhou was taken aback.

The first half of that statement was very assertive, but the second half...sounds a bit off?

Before he could think it through, Qingyouzi had already grabbed his arm.

"Walk!"

Almost simultaneously, Xie Changyuan's figure tore through the air and appeared a hundred feet away.

His pupils contracted sharply when he saw Xie Ziyu's body on the ground.

"Tzuyu—!!!"

A roar of grief and rage echoed across the land.

Xie Changyuan suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Qing Youzi:

"Qingyouzi! I demand your life!!!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already transformed into a white rainbow and rushed over, distorting space wherever he passed, his killing intent solidified into a tangible form.

Qingyouzi remained expressionless and gave the other party the middle finger.

Then, his figure swayed.

"Whoosh—!"

A burst of azure light shot out, its speed so great that it left a trail of afterimages in the air.

Xie Changyuan roared and chased after him, his speed surprisingly fast, and the distance between the two was slowly closing.

Above Qingyouzi's head, the azure Wind-Riding Pearl glowed faintly.

The escape speed increased by 30%!

Immediately afterwards, countless threads surged out from his sleeves, intertwining and swirling behind him, transforming into a blue spiral.

Speed ​​increased by another 40%!

"Transform into countless threads!"

Qingyouzi murmured.

Countless threads suddenly dispersed, transforming into hundreds of streams of azure light that shot out in different directions! Each stream of light resembled his true form, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

This was precisely the great divine power of his natal magic weapon: the ability to transform into countless threads, which could both increase speed and create illusions and confusion. After refining the Ancient Azure Demon Flame, the power of this technique increased even further; the azure flames attached to the threads could even simulate seven-tenths of the original aura.

Xie Changyuan paused.

Hundreds of azure rays scattered before his eyes, each seemingly real yet illusory. He swept his divine sense across them, but for a moment he could not pinpoint the true form.

"Damn it—!"

In that short delay, Qingyouzi's true form had already fled dozens of miles away.

Xie Changyuan gritted his teeth and chose the one with the strongest aura to chase after. After chasing for a hundred miles, the azure light suddenly dissipated—it was an illusion.

He roared in fury and turned to give chase, but he had already lost the initiative.

One day later.

At the summit of a solitary peak.

As the blue light fell, Qingyouzi and Lu Zhou's figures appeared.

Lu Zhou's legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, his clothes soaked with cold sweat, panting heavily. Multiple wounds on his body reopened, bleeding profusely, but he was completely unaware of it.

I was terrified.

He really escaped from the clutches of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

Even if it was mainly thanks to Qingyouzi, even if it was just a matter of escaping, they still survived. This experience is something to brag about for a lifetime.

"Oh."

A soft laugh rang out.

Lu Zhou looked up and saw Qing Youzi popping a pill into his mouth with a normal expression, as if his desperate escape just now was just a stroll.

"You're quite interesting." Qing Youzi sized him up. "Xie Ziyu cultivates both body and magic, both to the Golden Core stage. You, with only a mid-stage Golden Core body cultivation, are able to fight him to a standstill..."

He paused, then said meaningfully, "It's not simple."

Lu Zhou broke out in a cold sweat and lowered his head, not daring to respond.

Qingyouzi stopped asking questions and used his magic to lift him up.

"The second level is no longer safe." He looked towards the distant horizon, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Xie Changyuan must be frantically searching right now. I am no match for him for the time being, so it is not advisable to confront him head-on."

He turned to look at Lu Zhou.

"Go to the second core level. There are many people there, and Jiang Taiyuan is guarding it, including the Heavenly Immortal City behind it, so he wouldn't dare to make a move openly."

Lu Zhou nodded quickly:

"I will follow your instructions, senior."

Qingyouzi said no more. With a flick of his sleeve, a blue light rose again, enveloping the two of them as they flew deeper into the secret realm.

Behind them, the crimson plains gradually receded into the distance.