Song Pingsheng pulled hard, but his sword did not budge as if fixed there.
Then, a man wearing white monk robes walked out from the tear in space with measured strides. It was Venerable Liu Nian.
“This sword strike is full of intense, murderous intent. Had I not delayed for a moment, it would have stabbed into my body, right?” Venerable Liu Nian said in an icy tone.
Crack! Venerable Liu Nian squeezed.
Bang!
The manifested sword shattered, and cracks appeared in Song Pingsheng’s sword.
“Liu Nian?” Song Pingsheng threw a palm strike.
A gigantic manifested palm appeared. Then, space churned like a rumbling storm.
“Humph!” Venerable Liu Nian let out a cold snort. He stretched out the index finger on his right hand, suddenly jabbing it forward and sending out a manifested finger.
Boom!
The manifested palm exploded, but the manifested finger continued forward without losing momentum, instantly arriving before Song Pingsheng.
“Oh no!” Song Pingsheng’s expression changed as he quickly raised his arm to block.
Boom!
The attack knocked Song Pingsheng back.
Blargh!
Song Pingsheng vomited a mouthful of blood in midair, showing a horrified expression.
Song Pingsheng had guessed that Venerable Liu Nian was powerful—but not this powerful. He could not put up a fight before Venerable Liu Nian at all.
“Run!” Song Pingsheng shouted.
Whoosh!
Song Pingsheng turned around and flew down the mountain, rushing to Li Qinghe.
Bang!
Then, Song Pingsheng picked up Li Qinghe and flew into the distance.
“Sect Master is running?”
“Sect Master is not his match?”
“It’s over. Quickly run!”
Amid fearful exclamations, the spirit-assimilated cultivators immediately turned to run.
“Trying to run? Humph!” Venerable Liu Nian snorted coldly and stretched out his left hand.
A string of Buddhist prayer beads hung on that hand, which he then waved towards the sky.
Buzz!
Suddenly, many images appeared from the Buddhist prayer beads. Countless Buddhist prayer beads seemed to appear in an instant, encircling everyone in the surroundings.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Suddenly, the Buddhist prayer beads encased the various spirit-assimilated cultivators, binding them there and preventing them from moving.
“Let me go! Let me go!” the spirit-assimilated cultivators cried out.
Far in the distance, several Buddhist prayer beads flew towards the fleeing Song Pingsheng and Li Qinghe.
Song Pingsheng’s expression changed as he thrust his hand to launch a palm strike.
Boom!
After shattering the Buddhist prayer bead images, Song Pingsheng fled even faster.
However, Venerable Liu Nian frowned as he looked at the surroundings.
There were three thousand stone statues around him. Not far away, black energy surrounded Gu Hai as he collapsed to the ground. Clearly, he suffered heavy injuries. With the piles of dry bones on the ground, the Clear River Sect appeared to be in a sorry state.
Given Venerable Liu Nian’s sharp senses, he even noticed some places with Clear River Sect disciples’ corpses with their chests ripped open, missing their hearts and livers.
The spirit-assimilated cultivators trapped inside the Buddhist prayer beads showed ferocious expressions and radiated a bloodthirsty air. The snakes on their heads looked extremely sinister.
“What happened? Where’s the hall master?” Venerable Liu Nian looked at Gu Hai.
“Hurry! Chase them. The hall master is imprisoned. Hurry! Don’t let them run!” Gu Hai shouted as he pointed in Song Pingsheng’s direction.
Venerable Liu Nian’s expression changed. There was no time for him to say anything. He just took a step, and his figure flashed, dwindling into the distance.
Whoosh!
Venerable Liu Nian reached the horizon in the blink of an eye.
“Cough! Cough! Cough!” Gu Hai coughed out blood. Then, he stood up with much difficulty.
There were two hundred or three hundred sets of withered skeletons on the ground. The Buddhist prayer beads also bound more than five hundred spirit-assimilated cultivators.
Gu Hai showed an icy gaze as he hobbled over to one of the spirit-assimilated cultivators.
“What are you planning to do?!” that spirit-assimilated cultivator exclaimed in surprise and anger.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
The snakes on that spirit-assimilated cultivator’s head hissed at Gu Hai, baring their fangs.
Gu Hai wiped away the blood at the corner of his lips, showing a sinister smile.
Shing!
Gu Hai stabbed a spirit-assimilated cultivator with his saber.
Whoosh!
Black energy suddenly rushed over, and many tiny skulls started biting on that spirit-assimilated cultivator’s flesh.
“Argh!” that spirit-assimilated cultivator screamed in pain.
When Gu Hai pulled out the Life Ender Saber, only a pile of dry bones remained of that spirit-assimilated cultivator.
Clatter!
The Buddhist prayer bead image disappeared, and the dry bones fell to the ground.
“What? Gu Hai’s saber ate Senior Brother and the others? Ate?”
“No! No! I don’t want to get eaten! I don’t!”
“Gu Hai, spare me! Let me off! I’m innocent. I was just following orders!”
The spirit-assimilated cultivators begged in horror.
Gu Hai revealed a ferocious smile as he said, “If you were humans, I might have been reluctant to kill you. However, are you still humans? You are man-eating demons. The people you ate pleaded with you for mercy, but did you let them off?
“Are the hearts and livers of humans nice to eat? Are they nice?
“The moment you decided to turn into demons, you were already humanity’s enemy.
“The enemies of humans should be killed!”
Shing! Shing! Shing!
“Argh!”
“Argh!”
“I don’t eat humans! Don’t kill me!”
Gu Hai’s Life Ender Saber consumed the spirit-assimilated cultivators one after another. He would not pity these demons. If he did not kill them, they would eat even more humans.
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
Dry bones scattered all over the ground.
Gu Hai killed all the spirit-assimilated cultivators. As the Life Ender Saber consumed their flesh, it refined and fed back one-thousandth of the energy into Gu Hai’s body. This was the energy that Gu Hai needed the most.
His earlier injuries recovered quickly. The large amount of energy ran rampant in his body and rushed to his dantian.
Boom!
A strong wind blew around Gu Hai, scattering the surrounding dry bones.
“The Innate Realm’s eighth layer?” Gu Hai’s eyes lit up.
After consuming eight hundred spirit-assimilated cultivators, his cultivation actually improved by one layer.
Gu Hai looked coldly at the dry bones on the ground and said, “Cannibals! You deserve to be killed!”
“You aren’t any better, right?” A voice suddenly rang out behind Gu Hai.
Gu Hai turned his head to look.
Venerable Liu Nian had returned. After seeing the dry bones littering the ground, he stared coldly at Gu Hai.
Although Venerable Liu Nian did not know how Gu Hai did it, the dry bones on the ground already said everything. Gu Hai had some kind of sinister and evil secret technique.
Venerable Liu Nian questioned Gu Hai, but Gu Hai did not show any fear. Holding the Life Ender Saber, Gu Hai kept his guard up against him as he retorted coldly, “What’s wrong? Does Venerable Liu Nian think that we should not kill such man-eating demons?”
Venerable Liu Nian stared coldly at Gu Hai and said, “They should be killed but not with such a method!”
“We should kill them? Our killing methods just happen to differ. Just because our paths differ, you want to eradicate or alienate me?” Gu Hai pressed coldly.
Venerable Liu Nian stared at Gu Hai coldly, remaining silent for a while.
“Gu Hai, the hall master and I still think highly of you. Don’t misstep and persist in error!” Venerable Liu Nian advised grimly.
“Ha! Don’t misstep and persist in error? There is no need for Venerable Liu Nian to worry about my matters!” Gu Hai rebuffed coldly.
Venerable Liu Nian continued staring at Gu Hai, again remaining silent for a while. He seemed to have more complaints, but he forced them back.
“Did you manage to catch them?” Gu Hai looked at Venerable Liu Nian.
Venerable Liu Nian shook his head and said, “Song Pingsheng had a Dragon Fixing Hoop. He used it to escape!”
“A Dragon Fixing Hoop?” Gu Hai felt slightly stunned.
“What’s going on? Can you tell me what happened? Where’s the hall master?” Venerable Liu Nian asked with a frown.
Gu Hai sighed softly and told Venerable Liu Nian everything that he knew.
“I only left for a while. Song Pingsheng? Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. How bold of you!” Venerable Liu Nian said with a ferocious expression.
“Right now, the most important thing is the hall master’s safety!” Gu Hai frowned.
“The hall master should be safe for the time being,” Venerable Liu Nian assured with a frown.
“Oh?” Gu Hai said, feeling bewildered.
“I know that flood dragon. Fu Xue? He knows the hall master’s identity. Capturing and imprisoning her is already his limit. He won’t dare harm her unless he has grown tired of living. Otherwise, even if he obtained the dragon vein, there would be no place in the world for him to flee to!” Venerable Liu Nian said with certainty.
“Even though that is the case, there might still be accidents. We need to rescue her,” Gu Hai argued sullenly.
Venerable Liu Nian nodded. “That’s right!”
“Venerable Liu Nian, this time, three thousand of my subordinates came with me to save you. As a result, they turned into stone statues. Do you have a way to save them?” Gu Hai looked at the many stone statues worriedly.
Venerable Liu Nian looked at the three thousand stone statues and frowned. Then, he sighed softly and said, “There is only one way to undo the curse on them.”
“Oh?”
“You have to kill Li Qinghe. When Li Qinghe dies, the curse on them will come undone automatically,” Venerable Liu Nian said gravely.
Gu Hai nodded and said, “Many thanks, Venerable!”
“There is no need to thank me. I should be the one thanking you. If not for you this time, who knows when I would return? This Nine-Five Island is no longer peaceful. If anything happens to Hall Master, I will be in a difficult position as well.” Venerable Liu Nian shook his head.
“Did you manage to find the earthly soul of the hall master’s mother in the nether realm?” Gu Hai asked, feeling curious.
Venerable Liu Nian shook his head and said, “We went to the nearby ghost cities but did not find anything. However, we managed to come across some clues. We found a servant of the hall master’s mother. He had been killed together with the hall master’s mother. I rushed back, but the Unborn Man remained to investigate there.”
Gu Hai frowned slightly but did not pursue the matter. After all, there were still tricky things to deal with in the land of the living.
“Venerable Liu Nian, I cannot allow my three thousand subordinates to face the weather here. Would you help me bring them back to the Gu Residence?” Gu Hai asked.
“Alright!”
Venerable Liu Nian extended his hand, and an enormous flying ship flew out of his sleeve.
Boom!
The flying ship was colossal. Then, Venerable Liu Nian waved. White clouds suddenly appeared under the stone statues and slowly carried the stone statues onto the flying ship.
Meanwhile, Gu Hai started rushing about, searching the surrounding buildings. At the same time, he tried to avoid Venerable Liu Nian’s notice as he reverted the Life Ender Saber to a rib in his chest.
“Division Master Gu, what are you looking for?” Venerable Liu Nian asked in bewilderment.
Gu Hai smiled bitterly and replied, “I incurred a huge debt because of you, so I need to find spirit stones to repay it.”
“Oh?” Then, Venerable Liu Nian recalled what Gu Hai told him earlier.
“There’s no need to search anymore. Time is tight; I’ll pay the debt for you. After all, you incurred it for my sake,” Venerable Liu Nian said.
“Oh?” Gu Hai looked at Venerable Liu Nian in surprise.
Venerable Liu Nian waved his hand, and a large number of superior-grade spirit stones appeared in the air. Clearly, he also possessed a compressed space.
Gu Hai did not stand on ceremony, collecting them with a wave of his hand.
Venerable Liu Nian gave generously. The number of spirit stones was more than ten times what he borrowed. How extravagant!
“Let’s go!” Venerable Liu Nian said.
Gu Hai nodded and boarded the flying ship with Venerable Liu Nian. Then, they quickly flew towards the Gu Residence.
