For Martial Dao practitioners who specialized in elemental techniques, the environment they were in determined the upper and lower limits of their strength.
As a practitioner from Among the Colorful Clouds who was bestowed with the “Grass and Wood” attribute, this dense forest was Ye Qingluan’s home ground.
Everything here would become her power.
Never mind the three forces currently present—even if their numbers doubled, they would not necessarily be a match for Ye Qingluan.
With a simple thought from Ye Qingluan, the power of the Azure Wood Jade began to surge.
The surrounding trees transformed according to her will, with countless branches and vines intertwining and twisting together.
They formed a Heavenly Net that swept over everything, blotting out the sky.
This wooden net was massive.
Only those with sufficiently fast reactions and agile movements could dodge the moment the net descended.
Although Qi Shang held the prestigious position of the Evergreen Manor Lord, he possessed a mortal body.
Coupled with his advanced age, he simply could not run fast enough.
Fortunately, one of the practitioners he had hired was quite dutiful.
The moment the net came down, the practitioner carried him on his back and dove toward the outside.
At the critical moment, the two of them evaded the wooden net.
Qi Shang’s heart pounded with lingering fear.
Just as he was planning to give the practitioner who saved him a raise afterward, another wooden net descended unexpectedly from the side, firmly trapping them both inside.
“Is it necessary to follow up that quickly!?”
Qi Shang screamed, wanting to cry but finding no tears.
“There are as many of these ‘Insect Catching Nets’ as I want. I won’t give you any time to catch your breath, you know?”
Ye Qingluan sat high above, yawning as she watched the people below scurrying about.
Ye Qingluan remembered that when she was a child, she loved going into the mountains alone with a net to catch insects for fun.
Although she was no longer a child and her passion for such things had diminished, catching these people like bugs was as natural as muscle memory—practiced and efficient.
In a short time, the three forces were reduced by half.
Some were eventually captured after exhausting their physical strength trying to evade the Heavenly Net, while those who remained uncaught were individuals with superior cultivation and stamina.
Chunyu Shi watched as Qi Shang was strangled to death by the vines.
His heart tightened instantly, and he shouted to the others around him, “This won’t do! If this continues, we’ll all end up like that! We can’t just keep dodging! We have to take the initiative and counterattack!”
As another wooden net fell, Chunyu Shi chose not to dodge this time.
He mobilized all the Zhenqi in his body, circulated his technique, and unleashed a Move.
Roar!
A powerful Lion’s Roar echoed through the entire Mountain Forest.
The wooden net lunging toward him was destroyed by the waves of sound, turning into debris that dissipated in the air.
“Haha! In the end, these are just ordinary trees!”
Chunyu Shi became excited immediately after his successful Move.
Seeing this, the others also began to unleash their techniques.
Although Qi Shang was dead, the practitioners he had hired did not desert the battlefield.
They coordinated with each other, displaying their various divine abilities to directly destroy the wooden nets Ye Qingluan wove from the front.
For them, while they might not receive the final payment now, they would become famous if they could kill the Demoness’s Third Disciple.
Various big business opportunities might come their way in the future.
Although Ye Qingluan’s Moves were ever-changing, her weapons were ultimately just ordinary trees that were quite fragile.
Everyone was filled with confidence about killing Ye Qingluan.
The opportunity for fame was right before their eyes, and every one of them wanted to seize it.
For a moment, their fighting spirit soared, as if people who had been oppressed for a long time were finally sounding the horn for a counterattack.
After sensing their fighting spirit and battle intent, Ye Qingluan twirled her hair with her finger and muttered to herself,
‘Oh dear, those Moves just now were only meant to be intimidating. It’s only normal that they break upon contact. I’m already shocked that I managed to catch several idiots for free. Why are these people so happy after breaking the Move?’
‘They seem to know nothing about my power.’
‘Is it because I’ve been a doctor for too long and kept a low profile for so long that they don’t know how formidable I am?’
A hint of flustered confusion appeared on Ye Qingluan’s listless face.
‘This won’t do… if this keeps up, they’ll think the Third Disciple of Among the Colorful Clouds only has this much strength.’
‘Hmm… I can’t lose face for Master.’
Realizing this, Ye Qingluan began to concentrate.
A cold, indifferent light emanated from her green eyes.
Treating people was, after all, just a hobby.
When Ye Qingluan truly turned serious, it was time for a massacre.
Six Wooden Flying Swords manifested beside her and flew toward the people below in unison.
“Heh, so this time you’ve turned wood into a few swords? It’s useless! No matter how you change it, wood is still just wood!!”
Seeing one of the wooden swords flying toward him, Chunyu Shi was full of confidence.
He had no intention of dodging and circulated his technique for a Lion’s Roar, wanting to destroy the wooden sword from the front again!
However, while this “wooden sword” was indeed made of wood, Chunyu Shi never would have imagined that it was a wooden sword from the Sword Pavilion.
Chunyu Shi soon discovered that the powerful soundwaves produced by the Lion’s Roar he was so proud of could not shake the Wooden Flying Sword flying toward him in the slightest!
There were three things Chunyu Shi regretted most in his life.
One, he should never have taken that beast as his sworn brother.
Two, he should not have come to provoke Ye Qingluan today just to avenge that sworn brother.
Three, he should not have attempted to destroy that wooden sword head-on just now.
The despised wooden sword passed directly through Chunyu Shi’s mouth, giving him a brain-piercing chill.
Watching their Master fall dead, the Disciples around Chunyu Shi acted as if they had lost their minds.
They wailed while climbing up the vines, attempting to get close to Ye Qingluan and kill her to avenge Chunyu Shi.
In Ye Qingluan’s eyes, this behavior was exceptionally foolish.
Vines needed to learn to camouflage and wait for an opportunity to prey on their targets.
But now that prey was actively delivering itself to the door, there was no need for them to act reserved.
The vines instantly locked the members of the Lion Sect in place, allowing each of them to enjoy the heart-piercing “combo meal” of the Wooden Flying Swords.
The blood they spilled soaked the soil and seeped into the ground, providing nourishment for the tree roots.
Under Ye Qingluan’s control, the surrounding trees began to enter a frenzy.
The speed at which the branches extended became faster and faster, and the vines danced wildly in the air, sending the people below scurrying in terror and fleeing in a pathetic state.
However, to Ye Qingluan’s surprise, despite this near-crushing situation, the black-robed man and the Demonic Cultivators he led had not lost a single person.
The Yin Wind Ghost Messengers they summoned actually began to absorb the residual Zhenqi and life essence of the dead.
Not only that, these Demonic Cultivators even launched backstabs against the practitioners Qi Shang had hired!
They struck almost simultaneously, and all the hired practitioners fell dead one after another.
Their remaining power turned into nutrients to nourish the Yin Wind Ghost Messengers.
“Not enough, this is still far from enough!”
Although this group of Demonic Cultivators had not lost a single member, they had been miserably defending and dodging from the very beginning.
Even though they were also Demonic Cultivators practicing a Demonic Art, Ye Qingluan, standing on her home ground, was far too strong for them.
They needed more power to completely “awaken” the Yin Wind Ghost Messengers.
And just then, as if the heavens had heard their prayers, a voice came from not far away.
“Hey! What’s happening over there? Do you need help?”