Chapter Five: Fate of Immortals

  Unexpectedly, the box really contained an elixir, and it was blown open by the explosion. The monks below didn't dare to make a move at first, but now that the elixir had appeared before their eyes, who could resist its temptation after smelling the fragrance of medicine in the air? They all rushed towards the elixir with red eyes.

  The madness of the monks plunged the scene into chaos once again, and although the people of Aoki Munemori had greedy looks on their faces, no one dared to make a move without the order of Kuroki Shinpei.

  As for the Tianyun Sect, Fei Hong Zhenren stood calmly at the front of the flying car, coldly watching the chaotic battle, but without any intention of taking action. The disciples on the car also remained silent, their eyes fixed on this side.

  "Seeking death", seeing the ordinary cultivators rushing up, the soul demon let out a cold hum, raised his right hand, and a black fog surged out, instantly enveloping the ten cultivators closest to him.

  "Ah……" The miserable cries echoed one after another in the black fog, and then one by one, corpses fell from the black fog. However, at this time, these corpses had all been drained of their water content, turning into zombies as they fell to the ground. Their faces were all frozen with fear, as if they had experienced some terrifying event in the black fog. It was only now that the Soul Demon revealed his frightening side.

  After casually annihilating over a dozen people, the Soul Demon's body was shrouded in black mist as it flew towards the direction of an elixir. Along the way, cultivators who discovered the Soul Demon approaching would hastily retreat, and those who failed to do so would meet with tragic ends.

  At the same time, the Blood Moon transformed into a blood light that shot towards an elixir, and from the blood light, sharp blood thorns burst out. Any nearby cultivators who were hit by the blood thorns would instantly explode into a cloud of blood mist, with an attack that was extremely eerie.

  As soon as a cultivator was about to rush to the side of the elixir, a bloody handprint suddenly burst out from Xueyue's body and instantly arrived at the top of that cultivator's head. With a fierce press downwards, a flash of blood light appeared, and the cultivator didn't even have time to let out a miserable cry before turning into a puddle of blood. However, such a miserable scene still couldn't stop the madness of the cultivators rushing up from behind.

  Kuroki Makoto is doing slightly better, repelling all the monks who blocked his way with a series of sword lights, but without taking their lives. Although some monks were occasionally injured by the sword lights, they were not seriously hurt. However, this also greatly affected Kuroki's speed, putting him farthest from the elixir.

  "Get out of my way, those who want to die come forward!" The soul demon roared, emitting a rolling black fog. Although they already knew the soul demon's ferocity, the cultivators who had lost their rationality at this moment didn't care about that anymore. One by one, the cultivators were engulfed by the black fog, and cries of despair echoed through the air.

  "Hahaha...... the elixir is in hand!" A sharp, heaven-piercing laughter echoed through the air, and it turned out that Xueyue had already grabbed an elixir a step ahead.

  Seeing the Blood Moon in hand, a look of anxiety flashed in the eyes of the Soul Demon, and the symbols on its face twisted and turned. A ferocious ghost face burst out from its body, spinning around it before growing to tens of meters in size. It charged forward with a loud roar, emitting waves of chilling aura from its face. The ghost face moved at an incredible speed, blocking the cultivators in front who were unable to retreat in time. They were swallowed whole by the ferocious ghost face without even having time to let out a miserable cry, their souls dispersing instantly.

  The ghostly face cleared a straight path for the soul demon, who stretched out its body and suddenly increased its speed. In the blink of an eye, it had already rushed to the side of the immortal pill, its right hand stretching out towards the pill with a burst of suction force. The immortal pill in front of it was sucked into its hand in an instant, and the soul demon's ferocious face flashed with a hint of satisfaction. Then, its gaze shifted, looking towards the other side where Kuroki Shinichi was still struggling to move forward. Without hesitation, the soul demon drove forth a dark mist, charging over with a trail of bloodshed along the way.

  Kuroki's mind was filled with anxiety and urgency, the elixir was right in front of him, but these cultivators were blocking his way, and he couldn't make a move to kill them, at this moment he was extremely distressed.

  "Get out of the way, all of you!" Kuroki shouted loudly, and a burst of sword light erupted from his body. Dozens of sword lights shot out, forming a web of swords that charged forward, pushing aside the cultivators in front of him. Almost everyone was cut by the sharp sword energy. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kuroki's speed suddenly increased, and with a wave of his right hand, a white net-like object shot out from his hand, heading straight for the Immortal Pellet. The net moved extremely fast, reaching the pellet in an instant and covering it inside. Kuroki's face lit up with joy, just as he was about to retrieve the net.

  Who would have thought that a red crescent moon would suddenly appear, cutting off the silk thread connecting him to the net bag. At the same time, a ferocious ghost face also appeared from the side and collided with his body in an instant.

  Unexpectedly, the Soul Demon made a sneak attack, and Kuroki Shinichi suffered greatly. The protective spirit light was shattered by the ghost face's collision, and the ghost face changed to a mocking expression, opening its bloody mouth wide. A black light pillar shot out from its mouth, and Kuroki Shinichi barely had time to take out several defensive talismans before the black light pillar arrived with a loud crash.

  "Bang...!" The defensive talismans outside his body were all shattered, and the black light pillar heavily smashed onto Kuroki Shinichi's body. "Ah..." a miserable cry, Kuroki Shinichi flew backward, his face flushed red, fresh blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth, his body's spiritual light flickering erratically, his breath slightly disordered.

  But the black ghost face did not let go of its intention, making a harsh "ga ga" sound, and then opening its big mouth to charge over. Originally, Kuroki Shinichi was not so incompetent, but on the one hand, his heart was focused on the immortal pill and he was unguarded, and on the other hand, the soul demon's cultivation was much higher than his own, plus it was a sneak attack, so he suffered a great loss.

  At this time, Hunmo and Xuemeng had already arrived beside the Xian Dan. However, both of them were wary of each other and did not take the Xian Dan. Just as they were hesitating, a green light flashed beside Kuroki Shinjin, and a surge of spiritual energy emanated from his body. Then, a green figure emerged.

  This is a middle-aged Taoist wearing a Taoist robe, with a golden crown on his head and a jade belt around his waist. He has regular features and a dignified appearance, but his face wears a serious expression, giving off an aura of majesty without being angry.

  As soon as he appeared, he saw the ghostly face rushing over and calmly raised his right hand. A flash of spiritual light, a cyan claw shadow flew out from his hand, swelled up in the wind to the size of the ghostly face, and then pounced on it fiercely.

  A deafening explosion rocked the air, the sound echoing across the entire plain, attracting the attention of countless cultivators.

  "It's not good, it's Qingmu, that old monster, he actually came, the Great Perfection of the Later Stage of the Congealing Dan!" Seeing the person who made the move, a sharp cry of surprise came from Xueyue in the bloody light, feeling the terrifying aura emanating from Qingmu.

  The demon's face also sank, becoming somewhat solemn, while the cultivators around him saw the appearance of Qingmu Zhenren in the air, countless people looked at him with worshiping eyes, this is the number one person on the Xianjin continent now.

  "Blood Moon, let's join forces, or else we'll be at a disadvantage today. I didn't expect Qingmu to break through to the Great Perfection Realm so quickly," said Hunmo in a low voice after a moment of contemplation.

  "Haha, I was thinking the same thing, let's do it" A low voice came from the Blood Shadow, then the blood light around him suddenly surged, instantly rising to several meters high. The terrifying aura rose up, a bloody atmosphere spread throughout the air. Afterwards, a blood-colored handprint condensed on his head, this blood-colored handprint was initially dozens of meters in size, but it quickly shrank and condensed to only one foot in size. Although its volume had decreased greatly, the power it contained was abnormally terrifying. The blood handprint seemed to have crystallized, with mysterious spiritual patterns flashing on its surface.

  The Soul Demon almost simultaneously set out, endless black fog surged from its body, a huge ghost face floated in the air, waves of dark wind surrounded the Soul Demon, and the aura on its body also reached its peak.

  Kongzhong Qingmu Zhenren saw the two burst out with great power, took a step forward, and his momentum surged forth, his terrifying spiritual pressure rising like a mighty wave that would not subside.

  Then Aoki Shinichi stretched out his right hand, a flash of blue light, and a long sword with an ancient style appeared. He raised his right hand, the long sword pointed to the sky, and the surging spiritual power poured into the long sword in his hand. The long sword burst out with astonishing sword aura, shooting up to the sky, tens of meters high, extending and shrinking unpredictably, emitting a sharp and fierce sword energy.

  "Soul Demon" let out a furious roar, the ghostly face on its head spinning around to open its bloody mouth wide and charge at Qingmu Zhenren. Behind it, Blood Moon also suddenly pushed out the blood handprint in front of it, but what happened next was unexpected: the blood handprint rotated in mid-air and changed direction, instantly slamming into the Soul Demon's back with great force.

  "Ahh!" A miserable cry, the Soul Demon's body was shattered by this bloody handprint, and a thick black fog burst out from its body, wrapping it inside.

  "Hahahaha... I'll leave the old ghost Qingmu to you, I'm leaving first!" A triumphant laugh echoed from within the Blood Shadow, a flash of blood light and the last remaining Immortal Pellet was snatched back. Then, a burst of blood light exploded from around Xueyue's body as he suddenly shot backwards, blasting off into the distance.

  "Hmph, think you can run!" A cold hum came from Aoki Shinichi's mouth, and his right hand swung down sharply, a thick blue sword aura burst out of the long sword, locking onto Xueyue and chasing after him. The speed of the sword aura was so fast that it made one's tongue tremble, and in the blink of an eye, it caught up to Xueyue who was already hundreds of feet away.

  Just as the terrifying sword energy was closing in, a furious roar echoed through the bloody light, "Qingmu, you bastard, I'll remember you!" Suddenly, the bloody light split into two clusters and flew off in opposite directions.

  However, the sword energy behind seemed to be full of spirituality. In a flash of green light in the air, it transformed into two sharp sword energies that chased after him, catching up instantly.

  "Bang, bang" The blood light on the left was directly cut off by the sword energy, turning into a mist of blood that dispersed, but there was nothing inside, seemingly just a substitute.

  Another blood light was cut off by the sword energy, and a large piece of blood light fell from inside, accompanied by a mournful cry. "Qingmu, I won't let you go" A resentful voice came out of the blood light, followed by a flash of red light, and the Blood Moon Escape Light surged and shot far away, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

  "Bastard, treacherous scum! I'll never let you off on the Blood Moon!" The hatred in Youmo's heart was burning at this moment. Originally, he wasn't a match for Qingmu Ren even during his peak, and now that he was severely injured, staying here would only lead to disaster. With a sudden change of mind, dark mist enveloped Youmo's battered body as it shot off in one direction.

  A master of the Golden Elixir stage has a very strong life force, even if his physical body is destroyed, he can seize the opportunity to reincarnate. The soul demon's escape technique was extremely clever and fast, and with a blink of an eye, it had already escaped. Qingmu True Person furrowed his brow and flashed forward in pursuit.

  Aoki Makoto shouted with a sense of justice: "Evil demon, today is your last day!"

  The demon soul escaped while releasing its dark fog, constantly attacking the monks on the road. The monks were enveloped by his released dark fog and had their vital energy sucked away, turning into a zombie. Despite being severely injured, they still rampaged wildly.

  The monks in front of him were frightened and dodged one after another.

  The direction in which the Soul Demon fled was precisely where Wang Ke was located. Seeing the Soul Demon charging over, Yao Lao Gui once again released his Cauldron, striking towards the Soul Demon. However, the Soul Demon suddenly burst into a flash of light, and endless black clouds surged out from its body, enveloping it in a ball of dark cloud. The giant cauldron crashed into the black cloud, having no effect whatsoever. The black cloud continued to flee forward unimpeded.

  Behind, Qingmu Zhenren shot out sword energy one after another, charging into the black cloud, but it seemed like a mud cow entering the sea without a trace. The Soul Demon flashed by, and Yao Lao Gui continued to charge forward. Behind him, Qingmu Zhenren's expression was solemn, seeing that he couldn't catch up.

  At this time, the soul demon had approached the outskirts of the plain. "You dare to ruin my good deed, today I'll let you taste the flavor of absorbing essence and extracting soul!" The soul demon caught sight of Wang Ke not far away, gave a sinister smile, and a black fog rolled towards Wang Ke.

  Seeing the black fog rolling towards him, Wang Ke's heart was chilled. He had seen the tragic end of the cultivators who were swallowed by the black fog. Fear occupied Wang Ke's heart at this moment. With no weapon in hand, he looked around frantically and found that there wasn't even a stone on this plain. Suddenly, Wang Ke noticed a huge black cylindrical object in front of him.

  He rushed over immediately, embracing the cylinder with both hands. The cylinder was surprisingly heavy. Wang Ke gritted his teeth and used force to throw the cylinder at the incoming Soul Devil. A series of "clicking" sounds came from within the cylinder, as if some mechanism had been triggered. Wang Ke couldn't care about that anymore and threw out the Explosive Flame Symbol given by Tong Yan as well.

  A black cylindrical object flew through the air, leaving a trail behind it as it shot straight towards the Soul Demon. Wang Ke's strength was not insignificant, and the cylinder flew out a great distance, just reaching the vicinity of the Soul Demon's dark cloud when suddenly, the black cylindrical object underwent a transformation. The end of the cylinder opened up, and dozens of black beads flew out from within, numbering nearly one hundred.

  At the same time, the explosion talisman also flew out and exploded violently between the black beads, followed by a series of "rumbling" explosions that echoed continuously in the air. The endless explosive force wrapped around the dark cloud of the soul demon, preventing him from breaking through.

  "Bastard, it's a Thunderbolt!" A furious roar came from the center of the explosion. It turned out that the cylindrical object Wang Ke had thrown away was the container where the real Thunderbolt stored his thunderbolts. Wang Ke had inadvertently triggered the switch, and the Blazing Symbol had detonated it, coincidentally blocking the Soul Demon's advance.

  Behind him, Aoki Shinichi took this opportunity to rush up, and without hesitation, charged into the black cloud. The black cloud let out a mournful howl as the soul demon array was activated, and a terrifying spiritual pressure spread out in all directions with the black cloud at its center. Finally, suddenly, only a despairing scream could be heard from within the black cloud, "Aoki, you're despicable...!" The voice abruptly stopped.

  After a while, the chaotic spiritual energy in the air calmed down, the black fog dispersed, and Qingmu Zhenren's figure stood alone in the void, his expression calm and unruffled, showing no signs of injury.

  "Congratulations, Aoki Shinichi, for defeating the Soul Devil! Your merits are boundless!" said Yao Lao Gui with a bow and a smile.

  "Haha, shameful, shameful. This demon has committed countless evils and today will be punished here. It is indeed a crime that deserves punishment. I am just acting on behalf of heaven to carry out justice. It's been many years since I've seen the majestic appearance of Yao Wang." Qingmu Zhenren said humbly.

  "But today, if it weren't for this young man, I'm afraid the Soul Demon wouldn't have been so easily defeated. This young man has exceptional courage and composure in the face of danger, truly a talented individual!" Yao Lao Gui said with a benevolent expression, praising Wang Ke.

  After hearing Yao Lao Gui's words, Wang Ke was so ashamed that he had no place to hide. Just now, he was just desperately seeking medical attention and happened to be lucky, but was actually said to have remained calm in the face of danger, with a boldness that surpassed others. Wang Ke's face turned bright red, not knowing what to say.

  "You're a good young man, thanks to you for saving my grandson earlier. I'm too old to repay you, but since you've just opened your spiritual aperture, let me give you a helping hand." Before Wang Ke could understand what the old man meant, the Medicine Old Monster raised his hand and condensed a ball of spiritual light, which he then swung into Wang Ke's body.

  Wang Ke only felt the moment when the spiritual light entered his body, as if there was a furnace burning inside his body, filling his whole body with endless power. The spiritual light circulated in his body for several rounds and finally stopped at the position of the elixir field, where it condensed into a small cloud of spiritual energy that sank down.

  "Qi Refining Stage!" Wang Ke could feel the Lingyun at his Dantian position, and he opened his mouth in shock. This was indeed a sign of entering the Qi Refining Stage! He had finally taken a step into the heavens!

  "Xiao Ke, don't forget to thank Medicine King," reminded Tong Yan with a relieved gaze as the four of them returned to Wang Ke's side at some point. Although they had intended to snatch the treasure earlier, their abilities were too weak and they couldn't even get close to the front. But this was for the best; if they had rushed forward just now, who knows if they would have made it back?

  "Thank you, Senior Medicine King." Wang Ke hastily expressed his gratitude, but in his heart he thought that this person was actually the Medicine King. The Medicine King merely smiled and waved his hand, pulling the ten-year-old child to his side.

  "Aoki Masato, you see this child is kind-hearted and brave beyond his years. This time he has helped us greatly, so I beg of you to take him in as a member of the Aoki clan. It would be my way of repaying you for saving my grandson's life. From now on, I owe you one favor." The Medicine King turned his gaze towards Aoki Masato.

  "Haha, what did the Medicine King say? Such a good young man, our Qingmu Sect would certainly be willing to take him in. Young man, what's your name? Are you willing to join the Qingmu Sect?" Qingmu True Person asked with a smile and a condescending tone.

  "Xiao Ke, hurry up and agree to Qingmu's offer, joining the Qingmu sect is a blessing you've accumulated from your past life!" Tong Yan urged excitedly from the side. Meanwhile, Fang Qing, Shi Shan, and Zhou Yuan all showed envious expressions on their faces. Being able to join a sect and leave the scattered cultivation path would bring great benefits to one's cultivation. However, it was difficult for these scattered cultivators to join a sect.

  "Disciple Wang Ke, pay respects to the sect leader True Person." Wang Ke took a deep breath, slightly calming the excitement in his heart, and then bowed down to respectfully greet Qingmu True Person.