Mu Qianqian was extremely annoyed by those three small swords. She had attacked them several times to no effect; they were like sticky medicine patches, tirelessly clinging to her.
Mu Qianqian had already exhausted a great deal of energy fighting Mu Ningxue, and not only had her target escaped, but now she was entangled by these three small swords. She found it impossible to pull away, let alone capture the Jade-Faced Young Master.
Mu Qianqian gritted her teeth and swung with all her might. The Magic Sword slashed down, the sound of air whistling through space ringing out. A pitch-black rift slowly formed, and a powerful pulling force attempted to grab the small swords.
The three small swords seemed to possess a consciousness of their own. Originally huddled close together with less than half a meter between them, they now seemed to sense the threat. They flew off in different directions, instantly escaping the range of the Magic Sword’s special attack.
Seeing this, Mu Qianqian was shocked.
What surprised her even more was that the three small swords used her as the center, surrounding her at a distance of several meters.
‘This is bad.’
Mu Qianqian immediately realized something was wrong.
As if to confirm her fears, the three small swords suddenly released incredibly powerful lightning.
Sss — sss —
Dozens of purple lightning bolts struck Mu Qianqian simultaneously, forcing a scream of agony from her.
“Ah —”
Along with the scream, Mu Qianqian’s body fell uncontrollably toward the ground.
Rumble —
The ground groaned, dust billowed, and debris and rubble flew in every direction.
Of course, this amount of lightning was not enough to actually injure Mu Qianqian.
Very quickly, Mu Qianqian stood up from the pit. She swung the Magic Sword, and the powerful blade wind blew away the surrounding dust.
Staring coldly at Gu Ming in the sky, Mu Qianqian bit her lower lip.
She had to admit that she had indeed underestimated the Jade-Faced Young Master earlier.
That clown, who once used despicable methods to deal with trapped nobodies of the Righteous Path, was actually this powerful.
Now that Mu Ningxue had escaped, she could not let the Jade-Faced Young Master get away as well.
Just as she thought this, Mu Qianqian’s pupils shrank. She swept a terrified glance over the three small swords.
‘How… how can this be?’
‘My Spiritual Energy is dissipating at an incredible rate?’
‘Could it be —’
‘This is a Spirit-Devouring Sword Formation!?’
Mu Qianqian could not help but gasp.
Watching Mu Qianqian trapped within the sword formation, a flash of financial pain crossed Gu Ming’s eyes.
He was not worried about Mu Qianqian’s safety, because those three small swords would not cause her any real harm. They would only devour her Spiritual Energy until it was depleted.
Once her Spiritual Energy was exhausted, the three small swords would use the devoured energy to suppress her recovery until the stolen Spiritual Energy was spent, at which point they would turn into three ordinary small swords.
‘3,000,000!’
‘Just like that, it’s gone down the drain!’
Gu Ming wanted to cry but had no tears. To ensure Mu Ningxue’s smooth escape, how many High-grade Spirit Stones had he invested so far?
The Disguise Mask cost 1,110,000 High-grade Spirit Stones.
The Miasma Bamboo Tube cost a conservative estimate of over 10,000 High-grade Spirit Stones.
Adding these three small swords, that was another 3,000,000 High-grade Spirit Stones.
…
If he were not the Fifth Heavenly King of the Demon Cult with a fairly considerable monthly tax income, Gu Ming would have gone bankrupt long ago.
Gu Ming looked in the direction Mu Ningxue had fled and prayed in his heart, ‘My lady, you must escape. Don’t let my Spirit Stones go to waste.’
“Jade-Faced Young Master, if you have the guts, stop using these underhanded methods! Fight me fair and square!”
Mu Qianqian’s roar echoed from the ground.
Gu Ming looked down and saw Mu Qianqian’s face was pale, her beautiful eyes burning with a raging fire.
It seemed that a significant amount of the Spiritual Energy in her body had been devoured.
Hearing Mu Qianqian’s blunt attempt at provocation to stall for time, the corners of Gu Ming’s mouth curled upward.
He had stayed by the side of the Sect Leader — who was as cunning as an old fox — for so many years; he would naturally not fall for such a provocation.
However, Mu Qianqian was different.
Mu Qianqian was not a Demonic Cultivator, nor did she come from any region within the Demon Cult’s territory.
She originally came from a Righteous Path power — the Hundred Flowers Valley — and had only joined the Demon Cult because Gu Ming had saved her.
Therefore, Mu Qianqian’s nature still followed the style of the Righteous Factions.
Gu Ming did not respond to her. Instead, he sped off in the direction Mu Ningxue had gone.
He needed to take a detour to get back to the Heavenly King’s Palace, but he also had to be careful to let Mu Qianqian see that he was leaving in the same direction as Mu Ningxue.
Watching Gu Ming leave, Mu Qianqian stomped her foot in frustration.
‘How hateful.’
—
After returning to the Heavenly King’s Palace, Gu Ming removed the Disguise Mask and stored it inside his spatial storage.
Once the mask was hidden, Gu Ming used the Holy Hand of Medical Transformation to treat his injuries.
Under the intervention of the Holy Hand of Medical Transformation, Gu Ming’s injuries healed at a pace visible to the naked eye.
After finishing, Gu Ming changed into loose clothing.
As for the tattered rags he had been wearing, he burned them to ashes to be safe.
Just as the last piece of fabric turned to ash, the frantic voice of a soldier rang out from outside the door.
“Lord Heavenly King, something terrible has happened! The Jade-Faced Young Master appeared, and the Divine Maiden of the Divine Maiden Palace has escaped!”
This was the report he expected. Gu Ming did not respond immediately; as a Heavenly King, he could not appear flustered over such a small matter.
After a long moment, Gu Ming asked in a heavy voice, “Where is Qianqian?”
“That cursed Jade-Faced Young Master slaughtered nearly 10,000 of our soldiers. Lord Mu could not stand by and watch, so she engaged him in battle…”
As soon as the soldier’s voice fell, Gu Ming turned into a streak of light, burst through the door, and shot into the sky.
The soldier felt a gust of wind whip past him, and the tightly closed door before him swung open.
Watching the receding afterimage, the soldier’s expression was complicated.
The Fifth Heavenly King treated them well, but they were ultimately raised by the Sect Leader. Although they had been incorporated under the Fifth Heavenly King’s command, their hearts still leaned toward the Sect Leader.
“For this to happen in the Heavenly King’s territory is a total humiliation for the Demon Cult. Tell me, how do you think the Sect Leader will handle the Heavenly King?” asked the soldier accompanying him.
“Sigh, I’m afraid it will be hard to give an explanation,” the reporting soldier sighed softly. “The Heavenly King has only been in power for one month, but he has been truly good to us.”
“A Commander was killed, nearly 10,000 soldiers were slaughtered, and the Divine Maiden of the Divine Maiden Palace escaped only one day after being captured. If the Jade-Faced Young Master escapes as well, the Heavenly King will likely find it very difficult to answer for this.” The other soldier shook his head, as if he could already see Gu Ming’s fate.
Then, they looked together at Gu Ming’s distant silhouette and began to pray in their hearts:
‘Lord Heavenly King, you must be alright!’
Gu Ming, of course, was unaware of the two soldiers’ prayers. He rushed at full speed toward the place where Mu Qianqian was.
By the time he arrived, Mu Qianqian was already extremely weak. Her delicate body sat on the ground, her hands propped against the earth to barely keep herself upright.
The Spirit-Devouring Sword Formation’s ability was too aggressive; it had drained Mu Qianqian’s Spiritual Energy to the bottom in an instant…