Dongfang Xiaotian had barely taken a step forward when the formation beneath his feet suddenly activated, and a semicircular barrier of light instantly enclosed the four of them.
Only then did Chun’er and Beichen Yue realize they had fallen into a trap. Both immediately drew their swords from their spatial spirit artifacts, eyes alert as they carefully scanned their surroundings.
“Hahaha, I never thought anyone would actually fall for such an obvious trap!”
“And two beautiful young ladies, no less. What a pity, truly a pity.”
“Hey, why did you come so quickly? I haven’t even had the chance to enjoy some fun with that bait yet.”
Suddenly, voices emerged from the mist, their leering gazes shamelessly scanning the three trapped inside the formation as if devouring Chun’er and Beichen Yue with their eyes.
The longer they looked, the more regretful they seemed.
“You bunch of demonic cultivators!”
Chun’er glared at the group of demonic cultivators stepping out in twos and threes.
Each was at least in the late Refining Qi stage or higher, dressed in black robes embroidered with black dragon claws—the unmistakable uniform of the Evil God Cult.
Without a doubt, these were all members of the Evil God Cult!
Without hesitation, Chun’er unleashed her Divine Technique with full force, slashing at the light barrier that held her captive.
Suddenly, she noticed her spiritual energy draining far faster than usual. But there was no time to think about that now!
Azure spiritual energy coiled around her sword as she layered the sword techniques of a Refining Qi-stage swordsman and a Foundation Establishment-stage swordsman simultaneously—sword qi, Sword Flight!
“Han Guang Sword Shadow!”
Three techniques combined, Chun’er swung her sword fiercely. A brilliant cyan-blue sword qi cleaved into the protective shield.
However, the sword strike caused no significant damage to the formation. With a loud clang, the formation absorbed the attack’s force and partially reflected it back, sending Chun’er flying off guard.
“How is this possible!”
Chun’er stared at her trembling hand in disbelief.
Swordsmen were revered because their cultivation level allowed them to stack Divine Techniques, making them far superior in combat.
No one rivaled swordsmen in the art of killing within the orthodox cultivation paths!
Yet, despite this, Chun’er’s all-out Foundation Establishment strike was repelled by the formation.
She was stunned. Even though she was a Foundation Establishment swordsman who had consumed leftovers from the Beichen family, she was already far beyond most cultivators of her rank.
She could duel for hundreds of exchanges with someone at Foundation Establishment Stage Six, but she couldn’t even budge this formation an inch!
“I’ll try!”
Beichen Yue drew her ice-blue longsword. The moment it was drawn from its sheath, it radiated a chilling sword aura, undoubtedly a high-grade spirit artifact.
Unlike Chun’er, Beichen Yue needed to charge longer this time, channeling all her spiritual energy into the sword.
Beichen Yue was about to use a sword technique she had just mastered—one that required long charging times and wasn’t practical in most fights but packed enough power for the current situation.
Still, Beichen Yue, like Chun’er, noticed the accelerated spiritual energy drain but ignored it.
Chun’er was immediately excited. “I didn’t expect Miss to have reached the third level of the Ice Spirit Immortal Technique! Normally, only those in the Golden Core realm can use this move!”
Chun’er praised her mistress as if commentating, yet the Evil God Cult members still wore mocking expressions.
“That sword is pretty good… didn’t expect to catch such a big fish.”
“Probably some young noble out here training. There must be a lot of treasures inside that spatial artifact!”
“Hey, and a genius at that. Wonder if the blood pills she refined have any special effects?”
The demonic cultivators lounged, watching the show, showing no intention to intervene as Beichen Yue continued her charge.
Suddenly, Dongfang Xiaotian felt the temperature around drop several degrees. The spiritual energy layered onto Beichen Yue’s ice-blue longsword grew thicker until it reached the limit she could control.
Surging!
Dimly, Dongfang Xiaotian could even see vague illusions resembling ice trees forming around the sword.
The sword qi was beginning to take shape!
Dongfang Xiaotian was surprised. A Refining Qi-stage swordsman could achieve this? Although only a phantom, it was undoubtedly a qualitative leap.
“Thunder Radiance!”
Just as Dongfang Xiaotian marveled, Beichen Yue violently slashed at the formation. The air instantly chilled to icy cold, and where the sword qi passed, ice spikes formed.
Top-tier Divine Technique, high-level spiritual energy, and a lengthy charge combined—the strike was even more powerful than Chun’er’s previous attack.
Yet, the mighty slash was reflected back as before, with a blast of freezing sword qi knocking Beichen Yue back into the formation’s shield.
“Miss! Are you alright?”
Chun’er rushed over, stunned, to check on Beichen Yue’s injuries. But Beichen Yue waved her off as she recovered from the blow.
“No harm done.”
Leaning on her sword, Beichen Yue wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. Due to her Immortal Dao cultivation, Dongfang Xiaotian couldn’t tell if she was truly unscathed.
“Try again. The formation wavered for a moment just now.”
Beichen Yue was about to raise her sword once more but was quickly stopped by Dongfang Xiaotian.
“Don’t.”
Dongfang Xiaotian glanced meaningfully at Beichen Yue and said, “This is an ancient Divine Technique formation left over from the God Era called the Blood Refinement Formation…”
“Didn’t you realize after those two attempts? This formation can’t be forced with anything less than Golden Core strength. Otherwise, it will continuously drain your spiritual energy, then your flesh and blood, until it refines a blood pill. The more you struggle, the faster you’ll die.”
After Dongfang Xiaotian explained, Chun’er and Beichen Yue immediately recalled the strange feeling when they tried to mobilize their spiritual energy—not only was the consumption speed faster, but their maximum controllable spiritual energy also dropped.
If they paid close attention, Chun’er could even feel her spiritual energy uncontrollably leaking from her Spirit Sea, and quite rapidly!
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator suffered this, then the half-Foundation Establishment Miss and the injured female disciple from the Four Sages Academy were in even worse shape.
The female disciple had already been taken to a corner by Dongfang Xiaotian and had fainted completely from lack of spiritual energy.
Chun’er could even see her blood seeping through her skin, her complexion growing paler by the second.
***
Meanwhile, Beichen Yue had already sat down to meditate, trying to slow the spiritual energy loss and avoid death.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier!” Chun’er shouted in anger.
“I wanted to, but you attacked too quickly.”
Dongfang Xiaotian shrugged and then looked at Beichen Yue.
“I thought she could break the formation, so I didn’t stop her. But as you can see… And I warned you from the start to be careful when you meet living people. None of you listened.”
Honestly, seeing Beichen Yue with her high-grade equipment, advanced skills, and all those flashy buffs, Dongfang Xiaotian had actually been a little hopeful.
After all, a Heaven’s Chosen Daughter crossing realms to kill was normal. Breaking a third-rank formation might have been possible.
Chun’er blushed deeply. Dongfang Xiaotian had indeed said that at the start, but she just scoffed, “Lives are at stake—who cares about so much?”
“Oh, so someone actually knows.”
Before Chun’er and Dongfang Xiaotian could bicker further, a man in a black robe stepped forward from the Evil God Cult ranks, his aura far more imposing than the others.
The demonic cultivator sat on a rock and looked at Dongfang Xiaotian curiously. “Kid, if I’m not mistaken, you knew from the start there was a trap here, didn’t you? If you knew, why did you deliberately walk in?”
Chun’er was even more annoyed. “You knew there was a trap? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“Your actions are faster than your thinking. What could I do?”
Dongfang Xiaotian strolled leisurely inside the formation, inspecting the ground and then pointing to a spot.
“And not only did I know about the trap, I also knew that if I hadn’t come in just now, I’d have to fight five Refining Qi-stage and two Foundation Establishment cultivators.”
“You really expect me, a Refining Qi Stage Seven, to handle all of them?”
Seven people? Two of them Foundation Establishment?
Chun’er counted again and again. No matter how she looked, she only saw six.
“Where’d the seventh come from?”
“Heh, boss, he spotted you.” The one who seemed like the leader chuckled, then shouted behind him.
At that moment, another black-robed man stepped out from behind a large boulder, smirking as he looked at Dongfang Xiaotian.
“Interesting. Not only can you see through the formation at a glance, but you can also easily spot my disguise… Oh, so it’s the innate Eye Technique? Quite the pair of eyes you have.”
The real Evil God Cult leader approached the formation and said, “Too bad those eyes won’t help you break this… Blood Refinement Formation. Nice name—I’ll remember it.”
Chun’er hadn’t expected another demonic cultivator hidden in the shadows. She glanced at Beichen Yue’s rapidly draining spiritual energy and grit her teeth.
“I advise you to release us immediately! My mistress is a direct disciple of the Ice Ling Immortal Palace! When her master intervenes, a single gesture will annihilate you!”
But Chun’er’s words didn’t have the same effect as when Dongfang Xiaotian was outside the ruins. Instead, they triggered uproarious laughter from the demonic cultivators.
“Ice Ling Immortal Palace? Boss, can you believe she thinks we’re afraid of them?”
“What an ignorant girl. We dare target even the royal family—why would we fear the Ice Ling Immortal Palace?”
“No wonder that girl’s been so cold since the start. Tsk, tsk, a shame we can’t get in. Would’ve loved to see the despair on her face.”
Not just mockery—obscene insults poured out nonstop. Chun’er could only curse back at them one by one.
“Scoundrels! Beasts! Ill-mannered brutes!”
Yet even though Chun’er was a maid, she was still a Beichen family maid. Her curses paled in comparison to the shamelessly unrestrained evil cultivators.
Dongfang Xiaotian ignored them and instead addressed the Evil God Cult leader directly. “Since we’re all going to die, how about we die with some clarity? Who sent you here?”
“Quiet!”
The leader raised his hand, silencing his subordinates. The demonic cultivators immediately closed their mouths, and even Chun’er, who had been cursing relentlessly, fell silent.
The Evil God Cult leader regarded Dongfang Xiaotian with interest. “How do you know someone sent us?”
The leader chatted casually with Dongfang Xiaotian, killing time. After all, the prey was trapped, and the longer he could stall, the better.
If they could even provide some entertainment before dying, all the better.
“As your men said, this trap is poorly made.”
Dongfang Xiaotian shrugged.
“And those people have obviously been dead for a while. The ones chasing my junior disciple must’ve left a while ago too, and you didn’t even bother to deal with the bodies on the ground…”
“This shows you hurried back and set up this formation on short notice, probably following some urgent orders, right?”
“You’ve got some brains—I like talking to clever people.”
The Evil God Cult leader clapped his hands, then shrugged with mock regret. “To be honest, I don’t know, or maybe I just don’t care. They give me spirit stones; I do the job. That’s all.”
“Fair enough, didn’t expect to get anything more.”
Dongfang Xiaotian was unfazed. “Then you must have seen a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy and a vixen, right? Where did they run off to?”
The leader’s expression grew thoughtful.
“Haven’t seen the boy, but that vixen you mentioned—I saw her. Strange aura all over her. Killed quite a few of our brothers. Come to think of it, there’s also a strange little girl like her.”
Dongfang Xiaotian exhaled in relief. Good—that must be the junior disciple and the second junior sister.
“But precisely because they’re so strange, many have rushed to uncover their secrets. If they’re still alive, tsk tsk… I can’t imagine what fate such beauties would face.”
Ignoring Dongfang Xiaotian’s relieved expression, the leader sneered, “What, still thinking about women as you die? I bet you’ve got secrets yourself.”
“This Blood Refinement Formation doesn’t seem to affect you much. Maybe once those two girls run out of spiritual energy, you can vent on them?”
He glanced sideways past Dongfang Xiaotian toward Chun’er and Beichen Yue, smacking his lips.
“Tsk tsk tsk, rare beauties indeed, especially that one from the Ice Ling Immortal Palace… They usually never come down from the mountains. I’m a bit envious of you.”
Only now did Chun’er realize that although her mistress had to concentrate fully to control her spiritual energy and prevent it from being drained too quickly, Dongfang Xiaotian, who was of a lower cultivation level, seemed completely unaffected.
Dongfang Xiaotian was even leisurely pacing around the formation, fingers busy calculating.
Suddenly, Dongfang Xiaotian turned and fixed his gaze on them.
“I’m warning you!”
Chun’er swiftly dashed to Beichen Yue’s side, pointing her sword at Dongfang Xiaotian.
“Even if my spiritual energy is being drained, I can still beat ten of you! Don’t you dare think anything improper of me or my mistress!”
Dongfang Xiaotian ignored the foolish maid and kept calculating with his fingers. “Yao three in two, Qian three, Kun four, Li position death gate retreat two.”
Chun’er watched him mutter for a while before breaking into a smile. “Miss Beichen, how about a deal? If I can break this formation, considering I’m inside it as well, how about five hundred spirit stones?”