A Double-Edged Sword

Qin Sang stood suspended in midair, encircled by demonic fire. His gaze swept impassively across Bi Fang, Master Feng, and the man in white. Bi Fang was held at bay. Master Feng and the frog-fish were racing to take the lead. This situation was one Qin Sang had deliberately engineered, all to stall for time and keep these foes tied down, their attention squarely focused here. Master Feng closed in on the man in white at blistering speed, eager to strike. The threads on his left arm appeared once more. This time, however, it was not a single strand. A cluster of threads wove itself into a square scroll painting. Upon the scroll was only the depiction of a tornado, entirely bare otherwise, set against a faint blue backdrop that could have been the sky or the sea. The scroll possessed an ethereal quality. The tornado actually began to spin within the painting, whirling faster and faster until only a blurred pillar of wind could be seen. The void around the scroll began to twist and warp, as though affected by the imagery within. Yet nowhere else showed any disturbance. Upon seeing this, the frog-fish's expression changed drastically, inwardly crying foul. "Break!" Just as the frog-fish grew frantic with alarm, Master Feng stared at the back of the man in white and coldly uttered a single word! The tornado abruptly burst out of the scroll. What seemed like a slender pillar of wind gave off a deafening roar that shook heaven and earth. In an instant, the tornado swelled to dozens of zhang in width. Sweeping over a rocky peak, it sheared away the summit entirely, leaving behind a bare, flat plateau. A streak of azure light tore away from the tornado and shot forth, trailing azure afterimages across the void. Only when it drew close to the man in white could one clearly see that it was a cone of wind. It seemed like a simple attack, yet the man in white had no way to evade it! In this moment of crisis, he could only repeat his previous trick. An ice shield surfaced behind his back, though this time was different—it appeared to be the true body of the magic treasure, manifesting a faint blue light barrier. No sooner had the ice shield materialized than the wind cone pierced through the void. After a grating, ear-piercing shriek of friction, the light barrier enveloping the ice shield was easily punctured by the wind cone. *Boom!* The wind cone slammed directly into the shield's true body, violently rattling it without pause. The two forces clashed unyieldingly with a loud crack. Two shocking fractures exploded outward from where the tip of the wind cone pressed, and a large chunk of the ice shield magic treasure shattered away! *Pfft!* The lingering force of the wind cone punched through the man in white's chest, leaving a bloody hole. Spitting blood on the spot, he plunged toward the ground headfirst. Yet his will to survive was remarkably stubborn. His battered body wobbled back into the air, gathering whatever strength remained to flee onward. Master Feng seemed to sense something, frowning slightly. But before he could ponder it, the frog-fish could no longer hold back and made its move against him. Critically wounded, the man in white was already at his tether's end and could stir up no great waves. What the frog-fish needed to do was prevent him from falling into Master Feng's hands. Dark green radiance blinded Master Feng's vision, stagnating the surrounding void. Master Feng snorted coldly and tapped the scroll. A new tornado materialized within the painting. This time, it did not condense into a wind cone; instead, like wind sweeping through remnant clouds, it blew the green radiance to tatters while Master Feng's silhouette merged into the wind pillar, surging forward at high speed. Knowing Master Feng was not easily dealt with, the frog-fish gritted its fangs at the sight. A strange gurgle rose from its throat, and it spat out a green pellet. It resembled a demon core, yet also seemed like some sort of treasure. The moment the pellet appeared, the green radiance finally stabilized somewhat, growing denser and denser. Man and demon each displayed their divine abilities, tangling with one another while still rapidly closing in on the man in white. As for Qin Sang himself, while he appeared to be driving his demonic fire with all his might against Bi Fang, it was largely bluster. Most of his attention was dedicated to sensing the distant Nascent Soul talisman puppet and Heavenly Eye Butterfly. ... Outside the deserted island. Even as the experts pursued the man in white, the Rainbow Rat fled with all its might. At last, catching sight of the storm belt looming like an overarching celestial curtain, it plunged straight inside. *Whoosh!* The Rainbow Rat let out a long sigh of relief, its beady eyes darting in every direction. Once inside the chaotic storm belt, its tracks would be thoroughly erased. Even if those pursuers gave chase, finding it would be impossible. Just then, a look of struggle resurfaced in the Rainbow Rat's eyes, the fluctuations far fiercer than before. "No need to hurry! In a little while, I'll treat you properly to repay your kindness of hunting me over ten thousand li!" The Rainbow Rat seemed to be speaking to itself, muttering in a bone-chilling tone. At this moment, the Rainbow Rat was actually possessed by the man in white, who had taken over its physical body! With so many experts lured to the deserted island, the man in white had known that relying on his own strength gave him zero chance of survival. He had originally been plunged into despair, only to unexpectedly discover that the Rainbow Rat had fallen into a weakened state for some unknown reason. A scheme had formed in the man in white's mind, showing him a glimmer of hope. Following his original plan, he used the ice chests and spirit formation to draw everyone else's attention. Meanwhile, he decisively abandoned his physical body, allowing his primordial spirit to follow the link of the mark and accurately track down the Rainbow Rat's true body. Tracking secret arts like this were always a double-edged sword. Especially when the caster fell into a weakened state, they could easily turn into a death warrant. Back then, the disparity in cultivation between Old Devil Mou and Qin Sang had been even greater, and Old Devil Mou had used a similar curse to hunt Qin Sang down—only for Qin Sang to utilize the fire curse seed to lock onto his remnant soul and obliterate him in one stroke. The Rainbow Rat's main body had not yet finished its transformation and was precisely in a weakened state, so being exploited by the man in white was only natural. It could never have dreamed that the man in white still had the capacity to retaliate. The man in white had forcibly possessed the Rainbow Rat, temporarily suppressing its consciousness to seize control. He then secretly sent voice transmissions to Bi Fang and the other demons, misleading them toward his physical body. Suspecting nothing, Bi Fang had indeed fallen for the trick. Meanwhile, the man in white steered the Rainbow Rat's body, slipping away without a trace. Had it not been for an anomaly like the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, the man in white would have succeeded. Once safe, he could have thoroughly dealt with the Rainbow Rat, accomplishing both vengeance and escape. "Who's there?!" Possessing the Rainbow Rat's body, the grotesque grin on its pointed snout abruptly froze as it spun around violently. Behind it, a mysterious black-robed figure had appeared out of nowhere. The man in white felt as though he had fallen into an icy cellar. The black-robed figure had been tailing him for who knew how long, yet he had remained completely unaware. A plan he believed to be flawless had been seen through long ago. He noticed that this person was not one of the Nascent Soul cultivators who had appeared on the desolate mountain. Could there be a third faction waiting outside the island, waiting for the rabbit to crash into the tree? "No! That's not it!" Forcing himself to stay calm, the man in white finally noticed the telltale signs. "Not a cultivator—a puppet!" The thought had just crossed his mind when the man in white felt a fierce wind bearing down on him, forcing him to dodge in a hurry. This place was already bordering on the limit of Qin Sang's perception. He could only issue the most direct command through the soul mark. Having just been hunted himself, he had no reason to show any courtesy to the demons of the North Sea. Without a word, the Nascent Soul talisman puppet struck directly. Dismayed, the man in white dodged frantically. Yet possessing the Rainbow Rat while simultaneously dividing his focus to suppress its consciousness left him with little strength remaining. How could he possibly match a Nascent Soul talisman puppet? He was instantly plunged into dire peril. *Squelch!* A massive hand burst through the void. Just as the rat was about to be disemboweled, a white shadow flashed from its body—not a Nascent Soul, but an illusory spirit body. *Crack!* A sudden thunderclap rang out. Seeing the spirit body attempt to flee, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly struck in the nick of time. Utterly terrified, the spirit body scrambled back inside the Rainbow Rat's body. "Tribulation lightning?!" In overwhelming shock, the man in white blurted the words out—and regretted it the very next second!