Translator: CinderTL
The Violet-Gold Thunder descended with earth-shattering force.
Yuan Luo hastily channeled his spiritual power, pouring it into the ghost banner like a raging torrent.
The banner rapidly expanded, transforming into a colossal, hundred-mile-long banner that stretched across the sky. Ghost Qi surged from its surface, undulating like a stormy sea.
The thunder struck the banner.
The Ghost Qi on the banner rapidly dissipated, and the banner trembled violently, as if on the verge of tearing apart.
While continuing to channel his spiritual power to reinforce the banner, Yuan Luo pressed on toward the underground cave.
"Fellow Daoist, halt!"
A figure suddenly appeared atop a distant mountain peak, tens of miles ahead.
It was Song Wen, a ten-foot-long spear hovering above his head.
The spear's tip glowed with a lethal aura, and it shot forth with lightning speed, hurtling toward Yuan Luo.
Yuan Luo abruptly halted his escape light and waved his hand. A clear gray bell materialized in mid-air, intercepting the spear.
A clang of metal against metal rang out.
The spear pierced the bell, sending it flying backward.
The bell was merely a Pseudo-Spirit Treasure, its defensive capabilities far inferior to Yuan Luo's natal mystic treasure, the ghost banner.
The great bell had momentarily blunted the spear's momentum, but under Song Wen's urging, it swiftly regrouped, its razor-sharp edge reappearing as it continued its relentless assault on Yuan Luo.
"May I ask, fellow daoist, what divine being you are and why you attack me? If I have offended you in any way, I implore you to show mercy. I will surely..."
Yuan Luo's words were cut short.
The spear was now mere inches from his face.
He had no time for further words. Summoning every ounce of Ghost Qi within him, he hastily erected a thick protective shield of Ghost Qi before him.
The moment the shield materialized, Yuan Luo staggered, spewing a mouthful of crimson blood.
The Great Azure Divine Thunder had pierced through the Ghost Qi shrouding the ghost banner, striking its surface.
Though the banner remained intact, it now bore scorched marks from the thunder's impact.
The ghost banner shrank back to its original size, drifting weakly toward Yuan Luo.
A cultivator's natal mystic treasure is intimately connected to their mind and spirit.
The damage to the ghost banner reverberated through Yuan Luo's being, inflicting severe injuries on his mind, spirit, and internal organs.
His mental turmoil weakened his control over the Ghost Qi shield, causing the protective barrier to flicker and show signs of imminent collapse.
At that very moment, the sun-chasing spear struck.
The Ghost Qi protective shield, already showing signs of collapse, stood no chance against the attack from the low-grade spirit treasure.
The instant the spear's glowing tip pierced the shield, it shattered into a dense cloud of Ghost Qi that dispersed into the air.
The sun-chasing spear tore through the lingering Ghost Qi, aiming straight for Yuan Luo's head.
Yuan Luo's expression turned to terror. He had already exhausted all his methods, yet his opponent, though slightly lower in cultivation, possessed not only lightning-based spells that countered him perfectly but also a low-grade spirit treasure for offensive purposes. Such resources were far beyond what ordinary rogue cultivators could possess.
He began to suspect that his opponent was a core disciple from a major Orthodox Path sect, sent to "eliminate demons and defend the Dao." After all, as a ghost dao cultivator, Yuan Luo's hands were stained with the lives of countless mortals and cultivators. It was inevitable that enemies would come seeking vengeance.
A fierce glint flashed in Yuan Luo's eyes. His abdomen suddenly exploded, revealing a fist-sized bloody hole.
A Ghost Qi-shrouded nascent soul shot out from the wound and fled into the distance.
Boom!
The moment the nascent soul escaped, the sun-chasing spear pierced Yuan Luo's physical body, instantly reducing it to a cloud of Blood Mist.
"Yuan Luo is indeed a decisive and ruthless individual. But you can't escape me."
A cold glint flashed in Song Wen's eyes as his hands rapidly formed magic seals.
Instantly, silver arcs of lightning erupted from the dark clouds overhead.
Instead of converging, these bolts of lightning pierced directly through the clouds and descended.
The lightning intertwined and coalesced into a cylindrical electric net, descending from the sky to envelop an area spanning thousands of miles.
Yuan Luo's nascent soul crashed violently against the lightning net, emitting a piercing, agonized shriek.
The net erupted in blinding silver light as a tidal wave of electric energy surged forth, violently repelling the nascent soul.
The Ghost Qi surrounding the nascent soul rapidly dissipated under the relentless bombardment of lightning, causing the soul itself to flicker and grow translucent.
At that moment, the lightning net began to contract rapidly, like a colossal, sky-obscuring web closing in from all directions to ensnare the nascent soul.
"Are you truly determined to leave me no path to survival?" Yuan Luo roared, his voice thick with venomous resentment and bitter defiance as he found himself trapped between the lightning net above and below, front and back, left and right.
Song Wen remained unmoved, continuing to manipulate the lightning net downward with unwavering resolve.
"If you deny me a path to survival, then I will ensure you suffer as well!"
Yuan Luo's nascent soul let out a hysterical roar, then suddenly expanded violently.
A world-destroying aura erupted from it.
Boom!
A blinding black light shot skyward, sweeping outward in all directions.
The lightning net that had been closing in on the nascent soul instantly shattered, dissolving into stray arcs of electricity. These arcs, combined with the black light, formed a chaotic energy storm that ravaged the landscape.
Where the energy storm passed, mountains crumbled, the earth split open, vegetation turned to ash, and even the sky was dyed a dark gray, as if the apocalypse had descended.
Song Wen, standing at the edge of the storm, felt the destructive force bearing down on him. He immediately summoned a black umbrella, suspending it high above his head.
The umbrella conjured a black protective shield that enveloped Song Wen completely.
The energy storm slammed into the shield, causing it to tremble violently, but it held firm.
Yuan Luo is truly desperate! Song Wen thought grimly.
He had intended to capture Yuan Luo's divine soul alive and interrogate him about the Yin-Sinking Water. He never expected the man to be so resolute, preferring to self-destruct his nascent soul and divine soul rather than fall into his hands.
As the storm gradually subsided, the once-pristine mountains and plains had been reduced to a desolate wasteland, scarred beyond recognition.
Song Wen raised his hand and unleashed a stream of spiritual power, retrieving a Storage Ring from the rubble.
It was Yuan Luo's Storage Ring.
When Yuan Luo fled, transferring his divine soul into his nascent soul and shattering his dantian to escape, he didn't take his Storage Ring with him. Instead, he left it on his physical body.
This seemingly hasty decision concealed a deeper meaning.
In cultivator combat, life and death often hung in the balance, decided in an instant.
If his opponent were greedy and distracted by trying to seize the Storage Ring—even for a fleeting moment—it would buy Yuan Luo precious time to escape.
However, his plan backfired, ultimately leading to his self-inflicted demise.
After his physical body was shredded by the sun-chasing spear, the Storage Ring fell to the ground and was eventually buried under rubble.
Song Wen retrieved the Storage Ring and extended his divine sense, scanning the surroundings.
Qi Luo had already fled the underground pit, vanishing without a trace. However, faint traces of her aura lingered, suggesting she had escaped toward Cloudveil City.
Song Wen didn't pursue her. Instead, he turned and headed in the opposite direction, away from Cloudveil City.
The intensity of their earlier battle would likely have alerted cultivators within tens of thousands of miles. Lingering here would be dangerous.
This explained why Song Wen had intervened without hesitation when Yuan Luo attempted to kill Qi Luo, and why he had held nothing back during their fight. Even when Yuan Luo summoned a fifth-tier ghost emperor, Song Wen had instantly slain it, showing no interest in capturing it for his own use.
Everything was done to ensure a swift and decisive victory.
(End of the Chapter)
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