"A cultivator of the Void Refinement realm from the Spirit Realm, truly he has some tricks."
Yun Dehe swept aside the thick fog before him, his gaze stern as he stared at the place where Pei Xianqiao and Shang Lao had vanished.
Lu Ziqian raised a hand, ordering his men to capture the remaining remnants of Li Luoqi's demon soldiers, then turned back toward the fog.
"Sect master Yun, there is no need to worry. My master let them leave on purpose. They will amount to nothing."
Hearing herself suddenly named, Yao Ranran's expression went blank. She hadn't expected the female lead to run off and dodge debts! How did this become her deliberately letting them go?
"Fairy Ranran already knew they would escape?" Several from Yun Dehe's side looked at her in astonishment.
Yao Ranran: "…" Don't ask me, I don't know either!
"There is nothing in this world my master does not know. If they escaped, it was only because she deemed it not yet the right time to strike."
Lu Ziqian answered for her smoothly, polite as ever.
Yao Ranran gave her disciple a strange look. Wasn't that making her sound far too omniscient? She hadn't thought that much at all. Besides, Pei Xianqiao was the protagonist—of course she wasn't going to die.
But Yun Dehe and the others, unaware of her inner thoughts, were utterly awed by Lu Ziqian's words.
"Fairy Ranran… so you foresaw everything!"
"Was this the might of one about to ascend?" Yun Dehe's heart surged, his cheeks flushed as he stared at Yao Ranran's profile with fervent excitement.
When Yao Ranran turned back and saw the emotion brimming in his eyes, her brow twitched. She felt a very bad premonition—she had to put a stop to her disciple's flattering nonsense before it went further!
"Li Luoqi is the descendant of a demon king. His blood carries the bloodlust of ancient fiends, and his body is nearly indestructible. Sect master Yun, do you have a way to slay such a body?"
Yun Dehe instantly sobered. He pondered for a long moment, hesitating, then looked at Yao Ranran with difficulty. "To be honest, Fairy Ranran, I do know of an ancient punishment passed down to exterminate demons… but no one could possibly accomplish it."
"What way?" Yao Ranran asked.
Yun Dehe's eyes darkened as he gazed at Li Luoqi's body.
"Master wishes to say—draw out his ancient demon bloodline, shatter his soul, then hack his corpse into meat paste and cast it into the Samadhi magma, correct?"
Zhao Lingyi spoke the words Yun Dehe had been too hesitant to say.
Yun Dehe looked at him with admiration. "Yi'er, you have studied the ancient classics so well, your teacher has nothing left to instruct you in."
"Master will always be my teacher," Zhao Lingyi replied firmly.
"Heh… draw out my ancient demon bloodline? Foolish fantasy!"
Li Luoqi's eyes snapped open. At some point he had awakened, coughing up a mouthful of black blood as he sneered.
The crowd startled, retreating several zhang away.
Lu Ziqian stepped forward, calming them. "Do not fear. With my master here, nothing can go wrong."
Yao Ranran: Thank you so much for believing in me, my foolish disciple!
Yun Dehe's voice rang out solemnly, "This scholar speaks truth. Fairy Ranran—if you could subdue him once, she can subdue him again!"
At his words, the panicked crowd gradually steadied.
"So, I underestimated you. That lotus seed… you swallowed it, didn't you?"
Li Luoqi's chilling gaze locked onto Yao Ranran.
"Lotus seed? You mean that lotus seed you gave me?" Yao Ranran blinked, not understanding why he suddenly asked this.
Li Luoqi's eyes burned with killing intent. "Don't play dumb, Yao Ranran! If you hadn't swallowed the Chaos Azure Lotus seed, there is no way you could have defeated me here!"
Since regaining clarity, he had obsessed over that lotus again and again. In the end, he pinned his defeat on that seed.
Without it boosting Yao Ranran's strength, without that Azure Lotus restraining his ancient demon bloodline, she would not have distracted him, she would not have struck from behind, and he would never have lost!
And that scholar, Gu Ziqian! It had all been a plot, lying in wait for him to step into their trap so they could claim victory shamelessly!
Even captured, Li Luoqi never once admitted it was Yao Ranran's own strength that felled him.
Lu Ziqian lifted his Good Fortune Brush, flicking it lightly through the air, sketching a large mocking cross across Li Luoqi's face.
Li Luoqi hissed in pain, glaring at the humiliating mark with rage boiling up in his chest.
"You dare deface this Demon Sovereign's face?"
Lu Ziqian calmly drew a little turtle on it.
"This subordinate is wishing Demon Sovereign longevity like the millennial turtle. I beg Demon Sovereign to mind his words. Though I cannot kill you, I can punish you."
He said it with gentle politeness, smiling faintly no matter how much Li Luoqi wanted to tear him apart.
"You have no right to speak to my master like that!"
Yun Dehe clapped involuntarily, laughing. "Fairy Ranran, you truly accepted a fine disciple!"
Yao Ranran stared at Lu Ziqian in shock.
Her disciple… seemed to have grown up!
The watching crowd struggled to stifle their laughter. Never had they seen a Demon Sovereign humiliated so.
"Fairy Ranran, Master, killing the Demon Sovereign can wait. We should lock him securely, resolve the Eastern Wilderness, then seek out the sect master of Wuxiang Sect in the Central Domain. Together we may find a way to end him."
Zhao Lingyi offered a thorough, careful plan.
Yun Dehe nodded. "Yi'er, your thoughts match your master's. Fairy Ranran, our Yun Gu Sect has a forbidden Demon Prison…"
"Even if Shen Yuefu himself came here, he could not kill Li Luoqi," Yao Ranran cut in sharply, eyes boring into the Demon Sovereign.
Li Luoqi sneered at her. "What is this? Do you wish to beg me for mercy, to let you go?"
Yao Ranran's lips curved in a faint smile. While the others looked on in confusion, she placed her pale hand upon Li Luoqi's shoulder.
"Fairy Ranran, this is…?" Yun Dehe asked uneasily.
"Sect master Yun, be at ease. My master means to settle the Demon Sovereign here and now."
Lu Ziqian respectfully withdrew to the side.
The others, bewildered, also retreated, giving her space.
Li Luoqi burst into wild laughter. "Yao Ranran, your disciple… is a fool!"
Yao Ranran pressed her palm gently down, smiling coldly. "Demon Sovereign, the fool is you."
Before Li Luoqi could respond, a magnificent Azure Lotus bloomed between her hand and his dark-robed shoulder.
In an instant, all around them dissolved into a vast, dazzling ocean of lotus blossoms. The onlookers froze, staring at Li Luoqi's agonized, howling face. The demon race quaked in terror, knees buckling, as if cast into the very realm of death.
"Ah! Ahhh!"
Li Luoqi's eyes bulged, bloodshot, nearly bursting from their sockets.
"How… can… this… be…"
The words tore from his bleeding teeth. His blood flowed backward, his organs churned violently, and black-violet blood seeped from every orifice.