“I’ll go outside and grab some people to help. Wait for me a moment.”
Having only Linglong and A Meng wasn’t ideal. From Hua Jian’s personal perspective, she wanted her friends to quickly leave this dangerous place.
That meant the sooner Linglong and the others left, the better. As for those who stayed behind, whether they left or not didn’t really matter.
Thinking it over, the selection of who should go was already quite clear, wasn’t it?
Closing her eyes, Hua Jian felt her consciousness begin to rise. With some awkwardness, she completed the process of taking control of her body.
The sensation of re-manipulating her physical form felt somewhat unfamiliar.
The information overload that had previously crashed her system seemed to have overwritten some of her instinct for bodily control.
Opening her eyes, the first thing Hua Jian saw was Linglong’s sleeping face. At this moment, Linglong was floating beside her, cradled by the vines.
‘Linglong really is beautiful,’ Hua Jian thought to herself before shifting her gaze to the ground below.
The scene on the ground was utter chaos. The demonic path cultivators who had revealed their true forms were still putting up a desperate fight. The regular cultivators, while holding the advantage and able to suppress the demonic path, didn’t dare to press too hard, fearing a deadly last-ditch counterattack.
Over on the other side, that annoying fellow, Zhao Ming, was getting into it with Ji Caiyue. The cause was simple: he had spoken ill of Ji Caiyue, and she had overheard him.
Fairy Caiyue was a person of principle and integrity. Hua Jian hadn’t personally smashed Zhao Ming because she didn’t want her reputation to plummet further into ruin.
But Ji Caiyue had no such fears.
The moment she heard Zhao Ming’s slander, she rolled up her sleeves and charged at him, beating him until he was scrambling on the ground in front of everyone.
However, all of this was still causing the situation to spiral somewhat out of control.
The crisis of survival was imminent, and the cultivators trapped within this small, encircled area were inevitably feeling some emotional strain.
Some felt that all of this was Hua Jian’s fault. If Hua Jian hadn’t charged forward, these spreading branches and leaves wouldn’t have advanced so quickly.
There were already some people discussing whether they should charge up into the sky right now and cut Hua Jian down, perhaps to salvage the situation.
But these were just thoughts in some people’s minds and hadn’t yet turned into action.
“It’s like a big pot of stew…” Hua Jian didn’t know why she could perceive the emotions of the nearby cultivators, but she knew she needed to show a little of her hand, to let everyone know she wasn’t dead yet.
In her perception, there was something within the bodies of those demonic path cultivators being mobbed by the crowd that she could activate. She seemed to be able to trigger those things…
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, the demonic path cultivators still fighting desperately below all paused simultaneously.
Their eyes filled with terror. They opened their mouths to make some sound, but foreign objects growing from their windpipes brutally blocked them, rendering them utterly silent.
One after another, blood-red vines pierced through their chests, tearing their bodies from the inside out into fragments of varying sizes.
Spatial entrapment, plus the mismatch between their aura and the one recorded on their space tokens—these two reasons combined left them with absolutely no hope of survival.
With just a single thought, Hua Jian had exterminated these demonic path cultivators at the same time using an extremely bloody and cruel method.
No, not just the demonic path cultivators.
That Zhao Ming, who had once spouted arrogant nonsense at her, was also the same as these demonic path cultivators.
Countless vines grew from within his body.
His space token was indeed activated. But after a flash of white light, he was not successfully teleported out.
Instead, due to the failed transmission, his body directly turned into an indescribable lump.
The vines, however, didn’t care about his appearance. As long as it was flesh and blood, they could eat happily.
At that moment, someone finally saw Hua Jian slowly descending from the sky. They first gasped in surprise, then, as if remembering something, quickly covered their mouths.
Hua Jian had come down, and those who had grievances with Hua Jian had died. There must be a causal relationship there, right?
The demonic path cultivators dying could be explained by Hua Jian not wanting these people to interfere with her actions.
But why would she personally deal with a useless person like Zhao Ming?
Ji Caiyue could have easily handled him.
But Hua Jian had still done it, and made Zhao Ming die so horribly. Wasn’t there also a meaning of “killing the chicken to scare the monkey” in that?
‘This is the fate of those who defy me. Have you all thought it through?’
They seemed to hear Hua Jian saying this to them.
This terrifying scene also frightened the demonic path cultivators who hadn’t been killed by the vines.
They glared at Hua Jian with eyes wide enough to split, using everything they had ever learned to curse and insult her.
Hua Jian definitely wouldn’t spare them anyway. Were they supposed to kneel and beg her for their lives?
Not a chance!
Even demonic path cultivators had backbone!
Whoosh!
A flash of sword light, and a demonic path cultivator who was cursing up a storm was directly beheaded by the sword cultivator.
He didn’t care about anything else. These demonic path cultivators dying by his hand or someone else’s made no difference.
Hua Jian was even more infuriated by these curses.
Processing the vine information connected to the entire area was annoying enough; she had no idea how to block out that pile of emotional information.
Now, someone was adding fuel to the fire, truly ignorant of the preciousness of life!
“Shut. Up.”
Without even thinking, she commanded the branches and leaves in this area to execute her order.
Thus, the next moment, the demonic path cultivators trapped within the crowd were pierced through by countless sharp thorns emerging from the space around them.
That wasn’t the end. After piercing them, these thorny branches exerted force again, shattering the bodies of these demonic path cultivators along with the surrounding space.
In the next moment, large mouths full of sharp teeth reached out from the darkness and feasted heartily on these bloody, mangled fragments.
In the span of just a few breaths, all traces of these demonic path cultivators in the world were completely erased.
And all of this was like a basin of ice water poured over the heads of every cultivator present, making them shiver with fear.
Everyone had the same thought: they absolutely must not provoke the current Hua Jian. Otherwise, they would end up like those demonic path cultivators who were eaten!
This was a monster that ate people!
The surrounding emotions all turned to fear and awe, no longer as chaotic as before, which reduced some of the pressure on Hua Jian.
She also knew that her recent actions might have permanently ruined her image, but it didn’t matter anymore. Why should she care about what these people thought?
Tapping her toes in mid-air, she descended directly next to Xia Hui.
With a single glance, she forced back the Heavenly Dao Sect cultivator who was on high alert.
Then, she handed the soundly sleeping Linglong over to Shijie Xiao Qi, who was not far away.
Then, she said to Xia Hui, “You go into the Godsoul Space to help.”
Xia Hui knew this was Hua Jian’s wariness and retaliation against her, but she had long been mentally prepared for it.
Obediently raising her hands, she replied with a smile, “Understood, Miss Hua Jian, please proceed!”
‘Trying to make me sympathize with you using this method? Hmph, you woman from Wanhuagu, I won’t fall for your tricks!’
Hua Jian gave a light hum and pointed lightly at Xia Hui. Several vines grew from beside her and sprayed a cloud of colorful mist at Xia Hui.
“Mmm, it smells quite nice…” Xia Hui took a deep, generous breath, then yawned, muttering in a lazy voice.
Immediately after, she closed her eyes and entered a dreamlike state.
After storing Xia Hui in the Godsoul Space, Hua Jian explained the current situation to the three Saint Sect cultivators.
The secret realm couldn’t be saved, but she could lift the spatial entrapment here and let everyone out.
“I’m not discussing this with you. The secret realm will soon shatter completely. This is your only chance to escape.” Hua Jian raised her hand and pointed towards the sky above the light pillar.
Like a divine miracle, a glowing gap suddenly appeared in the gloomy sky, and the light pillar became active again at that moment.
Simultaneously, a tremendous rumbling sound came from the distance. Immediately after, Hua Jian felt a pressure that had been bearing down on her suddenly disappear.
The great array covering the central part of the secret realm had been destroyed.
The stone pillars in the forbidden land were destroyed, meaning the secret realm’s collapse had entered its final countdown.
At that moment, several auras, far more powerful than the Ling Kings present, descended from the sky.
“The spatial entrapment has been lifted. Immediately organize the evacuation of these juniors.” The newcomers didn’t introduce themselves, directly issuing orders to the three Ling Kings present.
Hua Jian looked up. These suddenly appearing cultivators were all wearing Saint Sect uniforms, and their strength was at least at the Ling King Realm.
The one who had just spoken was even a Ling Emperor cultivator!
The Saint Sect really had backup plans within the secret realm.
No wonder they hadn’t been the least bit anxious when the demonic path invasion first occurred… Hua Jian counted the number of experts and immediately understood the previous situation.
No matter how much the demonic path stirred up trouble, everything was actually under the Saint Sect’s control.
Any random Ling Emperor from here could beat the invading demonic path into oblivion.
If Wanhuagu hadn’t secretly played a big hand, the Saint Sect truly wouldn’t have capsized this time.
“Good, I’ll go out first to test it.” The sword cultivator immediately nodded.
Without hesitation, he raised his hand and slapped his waist. His entire person transformed into a streak of white light flying towards the outside of the secret realm.
The terrifying-looking vines made a path for him, watching him charge out of the secret realm like guards.
Seeing the teleportation complete successfully, the Ling Emperors immediately began their operation.
Without explaining too much to the cultivators present, they directly took out several pieces from their storage pouches and assembled them.
Hua Jian looked closely. What the Ling Emperors assembled was a rather large bell.
After putting this bell together, the Ling Emperors poured spiritual power into it together, causing the bell to sway back and forth.
As the bell’s sound spread, the tokens on the ordinary cultivators were directly activated. This was much faster than explaining the situation first and having them activate their tokens one by one.
However, this forced method could only be activated in critical moments.
If the few Ling Emperors holding the bell fragments couldn’t reach a unanimous opinion, this method couldn’t be used either.
Given the current situation, it was obvious to anyone that such extraordinary measures were necessary, so of course, no one objected.
As the ordinary cultivators present turned into streaks of white light and left one by one, the Ling Emperors finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, not too many lives were lost. This Ascension Gathering wouldn’t cause the Saint Sect to completely lose face.
It was at this moment that one of the Ling Emperors seemed to hear something, looking up at the sky with some confusion.
A few breaths later, he nodded subtly and turned his gaze to his other fellow disciples.
Seeing the understanding expressions on their faces, he lowered his gaze and said to the other Ling Emperors, “You should leave quickly as well. This place won’t hold for much longer.”
The evacuation of the ordinary cultivators was complete. Next were these Saint Sect disciples themselves.
“Miss Hua Jian, please release the Saintess of Yaochi’s soul. She must leave this place safely.”
Hua Jian sensed the malice in this Ling Emperor’s tone. But her current identity was that of a demonic path cultivator, so being treated this way wasn’t unusual.
“Alright, I’ll release her now.”
Hua Jian closed her eyes and began dividing her attention to free Linglong’s soul from her own Godsoul Space.
This was also her first time multitasking like this. One part of her perspective was searching for Linglong within the Godsoul Space. This multi-perspective experience was quite novel.
The Hua Jian within the Godsoul Space opened her eyes, and she was immediately drawn to the fox woman in the space.
‘Why is there a fox girl in my Godsoul Space?’
She was stunned for a moment, then noticed the familiar smile on the other’s face.
‘Ah, I see. So it’s you, this vixen, impersonating Xia Hui!’
“Huaxinhu, this time it’s not a fake identity.” The fox woman, while holding down the restless vines, formally introduced herself to Hua Jian.
And Linglong, standing beside her, currently wore a subtle expression, as if she had something she couldn’t say.
Hua Jian felt the name sounded somewhat familiar when she heard Linglong add an explanation about Huaxinhu’s identity.
“She’s a strong contender for the Wanhua Saintess in the rumors. Almost everyone assumed she would become the Wanhua Saintess…”
“But later, a little sister more qualified than me appeared, so I no longer had the chance to become the Saintess.” Huaxinhu used the tip of her tail to lightly brush Hua Jian’s nose, continuing with a giggle.
Who that “more qualified little sister” referred to, Hua Jian could guess without her saying it.
“Speaking of which, Sister Hua Jian probably hasn’t focused all her attention here, right?”
“Uh, no, I split some of my consciousness outside. Why?”
Huaxinhu continued to smile, but the expression on her face grew more and more intriguing.
“Some people probably don’t want you to leave safely either.”
“After all, my current identity in their eyes is a demonic path. But…”
Before Hua Jian could finish her sentence, her consciousness outside suddenly sent her a warning.
‘I’m under attack?’
No, not just her. Huaxinhu was also being attacked!
“How dare they attack me at this moment? Don’t they care about Linglong at all?”
“Oh, my dear Sister Hua Jian, don’t you think you and Linglong dying together here is the best outcome for those people? The Saint Sect has never been on a single united front.”
Huaxinhu giggled. Even without seeing the outside situation, she knew which side was making a move.
“Such a chance to kill two birds with one stone—the Heavenly Dao Sect fellows wouldn’t let it slip by.”
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