Chapter 165 Chasing in the Forest:
Rong Xie looked up and saw that the sky was full of dark clouds. It was getting late, and his vision was gradually becoming blurry.
In the chaos, the red mimosa flower demon broke out of the spirit-locking array and flew towards the outside of the Heartless Dao Palace wall, swaying.
Clearly, it has also suffered a major blow and is no longer as arrogant as it was at the beginning.
Rong Xie supported himself on the ground and barely managed to stand up. The white orchid in his hand shone brightly, like a bright lamp at dusk.
"No...don't go!" Rong Xie took a deep breath and shouted, "You're not allowed to leave!"
He chased after it, heading towards the swaying red figure.
The Acacia Flower Fairy is much stronger than Rong Xie, and even Elder Bai is no match for it. Even if it is injured, Rong Xie would not dare to say that he has a chance of winning.
Rationally speaking, he should go and call for help, summon the people of the Xuantian Sect, and tell them that a demon is wreaking havoc on their territory and has severely injured Elder Bai. Once the people of the Xuantian Sect know this, they certainly won't sit idly by. Even if they have previous grudges, they will do their best to hunt down this Hehuan Flower Demon...
However, Rong Xie could not do that, because he had seen Xiao Zhi's soul!
Just as the mimosa flower fairy turned its head and fled into the air, Rong Xie saw a white spirit hanging behind the flower head. The spirit's eyes were closed, and its outline was clear. It was clearly Xiao Zhi herself.
The moment Rong Xie saw the spirit, his heart leaped into his throat. He struggled to his feet, took out his flying magic artifact, the Cloud Dream Boat, and chased after the Hehuan Flower Fairy.
The mimosa flower spirit swayed precariously, sometimes soaring higher, sometimes falling lower, spilling red sap along the way. The spirit of the small branch hung behind it, swaying in the wind, like a kite with a broken string, floating there lightly, as if a gust of wind could blow it down.
Rong Xie urged the Yunmeng boat on all his might, following closely behind, and almost caught up several times, but the Hehuan flower demon was very cunning and darted into the forest.
There were too many obstacles in the forest to use his flying artifact, so Rong Xie had to put away his Cloud Dream Boat and chase after the enemy on foot. Before he knew it, the surroundings became even darker. He ran into the forest, where the trees and bushes blocked the light of the darkening sky. It was almost completely dark around him, with only the light of the white orchid illuminating a small patch of dark blue space.
The red shadow of the mimosa flower fairy fluttered near the tree canopy. Several times, Rong Xie almost lost sight of it, but the next moment, lightning ripped through the night sky, illuminating the dark forest, and Rong Xie could see that strangely large flower head again.
"stop……"
"stop!"
At first, Rong Xie chased after them, half floating and half running. Later, when his spiritual energy became insufficient, he took out flying talismans from his brocade pouch, throwing away the talisman paper as soon as he finished using it, scattering it along the way without spending any money.
"Boom—"
A sudden, earth-shaking tremor ensued, and a powerful surge of spiritual energy swept down from the distant solitary peak. Rong Xie was thrown off balance by the tidal wave and landed on the mud.
"This is..." Rong Xie stared in astonishment in the direction from which the shockwave came. If he wasn't mistaken, this must be the spiritual pressure that erupted in an instant when someone successfully transcended their tribulation. There was a similar tremor when Shen Bing Si ascended to the Nascent Soul stage before.
However, this time the shockwave was much stronger and the affected area was much larger!
Thinking of the powerful lightning strikes that shook the mountains and forests, Rong Xie had been focused on chasing the Hehuan Flower Demon and hadn't thought about it too much. Now that he thought about it, it must have been the tribulation lightning that person was undergoing their tribulation.
Who would undergo tribulation at this time? And why would someone unleash such immense spiritual pressure after successfully completing the tribulation?
An answer clearly emerged, and Rong Xie murmured, "Lu Yingqi."
Lu Yingqi, who had just successfully attained enlightenment, had improved his mental state and gained a large amount of spiritual power. Since he wasn't present to be watched by the crowd of cultivators, he must have gone somewhere to undergo tribulation in seclusion. Judging from the intensity of this shockwave, he was at least a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator...
Rong Xie got up from the ground again. He didn't bother to check his stinging palms. He gripped the white orchid tightly and stepped over tree roots and rocks, walking towards the clearing in the forest ahead.
The shockwave from Lu Yingqi's successful tribulation not only knocked down Rong Xie, but also overturned the flower demon.
At this moment, the huge mimosa flower was lying face up in the clearing in the forest.
The spiritual pressure of the cultivator clearly caused great harm to the flower fairy, whose attributes were incompatible with his. It lay there silently, like a lifeless artificial flower plate, used as a festival float or a fairy's flower stand. Now that it was no longer useful, it was discarded here.
Rong Xie crept closer to the mimosa flower fairy, held his breath, and stared intently at the corner of a white spirit peeking out from the edge of the petals. It was a paper-thin hand, semi-transparent, hanging limply among the grass leaves.
If you look closely, you can see specks of white emanating from the edge of the spirit. Without the spirit-locking array, Xiaozhi's spirit is like a snowflake exposed to the sun, melting all the time.
Rong Xie felt a pang of pain in his heart; he had no time to waste any more of his time.
Hoping that Lu Yingqi would successfully overcome his tribulation and come to save Xiaozhi is nothing short of wishful thinking.
Their fates were completely separated at the moment they attained enlightenment: one returned to the embrace of the Xuantian Sect, with a bright future ahead, and was worshipped by everyone, and is now heading towards the peak of the Path of Ruthlessness; the other silently sacrificed himself, and his spirit was even snatched away by a demon after his death, and is about to disappear in this desolate deep mountain forest.
Rong Xie took a deep breath, suddenly raised the light-emitting white orchid, and stabbed it into the heart of the mimosa flower demon.
That spot must be its weak point. Rong Xie discovered it by chance and casually stabbed it, yet it caused such great damage. Now, if he puts all his strength into it and stabs it a few more times, he should be able to destroy this demonic flower! He can rescue Xiao Zhi's soul from beneath it!
"Bang!"
A strange red light burst forth, instantly filling Rong Xie's field of vision.
Rong Xie sensed something was wrong, and his body involuntarily flew backward, his vision blurring—
The next moment, golden light enveloped his entire body, and someone caught him from behind.
"Bing Si?" Rong Xie turned around in surprise and saw the familiar shoulder and chin. A warm feeling welled up in his heart. "How did you find this place?"
Shen Bingsi didn't answer him, but simply hugged him tightly with her right arm, then let go, walked past Rong Xie, and headed towards the flower demon.
The Victory Sword shone with dazzling golden light and floated to Shen Bingsi's right, moving with him.
Shen Bingsi walked steadily and powerfully towards the clearing in the forest, where the mimosa flower demon stood up again from the ground and was floating in mid-air, shaking its petals triumphantly, as if it was proud of its successful ambush of Rong Xie.
"Hey, Judge Shen," Xiaozhi's voice came from the flowerpot, her tone teasing, "You haven't shattered your Dao heart yet? Weren't you coughing up blood badly before? How come you can still fly on a sword?"
The mimosa flower demon's words struck at Shen Bingsi's sore spots. Rong Xie also came to his senses at this moment, realizing that Shen Bingsi's condition was worrying and that rushing over there would be dangerous.
"Bing Si, don't go over there! That flower demon is very cunning! Let's call for help!" Rong Xie shouted.
Shen Bingsi walked up to the Hehuan Flower Demon as if nothing had happened, grasped the blade of the Shengxie Sword in her right hand, held it in her arms, leaned back slightly, and said in a nonchalant manner: "I didn't want to come either, but the Shengxie Sword was shaking so badly that I couldn't hold it. I had to cut off the demon's head and drink its blood. I had no choice."
As he spoke, the Victory Sword seemed to vibrate in response, and powerful golden light spread out in circles.
The mimosa flower demon suddenly sank, as if weighed down by something of immense weight. Its voice became more restrained: "As expected of a former adjudicator, your tone is indeed arrogant—but unfortunately, a former adjudicator is still a former adjudicator. You no longer have the Mirror Palace as your backing, so this Victorious Evil Sword can no longer unleash its power to slay demons, can it? Tsk tsk..."
"Then let's see if I have it." Shen Bingsi sneered.
With a "clang," the Shengxie Sword was drawn, and the golden light that pierced the night was like lightning, instantly illuminating the entire forest clearing and even revealing the veins of the Hehuan Flower Fairy's petals.
It trembled, shrank in size, turned into a cloud of red mist, and disappeared with a "whoosh".
"Oh no!" Rong Xie took two steps after it, "It got away! It's still holding on—"
Rong Xie suddenly stopped talking.
"What are you holding onto?" Shen Bingsi asked, his voice slightly unsteady.
Rong Xie felt a chill run down his spine; he almost blurted out "the spirit clinging to the twig."
If Shen Bingsi knew that the Hehuan Flower Demon had captured Xiaozhi's spirit, with his keen perception, he would definitely be able to guess that Xiaozhi still had a chance to be resurrected, and thus guess the secret of Elder Bai's Dao-proving formation that was not passed on to outsiders. In that case, Elder Bai's method would be completely useless to him.
Although Rong Xie despised Elder Bai's methods, he was unwilling to push any path to save Shen Bing Si's Dao heart to the brink. At the same time, he felt deeply guilty. What if Xiao Zhi's spirit dissipated? Because of his selfish desire to keep it a secret, he did not tell Shen Bing Si that the flower demon had captured Xiao Zhi's spirit, thus missing the last chance to save Xiao Zhi...
Shen Bingsi noticed the worry etched on Rong Xie's brow and knew that the Acacia Flower Fairy was very important to him. He used a sword-controlling technique and said, "I'll go after her... cough cough cough..."
A sudden cough caused Shen Bingsi to fall off the Shengxie Sword.
Rong Xie hurriedly went over to support him and saw that his face was as pale as paper and his brows were tightly furrowed. He had obviously been holding on, but now he couldn't hold on any longer and his true colors were showing.
Rong Xie's heart sank.
"We're not going to chase them anymore," he said, taking out the Cloud Dream Boat from his brocade pouch. With a wave of his hand, the Cloud Dream Boat floated in front of the two of them. Rong Xie helped Shen Bing Si onto the Cloud Dream Boat. "Let's go back and find someone else to chase them."
"No...cough cough...something very important has been taken away?" Shen Bingsi coughed as she barely managed to look up at Rong Xie's face.
"It's not that important." Rong Xie closed his eyes.
As the small boat slowly rose, the view gradually broadened. At this moment, the dark clouds dissipated, revealing the night sky. A bright moon rose above the sea of clouds, casting its clear light across Zhilan Ridge.
As they approached the Ruthless Dao Palace, Shen Bingsi's cough subsided, and the two looked down from a high vantage point, gaining a clear view of the situation inside and outside the palace.
Someone has already noticed that Elder Bai is injured. Countless small black dots have gathered in the open space in front of the Dao Palace. If you get closer, you can see that Elder Bai is surrounded by Dao Palace disciples. Cultivators dressed as healers are treating Elder Bai, and the healing white light illuminates the faces of the surrounding disciples.
Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed Shen Bingsi's arm, and urged the Yunmeng boat to land in that direction: "Come on, let's go call someone, and... let the healer take a look at you too."
"I'm fine. Even medical cultivation can't cure a broken Dao heart," Shen Bingsi said nonchalantly. "Did you redeem the Optoelectronic White Orchid?"
"Hmm...hmm?" Rong Xie realized something and reached behind his waist. He had casually tucked the light-emitting white orchid there and had forgotten about it.
"Cough cough cough... Don't take it out." Shen Bingsi hurriedly said.
Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi with suspicion, then he realized: "You wouldn't be like this because you saw the orchid?"
Shen Bingsi took a few deep breaths to calm the backlash in her chest, and said with difficulty, "What else could I do? My Dao heart is unstable, and I saw our token of love. It's a miracle that no blood was spilled on the spot... cough cough cough..."
Seeing Shen Bingsi cough again, Rong Xie was both amused and exasperated. He quickly put away the orchid and dropped the matter.
“By the way, I was just about to ask,” Shen Bingsi turned to Rong Xie between coughs, “why does that monster’s voice sound exactly like the servant boy’s? Could Elder Bai’s secret technique have turned that servant boy into a monster?”
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