boom--

With a resounding fingertip, the incoming ground spikes were completely destroyed and shattered, and countless phantom sticks were gathered into one, then dispersed by the power of the elixir.

The ground within a ten-meter radius sank, and numerous pieces of gravel and debris were scattered everywhere.

A surge of blood energy gathered in the girl's palm, and several blood-red patterns bloomed on her black robe as she stepped forward to attack.

The ground shattered into large spiderweb-like cracks. One second it was dozens of meters away, and the next instant the blood-red light from the palm struck a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The enemy's protective aura blocked her palm strike, and she quickly swung her stick to strike again.

Xi Heng spun around to dodge a chopping blow, but the next strike came immediately.

With a flick of her wrist, she used her powerful internal energy to block the impact of the stick.

The collision produced a loud bang, knocking the other party back by the slightest distance.

The incantation emanating from the side suddenly softened the ground, causing a large amount of mud to rise and swirl around.

The girl clicked her tongue, glanced at another Foundation Establishment cultivator behind her who was still casting spells, and casually slapped away a few Blood Surge spells.

First, let the reaction force push you away from the muddy swamp, then lightly slice with your fingertips to shatter the mud that comes at you like tentacles.

The burly cultivator wielding the purple staff recovered his balance, then struck again with the staff, but missed the first strike and pressed down once more.

When the stick hit the ground, an inexplicable gravitational force caused Xi Heng to lose his balance.

The girl used the force of the shockwave to regain her balance.

"As expected, it's still a bit troublesome."

During the Grand Alliance Competition back then, she was able to take on several Qi Refining Perfection cultivators all by herself.

However, today I encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator with truly excellent teamwork, and without using swordsmanship, it will be difficult to break through in a short period of time.

If these two can restrain themselves and allow the Qi Refining cultivators behind them to run far enough away, the crisis can be averted.

What she had to do was to quickly end the battle.

Xi Heng's crimson eyes flashed, and his right hand slashed fiercely across the inside of his left arm like a claw.

His own blood stained his fingertips, forming sharp, demonic claws.

She then used her fingers as swords to fiercely slash her blood claws, drawing ink marks of blood wave sword techniques in the air.

The ink streak flashed across the enemy, covering their entire body.

A cracking sound rang out, indicating that the aura shield was about to break.

The five fingers then follow up with a sword-like strike, stopping the enemy's attack while also inflicting significant damage.

"Locks!"

Just as her next move was aimed at the enemy's neck and about to strike, the earth suddenly shook.

A crack suddenly appeared around her, and golden light immediately emanated from it, trapping her within the radiance like a cage.

Xi Heng unleashed another sword strike with his fingertips, but the golden light before him was clearly incredibly hard, and he could only create cracks in it for a short time, unable to break through it directly.

The two people outside the cage stopped attacking, realizing they were outmatched, and began to retreat.

Seeing this, Xi Heng did not hold back any longer. He released black resentful fire from between his five fingers, and with its powerful corrosive force, quickly burned a large hole in the blockage in front of him.

The enemy was taken aback by what they saw and accelerated their escape.

However, before they could even begin, dozens of sword marks appeared out of thin air around them.

During the entanglement with the enemy, Xi Heng had already fully expanded his sword heart.

The area within several hundred meters is now under the control of the Sword Heart Domain.

The Resentful Fire and Sword Heart Domain are her signature techniques in her normal state, which ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators simply cannot withstand—and these two in front of her are no exception.

"The Heart Sword manifests?" The cultivator wielding the staff gritted his teeth, recognizing, "You are..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xi Heng unleashed another sword strike towards his throat, cutting him off.

"Did you recognize me?"

She shook her head: "But it doesn't matter whether you recognize me or not. In any case, you don't need to continue living."

The flames of resentment were pushed out by the palm and sent towards the two people who were firmly bound by sword energy.

The opponent, naturally unwilling to sit idly by and await death, still tried to break free from the sword aura or unleash spells to try and stop the crimson flames that posed a considerable threat.

However, even if you break through with sword energy at the cost of injury, there is still another sword energy waiting.

The flames of resentment, however, possess the power to penetrate all things and are difficult to stop.

A few seconds later, the two streams of resentful fire completely engulfed the enemy.

Their minds could not withstand the influence of the resentment, and they soon collapsed one after another due to mental disorder.

Xi Heng placed a portion of the resentful flames within the minds of these two individuals, attempting to train them into resentful flame puppets.

Having given up, he immediately chased after the five Qi Refining cultivators who were fleeing in the distance.

……

The speed of Qi Refining cultivators is much slower than that of Foundation Establishment cultivators, and because there are injured among them, it is difficult for them to escape at full speed.

Along the way, some even suggested splitting up, but their hesitation slowed them down.

In the end, Xi Heng easily caught up with these Qi Refining cultivators and defeated them with just a few simple palm strikes.

She did not kill them one by one, but instead sent a wisp of resentment into their hearts, thereby bringing their minds and bodies under her control.

"Qi cultivators are easy to control, but it only takes a few seconds to completely envelop their minds," Xi Heng muttered to himself.

"But... I don't know where to put these vengeful fire golems."

Her resentment must not be exposed, otherwise she could send these people directly to the Netherworld Gate.

Besides the Netherworld Gate, he had no other secret bases.

"Hmm... The resentment fire hasn't consumed their minds yet, so let's send them back to the Seven Sect Alliance."

"If handled properly, it should be able to serve as an informant."

The girl snapped her fingers, and the eyes of the several Qi Refining cultivators in front of her, which had been filled with lifelessness, regained some luster, though they were still hazy.

She did not use the resentful flames to devour the memories and consciousness of these Qi Refining cultivators; she only modified the scene involving the resentful flames at the last moment.

When they wake up, they will report the situation truthfully to their superiors, ignoring the resentment.

For Foundation Establishment cultivators who are more difficult to control, it is necessary to absorb some of their memories.

After silently confirming the matter, Xi Heng picked up the fake pill-making technique scroll that the so-called Qi Refining cultivator was holding and began to look through it.

After a while, she muttered to herself:

"This method seems to be somewhat flawed?"

When she first opened it, the theories and techniques described were fairly well-organized and continuous, and many of the theories struck her as quite novel.

However, when one skimmed through the middle section, many breaks and errors appeared in the manual.

The text between pages is inconsistent, and there are always gaps in the explanations of the process.

Even the materials needed to condense the fake pill are only half left—although the properties of the other half of the medicine can be barely deduced based on the theory of medicinal properties, it is still much more troublesome.

If one were to directly cultivate a fake elixir using this incomplete technique, the result would inevitably be qi deviation and demonic possession.

Unless... someone can use this manual as a foundation, expend countless lives, and forcibly create a viable path to Core Formation.

Only she could have come up with such a dangerous and resolute solution.

"At least it's still somewhat useful," Xi Heng muttered to himself.

……

Volume 1: Chapter 212, The Serpent's Metamorphosis

Outside the Seven Alliance, in a courtyard near a residential area.

Behind the white walls of the courtyard is a pond with flowing water, surrounded by many shrubs and rosewood trees that still have yellow leaves even in the depths of winter.

Sunlight streamed down from above, casting the shadows of the leaves onto the clear water, while the surrounding white stones shimmered in the sunlight.

A woman in a yellow dress stood on a rock, letting the cold winter wind blow her thin skirt and her half-tied long hair. Her blood-stained left arm held a bamboo flute and played a long, drawn-out sound, creating a large amount of purple light in front of her.

The purple light either transformed into threads or turned into needles and sword energy to slash.

Just now, upon seeing the Dharma Protector's attire beneath Xi Heng's black robe, this person immediately stopped arguing and attacked with all his might.

Not only did it unleash purple light to transform into various offensive attacks, but it also gradually caused various inexplicable illusions to take over the true appearance of Xi Heng's surroundings.

The clear pool water has turned into a deep purple poisonous water that is clearly highly corrosive and constantly bubbling.

The stones were covered with black moss, from which various insects and fungi bred, giving rise to many buzzing, fly-like insects that flew swiftly in to the sound of the flute.

However, while the opponent was stalling for time to prepare their spells, Xi Heng had already covered the surrounding two hundred meters with his Sword Heart Domain.

The incoming purple light was cut off and wiped out by numerous sword energies that appeared out of nowhere before it even reached halfway.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, not only did her physical strength increase, but her mental and spiritual abilities also improved.

The most obvious of these is the range of sword heart and divine sense, and the depth of their influence on reality.

Now, emitting sword energy from the mind is much smoother than before.

Xi Heng had unleashed dozens of sword energies in succession and needed to rest for a while.

Now, it is not difficult to create a hundred sword energies at the same time.

Before him, the incoming purple light shattered continuously under the sword energy, as dazzling as festive fireworks.

An attack pierced through the sword energy, but Xi Heng easily dodged it by turning to the side.

The girl gripped the sword with both hands, ignoring the black insects flying around her and the monsters that had sprung from the seemingly poisonous purple pond, baring their fangs and claws as they lunged at her—these were all just illusions.

Illusion can deceive the eyes and blur physical sensations and consciousness with the sound of the flute.

But under the sword's heart, no illusion can hide.

Xi Heng pointed the tip of his sword at the enemy in front of him, unleashing his aura and force to shatter the surrounding illusions. He swiftly moved forward, unaffected, and rushed toward the woman in yellow on the rock.

The speed and rhythm of the bamboo flute played by the other party became more and more urgent, and more and more purple light and sound condensed behind him into the shape of a giant who held a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other, and was five or six meters tall.

As the illusionary magic adhered to its surface, the giant's appearance became increasingly realistic, revealing a ferocious body like a demonic beast, covered in rough, large scales, and exuding unparalleled power.

Hammer and axe clashed, and the thunderous sound echoed in their ears.

Several bolts of purple lightning crashed down, causing Xi Heng to instinctively dodge half a step.

After the giant axe and hammer clashed, they crashed down again, and she continued to dodge with a click of her tongue.

She could discern from her sword intent that the purple lightning strike just now was merely an illusion. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to unleash such a powerful spell, they would need at least the assistance of a magic array or talisman, and to accumulate power for a considerable period of time.

But the lightning flash was too fast; before Xi Heng could even make sense of it, his body had already subconsciously made a yielding motion.

The subsequent image of the giant smashing the axe was not entirely an illusion, but rather formed from purple spiritual light.

The enemy's attacks are constantly changing, and dodging them all would consume too much spiritual energy and increase the difficulty of getting close.

Xi Heng then decided not to pay attention to the enemy's next attack, whether it was a feint or a real attack.

His only plan was to unleash his full power with a spirit of self-sacrifice and charge straight at the enemy, deciding the outcome in a short moment.

The battle has been going on for half a minute; a swift resolution is needed.

The girl's mind raced, and her figure flashed past the giant axe that the phantom giant was throwing. Then, she shattered the white stone ground, and her spiritual power, along with the internal energy of her body, burst forth. She transformed into a black shadow in an instant, passing through layers of illusions, and thrust her sharp blade straight at the yellow-clad woman playing the flute.

Lightning rapidly gathered and slammed down again.

Xi Heng ignored it, letting the lightning cover him without getting hurt.

Only the azure-blue spirit pattern between his brows, used to ward off illusions, had dimmed somewhat.

When faced with the illusions of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, one cannot simply ignore them and pretend they don't exist to break them.

Illusion affects not only the eyes, but also other senses, including touch and pain.

Just like in dreams, there are many physical sensations, some of which may even feel more real than in reality.

If one believes that one is indeed injured because of these feelings, one's mind will be lured into a more intense hallucination by illusion.

For example, if you are struck by lightning while in a hallucination, you will initially only experience a weak sense of numbness.

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