Hua Yue and the others, upon hearing the words, had their expressions dramatically change, realizing they had already been exposed, and transformed into escape lights scattering in all directions to flee.


    "Hmph! A bunch of trash, daring to betray the sect."


    Xuan Zhou''s escape technique was even faster, catching up with Hua Yue in an instant, waving his hand to cast over a dozen golden light long spears.


    "Zhou Lang, spare my life, this concubine had no choice."


    Hua Yue begged for mercy repeatedly, her body shing with spiritual light, activating several protective magic artifacts.


    As both were Foundation Establishment true cultivators, in a battle of spells, she could notpete with Xuan Zhou, but she was somewhat confident she could hold her defenses for a short while.


    Xuan Zhou formed a spell with his hands, his voice cold and cruel, "Explode!"


    Hua Yue felt her mana within be chaotic, and for a moment, her protective spells and the spiritual light of her magic artifacts dimmed, watching helplessly as the golden spears tore her flesh to pieces.


    A semi-ethereal, semi-solid soul emerged from the corpse, bitterly questioning, "When did you ce the prohibition on me!"


    "During our Dual Cultivation!"


    Xuan Zhou waved his hand, a golden light threatening to tear the soul apart.


    "Such an unromantic fellow!"


    Hei Ku chuckled, "Such a beautiful face deserves to be refined into the Xuanyin Banner, to be yed with at any time in the future."


    The Xuanyin Banner swayed slightly, emitting a terrifying suction, Hua Yue''s soul unable to resist as it fell into the banner, and within moments, turned into a pattern of a voluptuous and enchanting female ghost.


    In the time it had taken Xuan Zhou to kill Hua Yue, the other six people had already run far, each falling under a pole of the Xuanyin Banner.


    "Kill!"


    Hei Ku, holding the main banner, stimted the formation and prohibition, summoning from the banner a fierce and terrible ghost soul, its strength on par with theter stages of Foundation Establishment.


    Mo Qu and the others, hearing the order, infused mana into the Xuanyin Banners, with each banner condensing a fierce ghost soul.


    As Xuan Zhou faced the seven ghost souls of theter stages of Foundation Establishment, he casually cast various metal spells, symbols stacking upon each other as they were thrown out, and his protective spiritual light flickered ceaselessly.


    In a few breaths'' time, two of the ghost souls were sted to pieces, turning into wisps of ck smoke that dissipated and entered their respective Xuanyin Banners. In the blink of an eye, they leaped out from the banners, revived as vigorous as ever, ferociously lunging at him again.


    Zhou Yi dodged left and right, always narrowly avoiding the assaults of the ghost souls, looking like he was struggling at death''s door.


    Perhaps because he was on hisst breath, or maybe because his strength was too low, after several unsessful attacks by the ghost souls, they were directed by the formation to kill Xuan Zhou.


    Having observed for a long time, Zhou Yi finally found the weakest point of the Xuanyin Formation and immediately sent a voice transmission.


    "Senior Brother, save your strength! These ghost souls are not true ghostly entities, they are condensed by the formation and prohibition; as long as the person at the main formation has unending mana, they are immortal. The weak point of the formation is at the southeast corner, let''s break through it together!"


    "We strike together after three breaths!"


    Even as a True Disciple, Xuan Zhou, having killed forty to fifty Foundation ghost souls and showing signs of weariness, agreed immediately upon hearing the transmission.


    He went all out to activate the top-tier magic artifact, the Nine-Layered Golden Stupa, which blown by the wind, grew over a dozen zhang in height, mming into the northeast corner of the formation.


    "Break!"


    At the same time.


    Zhou Yi scattered five Qianyang Lifire Beads, bombarding the northwest corner of the formation, the supreme Lifire burning away all the yin and demonic qi.


    Bang!


    A massive sound urred almost at the same time, the Xuanyin Soul Gathering Formation cracked open in two ces, and Zhou Yi and Xuan Zhou turned into streaks of light.


    "Excellent magic artifact! What a cunning mind!"


    Hei Ku had anticipated this, and from his storage bag, a red gourd flew out, spewing out a mass of blood water in front of Xuan Zhou.


    Xuan Zhou''s escape light touched the blood water, the fishy and viscous liquid clinging on like incurable mange, and he watched as the formation gap closed in an instant, helpless as he was once again enveloped in the ughter of the ghost souls.


    Meanwhile, Zhou Yi took the opportunity to escape the Xuanyin Soul Gathering Formation, turning into a line of blood that disappeared into the sky.


    "A mere Foundation Establishment early stage, if I let you escape, wouldn''t I be theughing stock?"


    Hei Ku passed the Blood River Gourd to Mo Qu to operate, instructing, "I shall return shortly. Once we drain that fellow of his mana, don''t forget to devour his soul and refine his spirit to enhance the power of the Xuanyin Banner!"


    "As youmand."


    Mo Qu stood ready, prepared to activate the gourd at any time to block Xuan Zhou.


    ...


    Ten or so miles away.


    Zhou Yi stopped his escape light with a somber expression, his Divine Sense scanning his dantian, where strands of ghost qi were winding around.


    Ordinarily, mana washing repeatedly over several months would be able to dissipate the ghostly qipletely, but the ckbone was tracking him using that ghostly qi, Zhou Yi simply didn''t have the time to erase the mark.


    "Can''t return to Daze Marketce, it''s been taken over, nine times out of ten. Relying solely on the Blood Burning Escape Technique, even if I take the Blood Spirit Fruit to replenish, I still can''t make it to the nearest marketce!"


    "If I keep running, I''ll surely die of blood depletion!"


    A fierce light shed through Zhou Yi''s eyes. He decided to save the Blood Spirit Fruit for now, if a strike failed, he would then escape back to the Luo Water Spirit Land, using the Formation and Prohibition to save his life.


    The extreme speed of the Blood Burning Escape Technique allowed Zhou Yi to move freely. Before exhausting the Blood Spirit Fruit, he was not afraid of the ckbone.


    After escaping another dozen miles,


    the bloody escape light suddenly stalled, and Zhou Yi fell to the ground, crumbling like a kite with its string cut.


    A momentter.


    The ckbone caught up, the gloomy cloud hung mid-air and condensed into a humanoid shape, its gaze sweeping over the near-death Zhou Yi.


    "You actually have the nerve to burn your own essence blood and lifespan, fortunately, I was prepared. You can be so cruel to yourself, I can''t leave you alive!"


    "Senior, spare my life, I can practice alchemy!"


    Zhou Yi took out a pill bottle from his storage bag, and due to burning too much qi-blood, his arm shakily dropped the pill bottle, spilling five or six Foundation Establishment Pills out.


    The ckbone''s face lit up with pleasure, waving his hand to capture the Foundation Establishment Pills.


    At this moment.


    Zhou Yi spat out a treasure mirror, with Blood Spirit Fruit transforming into surging qi-blood, heunched the Blood Burning Escape Technique at the ckbone.


    "ying tricks in front of me, the audacity..."


    The ckbone sneered mockingly, as if he had anticipated this, about to mobilize his yin qi to cast a spell.


    The Soul-Calming Mirror emitted a silver-white divine light, momentarily freezing the half-human, half-ghostly Soul Body in mid-air. At the same time, Zhou Yi closed in on the ckbone using the blood escape, stuffing five Qianyang Fire Beads into his mouth.


    Boom!


    mes soared into the sky, like a huge firework, the ckbone''s scream didn''t even have a chance to escape before it was utterly annihted.


    A real man never looks back at the explosion, Zhou Yi had already flown scores of feet away with the escape light.


    ...


    Half a monthter.


    The Dan Ding Sect.


    External Affairs Hall.


    Brother Wu''s eyes bulged when he saw Zhou Yi: "Junior Brother Sun, you didn''t perish along with the ckbone?"


    Zhou Yi replied, "By luck, I managed to cling to life."


    The oue of the battle for Qing Kingdom had reached them first. The disciples lying in ambush in the capital waited in vain, the True Disciple Xuan Zhou died inbat, Sun Xing and the ckbone perished together, and the Ghost King Sect took over Daze Marketce.


    The Ghost King Sect had nted spies in the Dan Ding Sect; clearly, the Dan Ding Sect also had agents infiltrated in the Ghost King Sect.


    "Junior Brother Sun is truly formidable!"


    Wu Shuo stood up and handed over a jade slip, saying, "Please, brother, record the process. It will bepiled into a dossier in the future, so our fellow sect members can learn from it when encountering simr situations."


    Zhou Yi nodded slightly, describing the process with seven parts truth and three parts fabrication, attributing the killing of the ckbone entirely to luck.


    Wu Shuo said, "Brother, because the ckbone killed a True Disciple and breached the marketce, the current bounty is as high as 330,000 merits, which has been deposited into your token and is avable for use at any time."


    Zhou Yi asked, "Does that mean the garrison mission is consideredplete?"


    "Please wait, brother, I will ask the Sect Leader''s permission."


    Wu Shuo did not dare decide on his own, the mission was a failure due to the marketce''s fall, but Zhou Yi''s killing of the ckbone might win him the sect''s favor.


    The messaging jade slip flew out and quickly returned. After checking its contents, Wu Shuo thought, as expected.


    "The Sect Leader praises your bravery and wisdom and has granted you the choice of one True Transmission Secret Technique."


    Zhou Yi immediately said, "I choose the Minor Severs the Heavens Technique."


    He had been caught unawares by the formations set up by the ckbone this time, and practicing the Minor Severs the Heavens Technique for the future would enable him to divine auspices before leaving home, ensuring he wouldn''t fall into traps again.


    Zhou Yi went to exchange for more Cultivation Techniques, a full 320,000 merits, which could select dozens of inheritances.


    Responsible for this matter, Zhuang Zhenren reminded, "Brother, you can consider an upgrade to True Disciple status first, then exchange for the official disciple''s Cultivation Techniques, receiving a fifty percent discount."


    Zhou Yi shook his head slightly, his Divine Sense swiftly scanning the catalogue, he redeemed all of the Foundation Establishment Stage Lightning Methods.