Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

Feiyun Pavilion.

Yan Ruyan hovered in mid-air, holding up a majestic pagoda phantom in her hand, which was the Qiankun Pagoda.

As expected of a treasure left behind by a Nascent Soul cultivator, the Qiankun Tower Talisman is incredibly powerful. As soon as it was summoned, it easily broke the attack of the Xuan Yuan Heavy Water formed by the array controlled by the eight Iron Guards.

Then, ignoring the array's restrictions, it continued to grow larger, transforming into a hundred-zhang-tall giant tower. Under Yan Ruyan's command, with a gentle smash, it crushed the eight iron guards along with the three arrays into dust.

However, Yan Ruyan felt no joy at all at this moment, because just now, she suddenly discovered that her magical power was inexplicably starting to leak away.

She initially thought it was because of her control over the Qiankun Tower, but after careful sensing, she realized that although the Qiankun Tower consumed a great deal of her spiritual power, at least this spiritual power was traceable. However, the spiritual power that was inexplicably lost disappeared without any warning, as if her body had become an hourglass.

Moreover, this rate of loss is accelerating. In the short time she was distracted, she had already lost more than 20% of her mana. Coupled with the enormous consumption of manipulating the Qiankun Tower, her total mana was now probably less than 30%.

What's wrong with me?

Yan Ruyan was shocked. At this rate of consumption, her magic power would be completely depleted in a few moments. At that time, she would not be able to control the Qiankun Tower, let alone fly away using the artifact.

"receive!"

Yan Ruyan pointed a finger at the air, and the Qiankun Tower slowly shrank back into a talisman, which she then put back into her storage bag.

I sensed the amount of magic power in my body, and it was about 20% left. However, the situation of magic power loss had not improved at all.

Yan Ruyan's face was grim. She was now certain that someone had tampered with her, and the one who could do such a thing was undoubtedly the mastermind behind it all.

Yan Ruyan looked around and subconsciously wanted to escape, but then she realized that since the mastermind had set up such an intricate trap, how could he not be prepared for her to escape?

Gritting her teeth, Yan Ruyan said loudly, "May I ask which fellow Daoist has come before me? I, Ruyan, have not offended anyone. Why would you go to such lengths to scheme against me? Do you dare to show yourself?"

Yan Ruyan's question carried far away, but there was no immediate response. Just when Yan Ruyan thought the other party would not answer her, a slight sound came from behind her, followed by a calm laugh.

"Hehe, Miss Yan, please forgive me. It's not that I'm unwilling to show myself, but the difference in cultivation between us is too great. I'm afraid that in your anger, you might just kill me. So, I have no choice but to resort to some tricks."

Yan Ruyan turned around and saw a young man dressed in the uniform of their Yan Family Fortress Iron Guard walking slowly towards her.

"I originally planned to wait until your magic power was completely depleted before reappearing, but the commotion caused by the Qiankun Tower was quite significant. Although I set up an additional array outside, just in case, it's best to resolve this sooner rather than later!"

"Eighth level of Qi Refining!?"

Yan Ruyan looked at the other person in disbelief. She had considered that this person's cultivation level might not be high, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to exhaust her. But Qi Refining Level 8...

"Who exactly are you?"

Lin Zui chuckled.

"Don't rush, I will properly introduce myself to Miss Yan in the future, but for now... please get some sleep first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, "talisman armor" appeared around Lin Zui, and with a flash of spiritual light in his hand, a long whip formed from a water dragon talisman was lashed out at Yan Ruyan.

"court death!"

Yan Ruyan gasped inwardly, never expecting that this guy at the eighth level of Qi Refining would dare to attack her.

Although her magical power was almost gone, the gap between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining was like an insurmountable chasm, and it was not so easy to bridge.

He summoned the Purple Cloud Banner again, and a fire dragon flew out, easily severing the long whip formed by the Water Dragon Talisman. Then, it charged towards the opponent with great momentum.

However, the moment the fire dragon rushed into the opponent's side, the entire fire dragon froze, its flames as if doused with a bucket of cold water, leaving it on the verge of death.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, countless golden threads surged from Lin Zui's side, binding the fire dragon in the blink of an eye. Then, Lin Zui lunged forward, his gauntlets shimmering with water, and threw a punch at the fire dragon.

Yan Ruyan stared blankly at the handsome young man who, with a ferocity she had never seen before, forcefully shattered the fire dragon she had summoned. Before she could launch another attack, he had already reached her.

Yan Ruyan retreated rapidly, constantly unleashing various spells and supernatural powers to attack her opponent. However, no matter what kind of attack it was, as soon as it reached that person, its power was greatly reduced, and it would be blocked by the flying talismans around him.

After more than ten attacks, Yan Ruyan had almost no magic power left in her body, and even her breathing became heavy, with fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead.

Lin Zui could see that his opponent was already at her limit, so he attacked with his water sword even more fiercely. After Yan Ruyan blocked several times, she finally couldn't dodge in time and was hit hard by the water sword.

The protective light shield shattered instantly, and Yan Ruyan coughed up blood, flying backward violently.

Lin Zui was overjoyed and quickly chased after her. However, just as he approached Yan Ruyan and was about to touch her body, Yan Ruyan, who seemed to have fainted, suddenly opened her eyes. A nearly transparent sword light shot out from between her eyebrows and struck Lin Zui's heart with lightning speed.

"not good!"

Lin Zui knew he was in trouble, but it was too late to dodge. Although the Primordial Divine Light had weakened the power of the sword light, the "talisman armor" that Lin Zui needed to control was no longer able to block it.

"Ding!"

A clang of metal clashing rang out, and Lin Zui groaned as he was sent flying.

Just as a hint of joy appeared on Yan Ruyan's face, Lin Zui waved his hand in mid-air, and several talismans flew towards her.

Divine Suppression Talisman, Immobilization Talisman, Spirit Locking Talisman, Puppet Talisman.

Yan Ruyan tried to dodge, but having exhausted her magic power, she had no strength left and could only watch helplessly as the talisman stuck to her body, and then she lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Lin Zui fell from mid-air, coughed heavily a few times, felt a tightness in his chest, but inwardly felt incredibly lucky.

He looked at his chest and saw blood seeping out. Fortunately, the wound was not deep. The reason for this was that after studying the spiritual runes that Xin Ruyin had reorganized for him over the past few months, he had built defensive formations in several vital areas of his body.

The sword light that just pierced Lin Zui's heart only managed to pierce his skin and not kill him, precisely because of the defensive formation.

"I almost lost my life because I got a little carried away. I really need to take this as a warning for the future."

After silently reminding himself, Lin Zui approached Yan Ruyan and, after confirming that she had indeed been subdued, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, a streak of light flew in from the western horizon. Before the person even arrived, their immense divine sense had already locked onto Lin Zui and Yan Ruyan. It was none other than Yan Yan, the patriarch of the Yan family.

Seeing this, Lin Zui revealed a mocking smile, took out a Shrinking Earth Talisman, picked up Yan Ruyan's delicate body, and shouted loudly to Yan Yan who was rushing over:

"Lord Yan, I'm taking Miss Ruyan with me. I'll take good care of her from now on, so you don't need to worry about her. Hahahaha."

"Youngster, put down Yan'er, or I will grind you to dust!"

Yan Yan's eyes were bloodshot. Seeing that the unknown talisman in the other party's hand had been activated, he was so anxious that he could no longer care about anything else. He slashed out with his sword, directly slashing at Lin Zui.

However, the sword light was blocked by a light array when it reached mid-air. Although it only blocked it for a few breaths, it was enough.

The light from the Shrinking Earth Talisman quickly enveloped the two of them, directly severing Yan Yan's divine sense lock. Yan Yan was helpless and could only watch as the two disappeared without a trace before his eyes.