Chapter 221 Life and Death Without Blame (18)
Jie Township.
Yan Huai'an looked at Jiang Xiangyun and the others trapped in the Eighteen Cages and sneered: "You rats from Pingze, don't even dream about it. The Eighteen Cages are divine artifacts that recognize me as their master. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, you won't escape my grasp."
The eighteen cages, which could vary in size, now resembled a giant birdcage, trapping Lu Liyu, Jiang Xiangyun, and Yao Li inside. The cage was filled with a dense array of magic formations, leaving them with absolutely no chance of escape.
Behind Yan Huai'an, Xie Chenglian said coldly, "Hand over Xiao Qingyan and Xie Chichun, and perhaps you can die a quicker death."
Jiang Xiangyun smiled slightly: "Why are you two so sure that they are in my hands?"
Xie Chenglian turned to look at Yan Huai'an, only to hear him say, "Whether it's in your hands or not, we'll find out soon enough!"
The entire eighteen cages suddenly swelled and grew larger, and the surrounding spiritual energy began to surge. However, Jiang Xiangyun inside the cages remained calm. He quickly formed hand seals, and Lu Liyu, Yao Li, Wu Yi, and others beside him also formed the same hand seals. Yan Huai'an sensed something was wrong and wanted to stop, but it was too late.
The eighteen cages that had been closed together twisted and bent outwards, instantly separating and heading straight for Xie Chenglian and Yan Huai'an.
The two retreated rapidly. Yan Huai'an had no choice but to summon his Dharma form to resist. He was horrified. Although he could still control the power of the eighteen cages, he could no longer control their direction. The spiritual power he released was all attacking him and Xie Chenglian in the opposite direction.
"What have you done?!" Yan Huai'an roared in anger.
"It's just an eye for an eye," Lu Liyu laughed. "Yan Huai'an, do you know how many cultivators and spirit beasts you've killed in the Life and Death Tower by controlling the Eighteen Cages?"
"You should have known this day would come when you extracted their essence and souls to make paper dolls," Jiang Xiangyun said in a deep voice. "You have harmed the innocent and killed countless lives. Divine artifacts are imbued with the divine power of heaven and earth. How can you expect them to willingly acknowledge you as their master when you have acted so perversely?"
You're the one daydreaming!
As the seal descended, the Dharma images of Jiang Xiangyun and the other three appeared around the eighteen cages, firmly binding Xie Chenglian, Yan Huai'an, and their Dharma images within them.
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Yan Huai'an roared. "With your abilities, you simply cannot control a divine artifact of the level of the Eighteen Cages!"
Both he and Xie Chenglian were at the Taiyi Realm, how could they possibly be trapped by these few Golden Immortal Realm cultivators?!
“We can’t,” Jiang Xiangyun said, looking down at him from outside the cage. “But take a good look at what’s on this cage.”
Xie Chenglian felt his spiritual energy rapidly draining away. He looked closely at the cage and saw countless paper figures densely covering it. Their eyes, drawn with ink, were twisted and glaring at them angrily, like vengeful ghosts crawling out of hell to claim their lives.
"Are these tens of thousands of wronged souls enough to take your lives?!"
The paper figures attached to the eighteen cages, like countless flying ants, suddenly burrowed into the cages and began to frantically devour their flesh and souls, causing shrill screams to erupt from inside the cages.
Jiang Xiangyun and the others did not relax either. The four of them formed hand seals to firmly fix the divine artifact in place. Yan Huai'an and Xie Chenglian's Dharma forms and primordial spirits were still struggling desperately. After an unknown amount of time, the teeth-grinding gnawing sound finally stopped, and they had all exhausted their spiritual power and slowly withdrew their Dharma forms.
The stench of blood filled the air. Wu Yi looked at the blood-red body in the cage and gritted his teeth, saying, "He deserved it."
"We've received news from Yanyu Terrace. Let's set off immediately." Jiang Xiangyun took the pills Yao Li handed him and swallowed them, then casually handed a few more to Lu Liyu.
Lu Liyu crossed her arms, leaned in, and used his hand to bite it away.
"..." Jiang Xiangyun glanced at him, "What arrangements did you make for the people from the Burning Platform Hall?"
“They’ve all dispersed to the vicinity of the Eighth Pavilion. As long as you take the tenth floor, someone will guide you to the Eighth Pavilion.” Lu Liyu, holding a pill in her mouth, rolled it around a few times without eating it. “Ah Yun, I really underestimated you.”
He never expected that Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Guzhen could pull off such a grand operation, even involving the entire Pingze, turning the region from a hopeless situation into one with a fighting chance.
Jiang Xiangyun said, "It is also thanks to your and Fellow Daoist Wu's great help."
Lu Liyu smiled: "You and I still—"
Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he lunged at Jiang Xiangyun. But he was too late. At the critical moment, Yao Li pushed Jiang Xiangyun with a palm, causing the demonic energy to envelop the two of them. Countless paper figures swept over their heads, turning into sharp arrows that cut the surrounding trees in half.
Yao Li and Wu Yi were unable to dodge in time and were struck in the heart by the sharp arrow that the paper figure had transformed into, causing them to stagger back a few steps.
"Uncle!" Jiang Xiangyun hurriedly stood up, but was pulled back by Lu Liyu.
"Young Master, don't move!" Yao Li clutched his chest, warily staring at the already dilapidated eighteen cages. He saw a bloody skeleton crawling out of the pile of paper, with a faint Dharma image appearing on its back.
Yan Huai'an chuckled twice: "You think you can kill me?"
Although Yan Huai'an had a distraction in Shunni Tower, he knew the inside story. Even if he came back to life, he would still be a puppet controlled by Song Shijun. He absolutely could not die like this.
"These paper dolls... I made them all. You think you can turn against me with these things?" Yan Huai'an raised his hand, and the withered paper dolls screamed and howled, wrapping them up tightly. He grinned, "Even without this body, I can still take over yours!"
With a swift movement of his bone claws, the paper figures inside Yao Li and Wu Yi's bodies suddenly swelled, and their souls were instantly torn apart.
"Uncle!" Jiang Xiangyun's pupils shrank suddenly. He broke free from Lu Liyu and rushed towards Yao Li, but was stopped by the flying bamboo hat.
"Hurry up!" Yao Li's pale face had a rare touch of color. His arm was beginning to turn into paper. He raised his hand, broke off his index finger, and tore off a sachet from his neck, throwing it to Jiang Xiangyun along with his finger.
"We'll go together!" Jiang Xiangyun quickly formed hand seals and rushed out of the demonic energy shield. Lu Liyu cursed when she saw this and hurriedly followed, summoning their Dharma forms together to try to pull Yao Li and Wu Yi out of the paper figures.
"Take eighteen cages and get out of here!" Wu Yi raised his hand and chopped off his own thigh, which was covered in human skin paper. "Yan Huai'an wants to wear us all down here—"
Yao Li swiftly sealed off the major acupoints all over his body, and with the help of his bamboo hat, he completely bound Jiang Xiangyun. He said to Lu Liyu, "Take him away!"
"How dare you!" Jiang Xiangyun was rarely enraged, his eyes bloodshot. "Lu Liyu, untie me!"
Lu Liyu looked at the increasing number of cardboard figures around her, cursed and scratched her head. As the net of heaven and earth covered her, she picked up Jiang Xiangyun and rushed out.
"Lu Liyu!" Jiang Xiangyun roared.
Lu Liyu pretended not to hear, relying on her higher cultivation level, she became faster and faster, and soon broke out of Yan Huai'an's spiritual range under the cover of Yao Li and Wu Yi.
"No one is getting away!" Yan Huai'an had lost his mind. Countless human skin papers covered his body, and his resentment was overwhelming, spreading rapidly to the surroundings.
Yao Li and Wu Yi exchanged a glance.
A thunderous explosion sounded behind us.
Lu Liyu stopped in her tracks, the net binding Jiang Xiangyun was removed, and the bamboo hat that sealed his cultivation slowly turned into dust.
Jiang Xiangyun followed Lu Liyu's gaze and saw that the once lush and green forest had been reduced to flat ground. The spiritual energy fluctuations brought about by the self-destruction of the primordial spirit were surging and vast. The torn human skin paper fell down one after another, like withered yellow paper money falling from the sky.
“The human skin has already penetrated their hearts and will instantly dissipate into their souls. There’s no time to save them,” Lu Liyu said. “Even if we stay, we’ll only be throwing our lives away for nothing.”
Jiang Xiangyun tried his best to calm himself down. He knew that Lu Liyu was right, and nodded when he heard this: "I understand. I acted impulsively just now."
It was his negligence and lack of foresight that led to the downfall of Yao Li and Wu Yi.
"Thank you for saving me just now," he said to Lu Liyu.
If Lu Liyu hadn't reacted quickly, he, Yao Li, and Wu Yi would have suffered the same fate.
He calmed down too quickly, and Lu Liyu asked with some concern, "Your uncle..."
Jiang Xiangyun shook his head, glanced at the flat ground that was now completely empty, and said seriously, "Let's go, let's leave this place."
Lu Liyu nodded, and the two began to head towards Yanyu Terrace.
Life and death are common occurrences, and dying in battle is nothing out of the ordinary for cultivators. If every time it is a heart-wrenching experience, then there is no need to continue cultivating.
Lu Liyu took it all in stride. Besides, Yao Li and Wu Yi were only slightly more familiar to him than strangers. Even if Jiang Xiangyun died in front of him one day, he estimated that he wouldn't be too affected.
Thinking this, he turned to look at Jiang Xiangyun.
However, the cultivators in Pingze were always very sentimental. He had no relatives and didn't know how Jiang Xiangyun was feeling. So he reached into his storage bag and found a piece of candy.
This candy was the one he bought for Jiang Xiangyun in Longyun City. At that time, they didn't know each other's identities. They traveled together, laughing and arguing. He only vaguely remembered that Jiang Xiangyun liked to eat it, but because she was too proud, she was always very reserved and he had to force her to eat one... He didn't know how it ended up being kept until now.
He looked at Jiang Xiangyun, squeezed the candy, but then let go without taking it, and continued to fly forward on his sword.
never mind.
Jiang Xiangyun was unaware of Lu Liyu's actions. He tightly gripped the sachet that Yao Li had thrown to him, which contained his mother's bones. He had once given these bones to Yao Li in an attempt to win him over.
Now that it's back in his hands, Yao Li has returned an extra piece.
'Ah Yun, he's my younger brother. From now on, he'll protect you in place of Mother.'
"Ah Yun, it's me, your uncle. Don't be afraid."
Jiang Xiangyun suddenly remembered that Yao Li hadn't called him "Young Master" at the beginning, nor had he referred to himself as "Subordinate."
What put him at ease was never the master-servant contract between them.
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