One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Half an hour passed.
The Everlasting Heavenly Dao gave no response at all.
Su Bai closed her eyes once more, using the power of the array to communicate with the Everlasting Heavenly Dao. The only response she received was a thick sense of malice, as if a homeowner had discovered a thief entering their house.
This was not the first time she had used the Heaven-Sacrifice Method to offer a sacrifice to the Everlasting Heavenly Dao in exchange for the power to wash away the seals on her body. However, for some unknown reason, the Everlasting Heavenly Dao in this life bore a strange and intense malice toward her. It refused to respond to any of her sacrifices.
Su Bai had also tried letting others perform the sacrifice to obtain a temporary half-Heavens-Concordance power to undo her seal for her. However, the Everlasting Heavenly Dao showed no intention of responding to them either. It radiated the same faint malice, as if the entire community of cultivators had committed some unforgivable sin against it, causing it to vent its anger on everyone.
“Did it fail again?” Bai Changsheng asked with concern from the side.
Su Bai shook her head and stood up. With her hands behind her back, she turned her gaze toward a spot 100 miles away from the deserted island. A burly, tall figure stood there holding a long halberd, his entire body on guard as if he were ready to strike at any moment.
“Perfected Lord Wu, take us back.”
Su Bai had successfully escaped from the hands of the other Perfected Lords after explaining the reasons and the situation. However, certain Perfected Lords whose sects and clans had been wiped out did not care for explanations. They hated everything related to her, and they too believed that “might makes right.” They wanted to settle their grievances with blood!
Fortunately, under Bai Changsheng’s strenuous persuasion, the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper decided to protect Su Bai’s life. They paid a heavy price for this and imposed several additional conditions.
For instance, she had to be guarded by the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper in rotation. If anything seemed wrong, they would immediately seal and suppress her on the spot.
She could not be killed.
The massive number of arrays Zhou Xuan had left on her would take even a Deity Transformation Heavenly Venerable quite some time to break.
Wu Ji nodded and waved his Daoist robe. The group disappeared instantly, reappearing on the commercial street of a bustling archipelago.
The geographical environment of the East Sea was different from that of the Central Plains, and the local customs were also vastly different. In the Central Plains, populations gathered in cities and towns, but in the East Sea, they gathered on islands. Each island had an island lord, and each island produced different specialties. Because communication was inconvenient, trade relied mainly on ships, which gave rise to islands dedicated specifically to commerce.
This place was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Azure Emperor’s Divine Palace, but in reality, it had been secretly infiltrated and controlled by the Sun-Extinguishing Organization. It had become one of their secret branches, and even the island lord was a member of the organization.
Such situations were not uncommon in this world. When an organization’s reach grew too wide without enough loyal managers, similar situations frequently occurred.
Su Bai put on a specialized human-skin mask and held hands with Bai Changsheng. Following behind Wu Ji, they headed toward the Sun-Extinguishing branch.
Upon close observation, one could see that a thin red string was tied to each of their wrists, with the other ends tightly connected.
This was a pseudo-Nascent Soul Spirit Tool — the Life-Tethering Mysterious Rope. It was crafted from mysterious materials from the Abyss of the Central Plains using the techniques of the master craftsman Shang Tianji.
The cultivators’ entire cultivation, vitality, longevity, and souls were linked by the red string, locking them both together. If the rope broke, both lives would perish.
This was also one of the additional conditions. Since Bai Changsheng had guaranteed the life of the Qingyang Demon with her own, she would use her life to lock the demon down!
Shops lined the streets, crowds bustled like weaving silk, and the sounds of hawking were endless. As Su Bai walked through the crowd, her brow suddenly furrowed.
Immediately, Bai Changsheng stepped forward and whispered a few words to Wu Ji. Wu Ji frowned slightly but nodded nonetheless.
The group continued to stroll nonchalantly for a moment before slowing their pace and turning into a secluded alley, appearing as though they were heading home.
A figure followed them silently.
However, the moment the figure stepped into the alley, a long halberd suddenly thrust out, coming to rest against the figure’s throat.
“Who sent you?”
Wu Ji’s voice was low and raspy. His eyes were fixed on the figure, remaining perfectly still.
The person held at halberd-point was a young man wearing a simple green robe. He had an ordinary, common face — the type one would forget immediately after seeing him in a crowd.
Yet, he showed no sign of panic. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled up as he looked at Wu Ji with a smile. “Fellow cultivator, I see that your forehead has turned dark lately…”
*Crack.*
The head fell to the ground.
Without any nonsense, Wu Ji retracted his halberd and used a fire spell to burn the corpse to ashes. He then walked to a tea stall just one wall away, where Su Bai and Bai Changsheng were sipping tea.
“It is dealt with,” Wu Ji said calmly after sitting down. His tone was flat, as if the killing just now was not worth mentioning.
“Thank you for your trouble, Brother Wu.” Bai Changsheng was smiling and about to stand up to pour tea for Wu Ji when a voice came from behind him.
“Fellow cultivator, I see that your forehead really has turned dark recently. This precious halberd of yours is quite good. How about giving it to me to ward off your calamity?”
Bai Changsheng was shocked. That voice clearly belonged to the Daoist whom Wu Ji had just decapitated!
A fake death? A substitution technique? Or a puppet? In an instant, various thoughts flashed through her mind.
Wu Ji did not overthink it like she did. He turned back without hesitation and stabbed out, the long halberd piercing straight through the Daoist’s body.
Strangely, the halberd passed through without leaving a single mark. Not even a drop of blood fell, as if he had stabbed through nothingness.
Yet in the eyes of Bai Changsheng and Wu Ji — whether through sight, divine sense, or the judgment of their other magical treasures — the Daoist was clearly standing right in front of them.
“Fellow cultivator, you cannot hurt me.” The Daoist’s lips curled up, a faint smile on his face. His gaze, however, was locked tightly onto the seemingly plain halberd in Wu Ji’s hand, his eyes shimmering with a shrewd light.
Seeing that the strike was ineffective, Wu Ji’s face turned cold. The hand holding the halberd trembled slightly, and in an instant, ten thousand cold glints erupted from the weapon, instantly enveloping the Daoist and the surrounding area within several yards!
However, the result was exactly as the Daoist had claimed. Wu Ji’s attack could not harm the man in the slightest.
The Daoist still stood firmly in place, perfectly composed.
Wu Ji narrowed his eyes. Seeing that a direct attack would not work, he immediately changed his strategy and unleashed a binding divine ability, attempting to capture and imprison the Daoist.
The Daoist merely gave a light laugh. Then, taking a single step, he easily broke free from the restraint and walked directly up to Wu Ji.
“Why must the Yuheng Star be like this? I came here today only to help the Yuheng Star avert a disaster.”
With a single sentence, he exposed Wu Ji’s true identity.
Bai Changsheng’s expression changed slightly, and she moved to strike, but Su Bai reached out to stop her. Su Bai took a small sip of tea and said indifferently, “You certainly have impressive methods, fellow cultivator.”
The Daoist looked at Su Bai and watched as she reached toward her forehead, seemingly plucking an invisible object, before slapping it onto the forehead of the young woman beside her.
A purple-green vertical eye suddenly emerged. As its gaze swept over the Daoist, it gave him the sensation of being seen through.
In the next moment, Bai Changsheng’s confused expression turned to one of realization. Her red lips parted slightly as she uttered two words that caused the Daoist’s face to change drastically.
“Feng Ba.”
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