Yun Fei placed the fine sword, wreathed in purple flames, against his neck.
A few strands of his black wolf fur were ignited, but under Yun Fei’s precise control, the fire did not blaze particularly fiercely.
Yet, this alone was enough to make his soul tremble.
It was only after she had become proficient in using the Nether Realm Purple Fire that she learned some things she hadn’t known before, through her connection with it.
The Nether Realm Purple Fire’s most fundamental effect was to strike directly at the soul, capable of affecting it.
The specific effect depended entirely on how the wielder used it.
Because of this, the original owner of the first-generation Nether Realm Purple Fire had also named it the “Soul Fire.”
However, the peripheral flames it produced did not possess this function.
This was also the reason her mother hadn’t told her—because she simply didn’t know!
But Yun Fei hadn’t developed many uses for it in terms of soul manipulation.
This time, like the previous instance when she forcibly tamed that Immortal Crane with the Exotic Fire, she had only used its most basic soul-intimidation effect.
“You… are you going to talk or not? Give me a definite answer so I can proceed.”
“I… I won’t talk! A werewolf never becomes a slave! Go to hell!”
Gritting his teeth against the inexplicable fear, the werewolf suddenly went berserk.
Red patterns, resembling fresh blood but radiating a disconcerting energy fluctuation, rapidly spread across his body.
It was an extremely violent energy fluctuation!
Seeing this, Yun Fei immediately swung her sword and swiftly retreated.
Sure enough, the sword light vanished upon contact with his skin, as if nothing had happened, only scraping off a layer of skin.
“Your Highness, his cultivation realm is rising incredibly fast! He’s already… already at the Heaven Burning Realm!”
Hearing the Magic Mirror’s voice in her mind, Yun Fei immediately realized the danger.
Something had clearly happened to this werewolf, likely due to the patterns on his body, but there was no time to think about it now.
The Heaven Burning Realm… while she could fight it, the hasty release of the Phantom Secret Art earlier had consumed a significant amount of energy…
‘If only I hadn’t been so curious about his origins. I should have just killed him outright. It would have been so much simpler!’
Despite regretting her curiosity, escaping was the priority now.
The werewolf seemed to be in a frenzied transformation phase, making it the perfect time to run!
Having decided on a course of action, Yun Fei didn’t hesitate.
She threw two Explosive Pills at the still-transforming werewolf, turned, and sprinted deeper into the village.
Those two Explosive Pills were the same special, co-detonating version she had used against the possessed Jiang Qing.
They were her new design, though they hadn’t shown much effect on “Jiang Qing.”
She wondered if this Heaven Burning Realm werewolf could withstand them?
But regardless, she had to run!
Whether he could withstand them or not, the shockwave from the co-detonation of these two pills was quite spectacular.
In an instant, Yun Fei’s figure vanished into the mist.
—
Meanwhile, not long before, on the other side.
Mu Lingxi was enjoying the sensation of Yun Fei’s soft, warm hand in hers as they followed the group when she suddenly felt a strange energy.
Immediately afterward, their hands were inexplicably pulled apart.
As their hands separated, she turned her head, but Yun Fei was nowhere to be seen.
“Yun Fei? Yun Fei! Where did you go?”
Seeing this, Mu Lingxi’s expression flickered with panic for a moment before quickly regaining its composure.
“Junior Sister Mu, what’s wrong? …Wait, where’s Junior Sister Yun?”
Dong Qi and the others turned around in confusion, their expressions changing immediately upon seeing only Mu Lingxi behind them.
“I don’t know,” Mu Lingxi shook her head.
“I just felt a strange energy, and when I turned around, Yun Fei was gone.”
She didn’t mention that she had been holding Yun Fei’s hand.
In her view, finding Yun Fei was clearly more important.
“A strange energy? Everyone, be careful! Get closer together. It might be the work of this mist. Let’s retreat and see if we can find her!”
As he spoke, everyone tightened their grip on their weapons, drew closer together, and scanned their surroundings for anything unusual.
Mu Lingxi’s right hand clenched tightly around her treasured sword, “Xiao Yun.”
Her ice-blue eyes gleamed with a chilling light, as if anything she looked at could instantly turn into an ice sculpture.
“Hahaha! Don’t waste your effort! Your companion has already been targeted by those two hungry wolves.
I know their methods.
That fresh, delicate little girl is probably already a meal on their plates~”
“Who! Who’s there?!”
“Oh? Has it only been a day, and you esteemed immortals already don’t recognize me?”
As he finished speaking, the mist in a surrounding area gradually dissipated, revealing a somewhat familiar figure to the group, followed by a crowd of individuals in purplish-black robes.
“You are… the gate guard!”
Dong Qi frowned deeply.
It seemed Yun Fei’s guess was correct, but unexpectedly, this guard appeared to be in league with the group of evil cultivators behind him, all radiating dark energy!
“Hmph… Oh dear~ It seems you do remember me. I originally planned to use my familiarity with this village to lead you all to the altar. It seems now I’ll have to kill you first and then throw you onto the altar… What a pity. That little sister who spoke disrespectfully to me got eaten. I really would have loved to see her crushed beneath my foot~ Hahaha!”
As he spoke, a killing intent sufficient to devour him flashed in Mu Lingxi’s eyes.
An ice spike abruptly shot up from the ground, piercing through his chest.
“Hah… This little sister is quite violent~ Since you’re so eager to die, then… all of you, attack!”
The “guard” roared, his Demonic Power surging and shattering the ice shards in his chest.
At his command, the people behind him charged forward.
Their strength wasn’t high, all at the Shattering Void or Star-Plucking Realms.
However, judging from the Demonic Power erupting from the “guard” himself, he actually had a cultivation of the fifth level of the Heaven Burning Realm!
While it was unclear what method he had used to conceal himself as an ordinary person, there was no time to ponder that now.
Dong Qi tightened his grip on his hammer and charged towards the “guard.”
“Liu Min, Jiang Luoqi, Mu Lingxi, you deal with the others! That ‘guard’ and I are both at the fifth level of the Heaven Burning Realm. I’ll handle him!”
The battle erupted instantly!
Jiang Luoqi acted first.
She infused a pre-carved formation plate with Spiritual Power, slapped it onto the ground, and in the blink of an eye, a golden-glowing formation appeared.
“Elemental Enhancement Formation, Spiritual Power Enhancement Formation, Demon-Dispelling Spirit Formation!”
After slapping down three formation plates in quick succession, Jiang Luoqi’s face paled slightly.
She swallowed a pill to restore her Spiritual Power and, as a light-attribute cultivator, immediately concealed her form.
As a formation specialist, she was least adept at direct combat.
However, her concealment skills were excellent, and she was highly skilled at setting up attack formations behind enemies for ambushes.
Therefore, the frontline battle was left to Liu Min and Mu Lingxi.
As a Heaven Burning Realm talisman master, Liu Min’s direct combat ability wasn’t great, but he could throw talismans.
The vast Spiritual Power of the Heaven Burning Realm allowed him to hurl talismans with ease.
Before the evil cultivators could even get close, they were hit by several thunder, fire, water, and various other elemental talismans, looking quite disheveled for a moment.
Mu Lingxi’s approach was much simpler.
She directly charged into the midst of the evil cultivators, brandishing her treasured sword and engaging in combat.
For the genius girl Mu Lingxi, who was already at the ninth level of the Shattering Void Realm, killing these individuals held no technical challenge.
Their side of the battlefield was almost one-sided.
However, Dong Qi’s situation wasn’t as optimistic.
Firstly, they were both at the fifth level of the Heaven Burning Realm, making it difficult to gain an advantage in cultivation level.
Secondly, evil cultivators were notoriously treacherous and unpredictable.
Dong Qi had experience fighting them.
Since he couldn’t instantly defeat his opponent like Mu Lingxi and the others, he had to constantly be on guard against any underhanded tricks.
The guard’s pitch-black blade light and Dong Qi’s large hammer clashed repeatedly in the air, sparking flashes of fire.
The direct collision of Spiritual Power and inverse Demonic Power caused minor energy disturbances in small areas.
The friction from these chaotic energy fields generated electrical sparks, making their battle scene appear grand and intense.
“Tch… Damn it, why are you so tough, you big oaf? My blade can’t even leave a wound on you?”
After fighting Dong Qi for a while, the evil cultivator leader was getting puzzled.
At the start of the fight, he noticed Dong Qi was quite lacking in speed and was inwardly pleased, thinking he could easily finish off this big guy and then deal with the others his underlings couldn’t handle.
But he truly hadn’t expected that, before he could revel in his pride for long, he’d suddenly realize his proud, powerful attacks could only scrape a bit of skin off Dong Qi—and not even draw blood!
This was utterly frustrating for him!
He was starting to get anxious. If he didn’t end this fight quickly, his men would be wiped out!
“Too much talk! Take my hammer! Ha!”
Seeing his opponent slightly distracted, Dong Qi seized the opportunity.
Another large hammer suddenly appeared in his other hand and, while the evil cultivator’s attention was divided, slammed into his chin!
Crack!
A crisp sound of bone fracturing rang out.
The evil cultivator leader’s face twisted in pain as he was sent flying a distance, crashing hard into a low earthen house behind him.
Instantly, the house collapsed with a rumble, raising a cloud of dust.
Dong Qi didn’t relax even a bit.
Although he seemed to have the upper hand, battle situations were fluid.
So, he spun the two hammers in his hands, leaped into the air, raised the hammers high above his head, and brought them crashing down towards the vague figure in the dust cloud!
BOOM—!
The tremendous impact force created a shockwave, sending clods of earth and stones flying everywhere.
However, Dong Qi’s expression wasn’t good because he hadn’t felt the solid impact of hitting a human body.
Moreover, within the ruins of the earthen house, there was no longer any trace of the evil cultivator!
“Not good! It’s a trick!”
Dong Qi reacted immediately.
He turned to look towards Mu Lingxi and the others’ direction and saw a black shadow streaking towards them at incredible speed!
The evil cultivator’s mouth was still bleeding, but he paid it no mind.
Knowing he couldn’t handle Dong Qi, he had no choice but to use the moment of Dong Qi’s perceived success and relaxation to bypass him and directly ambush the rear!
In the rear, Jiang Luoqi was still concealed.
The evil cultivator couldn’t find her immediately.
Of the remaining targets, he could only set his sights on the female cultivator who looked easier to deal with.